A female version of The Masters?

[deasy55]

Would you be for or against the women having their own Masters at Augusta? Seeing pics of Paula Creamer playing there the last 2 days got me thinking about this. It would be interesting to watch and greatly benefit the womens game IMO

[JetFan1983]

Yea I'd watch that tourney for sure. Too many reasons though why it would never happen, unfortunately.

[jamo]

I don't think any of us would be against it. Unfortunately, we don't have the final, or even preliminary, say.

[iacas]

It saddens me to say this, but women can't putt. ;-)

Part of the thing that helped Annika dominate was that she worked with Tiger on her short game and worked hard on her putting. She became a decent putter and short gamer by men's standards and yet by women's standards was AWESOME .

I was impressed though by how the women fared at Oakmont... but then again, the course was so much softer, shorter, and slower than it is for the men.

Augusta could very well eat them alive. Then again, the greens were slower and softer there this year as well... :-P

[clubchamp]

I'm just waiting to see how the back to back US opens work out at Pinehurst in 2014. They won't have that much time to make many adjustments to the course between the mens and the womens. I'm guessing either the men will be going lower than normal or the women will be shooting a tad higher than normal.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by clubchamp

I'm just waiting to see how the back to back US opens work out at Pinehurst in 2014. They won't have that much time to make many adjustments to the course between the mens and the womens. I'm guessing either the men will be going lower than normal or the women will be shooting a tad higher than normal.

True, but the changes - watering more and mowing the greens higher - don't require much change. Plus there's no rough at Pinehurst anymore... so that's all they need to and can do.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by iacas

True, but the changes - watering more and mowing the greens higher - don't require much change. Plus there's no rough at Pinehurst anymore... so that's all they need to and can do.

Moving the tees forward and putting most of the pins in accessible locations takes a second as well.

Clubchamp: Good point about Pinehurst hosting both sexes in 2014. That will be fun to watch.

[boogielicious]

Christie Kerr can putt.  But your right, statistically LPGA players don't putt as well, which surprises me.  That is the only part of golf that requires touch and not strength.

[ghalfaire]

I would watch. If the course is set up like the Masters however they will have a winner that is over par I suspect.  But why not?  They played St. Andrews OK so would like to see the LPGA on Augusta National.

[allin]

I can see this being a good thing for the LPGA. I am puzzled by the statements that courses were significantly adjusted for LPGA events. Is this assumed or documented fact? Obviously tees would have to be moved up. I believe that LPGA players could adjust to everything else. They would choose a strategy that kept them out of the long rough more often than male players. Certainly there is evidence that LPGA players do not putt as well as PGA players, but they are good and again would not take as much risk. There is no physical reason LPGA players cannot putt as well as men. I believe the male tradition of practice green competition and earlier emphasis on putting explains this difference. I do not believe the difference is as dramatic as is assumed. I would point to chipping as an area where there is a more dramatic difference. LPGA players don't appear to be able to hit the high spin shots and lob shots nearly as well as PGA players. But after adjusting for distance I bet there would be less than two strokes a round difference on identically prepared courses. That is certainly much better than I could do, add another 20 or more strokes for me. So yes I would probably watch. I suspect the strategies they would employ would benefit me more than PGA pros.

[GaijinGolfer]

It would be cool but it will never happen.  The people who run Augusta dont want women on their course.

[allin]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

It would be cool but it will never happen.  The people who run Augusta dont want women on their course.

I don't think that is really the issue, they demand control and as a bunch of mostly very rich successful dudes they get it.  If they feel it is theirs and the clubs best interest it will happen.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by boogielicious

Christie Kerr can putt.  But your right, statistically LPGA players don't putt as well, which surprises me.

She'd be an average putter at best on the PGA Tour.

Originally Posted by allin

I am puzzled by the statements that courses were significantly adjusted for LPGA events. Is this assumed or documented fact? Obviously tees would have to be moved up. I believe that LPGA players could adjust to everything else. They would choose a strategy that kept them out of the long rough more often than male players. Certainly there is evidence that LPGA players do not putt as well as PGA players, but they are good and again would not take as much risk. There is no physical reason LPGA players cannot putt as well as men.

Distance. Softer greens. Slower greens. Lower rough. Pins not as tucked.

There's not much else you can do, is there??? What's left? They hit it shorter so even at the same fairway width, they'll play wider...

It's documented fact. Women suck at putting. The putting games you mention might have something to do with it. Golf Digest did an article on it awhile ago...

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

It would be cool but it will never happen.  The people who run Augusta dont want women on their course.

Like the hundreds of women that play there every year???

[walk18]

While I wouldn't be against it, I sure as hell wouldn't watch it, it just wouldn't be interesting to me honestly.

[Lofty Lefty]

Originally Posted by iacas

It saddens me to say this, but women can't putt. ;-)

Part of the thing that helped Annika dominate was that she worked with Tiger on her short game and worked hard on her putting. She became a decent putter and short gamer by men's standards and yet by women's standards was AWESOME.

I was impressed though by how the women fared at Oakmont... but then again, the course was so much softer, shorter, and slower than it is for the men.

Augusta could very well eat them alive. Then again, the greens were slower and softer there this year as well... :-P

I still scratch my head at just how bad Michelle Wie is on the green.... But hey, maybe they can't putt because the courses they play are softer and slower?

No reason they couldn't set the course up to suit the women as you hinted at.

But why couldn't the ladies have their own maters anywhere? Find a course that would rival the individuality of Augusta, or perhaps build a new one? And then keep the mens tour off of it, and save it wholly for the Ladies Masters? - But that would be my second choice to having them play at Augusta.

[Pickerjohn]

I seem to remember an LPGA Tournament some years back played at Moss Creek Plantation

just off Hilton Head Island ( and its a gem of a course) and it was called something like the

Ladies Masters. The people at Augusta requested they drop the word Masters from the title

and they did. It only lasted a couple years.

On the original topic, there is one and only one Masters and it will remain that way.

I do attend an LPGA event yearly and enjoy it. I've watched the tee shot yardage increase dramatically

in the last 3 or 4 years, but as an earlier post stated they are a long way from PGA standard putting.

[joepro23]

Originally Posted by walk18

While I wouldn't be against it, I sure as hell wouldn't watch it, it just wouldn't be interesting to me honestly.

I agree with this. I just cannot get into women's pro golf. It does not matter where they are playing. It may look like their short games are good, but that is because their long games are so terrible in comparison. Over the years I have seen posts saying variations of the following line: "I like watching the women more because they play our kind of game."  Who wants to watch them play "our" game? Isn't that calling them out as playing as bad as amateur men? Also, they are not playing my game. I am grip and rip, they are bump and run. The current longest hitter on the LPGA is hitting the ball 265.5 avg. http://www.lpga.com/player_stats.aspx?mid=4&pid;=5 The next course they are playing is set up at just 6500 yards. Zzzzzzzzz

[allin]

Originally Posted by iacas

She'd be an average putter at best on the PGA Tour.

Distance. Softer greens. Slower greens. Lower rough. Pins not as tucked.

There's not much else you can do, is there??? What's left? They hit it shorter so even at the same fairway width, they'll play wider...

It's documented fact. Women suck at putting. The putting games you mention might have something to do with it. Golf Digest did an article on it awhile ago...

Like the hundreds of women that play there every year???

OK, but everyone just states it as fact.  No one quantifies in any reasonable manner.  How much softer and slower are the greens, how much shorter is the rough, pin placements? how is that quantified.  Are you taking this from some tournament set up guide or what?  The senior tour  sets up everything but its majors shorter, slower, shorter also.  Their set up guide clues you in to how much. In the last 5-7 years they have added some length and green speed, although rough is normally still shorter.  When no clear comparisons are made of how big the differences are it sounds more like a you throw like a girl put down then a reasoned comparison.