'Stadium' par-3 16th at TPC Scottsdale - good or bad？

[Tommy Williamsen]

Are you or have you been watching the WM Open from TPC Scottsdale?
I have watched it most years at least a little.

Do you reckon the 'stadium' around the par-3 16th hole is good or bad?
I hate it.

Would you like to play the hole under these circumstances or would you avoid it like the plague?
I have to admit, I do like an audience.

Do you consider this kind of feature at a pro-tour event good or bad for golf?
It probably brings in more fans, but I hate it.

If you like it, which pro-tour events would you like to see incorporate such a stadium feature at one (or more) holes and which hole(s)?
NONE

Atb

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I believe he had a concerning experience with security one of the years that he did play, or something to that effect. He played a few years ago during his chipping yips period, though.

A guy following him around was found to have a gun in his fanny pack or something.

Yeah, that was it: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiger-heckler-arrested-with-gun/.

[John McCarthy]

1 hole, once a year. 


I have caddied a few times in the Pro-Am of the BMW.  Nobody in the stands.  It is really a peculiar way to play golf.  The stands either deaden the wind completely or make it wholly unpredictable.  The stands truly encroach upon the playing field.  The rough all gets trampled down making backboards of the stands easy when the pin is in a chippable position. 


The stands truly raise the drama level.  I doubt Arnold Palmer would regret playing the hole.  Ben Hogan may have smoked two cigarettes on it.

[Phil Burr]

Jeff Schley, spectators need not wear sunglasses.  The scenery is there precisely because they want men to ogle and gawk at them.  This tournament should have "green girls" a la boxing, who run out onto the green between groups wearing a tiny bikini and holding a sign with the names of the next group coming through.

[Thomas Dai]

Gladiators, lions, chariot racing around the inside perimeter?
atb

[Kalen Braley]

Figured I'd resurrect this one...


I generally like the 16th, but what happened today was a shit show.  And then to boot CBS glorified the scene, by showing about 50 replays from every angle imaginable with all the carnage.  I don't understand that.

[Mark Kiely]

Figured I'd resurrect this one...


I generally like the 16th, but what happened today was a shit show.  And then to boot CBS glorified the scene, by showing about 50 replays from every angle imaginable with all the carnage.  I don't understand that.

What do you "generally like" about it if you didn't expect all hell to break loose after a third round ace?

[Kalen Braley]

Mark,

I've had several opinions on this hole...and they've certainly evolved over the years if you re-read this post going back to 2016.

I like the stadium atmosphere overall and its certainly unique to all of golf. The fans love it obviously, and I suspect most of the players as well. It works in large part because its a short-ish par 3 where you can see everything, as opposed to trying to create a stadium effect on a 400+ yard hole.  I've got to imagine it gets loud and provides a really fun environment, similar to other major sporting venues.

But outside of chucking squid/hats on the ice in hockey (which i'm not a fan of either), I'm not aware of any other sport where fans are hurling crap on the playing field and then is celebrated and glorified by the broadcast group. Outside of the massive delay and mess to clean up, there is certainly the liability that goes along with it.

But in summary, given that fans presumably get drunk and overdo it at countless other sporting events and somewhow still show restraint, i'm not sure why same expectation cannot be applied here. 

[Mike Sweeney]

Come on. Once a year against the Super Bowl:

[Marty Bonnar]

I’m with Too-Tall. Golf is way, WAAAAY too stuffy. It was a majestic hole-in-one, played before a very ‘slightly’  inebriated crowd. Also, for me, the idea that the old buffers in the R&A clubhouse might have been choking on their G&T’s watching it, was quite amusing.
F.

[Bill Gayne]

I wish I was there in person! I wouldn't want to see the excess at Riviera next week but perfect for this week in Phoenix.

[V. Kmetz]

Hope the beer and soda spillage kills the green... take your f'n Capitol riot somewhere else....the precise antithesis of what the good people in the game and its history have stood for...if you're for this, one's bullshit light will flash anytime one speaks of outrage at carts, slow play, inflated puffery, hats face forward, unnecessary trappings, etc...etc... all those stuffy "custodial elements" I hear 147x

Disgusting arena spectacle... let's have a UFC fight ... not lighten up, tighten up... disposable, phony, Barnum -style  shit show for disposable highlights.

And Halitosis and Colt Noxious like eyes fluttering cheer leaders, agog, this is great for the game... really? prove it morons...prove how this does anything "for the (inanimate) game"...and let's have no more criticism of Nantz if you can stomach this vapid sales pitch

What in blazes was wrong with the crowd and the excitement 25 years ago when Woods made an Ace, with a 1/5th of the crowd on mounds?

[Mike Sweeney]

phony, barnum -style  shit show for disposable highlights.

My wife's "Uncle Jerry" worked for the United States Military Academy, Disney, the University of Michigan, and he finished his career with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, so I am thinking we should be open to PT Barnum style golf for one weekend a year: https://jerrybilikmusic.com/about-jerry/

It worked out for Uncle Jerry!! Maybe it will be good for our favorite passion...

[Erik J. Barzeski]

But outside of chucking squid/hats on the ice in hockey (which i'm not a fan of either)

You're not a fan of hat tricks? Oh man.

[V. Kmetz]

But no Mike, it doesn't stop, it doesn't stop the license at Phoenix, it gets more and more part of the zeitgeist, unless the Masters threatens your precious ticket or the (imo) bliss of the crowdless events... the crowds at Bethpage yell in disliked players' swings, call out lines of putts they've been drinking to, since 10 am... fans like these grow like kudzu into BabaBooey idiots, eager to take sides in viral issues...BDC/Koepka; Kuchar and his caddie... Patrick Reed and opinions on his integrity...

The Ryder Cup has devolved into a jingo shit show...  Like a locker room match between members of the Bears Club or the act of putting a flag on your promo gear introduces some measure of national pride? U-S-A? What are you talking about? No if anything it's revealed disgraceful behavior rather than the good sportsmanship at the heart (I thought it was agreed) of the game's competitive virtues...

And Uncle Jerry's role in the circus doesn't impress... what did Uncle Jerry think of the treatment of animals Mike? Thank god we got that nineteenth century crap out of our lives... God you're like a Simpson's irony..."But it's a small price to pay for countless hours of top notch entertainment."

[Andrew Harvie]

It's not a good golf hole (certainly not a bad one), but a rather plain par 3 without the fans and the stadium. With that being said, I think it's good for golf. I see no reason why The Masters/The Open and WMPO cannot exist on two polar opposite sides of the spectrum. It's clearly bringing people to the game that otherwise would not be interested.

[V. Kmetz]

Drew, that's sober and reasonably cast...but drill down into that mindset... how does "eyes" on the game, help the game?...How/Why do those eyes translate into health? ...and what does it creatively destroy to achieve it?  Is the game going away...?  Must the game health exam be in the guise of some corporatized measure... personified into a beleaguered sales marketing department being threatened at a Zoom meeting..."you must always be selling"

[Mike Sweeney]

And Uncle Jerry's role in the circus doesn't impress... what did Uncle Jerry think of the treatment of animals Mike? Thank god we got that nineteenth century crap out of our lives... God you're like a Simpson's irony..."But it's a small price to pay for countless hours of top notch entertainment."

https://www.endangered.org/campaigns/wild-success-endangered-species-act-at-40/jerry-bilik/


It is for this reason, and for the sake of all the creatures with whom we share our planet, that organizations dedicated to preserving the delicate balance of nature deserve our unflagging and enthusiastic support, and why we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, which stands as a first, and most important step in this critical cause.
[/color]It is my firm belief that caring for others – human and non-human – helps us to become more worthwhile inhabitants of this sphere we call home, and, by improving the quality of other lives, we improve the quality of our own.

[Kalen Braley]

I'm curious how this is allegedly good for the game, or grows it otherwise?



All of the players behind endured a 15 minute wait for the cleanup,  So much for the GCA arguments on improve pace-of-play too I guess.

P.S.  Erik, when did I say I was against players scoring 3 goals in a game aka a hat trick?  Its the chucking shit on the ice that is my beef. 

[David_Elvins]

I'm curious how this is allegedly good for the game, or grows it otherwise?



All of the players behind endured a 15 minute wait for the cleanup,  So much for the GCA arguments on improve pace-of-play too I guess.

P.S.  Erik, when did I say I was against players scoring 3 goals in a game aka a hat trick?  Its the chucking shit on the ice that is my beef. 

Haha,


It was fricken awesome. 

[Sean_A]

Mark,

I've had several opinions on this hole...and they've certainly evolved over the years if you re-read this post going back to 2016.

I like the stadium atmosphere overall and its certainly unique to all of golf. The fans love it obviously, and I suspect most of the players as well. It works in large part because its a short-ish par 3 where you can see everything, as opposed to trying to create a stadium effect on a 400+ yard hole.  I've got to imagine it gets loud and provides a really fun environment, similar to other major sporting venues.

But outside of chucking squid/hats on the ice in hockey (which i'm not a fan of either), I'm not aware of any other sport where fans are hurling crap on the playing field and then is celebrated and glorified by the broadcast group. Outside of the massive delay and mess to clean up, there is certainly the liability that goes along with it.

But in summary, given that fans presumably get drunk and overdo it at countless other sporting events and somewhow still show restraint, i'm not sure why same expectation cannot be applied here. 

Boo!

Ciao

[Mike Sweeney]

I'm curious how this is allegedly good for the game, or grows it otherwise?

All of the players behind endured a 15 minute wait for the cleanup,  So much for the GCA arguments on improve pace-of-play too I guess.

P.S.  Erik, when did I say I was against players scoring 3 goals in a game aka a hat trick?  Its the chucking shit on the ice that is my beef. 

Kalen,


The Thunderbirds are the main charity behind The Phoenix Open. They are a machine, and they have had a direct impact at First Place of Phoenix. Denise Resnik is an absolute beast in the Autism world - https://thunderbirdscharities.org/first-place-phoenix/


If you want to call me on my Double Standard of preferring fast play on one day and then supporting the Phoenix Open shenanigans on a Super Bowl weekend, I am very cool with that label.


Peace.

[Jim_Coleman]

   A friend’s course in Florida is undergoing a redo, and the architect suggested that he build a copycat hole. He suggested #16. I asked if he proposed to build a stadium; otherwise there was nothing to copy. They decided on a Biarritz.

[Bill Gayne]

I'm glad this happened in America because the Saudi golf league would need to spend the rest of the weekend having public floggings.

[MCirba]

"Waste Management" seems an apt description on multiple levels.