Couple more 1100 rated rounds

[Star Shark]

Courses like Blue Ribbon Pines, Maple Hill and Renny Gold are some of the best out there right now.

[jsun3thousand]

feldberg had luck on his side for sure. he got super lucky in the final round when his disc found that dry spot over the wall on hole 8.

[Craig Smolin]

To answer Chuck's question ... Cranbury Park is my home course, and is primarily wooded with some open holes that are by no means "par 2" holes. Several of the "par 3" holes used on the 2010 layout were slightly extended from their normal tees, and in general the course has "longish" and TIGHT par 3 type holes. It also utilizes several greens where missed "death" putts have the potential to roll away and leave difficult 30-40-50 footers uphill. There are two holes that are reachable via risk routes to get 2s, but are just as easily considered "short par 4s".

In general, the 45 that Brad Williams put down in the 1st round and the 44 that Nate Doss threw in the 2nd, were nearly as perfect as you can get on a very demanding layout.

[JHern]

I was thinking of the problem of some holes being very difficult for somebody who only throws 375', but very easy for somebody who can bomb a hyzer 450' over trees. Hole 16 at Pinto Lake (par 4) is one of these, where if you have a big arm you just bomb over everything bad and you land in an open area with a relatively easy upshot and card birdies. But if you can't make it over the trees, then you're stuck with nasty tight tunnels, tough OB, and you're often lucky to get any chances for birdie. These are the kinds of situations where the very top-rated players will score much better than average players, increasing the dispersion.

[Chuck Kennedy]

Those are either great or weak hole designs depending on the skill level the layout is designed for. Except for Final 9s for Super Gold level players, I believe NT & Majors courses should be designed for Gold level (975-1025 rating) which challenges the majority of Open players. Super gold par 3s & 4s become "auto" 3s & 4s for the majority of Open players where only the Super gold have a shot at birdies. It's as unchallenging as most Intermediate and Advanced playing gold level courses where they have less chance for birdies and reduced scoring spread.

Even though you might argue that the purpose of the NTs and Majors is to challenge the best in the game, they are more challenged overall by playing a gold level course that's in the wheelhouse of most Open players than a Super Gold course where their only challenge is the group of Super gold players. The majority of Open players at gold level at this point in our sport's development still provide the majority of the Super Gold payout so they should have a course at their level where super gold cream can still rise to the top if they work for it. Now if we ever get significant sponsorship money, then Super Gold layouts would make more sense. Fields would be smaller because you'd have to qualify to play Open and only players with 1000 or even higher ratings would be allowed to enter making it more of a Super gold field.

[JHern]

What would be good to do is to try to upscale courses that are short by modern standards, but which yield a great amount of dispersion. At 2011 Worlds, everybody believed that the cream would separate mostly at DeLaveaga, which is pretty much an upshot-scale course for "super gold" players by today's standards. Pinto Lake, Ryan Ranch, and CSUMB are much longer courses, but many of the holes are wide open, and a super class player can just hyzer bomb their way through the course, parking almost every hole off the tee. The thing that is unique about DeLaveaga is that there are usually many different options to choose when throwing from the tee, and a good amount of risk-reward scenarios that challenge the mental game more than the physical game.

After talking with super gold players (they have very strong opinions), I think we need to have more courses that combine all of the above elements into a single package. And I know that a lot of people will say you get that in some of the longer eastern courses. But the trouble with a lot of the long courses with tons of trees on the east coast is that they don't usually offer many options off the tee, just tunnel, tunnel, tunnel, tunnel. They drove a tractor through the dense trees along some route between the tee and the pin position, and that's it. You don't have to think much about which shot to throw, it is already chosen for you. There is often just a narrow fairway, and one available line. What is much more fun is to have 3-4 tight paths/routes through the fairway, which require different kinds of throws, and which offer different risk-reward calculi. What I'm thinking about is a course like DeLaveaga that you can scale up to 3X its present size. Milo McIver is a step in the right direction, but it lacks the tree density and topography that would make it fit the bill more appropriately. On the east coast, Maple Hill is also a great step in the right direction, and some of the holes do offer options and lots of risk-reward, but some of the other holes there (especially the open holes) are pretty straightforward and don't force the super gold players to think carefully about their shot selection.

[abcd]

Will's 2nd rd today has an initial rating if 1100.

http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/77581

[AcesAZ]

Players today are just better compared to 10-15 years ago. The game has been evolving and growing, Id expect to see better elite players.

[Andy-MN]

Michael Jo coming in from Bradford with an incredible -17 to fire an unofficial 1112 rated second round at worlds today:

http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/16469

[JR]

Now it was 1113 on PDGA site. Not too shabby.

[Steady 26542]

I wondered if Climo & Shultz would play Masters.

[Star Shark]

They upgraded the rating again.... 1127 for MJ

[ziggy]

Do my eyes deceive me?

Will 1st round, Nikko even better in 2nd round

Wonder what hole Nikko parred in the 2nd round.

[Frank Delicious]

I guess going back to wizards mattered.

[juju]

Nope, he woulda shot the same with aviars. It's just ratings inflation...