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Ever tested yourself on a near-pro setup?

wadesworld

wadesworld

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Albatross 2024 Club
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I had a humbling experience today.

I travelled to Olde Stone golf course in Bowling Green, Kentucky. This is a private course which was featured (I believe) on Golf Channel's Playing Lessons with Kenny Perry. While the course was not setup for a PGA tournament, it was being prepped for the Kentucky Senior Open.

Greens were like putting on a glass table top. I don't know what they running, but definitely the fastest greens on which I've ever putted. Multiple times my partner or I hit routine pitch shots to the front of the green that ended up going all the way over the back. A slight misjudgment in putting speed would result in the ball rolling 4 or 5 feet past. To make it even more challenging, almost every green was elevated and surrounded by green side bunkers.

Teeboxes were the most manicured I've ever seen. Literally, the surface of the tee boxes was far more perfect than many greens on which I typically play.

The rough was a thick Kentucky Bluegrass which was extremely difficult to figure out. Shots were chunked, pushed, pulled, and bladed. Fairways were narrow with thick native grass beyond the rough, giving you little other option than to punch out sideways, if you could get the club on the ball. My partner once took 3 strokes to get out of the native grass, so bad was his lie each time.

On a normal course, I typically shoot anywhere from say 82 to 94. My swing was pretty on today. I suspect on a normal course, I would have been solidly in the mid-80's today. Instead, I turned in a blistering 102. It was an eye-opening experience, and quite humbling to realize my real skill level (or lack thereof).

Anyone had a similar experience?
 
Quite a few THP Events. Enjoy the heck out of it.
As well as many other times. I have been fortunate with THP, to play some mighty fine courses in our travels.
 
US Open qualifier set up for Scarlet course at OSU the following Monday. I played the Grey course but the courses basically intertwine and I believe both were set up similar. The rough was unbelievably. The ball would drop 4 inches to the bottom every single time. Firm and fast greens too. I never heard for sure so it's just speculation on my part but that qualifier had to make that place play tougher. If it didn't, I would've HATED to be on the Scarlet course that weekend.
 
I played Torrey Pines this year a couple weeks after the PGA stop. I was fine with everything but the rough, it was so thick and heavy I had trouble getting out of it. I know you need to come in steep with the attack but not really every having to practice that shot it is tough to learn on the fly.
 
I played Mauna Kea the same week as the senior tour was in the islands and week after the PGA was there they were set up in tournament conditions so that any pro who wanted a practice round would be challenged even though they had no event it was fun an frustrating at the same time
 
Played a course around here one day before they had a Massachusetts Golf Association tournament. The greens are normally tricky on that course, but they were super-fast in preparation for the tournament. I putted straight off of 2 greens and had another green where I chipped on and thought I had hit it pretty well, and the ball rolled all the way off the front of the green. It was humbling.
 
I played Valencia country club a week before the senior tour played there and found it not too bad at all. The members were complaining big time though. It was just on really nice condition.

Then I played Soldier Hollow here in Utah 2 weeks before and 1 week after the Amateur Public Links or whatever it is. Holy cow it was fun! Rough was super long and if you missed, you paid the price. Greens ran true and perfect. It was a very nice change from the regular day to day stuff.
 
Yes I have, sort of. Our course used to host a nationwide tour tournament (web.com now) and the Monday after the tournament members could play the Sunday pins and set-up. Our greens are normally pretty fast but this was unreal, plus everyone played the tournament tees which measure 7200 yards and I usually play our course at 6166 yards. The rought was terrible and greens even faster but the extra 1000 yards didn't help either. I played this set-up twice and shot 108 and 111. No pick ups, no max score on a hole just had to keep plugging along. This on a course I know very well too. Pars were like eagles for someone with my length on a course that long and every mistake was magnified. It is very humbling, but I really wonder what I would have shot from my normal tees.
 
It was like that for me when we played the Championship course at PGA National at the THP Demo Day/Outing. Didn't play it from the pro tees, and were playing in September, but that was the hardest layout I have played. Chipped in on 18 for a tidy 108.

I've played Kapalua Plantation as well, and that course while beautiful and awesome was nowhere near as hard as PGA National.
 
My home course used to host the PGA Air Canada Championship and I played it when it was fully set up for a local mini-tour event from 7101 yards. I actually didn't shoot as bad as you would think because I play it from 6500 regularly, but if you missed the fairway you were screwed. The Rough was 7-9" long in most spots and it was all we could do to even find our ball if we missed the fairway, let alone advance it towards the hole.
 
Hawk and I played TPC a week before the tourney and it wasnt much different other than the rough being a bit more juicy.

Course sucks though.
 
Played many before, especially in college. Now I love playing them for the challenge, fast greens are when I'm at my best.
 
I would LOVE to. Never got the chance.
 
Last year I played Torrey North the day before the first round.

Saskeywash above nailed it about the rough. I found myself in it way too often off hrs tee and all I could do was take a 7 or 8 and hope to advance it back up the fairway and take my chances with a pitch shot to the green.

Thickest rough I've ever seen. Surprisingly the greens were fast but not lightning fast.


I'm sure they cut and rolled them before morning.
 
In the summer months courses up North are mint
In the Winter Months Courses down South are Mint
 
Last year I played Congressional the week after the PGA tournament. Rough was brutal, if I was more than 100 yards from the hole and in the rough I had no chance of getting on in regulation
 
I have played a few courses after the pros finished. I lived at Forest Oaks ( Hosted the GGO and GGCC ) when I was younger and played there a few times after events. I have also played at Sedgefield CC after the Wyndham Championship. I don't remember how I played at Forest Oaks but I shot even par at Sedgefield CC from the Sunday tees and pins. A few months ago I played The Governors Club in Chapel Hill for my Open Qualifier. I didn't play too well but the weather was a big part of that.
 
Tomorrow morning I'm playing a course for the first time that is 75 rating and 152 slope from the tips...which I will not be playing from. But the middle tees are 70/143, which will make it just about the hardest course rating/slope wise I've played since Bethpage black. Kinda interested to see how I do, but it might not be pretty ?
 
I have played several courses the pros have played. Thinking back the course that was set up exactly how the big guys play was Bethpage Black a mere 4 days after the last US Open. We decided to play from the Sunday tee placements and boy that rough was deep.
 
I have played Doral two weeks before the PGA stop and Torrey 2 weeks after the tour stops and agree with what everyone says regarding the rough being quite brutal. It was also a little firmer IMO than usual which made things a little more interesting but you would get a little extra distance.


Proud Member of #TeamParadise
 
I've read that the average 15 handicapper would shoot between 95 and 102 give or take on most professional courses. And I'm sure that's on your best day.

I'd love to play every course on the PGA tour, but would probably be happier doing so in a scramble or match play tournament.

I've played a few "championship" and "tournament" courses in scramble format and between the 4 people playing we (different people each time) have broke 70 a whopping 1 time out of numerous times in the past 12 months. It seems crazy when four mid-handicappers can't pull together enough shots to score like a single pro can.
 
Chambers Bay, the sight of next year's US Open, can be a nightmare if you don't hit fairways...and when you do the ground is soo undulating that many times the ball is either above or below your feet. The greens are table top and sloping fron to back on many holes so if you don't know how to pull the string on wedge shots you'll easily roll off the backside thinking you hit a decent shot into the center of the green.
 
I've played Champions Run in Omaha NE after the Cox Classic many times, and twice on the Monday after the Cox Classic finished. Played from the tips every time I played it and the only difference really is the greens were a touch faster and the rough a bit thicker. Surprisingly I broke 80 both times I played on the Monday after the tournament (76 first time and 78 second time), however when you compare it to the scores those players post, it's not very good.
 
About 15 years ago I played a pga course in Florida....not sure where it was honestly. Some place near ft lauderdale before we headed out on a cruise. It was when I was first starting out and learning. I think I hit like a 125 or something like that.

Not a real test but it's what got me addicted that is for sure


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I will be playing The Home Course, next Tuesday, which, I am told, will have similar conditions as described by the OP..... as they prepare to host the Women's Public Links Championship. Should be interesting. I've also played Chamber's Bay and The Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale. Very Humbling.
 
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