Royal Melbourne = goofy golf

[Schley]

Must you be combative in opinions on every thread? The words, "seems" or "appears" are an opinion cloaked in pseudo facts. You have to use the green contours, approach from the proper side of the fairway, land the ball short where able, or actually take your medicine and play away from the flag. Not every flag is supposed to be accessible from every approach angle. Can we dispel this USGA like whining about setup.

[Schley]

How the hell do you know who has/hasn't played it, much less to what conditions they have played it in? I played the composite this past February and was great. I don't think it was this fast certainly, but I'm not one of the top professionals in the world to even be able to land Pitching Wedges onto the front of the green from 175.

 

BTW let me guess, this is yet ANOTHER top course that you can criticize but haven't played????????

[LICC]

Yes you can at fast green speeds. You can’t at lightning fast green speeds.

[LICC]

You really don’t understand what remote means when it comes to Australia and the entire western golfing world?

[FairwayFred]

Remote literally means "far from main centers of population". I don't see any definition that says "far from the USA". Melbourne has 5 million people. RM is not remote or even close.

GolfWRX is a world wide forum there are plenty of people on here from Australia. Your "entire western golfing world" is meaningless to this discussion. It's a whole big world out there. Stop being so American centric.

[LICC]

Thank you for validating my statement that the greens do not play this fast normally.

[LICC]

Unbelievable that I have to explain this to you. From Merriam Webster: : remote- far removed in space, time, or relation

How many PGA Tour or Euro Tour events are held and broadcast at RM?

[Schley]

To further validate your ignorance you are driving full speed ahead in, please fire up your google search engine bar (for you haven't actually played many top courses by your own admission), which courses play as fast for their membership as they do for a professional major tournament.

Make sure you check at least 2 results from random sources to copy and paste here, because after all that is "your opinion" which is going to be cooked into facts somehow.

[LICC]

No one was having any problems with the discussion here until you and fairwayfred chimed in with what appears to be a self delusion that you have some expert knowledge on golf course architecture that makes you think your view is more meaningful than others.

[FairwayFred]

How many tournaments it hosts is completely irrelevant. Is Pine Valley remote? It has never held a PGA or Euro Tour event. Again golf is a global game........

[FairwayFred]

Sorry bud now your just being defensive (again). I've never played RM so I have no opinion on how it plays. Definitely not an expert on this subject. Definitely need to get to Australia.

[Roadking2003]

When the Stimps are 6 or 7, balls don't roll off the green.

[LICC]

With the vast majority of golfers in the US, then Europe. Australia is remote from the largest percentage of the golfing world.

[FairwayFred]

This is definitely true. Unless on the false front or a severe edge if the stimps are 6 or 7 the ball will not roll off the green.

[LICC]

And you are incapable of having an opinion of how you are seeing the balls bounce and run at the Presidents Cup. Got it.

[FairwayFred]

Nobody is arguing that Australia is not far from the US or Europe. That doesn't make every course in Australia remote......

[FairwayFred]

I haven't watched any of it sorry. I've been playing in my own tournament. I'd always prefer to play rather than watch someone else play. Maybe I'll catch a little of the singles tomorrow. So no without seeing it on TV or playing it I don't have an opinion. I know I could go search on the internet about it and parrot someone else's opinion like you always do but I'm not going to do that.

[BB28403]

I feel exactly the same. In wars past and present the top General was kept back to perform strategy. Tiger should have taken a cue from the way college teams strategize. He just kind of stands there .

how is that helping the team?

[Man_O_War]

well enough. Played it twice...not to mention countless times watching on tv. Have you played a true links course? I don't think you would be asking such questions. You may love the american manicured course styles. I do not.

[Pepperturbo]

Everybody has an outlook on course difficulty that, in the end, are too often based on skill or lack thereof.

I, for one, like courses like Royal Melbourne, which play hard, fast, and undulating, similar in ways to Links courses. It doesn’t have to be a long course either, as RM is seven thousand yards and makes professionals pay closer attention, plus big hitters don’t have an advantage.  Every shot requires forethought plus the ability to place the ball in certain areas while avoiding maybe costly areas where the ball can end up out of position. The greens at RM are also hard, fast and undulated, requiring solid ball striking to hold otherwise it runs off the green. Its a solid test which soft, slower and flat are NOT. One man's opinion based on skill.

[Schley]

Why would you be having a problem now? Is the google search not working for you. I have played the course and while that doesn't make anyone an expert, it does give one insight doesn't it? I can say the greenside bunkers are further shaved down on TV than when I played there earlier in the year.

[tiderider]

There aren’t any wedges landing short of the green and bounding through it ... there are shirt iron shots that are landing pin high and bouncing over, but that’s the players fault

[LICC]

You haven’t watched all the matches.

[LICC]

Do you think any course that is not a links course is “gimmicky”?

[LICC]

I don’t think the course is any more difficult than any other decently difficult course played on Tour. Match play is hiding the low scores. If this were a stroke play tournament I think we would be seeing -15 to -20 top of leaderboard scores, if not lower.

[FairwayFred]

You didn't answer his question. Have you ever played a real links course? Furthermore have you played TPC Sawgrass?

[Man_O_War]

not at all. Congressional for example is far from gimicky. Even though it is an inland course. TPC Avenel is gimicky. yes the TPC style courses to me are...but to each her/his own. ..only using Congressional/TPC because they have been shown on tv and we both should be somewhat familiar with it. Played both but it was all due to a very nice member of both. I likely would not be able to afford membership in two life times.

[dpb5031]

ALL courses have faster green speeds now than they did 30+ years ago. Agronomy has changed, and so has golf equipment....including the ball. So what?

Pros and amateurs alike rave about RM, and they've been raving about it forever. In my view, that speaks to the quality of the design.

Naysayers be darned, the course has provided great theater and this is shaping up to be one of the best President's Cups ever. I dont know if I'll ever make it over there, but this place is definitely on my bucket list! Love it...

[raynorfan1]

In stroke play, it would be played totally differently and result in far fewer birdies. The course is set up and being played for match play. When the “risk” is being capped at loss of hole, everybody goes for broke which results in more birdies than you’d see in stroke play (and also more triple bogies that you don’t see because they are conceded).

[LICC]

What do you think winning scores would be?