When Pros look like Amateurs

[FLOG4]

Average golfers play on courses that have green speeds and firmness that vary quite a bit. One day you play your buddies private course and the greens are stimped at 11.  A few days later you play your home course and they run at 8.5.....Week in week out you play various places and the green speeds and firmness vary quite a bit.  The PROS on the other hand have a management system of tour courses that regulate green speed every week.  They are very consistent.  EXCEPT when it's US Open week or right now an event like the Presidents Cup.  How good do you feel watching these guys look like you when they sometimes have no clue what to do with a putt?

Finally a course that requires thought to approach angles because their 150 yard wedge won't hold. They have to bounce shots in versus throwing them past and spinning em back.....I LOVE TO SEE THIS. How about you?

[michaeljames92]

Welcome to summer golf in Australia.

[RFetters]

When pros are struggling to just make pars, and when you have four ball play and par wins the hole, you know the course is playing tough.  In my opinion it was the wind creating more problems for the pros than the course.

[FLOG4]

  michaeljames92 said:

Originally Posted by michaeljames92

Welcome to summer golf in Australia.

It's only spring at this point.  Right? Like May in States. So that course gets much firmer....Yikes.

[Pope33]

It does stink being an amatuer and playing different greens every week (or round). But even the pros had to go through the same thing at some point in time in their careers.

I like watching the pros have to play different shots into some of these greens. I agree it gets a little boring watching them knock down every pin and spin it back. It's fun to see if they have these shots "in their bags".

[Grumpter]

Quote:

  FLOG4 said:

How good do you feel watching these guys look like you when they sometimes have no clue what to do with a putt?

Finally a course that requires thought to approach angles because their 150 yard wedge won't hold. They have to bounce shots in versus throwing them past and spinning em back.....I LOVE TO SEE THIS. How about you?

I hate it. Much in the same way I hate playing a course where they have pins tucked in an impossible spot. When it starts to become gimmicky and players keep getting penalized for good shots it does nothing for me. Nothing wrong with giving the professionals a challenge but some courses take it too far.

[sean_miller]

  FLOG4 said:

Originally Posted by FLOG4

Average golfers play on courses that have green speeds and firmness that vary quite a bit. One day you play your buddies private course and the greens are stimped at 11.  A few days later you play your home course and they run at 8.5.....Week in week out you play various places and the green speeds and firmness vary quite a bit.  The PROS on the other hand have a management system of tour courses that regulate green speed every week.  They are very consistent.  EXCEPT when it's US Open week or right now an event like the Presidents Cup.  How good do you feel watching these guys look like you when they sometimes have no clue what to do with a putt?

Finally a course that requires thought to approach angles because their 150 yard wedge won't hold. They have to bounce shots in versus throwing them past and spinning em back.....I LOVE TO SEE THIS. How about you?

I love it. Their skills and patience and creativity after a bad miss (whether it was a bad break or a bad swing) reminds how much game they have and how many ways there are to get the ball in the hole. I have no question that players who can excel in conditions like that (like most players on both teams basically) are the best in the world. Same goes for the Ryder cuppers. I doubt very many posters on this forum would have cracked the century mark yesterday.

[FLOG4]

  Grumpter said:

Originally Posted by Grumpter

Quote:

I hate it. Much in the same way I hate playing a course where they have pins tucked in an impossible spot. When it starts to become gimmicky and players keep getting penalized for good shots it does nothing for me. Nothing wrong with giving the professionals a challenge but some courses take it too far.

How else can you seperate top playing pros?  Push yardages over 8000?  I love the options created by many of these impossible holes.  Can't just fire a dart.  Par is a good score.  Yea Baby..

[MiniBlueDragon]

I just love watching interesting golf so for me difficult conditions are fantastic as it makes players think about what the better options are rather than "What yardage Mr Caddy? Done!"

[jamo]

I like the two extremes, watching them struggle to make par as well as pros gunning for 59.

[rustyredcab]

Love it because it is match play. All opponents play every hole in the same conditions because you are only playing against the guys in your group. It would be crazy unfair to have the wind and the firmness be such a big factor if you were playing against someone who played the hole four hours earlier with potentially very different conditions.

I think I read on this forum that par is just a number. Seems more correct than ever watching these guys struggle to make three on a 185 yard hole.

[FLOG4]

  rustyredcab said:

Originally Posted by rustyredcab

Love it because it is match play. All opponents play every hole in the same conditions because you are only playing against the guys in your group. It would be crazy unfair to have the wind and the firmness be such a big factor if you were playing against someone who played the hole four hours earlier with potentially very different conditions.

I think I read on this forum that par is just a number. Seems more correct than ever watching these guys struggle to make three on a 185 yard hole.

Great points.  Match Play is the key....Love when a pro puts his golden nugget in his pocket....

[FLOG4]

  jamo said:

Originally Posted by jamo

I like the two extremes, watching them struggle to make par as well as pros gunning for 59.

Agreed.  Chasing 59 is special.

[Kieran123]

I loved watch Mickelson 4 putt yesterday. The last 3 putts from within 5 feet.

Calgary courses vary quite a bit in my experience in the summer. Some are fast ( courses like Delacour ) and some are slow as hell ( Boulder Creek ).

I enjoy playing both. On the fast greens you really have to be on with your irons and sinking putts feels far more rewarding. Whereas on the slow you can be aggressive with the putter and can score well.

[Grumpter]

  FLOG4 said:

Originally Posted by FLOG4

How else can you seperate top playing pros?  Push yardages over 8000?  I love the options created by many of these impossible holes.  Can't just fire a dart.  Par is a good score.  Yea Baby..

4 Days of stroke play usually does a pretty good job of separating the players.

[sean_miller]

  Kieran123 said:

Originally Posted by Kieran123

I loved watch Mickelson 4 putt yesterday. The last 3 putts from within 5 feet.

Calgary courses vary quite a bit in my experience in the summer. Some are fast ( courses like Delacour ) and some are slow as hell ( Boulder Creek ).

I enjoy playing both. On the fast greens you really have to be on with your irons and sinking putts feels far more rewarding. Whereas on the slow you can be aggressive with the putter and can score well.

In one playoff round this year, on the first par 5 I'd left myself with about a 15 foot eagle putt that ended up being a side-door 12 footer for par. Yay me!! That green when uncut gets shaggy and grainy. Left the first putt 1/2 to the hole then went berzerk on the second putt and sent it sceaming over the cup. So on #14 from < 10 feet away (the only green on the course that had been cut due to frost) I rocketed my first putt almost off the green then it took me 3 more to get down.

I actually don't enjoy watching pros take > 3 putts. It's a bit too painful - even for players I don't care for.

[FLOG4]

  Grumpter said:

Originally Posted by Grumpter

4 Days of stroke play usually does a pretty good job of separating the players.

4 days of stroke play on a monster course rewards the long knockers.....It becomes all about the par 5's.  Tiger has been quoted as saying[ and this was a few years back ] The course I generally am playing is a par 68 while everybody else is playing par 72.  Meantime if its a course that isn't a monster it becomes a putting contest.  So I like watching these guys scratching their heads realizing "Can't get thar from har" Should of thought about that last shot.  Nicklaus always advised you play the hole backwards....Not forwards. JMHO

[JayMc]

I like to see them challenged and having to focus on every shot.  The greens at the PC are crazy fast.  The course isn't long or tight so that's the best way for the course organizers to make it tough.  If they get the rain that's forecast and the win lays a bit we could see a lot of birdies in Sunday's rounds.  After all, Els once shot a 60 there.