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Anybody watching the British Open?  I don't want to say that St. Andrews is obsolete, but it seems that pretty much every Par 4 is drivable, and the tournament has been reduced to a strange putt-putt competition on the world's largest greens.  

Calm weather and non-existent rough makes for some ho-hum viewing.

The pot bunkers are really the most entertaining aspect of the event.

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17 hours ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

Anybody watching the British Open?  I don't want to say that St. Andrews is obsolete, but it seems that pretty much every Par 4 is drivable, and the tournament has been reduced to a strange putt-putt competition on the world's largest greens.  

Calm weather and non-existent rough makes for some ho-hum viewing.

The pot bunkers are really the most entertaining aspect of the event.

Completely agree.  The game has just evolved to where St. Andrew's can't contain these guys that can kill the ball.  Augusta changed up their course because the scores were getting too obsurd, and if the weather is kind to these guys you'll have a champion tomorrow shooting 20 plus under par.

I'm a hack, but 18 playing at 354 yards with an impossible to miss fairway would be a driver and a wedge before a three put.  

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20 hours ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

Anybody watching the British Open?  I don't want to say that St. Andrews is obsolete, but it seems that pretty much every Par 4 is drivable, and the tournament has been reduced to a strange putt-putt competition on the world's largest greens.  

Calm weather and non-existent rough makes for some ho-hum viewing.

The pot bunkers are really the most entertaining aspect of the event.

The rough at KingsWalk is much more penalizing than that at St. Andrews.  Haven’t seen anyone need to punch out back to the fairway, as the rough is so sparse that they are able to go for the greens.  When you are aiming for the rough in some circumstances, you know that the course isn’t offering much defense.  Rory has won a good deal of his majors on soft courses, or ones that aren’t penalizing for bad tee shots.  Grip and rip the driver with very little consequence other than maneuvering around pot bunkers doesn’t scream major to me, and even then the luck of the bounce whether you go into one of those bunkers is a crapshoot.

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2 hours ago, Wilbur said:

Completely agree.  The game has just evolved to where St. Andrew's can't contain these guys that can kill the ball.  Augusta changed up their course because the scores were getting too obsurd, and if the weather is kind to these guys you'll have a champion tomorrow shooting 20 plus under par.

I'm a hack, but 18 playing at 354 yards with an impossible to miss fairway would be a driver and a wedge before a three put.  

How many par 4 greens can most of the players go for in one?  It seems like 5 or 6.  It would be another thing if they were risk/reward, but with the rough so sparse there isn’t as much risk.

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The wind is the course defense at St. Andrews and there was no defense provided by Mother Nature this weekend.  I have the same views as many of you about the course but after talking with the local golf pro at our course yesterday I've kind of changed my view.  There is something nostalgic about how natural the Old Course is and how nature and weather shape the course and it's not manufactured by humans to play a certain way.  Oh, and one day with little wind the course can be dominated but he next day if the winds kick up it will kick your butt.  The diversity of different shots is interesting as well.  Pulling a putter from some crazy spots.  The pot bunkers.  It's just different from the courses we all play.

For one time every 7 years (give/take) I think it's great to turn a page back in time and contest The Open at the Old Course.  In the end, low score still wins.

While out this weekend I was thinking how it would be possible to replicate a links style course like that in the wind swept Great Plains of Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.  Use the natural lay of the wide open prairie, minimal earth movement, natural grasses, and make those large greens.  We have plenty of wind here too.

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21 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

The wind is the course defense at St. Andrews and there was no defense provided by Mother Nature this weekend.  I have the same views as many of you about the course but after talking with the local golf pro at our course yesterday I've kind of changed my view.  There is something nostalgic about how natural the Old Course is and how nature and weather shape the course and it's not manufactured by humans to play a certain way.  Oh, and one day with little wind the course can be dominated but he next day if the winds kick up it will kick your butt.  The diversity of different shots is interesting as well.  Pulling a putter from some crazy spots.  The pot bunkers.  It's just different from the courses we all play.

For one time every 7 years (give/take) I think it's great to turn a page back in time and contest The Open at the Old Course.  In the end, low score still wins.

While out this weekend I was thinking how it would be possible to replicate a links style course like that in the wind swept Great Plains of Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.  Use the natural lay of the wide open prairie, minimal earth movement, natural grasses, and make those large greens.  We have plenty of wind here too.

Try the links of North Dakota by williston

prairie, on the big lake, tall grasses and usually plenty of wind and not many trees 

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1 hour ago, Yote 53 said:

While out this weekend I was thinking how it would be possible to replicate a links style course like that in the wind swept Great Plains of Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.  Use the natural lay of the wide open prairie, minimal earth movement, natural grasses, and make those large greens.  We have plenty of wind here too.

https://dakotamagic.com/dakota-winds-golf-courses/

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1 hour ago, Yote 53 said:

The wind is the course defense at St. Andrews and there was no defense provided by Mother Nature this weekend.  I have the same views as many of you about the course but after talking with the local golf pro at our course yesterday I've kind of changed my view.  There is something nostalgic about how natural the Old Course is and how nature and weather shape the course and it's not manufactured by humans to play a certain way.  Oh, and one day with little wind the course can be dominated but he next day if the winds kick up it will kick your butt.  The diversity of different shots is interesting as well.  Pulling a putter from some crazy spots.  The pot bunkers.  It's just different from the courses we all play.

For one time every 7 years (give/take) I think it's great to turn a page back in time and contest The Open at the Old Course.  In the end, low score still wins.

While out this weekend I was thinking how it would be possible to replicate a links style course like that in the wind swept Great Plains of Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.  Use the natural lay of the wide open prairie, minimal earth movement, natural grasses, and make those large greens.  We have plenty of wind here too.

While I love the idea of recreating that style of course, North Dakota doesn't have the sand-based land or the weather to maintain the fescue grass that makes the ball run like it does over in Scotland. 

The US has a lot of faux-links style courses that look like links but don't play that way. For example, King's Walk is described by some as "links" because it lacks trees but it plays like a parkland due to the soil it's on it's more target golf than playing it along the ground. 

There are very few actual links courses this side of the pond that mimic what's played in the Scotland, Ireland, and England.  The closest to us that sort of gets there is Sand Valley in Wisconsin but even that falls a bit short.  Some of the courses that are true links style in the US are Sandhills in Nebraska which is private and Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon.  If you've ever played a true links style course it is, in my opinion, the most fun style of golf to play anywhere.  

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40 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

Was thinking of courses like this one just outside of Sioux City, IA near Homer, NE.

First Peek: Landmand Golf Club - LINKS Magazine

It has some design elements of a British links style course.  So yeah, I see what you mean for faux-links style course.  I've never actually played a true links style course, would be interesting.

I remember hearing about that course when they broke ground for it, awesome to see it's almost open so I can plan a trip. Reminds me of Links of ND but turned up to an 11, very cool land to build a golf course on!

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14 hours ago, sioux rube said:


 Smith became my favorite golfer a couple years ago. Just seems so down to earth and has an awesome mullet. What I would give to have a few beers with the man

 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CgH5vLyorfw/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Either Golf Digest or GOLF magazine had a nice story on Cam Smith a few months ago and he really won me over too.  Like you said, he is super down to earth (loves mowing his lawn), low key, and just seems so likable.  Any of the contenders the final day at the Open would have made a good story, for a variety of reasons, and I was pulling for Rory, but it was also cool to see Smith make his charge and absolutely earn it. 

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20 hours ago, SIOUXpucks said:

Either Golf Digest or GOLF magazine had a nice story on Cam Smith a few months ago and he really won me over too.  Like you said, he is super down to earth (loves mowing his lawn), low key, and just seems so likable.  Any of the contenders the final day at the Open would have made a good story, for a variety of reasons, and I was pulling for Rory, but it was also cool to see Smith make his charge and absolutely earn it. 

I was happy to see Cam win it.  Heart was pulling for Young, but it was fun to watch the round.  Now reports are coming in that the Saudi's are offering him 90 million to come over to LIV.  Not sure I could turn down that kind of money, but I didn't just win the British open and have a bright future ahead of me on the course. 

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22 hours ago, Wilbur said:

I was happy to see Cam win it.  Heart was pulling for Young, but it was fun to watch the round.  Now reports are coming in that the Saudi's are offering him 90 million to come over to LIV.  Not sure I could turn down that kind of money, but I didn't just win the British open and have a bright future ahead of me on the course. 

Yeah a lot of money but then you're pretty much owned by the Saudi Gov't and get to be their mouthpiece,  I get why some washed up guys are taking the money and running but it's shocking to me that some younger ones are when they have their whole careers ahead of them.  Henrik Stenson giving up the Ryder Cup captaincy for the $ was shocking to me, he must be in some real financial trouble is all I can imagine. It's a really dark time for professional golf. 

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22 hours ago, Wilbur said:

Now reports are coming in that the Saudi's are offering him 90 million to come over to LIV.  

18 minutes ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

I get why some washed up guys are taking the money and running but it's shocking to me that some younger ones are when they have their whole careers ahead of them.  

$90 million is about $5.5 million less than Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson have earned in their careers ... combined. They are 13 and 14 on the all-time PGA career money list. 

13    Bubba Watson    $48,049,778
14    Zach Johnson    $47,698,044

Who's earned $90 million career on the PGA Tour? Usual suspects. Tiger. Phil. End of list. 

https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.110.html 

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On 7/18/2022 at 9:33 AM, Yote 53 said:

The wind is the course defense at St. Andrews and there was no defense provided by Mother Nature this weekend.  I have the same views as many of you about the course but after talking with the local golf pro at our course yesterday I've kind of changed my view.  There is something nostalgic about how natural the Old Course is and how nature and weather shape the course and it's not manufactured by humans to play a certain way.  Oh, and one day with little wind the course can be dominated but he next day if the winds kick up it will kick your butt.  The diversity of different shots is interesting as well.  Pulling a putter from some crazy spots.  The pot bunkers.  It's just different from the courses we all play.

For one time every 7 years (give/take) I think it's great to turn a page back in time and contest The Open at the Old Course.  In the end, low score still wins.

While out this weekend I was thinking how it would be possible to replicate a links style course like that in the wind swept Great Plains of Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.  Use the natural lay of the wide open prairie, minimal earth movement, natural grasses, and make those large greens.  We have plenty of wind here too.

I've played the Old Course at St Andrews, and I agree with this.  I love that they go back there every 6-7 years, and I do not believe the course is obsolete.  They just had ideal scoring conditions this week.

I was a low, single digit handicap when I played the course.  Having learned how to play golf on various dog tracks around the state of North Dakota, I was very familiar with rock hard fairways, some long prairie grass in the roughs, and some crazy bounces on uneven ground.

Because of the circumstances surrounding how I came to play the course, my tee time was at 6:10 a.m., and there wasn't a breath of wind.  I cruised through the first 10 holes two over par and was thoroughly enjoying myself, not really realizing that the wind was slowly building.

By the time I got out to the end of the course, the wind was whipping pretty good and those inward holes were a bear.  Tee shots, chips, putts, everything was affected by that wind.  I got a lucky par on 17, and a par on 18 to finish at 83, but there were a lot of double bogeys in between.

With no wind, and with the rough thinned by a lack of rain, the course was defenseless this week.

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1 hour ago, The Sicatoka said:

$90 million is about $5.5 million less than Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson have earned in their careers ... combined. They are 13 and 14 on the all-time PGA career money list. 

13    Bubba Watson    $48,049,778
14    Zach Johnson    $47,698,044

Who's earned $90 million career on the PGA Tour? Usual suspects. Tiger. Phil. End of list. 

https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.110.html 

If your only motivation is money then yeah I definitely get it. However, Cam Smith has $10 Mil in earnings this year alone. Not to mention how the PGA Tour has responded with big money events at the end of each season so those career earnings of Bubba and ZJ are dated and will be surpassed by many players in the next 5 years(which is how long the LIV contract is for). 

Don't forget many players status for future major championships are in serious jeopardy.  The OWGR does not currently recognize 54 hole events.      

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PGA Tour:  We cannot allow our best stars to moonlight in the LIV, that will hurt our product and is bad for golf.  Therefore, they must be punished.

Also, PGA Tour:  We're staging an event this week on national TV that features only three of our top 20 players, and none of the top 7.  (And only one of the top 16!)

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4 hours ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

PGA Tour:  We cannot allow our best stars to moonlight in the LIV, that will hurt our product and is bad for golf.  Therefore, they must be punished.

Also, PGA Tour:  We're staging an event this week on national TV that features only three of our top 20 players, and none of the top 7.  (And only one of the top 16!)

Gotta reduce the # of tournaments. Too many and it dilutes the product. When you have 40+ tournaments the top guys aren’t playing in them all. Tpc twin cities is a red headed step child compared to other events. The week after the players fly back from the UK and the location/course isn’t exactly inspiring.

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41 minutes ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

Gotta reduce the # of tournaments. Too many and it dilutes the product. When you have 40+ tournaments the top guys aren’t playing in them all. Tpc twin cities is a red headed step child compared to other events. The week after the players fly back from the UK and the location/course isn’t exactly inspiring.

no such thing as too many anything in the summer considering there is isn't much out there other than baseball....i'll take what i can get.

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