How Would You Play This Hole (#1 at Giants Ridge, Quarry Course)

[Vinsk]

36 minutes ago, ZANDER1994 said:

If I had $100 to bet on the lowest shooting player in my clubhouse on a given day, I’d put it on the guy in his 60s playing 20 year old persimmons over the young kid who hits it long every time. 

I think you’d lose money in the long run. Rather vague on the players though. A 60 year old scratch and a 20 year old 10hcp? People often forget that hitting it far is a skill. Most players who can hit a drive 300+ yards aren’t out there hacking around. 

[klineka]

10 hours ago, ZANDER1994 said:

Around the time Cameron Champ hit the PGA I recall he was being talked about quite a bit for his driving distance. Tiger was asked by an interviewer how he felt about it and in the video Tiger shakes his head and he says every year the media goes on about some young kid and how far he hits it. He goes on to say we’re aware these college kids hit it really far but when they get to tour they realize they need to hit fairway due to the rough being a lot more punishing. He reflected on being the same way when he was starting out and then he changed his swing to focus on accuracy and then he started winning a lot more. I remember the interview vividly but I am not sure where to find it now. 

So just because Tiger said it makes it true? Also Tiger was already one of the longest players on tour in his prime, so even if he did focus on accuracy at the expense of a few yards of driving distance, his length would still be a strength for him.

Tiger stating that he changed his swing to focus on accuracy doesn't count as evidence that "Most players dial back their distances after a few years on the PGA tour for accuracy control". Also "most" means the majority, or more than half, so I'd really like to see some evidence proving that more than half of the players on tour purposefully decrease their distance after a few years on tour in order to increase their accuracy.

I just compared the top 10 players on the PGA tour this season in driving accuracy and driving distance. The top 10 in driving distance combined made almost $8M more than the top 10 in driving accuracy and the top 10 in driving distance did so while playing in 35 less tournaments. If you equated the number of tournaments across both groups, at their same average earnings per tournament rates, the top 10 distance guys would have made over $10M more than the top 10 driving accuracy guys.
 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, ZANDER1994 said:

I had $100 to bet on the lowest shooting player in my clubhouse on a given day, I’d put it on the guy in his 60s playing 20 year old persimmons over the young kid who hits it long every time. 

From what yardage? <6,000 yds? Maybe. But even then if the young kid was playing from those same tees, he's going to have less than 100yds into a lot of the par 4s and pretty much every par 5 should be reachable in 2. There are going to be very few 60 year olds that could compete on 6,500+ yd courses with 20 year old persimmons. 

Bottom line, hitting the ball far gives you an advantage at any level, not just on the PGA tour. 

[billchao]

Guys, we’re seriously off topic here.

[SG11118]

I played this course in the MN Amateur Qualifying Tourney about 10 years ago.  I don't think we were at the tips, but close.  I was a little concerned with hitting driver onto the downslope, so I went 5W, and was left with close to 190 in.  Hit a 5I, but left it out to the right.  Chipped over green to the left fringe, and putted from the fringe to tap-in range for a bogey. 

Had what I felt was a rough day of golf that day, but all of a sudden on 16 I was sitting at 5 over with an eagle putt and I thought I might still have a chance to qualify, but 3 putted for par and then went bogey-bogey to finish a couple strokes off the last alternate spot.

If I were playing the 1st hole today, I'm sure I would take driver and deal with the slope.  I feel like I have added some driver accuracy than back then (and less fw wood accuracy), so dealing with the slope currently seems like a better alternative (with my current game) than trying to score from 190 yards out.

[NoLHere]

On 8/13/2021 at 10:50 AM, lastings said:

I think this might be a fun little exercise for those into LSW shot zone eggs, as well as strokes gained.   

Hole #1  - Giants Ridge - Quarry course - Biwabik, MN - 405yds

here's a nice flyover of the hole: 

 

The Quarry at Giants Ridge | Powered by Envisage

 

Also, I keep meticulous stats all summer on my strokes gained benchmarks.  So, this may be useful information to factor in.  

Driver - 278yds - Fairway% - 66
3W - 245yds - Fairway% 58

(This looks like my driver is more accurate, but not the case.   I'm just hitting my 3w into much tighter areas).
unfortunately, I have not mapped out actual shot eggs for each club, so you will have to guestimate: 

Fairways at my home course are about 40yds wide on every hole.  

Option 1: 3w short of the fairway bunker, leaving about 160 yds to the green:
Landing zone: 42 yds in fairway; 64 yds keeps it in play
avg. strokes to get down from 160yds - 3.44 from the fairway, 3.72 from the rough. 

Option 2: Driver right of the trap, leaving 130 to the green:
a couple notes for context.   
a) the rough right of the fairway is very playable. 
b) The shortest point of the bunker is 276 to clear, this is not possible, even with a breeze at the back.  
c) The fairway is down hill next to the bunker and slopes left after the bunker, so anything that lands in the fairway or even a bit in the rough is highly likely to remain in the fairway.

landing zone: 24 yds in fairway, 48 yds fairway/rough, 64yds fairway/rough/bunker
avg. strokes to get down from 130yds - 3.21 from fairway, 3.47 from rough, 4.16 from sand. 

 

 

how would you play it?  

 

 

 

 

I play this course often since i live nearby. Usually play a choked down draw on this hole with a driver.

[Sticky]

• I'd top a driver into the rough short of the fairway
• Hybrid to the narrow neck that would just trickle into the fairway bunker
• 9-iron to get out to the front of the green because I wouldn't be able to clear the lip with the 7 or 8 iron needed
• pitch or chip on
• 2-3 putt

 

 

[woodzie264]

1 hour ago, Sticky said:

• I'd top a driver into the rough short of the fairway
• Hybrid to the narrow neck that would just trickle into the fairway bunker
• 9-iron to get out to the front of the green because I wouldn't be able to clear the lip with the 7 or 8 iron needed
• pitch or chip on
• 2-3 putt

 

 

 So true

[Be Still]

I normally play the white tees, but in case I had to play the distance from the blues, I would just follow the flyover example and hit a 3w to 175 out and hope to be center/right on fairway.

175 isn't an easy number for me so if the hole is cut the same as the flyover with that yardage, I would favor to be short of the left lower bunker for an up and down, however, if I feel I can carry the bunkers (not knowing the greens) I would play something like a 155-165 to the center.

[Be Still]

I meant to say, the fairway bunker on the left looks treacherous, and for the same reason with the two front greenside bunkers.

[billchao]

On 8/13/2021 at 11:50 AM, lastings said:

I think this might be a fun little exercise for those into LSW shot zone eggs, as well as strokes gained.   

Hole #1  - Giants Ridge - Quarry course - Biwabik, MN - 405yds

here's a nice flyover of the hole: 

 

The Quarry at Giants Ridge | Powered by Envisage

 

Also, I keep meticulous stats all summer on my strokes gained benchmarks.  So, this may be useful information to factor in.  

Driver - 278yds - Fairway% - 66
3W - 245yds - Fairway% 58

(This looks like my driver is more accurate, but not the case.   I'm just hitting my 3w into much tighter areas).
unfortunately, I have not mapped out actual shot eggs for each club, so you will have to guestimate: 

Fairways at my home course are about 40yds wide on every hole.  

Option 1: 3w short of the fairway bunker, leaving about 160 yds to the green:
Landing zone: 42 yds in fairway; 64 yds keeps it in play
avg. strokes to get down from 160yds - 3.44 from the fairway, 3.72 from the rough. 

Option 2: Driver right of the trap, leaving 130 to the green:
a couple notes for context.   
a) the rough right of the fairway is very playable. 
b) The shortest point of the bunker is 276 to clear, this is not possible, even with a breeze at the back.  
c) The fairway is down hill next to the bunker and slopes left after the bunker, so anything that lands in the fairway or even a bit in the rough is highly likely to remain in the fairway.

landing zone: 24 yds in fairway, 48 yds fairway/rough, 64yds fairway/rough/bunker
avg. strokes to get down from 130yds - 3.21 from fairway, 3.47 from rough, 4.16 from sand. 

 

 

how would you play it?  

First hole of the day? I’m hitting driver. I’d probably top my 3w off the tee. I’ll aim at the bunker and let my fade do the rest, probably end up in that dark green stuff to the right of the cart path.

Put me down for a 7.

[mdl]

Love these! My answer really depends on the conditions. Summer time with a half club wind behind me and I'm pretty sure I'm carrying that bunker and it's driver all the way. Cool and no wind I'm probably carrying it right into the bunker.

From the pic it looks like that's a deep bunker with high risk of being forced to lay up, so in that case I'm hitting 2i short and then 6i or 7i. If the bunker is less penal than it looks in the pic, I might well drive anyway. My expected score from 160 in the sand with a good lie is similar to from 180-190 in the fairway I'd guess. And from 140-150 fairway or playable rough it's much better.

[cdh79]

I usually calculate in meters over here, but if my conversions were right, then i'd take a 3w (goes about 210m which should be about 230y) and then I'm left with 180m/200y which is pretty much exactly a 5 wood for me..

My 3- and 5-woods are some of my best clubs, as I haven't used my driver much the last year, as it was too inconsistent..