How on earth can the top 2 in the world...

[Dodger]

Be such bad drivers of the golf ball??!!

Mickelson is chopping it around off the tee as bad as Woods has been and while on Phil, a huge amount is made of his superb short game but does anyone elso agree that from short distance he isn't a great putter and misses a hell of a lot....great distance putter but distinctly average short range.

Maybe a forum stato will be able to shoot that claim down but that's how it appears from the sofa!

 

[the_g_man]

I agree, but i suppose its the way they recover from there poor drives that make them top of the world! I heard that mickelson hits a hundread putts from three foot and if misses one he starts again! with that sort of practice he should be able to sink the little tiddlers with his eyes closed

 

[Grumps]

I sit amazed every weekend at how many pros miss from inside 3 feet !

 

[RGDave]

Big Phil is no.184 for accuracy.....I don't know about Tiger.
53% of fairways hit. Not very impressive is it?
Rather oddly, he's no.5 for fairway approach shots.....no.16 in scrambling....71st in GIR...

http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/18/10/

 

[kid2]

My take is that they are not punished enough for being offline.........Big tree lined fairways and 3 in rough are not exactly danger........
Throw in a line of blackberry thorn bushes, nettles, grass as high as you'd see in a meadow and just your average club golfers normal sunday morning round and ill bet they'd be trying to take some gas off there drives......

 

[The_LHC]

Mickelson's putting has historically been his weak point, that's why he moved to that pre-shot routine of putting three feet to the right of his ball and then moving round to the putt itself, which I notice he doesn't do anymore and his short putting has suffered since then.

That's also why Tiger is playing so badly, never mind the sprayed drives and inaccurate irons, his putting has totally deserted him.

 

[RGDave]

Throw in a line of blackberry thorn bushes, nettles, grass as high as you'd see in a meadow and just your average club golfers normal sunday morning round and ill bet they'd be trying to take some gas off there drives......

It's a good point, but IF one of these top pros turned up to our courses, they'd probably leave the driver in the bag for all but the longest holes, hit 2 iron shots and still make birdies. "Big" courses (famous and respected) are normally wider than ours.

 

[the_g_man]

I totally agree with kid2, the rough isnt rough, my old club had grass up to my arse cheeks, there was no way to hit a long iron out of it! All i have to say is the british open at carnoustie, watching the best players in the world hack it all over the place!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The Open is a case in point. Most of the top pros rarely hit driver (remember Woods not using it all week) and so its horses for courses. I seem to remember the US Open both this year and last where they seemed to play a lot more conservatively because the rough was so penal and would explain why Westwood has been in contention (until he loses his bottle in the stretch).

I've played a lot of tracks where 3 wood off the tee is the best choice. Leatherhead is a local example where a lot of the holes are tree lined both sides and so if you miss it left or right it could be anything from lost ball to stymied behind a big tree.

 

[USER1999]

I have always viewed Mick as being a suspect putter from 5 ft and in. He has never been convincing.

 

[bobmac]

The card of the course.

1. 399 ... 10. 410
2. 526 ... 11. 418
3. 442 ... 12. 180
4. 471 ... 13. 471
5. 200 ... 14. 467
6. 469 ... 15. 221
7. 219 ... 16. 667
8. 482 ... 17. 400
9. 494 ... 18. 464

3702 ... 3698

Total. 7400yds

Par 70


Shortest par 3 180yds

8 par 4s OVER 460 yds

Par 5 at 667 yds

Greens approaching 13 on the stimp metre
I wonder how many scratch golfers could break 80 round there?

 

[freddielong]

To be as good as they are, you have to play at the edges of your ability, sometimes I guess you fall off

I find it amuseing that club golfers feel able to criticize them

 

[Grumps]

Sorry Freddie I wasn't criticising the pros I just feel with the American golf it's more about who can boom it 400 yards or further than who is the straightest. Butch harmen has been trying to get Michelson to swing slower in order to be straighter but all he wants is distance ( with his short game he thinks it doesn't matter) . My point was the putting the shorter the put the less time and care they take over it

 

[Dodger]

To be as good as they are, you have to play at the edges of your ability, sometimes I guess you fall off

I find it amuseing that club golfers feel able to criticize them

What, do you think that the displays over the week from the World Number 1 and 2 were exempt from critisism??

These guys are supposed to be not just good but great but their displays were nothing short of god awful.

 

[freddielong]

you may not have been but others were

That is the game that American TV wants its also the game that new technology promotes

 

[bobmac]

To be as good as they are, you have to play at the edges of your ability, sometimes I guess you fall off

I find it amuseing that club golfers feel able to criticize them

What, do you think that the displays over the week from the World Number 1 and 2 were exempt from critisism??

These guys are supposed to be not just good but great but their displays were nothing short of god awful.

Do the top golfers play their best golf all the time?
I know most people have their off day, it's just that they do it in front of millions of people.
The fact that they are no.s 1 and 2 would suggest their off days are fewer and better than the rest of the field and their good days are better than the rest.

 

[freddielong]

To be as good as they are, you have to play at the edges of your ability, sometimes I guess you fall off

I find it amuseing that club golfers feel able to criticize them

What, do you think that the displays over the week from the World Number 1 and 2 were exempt from critisism??

These guys are supposed to be not just good but great but their displays were nothing short of god awful.

Their world ramkings show that they bring there best game more often than they dont and in my opinion their world rankings are true, how can you say someone is bad at something just because they have a bad day, even though the rankings show they ave less bad days than most.

Having a bad day does not make you a bad golfer I would have thought a decent golfer like yourself would understand that or do you never have them.

 

[slugger]

how are the world rankings worked out?

i'm guessing it's a points system, as Tiger has still been there for a long time despite not playing or winning very often.

It would be interesting comparing Woods and Mickelsons stats with Westwoods and someone like Mahan over the past 12-18 months.

 

[Dodger]

Freddie/Bob......they constantly chop it off the tee and I mean constantly!

Yeah obviously the rest of their games manage to make up for those frailties but come on, driving it straight aint that hard especially with the modern equipment but this pair seem incapable of doing this a hell of a lot of the time.

Imagine how far ahead they could both be of the rest if Tiger and Phil could hit fairways and Phil could drain more short puts....that is what I am trying to say.

 

[freddielong]

Freddie/Bob......they constantly chop it off the tee and I mean constantly!

Yeah obviously the rest of their games manage to make up for those frailties but come on, driving it straight aint that hard especially with the modern equipment but this pair seem incapable of doing this a hell of a lot of the time.

Imagine how far ahead they could both be of the rest if Tiger and Phil could hit fairways and Phil could drain more short puts....that is what I am trying to say.

Sorry I didn't see it as a backhanded compliment, I think you just have to look at the 2000 season to see what would happen if Tiger could drive the ball straight.