MD/VA/DC Golfers - Ten Seconds or Less

[halcyan]

Very long round recap inspired by a great time at Torrey Pines South. Kudos to those who read the whole thing.

 

I was lucky to get the first twilight time of 2:50. The North Course was closed due to a total rebuild in progress (see pic), so I was surprised that I didn’t have more of a problem. $120, down from a $200 regular rate. Played with a good foursome of singles that included a really friendly dude from Nigeria who pull-carted along with me and said that it was a miracle that he was living in San Diego.

 

Hole 1 Horrible start. Nervous pull hook that ended up behind a tree. Tried to draw a 7 wood 210 yards to a hole surrounded by bunkers. Really stupid shot which ended up short-sided to the right. Dumped the 3rd into a deep bunker. After two from the bunker and two putts, that would be a triple.

 

The rest of the day went much better. Highlights:

 

Hole 2 Recovered from the triple with an uphill 8 footer for birdie that looked straight but broke towards to ocean (your Torrey Pines courtesy tip).

 

Hole 3 Postcard perfect 165 yard par 3 that looks south down the coast. Hit a great 7 iron that landed just short of a tucked back left pin, but then rolled to the edge of the abyss. Two more feet would have had my ball rolling into the canyon. Up and down for par.

 

Hole 4 Extremely difficult 450 yard par 4 that runs alongside the ocean with hang gliders floating the entire length. Drove short right. Chopped it dead left from deep rough into a tree 90 yards out that stopped my ball from going into the canyon. Punch sand wedge to 15 feet. Sunk the putt for par

 

Hole 6 Drove the ball over a couple of trees to cut the the dog-leg. A push right puts you at risk of going into the ever-present canyon. Three wood short right. 20 yard pitch to about 10 feet. Downhill trickler holed for birdie.

 

Hole 11 Another great hole. Slightly downhill 200 yard par three. Four iron to 6 feet that I drew like 30 yards with the right to left wind and barely crossed one big-a** bunker. Pushed the putt, but really happy with the swing.

 

Hole 12 Very long par four that’s only redeeming quality for me was the cart girl serving the local IPA. Had 230 in on my second shot.

 

Hole 13 My second favorite hole after number 3. Short par 5 that runs downhill and then severely uphill to a green guarded in front by three tiers of bunkers. Pushed my drive right and hacked a six iron with enough distance to get it rolling down the hill to about 130 yards. Drew a nice 9 iron to 10 feet below a front pin--and this time made the easy uphill putt.

 

Hole 18 Great finishing hole which was gettable in two if you wanted to mess with that little green-side pond. I didn’t and pushed my six iron right to the only patch of light rough on the course. Lob wedge tight. 5 foot putt that hit a bumpy patch and veered left. (Tiger was right about that late afternoon poa)

 

Finished in just under 4 hours, which was a miracle in itself and was probably due to it being July 5th and so many other tourists being home with hangovers.

 

Hang gliders along hole 4

[FAbb]

I'll bring my grill this year, guys...

[seetoo]

Anyone played Bulle Rock recently? Thinking about making the trek next week and trying to find out its condition. Thanks for any info you can provide.

[davechen]

Anyone played Bulle Rock recently? Thinking about making the trek next week and trying to find out its condition. Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

I suggest calling ahead and asking about the conditions of the sand bunkers.

 

@halcyan Where are the picture of the nudists? I was told there would be nudists.

[JJCOOP7]

Anyone played Bulle Rock recently? Thinking about making the trek next week and trying to find out its condition. Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

Haha- just waiting for some good responses on this one.

[TheCityGame]

Anyone played Bulle Rock recently? Thinking about making the trek next week and trying to find out its condition. Thanks for any info you can provide.

That's a real

 

 

. . .sore spot around here.

 

It's probably in great shape. I mean, they had tons of sand in the bunkers last time we played there and they weren't using very many of the tee boxes.

[GooseHook]

This month and October are probably the best times of the year to play Bulle.

[halcyan]

Anyone played Bulle Rock recently? Thinking about making the trek next week and trying to find out its condition. Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

I suggest calling ahead and asking about the conditions of the sand bunkers.

 

@halcyan Where are the picture of the nudists? I was told there would be nudists.

 

You wouldn't be impressed with the beach bodies. But if you wanted just take one of those hang gliders and float down to the beach.

[TheCityGame]

The Beau Show is going Pro.

 

[pquarta1]

The Beau Show. I love that.

[halcyan]

BTW, here's a photo of Torrey Pines South #3 from the USGA store that is better than anything I shot.

 

[eagle1997]

 

 

Period 7 #CCCP Leaderboard: http://cccp2016.herokuapp.com/leaderboard/?period=7

 

 

Overall 2016 #CCCP Leaderboard: http://cccp2016.herokuapp.com/leaderboard/

 

 

 

 

 

we all know what this means. sully has obviously rigged the system to his benefit. but until i complete my full point doping investigation, there's this:

 

[2moreTerps]

this article tilts me so hard ... but this guy has to know 100x what i do. tell me what is wrong with my analysis:

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/386250/the-statistical-differences-between-a-scratch-golfer-and-pga-tour-player/

 

let's review some problems

 

Mr. Scratch: I averaged the 8,360 rounds in our database that match the zero handicap criteria. In other words, the rounds when Mr. Scratch actually played to his 0 handicap

 

If we want to review the differences between a scratch golfer and a PGA tour player why aren't we looking at rounds played by scratch golfers? As it is the rounds analyzed contain a certain % of rounds played by BETTER than scratch golfers not playing to their handicap, a certain % of rounds played by scratch golfers to their handicap, and a certain % of rounds played by WORSE than scratch golfers above their ability. Considering the overall numbers of players in the categories "better than scratch", "scratch", and "worse than scratch" I suspect that the analysis contains a pretty healthy number of rounds played by players WORSE than a scratch golfer. this really matters when it gets into the breakdown of the differential of shots between scratch and a PGA tour pro. If a scratch golfer "can play to a course handicap of 0 on any and all rated courses" his AVERAGE round is not going to result in a differential of 0. Right off the bat the selection of rounds makes the result flawed because there is more than a 5.5 shot difference between a scratch golfer and a PGA tour pro.

 

The chart below indicates that the driving distance gap between the Tour and Mr. Scratch is 33 yards. The average approach shot distance on the PGA Tour is 175 yards. Adding the 33 yards to all 14 driving holes puts Mr. Scratch’s average approach distance at just over 205 yards.

 

Wait what? There are plenty of holes where PGA tour players basically hit to a spot that would be reachable by a scratch golfer. This analysis leaves out par 5s entirely. Taking the average PGA tour approach shot distance and adding 33 yards is super flawed.

 

Mr. Scratch leaves his successful short game shots 1 foot farther from the hole. This difference in the range of 7-10 feet is worth 0.08 Strokes Gained. When multiplied by seven short game shots per round it’s 0.56 strokes, but we’ll call it half a stroke.

I am ignoring the minor difference in errors (shots that miss the green). My theory is that Mr. Scratch attains his excellent scoring level through meticulous short game consistency

 

I suspect the error in this logic is that many of the rounds in the initial sample are by people who have played above their overall ability and that impacts how they make their score. They're less likely than the scratch golfer to hit it close to the hole and more like to have a bunch of really good short game shots. They're less likely than the scratch golfer to make mistakes. They're more likely to have a slightly lucky day not having any mistakes. There is NO WAY that a PGA tour pro only picks up .5 shots over a scratch golfer through the short game (remember that I think the initial assertion that there is a 5.5 shot difference between a scratch golfer and PGA tour pro is way way off)

 

If you want to try to get on the PGA Tour, your handicap needs to be a solid +3. If you want to support a family playing on tour, your handicap should be +5. Much easier said than done, however.

 

A +3 is going to be among the best amateurs in MD. NOT EVEN CLOSE to good enough to try to make the PGA tour.

 

He said earlier that the PGA tour AVERAGE score beats the course rating by just over 5 shots. A HANDICAP ISN'T BASED ON AVERAGE SCORE. THE +5 IS BY DEFINITION NOT AVERAGING 5 SHOTS BETTER THAN THE COURSE RATING!!!!

[jhbangas]

this article tilts me so hard ... but this guy has to know 100x what i do. tell me what is wrong with my analysis:

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...ga-tour-player/

 

let's review some problems

 

Mr. Scratch: I averaged the 8,360 rounds in our database that match the zero handicap criteria. In other words, the rounds when Mr. Scratch actually played to his 0 handicap

 

If we want to review the differences between a scratch golfer and a PGA tour player why aren't we looking at rounds played by scratch golfers? As it is the rounds analyzed contain a certain % of rounds played by BETTER than scratch golfers not playing to their handicap, a certain % of rounds played by scratch golfers to their handicap, and a certain % of rounds played by WORSE than scratch golfers above their ability. Considering the overall numbers of players in the categories "better than scratch", "scratch", and "worse than scratch" I suspect that the analysis contains a pretty healthy number of rounds played by players WORSE than a scratch golfer. this really matters when it gets into the breakdown of the differential of shots between scratch and a PGA tour pro. If a scratch golfer "can play to a course handicap of 0 on any and all rated courses" his AVERAGE round is not going to result in a differential of 0. Right off the bat the selection of rounds makes the result flawed because there is more than a 5.5 shot difference between a scratch golfer and a PGA tour pro.

 

Are you sure about that? I mean he goes right by what the "zero handicap criteria" actually means for the purposes of this article. However, it could be read just as easily to say he looked at all rounds where an amateur with a registered 0.0 handicap actually plays to the course rating. He doesn't say that he's incorporating rounds by +/- handicaps. Isn't the first chart showing that the "scratch" golfer is averaging 73.1 on a course rated 72.8. Unless I'm reading this totally wrong.

[DT15]

Sully, you may want to sit down...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dcmidnight]

Anyone else watch the premier of "The Night Of".

 

God damnnnn.

[GooseHook]

Oh nice, I've been psyched to watch that. Guess I'm firing up the HBO GO tonight.

 

For drunken white noise, I've been watching the Bob Ross episodes on Netflix.

[2moreTerps]

However, it could be read just as easily to say he looked at all rounds where an amateur with a registered 0.0 handicap actually plays to the course rating.

 

That wasn't the way I read it. You could certainly be right. That would still be flawed. By the "you shoot your handicap 2 out of 7 times" rule of thumb he'd be including including 2/7ths of the rounds shot by scratch handicaps

[TheCityGame]

Anyone else watch the premier of "The Night Of".

 

God damnnnn.

not yet. Just planning on watching it Sunday night when it airs. Looking forward to it.

 

Terp - that was how I read it... Look for my comment in the comments.

[dcmidnight]

Oh nice, I've been psyched to watch that. Guess I'm firing up the HBO GO tonight.

 

For drunken white noise, I've been watching the Bob Ross episodes on Netflix.

 

It was really good, got lots of run on some of the Ringer podcasts this week.

[SullGolf]

Harder to read and like posts on mobile, but rest assured I am giving all the red tee recaps a mental like. Wish I could have been there. I notice JJ and I had the same strategy, so just pencil me in for a 70 too.

[David30]

DTF: Three (or is it four now? :drinks: ) Tito's vodka martini's with onions. Almost bought two staff towels from Mizuno because I wanted free shipping on $35 running pants.

[Gmen1204]

Got out with PaMatt yesterday between storms, as I arrive at course the skies opened up dropped over a inch of rain in about 10 min. but the course drained pretty good only got in 9 because a second storm was heading our way hitting the driver much better shot 46 think PaMatt shot a couple better.

[dcmidnight]

Well the DJ wd to me right now is the biggest deal. TMAG really stuck by DJ behind the scenes during his suspension, I mean they could have dumped him and no one would have said boo. So with Adidas being the main Olympic golf sponsor I thought it was a lock he would be going.

 

For the same reason I think Speith signing the biggest deal ever with Coke was locking him into going. Now I'm not so sure.

[TheCityGame]

Tee time alert

 

Monday Hobbits.

 

Need 2 or 3 or something. I don't know for sure because I have a couple guys who are in who might not be able to do it and a couple guys who are on the fence but have rights of refusal until tomorrow or so.

 

We're PROBABLY going off around 3:20 but we might get bumped to 3:45 for reasons that aren't important right now.

 

It's member-guest day, so the round is only the cost of the cart.

 

DM me.

[Gmen1204]

Well the DJ wd to me right now is the biggest deal. TMAG really stuck by DJ behind the scenes during his suspension, I mean they could have dumped him and no one would have said boo. So with Adidas being the main Olympic golf sponsor I thought it was a lock he would be going.

 

For the same reason I think Speith signing the biggest deal ever with Coke was locking him into going. Now I'm not so sure.

Funny how not as many lpga players aren't dropping out I read a article about certain lpga players felt it was hurting their chances for future Olympics.

 

Well the DJ wd to me right now is the biggest deal. TMAG really stuck by DJ behind the scenes during his suspension, I mean they could have dumped him and no one would have said boo. So with Adidas being the main Olympic golf sponsor I thought it was a lock he would be going.

 

For the same reason I think Speith signing the biggest deal ever with Coke was locking him into going. Now I'm not so sure.

Funny how not as many lpga players aren't dropping out I read a article about certain lpga players felt it was hurting their chances for future Olympics.

[dcmidnight]

Simple - IMO. The LPGA needs every tiny sliver of publicity they can get. By the players own admission, the tour is struggling to put together a full schedule of sponsors with an increasing number of tournaments having to go overseas. In the near future at least 3 or 4 of the top "names" are getting married and say they want to start families. They need as many eyes on their game as possible.

 

The mens game just doesnt. They have what 6-8 main tours worldwide to say nothing of all the mini tours? If pressed in private, I'd say very few of the top men care about the Olympics at all. And I dont really blame them. If they want to walk in the opening ceremony and they are playing in the PGA they'd basically have one day off maybe and then have to get on a plane to Rio? After the schedule they've had? Pass.

[SullGolf]

Man I am knocked on my a** today. In the last week I was on 3 cross country flights (one way) and in a couple of different hospitals for work. Planes and hospials are pretty much the two places to avoid if you want to stay healthy. 101 fever now.

[SullGolf]

Also I accidently stood in a "biohazard" exhaust fan for a bit before realizing it. Not my finest moment.

[vtnerf]

Yessir. Won our flight!!! Crystal vase. Pics coming when I get cell service.