[Emile Bonfiglio]

I've been consistently posting better and better rounds on a course that used to kick my trash. I think it is because I finally understand how to play certain holes, where to miss, read the greens, etc. I figure I have logged over 35 rounds at this course in the last 2 years. I feel like i know it now. What is your experience in the time it takes to figure a course out....the course...not your game.

[Garland Bayley]

My guess is that it may be proportional to your handicap. Ben Hogan, for example, could figure it out in a go around, because he could hit his targets with extreme precision. Me, I can't hit nothing (except the hole from 170 last weekend ). Therefore, it is much tougher to figure out what to try for with a random game.

[David Bartman]

I think it depends on a few factors:

How well does one know their game and its strengths , ( from what I see most don't know their strengths, but only identify their weaknesses)

How well does one know your weaknesses, and formulating a plan on each hole to avoid one's weakness if possible.

How quickly one can one "learn" how to play the hole, on average, in the fewest shots.  This too is very difficult for most golfers to grasp, everyone wants to hit that 1 in 25 shot on the green, when laying up 50-100 yards short from 215 is more prudent to a penal green complex. 

The last factor is how fast one can properly read and remember how putts break to various pins, obviously putting well at a course saves you shots immediately as opposed to not putting well. 

[Sven Nilsen]

A lifetime.

As your game changes, so does the way you play a course.

[Tommy Williamsen]

There are some courses that are pretty easy to figure out. I belong to the CC at Woodmore outside DC. It is a very nice Palmer course. After playing it a couple of times pretty much anyone can figure out where and where not to hit a shot.
 I recently joined Ballyhack, which is a different story all together. I have played about 20 rounds and just feel as though I am learning.  I used to think that a hole should be such as to figure it out right away. It is just not true.  For instance number 12. From a forward tee I can hit it down the hill to about 120 yards in a valley or I can lay back to about 180 yards. From the shorter difference it is straight uphill. From 180 yards it is not. I finally decided that I like the 180 yard shot better because I can see the hole better.

[Ivan Morris]

Depends entirely on the golf course. The Old Course might take a lifetime. If I walked around a golf course backwards before I played it - I'd have a fairly good idea of what to do - provided I was hitting the ball where I was looking which is beginning to happen less frequently - alas!
 

[Mike Hendren]

John Daly, hardly a rocket scientist, figured out Crooked Stick rather quickly.

Bogey

[Mac Plumart]

Depends entirely on the golf course. 
 

I agree with that comment.  I've played courses many times over and became bored with them somewhere along the way.  I've played other courses many times over and am still learning things about it/them and figuring out the nuances of the course. 

To me, this unsolvable puzzle concept regarding golf courses is one of the key drivers of interest in the game for me and causes me to seek out those truly great designs that lend themselves to the unsolvable puzzle golf course.

[jeffwarne]

John Daly, hardly a rocket scientist, figured out Crooked Stick rather quickly.

Bogey

and The Old Course

[Mac Plumart]

Serious question...

Did Daly "figure out" those courses or over-power them?

If one "figures a course out", they should be able to play it with hickories, persimmons, Rocketballz, and do well, right?  Heck, they know all the nooks and crannies.  I wonder what would happen if you took the best of the best in today's game and through them on The Old Course with hickories and gutties.  I think the best "golfer" would eventually rise up...not the most over powering golfer... the best golfer.

[jeffwarne]

Serious question...

Did Daly "figure out" those courses or over-power them?

If one "figures a course out", they should be able to play it with hickories, persimmons, Rocketballz, and do well, right?  Heck, they know all the nooks and crannies.  I wonder what would happen if you took the best of the best in today's game and through them on The Old Course with hickories and gutties.  I think the best "golfer" would eventually rise up...not the most over powering golfer... the best golfer.

Mac,
If one "figures out" a course, he knows what's the best and most efficient method for HIM to play the course.

If we used your example(TOC with hickories), how would we know that the winner was "the best golfer"(rather than the person who played the best that week-like any other week), unless we did it again, and again?

[Mac Plumart]

You probably right, Jeff.

I was just trying to think of a way in which you had to use your brain and your physical skills to combat a highly strategic course and not simply use modern tools to bypass the aforementioned strategic hazards.  I figured this process would identify the "best golfer".

 

[jeffwarne]

You probably right, Jeff.

I was just trying to think of a way in which you had to use your brain and your physical skills to combat a highly strategic course and not simply use modern tools to bypass the aforementioned strategic hazards.  I figured this process would identify the "best golfer".

 

It would.
for a week

[Keith OHalloran]

Jeff,
If there were a tournament (suspend you belief in reality for this please) that had a stroke play tournament, followed by hickory, followed by match play, followed by three club etc, on the same course with the same field, do you think that would identify the best golfer? Or would it identify the best golfer over that month? Question is, is golf so fickle that the best golfer in the world changes every day?

[jeffwarne]

Jeff,
If there were a tournament (suspend you belief in reality for this please) that had a stroke play tournament, followed by hickory, followed by match play, followed by three club etc, on the same course with the same field, do you think that would identify the best golfer? Or would it identify the best golfer over that month? Question is, is golf so fickle that the best golfer in the world changes every day?

"Is golf so fickle....?"   yes,since Nov. 2009.

To answer your quesion, I'd guess we'd find out who was best on that course, that month .

Seriously though, if they played it where they play the John Deere, would you bet against Stricker?

[Sean_A]

I reckon I can figure out most any course very quickly - excepting the greens for some.  The fun is in deciding to accept what I know or go for the enticing shots.  If I played golf based on what the correct shots to play are I would have given the game up long ago.

Ciao

[Ken Moum]

I reckon I can figure out most any course very quickly - excepting the greens for some.  The fun is in deciding to accept what I know or go for the enticing shots.  If I played golf based on what the correct shots to play are I would have given the game up long ago.

Ciao

That last is an excellent point.

I think it's also a big part of how rate courses for myself.  I can't stand courses where trying anything but the "correct" shot results in disaster.

There's a course in the area here that gives you hole after hole of tight, tree-lined fairways, with OB and lost ball on nearly every one.  Worse, for me, is that several of the tees are set back in chutes.

I have never actually played a whole round of decent golf there, but usually it goes like yesterday.  I had two triples and a two bogeys in the first five holes.  Then I gave up and started hitting a fairway wood off the tee, and taking no chances.

I played the last 13 holes without a double, and made several pars. You could say that after a half-dozen plays, I am beginning to learn the course.

But it's not much fun to play that way. 

I suppose I could eventually learn to savor the challenge it presents, but I will always prefer the challenges presented by a course that entices me to take chances because I know that some of the time I am going to be able torecover from my mistakes.

The most exciting shot in golf is the recovery shot. The least exciting is a layup off the tee.

K

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