In other news (apolitical thread)...

[Cincydawg]

I'm not a golfer anymore, but if I ever had the chance to play Augusta National ---- I'm going balls out.

You're going to suck anyway -- may as well make it memorable.  Maybe you hit an unbelievable shot on 12, and you can tell the tale of for the rest of your life?

Or you can play conservative, and have absolutely nothing interesting to say?

Yeah, the question is open, do you play for your lowest score and least embarrassment or do the Tin Cup redux.  

I bet the crowd moves back when you tee off at 18.

[jgvol]

Yeah, the question is open, do you play for your lowest score and least embarrassment or do the Tin Cup redux. 

I bet the crowd moves back when you tee off at 18.

They'd better move back to 17 if I am teeing off.  

Driver was never my best club.

[SFBadger96]

I'm a bad golfer, but trying to get better. I've played a couple of these fancy courses. Most memorably Pebble Beach and the Lake Course at SF's Olympic Club. For each I have no trouble at all checking my ego and playing from the whites. Fortunately, the people I've played them with felt the same way.
I think Pebble isn't the nightmare that US Open courses are, or the greens at Augusta. I played Pebble reasonably consistently with how I play other courses. I was also playing it with people I was comfortable around, and none of us were uptight about it. I even birdied the iconic 7th hole (par 3 out to the ocean). That was freaking awesome.
The Olympic Club is relatively forgiving side to side. It's not a course you lose a lot of balls on. But once you get up to the greens, everything is protected, and some of the greens can be pretty nasty (and I'm sure much more so when tidied up for a PGA event). I also played it with people that I wanted to not look like an idiot in front of. So what did I do? Completely blew up--looked like an idiot. But on the 8th hole, a par 3 that plays up to the club's bar, I had a great put from the fringe to save par--and got some cheers from the gallery up at the bar, which was nice. (Not as nice as total consciousness, but still nice.) Conversely, I had a 12, if I remember correctly, on 18.
I'm working on trying to be more conservative in how I play, but it's awfully hard to look at a shot that I can make at a cool course, then decide, nah, I'm going to play it safe. Generally I do that when I'm already in real trouble--I'll play it safe to get around a tree that I'm stuck behind in the rough.
So yeah, I'd probably go for it, too, and hope to have one or two shots or holes to remember. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I think Pebble is well known for being difficult due to its small greens. Which is important for expert golfers--they hit a lot of greens so if they're missing a bunch, they're doing a lot of scrambling. 

However, I miss most of the greens when I play anyway. So I don't think Pebble would be much different for me 

I actually think Augusta wouldn't be as big of a problem as most of us think. I think getting off the fairway in amongst the trees could make for some difficult recovery shots--but as long as you can find your ball, you can [usually] hit your ball. Yeah, it means that on that hole at BEST you're pretty much playing for bogey. But again, if my goal is simply to finish with a score that contains 2 digits rather than 3... It's a lot better to be punching the ball out the trees than hitting it out of bounds or into penalty areas. I'm sure the greens are diabolical though...

I have more trouble with courses with a lot of out of bounds, or with a lot of areas where you simply aren't going to find your ball. Out of bounds or lost ball basically being a 2-shot penalty... It doesn't take many of those to blow up a score. 

[Cincydawg]

In 1956 - 22 years after the inaugural Masters (initially called the Augusta Invitational Tournament) - the former World War II veteran and self-taught amateur golfer ended a horrible week with a final-round total of 95.
It was the highest-scoring round of his 340 over the four days. That's 52-over and also remains the largest tournament score ever at Augusta. It will remain that way, too, given the year after was the first Masters where a halfway cut was introduced.

According to Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo Sports, there were a number of unhelpful factors which led to Kunkle blasting 95 on the Sunday, mind you, and it was not that he was a poor player.


Kunkle carded 78 on Thursday, finishing in darkness because of a weather-delayed start, an 82 on Friday, an 85 on Saturday, and then the record 95 to cap it all off.

What Is The Highest Single-Round Score Ever Seen At The Masters? | Golf Monthly

This is a bit unfair, conditions were really bad, but this is a good golfer having some bad days.  He likely would be a near scratch golfer at your local, maybe better?

I think the problem for real amateurs at Augusta (aside from nerves, which would be of consequence), would be 4 and 5 putting, maybe some 6s.  There is some water of course, and some tight fairways, but as noted, a "pretty good golfer" could use a lesser club than a driver off the tee and usually find the fairway, or short rough.  The sand would probably come into play a few times in 18.  My guess is the score might be 100-120, not 150 or more, even with nerves.

It's impressive that an elite golfer having four nice rounds might finish 10th, and be proud of it, maybe he goes 73-71-72-71.  

[MikeDeTiger]

I knew a guy from my little hometown who's a banker, and one of those "amateur" golfers that make other people say "You should've been...."  He used his golfing prowess to get a scholarship, and according to him, it came in handy when schmoozing big wigs and he credited his moving up the ranks at his bank with being able to hit the green with big wigs that need to be hosted (or visited) and schmoozed.  He really enjoys it as a hobby but says he never considered trying to play professionally. 

The courses around our area probably aren't that hard, I'd imagine, but he usually hit low or mid 70's, under par.  He traveled around and played a lot of other courses and claimed he could usually hit par or better even on harder courses.  Having seen him play, I don't doubt it.  I heard him say one time that breaking 100 consistently is one of the major hurdles to clear for noobs.  After that, he thought, it's not as difficult to cut it down to 90, then mid 80's, etc. and it starts happening faster.  I liken it to a chess player breaking 1000 ELO, which a lot of people never do, but "they" say once you do, you can hit 1500 way faster than it took you to get from 500 to 1000. 

I don't know if he's right about that.  All I know is I sucked really bad, and I didn't last long enough to find out back when I tried it for a while in college.  A much better friend of mine continued golfing with him back in those days and once he broke 100 he did pretty quickly get consistently down to the low 90s.  I don't remember if he ever got much better from there.  I don't know that he golfs much anymore. 

It was an extraordinarily frustrating game for me.  With basketball or baseball, I aimed, I did physical mechanics that made sense, I applied force to the ball in the direction I wanted it to go, I succeeded.  With golf, I did everything he and others told me to do, and yet the GDMFSOAB ball sliced right every time like it had a magnet in it, and the starboard trees were the metal luring it away.  I literally had better success lining up facing left about 20-25 degrees of where I actually wanted to drive the ball.  Stoopid game. 

[MikeDeTiger]

Actually, as I recall, the first time I swung a driver at a ball at the driving range, I missed the ball completely. 

So I guess I did get some measure of better.  

They told me I was trying to hit it like I was swinging a baseball bat.  I wondered how the hell else are you supposed to swing the thing?  

[Cincydawg]

So, even at the Masters was good for a tie at 29th.  The weather was pretty good this year.  The winner tied at -11.  Two players made the cut and finished at +9.  

Three players finished 8th at -5.  

I'd guess a real 18 HDCP player playing the back tees but with no audience could shoot in the 90s from the back tees?  He might also shoot 110.

[iahawk15]

I'm technically a 6, but I'd say it's a bit of a vanity cap and I'm more realistically an 8. I play the same small town muni course with slow greens a million times per year, rarely travel to other courses, and very rarely play anything overly difficult.

I'd play it very conservatively. Doubtful I'd pull the driver out all day. My irons are pretty good, decent chipper, shaky putter.

I'd guess my score to be between 100-110.

[Cincydawg]

Actually, as I recall, the first time I swung a driver at a ball at the driving range, I missed the ball completely. 

So I guess I did get some measure of better. 

They told me I was trying to hit it like I was swinging a baseball bat.  I wondered how the hell else are you supposed to swing the thing? 

This was my main problem, the golf swing is very much not a baseball swing.  I also had a screaming slice as a result of this.  I "cured" it sort of by trying to relax.  NOW RELAX DUMMY AND KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN< NO YOU IDIOT RELAX!!!!!

[MikeDeTiger]

"screaming slice"

Yeah, that about sums up my attempt at golf. 

[utee94]

Screaming Slice would be a good name for a pizza parlor housed inside the golf clubhouse.

[847badgerfan]

Screaming Slice would be a good name for a pizza parlor housed inside the golf clubhouse.

[Cincydawg]

Golf is a lot like pitching, you need to relax, but be wired at the same time, mentally confident of course, and relaxed.

Being good at either requires good muscle memory where you don't have to think.  Thinking kills both.  And hold it like an egg.

Strikeouts are fascist I say.

Bull Durham (1988) - Strikeouts Are Fascist Scene (3/12) | Movieclips