OT - Perth - World Super 6 . . . Like it, or not? The view from down under?

[Carl Johnson]

http://www.worldsuper6perth.com/


Championship golf, back to the future with fast match play finals.  Looks like a great show biz approach, especially for TV.  Big Break inspired?

[Garland Bayley]

How are the match play finals fast? Aren't they just played slowly over a smaller number of holes?

[Josh Stevens]

Its an experiment - nothing more so lets reserve judgement until its over.

Innovation in tournament formats is I imagine a tricky thing to manage as sponsors would be wary of the commercial risk. 

Its a low level tournament with a small purse at the arse end of the world at the start of the year - so it if works, then good.  If it flops, then no harm done and we move on to the next cunning plan. 

Alas the condition of the greens does not help. I am told they are actually quite good to putt on, but they look like they have leprosy - it looks so jarring on the telecast it is impossible to ignore.

[Jon Wiggett]

Alas the condition of the greens does not help. I am told they are actually quite good to putt on, but they look like they have leprosy - it looks so jarring on the telecast it is impossible to ignore.

Josh,


it is about time that people were educated properly on what constitutes good playing conditions. If they are 'quite good to putt on' then their condition from a playing point of view which is the only relevant one for the golfer is the greens are in 'quite good' condition. What they look like is irrelevant. There is far too much 'fake' and far too little substance when it comes down to conditioning.


Jon

[Josh Stevens]

I agree ,but these are beyond the pale.  Will be fiery at the AGM in a few weeks.

As you can imagine, everyone is an expert on how to fix them - was G6 the correct choice?

[Jon Wiggett]

Josh,


'quite good' conditions being 'beyond the pale' is kind of the point I was making. Yes, it would be nice to have great putting surfaces that also look good though look is very subjective. In the end though, it is only the playing condition of the surface that really matter and it is about time more was done to get this across to golfers. Less eye candy and more substance!!!


Jon

[Josh Stevens]

Nothing wrong with eye candy.

Can imagine its a poisoned chalice being super of a top end club - very high expectations and very low tolerance of anything shy of perfection,

But Perth is tricky - very much an LA climate, so its sort of on the cusp a bit in terms of grass types

[Jon Wiggett]

No Josh, nothing wrong with eye candy but not over substance.


Jon

[Carl Johnson]

Alas the condition of the greens does not help. I am told they are actually quite good to putt on, but they look like they have leprosy - it looks so jarring on the telecast it is impossible to ignore.

Condition may be great in terms of speed, smoothness and consistency, but if they are extremely patchy looking, are they more difficult to read?  Not there's anything necessarily wrong with that.  I have no experience, personally.

[Carl Johnson]

Well, these Golf Channel guys liked it.  http://www.golfchannel.com/media/do-it-again-world-super-6-perths-winning-format


I watched the final match his a.m.  Liked it, but then I'm partial to match play in any case.

[Martin Lehmann]

Josh,


'quite good' conditions being 'beyond the pale' is kind of the point I was making. Yes, it would be nice to have great putting surfaces that also look good though look is very subjective. In the end though, it is only the playing condition of the surface that really matter and it is about time more was done to get this across to golfers. Less eye candy and more substance!!!

From a maintenance point of view and with regard to sustainability, I would like to ad the aspect of 'health'. Fortunately, healthy greens more often than not offer good playing conditions as well. As far as I'm concerned, looks come in third place.



Jon

[Ronald Montesano]

In the early 2010s, they tried an event called the Surf Coast Knockout on the Australian circuit. Here, the field was cut to 65 after 36, then 24 after 54. Top 8 had bye to second round of match play. Six-hole matches on day four (Sunday). Great idea, as it kept the top golfers on the course on day 4 of match play. In fact, the medalist went on to win.


There's so much you can do with an event like this, and I applaud the efforts. I enjoy the 16th at TPC Scottsdale, once a year. I believe that an event like this would pair well with the WGC Match Play. Kids who play nine-hole matches in high school should gravitate toward this concept.

[Josh Stevens]

I think it worked reasonably well, but I can imagine its a tricky thing to manage logistically and in terms of course setup

I guess they need to balance the number of holes in the shootout with the choice of holes. You want holes that string together in a sensible loop, but are also good for match play.

Hard to get it perfect.

6 holes is a good number in terms of fitting it all in, but those 6 holes covered a large acreage.  Then they lost the 1st hole due to the poor green, and so changed to the 10th at the last minute.  Not a bad hole, but the 1st being driveable would have been more interesting.

And then they had to bypass the 14th which would have been the best hole to include for match play purposes - but the only way that could have worked would have been to make it a Super 7, in which case it would have been a very long day indeed.

[Don Jordan]

Outside of the majors and the Australian Open it is the most golf I have watched on TV in a long time. Saturday afternoon was fascinating with an 8 man play off for 5 spots and the last man in eventually making the final.

The 66m super hole was used 24 times, there were so many putts of consequence that afternoon and was decided by an amazing up and down from Rumford on the penultimate hole. Like others have noted once or twice a season would be great to break up the monotony of stroke play. I find the immediacy of matchplay often brings the architecture to the fore.

[Ronald Montesano]

Outside of the majors and the Australian Open it is the most golf I have watched on TV in a long time. Saturday afternoon was fascinating with an 8 man play off for 5 spots and the last man in eventually making the final.

The 66m super hole was used 24 times, there were so many putts of consequence that afternoon and was decided by an amazing up and down from Rumford on the penultimate hole. Like others have noted once or twice a season would be great to break up the monotony of stroke play. I find the immediacy of matchplay often brings the architecture to the fore.

It's like the first day of March Madness, with lots of action in a super-short period of time. Sensory overload of the finest.

[Thomas Dai]

Bit like a semi-equivalent of 20-20 cricket comes to golf?
atb

[Josh Stevens]

For me there were three positives.

1. the winner was totally shattered both physically and mentally.  It was a hot day and he had to face sudden death moments over and over and over.  It was a painful test of endurance, and  that is always fun to watch.
2, Each of the 6 playoff holes presented the player with a choice to play safe or attack.  Its not the greatest course in the world,  but it does have the width and green complexes to present options, so it wasn't just a question of mechanically going through the motions.
3. None of the playoff holes had any silly water hazards

[D_Malley]

I thought it was a great idea and was great to watch on TV
also as Charlie Rymer said..... it would be a fun format to try on the club level.


I think next year they should add the "Stymie Rule"
now that could make for some interesting matches.