Course settings in tournaments

[Makosha]

Has anyone else noticed that the predominant settings in tournaments (excluding tough stuff) is for a 12/13 stimp and n/n or n/s ?
Can we have some diverse settings using all stimps that the game allows and all conditions?
There are 7 stimp settings (8-14) and 9 variants of them (ss - hh) so please setters, lets get people out of the 12/13 stimp and n/n comfort zone.

Mako

[Seasider47]

I am a course setter. We try where possible to post where we have a real course the type of settings likely to be played on the course at the time we are running a tour there. So before I Do anything I bring up a 5 or 10 day weather forecast to0 check for dry of wet, wind strength and wind direction. That way we can watch the games on tv and compare the pros are adapting to the conditions

Modern day courses can deal with with very different weather conditions so its important that we take that into account, Courses created by community members will put in difficult conditions on greens that would make them impossible to play on extreme conditions so whyen settinjg I try to make them challenging without making them impossible.

[charlieb]

While I do not mind some different conditions, some of the courses do not lend themselves to the more difficult ones.
I get frustrated when a green has a severe slope running off into rough or toward a hazard and your ball rolls thru it like it was fairway.
Until the textures and collider details get worked out, I am fine with whatever the tour setter puts out.

[Makosha]

You seem to be assuming that conditions should always be fast greens, as I say, there are 7 different speed settings and 9 variations regarding ground conditions, no-one would expect hard greens to have a stimp of 8 or soft ones of 13/14

63 combinations available to play with

[tlvx]

I agree, if we're advocating making the tournaments more difficult. But, if we're just trying to get lower stimps, than I think there should be a separate event for those that are looking for easier conditions.

I think the settings are actually very fair. I look for tournaments that have stimp 12 or higher, because stimps 8-11 is essentially like setting soft greens... which is a bit too straightforward, particularly when you're trying to create an examination amongst a lot of players... in other words, a tournament. The idea is to identify those that can handle difficult but not impossible conditions. I think they're doing a good job of making the conditions difficult but fair. Any easier and it gets a bit silly.

But, I haven't been able to find a single tournament that had at least normal or hard conditions all 4 rounds, nor breezy or strong winds for more than 4 rounds... other than, "tough stuff." Which indicates that in most events, there's at least a round or two or three on either soft greens, stimp 11 or 10, or both.

I'd much rather there was just an additional separate event that had soft conditions, and an additional separate event that had harder conditions. I think there's certainly room between the current level of difficulty and "tough stuff."

But, actually I think they're already doing a pretty good job of varied settings. For instance, if you like soft conditions, look at the current Stableford 9 event. 3 out of 4 rounds has soft greens. Conversely, if you like varied stimps, look at the current PGA 18 event. Stimps 10, 11, 12, and 13 all represented in a single event. Great stuff, if you like varied settings.

However, they're already setting calm winds a bit too often, in my opinion. Personally, I think there should be more rounds of Strong Breeze; as well as, stimps 13 and 14.

But, the idea that stimp 12 is a "comfort zone" is kind of a misnomer. It's certainly not as comfortable as stimp 10. So, I take it that you're advocating more stimp 13 and 14; which is definitely uncomfortable; and I would agree. But, I wouldn't agree with more stimp 8-10, for the reasons stated above. Then, it's just trending towards target golf.

But, again, it's certainly okay to have easier events, for those that seek them. Perhaps only open to those up to a certain handicap.

Nevertheless, I think the trend of using actual live course weather is a great way to do it. If they're already doing that, than I don't know what more can be asked, other than just deliberately creating some easier and harder events, in both random and canned ways.

[tlvx]

One thing I would have to add, is that I don't recall seeing the black tees in this week's PGA 18 until the final round. I don't think tournaments should use forward tees, unless the course has some other defense, like stimp and wind. Forward tees definitely make a huge difference in scoring.

[MiMiC]

The event played from the following:

Championship - Tournament - Tournament - Championship

We would love to have custom tees, allowing us to not simply select one setting for the whole round, but instead any tee over each hole, to really provide variety. Unfortunately the API does not allow this.