10 minute read
Bogeyman
Distance and deliberation dominate the game
The Bogeyman
Dan O’Neill - Editor
I started getting out of bed this morning, but caught myself just in time. I stopped, reached over to the nightstand, picked up my little green book and checked on the distance and slope my feet would need to negotiate to successfully land on the floor. Fortified with that information, I was able to go ahead and initiate my move to stand up. Sound crazy? Not if you watched Bryson DeChambeau win the U.S. Open. Interestingly enough, that victory became all about distance. One person proposes a narrative and it becomes gospel, proselytized and spread across all media platforms. So you already know the story - DeChambeau walloped Winged Foot with tape-measure blows. But statistically, he wasn’t even the longest hitter in the championship. According to the USGA stats, six players averaged more yardage off the tee. Much more germane than DeChambeau’s power off the tee was his power and precision from the rough. Forty-three percent of the fairways translated into 64 percent of the greens for “Bison.” He won because he could hit approach shots a mile high and land them on Winged Foot’s wobbly greens, U.S. Open rough notwithstanding. He won with terrific putting and, most importantly, with unflappable composure. Bobby Jones once said, “Nobody wins the U.S. Open, everybody else just loses it.” DeChambeau never faltered mentally, while all those around him crumbled. It wasn’t unorthodox, it was classic. But for the purposes of this narrative, it’s the manner in which DeChamslow won that bears further examination. Watching the finish at Mamaroneck was like watching a rush-hour bottleneck, like curing insomnia, like tracking the gestation period of an African elephant (22 months). Not to pick on DeChambeau. He’s not the only sloth, just the most obvious. At Winged Foot, he was contending for a major championship, so some ponderation is understandable. But as a certain presidential candidate puts it, “C’mon man! Is it really necessary for you and your caddy to reference books and pause to do math - in front of a 10-foot putt? Would it be possible to give it a good look, from both ends if you like, and just roll it? Again, the player is not so much to blame. There’s a lot of money on the 8 table. You push the envelope as far you’re allowed. And golf is not the only sport allowing itself to be overwhelmed with analytics. Look at what’s happened to baseball. Equations have taken over the game, created ever-present shifts, sacrificed contact for launch angles, compromised eyeballs for software and nonstop pitching changes. The radar gun is all powerful, as pitchers maximize effort and detonate elbows. The statistics are mind-numbing. Even the language has changed. You don’t throw strikes anymore, you “execute in the zone.” You don’t get a hold of one anymore, you “get the barrel out.” If Pete Rose played today, he’d be known as “Mr. Charles Maximum Energy Exertion,” not “Charlie Hustle.” The same thing is happening to golf. Swing speed, spin rates, loft angles, strokes-gained, blah, blah, blah. All of these things have a place, to be sure. But there is a well-known expression in the game that addresses the delicate balance between analytics and application, and what happens when the balance is distorted . That is, “paralysis by analysis.” In today’s game, the concept doesn’t just apply to the mental process, it also applies to pace of play. Feel, instinct, deduction … these were the staples of golf, talents acquired through practice and experience. Now they are purchased at the pro shop, found in greens books and range finders. The mind was something to be kept unencumbered. Find something on the range, latch on to a swing thought, and off you go. Keep it simple, stupid. Now a PGA Tour player has to check his books, and have his caddy do the same. Now it’s a formula, to be considered, calculated and pondered Keep it simple stupid has become “take your time Einstein.” What’s more, the surrender to analysis is disingenuous. The rules allow one to consult these tools, but not seek advice from another player - huh? What if the guy who created the yardage book plays golf? Is that not advice? What if the guy who wrote the greens book plays golf, is that not advice? We could go on, but there is pace of play issues with golf columns, as well. Those who assessed DeChambeau’s win at Winged Foot as a power play are predicting biblical episodes at Augusta. They insist members would do well to buy up more property and extend the fairways to I-20 and Bobby Jones Expressway. They believe America’s Golf Course is defenseless - I’m thinking the greens might beg to differ. But if this all about power and analytics, the powers that be should also hire street artisans, install amusement rides and shoot T-shirts into the galleries … when there are galleries. Golf is going to need something to keep people entertained. Because let’s face it, the DeChambeau approach to championship golf is impressive … but only if you can stay awake long enough to watch it.
Distance and deliberation dominate the game
table. You push the envelope as far you’re allowed. And golf is not the only sport allowing itself to be overwhelmed with analytics. Look
Equations have taken over the game, created ever-present shifts, sacrificed contact for launch angles, compromised eyeballs for software and nonstop pitching changes. The radar gun is all powerful, as pitchers maximize effort and detonate elbows. The statistics are mind-numbing. Even the language has changed. You don’t throw strikes anymore, you “execute in the zone.” You don’t get a hold of one anymore, you “get the
If Pete Rose played today, he’d be known as “Mr. Charles Maximum Energy Exertion,” not “Charlie Hustle.” The same thing is happening to golf. Swing speed, spin rates, loft angles, strokes-gained, blah, blah, blah. All of these things have a place, to be sure. But there is a well-known expression in the game that addresses the delicate balance between analytics and application, and what happens when the balance is distorted
In today’s game, the concept doesn’t just apply to the mental process, it also applies to pace of play. Feel, instinct, deduction … these were the staples of golf, talents acquired through practice and experience. Now they are purchased at the pro shop, found in greens books and range
The mind was something to be kept unencumbered. Find something on the range, latch on to a swing thought, and off you go. Keep it simple,
Now a PGA Tour player has to check his books, and have his caddy do the same. Now it’s a formula, to be considered, calculated and pondered Keep it simple stupid has become “take your time Einstein.” What’s more, the surrender to analysis is disingenuous. The rules allow one to consult these tools, but not seek advice from another player - huh? What if the guy who created the yardage book plays golf? Is that not advice? What if the guy who wrote the greens book plays golf, is that not
We could go on, but there is pace of play issues with golf columns, as well. Those who assessed DeChambeau’s win at Winged Foot as a power play are predicting biblical episodes at Augusta. They insist members would do well to buy up more property and extend the fairways to I-20 and Bobby Jones Expressway. They believe America’s Golf Course is defenseless - I’m
But if this all about power and analytics, the powers that be should also hire street artisans, install amusement rides and shoot T-shirts into the galleries … when there are galleries. Golf is going to need something to
Ben Hogan’s “Power Golf” was published in 1948. A 1949 article in Time Magazine revealed Hogan hit his driver 265 yards,which was considered long at the time. Golf today is a bit different. As of mid-October, more than 140 PGA Tour players averaged 300-plus yards in Driving Distance.
Open Division
Player Tommy Alferman Curtis Brokenbow Zakariya Butt Alex Ciaramitaro Kiel Viehl Ryan Eckelkamp Brad Hammond Tanner Walton Ryan Sullivan Matt Hefley Garrett Mott Gross Score 66-72-138 67-72-139 70-70-140 72-69-141 71-72-143 72-72-144 76-70-146 76-70-146 76-70-146 75-71-146 74-72-146
*Tournament paid top eight finishers and ties, with first place getting $350.
Buddy Allen fortified his pursuit of another MAGA Senior Player of the Year honor with a win at the Southern Illinois Amateur on Sunday, Oct. 11 at Green Hills Golf Club in Mt. Vernon, Ill. Overtaking first-round leader Mike Castellari, Allen fired a 4-under-par 32 on the backside, birdying the last three holes and finishing with a final-round 65. His two-day total of 6965-134 was four strokes clear of the field. Castellari began the final-round with a one-stroke lead, after carding an opening 3-under 68. But three bogeys on the front nine on Sunday opened the door for Allen, and he rushed past. Castellari tried to recover with two birdies and a 34 on the back, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Allen’s red-number finish. With his 68-70-138 total, Castellari was second. In the regular division, Tommy Alferman surived a see-saw Sunday to capture the championship. After opening with a 6-under 66, Alferman covered four more birdies with four bogeys on Sunday, including a bogey at No. 16, and reached the clubhouse with a par-72, finishing a 6-under 138 weekend. Curtis Brokenbow,, who began the final round one stroke back, continued to press the issue until a double-bogey on the par-3 11th sabatoged his chances. Still, Brokenbow birdied 15 and 17 to move to within a stroke and make the concluding moments tense. But Alferman made par and Brokenbow could only match, leaving himself one shot shy. Zakariya Butt also was in the mix, and with birdies at No. 14 and 16 on Sunday was part of the lead. A double-bogey at the par-5 17th left Butt (70-70-140) two shots in arears. Alex Ciramitaro had a final-round 69 to finish three shots back..”
Buddy Allen fortified his pursuit of another MAGA Senior Player of the Year honor with a win at the Southern Illinois Amateur on Sunday, Oct. 11 at Green Hills Golf Club in Mt.
Overtaking first-round leader Mike Castellari, Allen fired a 4-under-par 32 on the backside, birdying the last three holes and finishing with a final-round 65. His two-day total of 6965-134 was four strokes clear of the field. Castellari began the final-round with a one-stroke lead, after carding an opening 3-under 68. But three bogeys on the front nine on Sunday opened the door for Allen, and he rushed past. Castellari tried to recover with two birdies and a 34 on the back, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Allen’s red-number finish. With his 68-70-138 total, Castellari was
In the regular division, Tommy Alferman surived a see-saw Sunday to capture the championship. After opening with a 6-under 66, Alferman covered four more birdies with four bogeys on Sunday, including a bogey at No. 16, and reached the clubhouse with a par-72, finishing a 6-under 138
Curtis Brokenbow,, who began the final round one stroke back, continued to press the issue until a double-bogey on the par-3 11th sabatoged his chances. Still, Brokenbow birdied 15 and 17 to move to within a stroke and make the concluding
But Alferman made par and Brokenbow could only match, leaving himself one shot shy. Zakariya Butt also was in the mix, and with birdies at No. 14 and 16 on Sunday was part of the lead. A double-bogey at the par-5 17th left Butt (70-70-140) two shots in arears. Alex Ciramitaro had a final-round 69 to finish three shots back..”
Senior Division
