Golf: No Bones, just Bonesaws

this is indeed ironic and one of my personal and biggest gripes with the PGA

NLU spent the second half of yesterday’s podcast skewering Cheatrick’s lawsuit in grand style.

One of the points in the background, which they read out in its entirety, was specifically devoted to listing all the names he’s been called by fans on the tee.

2 Likes

Looking forward to listening to that on the way home now, thanks! On my way to the BMW, should be a fun day!

Nice, watching pro golf in person is one of the better sporting experiences.

Thought about it, but our NYC trip is this weekend and then two clients scheduled calls for this afternoon.

Great spectators course as far as maneuvering around holes and sight lines, but a very tough walk. Up and down lots of hills but also uneven ground. We walked about 11 miles, climbed the equivalent of 197 floors.

Saw both waves of star pairings, including Rory making two birdies while we watched, Zalatoris a chip-in bird, and some up close Spieth/Greller action although by their standards it was super mundane.

We did near-miss the 75 yard hole out by Schauffele, I believe it was.

Liked the course a lot, I think it’ll identify good ball strikers and guys who really think about how to play each shot and work backwards from the hole. Some holes will also play very different based on pin placement on huge greens.

There’s one really dumb hole. Par 5, I want to say it’s #12 but I could be wrong. 621 yards uphill, semi blind tee shot. Slight dogleg left, pond guarding the front of the green. Fairway slopes to the right fairly hard and downhill. So guys have like 300 in off a downhill lie with the ball below their feet. Basically everyone is laying up and it’s such an obvious decision there’s not even any drama. The wedge shot in is off a downslope. It’s a lot like 15 at Augusta with a very different green and a tee shot asking for a draw instead of a fade, except its 620 and it needs to be 590 (whereas 15 at ANGC is like 20-30 yards too short). This one could be an amazing hole, instead it’s rip a driver, casual thoughtless layup shot, wedge contest. Hopefully they move the tee up to a better number on Sunday.

But the course is a good test overall, it asks them to move the ball both ways, and to hit approaches that rip back hard on some holes and those that release out with minimal spin on others. Spin and traj need to be controlled to get at a lot of the flags.

IMO they should come back here. < 3 hours to NYC, Philly, and DC. Course is a good test, and it’s a good spectator venue. Some of the holes should really pop on TV too. At least as much as non coastal courses in the Northeast can.

1 Like

You’re correct. The Instagram algorithm showed me a Ted Scott (Scottie’s caddy) video earlier this week saying essentially the same thing. Scottie ripped a drive dead center in the practice round but had 298 out so simple iron down the fairway was the only play. Let’s move it forward and see some excitement!

1 Like

Totally get what you’re saying but there is a part of me thinking its nice to have a Par 5 actually play like a Par 5 occasionally.

Yeah that’s fine, but this one is stupid. It’s driver, short iron, wedge. There’s no real strategy on the layup and being in the fairway off the tee doesn’t really matter. So they’re hitting driver even though it’s not gaining them much.

Yep. Problem with the modern game is a hole for the pros which is legit Driver, Long Iron, 8-wedge is going to be 700+ yards

2 Likes

Right, that’s why they need to reign in the technology. There was a hole where the tour tees must be 150 yards back from the normal tees, it’s insane that the governing bodies are letting this continue.

1 Like

Reign in the technology would be the easiest fix. It would also be way better on the water usage front as courses could be much smaller and have a smaller overall footprint. The other option is what Cantlay was talking about the other day which is to make shorter but more challenging holes. That makes a lot of sense to me because no one’s favorite hole is that straight 490 yard par 4 or the 235 yard par 3. It’s always the weird holes (that tend to be hard but give you a chance to make a good score if you play them perfect) that stick with us over time.

2 Likes

Adam Scott, Mark Leishman, and Hideki have all been rumored, as well as middle-aged Ricky before he got into a car with alpha-Tiger. Possibly Cam Young. Who else?

Tigers plan is good; should have done it 2 years ago.

I saw this as I was finishing my beer.

5 Likes

If only they’d listened to the first guy who made that suggestion…:thinking:

https://twitter.com/GolfDigest/status/1561118237047357443

Also, Hank Haney going full LIV is the least surprising thing ever:

https://twitter.com/HankHaney/status/1561087565955878912

Sources say that there is talk of having a tour within the PGA Tour for the game’s top players.

Isnt this the majors and the fedex cup?

The part that matters is ditching non profit status and giving top guys equity.

Which Tiger and the PGL tried to get them to do 2 years ago.

Is Tiger trying to take over and control the tour?

The PGA Tour doesn’t run any of the majors (Masters is Augusta; PGA is PGA which is separate from the Tour; US Open is USGA, and British is R&A).

The Fedex Cup is kind of like that, but only three tournies with a single big payoff at the end for the winner, and not enough overall $$ at stake with that alone to keep players from jumping ship for guaranteed paydays.