Most weird comments by non WRX members

[naval2006]

We have a lot of fun in our WRX bubble, we learn and share a lot of stuff and there's a lot of content, data and mantras that are not to be questioned by the members.  However, most of the golfers you come across at any course are "independent" players that would never understand things like shallowing the shaft, Mark Broadie's stats or Monte's use the bounce.

 

I bumped across one of those independent fellows yesterday.  One of the pros, a club champion and I were discussing putting at the practice range.  This club champion guy, very sound player in his late 30's stated that 36 putts can be good.  The pro answered emphatically it WAS never good; and I, now about to collapse, said it wasn't just bad, it was a tragedy.  Most important was the club champion was serious and keen about it.  While this all was happening I couldn't help scanning through my mind the endless threads about putting and stats on this forum and how we end up being happily cut from the same cloth at GolfWRX.

 

If you've ever been through a similar situation with indie golfers share your story with us to help strengthen the WRX bond.

[Fairways_and_Greens]

4 hours ago, naval2006 said:

We have a lot of fun in our WRX bubble, we learn and share a lot of stuff and there's a lot of content, data and mantras that are not to be questioned by the members.  However, most of the golfers you come across at any course are "independent" players that would never understand things like shallowing the shaft, Mark Broadie's stats or Monte's use the bounce.

 

I bumped across one of those independent fellows yesterday.  One of the pros, a club champion and I were discussing putting at the practice range.  This club champion guy, very sound player in his late 30's stated that 36 putts can be good.  The pro answered emphatically it WAS never good; and I, now about to collapse, said it wasn't just bad, it was a tragedy.  Most important was the club champion was serious and keen about it.  While this all was happening I couldn't help scanning through my mind the endless threads about putting and stats on this forum and how we end up being happily cut from the same cloth at GolfWRX.

 

If you've ever been through a similar situation with indie golfers share your story with us to help strengthen the WRX bond.

The club campion was right. If you hit every approach to 60’ and you walked away with 36 putts, it would have been an all time putting performance, gaining 4 strokes putting on an average PGA field. 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Fairways_and_Greens

[Roody]

10 minutes ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

The club campion was right. If you hit every approach to 60’ and you walked away with 36 putts, it would have been an all time putting performance. 

Agreed! It all depends on the context of how the round went. If you're missing every GIR then 36 putts is not good. But if you're hitting 80% GIR, or playing on very slick and undulating greens, I'd happy as a pig in sh** with 36 putts for the day. 

[PostandGhost]

In the club champion's defense, 36 putts in a club championship is really good, especially if it's a three day club championship.  

[klebs01]

4 hours ago, naval2006 said:

We have a lot of fun in our WRX bubble, we learn and share a lot of stuff and there's a lot of content, data and mantras that are not to be questioned by the members.  However, most of the golfers you come across at any course are "independent" players that would never understand things like shallowing the shaft, Mark Broadie's stats or Monte's use the bounce.

 

I bumped across one of those independent fellows yesterday.  One of the pros, a club champion and I were discussing putting at the practice range.  This club champion guy, very sound player in his late 30's stated that 36 putts can be good.  The pro answered emphatically it WAS never good; and I, now about to collapse, said it wasn't just bad, it was a tragedy.  Most important was the club champion was serious and keen about it.  While this all was happening I couldn't help scanning through my mind the endless threads about putting and stats on this forum and how we end up being happily cut from the same cloth at GolfWRX.

 

If you've ever been through a similar situation with indie golfers share your story with us to help strengthen the WRX bond.

that guy was right. If the greens were very large and proximity to the cup was not good, 36 putts could be good.  Could even result in strokes gained vs tour players. Putts per round is a terrible stat. 
 

Edit: the pro’s average just over 2 putts to get down from 33 ft. If you hit 18 greens and average 33ft, 36 putts is a tour average performance. 

Edited March 31, 2023 by klebs01

[ChipNRun]

Yes, it depends on the golfer. Circa 1968, the assistant pro where I caddied played in the US Open district qualifying round.

 

He was 6 foot tall, lean and muscular, and could hit a persimmon-headed 3W 270* yards, counting rollout. (He had control problems with drivers and never used one.)

 

He shot +2 on the 7,100-yard, par 70 District course. He hit 16 greens in regulation, but had 38 putts. Missed going to Regionals by 1 stroke. Putting held him back his entire career.

____________________________

* For Millennial and Gen Z golfers, 270 was a looooong way to hit a persimmon-headed, steel shafted fairway wood.

Edited March 31, 2023 by ChipNRun

[MtlJeff]

It's kinda funny because i find weirder stuff gets said on the internet. Like i've never had a discussion with a 14 index in the real world where they told me they only played a certain ball because they knew how it would react on chips all the time. Like "i use a ProV and not a TP5, the TMAG doesn't check as hard etc...." It's like you're probably hitting it differently every time you swing

 

Or the guys who are like, i need to get my spin down from 2200 to about 2050 ---Then it'll be just perfect. 

 

Or, I cut 1/8 off my driver and it's completely changed my game

 

There's things we obsess over here that could happen to people in the real world and they wouldn't even know. 

[Hawkeye77]

Looks like I get to rag about my poor Club Champion experience last year! 😀

 

Wait . . . that's so wrx, lol.

 

So in hindsight, that takes me back to about 1972!  I'm out one summer afternoon as a junior high kid at our little 9 hole country club and struggling in the middle of the first hole with a couple of bad 3 woods.  My optometrist is playing one hole over and comes over to help me out.

 

"You've got to keep your head down and things will be fine."  Hey, he was a legitimate scratch player and I thought I'd gotten the "holy grail" of golf advice, little did I know . . . .

[bobfoster]

Ha! FAR too many to count over the decades. A random recent one? I had walked on as a single. 

 

Was playing with this guy who had a wicked (but weirdly consistent) slice off the tee. Instead to trying to fix his swing, he just went full bore compensation - i.e., lined up at, like, a 45* angle to the hole (almost like he was aiming at the fairway of the hole next to the fairway we were playing). The ball did usually come back, but he (of course) lost huge amounts of distance. But he was proud of his distance (and in my head I'm LMAO - yeah ... he did 300' drives ... 225' out, and 75' right hahahaha). 

 

I'm polite when I walk on, act like I'm a guest in whatever twosome/threesome I get put with. But it was hard to control my mirth when Mr. Banana Ball started giving me advice about my grip. 

 

What I like about WRX is that there are (mostly) actual golfers here. Last decade or so there's been an explosion of YouTube "instructional" videos. But you don't learn golf by looking at videos about golf (and then "helping" people you are playing with by spouting insights from the last ones you watched) - you learn it by practicing and playing golf. A lot. It's all about the reps. 

 

Sorry, got off on a tangent.

 

And OP? Your initial post really puzzled me. A "pro" said 36 putts was never good (did I misunderstand)? I am by no means a pro and am getting older, but shoot 80s pretty consistently, sometimes 70s on good days. And if I two-putt every hole I'm a really happy camper. 

[st1800e]

Hah!  How many putts?  Too many iterations to provide a useful answer, GIR, etc. 

 

In my early days I once had 19 putts!  Shot 80!  So based on putts I was a hell of a golfer, based on the rest of the game….I was a HACK.  
 

Many years later on the same course, I had 33 putts, not very good I guess..

 

 

 

 

 

Hit 18 greens, Shot 69.  
 

 

[bladehunter]

36 putts with 18 GIR ( par 5s in two ) is 4 under on most courses.  I’ll take it every day.   

[naval2006]

There's a caveat with the good 36 putts.  How often does a player hits 18 GIR on Tour?  At our level this stat is quite the rarity.  That's why the pro said 36 is a no no.  Theoretically you could even shoot 38 putts and still make par if you reach two par fives in two shots in that kind of round.   

[klebs01]

7 minutes ago, naval2006 said:

There's a caveat with the good 36 putts.  How often does a player hits 18 GIR on Tour?  At our level this stat is quite the rarity.  That's why the pro said 36 is a no no.  Theoretically you could even shoot 38 putts and still make par if you reach two par fives in two shots in that kind of round.   

the point is that putt count’s whether total or per GIR don’t measure performance if they don’t take proximity into account. 

[Ironman_32]

its like saying would you take a score of even for every tournament on the PGA tour. You'd miss a lot of cuts, but there would be some years you win a couple majors, its all context. 

 

At the original point, I think now they're so much information available, specifically golf instruction, everyone things they just need a tip to get them going. "Head down", "shallow the shaft", " get left", "swing out". I think golf is very fickle where you can have it one day and not the next, but I always like when guys don't have it (or never had it) but tell you they did; "I don't know whats wrong today I shot 80 last week", okay, but you took 80 swings on the first three holes today. 

 

 

[PJE]

Perhaps the Pro’s basis  for “good” was the Tour stat on putts/round. The Tour leaders are around 26 or 27. 
That aside, unless a player hits 18 GIR, 36 putts is going to lead some bogeys and likely due to some poor pitches, chips, and putts. 
So, 36 is likely not good. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by PJE

[RoyalMustang]

On 3/31/2023 at 11:11 AM, Fairways_and_Greens said:

The club campion was right. If you hit every approach to 60’ and you walked away with 36 putts, it would have been an all time putting performance, gaining 4 strokes putting on an average PGA field. 

 

I shot my best score ever, 73 with 34 putts, on a 74.5/145 course. 

 

I thought that I had putted poorly, but my partner said "are you kidding? You made nearly every green in regulation aside from the first 2 you bogeyed and only had one 3-putt. Sank 3 birdie putts. What else can you ask for?

 

Looking back, he was right. I was looking at 15-25 footers for birdie all day long, but on a course with very tough greens. The fact that I left myself with a ton of low-stress par putts was fine in my book. 

 

I have had plenty of low 80's rounds with 28-29 putts. Often I am one-putting to save bogey. 

 

It all just depends on GIR. the greens are still so fast at my home course now (due to winter) that I would gladly take 36 putts most days. 

[RoyalMustang]

5 hours ago, klebs01 said:

the point is that putt count’s whether total or per GIR don’t measure performance if they don’t take proximity into account. 

 

My new course has much bigger greens than my old course. It is longer at 7,000 yards vs 6650.  My GIR is up but my index has also risen; I have a lot of 35 and 40 footers, and given that the greens are still dormant, they are probably running 16-18 right now. I have a wellput at home (10-12 stimp) and the same 12-foot stroke is easily a 20-footer right now! My old course had small greens and short distances: smash a drive on a 350 yard par 4 and you have 1/2 wedge to the hole, not a full 9-iron. Granted, it was narrow, but being accurate off the tee was 90% of success there. Here, it's all about approach consistency and distance control on that lag putt. 

 

So yeah, all in context

[RoyalMustang]

My weird comment is that any big hitter must be great at golf. I thought that everyone knew "drive for show, putt for dough" but I guess not. 

 

I am finding out the hard way that poor distance control from 35 feet doesn't make up for an extra 40 yards off the tee,. 

[Santiago Golf]

There is probably an 8 shot difference between a PGA Tour pro and a Club Champion

 

Unless that Club Champion has played a good number of state Ams and done well in other 

mid am events, they know how to shoot around par at their home course, not every course

 

36 minus 8 = 28 ... makes some sense for PGA Tour numbers 

 

Those 8 shots aren't all putting but they show up in the number of putts made

because those putts are from shorter distance from better iron shots and better short game shots

 

 

I hear some really strange golf comments from golfers in their 40 to 60s who shoot in the 80s when I caddie for them

 

"You should never miss a green with a 7 iron" ... okay lol

 

I keep my mouth quiet and keep walking

 

[Fairways_and_Greens]

7 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

I shot my best score ever, 73 with 34 putts, on a 74.5/145 course. 

 

I thought that I had putted poorly, but my partner said "are you kidding? You made nearly every green in regulation aside from the first 2 you bogeyed and only had one 3-putt. Sank 3 birdie putts. What else can you ask for?

 

Looking back, he was right. I was looking at 15-25 footers for birdie all day long, but on a course with very tough greens. The fact that I left myself with a ton of low-stress par putts was fine in my book. 

 

I have had plenty of low 80's rounds with 28-29 putts. Often I am one-putting to save bogey. 

 

It all just depends on GIR. the greens are still so fast at my home course now (due to winter) that I would gladly take 36 putts most days. 

Basically Rory’s final round at last years open. 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I took the "36 putts is never good" comment to mean that if you not getting it close enough to the hole on some approaches to make a birdie, there are other problems besides putting in your game.

 

Case in point: I'm a bad putter; I've played 6 or 7 rounds this year and haven't had under 36 putts on any of them (it hasn't helped that 4 of the those rounds have been on greens that were recently aerated and sanded).

 

I know putting is a problem. But I also know that I've got to hit my wedges a lot closer to the hole to score better.

 

In other words, I'm hitting 36 putts or more because 1) I'm putting badly and 2) my wedge play has been poor.

 

I'm not sure which is the bigger factor. May be 50-50.

[LUMA]

I think we should include "Most weird comments by non golfers".

 

I have heard some great ones.

 

Examples: "Golf is boring and stupid". Also, "Yeah, it's soooooo hard to hit a ball with a stick... talentless idiots". And a classic in my book, "Golf is for old, rich white men".

 

To stick with the trend of the topic, I have played with people who I'm not sure if they are a WRX'er or not, but lots of talk about how distance is king, Bryson, distance, power, blah blah. Hitting it aaaaall over the place and not finding fairways or greens.

 

I'm all about hitting it farther and chase that to an extent, but I would rather put the ball exactly where I need it to go as low as possible. I'll jump on the train to tempo town all day long, but that's just me.

 

Golf's in a weird spot right now. 

[st1800e]

5 minutes ago, LUMA said:

Golf's in a weird spot right now. 

And it’s only going to get “weirder”.