I now have more respect and appreciation for Professionals

[CG031]

(Wasn't sure where to put this thread...so stuck it here.)

I now have far more respect and appreciation for Touring Professional, women included.

Today, I had the privilage to play one of the nicest golf courses in America. Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, PA...Site of the 2009 U.S. Women's Open.

Man, that place is TOUGH. Going in, I knew it'd be a beautiful course, but to think that Pro's play on that layout, all tricked out, rough thicker, greens faster, and slightly longer...IT IS CRAZY.

I SCORED well and shot 87 today. When I SCORE well I generally shoot high 70's low 80's, that's how difficult this golf course was.

They had the tees back around 7,000-7,100 yards. No roll due to all the rain. Every hole required a demanding tee shot because there are trees everywhere, and it's narrow. I'd be hitting hybrids and 4 irons into the par 4's. One hole was 600 yards into the wind!!!

I didn't hit the ball the best I could, but I scored probably as well as any day in a while, and still shot only 44 + 43 = 87.

The scores were high. There were still guys out on the course, but the lowest was a 79 with 15 guys in the clubhouse and only about two or three groups left.

This just shows how hard it is to play these golf courses and shoot low numbers. Really put things in perspective for me.

BTW, Saucon Valley is the best course I've ever played. Also the nicest I've ever set foot on outside of Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ (site of 2008 Barclay's Fed Ex Cup event). Obviously I don't think it's a top 5 course in America...but I'm sure it's up there with some of the better ones around the Country.

[Knockglock]

  CG031 said:

(Wasn't sure where to put this thread...so stuck it here.)

Ah that's crazy. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to play a course that long with no roll.

I already have immense respect for all professional golfers, but I'm sure I'd have even more respect if I could play that course!

[CG031]

  Knockglock said:

Ah that's crazy. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to play a course that long with no roll.

It was so crazy dude. I knew the courses the PGA Professional's play are tough and long, I wasn't an idiot it's just so different when you're actually playing on it and not a muni course, lol.

7,100 yards was ridiculous for me. A lot of the par 5's were 4 shot holes for me, just trying to make bogey on them... I usually hit the ball 250-260 off the tee with some good summer roll, but today with no roll I hit it about 230-240 on a real good pop..I'd probably get about 5-10 yards of roll max...it sucked.

[mirv]

that sounds ferocious. there's a semi-private course near here called greystone that, from the tips, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,000 yards and their greens are typically really firm and fast, though the rough isn't super duper punishing. just the same, i don't think i ever shot better than 90 out there.

[clubchamp]

Since you live in NJ I would start asking anyone and everybody to see if they know a way to get on pine valley. That is by far the nicest and most difficult course I have ever played. I would take it over pebble, bethpage, merion, and oakmont(although a very close 2nd). I would rather spend years asking around to see if there was anyway to get on there than pay the $400 at pebble. I remember when I was 17 I played in a tourney at Hershey Country Club which was the first course I ever played on that was a "pro" course.

[1par2win]

I played a tournament at the TPC Twin Cities 2 weeks after the Seniors 3M Championship was played there are I echo your sentiments. Even though I played the course at just over 6600 it was crazy the kind of shots you HAD to hit and to top it all off the greens were rolling at 12. Your not going to hit it all over the place and score well. It was such a blast to play there! I shot an 86 and it was one of my better ball striking days this season. To see the pros shoot a sub par round out there only goes to show for the 5,628,235,426 time just how good they are.

[mirv]

  clubchamp said:

Since you live in NJ I would start asking anyone and everybody to see if they know a way to get on pine valley.

ooh, pine valley. i've got a tape of shell's wonderful world of golf from decades gone by where byron nelson and gene littler play that course. now that's a course with some teeth. nelson only hit one bad shot in the whole round, and he still had to really work to get a 74, and gene littler missed a tee-shot on a par three and took a +4 for the hole. it's brutal.

[ScottL]

i played The Colonial Country club in Ft. Worth about a month ago. Like you said, it wasnt even in tournament condition and it OWNED me!

[CG031]

  ScottL said:

i played The Colonial Country club in Ft. Worth about a month ago. Like you said, it wasnt even in tournament condition and it OWNED me!

Yeah man. It's such a different mentality and game you have to play compared to your 6400 yard local muni course.

On my local courses I usually go for a lot of the par 5's and have a decent shot at reaching them a lot of times, and I try to make some birdies and mostly par's. On a lot of holes out there today I was very happy to escape with a bogey.

[ScottL]

exactly! One thing that was TOTALLY different to me vs. my normal courses was the bunkers. Most the courses I play have bunkers, but somehow find myself missing them alot.

Well at the Colonial it is not uncommon for a green to be wrapped by 6-7 bunkers. You are either putting or at the beach! And the sand was totally different. It was like hitting out of baby powder

[CG031]

  ScottL said:

exactly! One thing that was TOTALLY different to me vs. my normal courses was the bunkers. Most the courses I play have bunkers, but somehow find myself missing them alot.

Yes. Saucon Valley where I played today had like 4 bunkers guarding each green on virtually every side. I got up and down a few times in them, I was probably in a greenside bunker 5-6 times. I was hitting a hybrid, 3 irons and 4 irons into the greens on Par 4's and Par 3's so I somewhat expected it.

I also noticed the sand is so much nicer. I spun a few back to the pins.

[enis750]

crazy dude
I wish we had a course like that here
closest one we have is THIS ONE
here is the scorecard

your not allowed to play from the tips without permission and prof that you have a certain hcp..not even sure what it is
i usually play from the gold tees, depending on my playing partners
i can score in the high 70's from the Gold Tees, weather depending

great round though bro and good story!

[CG031]

  enis750 said:

crazy dude

Oh wow, that course looks tough...similar to what I played today, a little more yardage though but ours probably played like that because of how wet it's been around here.

[JGulkCG]

i think i'll be playing saucon sometime in the up coming week or two...not the old course, but wayhill. Wayhill is the nicer of them...i'm told from my friends that work there. Also You mentioned Ridgewood, been there for a demo day. That place is beautiful. You gotta check out Alpine CC...I thought it was nicer than Ridgewood. Also Essex County CC is up there in Jersey courses as well.

[Zeph]

7000+ yards is pretty long. Firestone was 7400 last week. Being narrow at the same time and you've got yourself a difficult course. Longest I've played is 6500 yards. I don't have a problem reaching the par 5s. The longest one is 625 yards. It is a bit downhill, so I could reach it in two with a 3 wood after a long drive, but it's usually driver, 5 wood and PW-8i. The par 4s are the toughest ones where I may have to hit a 4i into the green with a driver curving the wrong way or not hit well.

500 yards longer however, will make it a lot harder. A 50 yards increase in average for each hole. I think the longest par three on Firestone was played at 230 yards on the last day. That's a long par three. Of course, the pros can hit 6-4 irons into it, but us mortals, especially over 10 hcp, will have a hard time.

[radycardia]

The length doesn't bother me, it's the whole accuracy thing that gets me in trouble.

[CG031]

  JGulkCG said:

i think i'll be playing saucon sometime in the up coming week or two...not the old course, but wayhill. Wayhill is the nicer of them...i'm told from my friends that work there. Also You mentioned Ridgewood, been there for a demo day. That place is beautiful. You gotta check out Alpine CC...I thought it was nicer than Ridgewood. Also Essex County CC is up there in Jersey courses as well.

I forgot to specify that Weyhill is actually the course I played, not the exact same course the Women's Open was on. I was told they were pretty equal in difficulty (obviously they trick it out a bit for the women's open with the rough and greens.)

I went to Ridgewood for The Barclay's...never played it. I think I would've loved that place though, my kind of course. Saucon reminded me of a bit of it. I'm out near Easton, PA...in Phillipsburg, NJ so really I'm nto too close to Essex County CC.

[TMO]

  mirv said:

that sounds ferocious. there's a semi-private course near here called greystone that, from the tips, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,000 yards and their greens are typically really firm and fast, though the rough isn't super duper punishing. just the same, i don't think i ever shot better than 90 out there.

Greystone??? In Tennessee? If so, that's a great course. Tons of fun.