[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen - that's a damn good explanation and set off a light bulb here.  Pro:  "wind came up, darn it, easy pitch from drop area."  Huckaby:  "god I suck with my irons.  Here comes another double or worse. I suck with wedges too."

[Dan Joseph]

If the pro's only cared about getting the ball on the green on 17 then I'm sure more of them would have made it.  Instead they are trying to get it close which leaves less room for error.  I'm sure if I played 17 in the wind I would be going for the middle of the green.

[Phil Benedict]

Just an observation but Kalen Braley has to be in the running for the First to a Thousand Posts Award for 2007.

[rjsimper]

Just an observation but Kalen Braley has to be in the running for the First to a Thousand Posts Award for 2007.

5 months, 1000 posts.  Thats around 8 a day.  Not quite Huckaby-esque, but certainly more than a bit intense.

[Tom Huckaby]

 
My man Kalen is doing quite well.  I am very proud.

Remember though that the first incarnation of Jordan Wall had to be the champ in this... put me to shame, and of course that is saying something.

[Phil Benedict]

I was quite desperate to get to 500 because I hated being a junior member - felt like I was eating at the little kid's table.  On the other hand, I am not anxious to get to 1000.  Don't like being a senior.  Of course I am a card-carrying member of the AARP.

Don't forget that Kalen has reached 1000 during a lull in Michele Wie threads.  You can really rack up posts if you get involved in one of those.  There are, of course, Merion threads to build your post-count.

[Tom Huckaby]

Senior?
How do you think it feels to be declared a god?

 

[Brad Tufts]

Looking at those stats...for me it might be putting.  At scratch, I don't make 50% of putts from 10-12 feet, nor do I come close to 10% from 25 ft.

Also, driver trajectory.  I hit iron shots just like alot of those players, including lower-trajectory wedges, but I've rarely hit tee balls like they do...the booming, optimized rockets that float almost straight down...

[Steve Kline]

The optimization of balls and clubs has certainly done more for pros than everybody else, even good amateurs.

[Jim Franklin]

After playing Quail Hollow two days after the tournament and from the same tees, I can tell you the biggest difference is how the pros handle the rough. My tee game was long and straight (driver/6 iron the the par 5 7th), but when I missed a green, I could not get my wedge near the hole and the only up and down I made was a 25 foot snake on #9. How they handle those touch shots around the green is truly impressive.

[JR Potts]

Short game.  Short game.   Short game.

[Dan_Callahan]

Golf Channel did a feature on the difference between the amateur and the pro. One item stood out (somewhat paraphrased).

The amateur stands in the fairway and thinks "it's about 135 yards."

The pro looks at the same shot and says "its 127 yards to fly a ridge to a front, right hole location."

[Ken Moum]

Golf Channel did a feature on the difference between the amateur and the pro. One item stood out (somewhat paraphrased).

The amateur stands in the fairway and thinks "it's about 135 yards."

The pro looks at the same shot and says "its 127 yards to fly a ridge to a front, right hole location."

Of course, the amateur would probably be better off if someone said, "It's about 150 yards." At least then he'd have a chance of getting it to the hole.

Ken

[Jim Colton]

This is an interesting topic...we've heard a lot of different reasons, which probably means pros are just simply at another level in every aspect of the game.  I think short game is the biggest gap.  There are probably 5,000 guys you've never heard of that have swings to die for but never even sniffed the tour.

[Scott Szabo]

Golf Channel did a feature on the difference between the amateur and the pro. One item stood out (somewhat paraphrased).

The amateur stands in the fairway and thinks "it's about 135 yards."

The pro looks at the same shot and says "its 127 yards to fly a ridge to a front, right hole location."

Aside from the mental processes, obviously the pros have the skills to place the ball where they want, and most amateurs don't have a prayer of doing so.  

I worked as a volunteer at the International as a scoring observer for years and the one thing that the pros have that we don't are very repetitive swings, which will bail them out of situations that will get the typical amateur golfer in a world of trouble.  They simply play one shot at a time, and don't dwell on the past.  

I walked with one pro who started the International off with two Xs (+6) on holes 1 and 2 which are birdie holes for the boys.  He settled down to card 7 birdies and no bogeys the rest of the way, and eventually tied for 4th that year.  How many of us amateurs do you know that would be able to put that kind of start behind us?

Scott

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tom,
I think the biggest difference is that unlike most of the Pros, you'd be more likely to tee up at least one or two more balls and, after drowning them, eitheer drop one on the green and putt out or just walk over to 18 and drown a couple there.  

[Phil Benedict]

Tom,
I think the biggest difference is that unlike most of the Pros, you'd be more likely to tee up at least one or two more balls and, after drowning them, eitheer drop one on the green and putt out or just walk over to 18 and drown a couple there.  

Is this an ad hominum comment on Huck, or is the "you" referred to here a generic feckless amateur?

[Tom Huckaby]

Phil - it may as well be me - the shot from the drop area scares the crap out of me.

 

But in all seriounsess Jim has nailed the big difference I see.  Damn right my bad shots would be compounded whereas the pros shrug them off and knock the next one tight.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Phil,
Generic, I reserve ad hominem attacks for face to face encounters.  

Huck, sorry, didn't mean to make you cry.  

[Doug Ralston]

3) I think there is an invisible but real difference in how much information they are able to process. Some of them do it by talking numbers with their caddie and others by just looking around and going on intuition. But however they go about it they notice, account for and compensate for dozen of factors that most of us would never even notice.

Yes, so does Tiger really consider coriolus (sp?)?  

Doug

[George Pazin]

Short game.  Short game.   Short game.

I disagree totally. I'd say it's the short game. Then maybe the short game, and after that, the short game.

As for the attitude thing that Huck waxes poetic about, that's just confidence born of hours and hours and hours of practice.

And Steve Kline's right about the wedge thing. They are less accurate than most am's think.

[Jeff Evagues]

The short game is obviously paramount. I play mostly public courses and I tell my friends I'd like to see tour pros putt on our greens. I've played a few course right after PGA tournaments and it was hard to miss putts on those greens.

[Brent Hutto]

Yes, so does Tiger really consider coriolus (sp?)?  

If it's Tiger, nothing would surprise me (though his speeling could use some work).

[Glenn Spencer]

Perfect Equipment. Galleries and Grandstands play a big role. The making of putts outside 10 feet. Lag Putting. Wedge Play. Play from the rough as Jim Franklin mentioned-very key. Belief in game. Spin Control and chipping and pitching. I think something that is overlooked though, EXPERIENCE. It is so much easier to play well one week, when you are playing all the time. Then you believe a little bit and it starts to happen a lot more. This is where the confidence comes in. There are a lot of guys on the mini-tours that can get it done on the PGA Tour, but they haven't and they might not. If given the chance they could, but they don't believe it yet. Only 60 a year or so qualify. Based on who I have played with that has made it and who hasn't. I think playing without fear is also a big contibuting factor. Some are afraid of success and some aren't.

[Steve Lang]

 

Shiv,

Its senses and sensibility,  a package deal..  but i do concur with your premise.. i relate to it (puring the ball) as the sound of it.  

Have seen the pros since '79 Open at Inverness.. many times .. what always gets me is the sound of the ball being struck.. compressed on club face.. ball go far, fast.. lately high.. sound is consistently and significantly different than most ams..

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