Aussie Women's Open @ Royal Adelaide Is On TV Now!

[Hugh Griffin]

I volunteered down there each day and every group i was with went right on 17. It certainly doesn't make for an easy second, and I only saw 1 eagle, which was probably made more from short of the fairway traps rather than right of them, however a lot of players still made their birdies and all of the others made what i would call a soft par, given the hole was played as a short down wind par 5, no one had to lay up.


I guess making it a 5 made for an interesting swing hole towards the end of the round as evidenced by the eagle Jang made but i cant help to think that having it as a par 4 may have been better. Some of those that blazed away down the right may have found it only yielded a bogie 5 whilst others playing left may have been more likely to make their 3 or 4.

[James Bennett]

Hugh

with the wind where it was, and the fairway bunkers where they are plus the length the girls can manage, I reckon the hole was the perfect length long 2 shotter.  I don't see what would have been gained from playing some 20 metres further forward - perhaps some would go left, perhaps more would have played to land on the green from the right (which is fraught with danger).

James B

[Hugh Griffin]

Yes i agree. Whilst it was played right from the back of the members tee i wouldn't have necessarily pushed it forward in order to play it as a par 4. Of course it is very hard to judge the wind but that is the prevailing direction and some of those girls are very very long. Minjee Lee was well down the right passed the last fairway trap on Friday. I am not overly sure how far she would have had to the pin but with a strong tail wind i wouldn't have thought she was hitting much more than about an 8 iron.


Interesting hole though, i really didn't mind the previous version which i don't think was drastically different but rather hated more for the wild looking bunkers (and maybe the green was a bit too extreme) given the look and feel of the rest of the course so this version probably fits into the aesthetic more.

[Mike_Clayton]

Hugh


17 wasn't even a long par 4 last week - let alone a par 5. I caddied for Nelly Korda the last 3 days and she had 100 yards left on Saturday and 9 iron the other two.
I thought 6 would have been a better hole off the back as a 5 with 17 playing as a 4. Maybe even 14 off the back as a 5?
Maybe it's an opinion swayed by the way the wind blew every day. 2 and 9, despite being really good holes, essentially played as 100 yard par 3s with 2 shots two shots preceding. The first 2 shots at the 2nd especially were quite dull and moving the tee up a couple of days would have changed it up and bought the second shot bunkers right into play as well as bringing the green within reach.
15 too played the same way.

[Hugh Griffin]

Mike - i thought 6 was the obvious choice as a par 5 playing into the prevailing wind if they felt the need to keep the par at 73 (changing 17 to a 4). I must confess i don't know where the back tee is there, i don't think there is one much further back than what they played is there? In benign conditions Thursday morning the group i was with made 3 birdies on 6.


Hadn't really thought about 2 and 9 but you are right, they played fairly similar and a little boring. I think the new tee on the other side of the railway line on the 2nd is fantastic too, the fairway trap and RH dune now frame the tee shot nicely and it brings the trouble all the way along the hole more into play.


14 off the back as a 5 might have made for quite the heroic second shot given the difficulty of the approach. I was also a little disappointed with tee blocks on 4 and 12 being so far forward too. Its a shame they weren't back, or more ideally, changed, between rounds.


Minor quibbles though, i thought the course and tournament was fantastic. Its good to have top level golf in Adelaide.

[James Bennett]

The course is set-up with the advertising hoardings before the wind and weather conditions are known.

Perhaps 14 could have been played with wind assisting from the front of the back tee, and still have had the challenging second shots at the green.  I think 14 was set up perfectly though with a precise second required.  I doubt that the skills would have been tested as much if the back of 14 was used and the hole became a 3 shotter unless the wind was in the right position.  Of course, the proximity to the car-park is also an issue from the back tee, as the line of play moves further left towards the car park.  That is also where the crowd was placed (not rhs of fairway) so again the back tee use is compromised.

Regarding 6, I thought the tee was ideal as a difficult two-shot hole into the wind.  The back tee would have been a good idea down wind, but I suspect the hole would have been a somewhat boring 3-shot par 5 into the wind - tee shot just short of the bunkers, second just short of the green and greenside bunkers, and a 50 metre pitch to a skyline green for most of the field.

Regarding 12 and the use of the ladies tee.  That is the original tee from a century ago, and the hole plays like the old MPCC Dunes #10 from there.  It did enable a great spectator area with the facilities on the hill, ie toilets, bar, food, tables and viewing areas.  That said, many would agree that they would have liked to see the mens tee at 200 metres used on the hole. 

Hugh - that tee on 2 short and left is very good.  When the tee was proposed, we expected it was going to be opposite the mens tee, some 20 metres further back.  For member play, it really brings into play the fairway bunker, and enables positional play with the approach bunkers.  It has been (IMO) a great success.

Regarding tees and use on different days - I'm not sure how easily they could have shifted tee hoardings, amended camera positions.  I see it occur in some events eg US Opens, but many of the holes mentioned had crowd management issues which might need to vary depending on the tee used, especially if tees were to be moved back.  If we had had a more varied wind direction over the 4 days, I suspect we would be having a different discussion.

By the way, I am still amazed at how easy the ladies made some of the really difficult shots look, eg the 50 metre pitch over the bank to the #3 green.  perhaps the rain made the shot a little easier, but the greens still appeared firm (I don't know - spectators couldn't get near a green).

James B

ps thanks for the discussion Mike and Hugh.  It was a great event.  Kooyonga next year.

[Mike_Clayton]

Hugh


4 was one hole where the tee should have been back at least 30 meters. 5 also could have gone back.
12 I think was right. It was a hard shot with a 5 iron or a hybrid all week - and very few have an iron between a 5 and a hybrid.
It's a pity in this age tees are set and not able to be moved because of signage - surely it can't be that hard to move them around on Friday night after the cut.


James.
6 off the back tee still would have been reachable for the longer hitters. Nelly Korda was hitting 6 and 7 irons in there.
I was amazed at 3 not a single player took an iron and played to the top of the hill.It's a narrow shot but they never blinked and pulled out 3 woods and drivers and ripped them way down there. None of them obviously knew of Norman Von Nida's 10 in 1938. Every time I played that hole in a tournament it flashed through my mind and out came the 3 iron.

[James Bennett]

Mike

I too was staggered at how accurate and effective they were on #3 (and in their approaches into the wind on #6 and #7).
It was into a quartering wind from the right on #3.
The girls controlled the ball flight really well, and then played wonderful pitch shots even when a little out of position.
They missed all of the dastardly grass hazards surrounding the green that I have the ability to find.

"Those girls were good"

That said, a number of other tricks around the course caught the girls just like they catch the members.
The false front on 9, the turtle back green on 10, the deception of slope on 12 (is the putt flat, uphill, downhill, left or right? will the wind hit it - it does) and the movement on 16 to the right of green and at the front to left of green.

It is probably obvious that I haven't seen a womens' pro golf tournament for many, many years.
I missed Grange West last year (training commitments) but I won't be missing Kooyonga next year.