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We have all played courses that are baked by the sun. We all know a hole that you can't land a ball on, because it just bounces over. Why can't a professional adjust to those conditions. Because they are spoiled millionaires. The course must be adjusted to the way they play whaaaaaaaa. I laughed when Ian Poulter's shot flew the green after hitting it. He wouldn't break 80 on my course. There's a difference between PGA golf and our golf.
One of the differences is that their fairways are as hard as our cart paths. My grandmother could drive it 300 yards on those fairways. They don't play courses where you get a down hill sideways lie or for the most part any other direction. I play a course where a flat lie is nearly impossible. I played with a former PGA pro and he was three over at the 19th hole. I suppose you are saying he probably wasn't that good or Then a PGA pro would terrorize it.
First I read all his putts. He missed the ones he read. Second on my course you go over the green your taking strokes and landing it on some of them is like trying to land it on the cart path. Next the rough is like barbed wire. If it goes more than five yards it's not going in the direction you were planning for it to go. I know seems hard to believe.
It's a Robert Trent Jones course and he designed Augusta a while after it. I would call it the little Augusta, except if it was longer the pros wouldn't go near it. Central New York is golf territory. The pros have not found us, so we can play every weekend. Imagine a really good golf course for 25 dollars with a cart. Atunyote has a PGA tournament, but we don't let them come up here. Atunyote is a great course, but I wouldn't pay $100 dollars to play there, beside Turning Stone has two other golf courses that are harder.
The point is that PGA now stands for Pampered Golf Association. I played a North Carolina course and it was hard. I lost a dozen balls on the front nine. I have a phobia about snakes and your damn skippy I wasn't going to go into the under brush to find them. It was a hard course, Probably too hard for the pros. The next time I went I played a different course and shot one of my best scores. Go figure. I am not long, but like the rest of those old guys I get around the course. I have played cow pastures that would be too hard for the pros if they maintained them.
I don't feel sorry for these guys. Golf is supposed to be challenging. If your shooting -12, you should find a new course. Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer played some courses that were manicured. Minus 1 or plus 1 should be the high score at a major. If they break 5 under it is just another golf tournament. Hell, Atunyote can give any player that kind of challenge. They cut the fairways wide here, but the wind is always at least ten miles an hour. The pro's got a shock when it hit 40 miles an hour. If you can't play in wind stay home. We don't want you here. You just slow us down. We call it a breeze.
I am glad that the Open is at Pebble Beach. It demonstrates that old courses can be bears if they are set up right. I miss the days of Pinehurst. Old courses have character. The air around them is a bit richer and nostalgic. It's sad they've been left behind. By the way. 70 miles from us is Oak Hill, which has also proved to bean adventure for the pro's at a U.S. Open. Enjoy watching them hit the ball all over like the rest of us. Once in a while people need a reality check.
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