MD/DC/VA Golfers - Twelve Monkeys Mental Divergence

[baddomes]

This video is great. DC excellent camera work and kudos for not losing it.

[OCCantChip]

More about Rando Bob.

First hole he pulls his tee shot into the mountain on the left. Its about midway up the mountain and to get up the mountain its about an 80 degree incline. He decides to go look for it! On the way back down he falls! First fall of the day. Second fall came later on a hole I can't remember. DT15 who didn't join us til his second shot on the first hole asks later, "Why does Bob have grass on the back of his head and shirt?"At the long walk between 14 - 15, I suggest to the guys to let Bob through since he's driving the cart and we are walking in front of him. We try to let him through and he stops in the middle of the entry road into Tobacco Road and tries to strike up a conversation in the middle of the road!Around #15 green: Rando Bob - "You know where you should put your ball mark?! On your hat! You know how it stays there?! You put a magnet on the bottom of the brim of the hat!"- patent pending......

[Sterling_247]

Speaking of NLU. There must be something about Pinehurst that encourages people to top their drivers. I noticed a similarity between DJ's tops and mine...we were both wearing beanies....it must be the beanie!!!!

[2moreTerpz]

sterling i watching that TXG video on "flighting wedges" where he ends up hitting 8 and 7 iron into the 117 yard hole. The wind adjusted vs. normalized numbers were so interesting to me. He hit shots that were 158 yards without wind that were like 115 into the 30 mph wind.

 

I've stopped taking ONE extra club. I kinda default to two extra clubs if there a decent breeze. I'm trying to swing a little easier and hit it lower. That already takes yardage off. So then I gotta add more for the wind. I'm determined to be a smarter more resilient wind player this year. In the past my attitude has kinda been "this sucks and it won't be this windy tomorrow"

[Sterling_247]

2more it completely blew my mind. I've always been a one more club guy and when the wind blows I normally play like crap. I'm hoping that I can fix that based on some of the ideas I saw in the video. I also strike it very steep like the teacher was talking about so I don't see a reason that the method wouldn't work

I hit numerous shots at Pinehurst that got up into the wind and came up 30 yards short and now I know why

[TheCityGame]

The "Fore Play" podcast (barstool guys, so take that as you will) have Gil Hanse on this week. He talks about Pinehurst #4, The Cradle and what he did at Winged Foot.

[dcmidnight]

I think the only reason I didn't lose it is because I splashed one right before him.

TR is one of the most fun courses I've ever played in terms of wanting to watch the guys in your group hit a particular shot. Could be a tee shot or a putt - could be anything. I remember after hitting almost every shot that I wanted to immediately turn around and see how someone else was hitting it.

I tried to explain TR to someone this way. If you took any one of those holes out there and put it on a regular course - you'd say it was a tricked up hole. But somehow at TR they all just work perfectly together.

IMO.

Looking back through the Google album, its taken me 2+ years to fix my seizure swing. I used to have this little push of the club head, then pick it up, then start my backswing / turn and make the swing. Its distracting for me to even watch now. Somehow with good tempo I manged to get to impact in good shape but I cant watch it.

[FAbb]

NLU Talk Wednesday : I would like to play Pinehurst #3

[ceejay81]

 

I haven't watched the episode yet, but that course was not easy at all. Lots of white stakes. Toughass greens. I am definitely glad I played it, but I won't be rushing back to play it again. Well, maybe in peak conditions to see what it looks like when it's green. Quality course though.

[FAbb]

I tried to explain TR to someone this way. If you took any one of those holes out there and put it on a regular course - you'd say it was a tricked up hole. But somehow at TR they all just work perfectly together.

 

That's a total back-handed compliment. I don't feel that way at all about the course.

[ALTSean]

TR is awesome if you know what you're getting into and if you're a decent enough golfer to get the ball in the air. If you just showed up at TR expecting a "normal" course, you could be shocked and upset or if you took a beginner golfer who has trouble getting the ball airborne, they would be in for a long day.

[dcmidnight]

That's a total back-handed compliment. I don't feel that way at all about the course.

I actually thought it was more front handed compliment. But thats why I closed with "IMO"

or if you took a beginner golfer who has trouble getting the ball airborne, they would be in for a long day.

Are there courses where a beginner who couldn't get the ball airborne would not be in for a long day? (/sarcasm)

I'd have to think through each hole but I feel like off the tee there is a ton of room out there. Into the greens though, I'd have to think it through.

[Sterling_247]

It kicked my arse all over the place....mostly because the swing was out of whack but it's definitely a tough course. Would like to give it some time to mature and then play it again. This is an improvement from my initial take which was that I would like to burn that course to the ground.

[dsc123]

No. 3 was cool, and I would definitely play it again, but it was my least favorite of the 5 we played.

The guy playing with the NLU guys on last night's episode caddied No2 for endless and therealsneek. I thought he was a really good caddy, but then again, I've never played with one before.

I thought I'd be ready for a break after this weekend. Instead, having to wait until the weekend to play again feels like an eternity.

 

 

[dcmidnight]

I think I played #3 with Sully/Cfree on our trip. Cant remember which courses we played, 1/3/5 - maybe all three?

I have not watched the episode so I would have to watch it to maybe jog my memory - but at the time they all seemed unremarkable to me or at least indistinguishable from one another.

Now that I write that, did #3 get any sort of upgrades during the re-do?

[ALTSean]

Another way to say it is that a beginner could play a lot of courses without forced carries and without a lot of sand. TR is pretty open, but still have forced carries off the tee and into a lot of greens, plus lots of sand, which could frustrate folks if they did not know what they were getting into.

[therealsneek]

Agree with CJ. I had fun and I am glad I played it, but I don't think I'm rushing back to play it again. OB pinches in on a lot of the tee shots and there are a couple quirky holes. The greens are pretty crazy though and definitely require imagination. I would say some of them are more severe than you find on #2.

 

I set up Joe Zwickl to caddie for Endless and myself on #2. I thought that he was fantastic. Great conversation, great numbers, and great reads on the greens. He loves #3 as you can see on the latest tourist sauce. He would neither confirm nor deny that Tron has a trust fund... but did say that it is 100% true that Tron can't chip.

[TheCityGame]

I get what DC is saying about Tobacco.

You can't put a giant dune with waste areas and a 6 tiered green in the middle of northwest, but you can put it in the middle of Tobacco Road.

There are some holes at TR that would fit in to some places around here and vice-versa. 10/11/12 at PB Dye could almost be TR holes with some "medium" modifications. The 12th hole is "boring" but the green is as dramatic as anything at TR. The 11th could completely be a hole there.

 

[dcmidnight]

But where are the tees beginners should be playing?

The 2nd is a good example - the tees you'd normally play have a decent sized carry. But the beginner tees are way up and to the side.

[TheCityGame]

I'm getting a little more "luke warm" about NLU youTube content.

There was a time when we talked about taping/streaming/whatever some of our rounds (like when Periscope came out). I always wondered how regular guys could make a round interesting. I figured there would have to be some heavy editing.

Anyway, I think that NLU probably does that kind of thing about as well as you can, and I'm not finding myself smashing that watch button when I realize I have to be in for a half hour. I don't have infinity time, so guess who they're competing against. . .Larry David on HBO and John Favreau on Netflix, and the NBA and whatever is on golf channel.

 

[SullGolf]

We played all of #1, then played parts of #3 and #5. We switched mid-way through because there was a backup and we got to a spot where the courses touched each other. I can't tell you which was which.

The only thing I remember about #1 is that I skulled a wedge on 17 and knocked it over the road. Somehow missed hitting a car, and I think it went right over the hood. Left the ball there and moved on to 18, but then the next day when we played #4 we found my ball near the 2nd tee.

[TheCityGame]

When Domes and I did "Home on the Range", we played Tobacco #2, one round, from the up tees. The direct shot in to the green is over that big bunker, but that's actually a huge mound. You couldn't see a bit of the green.

Also, where that blue arrow from the up-tees stops, that's the back tees for the 11th hole. We had to wait for these doofuses to hit to try to drive the green.

We both hit "good" drives and they flew the green and went into the woods.

 

 

 

[dcmidnight]

OK but to be fair, you drew the pro line from the beginner tee. I do remember that mound though.

A true beginner who only hits the ball 140-150 yards off the tee - and has trouble elevating the ball - could go right up the fairway there with no carry.

[dcmidnight]

I have only played a few rounds there but it seems like it would be an interesting course to play from the up tees.

[therealsneek]

I am pretty sure that they changed the routing last fall and it got the sandy aesthetic restoration treatment. #'s 16, 17, & 18 were all really good holes IMO. Loved that stretch in particular.

[baddomes]

TR would be sick for a red tee challenge course. I think we did it on #2, #10 (city drove the green and may have made the putt, I can't remember), #4.....some of the holes don't add anything, and the lines of charm are actually more awkward from some of the up tees like on #12.

 

[baddomes]

I think he was pivoting to a related story, but agreed. The up tees at tobacco road are fair.

 

The issues with that course for players who have trouble elevating the ball are the shots into the greens. I don't know how my wife would get to the 9th green from the fairway. or into the 12th green.

[TheCityGame]

Yeah, I was pivoting. There's a line off the second tee that a beginner could play.

That course would be AWESOME for a red tee.

But, I still think it's a tough beginner course. It has a very high slope rating compared to it's course rating. It's not just about carries (of which there are plenty of tough ones).

There are so many places where balls run off into tough spots. What's a chump going to do when his ball runs off 9 to the right? 4 to the left? How do they even get to 4? There's a lot of blind shots, shots that come up short and wind up in a clump of fescue, "good" shots that can roll 100 feet away from the hole.

[dcmidnight]

Yeah the 9th is a good example, I cant remember 12 offhand - is that the par 5 dogleg right where Puppet tried to drive it over all the trees.

[Sterling_247]

13 is the dogleg right par 5 up the hill. 12 is a fairly long dogleg left with a big mound running along the left of the green