DGPT Silver Series: 2021 The Challenge @ Goat Hill Park May 7-9

[brutalbrutus]

Goat Hill's quadruple whammy of distance, wind, OB, and quite a few greens with rollaway potential, make it a tough course.

Rollaways are less of a factor when you're sticking putts on windy days. And wind is less of a factor when you have the power to disc up in stability for a bit more consistency and better placement, and still get down the fairway.

Trite as it sounds, not surprising the winner ended up being a guy who can bomb with the best of them, and putt with the best of them. Plus, Ricky's just playing really well.

It's one of the few stick golf course layouts i don't mind. There is so much elevation change there. It's almost like playing Colorado mountain golf.

 

[glassila]

Holyn Handley makes a nice push to get into the top 3.

 

[AHagglund]

Putting on the FPO side was shockingly bad (with a few notable exceptions). The six through ten spots--all of whom cashed--combined to make 16 out of 61 C1X putts in the final round. The top 5 did a little better, but still...yeesh.

And since you're supposed to say two nice things for every piece of criticism you give...
1)Kudos to Nicole Bradley for going 100% from C1X in that final round and nearly getting on the podium
2)And a huge thank you to Jennifer Allen for enduring the worst putting funk I've ever seen and managing to keep a positive attitude the whole time. Takes a lot of maturity and class to do that.

 

[Jolt]

Putting on the FPO side was shockingly bad (with a few notable exceptions). The six through ten spots--all of whom cashed--combined to make 16 out of 61 C1X putts in the final round. The top 5 did a little better, but still...yeesh.

And since you're supposed to say two nice things for every piece of criticism you give...
1)Kudos to Nicole Bradley for going 100% from C1X in that final round and nearly getting on the podium
2)And a huge thank you to Jennifer Allen for enduring the worst putting funk I've ever seen and managing to keep a positive attitude the whole time. Takes a lot of maturity and class to do that.

Yes, it´s strange but it feels like putting has got worse on the FPO side.
Kona lost 10throws to Nicole inside the Circle in R3

SOOO much to gain inside the circle for a good putter in FPO, much more than from the tee or fairway it seams

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Watching JK putt during that first round was disappointing. OMG, did I feel for her.

No doubt the wind made putting way tougher, but still, some of the missed putts were pretty horrendous.

 

[dehaas]

Watching JK putt during that first round was disappointing. OMG, did I feel for her.

No doubt the wind made putting way tougher, but still, some of the missed putts were pretty horrendous.

I was surprised how many of the misses looked like they were in the 10-15 foot range. I know elevation and wind comes into play but at those distances you can't be missing.

For a ball golf course I think this one is fairly fun to watch due to the elevation. What I didn't care for though is it seemed like the OB markings were inconsistent. Across the path would be OB on one hole and not another, stuff like that. They talked about minor tweaks year to year on the course, so maybe they were changing OB on a couple holes to see if it changes scoring distribution at all. Who knows, but it was a bit annoying to watch.

 

[Rastnav]

I was surprised how many of the misses looked like they were in the 10-15 foot range. I know elevation and wind comes into play but at those distances you can't be missing.

For a ball golf course I think this one is fairly fun to watch due to the elevation. What I didn't care for though is it seemed like the OB markings were inconsistent. Across the path would be OB on one hole and not another, stuff like that. They talked about minor tweaks year to year on the course, so maybe they were changing OB on a couple holes to see if it changes scoring distribution at all. Who knows, but it was a bit annoying to watch.

There is absolutely no reason to declare being over a cart path OB on one hole simply because it was on another. OB lines should serve the needs of the course/designer, rather than being arbitrarily "consistent". Marking OB in a camera visible manner is a very nice feature of paths, but that's not a good reason to use them if they don't serve the needs of the hole.

I would like to see the DGPT mandate something highly camera visible for delineating OB, if that's possible. I think the change this year to use the temporary walls, but a couple of feet away from the actual OB line, is a pretty reasonable way to do this, but I could potentially see other possibilities down the line.

 

[dehaas]

There is absolutely no reason to declare being over a cart path OB on one hole simply because it was on another. OB lines should serve the needs of the course/designer, rather than being arbitrarily "consistent". Marking OB in a camera visible manner is a very nice feature of paths, but that's not a good reason to use them if they don't serve the needs of the hole.

I would like to see the DGPT mandate something highly camera visible for delineating OB, if that's possible. I think the change this year to use the temporary walls, but a couple of feet away from the actual OB line, is a pretty reasonable way to do this, but I could potentially see other possibilities down the line.

Sidewalks and roads are typically OB for safety reasons. Naturally they're defining the playing area, and from a golf perspective are attempting to dissuade shots that may put unaware park users at risk.

Yes on a ball golf course during a tournament you shouldn't experience many randos walking for errant shots to do much harm, but with personal experience hosting events players and TD's will both agree consistency on the course is infinitely easier for everybody.

Nobody wants to ask on every tee if the sidewalk is OB or not. I agree with you, they shouldn't be OB arbitrarily, but what I'm saying is if they're there, they're there for a reason, and probably should be OB.

 

[ThrowBot]

Final round, hole 8, Ricky's 2nd throw:

Anyone else notice a stance violation?

 

[ru4por]

It's one of the few stick golf course layouts i don't mind. There is so much elevation change there. It's almost like playing Colorado mountain golf.

Man, I don't know. Brown grass, large dirt patches, freaking flags all over...figuring out what was OB was impossible, janky azz tee pads and little to no obstacles. Just not my thing.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Man, I don't know. Brown grass, large dirt patches, freaking flags all over...figuring out what was OB was impossible, janky azz tee pads and little to no obstacles. Just not my thing.

I can see that and it's not like i think it's great..."I don't mind" isnt exactly a ringing endorsement.

 

[Chains Bailey]

Final round, hole 8, Ricky's 2nd throw:

Anyone else notice a stance violation?

Pleasantly surprised that Philo' noticed and commented on a few foot-faults during the coverage - Rickys was one of them.

Additionally, I was impressed in his response to the usual "No one wants to be that guy" (Calling the rules), by Ian - Philo simply stated that there should be some integrity.

Not a knock on Ian - he is just echoing what many players have communicated to him over time.