Golf Commentator are Driving Me Crazy!!!

[Richard Choi]

I was watching the US Amateur yesterday on Golf Channel when I heard Gary Koch say this about Southern Hills bunkers.

"The face of these bunkers have been specially treated so that balls don't plug into the sidehills, they always roll down. These bunkers are perfect. You won't get any bad lies on this bunkers, they are very consistent."

He said it as though this was a good thing and something to be expected.

Why bother having bunkers if they play as well as fairway? Why are they even labeled as hazards? How does someone become an "expert" with warped views like this?

[Jim Colton]

Didn't somebody get penalized for his ball moving after he was trying to take a stance from a plugged lie in the bunker?  I thought I read that on freedrop

[Adam Russell]

Richard,

I'd have to defer to other about consistency or perfection of the bunkers, but we specifically hand-scooped the faces at CommonGround with shovels so the angle would deflect a ball towards the middle more times than not. Don't know if that clear anything up, I don't like the consistency part of Koch's comment, but we tried to minimize plugged sidehill lies as much as we could.

[Mike Benham]

Turn off the sound ...

[Michael Dugger]

It's not just golf commentators, Richard, it's the entire media and often times much of society.

Silence scares people, so they blather incessant garbage.

[David Stamm]

Richard, it's a short drive.


Could Henry Longhurst's prose work in today's society? I'd like to think/hope so. Watching the old films of Open Championships and hearing him made it seem so civilized and poetic. I love Alliss, but alas, we don't get to hear him much anymore.

[David Stamm]

I'd imagine that a decent number of guys here have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to hit bunker shots out of Tour-prepped bunkers, and that you'll all agree with me, but for those who haven't:

They are a JOKE!  They are unbelievably easy to hit out of.  All you have to do is breath on the damn ball and it pops right out.  If you can't get up and down from Tour-prepped bunkers, your sand game really, really sucks.  I could not believe how easy they were to hit good shots out of.  They're perfect...or highly imperfect, depending on one's view of whether they're supposed to be hazards...

I like CBM's suggestion of having a herd of elephants run through them.

[David Kelly]

If they did do something to the bunkers it must be new as that is not how they played when I was last there which was last October.

I've always found Koch to be basically useless as an announcer.

[Garland Bayley]

I'd imagine that a decent number of guys here have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to hit bunker shots out of Tour-prepped bunkers, and that you'll all agree with me, but for those who haven't:

They are a JOKE!  They are unbelievably easy to hit out of.  All you have to do is breath on the damn ball and it pops right out.  If you can't get up and down from Tour-prepped bunkers, your sand game really, really sucks.  I could not believe how easy they were to hit good shots out of.  They're perfect...or highly imperfect, depending on one's view of whether they're supposed to be hazards...

I like CBM's suggestion of having a herd of elephants run through them.

Citation please!

[Garland Bayley]

You can take some action. Many of the online golf news websites have comment capabilities where you can take issue with what the writers write.

[Lou_Duran]

Would we better off listening to the trio of Stamm, Kelly, and Choi?  Maybe the Golf Channel ought to sponsor a show for would-be announcers.

Playing more often than not on courses where wild elephants apparently run wild, I'd take Southern Hills'.

I would pay good money to watch David Schmidt play Winged Foot, Southern Hills, or Colonial, though perhaps his foul balls would be too far from the target to get in the bunkers.  I've played a number of the courses that "Tour-prepped" their bunkers and my experience was far different.  Perhaps Schmidt has a "Tour-level" sand game.

Using Tivo mitigates the verbosity and the endless focus on aspects of the game which I have no interest in watching.  

[David Kelly]

Would we better off listening to the trio of Stamm, Kelly, and Choi?  

Please, who said anything about being a would-be announcer? 

[David Stamm]

Would we better off listening to the trio of Stamm, Kelly, and Choi?  Maybe the Golf Channel ought to sponsor a show for would-be announcers.

 

Speaking for myself, good grief no! Besides, my wife likes me home on Sundays.


Garland:


Sorry, wrong animal. I believe he said it was cavalry horses(?). Either way, you get the idea.

[Jay Kirkpatrick]

Hasn't the golf course proven hard enough without bringing plugged lies into the equation?  Good grief.

[Garland Bayley]

David,

It was Ross and a calvary troop.

[Sean Eidson]

Best bunker shots I've hit in my entire life were at Bandon.  That sand is neither carefully manicured or contrived in such a way as to prevent lousy lies.

[Garland Bayley]

How's this for accurate reporting/commentary.

"Pumpkin Ridge, which opened in 2009, is made up of the private Witch Hollow course and the public Ghost Greek Course, about a 20 minute drive west of Portland. The Club has hosted numerous events, including the 1996 U.S. Amateur, won by Tiger Woods, and the 2003 U.S. Women's Open."

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1919264,00.html