Hero Indian Open

[Mark Pearce]

Am I alone in liking the look of the DLF G&CC, the venue for this week's Indian Open?


It's far from a natural look and sometimes feels as if it comes from TGL but it is strikingly different and looks kind of fun (albeit very hard).  A million miles from most of the courses we love on here but bold, high dark bunkers, with a sort of revetted effect (it looks like some form of tubular material?), lots of rock, lots of ravines, lots of flora.  I feel I really ought to hate it, but don't.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

I had never heard of the course until this week, but I saw that the par four 17th was on the design__disasters on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/design__disasters/reel/DHtH91asRvW/?hl=en

[MCirba]

Am I alone in liking the look of the DLF G&CC, the venue for this week's Indian Open?


It's far from a natural look and sometimes feels as if it comes from TGL but it is strikingly different and looks kind of fun (albeit very hard).  A million miles from most of the courses we love on here but bold, high dark bunkers, with a sort of revetted effect (it looks like some form of tubular material?), lots of rock, lots of ravines, lots of flora.  I feel I really ought to hate it, but don't.

Mark,


Guilty here, as well.


I'm beginning to think ultra-hard courses like this one, or like the Copperhead course last week in Florida, are the only way to make golf spectating interesting these days.   The fear and risk however, is that these brutal courses become the norm to strive for and we're back to the Dark Ages once more.

[Tom_Doak]

   The fear and risk however, is that these brutal courses become the norm to strive for and we're back to the Dark Ages once more.

Well, what we want from TV golf for professionals may be like this or like the volcanoes of TGL, but that is not what very many people want to actually play.  So it would be pretty stupid if that's the way the business went.  Not impossible, but stupid.

[Kalen Braley]

I'll put my name on the Like list, especially for an out of the box hole like 17.  Right up there with 11 at Black Rock.

[Thomas Dai]

For what it’s worth I reckon it sends more bad messages about the game than good messages.
Each to their own though.
Atb

[Mike_Clayton]

   The fear and risk however, is that these brutal courses become the norm to strive for and we're back to the Dark Ages once more.

Well, what we want from TV golf for professionals may be like this or like the volcanoes of TGL, but that is not what very many people want to actually play.  So it would be pretty stupid if that's the way the business went.  Not impossible, but stupid.

In stark contrast to the +6 cut in India (I know a few guys who played and they had nothing good to say about the course) the Australian Tour cut this week on the Gunnamatta Course at The National (Mornington Peninsula) was -5 (and a 50 player cut as opposed to 65 in India)
It's one of the best 10 courses in Australia and I can only hope the members don't equate low scores with the course being deficient in some way.
There was very little wind- and the par 5, 18th is playing as a par 4.


What it is for the best players is another victim of the wilful administrative disregard for equipment regulation over the last 20 years.
And the answer isn't courses like the one in India where a friend of mine who played said there's no chance a 12 handicapper would break 100

[MCirba]

Mike Clayton,


Agree wholeheartedly.


It's just that as a television spectator the bomb and gouge birdie-fests with multiple players at -20 and a winner at -28 and so forth is dreadfully sleep-inducing.


Once in a while it's fun watching these guys struggle like the rest of us and it makes for more exciting viewing when every shot has the potential for disaster.


As far as wanting to play there myself, only with a small, large handful of gummies.

[Mike_Clayton]

Mike Clayton,


Agree wholeheartedly.


It's just that as a television spectator the bomb and gouge birdie-fests with multiple players at -20 and a winner at -28 and so forth is dreadfully sleep-inducing.


Once in a while it's fun watching these guys struggle like the rest of us and it makes for more exciting viewing when every shot has the potential for disaster.


As far as wanting to play there myself, only with a small, large handful of gummies.

'Dreadfully sleep inducing' which is why so many of us are bored watching pros hit bombs (which are less impressive than drives hit 40 yards shorter with wood and balata) and short irons.
Having said that I just watched a young kid here -  Haydn Barron - hit 2 drivers into the wind on the 600y par 5 13th (which they are playing off the 14th tee on the Moonah Course) and fly it onto the green in two.
Very impressive.

[Simon Barrington]

'Dreadfully sleep inducing' which is why so many of us are bored watching pros hit bombs (which are less impressive than drives hit 40 yards shorter with wood and balata) and short irons.
Having said that I just watched a young kid here -  Haydn Barron - hit 2 drivers into the wind on the 600y par 5 13th (which they are playing off the 14th tee on the Moonah Course) and fly it onto the green in two.
Very impressive.

Would be even more impressive if it was extremely rare for 2 drivers to go 550 (or less).
(I heard recently that when Davis Love III was THE bomber on tour his average was 276)

300yds is now the AVERAGE PGA Tour driving distance so clearly great striking but entirely "normal" at this level.

If we enable the normal we diminish the exceptional, and predictability breeds boredom for the viewer.

[Mark Pearce]

And the answer isn't courses like the one in India where a friend of mine who played said there's no chance a 12 handicapper would break 100

Years ago on a business trip to Indianapolis I played Wolf Run.  I played really well, off, coincidentally, a 12 handicap.  I mean really well.  I shot exactly 100.  It may still be the hardest golf course I have played.  But I loved it.  I had to think on every shot.  There were bail out options (not always easy, mind) and challenging shots, some of which were beyond my skill level.  But there were heroic shots I did make, and holes where I decided on a strategy that worked.  It was fun.  For me, at least.


Not everyone's cup of tea, I'm sure, and not the sort of golf I'd want to play every week (I'm not sure I'd want to play Crail Craighead from the back tees every week and that's a very good golf course) but I don't see a problem with some courses, designed for very good players, being courses where a 12 handicap can't break 100.

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

I watched all four days on tape, and have no problem with the concept of a difficult tournament course.  The problem was that the design did not allow approach good shots on many holes to have a reasonable chance of even achieving par.  On Saturday, any shot landing on the pinned tier on 17 failed to hold the green, and putts were  from at least forty feet on the lower tiers  were up a 4 1/2 foot slope to this middle tier that was no more than 15 feet wide.  There were a couple players in the last 5 groups who faced 60 foot par putts after their first putts came back 10 feet past where they struck their birdie putts!
As for the revetted bunkers, the material used in the walls must have been a type of concrete.  There was a shot left of 18 that bounded close to 60 yards across the green to the right. 
Aside from the firmer than Shinnecock Hills 2018 greens conditions, the design of the course was brutal for the swirling 2 club winds with downwind greens being just about impossible to hold.  There were 80 yard wedges on the 9th that bounded and rolled about 100 feet, and the landing short option was the lake.
The tournament was interesting to watch, but it's hard to tell if Chacarra was actually the best player of the week because the luck factor was so immense.

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