2020 Professional Golf Thread

[sunshine]

Reed has changed his swing to fade the ball.
It’s putting things in his normally good swing that aren’t usually there.
But it means he will overdo it at times.
Under pressure that might not work out.
But he dosnt hit it as far as Wolff and Bryson and it shows in his approach shots he can’t control it.

Good point. Whenever he hit a draw his swing looked so much better - neat, compact, efficient. When he won the Masters he was relying on his draw and hitting the odd fade as required.

I'd love to have his classic draw swing, not as aesthetically pleasing as Rory or Louis but just looks really simple and economical, there's not much that can go wrong with it.

I'm not losing any sleep over his collapse, he's a difficult person to like.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Interesting table. Is the fuss then that when he does unleash he can go really big? The rest of the time he is just big along with many others?

I think he always fully unleashes, but others are naturally big hitters: Wolff, Champ, DJ etc, and can go bigger without as much extra effort as DCB needs.

 

[SaintHacker]

There's a far simpler answer to it, just bring in internal OOB which then can be changed/removed as needed by the course

 

[davidy233]

There's a far simpler answer to it, just bring in internal OOB which then can be changed/removed as needed by the course

The worst thing in golf is internal out of bounds

 

[Orikoru]

Not the longest Avg off the Tee then?
View attachment 32443

Don't they only count ones that hit the fairway though?

 

[davidy233]

A few times players were playing from the other course at winged foot. Is there a case for that to be OOB?

Only if they make car parks out of bounds too - see my Seve reference above - I've played a shot from the Championship at Carnoustie while playing the Burnside and I think the Old/New courses at St Andrews have the same latitude for being on the wrong property.

 

[clubchamp98]

I didn't say it wasn't hard. And they would "rip up etc , as you say. But that's because they would use different tactics, most being much shorter.
But the point is that what made it difficult for the average tour pro, did not make it difficult for the big hitters , the exceptional big hitters like BdeC and Wolff. Because for them the rough was not penal enough in that they could and did play out of it with wedges etc.
Interestingly, other biggish hitter like DJ and JT, seemed to not use the same tactics, but went with what was the popular conception talked about at the beginning, of "staying on the fairway is vital here because of the thick rough etc etc"
If you recall, BdeC said at the start that his tactic would be to bomb it and not worry too much if he went wide.
That was proved to be the correct tactic.
Talk has been for a long time, how to tame the bombers who are reducing all so called long holes to Driver and short iron. Change the ball, lengthen the course, etc .
And now this Open has revealed the real remedy. Make the rough at these extreme driver lengths, unplayable.
Put in very long thick stuff that can't be played from, better still , bushes.
Like me, I will bet it's not so long since you and others here found themselves in a bush of some sort where the ball was unplayable. Where no swing was at all possible. By any standard of golfer. Where you had to take an "unplayable" penalty drop.
These tour pros don't do that.
That's because their courses are open in that regard. If there are trees, they are big trees that afford them a swing.
This really came home to me when I watched the first post lockdown game , the exhibition game at Seminole. I saw a big wide open area where they only lost the ball if it went into the water. ( these pros have the benefit of spotters, remember)
Since then I've watched all the week end tournaments and I don't recall one that is festooned with bushes as I am advocating.
If Wing Foot put in loads of bushes either side of the fairways, from near the green back to a point about 260 yds from the tee, then let's see BdeC use the same tactics!
Hitting fairways really would count for something then.

The spectators won’t be able to see that’s why these courses don’t have a lot of bushes.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Wonder why on the PD42 long drivers, some players have massive differences between rounds ? Do they only record on certain holes and they changed their clubs between days or missing fairways/run?

For example Pieters went 328...295...351...307. That's like my stats(well mine are lower !), he needs to get on here and get a lesson, to keep his head still and learn to hit it out the middle to be more consistent

 

[clubchamp98]

Good point. Whenever he hit a draw his swing looked so much better - neat, compact, efficient. When he won the Masters he was relying on his draw and hitting the odd fade as required.

I'd love to have his classic draw swing, not as aesthetically pleasing as Rory or Louis but just looks really simple and economical, there's not much that can go wrong with it.

I'm not losing any sleep over his collapse, he's a difficult person to like.

Yes but he’s at work!
Not trying to defend him but we only know what the media feed to us about the lad.
He’s Marmite a bit like Bryson.

 

[clubchamp98]

Only if they make car parks out of bounds too - see my Seve reference above - I've played a shot from the Championship at Carnoustie while playing the Burnside and I think the Old/New courses at St Andrews have the same latitude for being on the wrong property.

If your off the golf course you are playing it should be oob.
Inc car parks and adjacent courses.

 

[SaintHacker]

The worst thing in golf is internal out of bounds

Only if you're a crap driver of the ball (and yes i include myself in that)

 

[davidy233]

Only if you're a crap driver of the ball (and yes i include myself in that)

Nope - golf is hit it, find it and hit it again - not penalty shots for an artificial reason

 

[sunshine]

Yes I wondered about that to it definitely looked like more than a driver length but with the referee standing right there it must have been ok.

The rule is to drop the ball within one club's length of the nearest point of relief. It's not one club's length from the ball.

BdC first agreed with the referee where nearest point of relief was, marked it with a tee. Then measured a club length with his driver, marked it with a tee. Then dropped between the two tees. Simples.

 

[davidy233]

And practice ranges too! Don’t think the argument changes for venue TBH. If you’re so wide you’re on a different course surely you should be OOB.

Except that time I hit a duck hook on Hogan’s Alley - I should have been able to jump the fence and smack my next shot back over into the green!

Ha ha - that is out of bounds isn't it? Much like anything on the right of the back nine on the old course - if there's a fence or wall situation

 

[sunshine]

Plenty of golfers hit it as far, even further than Bryson mk2. It's too simplistic to suggest he just bombed his way to victory, but that's all that will get taken away from this and the cry's for reduced golf balls will get louder.

That's just blatantly not true is it....

Bryson finished the season top of the driving distance table.

 

[sunshine]

Wonder why on the PD42 long drivers, some players have massive differences between rounds ? Do they only record on certain holes and they changed their clubs between days or missing fairways/run?

For example Pieters went 328...295...351...307. That's like my stats(well mine are lower !), he needs to get on here and get a lesson, to keep his head still and learn to hit it out the middle to be more consistent

I believe the stat is based on only 2 measured holes (playing in different directions to allow for effect of the wind). So if a player decides to hit an iron off the tee on one of those holes all week he will be well down the list. Even if he's smacking driver miles past everyone else on other holes. So the stat can be misleading if you look at one tournament only, only becomes useful over a longer period of time.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

There's a far simpler answer to it, just bring in internal OOB which then can be changed/removed as needed by the course

I’d go a different route; narrow fairways past 300 yds, and make the rougher get deeper as you get nearer the green.
That way a shorter drive has a wider landing area, and the rough is less penal for a shorter shot missing the fairway.

 

[sunshine]

Well played Bryson. He out-thought the USGA and most of the field with an unconventional strategy.

I noticed many players were finding the rough even when they played for position with an iron. Bryson realised that the playing corridors and depth of rough were the same at 350 as 250 from the tee. You could clearly see the uniform fairway width from the aerial views. So bomb and gouge was the percentage play.

It won't work every week. Less likely to pay off off on courses where the fairway narrows as you get further up, where hazards come into play. Contrast with the Open at Troon (for example), where the fairway starts wider then progressively narrows as fairway bunkers pinch in.

 

[robinthehood]

Way too much credence to it being his driving that won it this week. If Rory could putt he'd be a half decent golfer

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Interesting table. Is the fuss then that when he does unleash he can go really big? The rest of the time he is just big along with many others?

He’s unpopular, so easy target for a story.