Big Break Florida (2014) Thread

[CarlSpackler]

That may be true.  It's also completely irrelevant.  Few of us are trying to make it on a professional golf tour, and none of us is being featured on a television series because of our golf skills.

I see them making birdies on tough holes when the pressure is on and some clutch putts. I've seen them stick some wedge shots and even hole some. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but that's not talent?

[Valleygolfer]

http://www.symetratour.com/golf/tournaments/symetra/florida-s-natural-charity-classic/full-results.aspx The Symetra Tour earlier this year with the largest purse so far had Shannon and other Big Breakers. Jackie was tied for 2nd. Shannon disappointed (I liked her). She even lost to Emily Talley. Stephanie Kaniyer and Malorie were there. Taylor Collins too (missed cut). Mary missed the cut. I didn't see Sadena.

Mary beat Sara Brown...

[bobbob]

I see them making birdies on tough holes when the pressure is on and some clutch putts. I've seen them stick some wedge shots and even hole some. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but that's not talent?

"tough holes"

So far, they have played or been on about ten par 4's this season, and the longest one we've seen was 348 yards. The average distance was like 320 yards. I am quite familiar with the courses they are playing, and they are playing the shortest kids tees on the easiest holes on the golf course. An 18 hole course from their tees would be like 5500 yards. Plus, Golf Channel is known to fudge the yardages, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it play even shorter than that. Keep in mind the course is only 6500 yards from the tips, and 6500 is the average LPGA course yardage. They are playing the forward tees.

Yes, there is *some* talent, but just not very much of it. I'll be honest, the golf is overall better than the golf on Big Break Atlantis, but it is still very far from decent. The disparity between the good players and the bad players was just way too big, making it very easy for viewers to predict the results.

[CarlSpackler]

Time will tell how well they stand up in the real world.

[RandallT]

Got to be accurate and she isn't the only one. On the earlier challenge Mary hit a 5h from the tee of that just over 300 yd par 4 and still had an 8i in. She is one of the longer hitters. They were thinking Sadena killed it on the same hole and she was hitting full wedge after "killing" a 3w in the neighborhood of 200ish. These girls aren't long.

http://www.symetratour.com/stats/stats-detail.aspx?q=avg%20driving%20dist&y;=2014&p;=1

Symetra Tour driving stats for 2014. Sadena leads with 265yards, 5 yards beyond the next player. It looks like about 150 players are ranked with the 70th ranked player at 220 or so. That'll give Sadena a big edge with 45 yards more per drive on every hole, as long as her accuracy is decent. Her putting rank is quite bad on the tour, so maybe that's her downfall so far this year. Maybe that'll be what bites her in the show? We will see.

[newtogolf]

http://www.symetratour.com/stats/stats-detail.aspx?q=avg%20driving%20dist&y;=2014&p;=1

Symetra Tour driving stats for 2014. Sadena leads with 265yards, 5 yards beyond the next player. It looks like about 150 players are ranked with the 70th ranked player at 220 or so. That'll give Sadena a big edge with 45 yards more per drive on every hole, as long as her accuracy is decent. Her putting rank is quite bad on the tour, so maybe that's her downfall so far this year. Maybe that'll be what bites her in the show? We will see.

Based on the one long drive competition they had the 2nd week, Sadena is about 20 yards longer than anyone else on the show.

[bobbob]

http://www.symetratour.com/stats/stats-detail.aspx?q=avg%20driving%20dist&y;=2014&p;=1

Symetra Tour driving stats for 2014. Sadena leads with 265yards, 5 yards beyond the next player. It looks like about 150 players are ranked with the 70th ranked player at 220 or so. That'll give Sadena a big edge with 45 yards more per drive on every hole, as long as her accuracy is decent. Her putting rank is quite bad on the tour, so maybe that's her downfall so far this year. Maybe that'll be what bites her in the show? We will see.

The driving stats are not very accurate at all, if you know how they work....... (They are only based off of 2 drives/round and if you happen to mis-hit it or decide to hit a 3w or hybrid instead of driver, your yardages will be lower.) They only thing this tells us about Sadena is that she is aggresive and hits driver often. I really don't think Mary's driving distance (using a driver) is really 217 yards, Shannon Fish's is 216 Yards, Taylor Collins's is 195 yards, Lili Alvarez's is 182 yards, and Renee's is 179 Yards. (Yes, 179 YARDS) These statistics would be ridiculous if you used them to actually use them to predict one's driving distance. Renee's actual driving distance is probably around 230, she just happened to hit a shorter club on the holes that they were measuring the distances on.

Another example that clearly shows the problems with judging a player's distance by driving average statistics is Anya Alvarez, who is splitting her time between the LPGA and Symetra tours. She is 1st in LPGA driving distance (no joke) at 279 Yards, while she only ranks 55 th in Symetra driving distance with 224 Yards. It is impossible her distances actually vary that much because they are supposed to be an "average". She probably hit a shorter club in the Symetra events when they measured distances, while she hit driver in the LPGA event(s).

Thus, it is absolutely ridiculous that you guys are using these stats to judge players' distances.

[MS256]

The driving stats are not very accurate at all, if you know how they work....... (They are only based off of 2 drives/round and if you happen to mis-hit it or decide to hit a 3w or hybrid instead of driver, your yardages will be lower.) They only thing this tells us about Sadena is that she is aggresive and hits driver often. I really don't think Mary's driving distance (using a driver) is really 217 yards, Shannon Fish's is 216 Yards, Taylor Collins's is 195 yards, Lili Alvarez's is 182 yards, and Renee's is 179 Yards. (Yes, 179 YARDS) These statistics would be ridiculous if you used them to actually use them to predict one's driving distance. Renee's actual driving distance is probably around 230, she just happened to hit a shorter club on the holes that they were measuring the distances on.

Wow! That's surprising to me no matter what she's hitting off of the tee. That's taking "laying up" to a ridiculous extreme.

[iacas]

The driving stats are not very accurate at all, if you know how they work....... (They are only based off of 2 drives/round and if you happen to mis-hit it or decide to hit a 3w or hybrid instead of driver, your yardages will be lower.) They only thing this tells us about Sadena is that she is aggresive and hits driver often. I really don't think Mary's driving distance (using a driver) is really 217 yards, Shannon Fish's is 216 Yards, Taylor Collins's is 195 yards, Lili Alvarez's is 182 yards, and Renee's is 179 Yards. (Yes, 179 YARDS) These statistics would be ridiculous if you used them to actually use them to predict one's driving distance. Renee's actual driving distance is probably around 230, she just happened to hit a shorter club on the holes that they were measuring the distances on.

Another example that clearly shows the problems with judging a player's distance by driving average statistics is Anya Alvarez, who is splitting her time between the LPGA and Symetra tours. She is 1st in LPGA driving distance (no joke) at 279 Yards, while she only ranks 55 th in Symetra driving distance with 224 Yards. It is impossible her distances actually vary that much because they are supposed to be an "average". She probably hit a shorter club in the Symetra events when they measured distances, while she hit driver in the LPGA event(s).

Thus, it is absolutely ridiculous that you guys are using these stats to judge players' distances.

A) Driving distances are measured on longer holes where people are likely to hit driver.

B) She hit some kind of hybrid from about 150 earlier in the show, did she not? I don't care if it was a 5-hybrid - that's short.

[RandallT]

The driving stats are not very accurate at all, if you know how they work....... (They are only based off of 2 drives/round and if you happen to mis-hit it or decide to hit a 3w or hybrid instead of driver, your yardages will be lower.) They only thing this tells us about Sadena is that she is aggresive and hits driver often. I really don't think Mary's driving distance (using a driver) is really 217 yards, Shannon Fish's is 216 Yards, Taylor Collins's is 195 yards, Lili Alvarez's is 182 yards, and Renee's is 179 Yards. (Yes, 179 YARDS) These statistics would be ridiculous if you used them to actually use them to predict one's driving distance. Renee's actual driving distance is probably around 230, she just happened to hit a shorter club on the holes that they were measuring the distances on.

Another example that clearly shows the problems with judging a player's distance by driving average statistics is Anya Alvarez, who is splitting her time between the LPGA and Symetra tours. She is 1st in LPGA driving distance (no joke) at 279 Yards, while she only ranks 55 th in Symetra driving distance with 224 Yards. It is impossible her distances actually vary that much because they are supposed to be an "average". She probably hit a shorter club in the Symetra events when they measured distances, while she hit driver in the LPGA event(s).

Thus, it is absolutely ridiculous that you guys are using these stats to judge players' distances.

Interesting stuff, actually. You have an excellent point that the numbers can be meaningless at times. You made me look at the driving stats closer, and it looks like 2012/2013 were similar in that the leader had 270+yards and the median was around 240ish.  This year to date, the leader (Sadena) is 265 and the median is around 220ish. Something is odd this year, clearly.

Anyway, even if the numbers are low, I'd think that they are low for everyone. I don't know, but that stands to reason. Perhaps it depends which events each players played this year, and some events were tougher for driving than others. Hopefully, that will even out over the season.

I spot-checked Sadena, Jackie, Shannon, Renee, and Mary.  Sadena oddly hits slightly longer than last year and is ranked higher, but all the others measure lower yardages but are ranked higher. Odd.

Sadena    2014 265yds/rank 1        2013 261yds/rank 6

Jackie      2014 225yds/rank 53      2013 239yds/rank 92

Shannon  2014 217yds/rank 77 ....2013 236yds/rank 113

Renee      2014 179yds/rank 143   2013 214yds/rank 149

Mary         2014 218yds/rank 73     2013 237yds/rank 98

So I see a pattern. Even if it's not "accurate," I can conclude that Sadena hits further than her competitors, but her accuracy isn't great and her putting has been statistically worse on the Symetra tour. If that's ridiculous, then call me ridiculous.

For what it's worth, I think the Symetra Putts/GIR stat is backwards! The leader has 155 putts in 74 GIR, for a Putts/GIR of 0.477. That's not accurate :-)  They might check that formula. I looked at the LPGA site which appears to be the same interface, and they calculate Putts/GIR correctly. Inbee Park led 2013 with 1895 putts in 1097 GIR for a Putts/GIR of 1.727.

[bobbob]

A) Driving distances are measured on longer holes where people are likely to hit driver.

B) She hit some kind of hybrid from about 150 earlier in the show, did she not? I don't care if it was a 5-hybrid - that's short.

A) Yes, but that still doesn't account for the big gaps like Anya's..... And does Renee really drive the ball 179 yards? Does Lili Alvarez drive it 182?

B) Sure, that's pretty short, but Big Break fudges with the yardages very often and I wouldn't be surprised if the yardage was actually not 150. And even so, someone who hits a 5-h 150 would still drive it further than 179, probably around 210, 215. I'm not saying Renee's a long hitter, but I don't think shes 90 yards shorter than Sadena.

Interesting stuff, actually. You have an excellent point that the numbers can be meaningless at times. You made me look at the driving stats closer, and it looks like 2012/2013 were similar in that the leader had 270+yards and the median was around 240ish.  This year to date, the leader (Sadena) is 265 and the median is around 220ish. Something is odd this year, clearly.

Anyway, even if the numbers are low, I'd think that they are low for everyone. I don't know, but that stands to reason. Perhaps it depends which events each players played this year, and some events were tougher for driving than others. Hopefully, that will even out over the season.

I spot-checked Sadena, Jackie, Shannon, Renee, and Mary.  Sadena oddly hits slightly longer than last year and is ranked higher, but all the others measure lower yardages but are ranked higher. Odd.

Sadena    2014 265yds/rank 1        2013 261yds/rank 6

Jackie      2014 225yds/rank 53      2013 239yds/rank 92

Shannon  2014 217yds/rank 77 ....2013 236yds/rank 113

Renee      2014 179yds/rank 143   2013 214yds/rank 149

Mary         2014 218yds/rank 73     2013 237yds/rank 98

So I see a pattern. Even if it's not "accurate," I can conclude that Sadena hits further than her competitors, but her accuracy isn't great and her putting has been statistically worse on the Symetra tour. If that's ridiculous, then call me ridiculous.

For what it's worth, I think the Symetra Putts/GIR stat is backwards! The leader has 155 putts in 74 GIR, for a Putts/GIR of 0.477. That's not accurate :-)  They might check that formula. I looked at the LPGA site which appears to be the same interface, and they calculate Putts/GIR correctly. Inbee Park led 2013 with 1895 putts in 1097 GIR for a Putts/GIR of 1.727.

Yeah, Sadena is longer than her competitors, but not by much, maybe 20 yards longer than Jackie/Mary/Shannon and 40 yards longer than Renee. I think the stats from 2013 are probably a better indicator of actual driving distances. This year maybe they messed up with stats or maybe at a particular tournament that Jackie/Shannon/Renee/Mary played but Sadena did not they gave all the players "0" or a drive or something.....

And lol at the putts for GIR stats. They don't know what they're doing.....

And is anyone following this week at the Symetra tourney? I know Jackie, Renee, Sadena, and Mary are playing, along with quite a few from past seasons.

[RandallT]

...This year maybe they messed up with stats or maybe at a particular tournament that Jackie/Shannon/Renee/Mary played but Sadena did not they gave all the players "0" or a drive or something.....

And lol at the putts for GIR stats. They don't know what they're doing.....

And is anyone following this week at the Symetra tourney? I know Jackie, Renee, Sadena, and Mary are playing, along with quite a few from past seasons.

LOL re: their possible mess-up with driving stats. Based on the GIR stuff, you may be right!  They actually have everyone ranked TOTALLY backwards in the putts/GIR.  The worst Putts/GIR player has a rank of #1.  The best has a rank of 140+ or something. That's pretty funny. I'll shoot them an email to let them know their formula is wrong.

I just created a thread for the Symetra tourney since it's a little OT here, and I think I enjoy looking at the old Big Breakers compete. Thread here:

[Dave2512]

For all the crap Emily Talley got she seems to be playing better than most of the BB girls.

[bobbob]

For all the crap Emily Talley got she seems to be playing better than most of the BB girls.

Emily Talley is actually a decent player on the Symetra tour, she has had far better results than just about every Big Breaker currently playing on the Symetra tour, maybe except for Jackie. She seems to be one of those players who doesn't handle pressure very well though, her play on Big Break was very sub-par although her team scraped away with victory because Doleman just downright didn't know how to play golf.

Kind of reminds me of Rick Cochran, actually. Rick is actually having some success on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica--he has had three second place finishes ( in 150-player fields ) in like 5 tournaments.

[clutchshot]

I think we are focusing too much on distance, the LPGA players don't hit as far in general and their courses are set up much shorter as well. GIR is extremely important as well as accuracy. I have been watching LPGA a lot lately and these ladies consistently hit fairways unlike their male counter parts.

[Golfingdad]

Small sample size with no details, however: on 10th hole today in LPGA tourney, Stacy Lewis and Lydia ko both teed off with driver, ko into the fairway and Lewis I to the bunker, and both had about 150 left for their approaches on a 370 yard hole. It looked straight, not much in the way of elevation or wind.

[RandallT]

Check out Mary's performance this weekend in a real tournament!

http://thesandtrap.com/t/74105/symetra-tour-catch-all-thread#post_982158

She's edging out Jackie after 36 holes. 18 more tomorrow. Sadena and Renee missed the cut. I must admit I did not see this in her. Apparently, she is not all bluster. For the past 36 holes, she has brought more game than her BB competitors.

[RFKFREAK]

Check out Mary's performance this weekend in a real tournament! [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/t/74105/symetra-tour-catch-all-thread#post_982158]http://thesandtrap.com/t/74105/symetra-tour-catch-all-thread#post_982158[/URL] She's edging out Jackie after 36 holes. 18 more tomorrow. Sadena and Renee missed the cut. I must admit I did not see this in her. Apparently, she is not all bluster. For the past 36 holes, she has brought more game than her BB competitors.

Sample size much?