Current PGA tour

[Budman]

PAr 4, 457 yards. How about a freakin HYBRID iron off the tee and then an 8i iosteomyelitis the first cut of "rough"!

Then a different hole a dogleg right Par 4 where 2 players decide to aim for the green OVER the public area/driving range. One drops it onto fairway about 50 y from hole, the other half shanks it and it bounces around public area into a crevice between two garbage cans! He gets to mark his ball, move the cans and have a 30 y chip onto green from an area never even considered a ball to being played from when course was designed..

Ontop of which they were having a fun ol time with the location of the ball. Laughing it up. All the current young crops watching current PGA on tv sees this and goes out working on max distance as those guys are so cool. One of them just bought an old dukes of hazard "general lee" car at auction and drove it to event.

Forget who was leading the vent because they hardly show them or give as much airtime.

Power to them. Young, on PGA tour, long as shit and can shoot under par pretty much anywhere. Ahh the life...

(names not required).

[ocat1979]

Not sure if any one saw the free drop given to Phil Mickelson today? Hits it way right, the ball ended up UNDER the fence that defines OOB, the ball was still inbounds but under the fence up against a post, totally unplayable. He then claimed the ball was in an animal scratching with which the Rules official agreed and was given free relief away from the fence! I thought it was borderline cheating and coming from a tour veteran, absolute disgrace

[lagpressure]

The worse it gets, the more likely change will come.. but it won't come from the USGA or PGA Tour. I really believe they are leaving the door open for a new organization that supports the traditional values of the game. Simplicity, and restrictions that bring back the game's best courses for proper competition. It's important that new golfers understand these relationships between architecture and equipment.

[sixpackkid]

A friend of mine went to one of those mega stores to try out new equipment i wont mention the manufacturers name but he used ther 6 iron and hit it 220 yes 220 yds this buddy of mine is a 15 hdcp at best. This is there latest greatest equipment of 2012. I have to rip my aussie 1986 3 iron to get that number.I told him dont do it but he didnt listen $1000 later he bought the irons. A sad case!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul C]

I woke up to this this morning. Power to the People, Right On! If Flavor Flav shows up on my first tee with that clock, I'm out. Then again, maybe this is the bifurcation we need. Notice the swing crack equipment makers are already embedded in this movement. Load up on the Rockstar energy drinks, and latest fashions. I can just see this happening somewhere in the future...'Live from the red carpet here at Augusta...' All of this somehow reminds me of bowling alleys that set up the bumpers so the kids can come in and have a good time.

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepag ... video.html

[Styles]

I remember when Ian Woosnam won the Masters. On 18 he hit it 300+ over the fairway bunker to a place no one expected then made par for the win. Disgraceful! Oh wait, he was using a persimmon so I guess that makes it ok.

[lagpressure]

Of course it's ok, because he did it with skill, and world class technique.... not a club and a ball that would soon allow most all the pros to do that within a decade. Exactly what the USGA warned about, then failed to enforce... to the demise of the game.

So what is 18 at Augusta now? It's a boring straight shot to the center from a contrived lengthened tee box... not requiring the player to work the ball anymore as the hole was intended ..... just the right amount (left to right) to position the ball correctly. If Woosnam or Norman can fly the bunker with a persimmon... great. Not many could do that.. and not many had golf swings like those two.

It was a risky shot also because they were playing the high spinning balata, and if Woosnam would have missed it... going at it that hard, that ball could have gone anywhere. The balatas would keep curving into oblivion if you missed them. The new balls can be curved on the ride up to the apex but they loose spin in the air coming off the drivers and fall more or less straight down from their apex. That's why you don't see guys two fairways over anymore like in the past. It was a lot more risky to get after one because the consequences of a miss could be horrific.

Is it time for me to post a classic Masters rerun to remind everyone what the course used to be? I think so. Coming to a thread soon.

[Styles]

Start with last years footage.

Rory's meltdown, multiple potential winners on back nine but all beaten by charl finishing with 4 birds for the "W", something never done previously in the history of the event.

[ocat1979]

Please not last year! Being an Aussie I couldn't take watching another 2nd place finish at the masters

[jrich99]

Start with last years footage.

Rory's meltdown, multiple potential winners on back nine but all beaten by charl finishing with 4 birds for the "W", something never done previously in the history of the event.

And guys hitting short irons into par 5's that used to be very risky 2 shot holes or layup holes... Doesn't exactly fit the description of "a classic Masters rerun to remind everyone what the course used to be", does it?

Sure, it was dramatic and an exciting finish because there were so many guys that factored into it, but the course isn't comparable to what it was when guys were hitting persimmons with spinny balls. I don't see how anyone can get around that fact. You can choose to ignore it though, and tell yourself "these guys are good" because they hit driver-9 iron into par 5's down the stretch.

Anyone watch the WM Phoenix Open? I saw most of the Levin and Stanley drama on the back nine unfold in person. Stanley played really well up to 17, but his tee shots on 17 and 18 were both REALLY offline. I was right behind the tee box on both of them. 17 was a lucky break that he had a shot from the desert after he really pushed a 3 wood that could have easily cost him the tournament. Then he gets up on 18, decides to hit driver down the left, and pulls it way left of the trouble. On anywhere but a stadium course, that would have been OB or in the trees and lost. Instead, he misses 60 yards left of his target and lands in trampled down rough with a good lie and good angle and almost makes birdie.

I'm not trying to diminish his win, and I think it says a lot about him that he was able to bounce back after last week and shoot a bogey-free 6 under yesterday to make up an 8 shot deficit. I am happy for him and it makes a great story line. At the same time, the way he played on those last two holes should have cost him at the very least a stroke a hole, and at a lot of courses he'd have finished double-double. I don't even think it's his fault, because the Tour sets up events so that precision driving isn't all that relevant. I also watched Greg Chalmers hit a really thin 3 wood that was almost wet on 18. An embarrassingly bad miss for someone on the last hole playing in the 3rd to last group. Clearly ballstriking just really doesn't matter any more.

As much as Bubba gets chastised on here, he struck the ball really well from what I saw and worked the ball both ways. Had he putted well down the stretch, he would have factored into the end too.