Man, this hit me today. I hate that the US Open has TP on the rotation. Course kind of sucks and they already play it regularly, so that begs the question…why in the fuck did they do it? Not a west coast guy, but there has to be other courses out there (like Pinehurst No 2) that would be killer for this rotation over TP. I am not excited to watch this next week and I love the US Open.
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It’s boring on TV, but it checks a lot of boxes:
- It’s a good, solid test of golf.
- It’s a gorgeous setting, and the weather is almost always absolutely perfect.
- Major metropolitan area, easy to get to, and with two courses, a ton of space for all of the infrastructure needs.
- Prime time finish.
- USGA likes going to public courses and loves the fact that it’s a muni.
Assuming they want a west coast venue, I actually don’t think there are a ton of great golf courses out there that check all or most of those boxes AND be willing to host an Open. Riviera and LA North are probably the only LA clubs that could host an event that size and provide a great test. Everything east in that time zone is too hot, so you basically have to stay near the coast. Bandon would be awesome, but you can’t really host a major event there, and I’m not sure how any of them would stand up to the pros (fine for match play, but the USGA doesn’t like seeing those low red numbers on the leaderboard). Supposedly Chambers is really good since they fixed the greens, but not sure if the USGA wants to go back.
If the USGA showcases great architecture during the Open, it’s by accident. Their goal is to successfully host a very large event, provide a good test of golf, and make a lot of money.
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You’re absolutely right, but my biggest issue is that we already see this course every fucking year. Do we really need it twice?
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I would say the fact that two of the courses in the US Open conversation on the West Coast also hold regular PGA Tour events is good evidence for the argument that there aren’t that many courses out there that can (and will) host the pros.
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LACC should deliver and be in the rotation moving forward.
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These are fair arguments.
The course blows
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For those that have played, how’d it go with the new settings?
The tourney isn’t showing up for me on Xbox for some reason?
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Most tournament courses seem great to watch and horrible to play. This was the opposite.
Yep pretty much every hole is the same on the south course.
18-20y wide fairways w/ bunkers on both sides of the landing areas
2-3y first cut
4” rough (likely higher for US Open)
Greens with big slopes that segment them into 3-4 really small greens. Bunkers surrounding the green
The rough when I played Torrey in August in 2013. Never again would I waste my time or money on the south course. The renovated north course is a good time though and I enjoyed a few rounds out there in 2018/19.
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@BigtimePolecat was traveling this weekend so my guess is he forgot. Not the first time.
I played round one and a few practice rounds. I’m pretty good at keeping a good swing plane, so if people struggle with that, they may feel differently, but my thoughts:
- Tee to green, the scales are tilted almost entirely to strategy now over execution. The difficult think execution-wise is controlling distance on short shots, but without any kind of swing penalty for tempo, if you struggle with distance control, you can just use flops and splashes, provided you figure out the spin.
- Putting is harder.
- Last season I had tempo and swing plane pretty well locked in, so if I didn’t score well, it was almost entirely due to strategy and putting. So the new setting probably disadvantage me somewhat relative to the field.
- That said, round 1 was pretty stress free, but not sure if that was because of lack of hazards, no fear of red fasts, or because I’m in YH again and don’t really expect to win.
Also, somewhat unrelated, I must be doing something wrong in TGCT events, or there’s some swing trick that I don’t have, or I just suck, because I am getting worked over there, and don’t seem to be getting any better, while guis I can consistently beat over here don’t seem to have any problems at all with those settings.
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Yeah, busy weekend and exhaustion got the best of me.
Just starting a new job today but I’ll get this in at lunch time
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I played two practice rounds and R1. Initially, I wasn’t a big fan of the new settings…I didn’t like taking driving skill out of the game. And while that has happened, overall I actually like the new settings more. A lot more emphasis on strategy vs. execution.
There are a couple pins in R1 that require you to be in a certain spot in the fairway or you can’t make birdie. After R1, any failed birdie attempts were on me.
Damn went to play while the kiddo slept.
Lmk when you get around to it. No rush
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Feels like a putting contest now.
I think managing your misses is a huge part of golf (sometimes hanging on for dear life, shout out to my own real life game). Now there are no misses.
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Same thought with putting. Pretty easy to hit it to inside 15 feet most holes, just need to make sure you hit putts straight.
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Speak for yourself!
I am at least encouraged by the scored in C-Suite so far. But yeah for the top few players in YH it is going to be a putting contest this season. I think we will be able to get some good data though and make the right choice for Season 13.
Hoping HB reverts the settings. I’m sure there has been complaints on twitter and TGC boards
Lots of complaints on the TGC boards. I think a couple of tweaks to our old settings provided that HB fixes the things they screwed up (which they likely won’t) would be perfect. The bunker thing is just ludicrous and makes absolutely no sense.
If it’s now a putting contest, then I lost. Left a lot of sliders out there. Holed out on one in round three to get going. Needed to birdie in from 16 to catch @Juice (which still won’t beat @BlakeG). Chipped in on 16, ran in a 30 footer on 17, and then failed to birdie one of the easiest holes on the course.
I will say that this course is at least fair with regard to the first cut. I hate courses with no first cut. You hit a drive that runs 30 yards down the fairway and trickles into the rough by an inch and you’re hit with a 30% swing penalty. Light rough is still a little bit a challenge, and a more fair result for these fairways that cant somewhat heavily.