Crump Cup

[PAW13]

Dave M.

You are talking about Chris Lange and Michael McDermott correct?  Neil Mike's father is playing in I believe his first senior amateur this week.

Yes Chris and Michael are playing as far as I know.

Rumor has it this year's field will be its strongest in a long time.  As of last Tuesday the field was around 130 players of which 40 or so were seniors.  It will be the first time in about 4 years that not all the mid-ams will make one of the 4 flights (16 per flight) for match play.  It will also probably bring the qualifying score for the 1st flight way down. It was unusally high in 2005, a combination of the new tees, firm golf course and the field not as strong as past years.  155 played off in 2005 and 151 in 2004.  Since they went to a 36 hole qualifier the lowest qualifying score has been 147 ot 148.

[TEPaul]

Chet:

You know PV like the back of your hand, having played that course for years and having played in the Crump for years. If they get the kind of weather and set-up they'd like for the Crump how much harder do you feel it is to score in the Crump and why compared to how PV traditonally plays on a daily for a guy like you---eg a former Crump Cup Champ? I know there were a few infamous years in the past where they set up the pins sort of silly but in my time playing in Crump Cups I never saw the course set-up silly. But it sure was a ton more challenging in Crump Cups than it normally is. To me that kind of thing just shows the course's elasticity in numerous and interesting nuancy ways. Obviously the majority of the difference is on and around those greens.

[Jim Nugent]

Tom's last post made me wonder how challenging PV is for touring pro's.  Assuming no silly setups.  

[PAW13]

TP

It is funny that you ask, because the last two years the numbers have gotten higher.  This year will be a good indicator because of the quality of the field.  Last year after the 1st round 150-152 looked like the cut line, but as the day wore on it got all the way up to 155 and I believe that was due to the golf course getting firm.  Also I have never played it under silly conditions.  Bador's(is that the correct spelling?) craziest year had to be the year after Bob Lewis shot 64 in the qualifier. I believe it took 81 or 83 to make the 1st flight that year.

With the new tees it requires you to hit driver more and I believe brings more missed fairways into play.  When I play the regular tees I hit two drivers #9 & # 16 (keep in mind I am not that long, especially compared to Sully and McDermott), when I go to the back tees, I am hitting drivers on five holes (add 7, 13 & 18 to the above list), but I am also hitting longer clubs into 1, 3, 5, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 18 which adds to the scoring difficulty.

The biggest difference in the playability of the golf course from everyday play to Crump play is the firmness that PV wants for the Crump.  If they get it the way they like it, your targets become alot smaller.  Since there is really no rough to speak out at PV any ball that has movement on it will head towards the edges of the fairways and if you run out of room you will end up in the scrub and most likely have to pitch out.  The 2nd hole is probably the biggest example of this.

Meanwhile your approach shots into greens become alot harder.  The holes that have forced carrys get very interesting as well as the edges of the greens always seem to run away from you (# 1 is a perfect example of this).

After this year's Club Championship Chris Lange made a comment about how hard the golf course is to make a score on when you know you have to.  

To me the golf course will always play its hardest during the Crump.  For everyday play the greens are usually very receptive and the speeds are very puttable, but in the Crump everything changes and it is always a great test of golf.

[Dan Herrmann]

When I saw the new tee on 18, I just laughed.  After seeing it, I came to the deserved conclusion that  - I stink at golf.  

The way these guys hit the long ball...  wow