The Cheers Have Left Augusta

[HipCheck]

Because of Easter, I only had a change to watch the back 9 on Sunday, but I did catch all of the the 1st three rounds.

 

Saturday was probably the most boring round of golf I've seen in a major in a long time. No cheers. No roars. No backing away from a tee shot on 12 because of a roar on 13. Just a lot of missed putts.

 

Thursday/Friday were boring, "Another bad bounce, another ball in the drink".

 

Really, I didn't feel like I missed much on Sunday. Three boring days left me kind of indifferent to the whole thing anyway.

[rogue]

After reading this thread no one is probably going to agree with my opinon but here it is:

 

They all played the course and the best score won. I enjoyed watching the players play golf instead of bang a driver, hit a wedge, and tap-in a put.

[dachtor]

again, the wind was the real issue. I'd bet -6 or -7 would have won with no wind.....

[phillypete]

Oh my goodness people! Watch out or the sky my hit you on the head!

 

Sunday was a spectacular day of golf. Tigers par on 15 put him out of the tournament. Johnson shot -2 on the back on Sunday to win. So whats the problem?

 

length or trees had nothing to do with why this course played so tough. It was all about the wind. Augusta is normally a very humid place, but the wind blew all the moisture away. The wind blew all week, but it was at its worst on Saturday. It would gust up to 23mph and then turn 90 degrees in a second. This made the course look narrower and faster than it was. These pros were missing huge fairways and missing greens by 20 yards. Augusta was set up to be a second shot golf course. the landing area on these greens is so small. Although the green looks big if you don't land it in the right spot it will not hold or leave with a crazy putt. Its been that way for the history of this course. When the wind blows it makes it very difficult to hit those spots and thus hard to score.

 

do you remember how many FW were used off the tee, this wasn't to lay up short of hazards this was because players can put more spin on their FW than there driver. this allows them to work the ball against the wind and try to hold the line.

 

This was definitely not a high ball players course. Nothing could be farther for the truth. All of these guys were hitting knock downs all day long. I know you must have seen a couple of number 12 tee shots. the guys were playing 7i from 160. Ok thats what I club for 160, Tiger strikes the ball a lot better than that. Heck Stuart left a 7i short on that hole and he's one of the longer guys on tour. This because these guys were all hitting low punches to fight the wind. Even on a still day throwing a full shot up in the air at 12 makes it a crap shoot. With 20mph wind its russian roulette.

 

You guys need to get a grip and actually watch some golf. This was almost the same course as it was last year. They put a couple of extra trees on the left of 15 but the guys were blasting it through. The leaderboard went through short hitters and long hitters all the same.

 

Was it painful to watch these guys struggle... sure it was, Did it have anything to do with Fazio's changes... No, Fazio can't control the wind. Would Bobby Jones be happy with this years tournament... Absolutely, it was a tough test of golf for all and a gentleman of the sport prevailed with the best game.

[meroj]

Well said Phillypete.

 

They even too a couple of trees out on the right side of 11. Ohter than a few minor changes, it was the same course that was played the last couple of years. Next year when we get a little rain and the course plays a little softer like it did last year and only the big bombers will have a shot, everyone will forget about all of this whining.

 

The Masters is still one of the best sporting events around. Where wlse do you see a sporting event where it is ALL about the competition, not trying to wring one more dollar out of sponsors or the viewing public. I know that without the corporate sponsors and all of the advertising revenue, all of our major sporting leagues would be out of business, but it's nice sometimes to focus purely on the competition once in a while.

[Newman]

Oh my goodness people! Watch out or the sky my hit you on the head!

 

Sunday was a spectacular day of golf. Tigers par on 15 put him out of the tournament. Johnson shot -2 on the back on Sunday to win. So whats the problem?

 

length or trees had nothing to do with why this course played so tough. It was all about the wind. Augusta is normally a very humid place, but the wind blew all the moisture away. The wind blew all week, but it was at its worst on Saturday. It would gust up to 23mph and then turn 90 degrees in a second. This made the course look narrower and faster than it was. These pros were missing huge fairways and missing greens by 20 yards. Augusta was set up to be a second shot golf course. the landing area on these greens is so small. Although the green looks big if you don't land it in the right spot it will not hold or leave with a crazy putt. Its been that way for the history of this course. When the wind blows it makes it very difficult to hit those spots and thus hard to score.

 

do you remember how many FW were used off the tee, this wasn't to lay up short of hazards this was because players can put more spin on their FW than there driver. this allows them to work the ball against the wind and try to hold the line.

 

This was definitely not a high ball players course. Nothing could be farther for the truth. All of these guys were hitting knock downs all day long. I know you must have seen a couple of number 12 tee shots. the guys were playing 7i from 160. Ok thats what I club for 160, Tiger strikes the ball a lot better than that. Heck Stuart left a 7i short on that hole and he's one of the longer guys on tour. This because these guys were all hitting low punches to fight the wind. Even on a still day throwing a full shot up in the air at 12 makes it a crap shoot. With 20mph wind its russian roulette.

 

You guys need to get a grip and actually watch some golf. This was almost the same course as it was last year. They put a couple of extra trees on the left of 15 but the guys were blasting it through. The leaderboard went through short hitters and long hitters all the same.

 

Was it painful to watch these guys struggle... sure it was, Did it have anything to do with Fazio's changes... No, Fazio can't control the wind. Would Bobby Jones be happy with this years tournament... Absolutely, it was a tough test of golf for all and a gentleman of the sport prevailed with the best game.

 

EXACTLY! :friends:

[specialblend218]

I'm glad the course played a little easier on Sunday. At least we got one good day, and pretty good one at that.

[Hairpie]

I would absolutely concur with Philly Pete....I was there on Saturday and the wind was brutal.....Hardly anyone in the field could even hit it even with the bunkers on #1 and #15 was brutal.....We sat on #15 for nearly 2 hours without seeing a single tee shot make the crest of the hill...Only Phil, Tiger, and VJ had a go at that green all day...It was all about the wind and the cold which reduced driver distances off the tee and made iron shots guesswork at best....

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BTW, the original article appears at http://thesandtrap.com/extras/swing_though...ve_left_augusta if you'd like to read more comments.