Text 11200, 146 rader
Skriven 2007-02-01 11:22:50 av hap newsom
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: RE: Golf and NewMex 983
===============================
Howdy Michael!
-> 
-> 
->  -> I don't understand "par" either. It's got to be difficult, as
->  -> professionals in tournaments sometimes don't make par, and
->  -> sometimes even the winners are pretty close to par. To me "par"
->  -> should mean par, as in average, not some nearly unattainable goal.
->  HN> Well there are plenty of variables tossed in there as well. Usually
->  HN> when pro's  don't make "par" on a hole it's because they've made a
->  HN> mistake or  misjudgement in their play.
-> 
-> But they do, frequently. And the sainted Tiger makes double bogeys
-> once in a while. And when he plays a round that has 12 pars and 6
-> birdies, that's considered a wonder to behold. Which brings up my
-> point that the par numbers are peculiar. It sounds as though a
-> 72 course should really be a 90 course or something, because it's
-> likely that the real par score is more like 90.
-> 
That's precisely what makes it so wonderful...when I was just beginning to 
play I went to a senior PGA tourney here in Washington. The club pro that I 
had taken lessons from was on the senior tour and got me free tickets..I 
watched Arnold Palmer, John Brodie, and two others play the whole 18...and I 
saw each of them make horrible errors at some point...most notably John 
Brodie (a former NFL quarterback) who had an absolutely terrible round. All 
day long I kept saying to myself "I'd do exactly the same thing"! When one or 
another of the foursome would put the ball in the rough to one side of the 
fairway or the other. I was elated! These guys who were pro's made the 
same crappy shots as I did! Granted they made a lot FEWER of them than I 
did...but the fact that I saw Arnold the Great miss a 4 foot putt that I'm sure

I could have made, gave me the ability to go out and make those same 
mistakes and not worry as much about them....after all, I can put the ball in 
the rough with the best of em! (grin) To watch John Brodie struggle through 
that 18 holes ( it is a tough course by the way) and make every mistake I 
ever made along the way was truely an epiphany for me!

->  HN> difficult it  is...on one of my favorite courses the 13th par three 185
->  HN> yard hole is the  most difficult hole on the course and few people
->  HN> actually make par on it  without a lot of practice.
-> 
-> Which reinforces my point.
-> 
Which is easier to make par on, a par five that's short for it's designation,
no 
traps and a straight wide flat fairway, or a par three thats' at the long end
of 
the designation, over a huge ravine about 6 feet lower on the other side of 
the ravine, and a sloped wide but shallow green? 

->  HN> green......once I  manage to accidently land on it (grin). Often Pro's
->  HN> will play well under par ...  will often have
->  HN> scores of  12-15 below par for the winners.
-> 
-> Also my point is that often they do not. We see tournaments with
-> the sainted Vijay finishing -2 or so (as the recent one); there
-> are even those where the top finishers are around par!
-> 
Each day the course is different than the day before...aside from moving the 
pins around the green, the weather and other factors are different. And most 
importanly the players are the biggest variable. One day the greens are soft 
and hold an approach shot easily, the next day they can be as hard as 
linolium and the ball simply bounces right off the green. If you play early in 
the day it's a totally different course than it is when you play later in the 
day. That's what makes golf such an enticing and frustrating game...you're 
really playing yourself every round and that's your toughest opponent to beat!

->  My best round of golf was
->  HN> 39 on a front nine  at a local course...that's 3 over par and for me it
->  HN> was a phenominal 9 holes of 
->  HN> golf...I simply could not make a bad hit on the ball....of course I
->  HN> shot almost 
->  HN> double that on the back nine and totally blew the euphoria of the
->  HN> front nine  to heck and back! 
-> 
-> I used to sort of play golf, but bad eyesight and malcoordination
-> do take their toll. I'd say my best round of golf probably included
-> 39 for the first 5 or 6 holes. Nah, not true, I was known to break
-> 100, as my grandfather was an excellent golfer; but both my parents
-> were antiathletic as anything, so now I'm lucky to break 100 for nine.
-> 
More golfers play above 100 than play below 100! Most regular players get 
better as they play and often play right around 100 a bit above or below 
but "close". I usually played in the range of 87 ( a really GOOD round for me) 
and 93-5 ( a pretty bad round) a consistent 87 player would generally be 
about a 15 handicap.

->  -> Of course the similar beating the point spread system in
->  -> wagering also throws me (here I understand the terminology
->  -> and the mechanism and even the reasoning, but what I don't
->  -> get is the need in the human psyche for such a system).
->  HN> If I can beat you 19 times out of every 20 that we play...I need to
->  HN> have  some enticement for you to even wager with me....so that 
you'll
->  HN> actually  have a reasonable chance if you do well to win the wager. 
-> 
-> But one isn't then betting on the result of the match but
-> rather against the skill of the handicappers/oddsmakers.
-> 
Which is why the handicapping system is pretty much done by formula 
averaging play over a long period of time. It's done by the "club" at the 
course you belong to and it's published on a handicap board in the clubhouse 
so everyone can see what your handicap is and know you won't be trying to 
fool them. You even get a card to carry in your wallet telling what your 
handicap is so if you enter a tournament at another course you can prove 
what your handicap is and what division you should be playing in. 

->  HN> I was always a fairly fast player and I preferred to walk the course
->  HN> rather  than use a golf cart...most courses now won't let you walk 
the
->  HN> course
-> 
-> What?! I am truly out of touch with this great land. Ptui.
-> 
Ptui indeed! 

->  ....well  they will let you but you have to rent a cart anyway
-> 
-> Of course.
-> 
More money for the course...and if it makes you play faster more players/day 
on the course=more money as well. 

-> Similarly:
-> 
->  HN> It's a system where players of
->  HN> vastly  different abilities can actually compete fairly with each other
->  HN> on a (pretty  much) level playing field.
-> 
-> Okay, let me get this straight. Regarding horses. so
-> horse A weighing A lbs are clocked at X seconds on a
-> particular course, and horse B is clocked at X+2
-> seconds. Is the point of the handicap to give horse
-> A enough pounds extra weight so as to take X+2 seconds?
-> 
By jove, I think you've got it! (grin)

-> Which also makes me wonder about course records - you
-> know, "set by Man-o-War at 1'51.3"" - if the favorite
-> gets a weight handicap, what's the meaning of this number?
-> 
Uhmmmm,....he's still the fastest?

chat with you soon
hap 
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