2013 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Discussion Thread

[boogielicious]

Great Post Beach!  I wondered how they played a practice round.

[Golfingdad]

Above and beyond Beach!  Thanks, that's awesome info.  Totally agree about their swings, and how freakishly good they are.

Like I said before, I have been to several pro tournaments before.  The things that I most remember are specific shots that guys hit, totally inconsequential to the tournament itself but to be that close and see what they could do was just jaw dropping.  One in particular:  Freddie Couples hitting a layup from the right rough on South #13 several years ago.  You could barely see the ball, figured he was gonna hack it out as best as he could, and he took a typical "breezy" Freddie swing and rocketed that thing 180 yards down into the fairway like the rough wasn't even there.

Thanks again for the great info!  Sounds like I need to skip out on the actual tournament next time and go to the practice rounds.

Or maybe we should try Riviera in a few weeks!?!?!?

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

(8.) These pros - their swings are freakishly good.  When I'm watching them in person, they make the swing look so effortless.  Their heads are steady, they look nice and balanced.  It is really a work of art how these guys play the game.  And watching them play on a course like Torrey Pines... Wow.  I'm going to make this an annual thing and go check these guys out when they come through San Diego.

Their swings are good eh? This is what I thought as well after my first PGA Tour event I went to.  It was also during their practice rounds and the one thing I noticed the most is how HIGH these guys hit their long irons!  Did you notice the same thing?

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by boogielicious

Great Post Beach!  I wondered how they played a practice round.

Yeah, I've never been to a practice round before... Only the actual tournament days.  And that was when I was in High School - and didn't really care as much about the swing.  So it was awesome to see these guys up close and look at their geometries.

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Or maybe we should try Riviera in a few weeks!?!?!?

Hahha, I definitely wouldn't mind checking it out.  Lets talk.

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

Their swings are good eh? This is what I thought as well after my first PGA Tour event I went to.  It was also during their practice rounds and the one thing I noticed the most is how HIGH these guys hit their long irons!  Did you notice the same thing?

Absolutely!  They were off the charts good.  I was definitely amazed at how they hit their longer irons, hybrids and woods off the deck... And many took no divot whatsoever.  Just picked it clean.  Their ball just rips through the air.

The other thing Pakoh and I were talking about is all the different shapes and sizes these guys come in.  That is the thing that is awesome about golf... There are so many different body types.  But they all can hit it well and score.

[RPMPIRE]

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

Their swings are good eh? This is what I thought as well after my first PGA Tour event I went to.  It was also during their practice rounds and the one thing I noticed the most is how HIGH these guys hit their long irons!  Did you notice the same thing?

The first time I saw a PGA pro hit the ball was at the 2009 President's Cup here in San Francisco. The first day, the spectator's area behind the driving range was pretty close that you can talk to the golfers. Most of them warmed up with wedges which naturally went pretty high. But when I saw them switch to long irons, 3 woods, and driver, it looks like they went as high as their wedges. I feel like the peak height of each shot was the same. Right in front of me at the time was Adam Scott (when he was struggling before he switch to his broom stick) and he was hitting I believe a 6 iron and it just towered over the tress. He was also having problems with a pull hook, but I guess he was getting used to the new (at the time) 710MB irons. Pretty amazing how effortless, how high, and how far these guys hit even if it was just practice shots at the driving range. Saw some celebrities there too - Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, Barry Bonds*, etc.

[Beachcomber]

Sneds putting - I love his short putting stroke.

Vijay Driver - Posterior - the old man can still crank it.  His caddy was giving him a 285 carry number on this Par 5, 6th Hole, South Course.

Kyle Stanley - he was hitting some beautiful shots and chipping/rolling the ball well.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him do well this week.

Stewart Cink working on his chipping - he was getting instruction from his swing coach and Caddy was observing - he was trying to 'accelerate through the ball'.

Jonas Blixt approach shot

Jin Park - just signed an apparrel contract with Bert Lamar from illiac golf

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151377368744399&set;=a.178760739398.121813.177183479398&type;=1&permPage;=1

I've seen Bert talking about his new minimalist carry stand bag - and I thought it looked pretty cool.

Mvmac, I had some video of Park talking about 'banking' the right foot.  But my damn fat fingers didn't record it right and the video/audio was messed up so I unfortunately can't share it.  But he was talking about S&T; and Grant Waite and how they teach to bank or roll the right foot.  It was fun to listen to.

Bill Haas and Harris English playing together...

Vijay and his caddie talking numbers after his tee shots on #6.

Ryo and his 'handlers'... He traveled in a pack.  He literally had like 20 people following his every move.  I'm guessing some where family and friends, but many looked to be working for him.

Like one guy carried Ryo's Orange Whip.

I was thinking this was Hunter Mahan's bag... And his wife texting beside it?? But I never saw Hunter.  So I'm not sure who this is??  I like that Ping staff bag though.

Charlie Wie hitting on the range, and Robert Garrigus walking in... Garrigus was hitting bombs that were nearly reaching the opposite end of the range where Tiger and Fowler (and others) were hitting.  Oh and that is my boy Ben Curtis hitting on the right (lots of fades).

Here is Bads after I threw his errant tee shot ball back to his caddy.  Bads got a nice little chuckle out of my nice lie comment.

I had to get a hair shot of Charlie Hoffman.  Those goldie locks are beautious.

Congrats to the PGA, Farmers Insurance, Torrey Pines and San Diego.  Hope the weather holds up and we have a good week of tournament golf.

Miscellaneous photos of the course(s)...

John Daly and Pat Perez - talking smack to the guys following along with them.

Funny side note, a guy came walking up to Daly with like 4 different fairway woods and shafts... And Daly took a couple of swings with a few of them and then handed it to his Caddy.  When you're on tour, I guess they bring you a club when you need it. LOL

Bads with his caddy talking over the distance to the pin.  He lined up with a closed stance - like he was going to try and hit a draw off of a downhill - ball below his feet stance.  And he hit a huge push fade.  Oops.

We found Bubba!  Too bad it was on 18 - and he was putting.

Stuart Appleby and his caddy... I was impressed with his caddy.  He seemed to have it locked and loaded on distances and what club to hit.  Moreso than many of the other caddies he seemed to be on top of everything.

Here's Stuart's bag at the next tee Par 3...  He was rocking the X-Hot driver and fairways.  And the Razr-X irons along with the new Odyssey Versa putter.  Pretty a brand new set of sticks for 2013.

Fowler and DJ hanging out and putting together.

Sneds hard at work...

Short Par 4 to start.

[Golfingdad]

Well done Beach!  Great photos and notes!  Wish I could have made it!!

(That's a lot of exclamation points!!!) ;)

[Rfordeagle]

Phenominal!

[Beachcomber]

I'm thinking... Next year I'm going to go and take my tripod and just set it up on one of the par 3's.  And just take DTL or Face On swings of all the guys who come through that hole.  Would be cool to have better swing videos.  Tuesday was definitely a cool day to go... Free parking, free admission.  The only thing we had to pay for was food and drink.

[Golfingdad]

And they are ok with people snapping pics during practice rounds? Even during their swings? I think next time I go I'm bringing the slr and my telephoto lens for some nice stills. Your experience has me fired up to go to practice round day next time I can make a tourney!

[clarkeycats]

Awesome pictures and descriptions, thanks for sharing. Will certainly have to get to a practise round in the future.

[colin007]

i hate you Beachcomber.

[rehmwa]

Quote:

The other thing Pakoh and I were talking about is all the different shapes and sizes these guys come in.  That is the thing that is awesome about golf... There are so many different body types.  But they all can hit it well and score.

HOWEVER - it's also great to see the very strong focus on fitness we're seeing in the new crop of players - there is hope that (professional) golf can someday be considered a sport, and not just an activity.  Players can be fit and still come in different sizes and shapes - that's what is awesome - when they do everything they can to be the best and not just coast.  Hopefully, we are past the days when some slob with his belly hanging out over his belt (or hers) can hope to win without putting in the real effort those that take it seriously do.

[Chas]

Looking forward to a good day at Torrey.  It will be cool (for SoCal) and might even rain a bit - who cares?  Pity Rory won't be there but otherwise it's a strong field.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

And they are ok with people snapping pics during practice rounds? Even during their swings? I think next time I go I'm bringing the slr and my telephoto lens for some nice stills. Your experience has me fired up to go to practice round day next time I can make a tourney!

First, there wasn't many spectators.  You can see from the course photos... It was pretty bare.  So you could get very close to these guys on some of the tee boxes.  They did have ropes up, so I couldn't walk right up to them... But you definitely could get close enough to take some good shots.  Unfortunately, I was just using my iPhone 4 camera which is pretty lame.  So the pics aren't that great.  And I had my phone on silent, so they couldn't hear me taking pics/video.

I'd imagine that if you had a camera that made noises, and you were taking photos or video during their swing, they might say something?  But again, they were pretty laid back and didn't seem to care what we did in and around them (people moving, etc.).

[Pakoh]

Originally Posted by rehmwa

HOWEVER - it's also great to see the very strong focus on fitness we're seeing in the new crop of players - there is hope that (professional) golf can someday be considered a sport, and not just an activity.  Players can be fit and still come in different sizes and shapes - that's what is awesome - when they do everything they can to be the best and not just coast.  Hopefully, we are past the days when some slob with his belly hanging out over his belt (or hers) can hope to win without putting in the real effort those that take it seriously do.

funny... cuz when these guys are far away they all look like Jason Dufner!

I swear at least 7 times Beach said "that looks like Dufner", to which i replied " i think he is playing in the middle east right now"

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Pakoh

funny... cuz when these guys are far away they all look like Jason Dufner!

I swear at least 7 times Beach said "that looks like Dufner", to which i replied " i think he is playing in the middle east right now"

LOL... True statement!  I wanted to see Dufner with a world class dip in.  Unfortunately, he wasn't there.

But, but, BUT!!!  I did not say that when we saw Mr. John Daly from about 300yds away, now did I!? I guess one could say he is easy to spot wearing those Loud Mouth threads??

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

The other thing Pakoh and I were talking about is all the different shapes and sizes these guys come in.  That is the thing that is awesome about golf... There are so many different body types.  But they all can hit it well and score.

Speaking of this, I saw Colt Knost on "On The Range" last night.  The thing that struck me was that his swing looked ... [no offense to him because he's a world class professional, so I'm only comparing to the other pros swings] ... amateur-ish.  He's obviously got the keys, so I'm not knocking him, but it is the least glamorous swing I've seen from a pro in awhile.  Most noticeably, a pretty severely bent left arm at the top of the backswing.

They talked with him about swing changes he needed to make to get his driver distance up because he had a -4 attack angle.  (me too!)  By getting that angle up to +0.5 or so, I believe they said, he has added 15 yards of carry distance.  Nice!

Somewhere down the road I think I've got to start working on that as well ... but for now I've got bigger fish to fry.

Oh, and regarding the actual tournament ... I said last year during the Tiger V. Rory poll that Tiger would win 5 times this year, (among other things ... http://thesandtrap.com/t/62054/bet-on-2013-tiger-vs-rory/0_30#post_768076 ) so why not start this week?  Brandel Chamblee agrees with me! ;)