The Golf Thread - 2015

[Mike22233]

johnxjsc1985 said:

why do they do that its like the "get in the hole" shout from the Tee on a par 5 I think they should be put away for a long time

Born without brain cells.
I do agree with the most recent post - he seems like a nice enough chap. It clearly means an unbelievable amount to him. Dont remember previous champs being so lost for words.

[johnxjsc1985]

Mike22233 said:

Born without brain cells.
I do agree with the most recent post - he seems like a nice enough chap. It clearly means an unbelievable amount to him. Dont remember previous champs being so lost for words.

I think he is a worthy Champion after 5 days of hell the right man must be the winner.

[mattyn1]

Note to self: Never ever bet on golf!

[Mike22233]

mattyn1 said:

Note to self: Never ever bet on golf!

+1 !
I bet on padraig at 20/1 and he started with a couple of birdies!

[GregK2]

I had Oosthuizen from the start, painful end!

[stu1984]

Luckily cashed out on Louis just in time. Ended up being up by about £35 in the end after having placed £50 worth of bets on about 8 contenders over the 4 days....thank goodness for the cash out option!!

[boxsey]

budfox said:

A worthy winner but a poor Open with a very poor finish.

I'm not a fan of St Andrew's as an Open venue but have to say that having so many players in with a chance of winning on the last day and still having at least a dozen with a chance as they went in to the final 9 holes, made it a very good one.

[bodhi]

I thought it was an excellent Open overall, and I feel I must stand up for the venue - I don't think we could have had a similar Open anywhere else. The variation between the birdie feasts on the front nine and the struggles on the way back, the four seasons in one day and the biblical wind at times all sum up St Andrews to a tee for me.

Would have preferred Louis to win, but fair play to Zach, anyone who won after those 5 days was a worthy winner indeed.

I'm already planning my next trip up to play The Old Course, and I suggest if you haven't done so you find an opportunity to play it. Not the toughest course you'll play (not even the toughest in St Andrews) but the experience is second to none (apart from maybe Augusta) - and everyone should try playing the 17th at least once. I think there were only 2 birdies all weekend at it, and when you play it you can see why.

[kentlad]

bodhi said:

I thought it was an excellent Open overall, and I feel I must stand up for the venue - I don't think we could have had a similar Open anywhere else. The variation between the birdie feasts on the front nine and the struggles on the way back, the four seasons in one day and the biblical wind at times all sum up St Andrews to a tee for me.

Would have preferred Louis to win, but fair play to Zach, anyone who won after those 5 days was a worthy winner indeed.

I'm already planning my next trip up to play The Old Course, and I suggest if you haven't done so you find an opportunity to play it. Not the toughest course you'll play (not even the toughest in St Andrews) but the experience is second to none (apart from maybe Augusta) - and everyone should try playing the 17th at least once. I think there were only 2 birdies all weekend at it, and when you play it you can see why.

How do you get a tee time booked? I thought it was tough and the times were still done on ballots for anyone who didn't live locally?

[MGJohn]

mattyn1 said:

Note to self: Never ever bet on golf!

With one exception.... provided your money is on the winner....

The BBC's coverage left much to be desired. Not in the same class as in some previous years. Particularly annoying for me was showing players with no information on screen ~ many players wearing and changing similar kit and Caps over the five days making identification for the viewer difficult. Even after the ball was in the hole still no player information, identification or score update on screen at all. Very poor.

Based on the Beeb's stance on a wide range of sports in recent years, I suspect some of those making decisions now on what to cover or not are anti-sport. They still pay ex-sportmen and sportwomen huge amounts to do simple presenter jobs.

[Mike22233]

kentlad said:

How do you get a tee time booked? I thought it was tough and the times were still done on ballots for anyone who didn't live locally?

10 sec google
http://www.standrews.com/Play/Courses/Old-Course/B...

[bodhi]

kentlad said:

How do you get a tee time booked? I thought it was tough and the times were still done on ballots for anyone who didn't live locally?

Last time I was there I just went up to the starter and asked if there were any available - waited about 20 minutes and was on the first tee. It was Xmas Eve, so I suspect demand isn't that high at that point, but generally as long as you avoid peak season it's not too hard to get on. When I was a student up there we used to walk on quite frequently - was playing it 2-3 times a week at one stage, and have never been through the ballot.

Also, if you're in the area on Xmas Day it's definitely worth popping down - the starter's don't work that day but the course remains open on a good faith basis - so the cost works out much more reasonably

[Gandahar]

DuncanM said:

A worthy champion I think, although St Andrews is too soft nowadays and needs a new approach to make it Open worthy in 5 years time.

So what on earth happened to DJ? Looked nailed on for a top 5 at least and then just disappeared after round 2. Mentally he is quite flaky.

Well it's pretty soft when the weather's not too bad. If it has not been as windy on Saturday but still windy it would have been interesting. Still lots in contention on the final round though, very good to watch.

I wanted Louis to win to, he's a nice chap and plugged away all day but Zach is a very decent chap too although you have to not be put off by the American "image" perhaps?

[DuncanM]

Gandahar said:

DuncanM said:

A worthy champion I think, although St Andrews is too soft nowadays and needs a new approach to make it Open worthy in 5 years time.

So what on earth happened to DJ? Looked nailed on for a top 5 at least and then just disappeared after round 2. Mentally he is quite flaky.

Well it's pretty soft when the weather's not too bad. If it has not been as windy on Saturday but still windy it would have been interesting. Still lots in contention on the final round though, very good to watch.

I wanted Louis to win to, he's a nice chap and plugged away all day but Zach is a very decent chap too although you have to not be put off by the American "image" perhaps?

It's too soft imo, when you have that many players in contention it, anyone putting well at the weekend could've won.

Still entertaining though, and I'd have been happy with either Zach or Louis winning in the end.

For me, Spieth proved just how good he is going to be after that awful double. Mentally he is the new Nicklaus.

[ManFromDelmonte]

I agree it looks too easy. The 18th is basically a driving range with a green on it. Granted you can give yourself an easier second shot if you hit your first well but it's hardly punishing wherever you go.

[kentlad]

bodhi said:

Last time I was there I just went up to the starter and asked if there were any available - waited about 20 minutes and was on the first tee. It was Xmas Eve, so I suspect demand isn't that high at that point, but generally as long as you avoid peak season it's not too hard to get on. When I was a student up there we used to walk on quite frequently - was playing it 2-3 times a week at one stage, and have never been through the ballot.

Also, if you're in the area on Xmas Day it's definitely worth popping down - the starter's don't work that day but the course remains open on a good faith basis - so the cost works out much more reasonably

That's pretty reasonable. Although i don't fancy playing that far north bang in the middle of winter! I'm a southern softie

[PatrickOUFC]

Another here who is definitely looking to play The Old in 2016. Is it frowned upon if you don't hire a caddie if playing there? I know most of the rich American tourists etc will get one....

[Rosscow]

bodhi said:

kentlad said:

How do you get a tee time booked? I thought it was tough and the times were still done on ballots for anyone who didn't live locally?

Last time I was there I just went up to the starter and asked if there were any available - waited about 20 minutes and was on the first tee. It was Xmas Eve, so I suspect demand isn't that high at that point, but generally as long as you avoid peak season it's not too hard to get on. When I was a student up there we used to walk on quite frequently - was playing it 2-3 times a week at one stage, and have never been through the ballot.

Also, if you're in the area on Xmas Day it's definitely worth popping down - the starter's don't work that day but the course remains open on a good faith basis - so the cost works out much more reasonably

Bad point about playing in the winter months is that you have to hit from fairway mats....

[bodhi]

Rosscow said:

bodhi said:

kentlad said:

How do you get a tee time booked? I thought it was tough and the times were still done on ballots for anyone who didn't live locally?

Last time I was there I just went up to the starter and asked if there were any available - waited about 20 minutes and was on the first tee. It was Xmas Eve, so I suspect demand isn't that high at that point, but generally as long as you avoid peak season it's not too hard to get on. When I was a student up there we used to walk on quite frequently - was playing it 2-3 times a week at one stage, and have never been through the ballot.

Also, if you're in the area on Xmas Day it's definitely worth popping down - the starter's don't work that day but the course remains open on a good faith basis - so the cost works out much more reasonably

Bad point about playing in the winter months is that you have to hit from fairway mats....

You do but they don;t take long to get used to - you can get some ludicrous spin off them as well - I've seen balls come 10-15ft back, even on St Andrews greens from them.

You also only need them in the fairway, and the starters are quite open with ways round using them - such as moving your ball into the rough if you're close to the edge etc. It's not the full Old Course experience, but it's still pretty impressive. St Andrews has its own micro climate, which means it doesn't get as cold in winter as places even 15 miles up the road - it's just the wind you have to worry about.

[Digger]

johnxjsc1985 said:

Digger said:

Well . . . . I've just fired off a strongly-worded email


Apparently I should hear back from them in the next two weeks . . .

to save you waiting it will say the are right and you are wrong but they value your input.

Sort of.

Fairly Formulaic BBC Reply said:

Thanks very much for contacting us about our coverage of the extra day’s play at The Open. We’ve received a huge range of feedback from viewers about this. Some would have preferred more coverage of the golf, while others questioned our approach to the scheduling or were unhappy with the disruption caused to other programmes.

To allow us to reply promptly, and use the licence fee efficiently, we’ve brought these concerns to the attention of senior BBC management and we’re sending this response to everyone. We’re sorry we can’t reply individually, but we hope this will address most of the points raised.

For only the second time in its history, bad weather meant that The Open stretched into an extra day’s play. This presented a huge challenge, both in terms of coverage and scheduling.

The Open is a popular and prestigious sporting event, and we’re committed to bringing coverage to the widest possible audience. Our aim on the Monday was to tell the competition’s most important story - who would win the Open - and make the very best use of our resources on this extra day's play. We followed the leader-board top ten from the start of their rounds to their finish, plus the continued action from those that started before them, so viewers didn’t miss any of the key action as it unfolded.

Inevitably though, this additional coverage did mean that there would be some disruption to our published schedules, and we thought very carefully about how to manage this. In these situations we always consider a number of options and try to find a solution which will work for as many viewers as possible. In this case, that meant finding a compromise that might work for golf fans, as well as those viewers who were looking forward to particular programmes on BBC One or Two.

Of course, we realise that not everyone will agree with the final outcome and we’ll make sure all of this feedback is passed on. Thank you again for getting in touch.