PGA/LPGA Golf Discussion Thread • Page 53

Holy fuck wow

 

Pressure does weird things to the body.

I’m a decent stick. Had a great round going last year on a really hard course. The last hole is a par 3. Hit my tee shot on the green, 20 feet under the hole. Big breaking right to left uphill putt - not the putt you would love, but one that’s not a monster. I lagged it up to within 3 feet and had that par putt left for 69, which would have been the first time I had broken 70 since I became a father.

My hands WERE shaking. I felt like I was breathing through a straw. Now, this putt is for nothing. All our bets were already finished and this wasn’t even a competition. It was just me vs the course, and I had a chance to get the upper hand for once. But staring at that hole, I felt like time stood still. What if I missed it? What would people say? How long would it be before I had this chance again? I took four deep box breaths while my playing partners finished out, and went from shakiness to serenity. I saw only the positive in the opportunity. What a gift to chase a score! The numbness drifted up from my fingers into my wrists as I took my practice strokes. By the time I stood over the ball, it was into my torso. Completely in the moment, win or lose. I picked a spot of yellow grass, 6” in front of the ball, and committed to rolling it over that with the proper pace and letting the chips fall where they may.

I made it. It opened the flood gates for me and I broke par in 6 of my final 8 rounds of the year. None as low as that 69, but none that would have happened if that ball doesn’t go in.

Every time I see Rory on a replay of 16, I don’t see the process. I see panic. I see a man seizing up, knowing he’s out of rhythm. How many of those 496 putts he made earlier this year had he just gone up and tapped in without thinking? 30 inches. From his waist to the ground. The ball had as much distance to travel from his pocket to the playing surface as it did to go from above ground to below, and he had given it all the weight on the scale.

No practice stroke. Trying to be calm. A sudden rush through impact to take out the minimal break becomes a corner you hug too at a speed you can’t maintain. Now the ball is still above the dirt. Now you see the scar tissue creep back in. The gas is gone. The brakes are hitting. And you still have to get over the finish line.

I’ve been fortunate enough to play Pinehurst #2. Rory’s putt on 18 is on a slope like a table at a dive bar that hasn’t been level since they sold their first Budweiser. The demon is in his mind. He thinks he has to make it, but he also doesn’t want the 8 footer coming back that would happen if he hit this at “bury it” pace. So he borrows more on the line and plays for it to die in. Then he doesn’t commit. That ball hits off the bottom of his putter like a cat that’s always managed to dodge a car until their nine lives run out. Not enough speed for the way the earth is bending against him. And there is the ball. Staring up at him, and all of us, asking him if he’s ready to go again. His bogey putt is only inches shorter than the one he missed on 16, and it carelessly drops, dead center, because he forgot about the result and just hit the putt he’s literally hit maybe 1 million times in his life. If he had had the same putt 20 minutes earlier, he’s the US Open champion.

Pressure does weird things to the body. And nobody is immune.

 

This post was poetry lmao

 

I started walking wherever I can. It's not easy. I weigh a good 250 pounds and in the heat, it's tough. But to save $20 on a cart for the amount I golf is worth it. I played a very hilly course last week and walked it... did like 15k steps. I went home and slept for hours I have such admiration for golfers and caddies walking four days in a row on some of these courses.

 

just crazy. in most other tournaments he probably makes the cut but this course is apparently playing so easy that the cut line is currently -3 lol

 

- driver left
- recovery out into the fairway
- hero shot driver off the deck (topped 44 yards)
- 3 wood
- 6 iron
- chip on
- 2 put for triple

 

Driver
3 Hybrid
3 Hybrid
PW - 95y
4 putt

 

Driver
3 hybrid (low line drive)
3 hybrid (slice)
8 iron (chunk)
(Can’t find ball, take a drop)
PW (overshoot the green)
60 degree (thin it over the other side of the green)
Pick up, head to the cart, forget I tried to play the hole

 

Full send driver downwind
DOD (11* driver makes that easy)
Drain the 40 footer for eagle

Ludvig Aberg went driver pitching wedge in here today. Come on, dream a little bigger, folks!

 

Scotty just like me with that club drop

 

Qualified into the 6 seed for our club championship. Birdied the final two holes to clip the guy who beat me in the semi finals last year for a better draw. Let out a Max Homa “let’s fucking go” when the last birdie putt was about a foot from the hole. Probably poor form. Don’t regret it.

I really think this is the year I pull it off.

 

We have completed about two thirds of the 2024 LPGA season.

Below please find my list of the biggest surprises and the biggest disappointments of the year so far.







womensgolf.com/lpga-tour-2024-surprises-and-disappointments

 

fuck yeah lets go lol

 

In, as long as they have an interesting format.

They usually do 12 holes in this now. Give me 4 scramble, 4 better ball and 4 alt-shot holes. Holes are drawn randomly on the tee so players don't know what they're gonna have to do. Give me Bryson, after getting called a bitch by Brooks for missing a putt on an alt shot hole, hitting 200 mph ball speed on a scramble tee shot the next swing.

 

Oh that’s gonna be electric

 

Oh ok on second thought no fuckin thanks lmao