Royal Melbourne on TV February 19-22 (Women's Australian Open)

[Brett_Morrissy]

Jerry,
"lyds" uses the Aim Point method - if you have seen it, it appears quite complex - the girls Ive seen using this, on each blank page of their yardage book, has what appears to be a spider web type diagram, where all shots etc are plotted.

What I found interesting of her putting routine, was using her feet to compare the slope - I haven't seen that before, and makes sense to me.

I think they should ban alignment assistance by any person. Advice but not assistance. If they can't line themselves up, they shouldn't be out there.

in addition to Col's post, her precision of the tee was most amazing to me, the number of times she landed it on the edge of a fairway to gain maximum advantage, or as close to a bunker, just amazing, literally within paces of the ideal target or carry.

[Alan Ritchie]

O/t from recent posts but I was just wondering about the composite course  for those in the know. the west seems to be consistently rated as a world top 10 and  the addition of the holes from the east seems to only add to the quality.  What courses are better then RM west but not as good as the composite course?? what sort of leap does it make in people's rankings?

[David Stamm]

I watched all 4 days of the tournament and I was in awe of the course and the maturity of Ms. Ko. Great win. The greatness of RM allowed Ko to showcase her great game.

[James Bennett]

David tepper

I note your point about the removal of gorse at Dornoch.
RM does manage the rough, but there are bad shots that get into deep stuff.

All

I heard on the broadcast that about a week out from the event, the greens were hydro-jetted. (I think Jane Crafter mentioned this).
This may explain why at times some of the greens played differently to our own personal experience.
Those girls with greater strength (and so higher spin) certainly could stop a ball, something not often seen.  Jutanagarn was a particular case of stopping a ball.

Full marks to RM and the tournament organisers for presenting the course as they did - loose shots were penalised, marginal shots were treated as such and good play provided opportunities.  The course successfully identified the best player.

James B

[Don Jordan]

O/t from recent posts but I was just wondering about the composite course  for those in the know. the west seems to be consistently rated as a world top 10 and  the addition of the holes from the east seems to only add to the quality.  What courses are better then RM west but not as good as the composite course?? what sort of leap does it make in people's rankings?

Hi Alan,

RM West 1-18 is still easily the best course in Australia. 8,9,13,14,15 are all good holes but they don't use 13-15 as you need to cross a road to get out to them, 8 is an ok par 4 and I really like th epar 4 9th. 13 and 15 are two of my favourites, a nice short par three and a interesting par 5.

In regards to the East Course I think 18 is the best finishing hole of the two courses and strentghens the layout, 1E, 3E, and 17E also add value. I prefer 16E as a par 3 to 4E (you have to walk past one and play one to get to the 17th tee). 

[Lukas Michel]

Jerry,
"lyds" uses the Aim Point method - if you have seen it, it appears quite complex - the girls Ive seen using this, on each blank page of their yardage book, has what appears to be a spider web type diagram, where all shots etc are plotted.

What I found interesting of her putting routine, was using her feet to compare the slope - I haven't seen that before, and makes sense to me.

Brett,

This is the "Aimpoint Express" method designed to speed up the process. Basically, you stand beside the line of the putt and try to estimate the side slope with your feet (in %). For each % slope, you aim one finger right or left of the centre of the cup. So if Lydia estimates the slope to be 3% right to left, she'll aim 3 fingers right of the cup.

It's clever because the method works on putts of pretty much every length and is surprisingly accurate. Short putts on the same % slope break less in total than long putts, so on short putts 1 finger will represent a smaller absolute distance simply due to the perspective. The tricky part is estimating the side slope with your feet, so that bit requires a fair bit of practice with an electronic level.

[Mike Schott]

I was disappointed how much putting they showed - that was not the exciting part of watching RM.  Ko is an outstanding talent but she has to do something about her putting routine - she needs to do something to speed up.  She would view the putt from behind, then alongside, then half way down the line, then with two fingers from behind, then line up the line on the ball, then have her caddy behind her make sure she was lined up and then finally stroke the putt. Oh yeah, she would also take a few practice strokes.

I thought the LPGA TV coverage at RM to be terrible. As Jerry says, they showed far too much putting, and worse, they only showed a small fraction of the field. My guess is the telecast had a modest budget but what a shame. I really wanted to see more of RM. I turned it off after a bit as it was boring to see the same players over and over again.

It was much more enjoyable to watch CBS's coverage of Riviera. They did a great job explaining how the green contours dictated much of the strategy.

[Benjamin Litman]

Not unlike many a BBC Open Championship broadcast of years past, the accents of the Australian commentators somehow made up for the deficiencies in what they said and what they showed (and, yes, it helped that I was there not to long ago and could mentally fill in any gaps in the coverage). And, frankly, Lydia Ko is so mesmerizing that I could watch her, and her alone, play golf all day long. She not only played the best, but most appreciated and understood what Royal Melbourne is about.

[Joe Bausch]

I'm anxious to see Lydia Ko at Lancaster CC in July.   

[Matthew Delahunty]

I was disappointed how much putting they showed - that was not the exciting part of watching RM.  Ko is an outstanding talent but she has to do something about her putting routine - she needs to do something to speed up.  She would view the putt from behind, then alongside, then half way down the line, then with two fingers from behind, then line up the line on the ball, then have her caddy behind her make sure she was lined up and then finally stroke the putt. Oh yeah, she would also take a few practice strokes.

I thought the LPGA TV coverage at RM to be terrible. As Jerry says, they showed far too much putting, and worse, they only showed a small fraction of the field. My guess is the telecast had a modest budget but what a shame. I really wanted to see more of RM. I turned it off after a bit as it was boring to see the same players over and over again.

It was much more enjoyable to watch CBS's coverage of Riviera. They did a great job explaining how the green contours dictated much of the strategy.

Mike,

The television coverage was run on an absolute shoestring by the Australian ABC which has suffered under massive government budget cuts which have led to it abandoning almost all local sports coverage.  The number of cameras were probably about one third of what you would normally see at a golf tournament.  We were sitting behind 13 (3W) and the camera tower wasn't manned until the 6th or 7th last group came through (with the cameraman being driven down on the back of a cart from one of the earlier holes).  Some of the commentators were ABC commentators from interstate who had little or no specialist knowledge in golf or the sandbelt (and, some Melburnians might say, sport in general).

[Steve Lapper]

I was disappointed how much putting they showed - that was not the exciting part of watching RM.  Ko is an outstanding talent but she has to do something about her putting routine - she needs to do something to speed up.  She would view the putt from behind, then alongside, then half way down the line, then with two fingers from behind, then line up the line on the ball, then have her caddy behind her make sure she was lined up and then finally stroke the putt. Oh yeah, she would also take a few practice strokes.

I thought the LPGA TV coverage at RM to be terrible. As Jerry says, they showed far too much putting, and worse, they only showed a small fraction of the field. My guess is the telecast had a modest budget but what a shame. I really wanted to see more of RM. I turned it off after a bit as it was boring to see the same players over and over again.

It was much more enjoyable to watch CBS's coverage of Riviera. They did a great job explaining how the green contours dictated much of the strategy.

Mike Schott,

Perhaps you ought to wait for your boy Flemma to give you the coverage you so desire?

The rest of us are thrilled to settle for at least a glimpse of arguably the finest inland golf course ever conceived.

[James Bennett]

I can't recall a better or more approriate coverage of a women's event.

I suspect the Northern Trust event had a more considerable budget.
Personally, as much as I like Riviera, I much preferred watching the girls at RM and that coverage, even if I only saw it in standard definition here in Australia (I get to see Riviera in HD on satellite).

James B

[Josh Stevens]

I thought the coverage was good.  I Have watched golf at RM on TV for 35 years and there were angles and views last week that I had never seen before.  Cameras seemed closer to the action, and I saw a lot more of the slope of the place that was ever evident historically

[Mark_F]

I Have watched golf at RM on TV for 35 years and there were angles and views last week that I had never seen before.  Cameras seemed closer to the action, and I saw a lot more of the slope of the place that was ever evident historically

Given the ABC's budget cuts, I'm sure that's just because they used broken tripods.

[Tim_Cronin]

The ABC is non-commercial, is it not? Here in the states, Golf Channel ran its usual approximately 18 minutes of commercials per hour. We missed a great deal of what the home audience saw.