Excellent article on PGA Tour player playing on local courses
Eli Salow, a Washington Post Staff Writer, wrote an interesting article the other day about his experience as a weekend duffer playing with a PGA Tour rookie Steve Marino. They played at East Potomac Golf Course in Washington on a beautiful Wednesday morning. Eli was lucky enough to finally answer the question we always ask ourselves, how well would a PGA Pro score at our local public course?
I had asked Marino…to play with me at East Potomac because I wanted an answer, finally, to the question that so many of us duffers ask as we walk off municipal courses and total up scores we hope will end up in two digits: What would a PGA Tour player shoot here, anyway? On a short course devoid of significant obstacles, could Marino possibly score in the 50s? Or would the annoyances of public golf — bumpy greens, eroded fairways, chunky sand traps — throw him wildly off kilter?
It’s an excellent read and brings up some interesting challenges we face on the public course’s, that we have either become accustomed too or don’t think about.
…Marino obsessed over details I had never noticed. Overgrown fairways made it impossible, he said, to generate substantial spin on iron shots. Stiff sand traps caused the ball to release on a flat trajectory, negating the importance of touch.
Give it a read and next time you play remember that even the PGA Pro’s have a tough time on the public courses!
tmills1073 on July 12th 2007 in Golf
