Mr.Buckethead

If you listen to the actual audio of Westwood you might find that his comments are not as harsh as they are when put into print. He is talking in a joking tone and making light of things. I think this is just an example of the press creating a controversy.

-Americans are just quick to pick out who the .....well, the word rhymes with pick ......is. -I could hear the roars from the front nine from my front porch. It really was a spine-tingling sound. Kinda disappointed that I couldn't hear the victory roars though. -With all the pounds Westwood makes you would think he would have better teeth.

I walked the course during 2 of the practice rounds. It was in amazing shape. Very proud of the US team, very proud of Louisville because people got to experience great hospitality, incredible weather, and an amazing victory. -My wife was ready to kill me after spending 20+ hours on golf in the last 3 days.

Miller was unbearable. He is to golf as Billy Packer is to college basketball. A standard but became an old crusty bastard. If you took a shot every time he said someone had an "easy putt" or "he should make this one" (when its 15 ft+), then you would be one drunk mofo today.

I agree with Iacas for the most part. However, if the US pulls this off I think that it could have something to do with the atmosphere that Azinger created within the team. Those guys went down to the Ryder Cup pep rally at 9 PM on Thursday to pump up the crowd, toss out some shirts, and just have fun. It was a spontaneous occurrence spurred on by Anthony Kim. The guys looked like they were having a blast on stage. For some reason, I just don't think you would have seen something like that with Tiger on the team.

Par: 72 Rating: 71.8 Slope: 131 Interesting #'s. Remember Day one: 79 Day two: 80. His index history was trending from an 8.9 in March 07 to an 11.1 when he played. Scores in June & July (84, 80, 79, 93, 90, 89, 94, 91, 77, 86, 91, 84, 88, 86, 89). I know some of those aren't used to calculate his handicap but he was tossing in 94's on a course with a slope of 116.

Those of you that keep saying a 79 is reasonable for a 13 must not understand statistics. Oh well. An update. After last night's GHIN revision, the bagger went from an 11.1 to a 10.1 and his handicap is now restricted. I think that means that it is not allowed to go higher than where it is now.

I can empathize with a lot people in this thread. I play by myself a lot during the summer time. I usually go out 3 times during the week and knock 18 out by myself in 2 hrs and 15 minutes. As previously mentioned, I play up to the people I am paired with or play down. I played in a tournament this weekend and had to ride with a jackace the first day that talked incessantly. He had a running commentary on everything. We weren't a good combo since I rarely talk at all when golfing. He frustrated the hell out of me. I had hoped to not be in the same foursome with him the next day but we ended up together again. I should have walked but thought it might be rude. Played horrible and just wanted the round to end. Now I know that if in the same situation I should just walk. The other problem I have encountered with playing alone is that getting 18 in in 2+ hours can bring problems of its own. When I play with my regular foursome I sometimes find myself mentally checking out around the 2 hour mark. Not a good thing when you are only on the 9th hole.

Iacas nailed it. Not sure why you all are arguing the point.

This guy has been playing for years. Mid-40's. He wasn't new to golf. For someone who said he hasn't played in a while because of a divorce, he played lights out. 4th flight winning score was 182 3rd flight winning score was 159 (the flight he won) 2nd flight winning score was 158 1st flight winning score was 147 Championship flight was 138 Not a statistician but those scores all seem to have a similar spread (11-9 strokes between flights) except for the third.

So the guy shot an 80 today. 79 & 80 in a two day flighted tournament. He won my flight in a walk and would have finished one stroke off first in the next flight. Based on the USGA chart Iacas posted, he had a 1 in 1,708 chance of shooting those two rounds in a row.

I will have to check the paper to see how the guy finished up in the tournament. The more I talked with him the more I think he just had one hell of a round. He could have just had the round of a lifetime. According to the graph Iacas posted, it is a 323-1 chance of shooting six strokes lower than your handicap in a tournament. Course is par 72, he is a 13. 85-79= -6....if I have my math right. Course rating 71.8, slope of 131. So, any 13 handicappers that want to bet whether they can shoot a 79 just let me know. I will take those odds every day.

He is a 13 course handicap. 11.1 index. I looked him up on GHIN. The last tournament he played in he posted a 76-91. Had he not double bogeyed 18, an easy par 5, he would have shot a 77. The more I think about it, the more I think he might have tanked the last hole to keep it from looking fishy. On the popeofslope charts, the guy had something like a 1 in 600 round.

I think I might have played with one today. He plays at a 13 handicap and dropped a 79 in the first day of a tournament on a course he said he has not played in a long time.

My 2 cents. Quit hunting for birdies. Hell, at your handicap, quit hunting for pars. Learn to treat bogey as a birdie. Every time you make a bogey, celebrate as if you just made a birdie. If you treat bogey like a real reward, you will start to make smarter decisions on the course and will not press as much. Once you start shooting in the 90's, begin to treat par like a birdie. When I keep this in mind, I play so much smarter and shoot so much lower scores. In fact, the first time I treated par like a birdie, I shot a 77. Every time I got a par, I gave myself a little fist pump and a smile. Next thing you know the pars start rolling in and the MAJOR mistakes/errors were avoided.