Choose your “F-Word”

[Terry Lavin]

Heading into a tv break, Dan Hicks called Pinehurst #2 “fair, fast and firm.”  I beg to differ. I’d offer up frustrating or fickle or fearsome but the word fair is only appropriate for this setup because every player has to try to cope with this maniacal golf course.

[Sean_A]

Wide fairways. Plenty of club on ball from waste areas. Lots of putts made. Patient play rewarded. There are good scores out there. I disagree with you.

Ciao

[Terry Lavin]

Wide fairways. Plenty of club on ball from waste areas. Lots of putts made. Patient play rewarded. There are good scores out there. I disagree with you.


Ciao

Good counterpoint.

[Ben Sims]

I haven’t enjoyed a golf viewing experience this much in awhile. I have never seen professional golfers experience a lot of the same things I seem to face as a recreational golfer quite like this before. Not necessarily the conditions. Clearly it’s outrageously more difficult than what we duffers normally face. But these guys are so good and their touch so deft that it’s rare we see them deal with the same variance of result (skill based result and luck based results) as the duffer.


Also, see Rory’s round today as an illustration of Sean’s point.


That said, I’m still not sold that PH2 is a “10” watching this tournament. Not that my TV watching judgement means anything until I actually see it.

[Craig Sweet]

These guys are pro's...weaknesses are few....the course is totally "fair".  Would it be fair if I was competing with this field? Of course not. But "fair" , to my way of thinking,  means everyone has a fair chance to score....or not.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Fully Fair for proFessionals and Fun to watch.

[cary lichtenstein]

Not me, I never liked the way they set up US Open Courses and still don't. Greens that reject well hit shots, give me a break. I don't mind the waste areas at all.

[Terry Lavin]

I don’t mind a tough setup for a major, but this is bordering on farcical. I’ll agree that those who are succeeding are doing so because they are executing a strategic plan to avoid missing the fairway and trying to stay beneath the hole.


Having said that, there are way too many examples of a putt just missing the hole but then rolling 25 feet off the green. And way too many instances of a player trying to get back on a green after descending into a roll off, only to have it pull an Elvis and have it “return to sender.”


Whoever wins will surely have earned it. I’m just not sure that I want to spend much time watching the pain and suffering over the weekend.

[Dan_Callahan]

I never had a desire to pay the exorbitant fee to play #2. Watching the last two days of the US Open may have changed my mind. I love the way the course is playing and the challenge of the greens.

[Stewart Abramson]

I never had a desire to pay the exorbitant fee to play #2. Watching the last two days of the US Open may have changed my mind. I love the way the course is playing and the challenge of the greens.

If you played in the off season or shoulder season pre-covid it wasn't exorbitant. It's only in the last four years that it's gotten  really expensive. (Now $360 for a round on #2 in the off season IIRC) I last played #2 in December 2019. The grass was dormant and was a great, reasonably priced round as part of a stay & play package with lodging at the Holly Inn that included breakfast at the Carolina Hotel.  I'm hesitant to return at current rates, but do want to see #10.

[David Cronan]

I find the setup and subsequent tournament to be eFFing Foolhardy, Farcical and Fruitless. I won't be watching a shot the rest of the weekend.


One thing that I've never understood is the enjoyment people take in watching the emotional states ofPROFESSIONAL golfers being Fractured due to course conditions, and then justifying their comments by stating, in effect, "now they know how us duffers feel." Do tennis "fans" root for Nadal to pull a hamstring, Djokovic to double fault or Alcaraz to hit into the net? What is it about golf that brings out such satisfaction in seeing the failures of others? It's frustrating enough for weekend duffers, but I can't imagine what pros experience. We don't have to look too far back to see the emotional toll it can inflict on people.


Thank God the USGA is only allowed to "protect par" once a week per year. Were they in charge of the golfing world, we never would have heard the name Seve Ballesteros.

[John Kirk]

Bump.

Hi Terry,

My best "F" word is fair.  The other meaning.

My criticism has to do with the "native" rough areas.  They are unique to modern tournament golf.  I have trouble with the concept that professional players must contend with a unique style of rough for the national championship.  The pros never hit out of wire grass or unmaintained sand, and every eight or nine years at Pinehurst they are required to do so any time they miss the fairway.

Furthermore, there's a big difference between the best and worst lies in the native areas.  Therefore, the role of luck plays a considerable role in the player's performance.  I can't say for sure whether the variability in luck is greater here at Pinehurst, but I think it probably is.

For us TV viewers, the course has a rather homogenous look.  It's hard to know which hole you are watching, but by Sunday I'll begin to recognize them better.


The first page of the leaderboard has a lot of big hitters.  Although the tournament historically favors the straight hitter, Pinehurst may favor the power player.


Finally, I like Akshay Bhatia, and hope he plays well today.

[Kevin_Reilly]

John K - agree with you about the "homogenous" look on the TV coverage.  I have never played PH, but many/most of the shots to and around greens look similar on the broadcast.  While I feel like I could recognize any shot at ANGC, Pebble, Riv...not so at PH.


David C - no one is wishing that a pro will hit a shank, or turn an ankle walking out of a bunker, but the fact is that no one in the field is shooting 80, but par or plus/minus a few shots it typical, so that beats the weekly -20 result on tour, or even in the most recent major.

[Craig Sweet]

I take it there's a reason these guys aren't landing short of the green and running the ball on? 

[Jason Thurman]

It's a little overstated, David. No.2 isn't physically wounding anyone. Anything can be anyone's 13th Reason I suppose, but I don't think a course setup warrants that particular prosecutorial angle.

[Tom_Doak]

I take it there's a reason these guys aren't landing short of the green and running the ball on?

They are hitting short irons to most greens, and the green is nearly always 2-3 feet above the approach, so the ball is not going to run up for them like it might for my 4-wood.


However, tomorrow, you will see many of the guys not in contention playing deliberately to the front edge, where it’s less stressful to chip and putt for par and preserve your 25th place finish, if not move up a few spots vs the guys who are still chasing birdies.

[Michael Morandi]

Bump.

Hi Terry,

My best "F" word is fair.  The other meaning.

My criticism has to do with the "native" rough areas.  They are unique to modern tournament golf.  I have trouble with the concept that professional players must contend with a unique style of rough for the national championship.  The pros never hit out of wire grass or unmaintained sand, and every eight or nine years at Pinehurst they are required to do any time they miss the fairway.

Furthermore, there's a big difference between the best and worst lies in the native areas.  Therefore, the role of luck plays a considerable role in the player's performance.  I can't say for sure whether the variability in luck is greater here at Pinehurst, but I think it probably is.

For us TV viewers, the course has a rather homogenous look.  It's hard to know which hole you are watching, but by Sunday I'll begin to recognize them better.


The first page of the leaderboard has a lot of big hitters.  Although the tournament historically favors the straight hitter, Pinehurst may favor the power player.


Finally, I like Akshay Bhatia, and hope he plays well today.

I agree 100% with your remarks about the native areas.

[MCirba]

Dare I say Fantastic?  Fab??

[Craig Sweet]

Tom Doak....after the greens were grassed was a high shot considered the proper play, or was something like a bump and run from 100 yards out more common?

[Ian Mackenzie]

Feisty


Formidable


Fiery


Flippant


Fatiguing


Finnicky


Fantastic

[Michael Morandi]

Hard to argue with the leader board.  My F would be felicitous.

[Sean_A]

Bump.

Hi Terry,

My best "F" word is fair.  The other meaning.

My criticism has to do with the "native" rough areas.  They are unique to modern tournament golf.  I have trouble with the concept that professional players must contend with a unique style of rough for the national championship.  The pros never hit out of wire grass or unmaintained sand, and every eight or nine years at Pinehurst they are required to do any time they miss the fairway.

Furthermore, there's a big difference between the best and worst lies in the native areas.  Therefore, the role of luck plays a considerable role in the player's performance.  I can't say for sure whether the variability in luck is greater here at Pinehurst, but I think it probably is.

For us TV viewers, the course has a rather homogenous look.  It's hard to know which hole you are watching, but by Sunday I'll begin to recognize them better.


The first page of the leaderboard has a lot of big hitters.  Although the tournament historically favors the straight hitter, Pinehurst may favor the power player.


Finally, I like Akshay Bhatia, and hope he plays well today.

Yes, luck in the rough is perfect. Nothing worse than a prescribed penalty for missing a fairway. That is dreadful and has no place in proper golf.

Ciao

[Terry Lavin]

Feisty


Formidable


Fiery


Flippant


Fatiguing


Finnicky


Fantastic

Keep ‘em coming. Je ne suis pas Fatigue…

[Tommy Williamsen]

I find the setup and subsequent tournament to be eFFing Foolhardy, Farcical and Fruitless. I won't be watching a shot the rest of the weekend.


One thing that I've never understood is the enjoyment people take in watching the emotional states ofPROFESSIONAL golfers being Fractured due to course conditions, and then justifying their comments by stating, in effect, "now they know how us duffers feel." Do tennis "fans" root for Nadal to pull a hamstring, Djokovic to double fault or Alcaraz to hit into the net? What is it about golf that brings out such satisfaction in seeing the failures of others? It's frustrating enough for weekend duffers, but I can't imagine what pros experience. We don't have to look too far back to see the emotional toll it can inflict on people.


Thank God the USGA is only allowed to "protect par" once a week per year. Were they in charge of the golfing world, we never would have heard the name Seve Ballesteros.

I love to see the pros play well on very difficult shots. They hit shots that we can only dream of. Why do you think we like to watch train wrecks?

[Michael Morandi]

Why are the fans chanting USA USA for Bryson when he left the USA Tour for LIV?  Aberg deserves better comportment. This isn’t the Ryder Cup.