MD/VA/DC Golfers - Ten Seconds or Less

[jhbangas]

 

 

Chambers Bay yesterday @ 7AM.

 

I played like crap but can't complain considering the weather and the location.

 

Recap:

 

I hit a decent drive on 1 and was +1 through 3. That was the only good drive I hit all day. Let's leave it at that and pretend that I shot an 81 (it was an 94). It was bad. Swing is in a very rough point right now. I'm working really hard on getting rid of my inside takeaway that contributes to a pretty bad over the top slice. Dropped some decent putts, shanked some shots.

 

Initially I wasn't planning on playing on Monday but it turned out that the folks were going to be busy most of the morning and the weather was clearing up. It ended up being crystal clear and about 70. Pretty much ideal golf weather. It's $175 for Washington State residents (cheaper if you're Pierce Co.) during May. I've been deluding myself for nearly a decade that a move back west is imminent so I'm still holding a WA State drivers license.

 

I can't compare Chambers to other US Open quality course or other links courses since I've never played either but it was a cool experience regardless. The course conditions weren't quite what I'd expect from a course of that caliber but they've had a weird spring (super rainy then very hot (relatively speaking) then rainy) etc. so I think it's messed with the grass conditions a little bit. It's an interesting facility. The first pic below is from the parking garage right near the clubhouse/proshop and looks out towards the NW. The tips of the Olympic Mts are straight ahead an Mt. Rainier is behind (though you can't see it from anywhere around the course since you're too low relative to the surrounding area. The site is an old quarry so if you watched much of last year's Open you could see how steep the sides are. You park and check in then get shuttled down a ridge towards the water to the lower area where the starters/caddies/snack house are on one side of the ridge (you can see it in the pic) and the range and short game area are off to left as you head down. Very nice set up down there. If I lived within 30min, I'd join up just for the practice facilities.

 

Walking is required and Bagboy carts (those things are super overpriced btw) are included in your fee. There's a lot of elevation changes and rough paths between holes which I really liked so you get a nice leg day out of the round. A golf cart would be next to impossible and sections of the course would have to totally overhauled to include paved paths. They actually drive you from the 3rd green to the 4th tee box since it's a long way straight uphill. You're seeing a 5hr round even if you're moving at a decent clip. I have a very hard time seeing a foursome getting around in under 4 even if they are really hauling a**.

 

Once you're out there, it's next to impossible to tell where the fairway starts and the green begins. This article from before the Open was on-point http://www.sbnation....ay-golf-course. The easiest way to tell if you're on the green is by looking to see if you're inside the sprinklers ringing the greens. Either way, you're going to hit a bunch of putts from greenside. But don't let that comment fool you. There were definitely a couple of times where you're actually better off hitting a high pitch to land soft beyond a big downslope rather than putting down it. Battery died on my rangefinder and just going by the sprinkler heads can be rough even if you know the pin placement area (only 3 areas for huge greens). You can read 165 from the sprinkler head but i's actually 185+ to a back pin. The greens weren't crazy fast but they were crazy hard (basically zero ball marks) and huge. I can't comment on them being "bumpy" relative to what it was like at the Open. They were fine as far as I was concerned but they definitely weren't pristine like you'd see at other tour stops. The starters and a couple of the marshalls were chatting with us before we teed off and of them thought the superintendent (or the relevant USGA guy - was unclear who they were referring to) had f***** up the watering schedule prior to the Open and that was primary cause of bumpy greens.

 

Off the tee, it's pretty wide open even if some of the fairways look really tight in pics or on tv. You can really hammer at it off the tee in most cases but you do need to be very conscious of which way the fairways slopes. You can land it just off the left rough and end up running into the right rough. The only really narrow fairways are on driveable 4s.

 

It's definitely a course where local knowledge and/or a good caddy is essential if you really want to score well. You can't just go out and shoot at the pin. There were a ton of instances where one of us hit a high, soft 9i/PW into a green and watched the ball roll-out 40+ft at a right angle from the shot line. Where to miss is really important on the course. Though sometimes you get helped out when you thin an iron that ends up running out an extra 40yrds and leaves you within 20ft.

 

Overall, I wouldn't call it a terribly difficult course from the "sand" (read - Blue) tees, though I recognize that my score doesn't really give me license to make that claim. If you tip it out, it definitely plays very long on a few holes. Some of the uphill, dogleg par 4s (I'm thinkin #4 and #13) are really tough. I hit a crappy drive on #13 that probably went 220 to the left edge of the fairway and had to hit a hero 3w 255 into the green. I can't actually hit my 3w 255 in normal circumstances but you're getting so much rollout on some shots, played into the correct slope, play significantly longer. I thought all of the 5s were gettable but a have severe slopes next to the green that can really mess up a long shot that's offline.

 

My conference call about how to use our new phone and intercom systems is almost over so I'm gonna wrap this up. If you're in the area, it's definitely worth checking out. I'm not sure how many US Open course you can ever get on for under $200.

 

From the parking lot:

 

 

Range (short-game is off to the left with pro shop at the top of the hill to the left out of frame):

 

 

From the 5th tee box:

 

 

From the 15th tee (only tree on the course):

 

[vtnerf]

After my dog bit my ex girlfriend's butt in high school (came over for that last..y'all know) the dog got quarantine for 72 hours to be checked for rabies, etc.

 

What was the state of clothing on said butt?

Was it worth said butt?

Did the dog have a tick afterwards?

Did the girl get check for rabies, for the dog's sake?

[FAbb]

I'm an instigator, so it could definitely apply to me lol.

 

It's not multiple, multiple choice though. The correct answer is b.

 

I think this is what happened in the locker room at Hobbits after the recent dust up. They followed this up with simultaneous rub-downs, and it's all good now.

 

 

[jhbangas]

Eagle - City can recommend a couple books on an animals being animals. I know there was one that he gave to his dad and CityDad really treasured that book.

[misplacedtexan83]

After my dog bit my ex girlfriend's butt in high school (came over for that last..y'all know) the dog got quarantine for 72 hours to be checked for rabies, etc.

 

What was the state of clothing on said butt?

Was it worth said butt?

Did the dog have a tick afterwards?

Did the girl get check for rabies, for the dog's sake?

 

It was nibble on the rear. She was a b*tch that my mom didn't like. Maybe she sent him after her..never asked her.

 

She did have a tongue ring...unique experience if y'all haven't experienced it.

[halcyan]

After my dog bit my ex girlfriend's butt in high school (came over for that last..y'all know) the dog got quarantine for 72 hours to be checked for rabies, etc.

 

What was the state of clothing on said butt?

Was it worth said butt?

Did the dog have a tick afterwards?

Did the girl get check for rabies, for the dog's sake?

 

It was nibble on the rear. She was a b*tch that my mom didn't like. Maybe she sent her after her..never asked her.

 

She did have a tongue ring...unique experience if y'all haven't experienced it.

 

 

Tongue ring. Heard of a tongue stud--not a ring. Trying to picture...

 

edit: thank you google

[Gmen1204]

Looks like PGA is leaving Doral for Mexico that should piss Donald off.

[JJCOOP7]

Looks like PGA is leaving Doral for Mexico that should piss Donald off.

 

PGA tour making sure to get into the political mix - no sponsor will be the reason given publicly, but we all know they just wanted to disassociate with the Don

[Gmen1204]

Yup thumb to nose Lol

[JJCOOP7]

Trump

 

"I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico, as an example," Trump said. "They're moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance. But they're moving it to Mexico City."

[Puppetmaster]

Best BST listing in a while.

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1342104-hi-hos-kermit-the-frog-here-fire-sale-the-holy-grail-king-cobra-ltd-pro-lime-bio-cell-tour-ad-bb-7x-ping-ketsch-cadence-odyssey-metal-x-6/

[Puppetmaster]

Trump

 

"I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico, as an example," Trump said. "They're moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance. But they're moving it to Mexico City."

 

Robert Allenby probably won't be playing then...

[baddomes]

Does anyone who has Game Golf hate it?

[jhbangas]

I'm currently neutral on it. I haven't used it enough to have a strong opinion one way or another. You definitely have to tweak each round afterward since you will forget some putts or it will misread something. As someone with a higher cap, I think I need more rounds on it before it becomes useful for seeing trends. A lower cap would need fewer rounds. I also need to play around with the software to see if there is a way to excluded shots from being counted in your analysis. e.g. I use a 6i for a lot of punch outs from the trees. I don't want that counting on my 6i distance stats.

[TheCityGame]

Trump

 

"I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico, as an example," Trump said. "They're moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance. But they're moving it to Mexico City."

[FAbb]

I'm currently neutral on it. I haven't used it enough to have a strong opinion one way or another. You definitely have to tweak each round afterward since you will forget some putts or it will misread something. As someone with a higher cap, I think I need more rounds on it before it becomes useful for seeing trends. A lower cap would need fewer rounds. I also need to play around with the software to see if there is a way to excluded shots from being counted in your analysis. e.g. I use a 6i for a lot of punch outs from the trees. I don't want that counting on my 6i distance stats.

 

Play around with the software? Maybe, stop hitting it in the trees so much instead?

 

Seriously though, I think you just need to get a bunch of data in there. Over time, they throw out outliers in calculating typical distances. I guess if you hit a ton of punch outs in comparison to full shots with the club, you're still a bit out of luck. You can try carrying one of the extra tags in your pocket and using it for punch outs. That seems kinda silly though.

[JJCOOP7]

Trump

 

"I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico, as an example," Trump said. "They're moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance. But they're moving it to Mexico City."

 

The debates will be interesting for sure

[eagle1997]

anyone thinking about supporting a dark horse 3rd party candidate?

 

[jhbangas]

I'm currently neutral on it. I haven't used it enough to have a strong opinion one way or another. You definitely have to tweak each round afterward since you will forget some putts or it will misread something. As someone with a higher cap, I think I need more rounds on it before it becomes useful for seeing trends. A lower cap would need fewer rounds. I also need to play around with the software to see if there is a way to excluded shots from being counted in your analysis. e.g. I use a 6i for a lot of punch outs from the trees. I don't want that counting on my 6i distance stats.

 

Play around with the software? Maybe, stop hitting it in the trees so much instead?

 

Seriously though, I think you just need to get a bunch of data in there. Over time, they throw out outliers in calculating typical distances. I guess if you hit a ton of punch outs in comparison to full shots with the club, you're still a bit out of luck. You can try carrying one of the extra tags in your pocket and using it for punch outs. That seems kinda silly though.

 

Why do you hurt me like this Fabb? Also the trees are helping since without them I would be OB.

 

I agree that volume of rounds will balance out in the end. That said, the software does have some rough edges. I played 36 at Langston two weeks ago and it counted it as 1 round of 36 holes and won't seem to let me break it out into two rounds for the purposes of handicap and stroke tracking. I'm sure there's a way to do it but it's not intuitive and I'm lazy.

[FAbb]

Oh, it's far from perfect for sure.

 

The software has seen very little updating, basically since they launched.

 

Their initial roll out of "strokes gained" took forever, and was pretty useless. It's still kinda useless, IMO. I guess it helps to see how you compare to other skill levels in different parts of the game, but I personally didn't learn anything I don't already know from it.

 

They seem to be putting very little effort into software improvements, and analytics. It seemed like such a desperate reach for revenue when they released game golf live. They'd be better off spending effort on updating the software and charging for those updates.

[DT15]

Anyone in the market:

 

Xenon Copper Handmade #9 style

Scotty Cameron GoLo 3 (New)

Taylormade counterbalance mid-mallet?

[GooseHook]

anyone thinking about supporting a dark horse 3rd party candidate?

 

 

[thechief16]

anyone thinking about supporting a dark horse 3rd party candidate?

 

 

Absolutely. Johnson/Weld

[thechief16]

Some really interesting data in here, as the tour further segments its strokes gained stats.

 

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/05/31/strokes-gained-defined.html?cid=TWPGATOUR

[FAbb]

Some really interesting data in here, as the tour further segments its strokes gained stats.

 

http://www.pgatour.c...l?cid=TWPGATOUR

 

So, does this tell us that Kent was right about playing to the 150 yard maker all the time?

[baddomes]

Anyone in the market:

 

Xenon Copper Handmade #9 style

Scotty Cameron GoLo 3 (New)

 

Yes, but no.

 

If you had asked during the blizzard I'd have said yes to both probably. Especially that Xenon.

[FAbb]

Domes gon' buy that Xenon.

[Boogs2]

Anyone need a Sun Mountain 3.5 stand bag, used about 5 rounds total? All black colorway? PM me. Trying to sell it.

[baddomes]

I mean.....we got pictures of that xenon?

[Kent01putt]

YES