The Masters 2021 ***All Content Subject to Moderation***

[chillybilly]

Random thoughts as I watch the remainder of my YouTubeTV DVR of the first round

 

-The greens continue to fascinate.  As someone upthread noted and as the Golf.com linked article says, we expect a consistent, lush emerald hue everywhere on the course.  It's a bit visually jarring to see them like this especially as it's so unusual.  US Open we almost expect it by default.

 

-I understand BAD being a lightning rod.  I'm personally fascinated by him, his mad-scientist schemes and his blur of a swing.  I would be lying if I said I haven't considered a one-length set merely to calm the mind if not the body.  Muscles, protein shakes and training aside, the spine and the joints can only take so much - ask any NFL, NHL, MLB player or alumnus or even a Tiger Woods (pre-vehicle accident). 

 

-Tiger, BAD and some others have given the wrong sort of inspiration to some.  My last visit to a public driving range saw a dozen dude-bros going through a large bucket as quickly as possible trying to hit mushy practice balls with half the dimples worn away off the planet.  All of them had that right palm facing skyward and that right thumb going straight down the grip - the amateur's recipe for doom.  Still, they flailed away, producing one 50 yd slice after another.  Local chiropractors, check your voice mails.

 

-I also think ANGC would be fibbing if they said they didn't watch Bay Hill and last year's US Open and didn't make up their minds to prevent a bomber from making a mockery of their course (again).  As we know, the greens are the club's kryptonite for Superman.  If you piece single word from various sentences from various players together, they add up to 'The greens weren't meant to be this fast given their slopes.'  But it's happened before and it's happening now.  Phil Mickelson is all for it but it's easy to root for the greens when you have three green jackets in the closet.

 

-The drone shots are a terrific addition but even the drone, with a potential 360 deg view, is taking orders from the Club:  only shoot certain angles, frames, directions just like the terrestrial cameras.  At no time should the tackiness of Washington Road be visible.  It's hilarious bringing people to ANGC for the first time.  They think we're on the wrong street on approach.  It's a good thing that so much adjacent property has been bought up (by various mysterious shell companies) but the surrounding area is still a crazy quilt.  The beauty shots are part of the show and I'm all for the illusion.  In-person visitors can't believe that Amen Corner is, well, a corner as in #11 green tightly packed with #12 tee, #12 green packed with #13 tee.  You can see a bit of the parking lot and the rerouted Berckmans Road in the distance, though.

 

-Futurecast radar shows some rain and storms going through GA on Friday, possibly reaching Augusta by early afternoon.  It's a bit premature for 80 deg and increasing flow from the Gulf which triggers these storms but spring in the South makes its own mind up.  As my old friend and club pro often said somewhat optimistically:  '30% chance of rain means 30% chance it will rain at all.  It doesn't mean it will rain 30% of the hours in the day.'

 

-Lee Elder got the lion's share of the honorary starter coverage and fair play to him.  I noticed Jack Nicklaus rotating through his very large family as he does by choosing two more of his granddaughters as caddies.  One of them is a dead ringer for Barbara Nicklaus.

 

-Seeing 1975 footage you can't help but notice the red flags on the pins with the hole numbers as opposed to the now-iconic yellow flags with the Masters logo.

 

-When newsprint newspapers were prominent I used to laugh reading the classified ads in the Augusta Chronicle all blaring generic 'SPORTING EVENT TICKETS WANTED/SOLD' - not even the scalpers dared run afoul of the National.  You see the same on Craigslist and along Washington Road in the present day.

 

-My azaleas are popping just in time this week.  Not a euphemism or a metaphor.  They really are.  They don't last long, sadly.

 

-Seeing the portrait of Eisenhower in his green jacket in the background during the cabin interviews is always a kind of head-shaking 'wow' moment for me.  He links world-changing events with a more mundane but still historic club and tournament.  Just a lad from Kansas (though Texas-born), eh?

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by chillybilly

[BombinJim]

9 hours ago, Rob G 89 said:

Anyone else sad that Bryson is totally awful at the masters?

Definitely. I hope he makes the cut!

[Imp]

And yet the circle-jerk continues....

"The distance needs to be dialed back!"

And yet, AGAIN, DcB shows... you need more than distance to score well. 

They're doing the same thing lots of other powerful bodies have done.... repeat the lie over and over again, and it will become the truth.

[the bishop]

ANGC - 18 holes that can play like about 5-6 different courses depending on conditions and course setup.  From DJ's fall birdie fest to this.  Personally I think I prefer this - leaderboard volitility could break the meter.  Rose's 65 yesterday will likely be forgotten in a few years unless he goes on to win but really one of the finer rounds of the last 10 years or so at that place.

[Duct Tape]

Something tells me my first page post predicting the over/under thread postings at 42 pages might be a little low 🙂 

[tsecor]

8 minutes ago, Imp said:

And yet the circle-jerk continues....

"The distance needs to be dialed back!"

And yet, AGAIN, DcB shows... you need more than distance to score well. 

They're doing the same thing lots of other powerful bodies have done.... repeat the lie over and over again, and it will become the truth.

Distance is becoming a problem on TOUR.....this is not aimed at AMATEURS or the WEEKEND PLAYER......the courses have radically changed along with technology. When Tiger was striping everything 320, the courses were changed and made longer. Trees were added, doglegs were created......now we have Bryson.....hittinbg it 340-360.....courses cannot continue to get longer....

 

They should do something.....many sports have gravitated to becoming "one trick ponies".....NBA with 3 pointers all night long......Baseball with the homerun....NFL football throwing 60x a game....

 

Golf needs and should act. Smaller driver heads, shorter ball....ect...make the courses harder to navigate.... -20 at the Masters is blashphemous. 

 

bryson cant hit a ball straight......thats his issue....he would fail regardless playing like that. 

[tgoodspe1991]

So far I thought Day 1 was a great round to watch. Super tough greens out there that embarrassed more than a few of the Pro’s but, hey, it’s a Major. I’m sure they vowed it would not feel like a November repeat and it certainly feels like a different tournament altogether. 
 

This is the first Masters I’ve seen in a while that doesn’t quite feel like iconic Augusta National. It’s like a Masters with a bit of a temper and a chip on its shoulder.

[tgoodspe1991]

2 minutes ago, tsecor said:

Distance is becoming a problem on TOUR.....this is not aimed at AMATEURS or the WEEKEND PLAYER......the courses have radically changed along with technology. When Tiger was striping everything 320, the courses were changed and made longer. Trees were added, doglegs were created......now we have Bryson.....hittinbg it 340-360.....courses cannot continue to get longer....

 

They should do something.....many sports have gravitated to becoming "one trick ponies".....NBA with 3 pointers all night long......Baseball with the homerun....NFL football throwing 60x a game....

 

Golf needs and should act. Smaller driver heads, shorter ball....ect...make the courses harder to navigate.... -20 at the Masters is blashphemous. 

 

bryson cant hit a ball straight......thats his issue....he would fail regardless playing like that. 

I think with the distance discussion they just need to decide exactly what they want to do. Are they trying to make everyone hit it shorter for the sake of hitting it shorter, or are they trying to preserve golf courses?

 

No matter what they do, the longest players will still be the longest players. Physical speed is speed no matter what club you’re swinging. But if they want to preserve golf courses, then we are strictly talking about distance off the tee. If that’s the case, the easiest solution is to impose some sort of new maximum length and loft rule. Bryson’s 340y drives would immediately turn to 280-300 if the longest club in his bag was 43” and the lowest loft could only be 13.5*. Also impose a size limit of, say, 275-300cc.

 

Basically removing the modern driver from the game and making the modern 3W the longest club in the bag. 

 

Trying to focus on spinnier balls and all that is going to be a humongous waste of time and money. If you make a more spinny ball, then Bryson will just get Cobra to design an absurdly low spin head and beat it. 

[tsecor]

1 minute ago, tgoodspe1991 said:

I think with the distance discussion they just need to decide exactly what they want to do. Are they trying to make everyone hit it shorter for the sake of hitting it shorter, or are they trying to preserve golf courses?

 

No matter what they do, the longest players will still be the longest players. Physical speed is speed no matter what club you’re swinging. But if they want to preserve golf courses, then we are strictly talking about distance off the tee. If that’s the case, the easiest solution is to impose some sort of new maximum length and loft rule. Bryson’s 340y drives would immediately turn to 280-300 if the longest club in his bag was 43” and the lowest loft could only be 13.5*. Also impose a size limit of, say, 275-300cc.

 

Basically removing the modern driver from the game and making the modern 3W the longest club in the bag. 

 

Trying to focus on spinnier balls and all that is going to be a humongous waste of time and money. If you make a more spinny ball, then Bryson will just get Cobra to design an absurdly low spin head and beat it. 

great points all around. 

[dcfas]

The Masters app is amazing. If I’m not careful I’ll miss live action because I’m lost in the unbelievable content in this app. Wow.

[bladehunter]

11 hours ago, golfgirlrobin said:

I doubt that Jones would care, but Clifford Roberts would be smiling if he knew how. 

Touché !    I’m sure that’s accurate to a T.  😂

[bladehunter]

Ok. So. Is there anyway to watch streaming this morning on your TV ?  

[BlackDiamondPar5]

1 minute ago, bladehunter said:

Ok. So. Is there anyway to watch streaming this morning on your TV ?  

Use the Masters app or your PC on Masters.com to cast it to your SmartTV, Chromecast or Roku/Fire would be one way.

[bladehunter]

44 minutes ago, Imp said:

And yet the circle-jerk continues....

"The distance needs to be dialed back!"

And yet, AGAIN, DcB shows... you need more than distance to score well. 

They're doing the same thing lots of other powerful bodies have done.... repeat the lie over and over again, and it will become the truth.

The truth lies in the center.  As always.  
 

things do need a trimming back.  And Bryson is showing that Augusta National can defend from any distance tee ball.  
 

 

more accurately what we’re seeing is what I found myself.   That this game requires its pound of flesh.  No matter which direction.  If you focus too much on one area , something else will suffer. I feel it’s impossible to be the long drive champ and also be the shortgame wizard that is a requirement for this level play.  Once in a blue moon it may all line up.  But usually never. Tiger player with a mostly wild driver.   Focused on approach and putting mixing in a shortgame regime that is rarely matched. He didn’t stand and pound drivers. Neither did jack.  They did the opposite of Bryson’s “ speed training “. They hit millions of off speed feel shots on the range.  Saving the speed for when they had to.  
 

I personally feel like Bryson has hit the wall.  And will need to move the see saw back towards approach and scoring to win on anything but a soft track .  

[bladehunter]

6 minutes ago, BlackDiamondPar5 said:

Use the Masters app or your PC on Masters.com to cast it to your SmartTV, Chromecast or Roku/Fire would be one way.

Hmmm.  Thanks for the idea.    I’ll give that a go but have no experience at all with that.  
 

have to go run some errands soon. Might save that trick for tomorrow morning. Doubt  my dumb self can figure it out before coverage come on.  

[Imp]

11 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Ok. So. Is there anyway to watch streaming this morning on your TV ?  

ESPN+, if you have that. 

If you have a smartTV. Install a web browser app to your TV (since no compatible masters.com app), go to masters.com. Pick a video. Would probably show "Video will start shortly" (but it won't do it automatically). Click the video portion of the screen to get the video controls and click "live". Viola. 🙂

[bladehunter]

6 minutes ago, Imp said:

ESPN+, if you have that. 

If you have a smartTV. Install a web browser app to your TV (since no compatible masters.com app), go to masters.com. Pick a video. Would probably show "Video will start shortly" (but it won't do it automatically). Click the video portion of the screen to get the video controls and click "live". Viola. 🙂

Thanks.  I maybe able to accomplish that one !  Lol.     Hadn’t considered installing a browser.  Makes sense.  

[Christen_The_Sloop]

Singh pitching the ball from 75 or so on 3 crosshanded?

[jdl]

9 minutes ago, Imp said:

ESPN+, if you have that. 

If you have a smartTV. Install a web browser app to your TV (since no compatible masters.com app), go to masters.com. Pick a video. Would probably show "Video will start shortly" (but it won't do it automatically). Click the video portion of the screen to get the video controls and click "live". Viola. 🙂

Paramount Plus app is another option.

[Duct Tape]

More thoughts on the greens discussion:

 

As I’ve said, the greens look perfect me.  This is based on how they receive the perfect shot and repel the wayward ones. Doesn’t matter a bit if they appear a little mottled. 
 

In my opinion, ANGC is responsible for the perfection craze that swept through most golf clubs in the past few decades. If the grass wasn’t lush and deep green, it failed the Augusta standard. It’s gotten to the point that at my own club the super waters so much that you can plug or back up a drive in the fairway. And the rough is so thick that even when cut down to “non-tournament” height at 2-3” a ball is easily lost if it just trickles off the fairway with four guys marking it, leading to 5 hour rounds. This is in Colorado with 20% humidity where I often go home with soaked shoes.  And where we are becoming critically low with water supply. 
 

Good golf should be firm (and occ even brown), which inspires creativity. Golf supers need to take a trip to Scotland or Ireland, or even closer to home on Long Island, maybe Nebraska or Oregon.  One of the most beautiful, and perfect, golf courses in the world, Shinnecock, is a riot of multiple natural colors. 
 

We can all watch the entire field shoot 20 under, sticking and sucking back every iron shot 49 other weeks of the year, save the Open and US Open. Yesterday’s round was great, and the wide disparity of the scores enforced that. 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Duct Tape

[BlackDiamondPar5]

9 minutes ago, Imp said:

ESPN+, if you have that. 

If you have a smartTV. Install a web browser app to your TV (since no compatible masters.com app), go to masters.com. Pick a video. Would probably show "Video will start shortly" (but it won't do it automatically). Click the video portion of the screen to get the video controls and click "live". Viola. 🙂

I don't think all platforms offer a browser. I know Roku does not but I think I have one on my Fire. 

[BlackDiamondPar5]

Just now, jdl said:

Paramount Plus app is another option.

You have to pay don't you? 

[jdl]

11 hours ago, DFS PFD said:

How about the penalty on Abraham Ancer? Ludicrous if you ask me.

None of the articles I read explained how the violation was discovered. Called in? Someone at ANGC watching the broadcast and somehow noticed it?

[porkroll219]

I miss Bobby Clampett on Masters on the Range.

[jdl]

2 minutes ago, BlackDiamondPar5 said:

You have to pay don't you? 

They do have content that requires a subscription, not sure if Masters is part of that or not.

[tgoodspe1991]

Just as an FYI to everyone -- if you are not utilizing Masters.com or the Masters phone app to watch coverage, you are missing out on some incredible free content every year. 

[Christen_The_Sloop]

13 minutes ago, Duct Tape said:

More thoughts on the greens discussion:

 

As I’ve said, the greens look perfect me.  This is based on how they receive the perfect shot and repel the wayward ones. Doesn’t matter a bit if they appear a little mottled. 
 

In my opinion, ANGC is responsible for the perfection craze that swept through most golf clubs in the past few decades. If the grass wasn’t lush and deep green, it failed the Augusta standard. It’s gotten to the point that at my own club the super waters so much that you can plug or back up a drive in the fairway. And the rough is so thick that even when cut down to “non-tournament” height at 2-3” a ball is easily lost if it just trickles off the fairway with four guys marking it, leading to 5 hour rounds. This is in Colorado with 20% humidity where I often go home with soaked shoes.  And where we are becoming critically low with water supply. 
 

Good golf should be firm (and occ even brown), which inspires creativity. Golf supers need to take a trip to Scotland or Ireland, or even closer to home on Long Island, maybe Nebraska or Oregon.  One of the most beautiful, and perfect, golf courses in the world, Shinnecock, is a riot of multiple natural colors. 
 

We can all watch the entire field shoot 20 under, sticking and sucking back every iron shot 51 other weeks of the year, save the Open and US Open. Yesterday’s round was great, and the wide disparity of the scores enforced that. 

Amen

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Christen_The_Sloop

[caseFSU]

This 'Master's On the Range' is severely lacking (for someone who loves to watch these guys hit balls when I can make a tournament).

 

Every year it is just a bunch of interviews and stories with minimal actual footage of the players hitting shots.

 

And now we get to hear Tilghman wax poetic for two hours a day.

 

 

[BlackDiamondPar5]

Just now, caseFSU said:

This 'Master's On the Range' is severely lacking (for someone who loves to watch these guys hit balls when I can make a tournament).

 

Every year it is just a bunch of interviews and stories with minimal actual footage of the players hitting shots.

 

And now we get to hear Tilghman wax poetic for two hours a day.

 

 

Yeah I don't get the whole range thing but that's me.  Anyway I'm just watching shot by shot replays of guys I'm interested in at Masters.com.  The site and App are amazing and should not be missed. 

[dcfas]

44 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Ok. So. Is there anyway to watch streaming this morning on your TV ?  

I’m presently watching it on espn+. But, yeah, you can stream it on the app and “push” it to the tv. If you have a so-called smart tv or a stick/dongle.