No, but they also don't cover the grass at Wimbledon with marbles to make it any harder either.
2018 US Open
- Thread starter BuffetParrothead
- Start date
I don't disagree with that, but the statement that the US Open should be "easier" is ridiculous IMHO. When they play the Open next month and the weather potentially changes on a dime all 4 days, I don't expect to hear this much complaining.
I just think it becomes less a test of golf skill when a guy sticks it on the green 6 feet from the hole-proving his skill, and they rig it so then it rolls 50 feet away. Hard is one thing punitive is another.
No doubt people love hammering the USGA, for some reason, and you're right there is never the same amount of complaints for other tournaments.
But in this case, the weather really didn't change Saturday morning to Saturday afternoon, and yet the golf course was entirely different for the leaders on Saturday. That is a problem. They should've been watering the greens throughout the day to keep the moisture levels consistent for all of the groups.
In the end, it was a great leaderboard and the cream rose to the top so I agree with your overall point.
All anecdotal, but I couldn't disagree more. My wife and I got an early 9 in yesterday and with the exception of one or two guys, every foursome that started within 30 minutes of us was made up of mostly guys in their late 20s or early 30s.
I do agree that it's somewhat a case of the haves and have notes. It's not a cheap sport to play. You could probably make a larger argument about the economic realities of life for millenials and how that's impacting golf, but that topic sounds like an awful one to have today.
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All majors should be both difficult and punitve. Mistakes should be punished and greatness should be rewarded. WIth the exception of a few holes thats how the 2018 Open course was set-up. Most players said that!
They're majors and only those with the highest level of skill, intelligence and temperment have a chance to win.
Of course like anything else in life the harder you work the luckier you get so luck is always a factor in any sport!
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
They're majors and only those with the highest level of skill, intelligence and temperment have a chance to win.
Of course like anything else in life the harder you work the luckier you get so luck is always a factor in any sport!
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
you played 8 holes? Couldn't you just finish the 9th hole?
Golf is tough sport to play with little kids. got to have a cool wife. Golf is for older men who's kids are adults or for the younger crowd who don't have kids..
Or a wife who's into golf as well. There's a 50-person ladies league at the public course near where I live.
But yeah, I'm sure it's hard with kids around. Get 'em into golf early?
Good call, get a wife that golfs. Thanks for the advice now, this is stuff I could have used 10 years ago.
as someone who got in 9 frames of bowling Saturday night myself I feel I have the right to tell you to lay off the dude...
If golf courses worked harder and didn't treat their business as a cost plus business they could reduce costs and make golf more affordable.
We play with a group of 20 that have the first five tee times Tuesday, Wed, and Thursday beginning at 6:30am.
Mrs Buffett is the youngest in the group at 56, I'm in the middle at 67, the remainder are older men and women. We get out there and finish in around 3 hours and 30 minutes sometimes sooner.
In our area the senior leagues are jammed during the day and the after work leagues ( younger people) are advertising for players.
Most all golf courses in our vicinity are concerned about the average age of their customers which increases each year.
The only local course that attracts the younger crowd is one that offers youth and other group clinics and has learned that lower greens fees attract players especially the younger players. They also offer nine holes cheap at any time of the day which is popular with the younger golfers.
A big push in our area is Mixed Golf, Mixed Golf Leagues, Nine and Dine in the evenings, and golf with lunch at a discount price.
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
Because no other tournament tricks out the course to the extent that the USGA does for the US Open. Next month when they play the British the R&A will not go in and reduce the size of the fairways by an average of 15 yards per hole as the USGA did this weekend. The R&A will not plant and grow fescue a few feet off the fairway like the USGA did for this weekend to punish people who miss the fairway, the R&A will leave the rough alone. And the R&A will not cut the greens so short and place the pins in such positions that if you putt the ball a foot past the hole it doesn't stop rolling for 50 or 60 feet. They had that grass cut so short (and they do this all the time) that if they tried to keep it cut like that year round, even when the tournament wasn't there, they'd kill the grass.
They don't have to do all that crap to have a tough test of golf. No one would ever suggest that the British is easy, and they don't do it. No one would ever suggest that Augusta is easy, and they don't do it.
Pretty simple. The best players in the world should be able to handle courses that are made more difficult than they normalllu would be for the country club golfer.
The only thing the USGA did wrong was place a few pins in almost impossible positions when the course dried out on Saturday
It’s funny to hear all her whining from casual golf fans given the vast majority of players are not complaining and believe the Open should be demanding
Just about every course on the tour is “tricked out “ for PGA events
The only thing the USGA did wrong was place a few pins in almost impossible positions when the course dried out on Saturday
It’s funny to hear all her whining from casual golf fans given the vast majority of players are not complaining and believe the Open should be demanding
Just about every course on the tour is “tricked out “ for PGA events
Many of the fairways were “narrowed” to 41 yards. I am sorry if they missed them. Maybe watching the John Deere Classic is more enjoyable. But this was not a tricked up or bad setup aside from 2-3 hole positions on Saturday.
Most of the players agreed with you. They questioned 2-3 holes as bad set-ups. If\f the pin had been moved a few yards one way or the other those holes wouldn't have been problem.
Plus you can't control heat and winds which were a major factor in the open.
It was a great tournament, PGA pros should have to use all of their skills to negociate a tough golf course for every major.
It gets kinda boring when they hit 300+ yard drives on par 5's with huge fairways, bang a long iron to a large receptive green, two putt and celebrate the easy birdie.
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
Last year they didn’t trick out the course and relied on the wind that never came to protect par and people still complained and destroyed the USGA. The year before that they got killed for the DJ debacle at Oakmomt, the year before that it was the broccoli greens at Chambers.
"Protecting par" is a moronic goal, and is what causes most of the problems that they have. The notion that they shouldn't expect the best players in the world to make some birdies is ridiculous.
And they got killed for the DJ debacle at Oakmont for good reason. It was a stupid ruling, and everyone with more than half a brain knew it. And if you think that they got killed for it, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it would have been had Johnson not bailed them out by winning despite their stupidity.
And one other thing on Oakmont. It's a good thing that they got 2-1/2 inches of rain the day before the tournament started, because if they didn't it would have made the conditions on Saturday look like your average muni. All four days. So yeah, sometimes, like last year, the weather conditions screw things up. Other times the weather conditions save their asses. Here's a thought. Stop setting up courses where you rely on the weather in the first place. Shinnicock is a great course. Let the players play it. Oakmont is a great course. Let the players play it. Pebble Beach is a great course. Let the players play it.
No one would ever suggest that the British is easy, .....huh? (last four, -12, -20 -15, -17....)..no one except anyone who looked up the scores in the last 7 or 8 years and sees the average winning total at about 11 under....More like a loop of the Greater Hartford Open than a test of the best players. Just because the weather is always gloomy and ugly and the grass is brown and the patrons all have nasty teeth does not make it difficult.. The Brits are stubborn to a fault in that the players and equipment have surpassed their ties to "tradition"...
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Why does it matter? In the end the winner is always the guy with the least strokes, par is basically meaningless.
I was responding to a post about the British open not being easy by saying it was which had nothing to to with the query you made.
Why is it easy, because of the +/- Par scores? My post is exactly the point, why do they even have par? The raw number of strokes decides who wins and who loses.
I'd prefer that the US Open be a more difficult test than other tournaments, but I'm tired of the USGA making their setup of the course the main story. Mike Davis seems to think he should get more publicity than any of the players.
The British Open is hard or easy depending on the weather. The R&A doesn't try to manipulate scoring to the extent that the USGA does.
Three words you don't want to hear on the golf course no matter what level you play at:
You're Still Away!
"its' five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
You're Still Away!
"its' five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
Just like Shinnecock. If there would have been an inch of rain Friday night with calm winds on Saturday those guys would have been tearing it up....Maybe the Brits should....like I said (last four, -12, -20 -15, -17....)..damn nice stretch of weather...
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Either way the best golfer of that day under the existing circumstances wins, whether it's +2 or -15, whoever in the entire group shoots the fewest strokes is the champion.
St Andrews is always going to give up low scores, and Liverpool and Troon aren't particularly difficult. They haven't played Muirfield, Turnberry or Carnoustie in that 4 year stretch. Carnoustie is the toughest, let's see what happens this year. Portrush should be a pretty good test next year. The R&A doesn't try to dictate that the winning score should be around par, different courses play differently.
Ricky Fowler and Justin Thomas both shot 65 at Shinnecock last summer before it was in. “Open” condition. So if they just let the players play it, scores would’ve been pushing -20 for four days and people would’ve lost their minds that the USGA blew it and it was too easy. They are in a no win situation. What they need to do is rotate it through about 8 historic and prestigious courses like the R and A does with the Open Championship. But tell those 8 courses they need to modernize and adapt courses to keep up with technology and players strength. And those courses should be damn hard. Then everyone knows coming in that it’s gonna be a dogfight every year but they will have played them enough in the rotation to know the layouts and won’t bitch because they’ll have no excuses when they are behind a pin, etc. because it’ll be their fault.
Tommy Fleetwood shot a 63 on Sunday. I think Rickie Fowler shot a 65 on Sunday, he shot an 84 on Saturday. Even Mickelson I believe shot below par on Sunday So they obviously watered the greens and made for some more favorable pin placements. And also the wind was not bad on Sunday.
I do agree with a rotation of course. Shinnecock is a great track but it runs the risk of being a -20 winning score, or when they trick it up and wind blows, it is almost unplayable. So it is difficult. But I have been saying this, Shinnecock, Winged Foot, Oakmont, Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Olympic (San Francisco) should be the rotation. I like Merion too.
But we can also see, Pebble and Torrey also host regular tour events, and for the US Open to go there, you have to make the course tougher and different than what a Pro Am plays there.
Good rotation....Marion lost it for decades until they added hundreds and hundreds of yardage almost from nowhere because it’s footprint is so darn small.....I like Marion also but might not make a rotation jmo.
They are also going to give the Publics an occasional open...or the new style courses like that thing they played on up in was it Washington State a few yrs ago .....
Keeping it real for your average golfers to have their turf host that championship....kind of a counter to RA stuffiness although as well, the USGA are an arrogant lot...
Yeah I like Bethpage, for a public course, that is a great track. I like Whistling Straits also. I didn't like Chambers Bay or Erin Hills though. And they bombed themselves out of Congressional. They are overpowering alot of these courses, including Augusta
If you think Shinnecock was difficult try this the British Open.
I wonder if the player was using his putter grip on the umbrella??
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
I wonder if the player was using his putter grip on the umbrella??
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
The weird thing about golf as a sport is they don't seem to limit technology, other sports they use the same size balls, bats, sticks etc. Why doesn't everyone use the same balls? Golf they invent new clubs and balls that send the ball 500 yards. Go back to real wooden clubs then and then Augusta and everywhere else won't be obsolete.
