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Jason Thurman

  • Karma: +1/-0
My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« on: May 10, 2015, 11:09:23 PM »
My wife hates golf. She's never played, doesn't want to play, and thinks I'm a dork for owning clubs, let alone posting on a site like this. However, she did see the 17th at Sawgrass on TV a few times this week, and launched into some pretty entertaining rants every time she noticed it. Here's a summary of her best quotes:

"I mean, what is even the point of that?!"

"So what happens? Does everybody just hit their ball in the water? What's that prove?"

"That's just completely artificial. Are they playing a joke on everybody? And why do they want to make everybody who plays it look like an idiot?"

"It looks like the Shire. Where are the hobbits?"

"Did you say 150,000 balls a year? That's like half a million dollars right? Golf courses are so wasteful."

"I just saw it and hated it. It's like that skanky girl you work with. I knew when I first saw her that she wasn't good. Movies about werewolves are in that category too. That's what this hole is."

"I mean, wouldn't it be better if instead of water, it was just a big depression? Because then you could at least find your ball and keep playing right?"

"So wait, this is like the last hole? Shouldn't it be more like the first hole? Because I'd be mad if I played that thing and lost a bunch of balls and then the round was over."

"Aren't golf balls expensive? I guess this course isn't expensive enough already."

Discuss.
"There will always be haters. That’s just the way it is. Hating dudes marry hating women and have hating ass kids." - Evan Turner

Some of y'all have never been called out in bold green font and it really shows.

Rees Milikin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2015, 11:20:49 PM »
If the pond at 16 & 17 was replaced with sand, what would she think?

jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2015, 11:22:06 PM »
She obviously didn't watch today's event very closely.(saw almost nothing but birdies and almost none in the water)

I'd be more interested in that skanky girl's opinion ;)
« Last Edit: May 10, 2015, 11:34:23 PM by jeffwarne »
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

Craig Sweet

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2015, 11:36:03 PM »
I totally agree with your wife. #1...I HATE water hazards!  Unless it's a natural creek running through the property water hazards are contrived crap!  They are fatal. A bunker you can hit out of...tree's you can hit out of....in the water and you are dead...DEAD!!!!  They simply have no place on the golf course!

#2...the 17th and the 18th are THE WORST examples of water hazards!  They are contrived...they are gimmicks.  There is NOTHING that turns me off more than water holes like 17 and 18...Why should I suffer a fatality for a shot that is 2 feet....no, make that one foot....off line??????  Fill them in! Now!!!!!
LOCK HIM UP!!!

Sam Morrow

Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2015, 11:44:04 PM »
We needs pictures of your wife to form a valid opinion.

BHoover

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2015, 11:44:15 PM »
Love it or hate it, the hole produces great entertainment, so mission accomplished.

Sam Morrow

Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2015, 11:47:24 PM »
Love it or hate it, the hole produces great entertainment, so mission accomplished.

If not the best theater in golf it's close.

Craig Sweet

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2015, 11:58:41 PM »
Entertainment? Seriously? Well, why not 18 holes with island greens?  Every hole an entertaining extravaganza!  It wouldn't be golf, but boy, it sure would be entertaining!  Maybe Bob Saget could replace Johnny Miller!
LOCK HIM UP!!!

Sam Morrow

Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2015, 12:01:33 AM »
The PGA Tour is entertainment. 

Bob_Huntley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2015, 12:08:02 AM »
I totally agree with your wife. #1...I HATE water hazards!  Unless it's a natural creek running through the property water hazards are contrived crap!  They are fatal. A bunker you can hit out of...tree's you can hit out of....in the water and you are dead...DEAD!!!!  They simply have no place on the golf course!

#2...the 17th and the 18th are THE WORST examples of water hazards!  They are contrived...they are gimmicks.  There is NOTHING that turns me off more than water holes like 17 and 18...Why should I suffer a fatality for a shot that is 2 feet....no, make that one foot....off line??????  Fill them in! Now!!!!!

Craig,

Well said, I agree with every word.

Bob

BHoover

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2015, 12:08:39 AM »
Entertainment? Seriously? Well, why not 18 holes with island greens?  Every hole an entertaining extravaganza!  It wouldn't be golf, but boy, it sure would be entertaining!  Maybe Bob Saget could replace Johnny Miller!

You're not familiar with the purpose of professional sports, including golf, are you?

mike_beene

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2015, 12:16:54 AM »
When the wind is gusting you might as well draw cards for your score. 17 becomes a game of chance with skill largely irrelevant.

Matthew Petersen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2015, 01:33:21 AM »
I totally agree with your wife. #1...I HATE water hazards!  Unless it's a natural creek running through the property water hazards are contrived crap!  They are fatal. A bunker you can hit out of...tree's you can hit out of....in the water and you are dead...DEAD!!!!  They simply have no place on the golf course!

#2...the 17th and the 18th are THE WORST examples of water hazards!  They are contrived...they are gimmicks.  There is NOTHING that turns me off more than water holes like 17 and 18...Why should I suffer a fatality for a shot that is 2 feet....no, make that one foot....off line??????  Fill them in! Now!!!!!

Craig,

You're aware, then, that the site that is now TPC Sawgrass, before it was a golf course, was - to quote Pete Dye - a "swampy jungle"? Maybe it's the island that's the unnatural part of the site.

And if you think the proper line on 17 and 18 is one foot from the water, well ... congratulations, sir, you're a bolder man than I. ;)

David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2015, 02:13:41 AM »
Rickie Fowler birdied #17 three times in less than an hour. What's the problem? ;)

Connor Dougherty

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2015, 02:34:27 AM »
The fact of the matter is Sawgrass is a home course for very few people if I recall correctly, and its biggest purpose is staging the Players. It's not the kind of hole that has to appeal to all types of golfer, just those making the one-play stop and professionals.

On top of that, the 17th, as Pete put it, is a hole that is in the players minds the moment that he steps on the first tee. It sets up some of the most dramatic finishes in all of golf. Watching Rickie's third approach today to the 17th was as fun as anything I've watched all year golf wise, and sure, maybe if it was a bunker it would have garnered the same reaction, but the impending threat of doom is terrific for television. Like I said, the hole serves a purpose.

Speaking of purposes...all this talk about having sandy areas rather than the pond. If I recall correctly, it was dredging all the soil from where the pond on 17 is that allowed for the rest of the golf course to be built on the swampy site. Fact of the matter is if it weren't for the island green, we wouldn't be debating the merits of TPC Sawgrass because it wouldn't exist.
"The website is just one great post away from changing the world of golf architecture.  Make it." --Bart Bradley

Jeff Evagues

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2015, 08:22:50 AM »
Someone on NBC said there are 120,000 balls in the water at 17 every year. Assuming the course is open to the public 350 days a year that is 342 a day. This cannot be correct.
Be the ball

jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #16 on: May 11, 2015, 08:24:01 AM »
Someone on NBC said there are 120,000 balls in the water at 17 every year. Assuming the course is open to the public 350 days a year that is 342 a day. This cannot be correct.

That's a lot of divots......
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

Steve Lang

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2015, 08:38:17 AM »
 8) Jason,

I hope you tell her "I love you" when she hurls those gems out...

ps i fail to see how artificial water hazards are any less punitive than natural ones, right after we get rid of all the lawyers, next should be all the seaside golf courses... way too penal with the shoreline and winds and all :o

play on
« Last Edit: May 11, 2015, 09:15:48 AM by Steve Lang »
Inverness (Toledo, OH) cathedral clock inscription: "God measures men by what they are. Not what they in wealth possess.  That vibrant message chimes afar.
The voice of Inverness"

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #18 on: May 11, 2015, 08:41:23 AM »
Of 15,000 courses and 270,000 golf holes in America, surely there is room for one of these...and perhaps a dozen imitators?
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

BCowan

Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #19 on: May 11, 2015, 08:51:08 AM »
Jason,

   That is nice to know that your wife has some sense to her.  She is spot on.  Sawgrass is a microcosm of our society at large.  $60 million in 2006 for a renovation. 

Someone on NBC said there are 120,000 balls in the water at 17 every year. Assuming the course is open to the public 350 days a year that is 342 a day. This cannot be correct.

   Jeff,
            I'm guessing that more than a few golfers empty their bag in attempt to hit the 17th green? 

mike_beene

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2015, 09:03:19 AM »
Seems like there would be alligators all over the course like PGA National. However, never see them from TV. Have they"relocated" gators?

Daniel Jones

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2015, 09:04:49 AM »
I was once paired with a guy that dropped a full sleeve of new balls into the pond before hitting his tee shot. His theory was that by paying the pond its "tax" in advance, his actual shot would find the green.

Not only did he hit the green, he walked off with a 2 on the card.....

Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2015, 09:10:15 AM »
Rickie Fowler birdied #17 three times in less than an hour. What's the problem? ;)

I birdied the hole the only time I played it.  David's right, what's the problem? ;D

Peter Pallotta

Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2015, 09:11:18 AM »
Wait til the next California tour stop and the non-golfing missus sees 300 acres of lush green grass and wonders out loud how this can be in drought conditions. I've carefully read and memorized all the "golf gets a bad rap" arguments and detailed "we're using tons less water than ever and it's all waste water anyway" explanations, and have tried them out several times on the non-golfers in my life -- but alas, to no avail. In comparison, the 17th (and all the water at) Sawgrass will look positively sane and natural in comparison, in a but-sugar pie-it-used-to-be-a-swamp sort of way.

Peter
« Last Edit: May 11, 2015, 09:20:42 AM by PPallotta »

Brent Hutto

Re: My non-golfing wife rants on the 17th at Sawgrass
« Reply #24 on: May 11, 2015, 09:12:30 AM »
In a sense, the 17th at TPC Sawgrass is like a links course boiled down to one shot. Absent any significant wind it's a pushover. Let the breeze pick up with some 20+ gusts and the best players in the world will struggle.

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