The Golf Thread

[volfanbill]

**Note to Sean O'Hair... Good on you for firing at the pin on 17 young man. If I were 2down with two to play I'd be shooting for the trophy too...

**Note to Johnny Miller... Lay off the kid you big know-it-all jackass...

johnny miller is doesn't know jack.

 

[cotton]

**Note to Sean O'Hair... Good on you for firing at the pin on 17 young man. If I were 2down with two to play I'd be shooting for the trophy too...

That is one of the inequities in golf; if we were talking about Phil or Tiger, then I would agree with you. Winning the tournament is much more important to them than the difference in 2nd and 11th place. For someone like O'Hair, that is not the case. My guess is that the $747,000 difference in prize money is more important than the slim chance he is going to birdie, then go on to win. Gutsy move, but I'm not sure it is so smart.

I do agree with you on Miller.

 

[vol_in_ar]

I'm getting ready to play in a First Tee Skills Challenge, this afternoon.

Hope I don't drill a spectator.

 

[GAVol]

I've never been one to romanticize attacking the flagstick when it doesn't make much sense. I walked out of the movie "Tin Cup" thinking Kevin Costner was one of the dumbest human beings alive.

O'Hair could have just as easily played for the middle of the green and tried to drain a 20 footer. Plus, even if he went to 18 with a 2 shot deficit, there is tons of trouble waiting on 18 that makes a 2 shot swing very realistic. Hindsight is 20/20, but to me, that just wasn't very smart.

 

[orange+white=heaven]

That is one of the inequities in golf; if we were talking about Phil or Tiger, then I would agree with you. Winning the tournament is much more important to them than the difference in 2nd and 11th place. For someone like O'Hair, that is not the case. My guess is that the $747,000 difference in prize money is more important than the slim chance he is going to birdie, then go on to win. Gutsy move, but I'm not sure it is so smart.

Cowering before the Sawgrass17 gods is not, to me, the way I want to see a professional golfer in the final group play golf. You have the number. The swing is right there in the memory banks. Go hit it.
If it doesn't work then you do exactly what O'Hair did... walk up to the media and say 'I didn't walk out here today for second'... The press will respect that, and for the rest of your career you can call on the memory of having stood up and taken the shot. The success he can gain from having that moment may just make the 747,000 look like small money...

I've never been one to romanticize attacking the flagstick when it doesn't make much sense. I walked out of the movie "Tin Cup" thinking Kevin Costner was one of the dumbest human beings alive.

O'Hair could have just as easily played for the middle of the green and tried to drain a 20 footer. Plus, even if he went to 18 with a 2 shot deficit, there is tons of trouble waiting on 18 that makes a 2 shot swing very realistic. Hindsight is 20/20, but to me, that just wasn't very smart.

See above, but, if O'Hair drops that tee ball inside 15 feet on Mickelson, the added pressure headed to 18 on Mickelson puts some crazy things into play. Sean wanted to add a little heat to Lefty's thought process. I thought then, and I think now, O'Hair played it right. I am just a tad surprised though, that more folks aren't thinking like me this morning. Greenburg actually said this morning that in golf alone, second is not 'first loser'... Tiger likely wouldn't want to hear that from Greenie...

 

[GAVol]

Cowering before the Sawgrass17 gods is not, to me, the way I want to see a professional golfer in the final group play golf.

The thing is, people are acting like hitting to the middle of the green constitutes "cowering". That's not the way it works. He didn't have to play it safe, he just needed to play it SAFER. He can still hit it more toward the middle of the green and make a 20-25 footer for birdie. I'm not saying that he shouldn't have played aggressively. I'm just saying that there was probably a smarter option. I've stood on that green. When the pin is back right, there just isn't any margin for error.

I'm not going to rip him for the decision, but I'm also not going to hold him up as an example of heroism either.

 

[cotton]

Cowering before the Sawgrass17 gods is not, to me, the way I want to see a professional golfer in the final group play golf. You have the number. The swing is right there in the memory banks. Go hit it.
If it doesn't work then you do exactly what O'Hair did... walk up to the media and say 'I didn't walk out here today for second'... The press will respect that, and for the rest of your career you can call on the memory of having stood up and taken the shot. The success he can gain from having that moment may just make the 747,000 look like small money...

From the press' and the fans' points of view I think this is true. From O'Hair's, I think it is not. I do not know the young man's financial situation well enough to speak with authority, but my guess is that the $750k would be significantly more important to him than, again, the slim chance that he would make birdie and then go on to catch Phil. Perhaps that is why he put it in the drink, anyway, trying to hit a shot he can't hit under those conditions. As a result he has a net worth that is 3/4 of a million dollars less than he should.

 

[orange+white=heaven]

The thing is, people are acting like hitting to the middle of the green constitutes "cowering". That's not the way it works. He didn't have to play it safe, he just needed to play it SAFER. He can still hit it more toward the middle of the green and make a 20-25 footer for birdie. I'm not saying that he shouldn't have played aggressively. I'm just saying that there was probably a smarter option. I've stood on that green. When the pin is back right, there just isn't any margin for error.

In other words . . . You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to . . . .

Yeah, so the "cowering" line was a bit much, huh...sounded good when I wrote it..

I'd still say he had the shot in his game, and going for it can do nothing but help him as he grows into his potential. The statement of going at it was directed squarely at Phil, not his position on the board. And of course, he could've played to the middle and still dipped the shot. Then he would've been double damned... having pulled back the accelerator and pole vaulted the tournament in one fell swoop.

I'm not saying I would've wanted to have to pull off the shot. But these guys do this all their lives. The swing is in there. Go hit it.

 

[Lexvol]

I learned long ago that it's best just to go have a good time because inevitably some nimrod that has never won anything to amount to a hill of beans has loaded a team and is going to pencil whip you by inflating his team's handicap and then shooting a crazy low number.

Correct. I don't have illusions of winning because we have three B players including myself, and one C player. On a good day we can go 6-10 under. My goal for that team is NO BOGEYS.

Scrambles are a sham and here is why. At the beginning of the day, a reasonable team assumes a certain score will win the event. They will base that score on the difficulty of the course and the talent surrounding them as they leave for their first tee. Inevitably, that score is AT LEAST 5 to six shots lower than predicted. There are only a few ways to explain that. Either JB Holmes showed up to play with them at the turn, or they cheated their butts off.

 

[Lexvol]

The thing is, people are acting like hitting to the middle of the green constitutes "cowering". That's not the way it works. He didn't have to play it safe, he just needed to play it SAFER. He can still hit it more toward the middle of the green and make a 20-25 footer for birdie. I'm not saying that he shouldn't have played aggressively. I'm just saying that there was probably a smarter option. I've stood on that green. When the pin is back right, there just isn't any margin for error.

I'm not going to rip him for the decision, but I'm also not going to hold him up as an example of heroism either.

He was definitely aiming for the wrong side of that stick.

 

[cotton]

Scrambles are a sham and here is why....Either JB Holmes showed up to play with them at the turn, or they cheated their butts off.

I try to avoid the big scrambles, and especially the big money scrambles, at all costs, and that is one very big reason why. I usually play in a couple of local charity events each year and our company scramble, and then I curse the format every other Saturday.

Aside from moving the ball around or fudging scorecards, which inevitably happens, the biggest problem I see with the scrambles with large purses (and the calcuttas can get monstrous in two day events,) is sandbagging the teams. I played in a school fundraiser last year where you were supposed to bring your own team of A-E, with handicap ranges listed for each member. Every member of the winning team would break 80 on his worst day, so they go out and proceed to shoot 21 under for 18 holes. They putted 17 times. What the &^%$#@% is the point? They beat the field by 9 strokes.

That absolutely ruins what is supposed to be an enjoyable event to benefit a worth cause.

The fact that the typical scramble clocks in at somewhere around a 6 hr round doesn't help much either.

 

[cotton]

I also like the two day teams that finish at -2 and on top of the 2nd flight only to shoot -11 on the second day and run away with the purse, which is another problem with calcuttas.

Gentleman's game, indeed.

 

[BigPapaVol]

so would i look stupid carrying around a 6 iron hybrid in my bag and still having 3-PW? I don't know why, but i do have extreme changes in my distances from hybrids to regular irons.

I like playing against guys who are worried about how their bag looks in the airport. I'll carry a 19 wood if I use it better than my wedge. Heck, I'll even putt with it. Took me a long time to grow out of the airport mentality.

 

[BigPapaVol]

He was definitely aiming for the wrong side of that stick.

It was playing 127. I think he just didn't quite factor in the adrenalin, which is understandable.

 

[volfanbill]

I like playing against guys who are worried about how their bag looks in the airport. I'll carry a 19 wood if I use it better than my wedge. Heck, I'll even putt with it. Took me a long time to grow out of the airport mentality.

i'm not worried about what other people think of my bag necessarily, see previous threads i wrote in here. I'm more worried about what I'll be thinking knowing I somehow only hit a traditional six iron 165, while i can hit a 6 hybrid 200+. I guess I'll feel stupid more than look stupid.

 

[BigPapaVol]

i'm not worried about what other people think of my bag necessarily, see previous threads i wrote in here. I'm more worried about what I'll be thinking knowing I somehow only hit a traditional six iron 165, while i can hit a 6 hybrid 200+. I guess I'll feel stupid more than look stupid.

I would try some different club and shaft options. I find the hybrids to be about 10 yards longer than their iron counterparts.

 

[BigPapaVol]

Just saw that TGW.com is running the Titleist 905R at $199 with the proforce v2 shaft in it. Sounds decent. I know a lot of the big boys hit that stick and that shaft. Anyone hit it or know anything about it?

 

[vol_in_ar]

Just saw that TGW.com is running the Titleist 905R at $199 with the proforce v2 shaft in it. Sounds decent. I know a lot of the big boys hit that stick and that shaft. Anyone hit it or know anything about it?

It's a great head, but I would get a Graphite Design, or Aldila Shaft.

I had the UST Pro Force in my Titelist 983K, and switched to a Graphite Design shaft and have a better ball flight and trajectory.

 

[volfanbill]

Just saw that TGW.com is running the Titleist 905R at $199 with the proforce v2 shaft in it. Sounds decent. I know a lot of the big boys hit that stick and that shaft. Anyone hit it or know anything about it?

granted, mine is the 905T (smaller head), but I use that shaft and I'm in love with the thing. great trajectory, i can go high or low depending on how i tee it up and it just goes and goes.

 

[BigPapaVol]

It's a great head, but I would get a Graphite Design, or Aldila Shaft.

I had the UST Pro Force in my Titelist 983K, and switched to a Graphite Design shaft and have a better ball flight and trajectory.

This is the V2 shaft. Different than that awful purple and gold thing, which was junk. The Graphite Design isn't enough shaft.

 

[volfanbill]

is it the LD, high trajectory or just the standard V2? mine is the standard. I'm assuming yours is too. 76g for mine in the T. Either way, it's a $100 shaft alone.

 

[BigPapaVol]

is it the LD, high trajectory or just the standard V2? mine is the standard. I'm assuming yours is too. 76g for mine in the T. Either way, it's a $100 shaft alone.

standard v2. pretty good stick, great relative to the original proforce stuff

 

[vol_in_ar]

standard v2. pretty good stick, great relative to the original proforce stuff

Once you get it, if you don't like the shaft, you can always change it out.

I didn't like the original proforce, so I'm carrying that bias against the V2.

 

[GAVol]

Different than that awful purple and gold thing, which was junk.

I love that purple and gold, LSU lookin' piece of junk. I've had it in my driver for about 4 years. I don't know why, but it just seems to work for me. I should probably experiment a little though.

 

[BigPapaVol]

I love that purple and gold, LSU lookin' piece of junk. I've had it in my driver for about 4 years. I don't know why, but it just seems to work for me. I should probably experiment a little though.

if you found one that works for you, keep hittin' it. The original in the 75 gram model was a decent shaft, but the 65g is a train wreck. unfortunately, that's what they spec'd for the shelf variety.

Many variables in shaft vs. swing mix. Finding the right one is tough, but when you do, you know it. If that were the right one for me, I'd have the thing painted.