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Watched some practice earlier in the week. Can't help thinking that Brooks seems to have his head back in the game and would be great to see Rob MacIntyre follow up his Scottish Open performance. Tommy was on great form signing everything between every green and tee for the kids, but looked a frustrated individual during the Scottish. Tyrol Hatton's face suggests he'd prefer to be drowning puppies or anything rather than being on the golf course.
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Br1an_g
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Ricky just hit two shots OB on the same hole. That'll be a tough mountain to climb tomorrow if he wants to make the cut.
I'd love to see Fleetwood win too. I feel like all he does is makes tons of money, but he needs a breakthrough major win to change his mindset and let him understand what a world class winner he can be, not just a player. There i go, practicing psychiatry without a license again.
If you have Google Earth, look up Royal Liverpool. The satellite photo must have been taken very recently, because it shows the grandstands and merchandise tents set up in preparation for the tournament.
I'd love to see Fleetwood win too. I feel like all he does is makes tons of money, but he needs a breakthrough major win to change his mindset and let him understand what a world class winner he can be, not just a player. There i go, practicing psychiatry without a license again.
If you have Google Earth, look up Royal Liverpool. The satellite photo must have been taken very recently, because it shows the grandstands and merchandise tents set up in preparation for the tournament.
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- Joined
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Here's one for you... Is the course fair?
Even non golfers usually know you aren't supposed to hit your ball in the rough or into bunkers, but until this morning, (apparently after rain on the course), a lot of good shots haven't held greens and went into traps. When the ball rolls into a bunker gently, it seems more likely to stay close to the wall of the bunker, leaving the impossible shots that can't be played at the hole. That seems like a more unfair result for what was a better shot that one badly offline that just landed in the middle of the bunker.
I can't help but feel it's bringing a bigger element of luck into the tournament.
Since most of this forum is from Europe, playing this style of course 99.9% more than I get to, I'll be interested in hearing yoour opinions.
Even non golfers usually know you aren't supposed to hit your ball in the rough or into bunkers, but until this morning, (apparently after rain on the course), a lot of good shots haven't held greens and went into traps. When the ball rolls into a bunker gently, it seems more likely to stay close to the wall of the bunker, leaving the impossible shots that can't be played at the hole. That seems like a more unfair result for what was a better shot that one badly offline that just landed in the middle of the bunker.
I can't help but feel it's bringing a bigger element of luck into the tournament.
Since most of this forum is from Europe, playing this style of course 99.9% more than I get to, I'll be interested in hearing yoour opinions.
I don't find anything unusual in that. Pro's should know you have to play the couse as it is and their are certain pin positions on holes where it is inadvisable to go for the pin and you go for part of the green which provides minimal risk and take a par. Links greens are always slower than what a lot of players are used and with a lot of rain they will be even slower so you don't get a lot of forward roll when hitting into the green. The conditions for the first 2 days have been benign so the scores could have been worse. The only bunker difference between what the members play and for the open is that they flattened the sand at the front of the bunkers to make it more diffiult however there is no rule that say that when you are in a bunker you have to be able to play the ball straight at the pin. As someone who plays links golf it is sometime wiser to play out sideways or backwrds.
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Unless they deliberately went into the bunker it wasn't a good shot.
Course conditions include great weather variations and Pro's must learn to play to a variety of conditions, use their head and have patience.
Edit:
Dennis you will have to try playung a few rounds on a Linls course in varying weather conditions.
Course conditions include great weather variations and Pro's must learn to play to a variety of conditions, use their head and have patience.
Edit:
Dennis you will have to try playung a few rounds on a Linls course in varying weather conditions.
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Totally agree with LOS's summary above - IMHO links golf is frustrating to play, or to watch for those who have not tried it - It does look very penal to roll off a green & be faced with a 90* wall & no way to progress other than sideways or backwards? - Fortunately I only play links if I visit my brother in ROI & just accept all the challenges it provides (in Ireland, usually weather related!) - Returning to the Open, is it any different to the way the USPGA set up some of their US Open venues? - Brutal rough at the edge of a green & tiny fairways spring to mind?
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[QUOTE="LOS, post: 151498, member: 40861Dennis you will have to try playung a few rounds on a Linls course in varying weather conditions.[/QUOTE]
I have, but I'm embarrassed to say, it was 60 years ago. I haven't been back to the UK since I was forced to become an adult.
One of my favorite courses in the world is a links, a rather unusual one at that. It's Constant Spring Golf Club, in Kingston, Jamaica. It plays 9 out and 9 back, but instead of being on the coast, it's on the side of mountains. Wayward shots are most often in gullies or forests. And at about 800 feet above sea level, weather can get to it from every direction, depending on what circumstances may be at any given time.
The one missing element your links courses would offer is colder weather. Scared of cold that I am, cold weather would probably make me stay indoors anyway.
I have, but I'm embarrassed to say, it was 60 years ago. I haven't been back to the UK since I was forced to become an adult.
One of my favorite courses in the world is a links, a rather unusual one at that. It's Constant Spring Golf Club, in Kingston, Jamaica. It plays 9 out and 9 back, but instead of being on the coast, it's on the side of mountains. Wayward shots are most often in gullies or forests. And at about 800 feet above sea level, weather can get to it from every direction, depending on what circumstances may be at any given time.
The one missing element your links courses would offer is colder weather. Scared of cold that I am, cold weather would probably make me stay indoors anyway.
I guess that you need to define 'good shots'. On parkland courses, designed to make fairway placement followed by irons onto receptive greens, it gives a different definition than the bump n run, swales and hollows of links courses. Most folks would agree it's a different game. At Royal Dornoch, our second hole prompted Tom Watson to comment that it has the most difficult approach/second shot of any hole on the course. It's a 177 yard par 3.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2014
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- Joined
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An aside - Author Tom Coyne has written 3 books I have, A olf Course Called Ireland, A Golf Course Called Scotland and A Golf Course Called America.
In each case, the theme was similar, a story of him traveling around, trying to play great courses. In the case of Ireland, he actually walked from place to place, not to mention playing 2 courses a day in many cases. In Scotland, he drove around. I haven't read the book about American courses yet.
Part of the fun I have is, I love to look up each course on Google Earth. Also, since you folks would be much more familiar with thes ecourses than I, it might be inspiring for you to decide to make a golf trip somewhere he played that you haven't.
I'm envious, in many ways, that there were lots of times his maps reflected 10 courses or more within a 25 mile range of each other. Here in Miami, that was the case until the past 10 years when the South Florida political position seemed to decide golf was disposable and courses closed to be developed into housing or most recently, to build a soccer stadium.
I also recently read the book by the well known golf writer George Peper, who actually moved to St Andrews with his wife and bought a place across the street from the 18th fairway, became a member of the town and for a bit over 2 years, enjoyed the incredible privileges of being a St Andrews resident. It's called St Andrews Sojourn.
Obviously, this is not tournament related, but it's just a bunch of stuff that crosses my mind, thinking about all my friends overseas, you folks I've met in this forum, just because The Open was last weekend.
In each case, the theme was similar, a story of him traveling around, trying to play great courses. In the case of Ireland, he actually walked from place to place, not to mention playing 2 courses a day in many cases. In Scotland, he drove around. I haven't read the book about American courses yet.
Part of the fun I have is, I love to look up each course on Google Earth. Also, since you folks would be much more familiar with thes ecourses than I, it might be inspiring for you to decide to make a golf trip somewhere he played that you haven't.
I'm envious, in many ways, that there were lots of times his maps reflected 10 courses or more within a 25 mile range of each other. Here in Miami, that was the case until the past 10 years when the South Florida political position seemed to decide golf was disposable and courses closed to be developed into housing or most recently, to build a soccer stadium.
I also recently read the book by the well known golf writer George Peper, who actually moved to St Andrews with his wife and bought a place across the street from the 18th fairway, became a member of the town and for a bit over 2 years, enjoyed the incredible privileges of being a St Andrews resident. It's called St Andrews Sojourn.
Obviously, this is not tournament related, but it's just a bunch of stuff that crosses my mind, thinking about all my friends overseas, you folks I've met in this forum, just because The Open was last weekend.
In the interests of sharing (not showing off - honestly), i got to play the course on Monday, with the Sunday pins. You can go through a run of holes where it doesn't feel difficult at all - hit the fairway, hit a safe part of the green and move on. BUT moment you lose a little concentration, aim at a flag and pull it a shade, it's all over. We had some very humbling moments between us all. There was an 11 (by a good player) on 17. Plenty of us took 4 or 5 swings to shift the ball from a bunker. I hit big on 17 - onto the 'beach'. Somehow got it back onto the green for a 4. But a great experience and showed why only a very focussed player would win there.
Sounds like a great experience MPX - Links golf is very much like that in my experience, seems pretty straightforward until you make a mistake & then it's like the end of the world! - On a "normal" course a bad shot results in a double bogey, a similar mistake on the links results in a cricket score! - As I have mentioned here before, my brother plays at Ballyliffin in ROI - If I played there as my main course my handicap would probably be double what it is now? - My most lofted wedge is a 58 but there I would definitely have a 62 or 64