If Bryson Wins and Plays These Clubs Into Greens Will ANGC Dial Back The Ball?

[Mike Bodo]

Does DJ butchering ANGC and setting a scoring record and a host of other players finishing -10 or better force a roll back of the  ball? As much as I hate to say it, ANGC is becoming "just another PGA Tour course" and is losing part of what separates it from nearly all other tournament stops. Heck, when a muni plays tougher than ANGC you know you got problems. This is no slight against Memorial Park, but this is ANGC we're talking about. And if you don't roll back the ball, what more can you do that hasn't been done to make ANGC play tougher - make two of the par 5's long 4's and making the course a Par 70 for the Masters?

[SL_Solow]

Mike,  I will not minimize the impact of equipment changes.  However, I suspect the powers that be may wait and see whether the soft conditions which allowed the players to throw darts had a significant impact. For players who hit it that far, roll is usually an enemy. 


Finally changing par may make people feel better but the shots required won't change.  Par is an artificial construct and if the concern is that the course isn't testing enough shots, calling a 20 under a 12 under won't impact the challenge.

[Tom_Doak]

Jerry Tarde's last-page column in GOLF DIGEST this month is about "The Murder of the Par Five", but then all he does is suggest changing par to compensate.  He discounts changing the equipment because equipment companies buy ads in GOLF DIGEST  "Distance is controlled by the PGA Tour, not the amateurs, and there's no incentive for the commissioner to roll back equipment."


Courageous stand, there.  /s


I think he's wrong.  If USGA and R & A decide they want to roll back the ball, and The Masters is on their side, then the professionals are going to have to get used to a new ball for three of the four majors.  They might then decide they'd rather switch for every event.

[Peter Pallotta]

Shel is right to note the soft conditions, but Mike’s point about/comparison with Memorial was still a striking one to me. On the surface at least, there seems to be a marked difference (re: challenging the world’s best players) between Memorial’s full-scale, one-time ‘integrated-holistic’ renovation and Augusta’s more piecemeal lengthening and narrowing approach.

[Steve Lang]

   Looking at the Masters Stats and one thing that sticks out to me beyond the winning scores is that they report the winning margins too, those at 5 or more are:


Harmon by 5 in 1948
Hogan by 5 in 1953
Middlecoff by 7 in 1955
Palmer by 6 in 1964
Nicklaus by 9 in 1965
Floyd by 8 in 1976
Tiger by 12 in 1997
and now Johnson by 5 in 2020


those at the impressive 4 stroke margin of victory are:


Demaret, in 1940
Snead, in 1952
Seve', in 1980 & 83
Langer, in 1993
Speith, in 2015


All above in blowout category in my book,  pretty good company of golfers who's play was well above their peers in the Masters testing.  Let them use whatever ball and clubs they want, clearly there's no coronations in golf.


best highlight reel moment... Cam Smith's sunday birdie from 50 yards left of 15.     

[jeffwarne]

best highlight reel moment... Cam Smith's sunday birdie from 50 yards left of 15.   

Not the ones on 7 or 9 from the woods?

[Jim Hoak]

With all the hype about Bryson and his newly-found length, let me ask you a question--Would you rather drive it like Bryson or DJ?  There's no question in my mind; I'll take DJ.
I assume everyone saw DJ say that he could drive it as far as Bryson, but he would lose his ability to work the ball.  So he dials it back to the incredible length he hits it. 
Maybe we can lower the temperature and fervor about Bryson a bit now?

[Steve Lang]

   Jeff W, I  didn't see those front 9 Cam Smith highlights... only the one at 15, and can assume they were equally adventurous...  We were out playing golf...   


   Jim H, AMEN BROTHER, AMEN!

[Lou_Duran]

Perhaps an important characteristic of a great course is that it can challenge the distance advantaged while still allowing the dinkers to achieve a great score.  However, if the decision makers at ANGC determine that something needs to be done, I'd prefer that they impose a toned-down Masters ball than grow high rough.

[David_Tepper]

"With all the hype about Bryson and his newly-found length, let me ask you a question--Would you rather drive it like Bryson or DJ?  There's no question in my mind; I'll take DJ."

Interesting that DJ uses a driver with 10.5* loft vs. Bryson's 5.5* loft driver. 


There are a lot of ways to play the game.

[Kalen Braley]

I think the primary take away from BDCs performance over 4 days at ANGC was....unlike most PGA tracks, you can't just pound and mash with impunity.  Sure on some holes it may work out great, but on others you will be subject to severe punishment...

[Mike Bodo]

I think the primary take away from BDCs performance over 4 days at ANGC was....unlike most PGA tracks, you can't just pound and mash with impunity.  Sure on some holes it may work out great, but on others you will be subject to severe punishment...

So can it be said that Bryson got away with it at Winged Foot because his fairway misses weren't as bad as they were at ANGC?

[Tom Bacsanyi]

With all the hype about Bryson and his newly-found length, let me ask you a question--Would you rather drive it like Bryson or DJ?  There's no question in my mind; I'll take DJ.
I assume everyone saw DJ say that he could drive it as far as Bryson, but he would lose his ability to work the ball.  So he dials it back to the incredible length he hits it. 
Maybe we can lower the temperature and fervor about Bryson a bit now?

Agreed, I'll take a smooth 320 over a stroked-out 350. But isn't that even more of an indictment of the equipment of today vs. Bryson? A SMOOTH 320?!?!?!?!

[Kalen Braley]

I think the primary take away from BDCs performance over 4 days at ANGC was....unlike most PGA tracks, you can't just pound and mash with impunity.  Sure on some holes it may work out great, but on others you will be subject to severe punishment...

So can it be said that Bryson got away with it at Winged Foot because his fairway misses weren't as bad as they were at ANGC?

Not exactly.  I think a few factors were at play, but I could be wrong:

1)  Far less trees at Winged Foot, especially after they were thinned out, so he had a reasonable line to the green almost every time he was offline.
2)  I'm not aware of any other course on Tour where being out of position potentially hurts you more than at ANGC.  Whether that means short siding an approach to a green or where your tee ball ends up or just simply not hitting to the correct part of the green.
3)  Taking aggressive lines at ANGC pay off big or gets punished big as now you can both be in the trees and be approaching the green from a bad angle.
4)  I suspect ANGC requires even more precision into greens than Winged Foot which is no slouch.
5)  Winged Foots primary defense seems to be brutal length with narrow fairways, and that played right into his hands with his carry distance.  While length is important at ANGC, it can also be had by a Langer who was 70-80 yards behind him on every drive.

[Garland Bayley]

With all the hype about Bryson and his newly-found length, let me ask you a question--Would you rather drive it like Bryson or DJ?  There's no question in my mind; I'll take DJ.
I assume everyone saw DJ say that he could drive it as far as Bryson, but he would lose his ability to work the ball.  So he dials it back to the incredible length he hits it. 
Maybe we can lower the temperature and fervor about Bryson a bit now?

I have to wonder how DJ could even know. DJ doesn't know how to do Bryson's swing, and some would say that DJ's swing is not as sound as Bryson's so by default DJ has to give up the yardage.

[Garland Bayley]

...
I think he's wrong.  If USGA and R & A decide they want to roll back the ball, and The Masters is on their side, then the professionals are going to have to get used to a new ball for three of the four majors.  They might then decide they'd rather switch for every event.

  Why three out of four and not four out of four?