Anyone feel like this week is the start of the season?

[OBbogey5]

I just realized… that the golf season may have just started for me. I was turned off by the Rahm news, and I hate seeing the other thing on CW, but really, I have been turned off by the PGAT too. For me, the keystone event after opening day in Maui and before The Players is—the LA Open (Thanks for bringing this one back from the dead, Tiger). I watched , but I have not watched any golf in 2024 other than a few holes on a couple days at Torrey. I’m not happy about that. whole other topic.

 

“Live From The Players” is responsible for me getting fired up for the 2024 season. With The Masters coming up, and the big Florida tourney last week with a star winner, it will be as if LIV (I’m sorry!… but come on, we can do this, people!) doesn’t exist for a nice little while. Augusta National has, as it often brilliantly does when faced with challenges to them/the game/social issues, etc., shut down that talk very very well. So I have that going for me.. 

[jimecherry]

season doesnt start till the grass turns green in my back yard ;}

[Nickb333]

IDK. Once the champs came back from HI, it used to be game on. Now? We kind of limp into it. 
 

Top players are scattered. That sucks IMO. 
 

Bring them together again. Please! Otherwise golf is at best, like being forced to buy Coke, Pepsi and Coors Light at 3 different stores. 

[OBbogey5]

The reorganization into “signature events” quite frankly pissed me off as well. Just my perspective of things as a self-admitted checked-out fan is that the fields in non signatures early this season were awful fields. 
 

But I don’t know which weeks are signature events.. And I just don’t care to look it up either, or decipher how else the PGAT is funneling money to the top players. I’m so turned off by what’s happening in pro golf, yeah, this is my golf season opener, and I truly have no idea what happens after Sawgrass.. If I’ll have more/equal/less interest in watching golf. (I mean… does Spieth go LIV..?!… seriously, it feels like another one will go at any time, AND THAT’S NOT GOOD.)

[TiScape]

No, season started in HI and my grass is green year round 😊

[st1800e]

1 hour ago, OBbogey5 said:

I truly have no idea what happens after Sawgrass..

Pretty sure there'll be the 4 majors interspersed with a bunch of regular tour events, some signature events, then the “playoffs”.  

[Trippels]

This is the season's opening music.

 

[WorkItBothWays]

Yes and no. It's the first really massive event of the year (full field with almost all the best players) which is exciting but at the same time I don't get the constant negativity. All things considered I think the season so far has been very good. I think a lot of people are being unrealistic and have a distorted view of what things were like.

[jdl]

Probably my favorite time of the sports season. The Players + NCAA post season hoops + The Masters. And of course golf season starting up here in the Northeast, too. 😁

[Hawkeye77]

6 hours ago, TiScape said:

No, season started in HI and my grass is green year round 😊

 

Only the addition of a picture could make that more frustrating!

 

To the OP's point, I always enjoy the first Hawaii event and it's become take or leave it several years until The Masters and mostly DP World if it's on very early on a Saturday or Sunday when I'm up with the still early rising puppy.  I've become a lot more majors-centric over time and am often playing golf during the real season (mine, haha) on weekends so not really paying much attention.  I can always come on here to see who won, cheated, choked (or sucked in the booth)! 

 

If the weather is dodgy and the leaderboard looks interesting I'll watch some of The Players for sure, but it's not a given.

Edited March 13 by Hawkeye77

[Ferguson]

6 hours ago, Trippels said:

This is the season's opening music.

 

 

The original words (lyrics) were as follows:

 

We sing,

sing to thee,

Ye oh praises - of the greens, 

and to thee, notwithstanding those,

who wish to be heard. 

 

We sing,

sing to thee,

Ye oh praises - of the greens,

and to thee, he who is most robust-a, 

will be playing Augusta.

 

We sing,

sing to thee,

Ye oh praises - of the greens, 

and to thee, notwithstanding those,

who wish to be there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dutch1008]

13 hours ago, OBbogey5 said:

I just realized… that the golf season may have just started for me. I was turned off by the Rahm news, and I hate seeing the other thing on CW, but really, I have been turned off by the PGAT too. For me, the keystone event after opening day in Maui and before The Players is—the LA Open (Thanks for bringing this one back from the dead, Tiger). I watched , but I have not watched any golf in 2024 other than a few holes on a couple days at Torrey. I’m not happy about that. whole other topic.

 

“Live From The Players” is responsible for me getting fired up for the 2024 season. With The Masters coming up, and the big Florida tourney last week with a star winner, it will be as if LIV (I’m sorry!… but come on, we can do this, people!) doesn’t exist for a nice little while. Augusta National has, as it often brilliantly does when faced with challenges to them/the game/social issues, etc., shut down that talk very very well. So I have that going for me.. 

 

I think Torrey is the start of the season. Sentry has a good field but just doesn't feel like a real tournament. More like pros on vacations having fun with cameras rolling. Sony and the Amex are weak fields. Torrey is the 1st challenging course with a decent field. Everything before feels like preseason football. I think elevating Pebble and kicking the pro-am out of the weekend was a great decision. Weather sucked this year but I think that change will pay major dividends in the future. I'm kinda over the whole scene at the WM and am typically focused on football that week, but it does have a solid field and usually produces a good winner. Riv is awesome and I think the FL swing does a good job of building the momentum for the Masters.   

[TiScape]

5 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

 

Only the addition of a picture could make that more frustrating!

 

To the OP's point, I always enjoy the first Hawaii event and it's become take or leave it several years until The Masters and mostly DP World if it's on very early on a Saturday or Sunday when I'm up with the still early rising puppy.  I've become a lot more majors-centric over time and am often playing golf during the real season (mine, haha) on weekends so not really paying much attention.  I can always come on here to see who won, cheated, choked (or sucked in the booth)! 

 

If the weather is dodgy and the leaderboard looks interesting I'll watch some of The Players for sure, but it's not a given.

Check your inbox for a pic of my lawn 😉 

[gvogel]

13 hours ago, jimecherry said:

season doesnt start till the grass turns green in my back yard ;}

Which is usually around the Masters, so that's when it officially starts for me.

[Gregakin]

Nope. Jan was the start in my book.  I am about PGAT golf, not a perceived Strength of Field. 

[OBbogey5]

38 minutes ago, Dutch1008 said:

 

I think Torrey is the start of the season. Sentry has a good field but just doesn't feel like a real tournament. More like pros on vacations having fun with cameras rolling. Sony and the Amex are weak fields. Torrey is the 1st challenging course with a decent field. Everything before feels like preseason football. I think elevating Pebble and kicking the pro-am out of the weekend was a great decision. Weather sucked this year but I think that change will pay major dividends in the future. I'm kinda over the whole scene at the WM and am typically focused on football that week, but it does have a solid field and usually produces a good winner. Riv is awesome and I think the FL swing does a good job of building the momentum for the Masters.   

If I remember, when I looked at the Torrey field leaderboard, I was blown away by how many top players skipped. I could be wrong though.. But again, that’s a problem for me.. that I really don’t even care to know. 
 

I’ll watch division III women’s basketball if it’s competitive and there’s drama down the stretch. I love seeing what players do in crunch time, and their full-hearted reactions to the blood, sweat, and tears. It’s such a fanatic study in human emotions.

 

I obviously have a problem with what’s going on with golf right now. The PGAT isn’t D3, yet they have D3 fields, and some of the best players in the world are banned from playing it. It would be like watching a huge college bowl game and some of the very best players aren’t on the f…. Oh wait. That happens too for money. 
 

The college kid.. I completely understand that business career decision, but I’m just a fan, so what do I get out of it? Nothing. And sooner or later, sports will face the challenge of fan disengagement. Their propaganda will mask it for as long as they can, but right now, pro golf isn’t in a good spot for me the fan. At all. jmo

[Hawkeye77]

1 hour ago, TiScape said:

Check your inbox for a pic of my lawn 😉 

I’ll tell myself to get off it!

[Dutch1008]

53 minutes ago, OBbogey5 said:

If I remember, when I looked at the Torrey field leaderboard, I was blown away by how many top players skipped. I could be wrong though.. But again, that’s a problem for me.. that I really don’t even care to know. 

 

Torrey has never had a top flight field but it's usually a big step up from the Sony and Amex. I think the only time it was truly great was when Torrey also hosted the USO so every player wanted to get some competitive rounds in. 

 

53 minutes ago, OBbogey5 said:

I obviously have a problem with what’s going on with golf right now. The PGAT isn’t D3, yet they have D3 fields, and some of the best players in the world are banned from playing it. It would be like watching a huge college bowl game and some of the very best players aren’t on the f…. Oh wait. That happens too for money. 

 

This isn't a new phenomenon. The PGAT has always had good events and bad events. Honestly, blame Tiger. His popularity raised purses. With substantially higher purses a player did not have to grind it out 35+ weeks a year to make money. Further, Tiger accelerated the focus on majors and building his schedule around peaking for majors. These days, all of the top 25 guys are going to play ~25 events a year and structure their schedules to minimize travel and peak for the majors. It's the Tiger playbook and the top guys are going to copy it until someone discovers a better mousetrap. 

 

LIV just added fuel on the fire. The tour has been three tiered for years. Majors + Players, big PGAT events (API, Genesis, Riv, Memorial, etc), weak PGAT events that are basically KFT plus events. Now we have a 4 tiered system. Majors, Players + Signature events, LIV, and weak PGA events. Its pretty garbage for fans but hey, these dudes got paid yo! 🤢 

Edited March 13 by Dutch1008

[StoutKing]

Probably said above but the Masters is my start of the season.  The major season is way too short now btw.

[aenemated]

8 hours ago, Ferguson said:

 

The original words (lyrics) were as follows:

 

We sing,

sing to thee,

Ye oh praises - of the greens, 

and to thee, notwithstanding those,

who wish to be heard. 

 

We sing,

sing to thee,

Ye oh praises - of the greens,

and to thee, he who is most robust-a, 

will be playing Augusta.

 

We sing,

sing to thee,

Ye oh praises - of the greens, 

and to thee, notwithstanding those,

who wish to be there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nah dawg, gotta go with the Mike Stone's timeless "One Week in April ... "

 

 

Which may or may not have anything to do with Augusta at all ... 

 

[Rosco1216]

Spring forward daylight savings should be a holiday for the working dad golfer who still work until the traditional 5pm time.

[scotee]

Agree that January is the start. Glad the wraparound season is no more.

[OBbogey5]

47 minutes ago, scotee said:

Agree that January is the start. Glad the wraparound season is no more.

It isn’t?! I didn’t even know that. Wraparound, aside from being a hilarious banner for that thing… let’s not forget how friendly they were to Korn Ferries.. 🤭 was so silly. 
 

Welcome to the Bob Hope Classic, Everyone! Fore, Please. Now on the tee, 2x season winner, (who was the guy that won twice before New Year’s..? Something Wilson??)

[Ferguson]

The official start for me was, of course, The Qatar Masters. 

[iBanesto]

11 minutes ago, Ferguson said:

The official start for me was, of course, The Qatar Masters. 

 

Great win for Hoshino.

 

Great start to the year for golf.

 

[SnowbirdTom]

Sentry at Kapalua was a great start and there's been some future stars identified in the tournaments following it.  If you think Player's is the start of the season, you missed some good competition in the past three months.  Your loss.

[Ferguson]

18 minutes ago, SnowbirdTom said:

Sentry at Kapalua was a great start and there's been some future stars identified in the tournaments following it.  If you think Player's is the start of the season, you missed some good competition in the past three months.  Your loss.

 

 

We didn't miss it, per se. 

 

The forum received tournament information from a guy that lied about thinking of going there.  

He posted no pictures. 

[Titleist99]

21 hours ago, Gregakin said:

Nope. Jan was the start in my book.  I am about PGAT golf, not a perceived Strength of Field. 

Yep, it makes no difference who's in the field if they're not playing well coming down the stretch on Sunday's back nine. 🤣🤣 It's all about the competition and drama at the end.

 

~I am about PGAT Golf as well.

[Titleist99]

14 hours ago, scotee said:

Agree that January is the start. Glad the wraparound season is no more.

I respectfully disagree, I loved seeing the young guy playing while the veterans take time off. They got rid of the wraparound season and the veterans took even more time off. (4 months). I'd rather have the wraparound season than the silly season. 

 

~But that's just me.😄

[Chunkitgood]

The retirement of Rahm and Koepka from competitive golf didn’t bother me at all.

 

The signature events are an outrage, and the idea that they are necessary fan service insulting.

 

Didn’t know there was a “golf season.”