Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2016 11:31:54 GMT -5
If you haven't already read this thread below...
Season 3 Firm Green Policy
You might want to.
Naturally, this is being done to alleviate the burnout that players have been experiencing playing firm greens, especially in the upper tours (Web, Euro, PGA) where they are more common.
On the surface, this would appear to be a good thing for the overall health of the community. However, what's normally true in real life when you remove one thing and replace it with another, may very well likely happen here.
Without naming any names or courses, I just played one that is going to appear in season 3 where the general theme, at least for one of the 4 days is simple. Place pin on top of 2 or 3 foot hill so that it becomes extremely difficult to hold approach shot close. Ultimately, unless you are a really excellent golfer, you will end up with your ball rolling down the green towards the fairway and reward your normally "good" shot with a 15 to 17 yard pitch to the pin that's now 6 to 7 feet above where you are. As a lot of you probably know, this shot requires a lot of skill. I managed a 4 under playing this course. Not bad until you consider it was for the Challenge Circuit.
My concern is this. In order to give golfers a challenge, with firm greens reduced to 1 per month, designers are going to resort to this sort of tricked up approach in order to keep scores high.
Ultimately, I'm not sure the amount of burnout is going to be alleviated much, if at all, if this becomes the norm. Personally, if I had to play courses like this week in and week out, I'd probably leave the tour. I find them more frustrating than the firm greens, especially when your ball lands 6 yards from the pin on medium firmness and still ends up rolling back down the green into the fairway. I'm sure most golfers here are also not fans of this kind of approach. Right now, these courses are the exception. What if they become the norm in order to keep scores relatively high? Let's face it, designers have pride and don't want to see their courses lit up to the tune of 16 to 18 under by everybody.
I'm genuinely concerned that the new firmness policy is just going to cause different problems and not really solve anything. If what I've been seeing is any indication, season 3 could be even more difficult for some of the tours than season 2 was.
The good news? TGC 2 is coming soon which is going to make all of this moot. The new swing mechanic, which will hopefully make things more challenging, will allow designers to design "normal" courses and not have to resort to firm greens or tricked up hills to keep scores high.
Naturally, this is just my opinion and I could be totally off base, but I know human nature. Designers are not going to want to put a course out there where 54 is a normal score.
If nothing else, it should be interesting to see how this plays out.
Season 3 Firm Green Policy
You might want to.
Naturally, this is being done to alleviate the burnout that players have been experiencing playing firm greens, especially in the upper tours (Web, Euro, PGA) where they are more common.
On the surface, this would appear to be a good thing for the overall health of the community. However, what's normally true in real life when you remove one thing and replace it with another, may very well likely happen here.
Without naming any names or courses, I just played one that is going to appear in season 3 where the general theme, at least for one of the 4 days is simple. Place pin on top of 2 or 3 foot hill so that it becomes extremely difficult to hold approach shot close. Ultimately, unless you are a really excellent golfer, you will end up with your ball rolling down the green towards the fairway and reward your normally "good" shot with a 15 to 17 yard pitch to the pin that's now 6 to 7 feet above where you are. As a lot of you probably know, this shot requires a lot of skill. I managed a 4 under playing this course. Not bad until you consider it was for the Challenge Circuit.
My concern is this. In order to give golfers a challenge, with firm greens reduced to 1 per month, designers are going to resort to this sort of tricked up approach in order to keep scores high.
Ultimately, I'm not sure the amount of burnout is going to be alleviated much, if at all, if this becomes the norm. Personally, if I had to play courses like this week in and week out, I'd probably leave the tour. I find them more frustrating than the firm greens, especially when your ball lands 6 yards from the pin on medium firmness and still ends up rolling back down the green into the fairway. I'm sure most golfers here are also not fans of this kind of approach. Right now, these courses are the exception. What if they become the norm in order to keep scores relatively high? Let's face it, designers have pride and don't want to see their courses lit up to the tune of 16 to 18 under by everybody.
I'm genuinely concerned that the new firmness policy is just going to cause different problems and not really solve anything. If what I've been seeing is any indication, season 3 could be even more difficult for some of the tours than season 2 was.
The good news? TGC 2 is coming soon which is going to make all of this moot. The new swing mechanic, which will hopefully make things more challenging, will allow designers to design "normal" courses and not have to resort to firm greens or tricked up hills to keep scores high.
Naturally, this is just my opinion and I could be totally off base, but I know human nature. Designers are not going to want to put a course out there where 54 is a normal score.
If nothing else, it should be interesting to see how this plays out.