MD/DC/VA Golfers - Twelve Monkeys Mental Divergence

[dcmidnight]

So jelly of a nice range like that.

[SullGolf]

Knowing little about grass...is that brown area a 2nd type of grass? Would that make it so they have grass available all year long?

[ALTSean]

> @TheCityGame said:

> This structure was just the "barn" for the driving range. It had garage doors for bays so you can hit during the winter. I don't know if they had trackman in there, but probably. As part of the pro shop, there was a separate section with a door labelled "Putting Lab" or something like that.

>

>

>

So you're saying it is a slightly nicer version of EPP?

 

[TheCityGame]

> @SullGolf said:

> Knowing little about grass...is that brown area a 2nd type of grass? Would that make it so they have grass available all year long?

 

Probably Bermuda. We have two types. Waverly has two types. We're on the bermuda right now and it's like a thick carpet. It's in perfect shape.

 

Thing is, we don't have any bermuda on the course. If you look at satellite images of woodmont, it looks like one of the courses is brown, too.

[2moreTerps]

i've taken the last week off entirely from golf. Recently when I've played I used a combination of advil/tylenol/ibuprofen/etc., legit pain pills, CBD oil, and beers to get me through my rounds. I don't actually remember the last round I played without any of them. Not good. I've worked out hard, done my core work, stretched every day, and just let me body get a rest from golf. If I hadn't taken the break I am 100% certain my back would have gone out on me. I'm not discomfort free but that's not a realistic expectation. (and i may try CBD gummies. The oil doesn't do much for me). i normally get in good shape over the winter and then golf sort of takes over for working out. i just can't do that anymore. i have to keep up better than i did the previous 45 days.

[SullGolf]

Huh, I never noticed the two types of grass at Waverly before. Blue Mash has two distinct tiers of grass, but I couldn't tell you if they are separate types.

[TheCityGame]

Waverly, back by the mats is not bermuda. The rest is. There's not much that isn't.

 

But, at one point, I think none of it was bermuda, then it was some, and now it's most. I think. I can't remember all the details.

[aiyyer]

“ Ban all of these super exclusive clubs from hosting. No Oakmont. No Shinnecock. No Olympic Club. No Congressional. No Los Angeles Country Club. No Winged Foot. No Brookline. What good is a people's championship played at a place where the people can't play?”

Sully, agree totally - the US Open needs to be intrinsically democratic and be part of the “ open to public” golf experience. There are plenty of great public courses to host the US Open. Granted these are expensive but still open to the public. I drive by the Congressional gates on the drive to work and compare that to hanging out at the 18th at Pebble with the family or our Pinehurst trip. Move the Open to Public courses.

Now I feel guilty about playing Woodmore.

[dcmidnight]

Is having the US Open at Pebble Beach or Pinehurst #2 really that much more "democratic" than having it at Congressional? I guess technically they are public courses but at....$600 or so a pop with caddies, its not really that much more accessible? The problem is like at Erin Hills, they have it at a really accessible, very playable public course and all they hear is complaining.

 

It cant be easy to find a public course thats long enough and hard enough with enough space logistically to host a major. Are there courses right now that people think could host a major - that havent - that also has the space for the fans and players? Erin Hills honestly surprised me when I went there with how small the clubhouse and facilities are but there is endless room for fans.

 

 

[FAbb]

Legit ball golf match at Turf Valley yesterday afternoon. It was City and Turf Valley Jay, against PQ and me. Rubber match, with the series knotted at one a piece.

 

We started on the back, and halved the first two with pars. Then I drain about a 25-footer for bird on 12, and Jay pours a 20-footer right on top of it to halve. Couple more halves on 13-14. 15 I stripe a drive, fire a 5-iron right at the pin, OVER THE GREEN. Great pitch to 5ft, and lip it out to lose the hole to City hitting one of many chips/pitches to gimme range for par. PQ brings us back to life on 16 with about a 12-footer for bird, to get the win and square it up. City and Jay BOTH birdie 17 to snatch the lead right back. Then we get our only gift of the day, with Jay missing a bunny on 18 for par to gift us a hole. Crazy first 9, and we're all square heading to the first tee. I roll in a birdie* to take a one up lead. City, Jay, and I all muck up approaches on 2 from the middle of the fairway. City has a long putt for par, and misses. Then Jay rolls in like a 20+footer to save his par, and I whiff mine from like 7-8ft, so we're back to square. I fire one to about 6-7ft on 3, slo-mo lip that one, and City makes an insane save from behind the green to halve. Get to 4, and I fire another one in to like 7-8ft. City rolls in a 15-footer for bird, I whiff again, and now we're 1 down. I hit a t-u-r-d from the middle of the fairway on 5, and PQ fires a hosel boi to take himself out of the hole. I've got that magic distance of about 7-8ft for par to halve, and I come up with yet another whiff. 6 is under construction, but since it's late, we can play it - the catch is that there's no flag. We agree on the tee that we'll play to the middle of the green, and if there's a hole cut we'll play it out. If there's no hole cut, we call it a tie. PQ and I both drive it in the fairway, and hit approaches DEAD MIDDLE of the green. There was a hole cut... DEAD MIDDLE of the green. PQ rolled in a bird from about 15ft for a win, and I whiffed mine from 10ft. Still, good guys are back to 1 down. We've got a front pin on 7, which if you know TV-O, is on a crazy back-front slope. City and Jay both go long left, which is just an absolute nightmare of a putt. Jay 3-whacks, City lags one down to about 3ft, and I've got another 8-footer from hole high to try and snatch a win - NOPE. Another whiff. A much harder putt than the previous misses, but still. I'm dying for one of them to fall at this point. City finished out a great 2-putt, and we're still one down. Halve 8 with pars, and we go into 9 needing a win to halve the match. Length is always an advantage, but PQ has a ridiculous edge on hole 9. There's this creek that cuts across the fairway. It's too far away for the rest of us mortals to carry it, so we have to hit 3 wood or hybrid to stay short. Then we've got a 3 wood or hybrid to the green. PQ can carry the creek and have a short-mid iron in. He does exactly that, and has maybe 15ft for eagle - dead center, one roll short. City conjures one last bit of magic, and rolls in like a 12-footer for bird to halve the hole, and win the match.

 

It was awesome. I don't know what it is about this group, but it's been an insanely fun match three times in a row now. It's well matched, and just an absolute blast. We all seem to play well, and have our moments. I haven't played a more enjoyable fourball, probably ever. I walked off the last green simultaneously not feeling bad at all about losing a great match, and also just burning inside to play again and try to stomp them lol.

[dcmidnight]

Sounds like it was an awesome match out there yesterday!

 

I had a few minutes to spend on the range yesterday and got out for a 6 hole loop. It was maybe the most perfect weather day of the year so far. I've been working so hard on my grip the last 4-6 weeks that I finally broke down and made a couple of sharpie marks on my glove as a couple of reminder points. I dont even know if thats legal for play - pretty sure it is - but its become my one preshot check. Going from an ultra strong grip to something thats not as ultra strong has been a huge change and I'm starting to feel like this is definitely going to take longer than I thought. But the results have been so good when its on that I am really encouraged. Its even shortened/tightened up my backswing too which has made my iron striking much more consistant.

[TheCityGame]

My partner LOVES competing. It was the same guy I played with all weekend and we kept those good vibrations happenin'.

 

Very uncharacteristic short miss from him on 18 to halve the "front" but he made up for it with some other good putts. Not his best day, but we ham 'n egged pretty well.

 

Fabb's ball striking is ON POINT, but we figured he went about 0 for 6 on 50-50 putts. Some days they go. Some days they don't. He did make the one longo.

 

Fabb definitely got some "hey, who's this guy?" love from a long time member after watching one swing. He came back up to him in the grill out of nowhere and was like, "you must shoot between 68 and 72".

 

We need to start on 10 and the starter says, "wait for the guys coming up 9". We waited and waited and waited. They took so long to finish 9 and they finally get up to the tee and go, "we're kind of slow. why don't you go?"

 

But, we didn't want to leapfrog them because you shouldn't do that. We were 2 holes ahead after about 6 holes.

 

Weather : 11 out of 10.

 

 

 

[TheCityGame]

> @dcmidnight said:

> Is having the US Open at Pebble Beach or Pinehurst #2 really that much more "democratic" than having it at Congressional? I guess technically they are public courses but at....$600 or so a pop with caddies, its not really that much more accessible?

 

In theory anyway. Ideally, if there were 20 Bethpages out there, it seems like a good idea, but we just don't have enough of that. I think they had that idea in mind with places like Chambers, Erin, and Trinity and even though I love that style of golf, it really doesn't seem to have been great for pro tournaments. Well, I liked Chambers a lot. Those places are going to be better with more pro-tracer.

 

 

 

 

 

[therealsneek]

> @dcmidnight said:

> It cant be easy to find a public course thats long enough and hard enough with enough space logistically to host a major. Are there courses right now that people think could host a major - that havent - that also has the space for the fans and players? Erin Hills honestly surprised me when I went there with how small the clubhouse and facilities are but there is endless room for fans.

>

>

 

The PGA is building its new headquarters along with 2 courses down in Frisco, Texas. Gil Hanse is doing the one they have pegged as the "championship" course. I think they have already given that course 2 future PGA Championships going out into the 2030's. It will be interesting to see how this works out for them. They are placing a lot of faith in a course that doesn't even exist yet.

 

[FAbb]

Old guy was apparently getting pretty jazzed up about my "body composition" when they watched us tee off on 10. I'm not sure how to feel about that, but we all had a good yuk over it walking up the fairway.

 

Then he comes up to City and I again in the grill, trying to find out who I am. He definitely thought I was way better than I am. City plays along and exchanges pleasantries, but I can just feel one of these dying to come out of him.

 


 

[HighBoomingDraws]

After watching greatest rounds last night, 2000 tiger pebble beach, I’m quite excited to see fox broadcast this event on super duper HD with all the pro tracer. Hopefully weather is bright and sunny cuz that place POPS.

[FAbb]

I love the Fox broadcasts. It's amazing how much much broadcasts have changed since Fox started covering the US Opens. I'm sure some of the evolution would've happened without them, but a part of me definitely feels like they're responsible for pushing things forward.

[dcmidnight]

> @FAbb said:

> I love the Fox broadcasts. It's amazing how much much broadcasts have changed since Fox started covering the US Opens. I'm sure some of the evolution would've happened without them, but a part of me definitely feels like they're responsible for pushing things forward.

 

I dont know how many people watched the women's Open from Country Club of Charleston but they did a *fantastic* job of covering the event. Part of it was that the course is absolutely stunning but man they really have a great handle now on how to put an event out there.

[TheCityGame]

Is there a reason that like 10% of people I play with use X stiff shafts, but like 90% of all clubs listed on BST are X or Tour X?

 

There's a guy on there that has a Mizuno 919 combo set. 4/5/6 are Hot Metal. 7-PW are Tour. GW is Forged. Wants $700 for them. "Come on, guys. Let's move these irons."

 

Is that the strangest combo set you've ever seen. The "forged" is the "in between" line there. He steps from SGI to "Blades" in the middle of his set. Who wants to buy a set that looks put together specifcally BY HIM FOR HIM?

 

I'm not OCD, but the finish on the HM's is glossy and the finish on the other clubs is matte. It looks stupid.

[dcmidnight]

X-stiff in irons or driver shaft? I play with a lot of people - including me - that went lightweight X in their driver shaft but I know of almost no one that plays X in their irons. Driver for me is the only club that has X in it.

 

My guess is that people buy them, use them and then realize, man, I dont swing near hard enough for X in my irons. I have gone between the Steelfiber 110s and 95s for the last 5 seasons or so. I tried an X one time - it was legitimately like swinging rebar.

[Sterling_247]

> @dcmidnight said:

> X-stiff in irons or driver shaft? I play with a lot of people - including me - that went lightweight X in their driver shaft but I know of almost no one that plays X in their irons. Driver for me is the only club that has X in it.

>

> My guess is that people buy them, use them and then realize, man, I dont swing near hard enough for X in my irons. I have gone between the Steelfiber 110s and 95s for the last 5 seasons or so. I tried an X one time - it was legitimately like swinging rebar.

 

I'm in a similiar. Play X in driver and 3 wood but everything else is stiff. SS is right on the edge but isn't quite enough to get over the hump to play x in irons.

 

Picked up a PX HZRDUS Black 6.5 the other day for my driver and it feels like a light pole compared to my Kiyoshi White 05

[FAbb]

> @TheCityGame said:

> Is there a reason that like 10% of people I play with use X stiff shafts, but like 90% of all clubs listed on BST are X or Tour X?

 

That's the WRX effect for sure.

 

I play an X in my driver, only because I traded with Puppet for it, and that's the flex he had. I was fit into the exact shaft, but stiff flex, like 6-7 years ago. I stupidly let that one go at some point, so I figured I'd at least give the X a go, and find a stiff if it didn't work out. It's been totally fine, so I never looked for a stiff. Everything else in my bag is stiff flex. I don't even think I'm even close to needing X. Solidly in the middle ground of fitting into stiff.

 

I get that WRX attracts people that are more than just your typical recreational golfer, but there still has to be a huge number of people on here swinging 100mph playing X stiff that have no business doing so.

[siegel159]

I play an X in my woods and irons, but I likely don't need it. I had two separate fittings for the D and the irons, and it was basically the same reasoning for both. I was right on the line between S and X, but both fitters thought the slightly heavier/stiffer shaft fit my swing just a bit better. I could switch to S, and as long as the shaft weight didn't change, I don't think I'd see a significant difference.

[TheCityGame]

> @dcmidnight said:

> X-stiff in irons or driver shaft? I play with a lot of people - including me - that went lightweight X in their driver shaft but I know of almost no one that plays X in their irons. Driver for me is the only club that has X in it.

>

> My guess is that people buy them, use them and then realize, man, I dont swing near hard enough for X in my irons. I have gone between the Steelfiber 110s and 95s for the last 5 seasons or so. I tried an X one time - it was legitimately like swinging rebar.

 

Mostly driver, sometimes 3W. I still see it in a lot more iron sets than seems reasonable.

 

I get it in driver, I guess. I've swung both, but I hardly ever see anyone who isn't a single digit playing X, but that's all there is here.

 

I'm half-butt looking at G400s. Still seeing whole clubs at $275-ish and heads at $220, but even if I did that, it wouldn't be till October. I swung Fabb's yesterday and I don't think it was any improvement. I think I connected on one and it was same as my G25 with my UST.

 

 

[baddomes]

City, play your driver until either the club or your swing breaks.

[aiyyer]

Yes - Democratic in theory. The difference is if you wanted to pay the $500 at Pinehurst to play, you can. Or you can take your six pack, sit on the clubhouse porch, drink beer and putt on the Thistle Du green for free. Contrast this with Oakmont - I’m in Pittsburgh Friday for a meeting and have to make an appointment with the pro shop to be allowed into the club....Anybody want ball markers??

 

 

 

[SullGolf]

I'm slowly moving down to regular flex all around. I'm not a big hitter, but I have enough swing speed that most people fitting me would suggest stiff. I think there's been a general maxim to play something as stiff as you possibly can, because it gives you more control. I've come to think the opposite, where you want to play the whippiest possible shaft that doesn't cause you to hit balloon balls. And I'm not sure I've legitimatley seen someone hit a rising ballooning ball in years, one where it rises real high and falls short. Clubs and balls are set up to avoid that now. I can probably count on one hand the number of guys that hit 4 iron or driver too high to the point where they lose distance.

 

The regular flex I put in the driver has been nice. I hit some legit bombs* at PB Dye that were well north of 250. If I actually listed how far north, no one would believe me.

 

*for varying definition of bombs.

 

 

 

[dcmidnight]

I hit the G410 Plus during my fitting and it was great, would have hit the G400 but it wasnt available in 12*. The 410 Plus was fantastic, a little out of my price range right now but I will probably take a look at it after the G420 is released and the G430 is announced. I think TXG has done two recent videos where they gave it pretty high marks.

[Sterling_247]

> @dcmidnight said:

> I hit the G410 Plus during my fitting and it was great, would have hit the G400 but it wasnt available in 12*. The 410 Plus was fantastic, a little out of my price range right now but I will probably take a look at it after the G420 is released and the G430 is announced. I think TXG has done two recent videos where they gave it pretty high marks.

 

Where'd you go for the fitting?

[dcmidnight]

> @Sterling_247 said:

> > @dcmidnight said:

> > I hit the G410 Plus during my fitting and it was great, would have hit the G400 but it wasnt available in 12*. The 410 Plus was fantastic, a little out of my price range right now but I will probably take a look at it after the G420 is released and the G430 is announced. I think TXG has done two recent videos where they gave it pretty high marks.

>

> Where'd you go for the fitting?

 

Club Champion in Fairfax. I had a gift card so it was...OK. But its not my preferred spot which is Westfields Fitting Studio.