Friday 3/30 - Nationwide Tour at Wente Vineyards

[Kalen Braley]

Amen Tom,

You would think they could be sued for false advertising for putting out crappola like that.  But then again cmon, don't the baked out dry hills of the bay area remind you of scotland??  

Funny thing is I actually can see SOME Scotland at Poppy Ridge.  Oh it takes an active imagination... but as you stand on the upper holes and look down at the lower, with the tall grass swaying in the wind, well... those lower holes at least have some Scotland look to some extent.  But of course that's looking at them sideways, and not at any bunkers nor any green.  

The Bridges has as much Scotland as my back yard does.  I live in San Jose, CA.

BTW, how in the heck did that guy make a 13 at Wente?  And what hole was it?  Was it Tin Cup stuff?  I just can't get my head around a situation where he could have taken some sort of drop.

TH

Well you should qualify that though.  While I've never been to Scotland, I would imagine its pretty green there almost year round.  In the bay area, especially more inland at Poppy, I would imagine its green for what 3 months out of the year??

I missed the 13 at Wente but by the looks of that nasty rough I could imagine a nasty situation.

[Tom Huckaby]

Green is not the norm everywhere in Scotland year round - far from it.  In fact the brownish color at Poppy Ridge is what got me to thinking the Scotland comparision wasn't entirely insane.  Oh, it's 95% insane for sure... but at least I got the 5% out of it.

 

[Kalen Braley]

Well thats some good info...

You still da man huck, I don't care what everyone else says about you.  

You know which course does have some scottish type holes..it Stevinson Ranch out in the Central Valley.  They did a great job with that course and thier Alps hole is pretty darn cool along wwith many others on that course.

[Tom Huckaby]

 
Concur re Stevinson - some very linksy stuff there for sure.  Of course there's some non-linksy parts also... But I'm with you and I dig that Alps hole.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 13 was posted on the par 3 14th hole from the right hand rough (not that far down the hill either -- he was above the cart path... at first. He would have been better off dropping on the tee box, to be sure. What a brutal game )

[Kevin_Reilly]

The 13 was posted on the par 3 14th hole from the right hand rough (not that far down the hill either -- he was above the cart path... at first. He would have been better off dropping on the tee box, to be sure. What a brutal game )

Who was the player?  I have Sat's round Tivo'd and would like to have a look at it.

[Mike Benham]

The 13 was posted on the par 3 14th hole from the right hand rough (not that far down the hill either -- he was above the cart path... at first. He would have been better off dropping on the tee box, to be sure. What a brutal game )

Who was the player?  I have Sat's round Tivo'd and would like to have a look at it.

It was Friday and the player is Greg Chalmers ...

Chalmer's Scorecards

[Tom Huckaby]

Interesting.

I have hit it where you describe the unfortunate Mr. Chalmers hit the ball...   I now understand why he wouldn't take unplayable and drop on the path though - the ball wouldn't STAY on the path but likely would have bounced off the concrete and into a similar or worse lie.  Man the rough must have been something for him to take so many hacks to get out....

Yikes.

[John_Cullum]

It was pretty ugly to see. He should have realized before he ever made the first swing he could not get it to the green, he had trouble even seeing it. He finally found a place on his second unplayable lift back in the bottom where it wasn't so thick. Dropping on the cart path would not have given him anything better than what he had unless it stayed on the path, and then that would have been difficult to keep on the green.

He didn't need a rules offficial, he or his caddy needed to think about what the next move was.

[John_Cullum]

Who was the player?  I have Sat's round Tivo'd and would like to have a look at it.

Let me know whether you count 12 or 13.

[Tom Huckaby]

What this illustrates is how stupid things can get when you combine thick rough + cart path + fence nearby.  Sadly it happens at courses all over the Bay Area.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Who was the player?  I have Sat's round Tivo'd and would like to have a look at it.

Let me know whether you count 12 or 13.

Alas, I only Tivo'd Saturday's play.

[Mike Benham]

Who was the player?  I have Sat's round Tivo'd and would like to have a look at it.

Let me know whether you count 12 or 13.

The report from the Warren Commission suggests only one golfer but the Zapruder film implies that the thirteenth shot came from the area of the grassy knoll ...

[Kalen Braley]

I can 2nd the Huckster on bay area rough.  When you get in that stuff in early spring after its been growing thick all winter. Combine that with it being either wet or damp and it is a beast to get out of.

[Kyle Henderson]

I can 2nd the Huckster on bay area rough.  When you get in that stuff in early spring after its been growing thick all winter. Combine that with it being either wet or damp and it is a beast to get out of.

Indeed, the spring rough can be close to impossible to play from around these parts, which is why I've said for years that we should replace all of the native grasses in Northern California with ice plant.

[Tom Huckaby]

Well, lots of places do have high rough and they let it grow either due to necessity (lots of rain, can't mow) or some other reason.... But what I meant was we do seem to have more than our share of situations where cart paths have very high rough right next to them, and even worse, a situation with cart path - rough - fence all side by side.  In casual play this is no big deal - just pick up the ball and find a place to play it - but in tournament play, it creates the "nowhere to drop" situations like poor Chalmers faced.  I had this happen to me in a tournament several years ago and I've been noticing it ever since...

I hate cart paths, and I hate fences.