MD/DC/VA Golfers - Twelve Monkeys Mental Divergence

[dcmidnight]

I dont think Finau lost it so much as Simpson just made two huge putts on 18. I dont know what the percentages say about him making two putts of that length but it cant be that high? I thought Finau actually played pretty well most of the day all things considered - I'd be hard pressed to say he choked it away.

I've been tinkering with a 5W and a 62* but have put neither in the bag, still have 13 clubs so like you it wouldn't be an adjustment.

[FAbb]

Looks like I've already found the source of my yet to be acquired 5 wood. Whatcha got?

https://media.giphy.com/media/5nFShZWwq3fdm/giphy.gif

[TheCityGame]

I don't think Finau choked, but that dude needs to win a not-Puerto Rico golf tournament.

Two times in a row, Simpson makes an uphill right to left putt on 18 and two times in a row Tony misses the downhill left to right. Is that a better/smarter shot from Webb on the approach or did he just hit better putts?

17 was a birdie hole all day. TF pulls 3W and plops it in that bunker while Webb drives the green.

TF didn't choke it away, but he didn't exactly grab it by the horns either. He played great. . .2 bogies the whole tournament. 62 on Saturday, but he needs to close. He's more like Rickie Fowler at this point, in my mind, in terms of a guy who couldn't seem to get it done (until he did).

[dcmidnight]

I dont know what happened on 17 - even the announcers seemed to think he had plenty of club to clear that bunker, it was only 260 something to clear it?. 18 though, in regulation he hits a 366 yard drive and hits it to...15 feet? Hit it to about the same distance in the playoff out of the bunker. Simpson I think got a little lucky in regulation, sort of landed it in just barely over the bunker and got a good bounce. I dont know, cant blame Finau on 18 I dont think, I agree that 17 was more curious.

Fabb - nothing purchased, been using a G400 out of the demo bag. Its a good club but just not sure I would use it enough to justify carrying it around. Could see putting it in the bag on courses where there were 2 or 3 par 5s I could reach or even long 3s I would want. May check out whats in Second Swing the next time I'm up there.

[dcmidnight]

The more I watch 17 the more I like it as a hole. Just a bunch of different things they can do with the distance setup, love that pot bunker that Finau hit into, great collection area short right - just not a hole anymore where guys always take driver and fire away at it. And the back left pin location is just brutal.

[misplacedtexan83]

Huge believer in the 5 wood but I hate hybrids so..

You can launch them high or low. Woods do spin less than hybrids so every now and then if you flush it , roll out may be more.

I have issues out of the rough with them but that’s all my clubs so that’s the only negativity about a wood to hybrid.

Thinking about a 7 wood

Also the new super hybrid maybe something to check out.

[TheCityGame]

Yeah, I like that hole a lot. I didn't see anyone lay up short of the Finau bunker, but it should be an option. Not saying no one did. I just didn't see it. It's such a better hole than 16, which gets all the coverage.

It's kind of like 10 at Rivieria. Driving the green has a bunch of issues associated with it, but it still seems like the best option.

[dcmidnight]

Yeah at one point they did a quick breakdown over the 4 days about scoring average for going for it or laying up. Laying up was just over 4.0 and going for it was 3.6 - something like that. I'd like to see more of a breakdown by the day and pin position though.

[FAbb]

Their bogey rate probably goes up a little by going for it, but

1) Their birdie rate has to skyrocket

2) Worst case they hit it in the water off the tee, and still have a chance to get up and down from green side for par

It seems like a no-brainer. I wasn't watching, but I'd guess Finau just hit a horrible shot. 3w is probably the play for him, to try and drive that green.

[dcmidnight]

BTW pga tweeted out Simpsons rankings so far this season...

1st in Putting Average

1st in Scoring Average

1st in Par 4 Scoring Average

1st in Strokes Gained: Total

2nd in Birdie Average

2nd in Strokes Gained: Approach

2nd in #WyndhamRewardsTop10

5th in Total Putting

5th in Greens in Regulation

 

[FAbb]

TF didn't choke it away, but he didn't exactly grab it by the horns either.

Quote>

Until he proves otherwise, he will hereafter be referred to as The Garter Snake. He's the anti-Mamba.

[therealsneek]

Big Randy called Finau a house cat on their recap pod. That made me chuckle.

[TheCityGame]

Did you all see where Varner parred the first 32 holes he played. Not par or better. Just PAR. That's incredible. Even if you have a 90% chance of parring every single hole, there's like a 3% chance of that happening.

Tiger went 110 holes without a bogey or worse once, but I bet he never had 32 straight holes with a par.

It seems tough to find a record on this. You can find consecutive birdies, and consecutive ROUNDS at par or better, but it's tough to find a par streak.

 

[aiyyer]

Three of my four project managers called in sick today. Incredible golf weather today.

Harsh but Tony Finau doesn’t know how to win and also doesn’t make putts when he needs to.

 

[TheCityGame]

Looks like Sully at impact.

[ceejay81]

So does this mean you need to hire 3 new project managers after you play golf today?

[aiyyer]

I went looking for them at Musket but they were not there.

[Terphack]

Beautiful day at Waverly today. A buddy found a hot deal on golf now and 4 of us teed off at 9:00 with only a threesome in sight a hole + ahead. The course is in great shape considering it is the dead of winter. Since I hadn't picked up a club since before Thanksgiving I wasn't sure what to expect. Knocked a little rust off on the range and went out to play reasonably well. A couple of chunks and a few shots short into the wind were more than a bird and a couple of pars could overcome. Putting was decent, missed several mid range putts by a RCH, ended with 95. Fun day, just what I needed.

[gregh729]

I am jealous of all who played today and will play tomorrow.

[dsc123]

Rory revisited: No question off limits, no subject out of bounds as Paul Kimmage meets golfer of the decade

I thought that was an interesting interview. It's rare that a superstar is both so introspective and open. I found the part about balancing between cold blooded killer on the course with being a nice guy off the course, particularly good. Maybe Finau could learn from it.

 

Its requires an account to access, but its free.

[dcmidnight]

 

[TheCityGame]

We played Waverly Sunday. It's in good shape and they put on their twitter page Monday morning that they were mowing (and maybe rolling?)

The greens weren't great Sunday, but they weren't bad.

Highlights : I chipped in from the "valley of sin" left of 5 to a back left pin. I couldn't even see the surface. From the tee, it looked like Q was a few feet and they were going to get 2 dots and probably win the hole, but it turned out I birdied and my partner got the pin, so we had a big switcheroo.

Partner rolled in like a 30 foot downhiller to a front pin on 12. That's a NASTY green. Front pin is worst, but I don't care where the pin in.

Back back back back left pin on 14. Q hits a brilliant shot and has like 12 feet uphill. Leaves it on the edge, and just as he goes to tap it in, he gets gusted (in a good way) and the ball trickles over the edge. One of the longest putts I've ever seen sit on and edge and fall in.

Fairways (and most of the rough) were in great shape. They always are. We played LCP, but didn't have to.

[FAbb]

Waverly has historically been one of the best conditioned public courses in the area. Two seasons ago, when we had the high temps and record rainfall, they took a hit that they've yet to fully recover from. Late last fall was the closest I've seen it to being back to what it typically has been in the past. With some cooperation from mother nature, hopefully that means it'll be back at full strength this season.

[TheCityGame]

PK: It's harder to be anonymous here?RM: For sure. I didn't know if you took milk in your coffee so I had to go and get milk this morning, and toilet roll (laughs), I didn't have any toilet roll! So I went to the local garage and (posed for) three photos on the way out.

Toilet roll? Is that like when I eat a croissant when going the bathroom?

PK: Your wife is interesting. She's not front of house.RM: (Laughs) Noooo.PK: But she sees a lot from the back of the house. 

I'm not sure we speak the same language. PK: When did you fly in?RM: That morning.PK: Down the Lough?RM: Down the Lough.

This is the best part of the interview. . .RM: He's (tcg: Faxon) very intuitive. He says, "From outside looking in, it looks like you're a ‘feel' player. Would you like to have that in your putting?" I said, "Well, one thing I've found is that my putting has never matched up to the rest of my game. I've been wooden and technical on this side, and free-flowing on the other." He said, "You just have to know what to work on — bring your putter, a sand wedge and a five wood." So we went onto the putting green and he got me to putt from eight feet. I hit three putts with the putter and holed one of them; three with the sand wedge and holed two of them; and I holed three in a row with the five wood.PK: That's mad.RM: He says, "I wanted to prove something to you. A lot of putting nowadays is very technical and mechanical — you have to have the right length putter with the right lie and the right loft. That thing (the five wood) has 19 degrees (loft) and is about ten inches too long and you've just holed three in a row. That's what you need to get back to. It needs to be instinctive." And it was such a massive flip. We had that one session on Monday afternoon and I went to Bay Hill and had the best putting week of my career.

[Terphack]

The mowers were out early yesterday and it did seem the greens had been rolled as well. Pretty consistent speed and smooth for winter.

[gregh729]

That is a great article. Make me like Rors even more

[dcmidnight]

That is a great article. Make me like Rors even more.

(goes to car to grab 5 wood)

(practices putting with 5 wood in office)

[FAbb]

It's interesting how there's a bit of a renaissance period happening in regard to how players at the highest level approach working on their games. Radar brought about so many discoveries about why things were happening. Custom fitting really evolved. We're starting to see things shift back a bit the other direction now.

 

Learning how and what to practice, and working on mindset have been game changers for my putting.

[dcmidnight]

Agree with Fabb, that was a cool writeup. I dont think there is one thing you could point to and say - every great putter does this so you have to do this. Stance, grip, putter setup, ball position, eyes over/inside/outside of ball position, loft/lie on putter...I feel like great putters or people who practice their putting a lot can put these together in any sort of combination.

Maybe the one thing I could think of off the top of my head is having a consistent tempo - for you, not compared to someone else or X beats per minute. But the great putters I've played with all have a consistent tempo.

[davechen]

I thought about golfing with Junior yesterday afternoon. But he wanted to stream his Pokemon play on YT with his friend. . Kids these days. Anyways he needs more subscribers. I told him if he ever makes any money streaming he's going to have to get me a full PXG bag. I'm not holding out any hope.

So search for JWC Pokemon on YT and subscribe. Pappa needs a brand new bag.