Any pro or scratch golfers out there?

I was watching the PGA yesterday and Y.E. Yang made a chip from the fringe of the green to make an eagle, and I wondered "how the heck do they do that kind of thing so often?"

I've never been any good at golf- to me it's an amazingly hard sport.

The only thing I can compare making long shots to is basketball, a sport that I was sort of good at. Now, I can stand out there and make a few three point shots. But the rim in basketball is actually pretty big- much bigger than it looks on television, and it's quite a bit larger than a basketball is, too.

A golf ball and a golf cup are both very, very small, though, and you are hitting a small hard ball with a hard metal club.

When good golfers make long chips and long putts how much of it is skill and how much is luck?

Not a scratch golfer but at one time my handicap was down to 8. Then kids came along and golf all but stopped.

Anyhow, I would venture to say that the majority of it is skill, though it's not too much of a stretch to say today's equipment has taken some of the skill out of it. However, these players still read greens, fairways, etc., like crazy and know what they're trying to do. There is some luck involved in any sport but, as they say, luck is the residue of good preparation.

Yang's win is amazing to me for one big reason: he was an aspiring pro body builder until he tore up his leg. The guy is still built like a brick **** house and still has the flexibility to play golf. Unbelievable.

FYI, a basketball rim is in fact wide enough to fit two basketballs through at the same time.

Making a long putt or chip shot is just something that is so hard for me to relate to. If I stand on the 3 point line and shoot a basketball, I feel that whether or not a make a shot has a lot to do with skill.

On the other hand, if I were to stand on the fringe of a green with a golf club and start chipping balls at the hole, I would feel that if I were to make one, it would mostly be luck. The ball and the hole are so small that it would seem to me to be almost impossible to aim it accurately enough that it would me more skill than luck for it to go in.

Yet pro golfers seem to be able to do this often enough that it can't be just luck.

Go out and hit that shot 1000 times. You'll eventually learn what it takes to put that shot in the hole. It is skill, that's why they're where they are.

Pro golfers are so incredibly good it is nearly unbelievable. Imagine playing and practicing all day everyday and being a freak of nature to start with. Yes I can go pick up a golf club and go play a round, but it just isn't the same game the pros are playing.

The consistency and skill of those players is unreal.

shecky said:

FYI, a basketball rim is in fact wide enough to fit two basketballs through at the same time.

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Deflated basketballs? Or are you talking about those little basketballs you win at the fair? :rockin:

EDIT: Just looked it up, and I'll be darned if the sports writer isn't right (or close to it)! I had no idea the ball was so small as compared to the rim. For comparison, what's the size difference between a golf ball and cup?

It is actually about an inch too small but damn close.

I went out yesterday and shot a 109. First time out in 2 years so I was pretty happy all things considered (rusty, 95* and humid, half-hungover and tired from concert the night before, etc). If it wasn't for lost balls and the resulting penalty strokes (very tough course with more hazards than any course I've ever played) I would have much closer to breaking 100.

At my best (which was about 5 years ago), I was consistently in the mid-upper 80's. Haven't played much in the past few years and my game has gone way downhill. Need to get back on the horse.

Scratch golfer? That's me!

I often scratch my head while searching for my ball in the rough.

adrock said:

Deflated basketballs? Or are you talking about those little basketballs you win at the fair? :rockin:

EDIT: Just looked it up, and I'll be darned if the sports writer isn't right (or close to it)! I had no idea the ball was so small as compared to the rim. For comparison, what's the size difference between a golf ball and cup?

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How dare you doubt me.


Golf cup is 4 1/4 inches in diameter. Golf balls, as deemed by the USGA, must be no smaller than 1.68 inches in diameter. British rules stipulate no more than 1.62 inches in diameter.

The size relationship between a rim and ball and a golf cup and ball is quite similar.

IrregularPulse said:

It is skill, that's why they're where they are.

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+1

avid duffer/hacker here. seldom break 100. I'd probably have to play 3 or 4 times every week just to be in the 80s - from the white tees. And then I'd have no money for beer.

yup, got my priorities in order...

The commercials don't lie, those guys are good. I read an article about tour level golfers and it stated the biggest difference between the tour player and the rest of us is the tour player knows the difference between 152 yards and 153 yards. Their precision is simply much better than any of us will ever know. I am lucky enough to play with 2 former club pros and as good as they are they knew early on they would never compete at the level of the tour player.

FWIW, I'm currently about an 8 handicap and had it down to a four during the '06 season.

I golf about 15 - 20 times a year. I shoot in the mid 80s to upper 90s depending on the day and difficulty of the course.

It is all skill when it comes to stricking the ball. Where the ball hits the fairway has some skill but if they hit it just right the luck takes over and the ball can go another 15 to 30 yards. Meaning they hit a hard spot in the ground that allows it to continue on is course further.

In a given round I would put it at 95% skill and 5% luck.

Someone got close to this quote before "The more a pro practices, the luckier he gets." There is a lot of validity to that.

As to yesterday, I do enjoy watching Tiger tear up a course and winning a tournament but to watch Yang come from behind TIGER of all people to take the title was truly thrilling. Wow, the joy he showed was infectious and I was very happy to have witnessed it.

Although Woods was certainly not making the shots he needed to win that day, I thought it was a frustrating tournament to watch because the greens seemed to be unfair to all the golfers. None of them seemed to be able to consistently read how the putts would break on those greens. Way too many putts seemed to go past the hole after missing by half an inch, or even rimming in and out.

The TV announcers said something about the grass on the greens "mushrooming" in the heat in the afternoons.

But they were all at least playing the same greens.

I thought it was great to see Yang win. Tiger needed humbled.

I finished a beer a hole for the front nine of a par three. That is probably the highlight of my golfing career.

I'm golfing Twin Warriors this afternoon - 6,500 yards from the whites. gulp.

I played Paxon Hollow, outside Philly today. Played the front in 4 over. We started sipping some of my 7.5% Belgian Pales on the 4 th hole. In 95 degree heat. Back nine, while great fun, was an utter disaster.

Before marriage and kids I was playing a minimum of 5 rounds a week and had my handicap down to 3. It was common for me to have on sub-70 round a week or so.

Now I only get to play 5-10 times a year and I'm lucky to break 90. Of course it doesn't help that the clubs I spent way too much on 'disappeared' in the 3 weeks from when I left my ex to when I went to get all the rest of my stuff. Now I play with a cheapo set that my dad gave to me, but I don't play enough to justify that kind of investment again.

I may suck now, but I seem to enjoy it more. When I was playing all the time I took it way too seriously. Now I just go out there and have fun. Playing golf is about the only time I'll ever drink BMC, because that's all you can get at the golf course. Yes, I know I could sneak some in, but they only have cans and I can't get anything but BMC in cans around here.

Best I ever avged was 78.

Though I had a crushing drive. Went to the driving range few weeks ago-
Ive lost tons off my swing

ohiobrewtus said:

Of course it doesn't help that the clubs I spent way too much on 'disappeared' in the 3 weeks from when I left my ex to when I went to get all the rest of my stuff. Now I play with a cheapo set that my dad gave to me, but I don't play enough to justify that kind of investment again.

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I have taken the Maltby Club Fitting Class and can hook you up with a custom fitted and built set if you're ever in the market.