disaster

I'm aligning my putts with a line I have on my ball. So I actually have to mark it to align the ball correctly

I am watching right now, and there was quite a strange ruling IMO. Has anyone seen it? Thongchai Jaidee and Rafa Cabrera-Bello both hit into a greenside bunker and did so in such a way, that their balls touched each other. So what did they do? Rafa, whose ball was closer to the hole, marked his ball with a tee and then moved it two clubhead-lengths to the side, so that Jaidee was able to hit his shot without blasting the marker out. So far, nothing special. But then, after Jaidee's shot, Cabrera-Bello raked the part of the bunker, where the balls lied, himself, before putting the ball back into the bunker. All of course while a referee was watching them. So the marking and all is imho pretty basic, but he did rake the bunker himself before playing. Why didn't the let Jaidee (or his caddy) do the raking? The way they proceeded, Rafa was obviously testing the bunker. Best part of this whole coincidence: While the two were discussing the ruling with the referee, Henrik Stenson simply holed a 20+ yard putt :D

Maybe some history on Vice :) It's a German golf start-up, I think they started around 5 ago, but first they had a different name (Flake). Their business idea is to produce high quality golf balls (which can compete with the big names), but they are not sold in golf stores or pro shops, their only distribution is their website. This allows them to cut the cost for the intermediate dealer and thus the top vice balls are (at least here in Germany) at half the price of a ProV1(x). They do make a little bit of advertisement here and they also sponsor the German golf league. As for myself, I have to admit that I have never really tried them. I'm not a big fan of trying out everything once I found something I like (and I do like the ProV1x and the TPx).

BOOOM

I'll always rather wait a little bit longer, especially in tournaments. Not only to avoid hitting people, but I think that it is a big distraction if you hear the ball plop 30 yards behind yourself. Imagine you are concentrating, just starting your backswing and suddenly *plong*.

To be honest, my advice would be - especially since it's your first big tourney - to play a lot more conservatively. My number one advice is to keep the ball in play and to avoid attacking pins unless you only have a short iron/wedge. We had a big tourney a few weeks back at my home course which - when it is wet, which it was - plays rather long for me. Still, I hot mostly 3 wood of the tee. As a result I had to hit a couple of 5 or 4 iron or even hybrid into the green. But if you play these shots smartly and avoid attacking pins, you will either have an easy chip or a 2-putt for par. I shot par that day (even though my putter was really cold) which was the second best round, simply by avoiding danger. Another thing: Personally, if I play in important tourneys, I am always a little bit stiff, especially at the beginning of the round. My grip gets to tight and my backswing might become too fast. The grip sometimes leads to pure chipping and the backswing can lead to all kinds of problems. But I've learned to deal with it and now it's not a big thing for me anymore. Of course, just because it happens to me, doesn't mean it'll happen to you. Therefore, my advice is rather simple: Just be prepared that it MIGHT happen. Don't expect that you will be able to show your best golf in your first big tourney.

From the European Tour live blog: Commentator: "He has 125 to the front. Pin is on 33. So 168 yards, into the wind, playing about 190" #LinksGolf But to be fair, only 2 clubs more seems still reasonable. If you are unlucky, you easily have to take 3 or more clubs more. ;)

I really liked Merion a few years back... too bad it'll probably never host a US Open again :(

I am watching right now. The rough seems to be quite brutal (not quite US open like I guess, but a lot harder than on a lot of other Tour courses). One of the players said that you can only hit 8 iron at most out of the second cut. There have already been some double bogeys. Not surprisingly, if one can find the fairways, scoring is quite good. Soft and moderately sloped greens. Just in this moment, one player just lost a ball in the high rough and had to go back to the tee

That's not a good reason. Neither is the fact that "a team" is 5 (heck, where exactly is 5 a golf team?) - that's just the current rules, and the discussion is all about changing them. I would prefer a system like we have it here in Germany in your league system: You have x players (we have 8, but of course 5 is fine also), but you also have 1 or 2 alternates. You can always substitute one of the 8 players by one of the alternates before their first tee shot. The reason does not matter, whether he plays like crap on that day or whether he is injured. This avoids having a situation like in the NCAA finals where the had to give away one point, but it also avoids the problem of faking in an injury if somebody plays poorly, because every other team has the right to change on player also.

That's a though, but interesting, question. I think my long game would probably be a A- or B. I can hit it quite solid and close to the pin from 150 yards in, but my main weakness in my long game is my lack of distance. I am often 10-20 yards short off the tee, and that can make quite a difference. Short game overall is hard to tell, because there is a lot of fluctuation. I am really good out of the bunker, I am reasonably good on short chips, I am rather poor on long chips/short pitches. So overall I would give myself a C- Putting has always been my weakness. I would give myself a D

I know that this was a specific example. Yet there are some things to consider, why I chose it: a) This is a "standard" course which you can find here all over the country. Not comparable with the PGA Tour conditions (and that is what we are looking for in this thread). b) It was - I think - in the very first year Kaymer went pro. He was playing to get to the Challenge Tour and the European Tour. So I think that there is a lot more pressure on the line than if you compare it with a just-for-fun round on any course. He surely wasn't one of the best of the world at this time of his career. c) All 3 of these rounds were pretty good. I'm not saying that they'd shoot 59 everytime, but in this case, he shot a 59 followed by a 62. This certainly shows you that you can score extremely well on such a course.

When Martin Kaymer just became a professional, he played a 3rd-tier pro event at a course close by (not my home course though). That course is par 72, CR 74.4 and 7100 yards. The guy won this tournament with rounds of 68, 59 and 62. Given the fact that my acutal home course is even shorter and easier, I think the PGA Tour players would play a sub-60 score not everytime, but certainly every now and then with average scores in the low 60s

I totally agree, I was a little bit surprised as well .. espcially given the fact the the leaders are all afternoon starters. But this page ( http://www.europeantour.com/sportteller-2/interactive-recap-day-one-ireland/ ) states a morning average of 73.4 whereas the afternoon average was 74.5. Maybe the made a mistake there or its a case of selective perception ;)

DJ is at -6/T4 with -0.08 strokes gained putting. He must have had a really great ball striking day