They Play a Game of Which I am Unfamiliar

[Sean]

180 yard 7-irons, 300 yard carries, 158 yard 9-irons, etc. When I watch the LPGA Tour I have a passing familiarity with the game (plus, they don't have any of those STUPID Cialis commercials...ugh).

 

[JB]

180 yard 7-irons, 300 yard carries, 158 9-irons, etc. When I watch the LPGA Tour I have a passing familiarity with the game (plus, they don't have any of those STUPID Cialis commercials...ugh).

I find that golf is an interesting sport. It seems the only one in which so many amateurs try to compare to the professionals. I dont know why it is, but it happens.

NBA - We dont try to dunk like Lebron, or shoot like Larry Bird.
NFL - We dont compare ourselves to Peyton Manning passing or Chris Johnson running.
MLB - We dont compare ourselves to Roy Halladay throwing or ARod hitting.

Yet in golf we all seem to try and play the game that the pros play and many on the internet actually do.

I love this game for what it is to me, fun.

I agree Sean, we are not playing the same game, but I feel that way about all sports.

 

[Sean]

You raise a good point, JB. Did you know the average male golfer misrepresents the length of his drives by 40 yards? In any case, the only part of golf in which we can emulate our august brethren is the short game. There is no reason we can't all learn to pitch, chip, and putt with a modicum of competence.

Yes, Internet golfers are very good. I'm surprised many of those fellows aren't on tour. In order to emulate the Tour: we play shafts that are too stiff, we never use enough club, and we think our average drive is 270 – when it's more like 200, we play $4.00 golf balls because we want to spin the ball even though the majority of our shots are short. I have no such delusions.

As an aside, I will have you know when I was younger I could dunk a basketball...not like LeBron James, but dunk it all the same.

 

[JB]

]

As an aside, I will have you know when I was younger I could dunk a basketball...not like LeBron James, but dunk it all the same.

Me too actually. I probably still can with a few warmups. I can shoot too, but I am not living in a dream to think I can do it at that level. Just like I know that I am no where near the level of a Tour Player. I have had a chance to play with quite a few and it is sickening. Playing with our THP Pro was bad enough as he shot even or under par each time, but it was still a different ball game.

 

[provisional]

I was a shorter version of John Stockton. I had a shot, but no defense. I could not dunk, but I could touch the rim. I made the tall guys look good.

As for golf, even at my best, the PGA pros were two clubs a head of me. Even some of the LPGA girls could humble me back then, and now:clapp:.

 

[clg82]

You raise a good point, JB. Did you know the average male golfer misrepresents the length of his drives by 40 yards? In any case, the only part of golf in which we can emulate our august brethren is the short game. There is no reason we can't all learn to pitch, chip, and putt with a modicum of competence.

Yes, Internet golfers are very good. I'm surprised many of those fellows aren't on tour. In order to emulate the Tour: we play shafts that are too stiff, we never use enough club, and we think our average drive is 270 – when it's more like 200, we play $4.00 golf balls because we want to spin the ball even though the majority of our shots are short. I have no such delusions.

As an aside, I will have you know when I was younger I could dunk a basketball...not like LeBron James, but dunk it all the same.

I actually heard a statistic this weekend as well that 80% of golfers don't break 100 any truth to that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[thedue]

You raise a good point, JB. Did you know the average male golfer misrepresents the length of his drives by 40 yards? In any case, the only part of golf in which we can emulate our august brethren is the short game. There is no reason we can't all learn to pitch, chip, and putt with a modicum of competence.

Yes, Internet golfers are very good. I'm surprised many of those fellows aren't on tour. In order to emulate the Tour: we play shafts that are too stiff, we never use enough club, and we think our average drive is 270 – when it's more like 200, we play $4.00 golf balls because we want to spin the ball even though the majority of our shots are short. I have no such delusions.

As an aside, I will have you know when I was younger I could dunk a basketball...not like LeBron James, but dunk it all the same.

I also fish

 

[Sean]

Me too actually. I probably still can with a few warmups. I can shoot too, but I am not living in a dream to think I can do it at that level. Just like I know that I am no where near the level of a Tour Player. I have had a chance to play with quite a few and it is sickening. Playing with our THP Pro was bad enough as he shot even or under par each time, but it was still a different ball game.

I won't go one-on-one with you JB, though I could give you a run for your money for 10 minutes or so!

I would enjoy playing golf with someone at that level. It must be a lot of fun.

 

[Sean]

I was a shorter version of John Stockton. I had a shot, but no defense. I could not dunk, but I could touch the rim. I made the tall guys look good.

As for golf, even at my best, the PGA pros were two clubs a head of me. Even some of the LPGA girls could humble me back then, and now:clapp:.

I'll get the rebound, pass it to you, and you take the outside jumper!

The ladies of the LPGA would mop the floor with me.

 

[SeeMoreGuy]

I often think the same thing about how amzaing these tour player are. Whenever they say he has 210 to pin and this is smooth 5 iron...I just laugh and think I can hit that same shot..... with a driver or 3W if I am lucky. They are just sooo much better than many of us realize.

Playing with a tour pro would just be embarrasing for me. I am not sure how they suffer through the weekly Pro/AM's they play. I guess the pros are out there for more course familarity than anything else.

 

[Sean]

I actually heard a statistic this weekend as well that 80% of folders don't break 100 any truth to that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The average score is still 100 and the average drive is around 197, despite the advances in technology.

 

[Sean]

I also fish

You're at least one up on me!

 

[JB]

The average score is still 100 and the average drive is around 197, despite the advances in technology.

WHere did you get the average drive statistic from? How in the world do they determine that?

 

[GMDNP1]

I'm familiar with that game I hit 155 yd. PWs and 300 yard drives but I understand your point.

 

[Sean]

I often think the same thing about how amzaing these tour player are. Whenever they say he has 210 to pin and this is smooth 5 iron...I just laugh and think I can hit that same shot..... with a driver or 3W if I am lucky. They are just sooo much better than many of us realize.

Playing with a tour pro would just be embarrasing for me. I am not sure how they suffer through the weekly Pro/AM's they play. I guess the pros are out there for more course familarity than anything else.

I know what you mean, and if you stood next to one they are nothing special. It's not like standing next to Artis Gilmore or Ed Jones.

I would enjoy playing in a Pro/Am just to be up close as they hit their shots. And you have no reason to be embarrassed...I'm sure they've seen it all. Though a girl at our practice facility (she's 11 or 12), played in a Pro/Am last year at the Deutsche Bank. Camilo Villegas was her pro and he was stunned at her game. I've played with she and her father a few times (a self taught Pro who just passed his PAT) and she's the real deal. For example, she birdied a 440 yard par 4: Driver, 3-wood to 15 feet, and holed the putt.

 

[ClairefromClare]

I find that golf is an interesting sport. It seems the only one in which so many amateurs try to compare to the professionals. I dont know why it is, but it happens.

NBA - We dont try to dunk like Lebron, or shoot like Larry Bird.
NFL - We dont compare ourselves to Peyton Manning passing or Chris Johnson running.
MLB - We dont compare ourselves to Roy Halladay throwing or ARod hitting.

Yet in golf we all seem to try and play the game that the pros play and many on the internet actually do.

I love this game for what it is to me, fun.

I agree Sean, we are not playing the same game, but I feel that way about all sports.

Basketball, football, and baseball aren't exactly life sports. Not too many middle-aged amateurs (or pros, for that matter) playing any of them.

Golf, tennis, and skiing are what you can do your whole life. Now that you mention it, I don't know too many tennis players around here who comare themselves to the pros. That would be the more apt analogy.

 

[JB]

Basketball, football, and baseball aren't exactly life sports. Not too many middle-aged amateurs (or pros, for that matter) playing any of them.

Golf, tennis, and skiing are what you can do your whole life. Now that you mention it, I don't know too many tennis players around here who comare themselves to the pros. That would be the more apt analogy.

I think basketball can be a life sport. It is in this area anyway. As much as tennis is. Obviously not as much as golf is. However this is about playing the game the pros play and comparing our games to theirs. Sure you can play golf into later ages, but that is a different story in my opinion.

 

[Sean]

WHere did you get the average drive statistic from? How in the world do they determine that?

I read it in a golf magazine a year or so ago. If I remember correct they had golfers tell them how far they hit their drivers and than had them actually hit drives and compared the difference.

Anecdotally, how often have you played with guys that hit their drives left or right and look for it 50 yards up from where it landed?

 

[JPsuff]

While watching the "16th Hole Open" on Friday, one player hit Driver / 8-iron on a 561-yard hole.

Now I don't care what kind of conditioning these guys go through, how many fittings they've had, how many practice balls they hit or how many swing guru's, hypnotists, or sports psychologists they see, there is nothing "normal" (or even all that interesting) about a 360-yard drive followed by a 200-yard 8-iron.

When I see something like that, I'm not really all that impressed with the golfer as much as I'm dismayed that the game has allowed itself to become distorted by science and technology.

Like Brandel Chamblee said, "Golf isn't about science, it's about art", and to me, there's nothing "artful" about watching someone hit a 200-yard 8-iron, when I know that the primary reason he's able to do it didn't so much come from a driving range as much as it did a drafting table.


-JP

 

[Sean]

I'm familiar with that game I hit 155 yd. PWs and 300 yard drives but I understand your point.

Well at least someone out their is familiar. I'd love to watch you play.

 

[Diane]

I think basketball can be a life sport. It is in this area anyway. As much as tennis is. Obviously not as much as golf is. However this is about playing the game the pros play and comparing our games to theirs. Sure you can play golf into later ages, but that is a different story in my opinion.

Do you think it's because people view golf more as a game or hobby rather than a sport?

 

[Sean]

While watching the "16th Hole Open" on Friday, one player hit Driver / 8-iron on a 561-yard hole.

Now I don't care what kind of conditioning these guys go through, how many fittings they've had, how many practice balls they hit or how many swing guru's, hypnotists, or sports psychologists they see, there is nothing "normal" (or even all that interesting) about a 360-yard drive followed by a 200-yard 8-iron.

When I see something like that, I'm not really all that impressed with the golfer as much as I'm dismayed that the game has allowed itself to become distorted by science and technology.

Like Brandel Chamblee said, "Golf isn't about science, it's about art", and to me, there's nothing "artful" about watching someone hit a 200-yard 8-iron, when I know that the primary reason he's able to do it didn't so much come from a driving range as much as it did a drafting table.


-JP

That's what I mean. I can in no way relate to a 360 yard drive and a 200 yard 8-iron.

 

[JB]

when I know that the primary reason he's able to do it didn't so much come from a driving range as much as it did a drafting table.


-JP

If that is the case, then why has it not helped more weekend players? Of course technology has changed and made distances easier to achieve. But it still does not take anything away from what these guys can do. If it was all technology, then everyone would be doing it.

Not too long ago, you made the comment that technology has not helped players that much and the scores have not come down to prove it. The tour players are the pinnacle in their sport just like the pros in every sport.

 

[JB]

Do you think it's because people view golf more as a game or hobby rather than a sport?

People do not consider it a sport in the true sense of the word. Which is a shame to some degree in my opinion. These players are still amazing to watch and what they do cannot be done by 99.9% of the population. Despite what you read on the internet.

 

[Sean]

If that is the case, then why has it not helped more weekend players? Of course technology has changed and made distances easier to achieve. But it still does not take anything away from what these guys can do. If it was all technology, then everyone would be doing it.

Not too long ago, you made the comment that technology has not helped players that much and the scores have not come down to prove it. The tour players are the pinnacle in their sport just like the pros in every sport.

JP is right, and as I said earlier, technology has not helped the average player. Why? I think it was golf guru Frank Thomas who said the average player doesn't have the skills/ability to take advantage of that new technology. The pros do.