US Open Ratings Second Worst Ever

[scruffynick]

Sometimes it just happens....you get an anti climax in an sporting event. But I think the US open has a problem of introducing new courses that don't always get it right first time around. I thought the course just needed toughening up a bit and next time it's there I bet the 18 is a well hard par 4 with trouble everywhere.

That's were the British open has it different, the open is on a rota and they're all well over 100 years old and most golf fans know the courses and famous holes. It's Birkdale in a month, a tough course with famous holes.

Look at hazeltine, hammered for being a cow field in 1970....by 1991, wow what a course and it's had great major victors since. Anyway, it's at a great course next year and I'm sure the US open will be exciting again!

[Psyber]

I think the technological advances in equipment have not only democratized golf at the amateur level but the professional level as well. There is much less gap between the top players in the game and the players who round out the top 100.

 

Back in the day, when persimmon and balata ruled the fairways, there was a much bigger gap between the top and the middle. I think it would be much easier for the truly great modern players to dominate if equipment was dialed back a bit.

 

I disagree with this. I have seen 1960's golf and the simple fact of the matter is this- Once you got past the top 20 or so guys in 1960 you were left largely with a bunch of dudes equivalent in skills as today's web.com guys, or perhaps lower.

 

I once saw Raymond Floyd in a TV interview talking about the differences between the modern players (this was around 1995) and the guys who were on TOUR when he first turned pro. Raymond said about 25% of the guys back in 1960 were able to get up and down from greenside bunkers with any regularity. These days it's almost automatic unless a player has an unfortunate stance or lie.

 

The players today are simply better across all aspects of the game. The teaching/instruction is better (more scientific) and much more accessible, and the fitness of these guys is on an entirely different level compared to what we saw in 1960.

 

And I take the exact opposite view. I think if you took the bottom 50 guys in the top 100 today and plopped them down in the 70s with persimmon, balata, and sweet spots the size of dimes, they wouldn't be on Tour, they'd be folding shirts in a pro shop in Poughkeepsie. Ever see those throw-back videos where they have modern pros hit persimmon? Even using the modern ball they're not moving it out there much further than the guys in the 70s. And the guys in the 70s were using balata. The guys before the technology boom were producing commensurate scoring averages to the modern player while hitting 5 and 6 irons into the par fours and playing legitimate three-shot par fives, while the modern guys are hitting flip wedges into the par fours and rarely, if ever, playing a par five that they can't reach. So with all the modern advantages a player has, massive distance gains due to technology, pristine turf conditions, ease of travel, less financial insecurity, sports psychologist, nutritionist, personal trainer, full swing coach, short game coach, putting coach, video, trackman, yardage books that are accurate to within a foot thanks to GPS, the same caddy week to week, all of those advantages enable mediocre guys to stay on Tour cashing their hundred thousand dollar checks for coming in 12th or whatever. Modern players aren't as good because they don't have to be. Equipment mitigates their shortcomings and massive checks blunt their ambition.

 

:huh: Get off my lawn!

[cdnglf]

It was kinda cool to see the course and know you can play it on a vacation there someday.

 

Augusta? Hehe

 

Winged Foot? Nope

 

Shinnecock? Hell no

 

Merion? Not happening

 

LACC? About as likely as getting invited to the adjacent Playboy Mansion.

 

Oakmont? Nooope

 

Congressional? Nah

 

I know it will never change but this is the thing that turns me off the most about golf, 90% of the worlds best tracks the common man will never play.

 

Not true in the UK and Ireland. As far as I know its possible to play all the courses in Open rota, plus other notables like Dornoch, County Down, Ballybunion, Lahinch, etc.

[Jasonic]

It was kinda cool to see the course and know you can play it on a vacation there someday.

 

Augusta? Hehe

 

Winged Foot? Nope

 

Shinnecock? Hell no

 

Merion? Not happening

 

LACC? About as likely as getting invited to the adjacent Playboy Mansion.

 

Oakmont? Nooope

 

Congressional? Nah

 

I know it will never change but this is the thing that turns me off the most about golf, 90% of the worlds best tracks the common man will never play.

 

Not true in the UK and Ireland. As far as I know its possible to play all the courses in Open rota, plus other notables like Dornoch, County Down, Ballybunion, Lahinch, etc.

 

I don't think muirfield is open to the public

[cdnglf]

It was kinda cool to see the course and know you can play it on a vacation there someday.

 

Augusta? Hehe

 

Winged Foot? Nope

 

Shinnecock? Hell no

 

Merion? Not happening

 

LACC? About as likely as getting invited to the adjacent Playboy Mansion.

 

Oakmont? Nooope

 

Congressional? Nah

 

I know it will never change but this is the thing that turns me off the most about golf, 90% of the worlds best tracks the common man will never play.

 

Not true in the UK and Ireland. As far as I know its possible to play all the courses in Open rota, plus other notables like Dornoch, County Down, Ballybunion, Lahinch, etc.

 

I don't think muirfield is open to the public

 

According to the website it is: http://www.muirfield.org.uk/visitors.aspx

[Dave230]

It was kinda cool to see the course and know you can play it on a vacation there someday.

 

Augusta? Hehe

 

Winged Foot? Nope

 

Shinnecock? Hell no

 

Merion? Not happening

 

LACC? About as likely as getting invited to the adjacent Playboy Mansion.

 

Oakmont? Nooope

 

Congressional? Nah

 

I know it will never change but this is the thing that turns me off the most about golf, 90% of the worlds best tracks the common man will never play.

 

Not true in the UK and Ireland. As far as I know its possible to play all the courses in Open rota, plus other notables like Dornoch, County Down, Ballybunion, Lahinch, etc.

 

You can play Royal County Down, but you just won't get a tee-time in the summer, booked out for the whole time. Most Irish top courses are quite accessible and are a lot less to play than the top American courses.

[Jasonic]

It was kinda cool to see the course and know you can play it on a vacation there someday.

 

Augusta? Hehe

 

Winged Foot? Nope

 

Shinnecock? Hell no

 

Merion? Not happening

 

LACC? About as likely as getting invited to the adjacent Playboy Mansion.

 

Oakmont? Nooope

 

Congressional? Nah

 

I know it will never change but this is the thing that turns me off the most about golf, 90% of the worlds best tracks the common man will never play.

 

Not true in the UK and Ireland. As far as I know its possible to play all the courses in Open rota, plus other notables like Dornoch, County Down, Ballybunion, Lahinch, etc.

 

I don't think muirfield is open to the public

 

According to the website it is: http://www.muirfield.org.uk/visitors.aspx

 

235 pounds! No thanks!!

[cdnglf]

It was kinda cool to see the course and know you can play it on a vacation there someday.

 

Augusta? Hehe

 

Winged Foot? Nope

 

Shinnecock? Hell no

 

Merion? Not happening

 

LACC? About as likely as getting invited to the adjacent Playboy Mansion.

 

Oakmont? Nooope

 

Congressional? Nah

 

I know it will never change but this is the thing that turns me off the most about golf, 90% of the worlds best tracks the common man will never play.

 

Not true in the UK and Ireland. As far as I know its possible to play all the courses in Open rota, plus other notables like Dornoch, County Down, Ballybunion, Lahinch, etc.

 

You can play Royal County Down, but you just won't get a tee-time in the summer, booked out for the whole time. Most Irish top courses are quite accessible and are a lot less to play than the top American courses.

 

I know, I've played it :)

Can't remember how far ahead I booked it maybe 3 months or so.

[cdnglf]

I don't think muirfield is open to the public

 

According to the website it is: http://www.muirfield...k/visitors.aspx

 

235 pounds! No thanks!!

 

But only 310 for 2 rounds. Bargain!

[Jasonic]

I don't think muirfield is open to the public

 

According to the website it is: http://www.muirfield...k/visitors.aspx

 

235 pounds! No thanks!!

 

But only 310 for 2 rounds. Bargain!

 

Saw that haha. 75 pounds for reply ha