Post by theduke21 on Mar 28, 2020 20:26:05 GMT -5
Feel free to sticky this.
This is where I'll post the course I selected each week and talk about my reasoning for picking the course and my general ideas about the conditions I selected. We can use this as a place to have civil conversations about the courses and conditions without littering the tournament thread with arguments.
I'll just continue to edit this top post each week.
Valero Texas Open: Club at Dunwoody (TOUR)
Why not come in firing with one of my own courses? All jokes aside, this is one I made as a Masters warmup in mind and Dale had it in his potential selections for the week. I personally always loved Houston being the week before Augusta for a Masters feel as you get ready for the big week. Valero has lost its appeal as it moved to TPC San Antonio, which is a fairly dull track, and really only exists as a last chance Masters qualifier now.
Dunwoody features big fairways and greens with angles and tricky greens being the key. Plenty of risk-reward throughout.
Starting this week, you'll see I'm not going to be afraid to use very high winds once or twice a week if the course can handle it. Some won't like this, but it's the factor that creates some of the biggest challenges on the game at this point. But you'll also see that I'm going to throw in a low winds/moderate greens round most weeks to test everyone to go as low as possible. So one round you'll have to fight for every birdie, a couple rounds later every par may feel like a bogey. This should keep things fresh and test all aspects of your game.
Green speeds are default throughout, which will usually be the case on where I stand with things for the moment. I want greens to remain consistent and roll purely.
Masters Tournament: Firethorn National
Not much needed to be said here. I feel CLV's version is the best in the game and we'll be returning for another year. Just like Valero, I'm throwing in one low winds round and one very high winds round. Default green speeds. Should be a great week.
RBC Heritage: The Heritage GC (PGA)
Going with Joe's classic Harbour Town imitation again instead of using the new lidar version of Harbour Town. The reason for that is I think Joe captures all of Harbour Town's flair while also remaining a stern test and a better fit for video game golfing. Harbour Town is a nice RCR, but some weird tree spots and the low difficulty made me stick with Heritage.
Heritage will still cause plenty of tree troubles if you don't route yourself correctly around the course and plan for the next approach with your drive. I stayed away from very high this week just because of how tight everything is. Default green speeds.
Zurich Classic of New Orleans: The Greens at The Ditch
TPC Louisiana was released last week but after some rangering and playing it a bit, I decided to stick with The Ditch and use an RCR for Wells Fargo instead. TPC Louisiana is a nice course but it doesn't translate too well to an interesting and difficult course on this game. The Ditch is a unique course build on a small river next to a city that has a bit of a New Orleans vibe to it. There's a lot of tricky hole designs here and very challenging and sloped greens. The greens can be borderline in a few spots, so I went down to fast speeds for 3 of the 4 rounds. I went ahead and went default very fast for the 4th round, so be very careful on your spots and be aware that they can get slick and run away from you quickly. Looking forward to how this one plays for everyone.
Wells Fargo Championship: Quail Hollow Club
I originally was going to stay away from Quail Hollow simply because I'm not a fan of the course IRL personally. I hate the abundance of forced doglegs but this is a great RCR creation and it's a famous course that most people are familiar with. For that reason along with it being a nice test on the game, I stuck with Quail Hollow this year. I am curious how most feel about the course though for the future. Nonetheless, the high wind rounds will be very difficult as this course always plays tough. Default green speeds.
AT&T Byron Nelson: Sand Hills GC (Tour)
I've had this one planned ever since I took over course selection. Sand Hills is an RCR in Nebraska designed by Coore and Crenshaw, the same pair that made Trinity Forest which is where the Bryon Nelson was supposed to be played this year. Sand Hills is a wide open, links styled course with heavy terrain.
I haven't actually submitted the conditions yet, but expect very heavy winds for most of the tournament as that's how the course is meant to be played. Hitting fairways won't be an issue, but giving yourself flat lies and correct angles into really tough greens will be the real key.
This is where I'll post the course I selected each week and talk about my reasoning for picking the course and my general ideas about the conditions I selected. We can use this as a place to have civil conversations about the courses and conditions without littering the tournament thread with arguments.
I'll just continue to edit this top post each week.
Valero Texas Open: Club at Dunwoody (TOUR)
Why not come in firing with one of my own courses? All jokes aside, this is one I made as a Masters warmup in mind and Dale had it in his potential selections for the week. I personally always loved Houston being the week before Augusta for a Masters feel as you get ready for the big week. Valero has lost its appeal as it moved to TPC San Antonio, which is a fairly dull track, and really only exists as a last chance Masters qualifier now.
Dunwoody features big fairways and greens with angles and tricky greens being the key. Plenty of risk-reward throughout.
Starting this week, you'll see I'm not going to be afraid to use very high winds once or twice a week if the course can handle it. Some won't like this, but it's the factor that creates some of the biggest challenges on the game at this point. But you'll also see that I'm going to throw in a low winds/moderate greens round most weeks to test everyone to go as low as possible. So one round you'll have to fight for every birdie, a couple rounds later every par may feel like a bogey. This should keep things fresh and test all aspects of your game.
Green speeds are default throughout, which will usually be the case on where I stand with things for the moment. I want greens to remain consistent and roll purely.
Masters Tournament: Firethorn National
Not much needed to be said here. I feel CLV's version is the best in the game and we'll be returning for another year. Just like Valero, I'm throwing in one low winds round and one very high winds round. Default green speeds. Should be a great week.
RBC Heritage: The Heritage GC (PGA)
Going with Joe's classic Harbour Town imitation again instead of using the new lidar version of Harbour Town. The reason for that is I think Joe captures all of Harbour Town's flair while also remaining a stern test and a better fit for video game golfing. Harbour Town is a nice RCR, but some weird tree spots and the low difficulty made me stick with Heritage.
Heritage will still cause plenty of tree troubles if you don't route yourself correctly around the course and plan for the next approach with your drive. I stayed away from very high this week just because of how tight everything is. Default green speeds.
Zurich Classic of New Orleans: The Greens at The Ditch
TPC Louisiana was released last week but after some rangering and playing it a bit, I decided to stick with The Ditch and use an RCR for Wells Fargo instead. TPC Louisiana is a nice course but it doesn't translate too well to an interesting and difficult course on this game. The Ditch is a unique course build on a small river next to a city that has a bit of a New Orleans vibe to it. There's a lot of tricky hole designs here and very challenging and sloped greens. The greens can be borderline in a few spots, so I went down to fast speeds for 3 of the 4 rounds. I went ahead and went default very fast for the 4th round, so be very careful on your spots and be aware that they can get slick and run away from you quickly. Looking forward to how this one plays for everyone.
Wells Fargo Championship: Quail Hollow Club
I originally was going to stay away from Quail Hollow simply because I'm not a fan of the course IRL personally. I hate the abundance of forced doglegs but this is a great RCR creation and it's a famous course that most people are familiar with. For that reason along with it being a nice test on the game, I stuck with Quail Hollow this year. I am curious how most feel about the course though for the future. Nonetheless, the high wind rounds will be very difficult as this course always plays tough. Default green speeds.
AT&T Byron Nelson: Sand Hills GC (Tour)
I've had this one planned ever since I took over course selection. Sand Hills is an RCR in Nebraska designed by Coore and Crenshaw, the same pair that made Trinity Forest which is where the Bryon Nelson was supposed to be played this year. Sand Hills is a wide open, links styled course with heavy terrain.
I haven't actually submitted the conditions yet, but expect very heavy winds for most of the tournament as that's how the course is meant to be played. Hitting fairways won't be an issue, but giving yourself flat lies and correct angles into really tough greens will be the real key.