Unpopular opinions you have about golf?

[saevel25]

Playing and promoting ready golf. 

[mvmac]

11 hours ago, StefanUrkel said:

Who in the world has said that about Mickelson?

People who think he's only been successful because of his short game. They're out there 

 

[iacas]

13 hours ago, mvmac said:

Scotty Cameron putters are overrated.

Bent grass greens are overrated.

Tiger Woods doesn't and never has had the chipping/pitching yips.

Phil Mickelson is a great ball striker.

Ben Hogan's Five Fundamentals book is not a good book to read if you want to get better at golf.

I just want to steal those. And add…

• Some people lack the skills necessary to break 90 even with a reasonable amount of effort, training, etc.
• If you're going to play the game competitively beyond the age of about 9, learn and know the damn rules.
• Instructors (within my arena, not publicly) get emotionally attached to information far too frequently.
• Golfers could practice better in less time if they had the self control to do it.
• I like enforced (reasonable) dress codes. No jeans. No t-shirts.

On 12/4/2016 at 4:22 PM, ScouseJohnny said:

2./ I can hit a draw or a fade in defiance of the "new" ball flight laws. Pros taught that way for years, it worked, golfers just didn't fully comprehend how they were doing what they were doing. What the young Assistant Pro in the bad check pants taught me all those years ago still actually works. The "new" explanation of the physics may be accurate, that doesn't mean the "old" instruction was entirely wrong.

No, it was pretty much wrong re: the ball flight and its causes. You've just found a situation where two wrongs made a right: they got the physics wrong, and your body didn't do what you were telling it to do. That, or you mis-hit the ball.

[Hoganman1]

I guess I'm a golf purist. I walk and carry unless I'm forced to take a cart. I don't use a range finder. I don't drink alcohol while playing. I do not like scrambles (captain's choice). I think cell phones should not be allowed on a golf courses. I don't think music should not be allowed on a golf course. I like that proper golf attire is required on most courses.  I like that most courses have  and enforce "pace of play" rules. The rules I think should be changed are stroke and distance rules mainly to improve the pace of play. I really enjoy watching the four majors, the Players, and the Ryder and President's Cups. I could live without the FedEx Cup. While club and ball technology has helped me stay competitive well into my sixties I think it has hurt the game overall.

All that being said, I know I'm a bit of a dinosaur and a lot of what I don't like is not going to change. I still love the game and will continue to play as long as I can. ( Hey, I can always take a cart)

[gatsby47]

I too love the game and intend to play forever. A problem with my chronic right knee forced me to ride for the month of October this year.  But I play with a push cart and try and walk as much as I can.  I am a wee bit slower than my partners but not so as to hold them up and we, as a foursome still manage to get around 18 under 4 hours.  I enjoy a weekly scramble but I enjoy every bit as much the quiet solitude of a summer evening's 9 holes. And of Hoganman's observations,  I concur!

[dave s]

My biggest is simple:  "Any round over 3 hours is SLOW golf."  My take: You're outside, the weather is (usually) great, golf courses are beautiful ... ENJOY YOUR ROUND and stop worrying about not being able to play SPEED GOLF on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

dave

[Hoganman1]

14 hours ago, gatsby47 said:

I too love the game and intend to play forever. A problem with my chronic right knee forced me to ride for the month of October this year.  But I play with a push cart and try and walk as much as I can.  I am a wee bit slower than my partners but not so as to hold them up and we, as a foursome still manage to get around 18 under 4 hours.  I enjoy a weekly scramble but I enjoy every bit as much the quiet solitude of a summer evening's 9 holes. And of Hoganman's observations,  I concur!

I should apologize. Of course one should ride if they have a some physical reason. I sometimes play with a guy that has COPD. He has an oxygen tank on his cart so he can get through 18 holes. Also, he is a single digit handicapper on a 6400 yard course.

Also so you're spot on about those 9 hole summer rounds late in the evening when the course is empty. I think that must be how golf in heaven is.

[Blackjack Don]

Probably not unpopular, but I'll say it anyway: Golf telecasts need more humor. I've seen those guys out there laughing their butts off. Golf needs to market more fun, less dogma and seriousness and shit. Needles are good.

[Blackjack Don]

Too more--

1. Golf is science, not religion.

Somehow golf becomes a religious practice to some people. They get weird when you talk science to them. Maybe its all the whispering they used to do on golf telecasts, or the golf clap.

2. There is one way to swing. 

If you believe in science--physics to be exact--there is only way swing. The right one. We even have the technology that proves it. I was at a golf shop and the tech told me I needed to be X tenth of a percentage better. Pro are X% in deviation from the correct swing path, he said. Seriously? It's that close? No wonder golf is HARD! 

Three--three opinions

3. Pros egos too often get in the way of what they are trying to do.

If I could afford lessons--and I believe one must not stop if one starts with a good teacher--I'd have a very difficult time finding one. Because they all have to put their own stamp on what they teach. So you get a hundred pros with a hundred ideas of how to hit a golf ball. Those at the top seem to want to be the one who wants to be The One who figured it all out. I believe with all my heart their intentions are in my best interest, but if he or she gets anything wrong because they believe, rather than have numbers (aka proof), then I'm going to practice and become even worse than I am now, setting me back as I would have to break the mind-body link--also known as muscle memory. I haven't swung a tennis racket in over a decade, but I'll bet good money I could walk onto a court right now and hit a backhand up the line. How can I be sure a pro any good at all, actually, because,

Fact not opinion: There is no sanctioning body that tells me this man is certified as a teaching professional.

Or am I wrong?

[Hacker James]

@Blackjack Don  OT, but what do you think of the courses at Red Rock i.e. Arroyo Seco and the other?

[Braivo]

18 hours ago, Hoganman1 said:

Also so you're spot on about those 9 hole summer rounds late in the evening when the course is empty. I think that must be how golf in heaven is.

The most enjoyable rounds I have every played were solo on a summer evening. Religious experience, indeed. 

[Blackjack Don]

40 minutes ago, Braivo said:

The most enjoyable rounds I have every played were solo on a summer evening. Religious experience, indeed. 

That I can relate to. I'm big on religious experiences, I just don't argue them.

[iacas]

10 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

2. There is one way to swing. 

If you believe in science--physics to be exact--there is only way swing. The right one. We even have the technology that proves it. I was at a golf shop and the tech told me I needed to be X tenth of a percentage better. Pro are X% in deviation from the correct swing path, he said. Seriously? It's that close? No wonder golf is HARD! 

…

Or am I wrong?

He's not right. Pros play fades, draws, even hooks (Billy Casper) and slices (Goydos, Lietzke). Their AoAs vary from nearly 0 to 7 or 8° downward with the same iron… etc.

There's no one way to swing the club.

There are, however, five commonalities shared by the game's best players.

[DrvFrShow]

Everyone has a miss. If you don't have the time and money to correct it, learn to play it.

You won't break 80 unless you practice a lot.

If you don't have the time or money to practice a lot and get quality instruction, or are a natural, you're gonna suck. Make peace with it.

It's okay to play at a 20+ handicap. Enjoy the sunshine.

Using body "english" to guide your slice back onto the fairway doesn't work.

 

[inthehole]

19 hours ago, Braivo said:

The most enjoyable rounds I have every played were solo on a summer evening. Religious experience, indeed. 

me too ... my favorite golf is when I have "bought" the course & have the place to myself and my thoughts.   

[NCGolfer]

You are only going to get so good playing muni courses.

This might be a bit of a generalization but I say it with experience.  I grew up playing very average public/muni golf courses and grew my game significantly playing 27 or 36 every day for two summers.  When I had the opportunity to play private courses with fast, undulating greens I would get absolutely destroyed.  I could adapt after a handful of holes but inevitably I would give back 3-4 shots on or around the green.

I still think this holds true today as an adult and someone who wants to continually refine their game.  Sure, I’d much rather be a great ball striker than putter, but unless you put yourself on fast/difficult greens with regularity I believe you are at a disadvantage.  Players from those courses learn where to position their ball and manage/recognize speed and bead much better.

When we have interclub matches, and there are evenly matched players, I’ve seen it time and time again where the player from the course with faster greens will kill the other player at their home course.  When it is switched and they go to the public/muni course, the match is closer.

This isn’t to be critical of public or muni courses.  Like I said, I grew up on them and wouldn’t have been able to play the game if we didn’t have them.  I could have also gone into other examples other than putting/short game but didn't due to time.  All I’m saying is that if you want to keep advancing your game you need to put yourself in difficult conditions.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body - Seneca

 

[mcanadiens]

15 minutes ago, NCGolfer said:

When I had the opportunity to play private courses with fast, undulating greens I would get absolutely destroyed.  I could adapt after a handful of holes but inevitably I would give back 3-4 shots on or around the green.

This is a bit of a struggle for me because my home courses' greens are extremely slow. That said, we have some public courses here (usually more expensive ones) that rival the speed of private greens. I just can't afford to play on them very often.

 

[Patch]

While golfing the other day I heard a golfer express the opinion that most of better instructors are on one of the pro circuits, which makes it harder for amateurs to find qualiy instructiors for themselves.

Pretty sure that's an unpopular opinion in some circles. Heck, I have given that same opinion some thought my self.