2021 PGA Tour

cshea

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He was 2nd in strokes gained putting in 2019. He was 95th last year, but was positive and not losing strokes. I think putting is low on his list of issues.
 

ezemerson

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I get it that there are already cameras following the featured groups but that is what pga tour live is for......it is so frustrating that the tv coverage is essentially the same thing following the same players....MIX IT UP
 

FL4WL3SS

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Can't say I agree with those takes on his putting. Check out the difference in seemingly every statistical putting category in 2015-16 vs. the past couple years. He fell off a cliff. Especially in make percentage per distance. I'm not saying he's killing himself with his putter but he went from the top of the tour to the middle of the pack.
The rest of his game is putting so much pressure on his putter that it makes sense. The putter isn't the problem, it's the pressure of having to make every putt he looks at to post a decent score.
 

cshea

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Thought Brooks had turned a corner in November when he finished T5 and T7 in the Houston Open and then the Masters in back to back weeks. He looks out of sorts today, is +5 and headed to his 3rd straight MC.
 

cshea

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Colt Knost joked that 9 is playing 750 yards long but he may not be wrong. Dead into the wind. Phil had 176 for his 3rd, hit a 5-iron, and came up 25 yards short.
 

terrynever

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Becoming the world's best 3-wood tee shot guy was a neat trick.

Do former elite putters even regain their mojo without some sort of major change? How soon until we see Spieth with a long putter?
Maybe he should start smoking? He’s young. Can’t hurt too much.
 

Average Reds

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The guy is just a total scumbag-he cant help himself. Did CBS catch it? I missed it live.
CBS just showed it. IMO, he absolutely got caught cheating, realized it and called the rules official over to try to give himself cover by having him “confirm” the indentation.

What a scumbag.

edit: and the interview makes it clear that he isn’t getting penalized. What I don’t understand is why Reed is given the benefit of the doubt? We already know that he’s a cheater.

The Tour should be embarrassed.

second edit: I not a Jim Nantz fan, but he’s absolutely correct to point out the absurdity of this.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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Whats the point of having rules officials if they are going to agree his ball was embedded, even after he moved the ball?
 

cshea

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Golf Channel just showed footage of Rory doing the same thing as Reed in the rough on 18. Rory did not call a rules official over. Rory’s ball clearly bounced like Reed’s did.

The lift it first, ask questions later policy the Tour seems to encourage seems to give to basically give the players cover to play lift, clean and place in the rough.
 

Zomp

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That’s not the biggest story. The biggest story is Reed responded to a golf channel interview from his burner Twitter account then responded with his actual account and wrote the same exact thing.
Patrick Reed has a burner Twitter account where he sticks up for himself. Unbelievable.
 

ColdSoxPack

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Golf Channel just showed footage of Rory doing the same thing as Reed in the rough on 18. Rory did not call a rules official over. Rory’s ball clearly bounced like Reed’s did.

The lift it first, ask questions later policy the Tour seems to encourage seems to give to basically give the players cover to play lift, clean and place in the rough.
Agree. All under the pretense that pace of play is more important that playing by the rules to the letter. Honor among thieves. This puts Reed in the clear tho since Rory did it.
 

cshea

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TFP

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That’s not the biggest story. The biggest story is Reed responded to a golf channel interview from his burner Twitter account then responded with his actual account and wrote the same exact thing.
Patrick Reed has a burner Twitter account where he sticks up for himself. Unbelievable.
It’s definitely his wife.
 

ezemerson

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Burns with a chance to pick up ground on one as he hits GIR and other 2 are in the beach and walks away losing 2 shots after a 4 putt....ugh
 

ezemerson

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Im goes out in 31 to pull within a shot of the lead....fast forward to 15, he is now 11 shots back
 

steveluck7

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Bogey, bogey, double, bogey, par, double on the first 6 holes of the back.
That kind of scorecard looks REALLY familiar!

I will also add that, for as amazing as the course is and how breathtaking the views are at Torrey Pines, the buildings on the course are just ugly as all hell. Looks like corporate park architecture.

That said, I would drop pretty much anything to play there!
 
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Average Reds

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That kind of scorecard looks REALLY familiar!

I will also add that, for as amazing as the course is and how breathtaking the views are at Torrey Pines, the buildings on the course are just ugly as all hell. Looks like corporate park architecture.

That said, I would drop pretty much anything to play there!
The buildings you see just off the course are, in fact, part of a corporate park. (There’s also a hotel in there, and UC San Diego is right across the street.)

I’ve not played, but I was at UCSD for a campus visit with my daughter years ago and the two of us ventured out along the outskirts of the course at the end of the day. It’s as beautiful as it looks
 

johnmd20

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The buildings you see just off the course are, in fact, part of a corporate park. (There’s also a hotel in there, and UC San Diego is right across the street.)

I’ve not played, but I was at UCSD for a campus visit with my daughter years ago and the two of us ventured out along the outskirts of the course at the end of the day. It’s as beautiful as it looks
If Tony Soprano could find the time to murder a snitch in cold blood on a college visit with his daughter, you definitely could have found a few hours for a round at Torrey.
 

FL4WL3SS

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That kind of scorecard looks REALLY familiar!

I will also add that, for as amazing as the course is and how breathtaking the views are at Torrey Pines, the buildings on the course are just ugly as all hell. Looks like corporate park architecture.

That said, I would drop pretty much anything to play there!
I played it over the summer and stayed at the Hilton in a room that overlooked the 18th on the South course. It was beautiful, but it was definitely not a "pay any amount to play" course. The conditions are drastically different the other 11 months of the year and is very much in muni condition. I payed $250 to play and it felt about $125 too much.
 

jcaz

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I was in San Diego but hadn’t arranged to play Torrey. We stopped there, asked around and we got taken on a course tour. My wife, our buddy and I got driven around and took pictures at some pretty scenic spots. Gave the kid who took us on the tour a few bucks to say thanks and headed to the pro shop.

Same trip we did play the Park Hyatt Aviara course where the LPGA hosts the Kia Classic. Paid a fortune for only an ok course and played like shit.
 

TFP

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Torrey is weirdly over and underrated. It’s not a life changing course and it’s probably overpriced but it’s also gorgeous and extremely accessible if you pay the cost. I loved my round there and I played in a monsoon for 1/2 the round.

It’s the west coast version Bethpage Black.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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It's a muni. I played both courses at different time about 15 years ago on different trips. The clubhouse may have been updated since then, but it was pretty pedestrian. Functional, certainly.

I played the South as a walk on single while wife was at conference in SD. Was told to arrive early, and managed to get put in a group at 7 am, so not a bad wait. Course had just been cut, and clipping covered the entire course, including fairways. Couldn't see yardage markers, so it was an educated guess back then. Saw workers taking care of course with ancient push mowers. Lovely views, and I think I paid a reasonable rate as an out of towner who walked, but I would say I was impressed with the course, but more disappointed in the overall experience.

I played the North with a friend who lives in SD, his wife and bro in law. A lovely sunny day, and it was a gorgeous. I think I enjoyed this one better - better views etc. Course was in good shape. I think they got me the local rate, which also was great.

That rough, though, especially in the morning round when it was moist...egad.
 
Torrey is well down the list of PGA Tour courses I'd want to play myself - I'd probably just as soon save the money and just walk along the cliffs to enjoy the views like @Average Reds did. But it has definitely grown on me as a tour venue, in no small part because of how well the USGA set up the course for the 2008 US Open; I really had zero expectations for that tournament, but it kinda blew me away, and I'm looking forward to seeing if they can repeat the feat this summer.

Meanwhile, yesterday was a very positive day for the US Ryder Cup team - Reed sailing away, Rahm/Hovland/McIlroy all imploding - and a bad day for golf. Patrick Reed...boy, I don't know.
 

cshea

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I think Tour players look for ways the rules can benefit them and get them out of dicey situations. We say this with Bryson's fire ants antics, cart path, sprinkler head, other shorts of situations where Tour players essentially try to use the rule book to help them out of bad lies I think Reed arrived on scene hoping the ball was embedded so he'd get relief. He was asking if the ball bounced before he even took a look at the lie. So he had it in his head that the ball was embedded before even looking at it. Unfortunately, the way the rules are written, he's got the latitude to pick the ball up and check it. So I can't really ding him there, although I feel that in a situation like this, Reed (or any player) should ask a playing partner to take a look at it before touching the golf ball. In an identical situation, Rory McIlroy did the same thing Reed did. he did not have a 2nd set of eyes confirm that the ball was possibly embedded before lifting it. Given Rory is considered the opposite of Reed, a player of unquestioned character and integrity, leads me to believe that this is SOP on tour. Maybe that is the crux of the issue, the Tour encouraging players to check for embedded balls on their own. They only need "reason to believe" it is embedded which is pretty flimsy and easy to argue.

Where it Reed completely goes off the rails is after he picks the ball up. He palms it weird and then puts it over to the side and calls in an official. While waiting for the official he appears to be poking and prodding the ground. Who the hell knows what he did there. When the official arrives, the ball is already off to the side and Reed tells him he thinks it's embedded but wanted confirmation. The official then had to make a judgement call based on incomplete information. When deciding to check for embedded ball, Reed needed to delicately lift as best he can and then replace it if there was any doubt and call someone in. Instead he basically discarded the ball over to the side and then continued to poke at the ground, likely breaking the surface to prove his point. He himself said that a ball that bounces can't embed. So there's no chance that ball was embedded. I don't know if he lifted it and then got scared because it wasn't embedded and went about his thing make sure it was confirmed as embedded or not.

I'd love to know how the situation plays out if the volunteer tells Reed that she saw it bounce. Does he take her at her word and play it as it lies without further discussion, or does he go ahead and check anyway. I think it's probably the latter.
 

ColdSoxPack

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I think Tour players look for ways the rules can benefit them and get them out of dicey situations. We say this with Bryson's fire ants antics, cart path, sprinkler head, other shorts of situations where Tour players essentially try to use the rule book to help them out of bad lies I think Reed arrived on scene hoping the ball was embedded so he'd get relief. He was asking if the ball bounced before he even took a look at the lie. So he had it in his head that the ball was embedded before even looking at it. Unfortunately, the way the rules are written, he's got the latitude to pick the ball up and check it. So I can't really ding him there, although I feel that in a situation like this, Reed (or any player) should ask a playing partner to take a look at it before touching the golf ball. In an identical situation, Rory McIlroy did the same thing Reed did. he did not have a 2nd set of eyes confirm that the ball was possibly embedded before lifting it. Given Rory is considered the opposite of Reed, a player of unquestioned character and integrity, leads me to believe that this is SOP on tour. Maybe that is the crux of the issue, the Tour encouraging players to check for embedded balls on their own. They only need "reason to believe" it is embedded which is pretty flimsy and easy to argue.

Where it Reed completely goes off the rails is after he picks the ball up. He palms it weird and then puts it over to the side and calls in an official. While waiting for the official he appears to be poking and prodding the ground. Who the hell knows what he did there. When the official arrives, the ball is already off to the side and Reed tells him he thinks it's embedded but wanted confirmation. The official then had to make a judgement call based on incomplete information. When deciding to check for embedded ball, Reed needed to delicately lift as best he can and then replace it if there was any doubt and call someone in. Instead he basically discarded the ball over to the side and then continued to poke at the ground, likely breaking the surface to prove his point. He himself said that a ball that bounces can't embed. So there's no chance that ball was embedded. I don't know if he lifted it and then got scared because it wasn't embedded and went about his thing make sure it was confirmed as embedded or not.

I'd love to know how the situation plays out if the volunteer tells Reed that she saw it bounce. Does he take her at her word and play it as it lies without further discussion, or does he go ahead and check anyway. I think it's probably the latter.
Agree with this 1000%. Even playing within the rules he looked like he was pulling something. And he lied when he said he put the ball aside right after picking it up. And it did bounce. If that ball was imbedded I'll eat my words.
 

ColdSoxPack

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It's a muni. I played both courses at different time about 15 years ago on different trips. The clubhouse may have been updated since then, but it was pretty pedestrian. Functional, certainly.

I played the South as a walk on single while wife was at conference in SD. Was told to arrive early, and managed to get put in a group at 7 am, so not a bad wait. Course had just been cut, and clipping covered the entire course, including fairways. Couldn't see yardage markers, so it was an educated guess back then. Saw workers taking care of course with ancient push mowers. Lovely views, and I think I paid a reasonable rate as an out of towner who walked, but I would say I was impressed with the course, but more disappointed in the overall experience.

I played the North with a friend who lives in SD, his wife and bro in law. A lovely sunny day, and it was a gorgeous. I think I enjoyed this one better - better views etc. Course was in good shape. I think they got me the local rate, which also was great.

That rough, though, especially in the morning round when it was moist...egad.
Every coastal course I have played in California is gorgeous on a warm summer day and hell on wheels in the winter.
 

jercra

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Agree with this 1000%. Even playing within the rules he looked like he was pulling something. And he lied when he said he put the ball aside right after picking it up. And it did bounce. If that ball was imbedded I'll eat my words.
I don't doubt it was embedded. It's pretty soft out there and it only takes a small part of the ball to be beneath the ground to be embedded. The problem was really just the way he handled it. It was really strange to touch the ball, then the ground, then call a rules official over. Had he just deemed it embedded and taken his drop, there's not going to be any controversy. He really didn't do anything wrong in taking relief, he's just such a dick (even in the way he interacted with the rules official) that he gets no benefit of the doubt.
 

ezemerson

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What would be your top 3 publics that the tour has stopped at and are worth the money
 

jercra

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"It's literally impossible for a ball to bounce and then become embedded."

-Patrick Reed, before learning his ball did indeed bounce
I lived in Portland, Or. for 10 years. It is 100% possible for a ball to bounce and become embedded. I've seen it many, many times.
 

cshea

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I lived in Portland, Or. for 10 years. It is 100% possible for a ball to bounce and become embedded. I've seen it many, many times.
That may be true, but I have a hard time believing Reed's ball embedded. It bounced forward and did not get more than maybe 4 feet off the ground. I did not get the impression that he was standing in a soggy area of the course, i didn't really hear their feet squishing when everyone was mulling about.

FWIW, I don't think Rory's embedded either though I guess there's a plausible case that his ball came down in it's original pitch mark. Seems like a 1 in a billion but based on the video, his ball seems to go straight up and down while Reed's hops forward.
 
What would be your top 3 publics that the tour has stopped at and are worth the money
I think the answer is zero. Pebble Beach is great according to my friends who have played there but it costs over $500.
Pebble is worth it as a bucket list experience. (Spyglass Hill, one of the other courses used in the AT&T, is also a resort course and very good - especially the first five holes.) Apart for that, you're looking first at Kapalua-Plantation, TPC Sawgrass and Harbour Town, and then maybe TPC Scottsdale and Torrey Pines, although again in each of these cases you're paying top $$$ resort fees precisely because they're PGA Tour courses. My original comment was that Torrey was well down the list of all PGA Tour courses I'd want to play, including private clubs; @ColdSoxPack is generally right in his assessment that there are no good, cheap and public PGA Tour venues. (You can't have all three.)
 

jercra

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Pebble is worth it as a bucket list experience. (Spyglass Hill, one of the other courses used in the AT&T, is also a resort course and very good - especially the first five holes.) Apart for that, you're looking first at Kapalua-Plantation, TPC Sawgrass and Harbour Town, and then maybe TPC Scottsdale and Torrey Pines, although again in each of these cases you're paying top $$$ resort fees precisely because they're PGA Tour courses. My original comment was that Torrey was well down the list of all PGA Tour courses I'd want to play, including private clubs; @ColdSoxPack is generally right in his assessment that there are no good, cheap and public PGA Tour venues. (You can't have all three.)
I'd agree with your list and I've played most of those courses. Of those, really only Torrey is affordable. I played it on Xmas Eve 2019 and booked the first tee time in twilight for something like $70. It was just a few weeks before the Farmers and all of the grandstands were up so presumably it was pretty close to tourney conditions and it was still a muni in terms of conditions. It's also remarkable how ugly is outside of the few holes on the coast. It's surrounded by hospitals, corporate parks, apartments, and empty lots. Kapalua is beautiful from start to finish but I got to play it for $30 a lot of years ago because of my brother's job. Sawgrass is awesome but it's like $700 for a round and no course is worth that unless money is not something you consider. I got to play it for free due to my job or I'd have never played it. I'd add Bethpage Black to my list but I've never played it so can't say for sure.
 
Sawgrass is awesome but it's like $700 for a round and no course is worth that unless money is not something you consider. I got to play it for free due to my job or I'd have never played it.
TPC Sawgrass is $700 now? That's ridiculous.

FWIW, my last few years of high school, my family owned a condo just about 150 yards through the trees to the left of the 10th hole at TPC Sawgrass, and we had a membership at Sawgrass Country Club and an associate membership at TPC Sawgrass (back when that sort of thing was semi-affordable), so I've played the latter maybe 10 or 12 times. My senior year, the Georgia state golf championship was down near the Florida border, so our team went first to Ponte Vedra Beach and warmed up with a round on the Stadium course...and it was kind of a disaster. It beat all of us up, partly because we played from tees further back than we should have, and one of my teammates - a really good golfer who went on to reach the matchplay portion of the US Amateur and also played for Georgia Tech as a teammate of David Duval, but who was a really short hitter - just couldn't reach half of the fairways off the tee, started swinging out of his shoes and completely screwed up his tempo for the round that mattered a few days later.
 

TFP

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PGA West Stadium is pretty affordable and fun course if you play the right tees.