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112th U.S. Open at The Olympic Club

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by DanOregon, Jun 4, 2012.

  1. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I played Congressional from the back tees when it was set up in preparation for Tiger Woods' tournament. The back tees are not the tournament tees, mind you. But it was as far back as I could play. Tiger had a hard on the first few years for making his tournament "hard" because he hated the kind of tournaments where 23-under won. So the rough was up. I'm a pretty big hitter. Can usually drive it between 315 and 340 off the tee. And I'm a decent putter. Figured I'd mash it a mile a few times, and would be able to make a few pars that way.

    Well, I didn't make a single par all day. In fact, I think I might have only had two bogeys. It was incredible how difficult it was to hit the ball out of the rough. You had no fucking chance to do anything other than advance the ball 100 yards with a five iron if you missed the fairway. It hurt your wrist every time you tried to go down and get the ball out of the rough.

    Still fun though, just to have tried it to realize how tough it is, and how vast the difference is between a hack golfer who can hit it far, and a PGA Player who can hit as far as I can with ease, but also do 100 other things better than I'd ever dream of doing.
     
  2. trifectarich

    trifectarich Well-Known Member

    Don't believe everything you read.
     
  3. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

    9th is closer to the clubhouse than the 10th....

    How about the groupings of Carl Petterson, Charl Schwartzel, and Charles Howell III, or K.T. Kim, Y.E. Yang, and K.J. Choi?
     
  4. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Yeah, somebody had some fun with the pairings.

    DD and others are right. No matter how good you are, the golf you play ain't the golf you play. The pro at the joint I used to play was a pretty damn good golfer at his level. Quite good. One year, he wins some regional event that includes a spot in the PGA Tour event when it stopped every year in Williamsburg. He went 81-81 and went home "and I was damn lucky to shoot that."
     
  5. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Golf ability is on a logarhythmic (sorry if spelling wrong) progression. I am a 20 handicapper (probably 25 now due to lack of playing this spring). One of my younger brothers is a five. The difference between my ability and his is vast, but the ability gap between my brother and a tour pro is like the distance to another galaxy. DD, I twice played at the Country Club on media days, for the '88 Open and '99 Ryder Cup. My experience was similar to yours. If I was off the fairway, I thought I was lucky to FIND the damn ball.
     
  6. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

    It's amazing what damage 4 inches of rough can do to a golf score.
     
  7. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Is that the initial group of the day?
     
  8. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

    fail
     
  9. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    So is golf the hardest sport to play? Would most of us fair better at, say, tennis or diving or a team sport?
     
  10. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    I don't think golf is the hardest sport to play. But because it's, let's face it, about fine motor skills and coordination rather than strength and speed, you can be decent if not great at it even if you're otherwise not very athletic.
     
  11. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    Golf, IMHO, is the hardest sport because unlike every other sport, its not a reactionary sport, its all about you and a stationary object. I guess Pitching is somewhat similar. Other than that, it really tests your fine motor skills and mental skills. (want to know who makes the most 10-15 footers on a golf course? Kids, because they have no fear.)
     
  12. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    I played Congressional last May in the run-up to the U.S. Open before the rough was really tall. It still was a bitch to hit out of. Cool thing is that we had a caddy named Jack Daniels ... what a treasure trove of info that guy was.

    I did manage to bogey No. 10. I'm awful on long water par-3s, so i was pretty proud of actually getting close to the green on the tee shot.
     
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