Tourney settings

[Makosha]

OK, here's a little poser for you tournament setters.

How come all the tourneys are set to high stimp and normal greens with the only variable usually being the wind and possibly the pin positions?
Surely all of us have in the past (yes even girls play or have played the real game) come across slow greens, hard or soft conditions etc etc. Did we all put our clubs back into the car and go home to wait for the next weekend?
Im not saying I like playing in mud but it is something that I have done many years ago and had to adapt my game (as bad as it was) to suit what was in front of me. Just last week I was on a company golf day where the wind was up and it was pouring down, but we didn't stay in the bar all day, although with my score in the mid nineties I may as well have done hahaha, I would certainly have been warmer and drier.
I assume the developers make conditions that are so variable so that we can become adept at all aspects of the game not just one.
What do others think?
Are we all obsessed with shooting -9 every time?
Surely shooting +2 when the rest have gone +4 or more is just as satisfying?
Or is everyone waiting for a glorious day where it rained just the perfect amount the night before to give them ideal conditions

On a side note, even ladder matches only spin random courses, how about a random settings spinner too just to make the game more interesting.
The "cream" should rise to the top in any event.

Mako

[MiMiC]

Hi Mako,

Good points and well made. There probably have not been the range of conditions used that should have been. There has been some use of firm ground conditions, with stimp settings raised but not to a point where it would in many cases be felt to be so extreme as to be unfair, but possibly such situations should be considered on certain courses which would allow for the game not to feel like a complete lottery and where skill in mastering a very tricky combination would bring rewards. I personally like to set courses and combinations which mean that target golf and shooting direct for the pin in every situation will not bring the best result in most cases. I look for, where possible, set-ups where the target should be a quadrant of the green, or where the landing spot off of the green area will determine the start point for keeping the short game and putting game as the focus for judging ability.

Softer conditions and slow greens certainly have their place and would move many out of comfort zones they have got all too used to. Soft conditions will always make spin and shot-making an interesting test. Slow conditions really test us all when the breaks and rolls are so much different, and in such situations the ability to adapt in as quicker time as possible becomes key to success. I will certainly be looking at setting something up which will test a wider set of skills in both of those aspects.

Because of wanting to keep a sense of realism in the set-ups, personally I like to design 'evolving' conditions which match what I would expect to see in real-life situations. This usually means building or decreasing wind conditions and thinking about what sort of wind conditions would be bringing with it weather situations - for example a gusty or windy round sometimes being an indication of squally weather, after which conditions are less firm and fast, but in other situations where rain doesn't come into play, making the ground firmer and faster because of the drying effect of such a wind. I would find one round at firm and fast with the next at soft and slow not particularly realistic, and more of a case of the event setter becoming the focus, rather than the course itself.

Taking this week's PGA9 as an example, a course that may not cause too much comment usually has done more so because the conditions are less than ideal, are based on those which you would expect to find for the course, but where at least part of the challenge is because the prevailing wind for the course has been switched from its usual direction. It certainly posed me problems, as did not finding the ideal spots on greens which are uncompromising and where you will absolutely have to think about how you approach them. The reason that the greens are actually playable is because such a course would have that sort of irrigation system in place to make them so, but in those conditions stimps would be high and getting higher. The rest, with weather variations, is out of their control to do much about.

From limited feedback I have had, I'm told that some have vowed never to return to the course, condemning it to the 'do not play' bin of their hard drive. I'm not sure that is an unqualified success in the tournament setting department, but it does seem to be taking people out of their comfort zone.

There are always a whole load of things to consider when setting up... a tree-lined course will retain moisture more than an exposed one... a links course will naturally play with firm conditions but actually slower ground conditions in relation to the more 'manicured' green complexes... wind at coastal locations will always be stronger coming from the water mass than when coming across a landmass, where an offshore breeze is more likely.

In summary, hopefully a good pin setter will find the right course, the right set of conditions and tell a story which retains credibility but also brings realism in the sort of changing conditions and challenges that a golfer would face.

Mike

MiMiC

[Affo]

A good read.

Regarding this week's PGA 9....that was a good test and with the gusting winds sometimes taking the ball further than you would have guessed or indeed less sometimes meant that recovery golf came to the front of the skills required. I hit some tee shots with lowest trajectory off the tee and others I let it fly.

All in all, enjoyed the challenge, though yes, the OP does make good points, a "slow week" where there's been a deluge in the area would again lead to players needing to adapt quickly.

Andy