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The Wedge Guy: Has the game gotten too hard? (Part 2)

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First of all, thanks to all of you who chimed in on this discussion I began in last week’s post. In general, the comments seemed to fall into two groups—those who agreed that the game has gotten too difficult around the greens, and those who stated that modern equipment has made the game easier, and that fast, smooth greens are a godsend.

To those who espoused that latter position, I don’t totally disagree with you…but only for more accomplished players (but I do think green difficulty has gone too far). I guess I missed making my key point, which was that too many modern green complexes have shifted the historic challenge of golf from the full swing striking of a golf ball to make it go where you want, to the highly sophisticated skillset required to pitch, chip and putt around and on these
heavily protected, super-fast and mostly undulating greens.

It seems most of us agree that modern equipment and teaching technologies have dramatically streamlined the learning process so that achieving quasi-mastery of making a golf ball get airborne in the general direction you want it to go has been made more efficient. My point was that while striking the golf ball has become exponentially easier, the act of making it go in the hole from the last 20-30 yards has become exponentially harder. And I don’t think this
is good for the game as a whole.

It’s no secret that golf participation is not enjoying any positive vibes. Not enough new golfers are taking up the game, the majority of courses are struggling to stay viable, and many are even closing. I would even suggest that Topgolf and its clones are enjoying success because their activity is totally focused on hitting golf shots…and the challenges of finishing the hole are not part of the picture.

But for all of us who love golf, recruitment of new players is crucial to continued access to our favorite courses. If the game cannot attract and retain new participants, those of us who must support any given club or public course is a declining population. And that can only lead to closures and loss of facilities that we enjoy. So, I contend that if you love golf, you simply have to be part of the solution.

The USGA initiated the “Tee It Forward” campaign, which was certainly a step in the right direction. Who wants to play a course where you cannot reach the par-4 holes in two shots or the par 5’s in three? I am a huge proponent of every golfer choosing a set of tees that allow them to do that, and it has nothing to do with “Ladies” or “Seniors” tees. It only has to do with your own physical abilities – how far can you hit driver, 5-iron, etc. For Pete’s sake, play the tees that make the game play like it should.

But teeing it forward doesn’t address the topic I have put forth for discussion: Even if that lady/senior/beginner plays the forward-most tees to match their strength profile, they still have to contend with the same heavily bunkered, undulating, lightning-fast green complexes as the championship golfer. That makes no sense if we are trying to attract new players.

I watched a few holes of a high school girls’ tournament Sunday, with some of the top teams in South Texas in the field. On a windy weekend, scores ranged from (+6) 148 for the eventual 36-hole champion to several scores over 300 for two rounds; what we should be concerned about is that well over half the field did not shoot under 200 for the two rounds.

Many of these young ladies exhibited very functional tee-to-green skill sets, but they got killed by our green complexes, taking 4-5 strokes to navigate from greenside more often than not. And I have witnessed the same disparity between the elite players and the bulk of the field in boys’ tournaments as well.

If we think any of these kids are going to continue to play golf recreationally after high school, we are delusional. Very simply, this cannot be fun. In fact, it is downright humiliating to take two swings to move the ball 250-350 yards or more, then twice that many–or more–to get the ball in the hole from there.

So, here is my offer of a solution…Green it forward.

If courses would construct a very simple, un-bunkered, relatively flat “beginners’ green” somewhere out front and/or to the side of the regular green, with a speed that runs 5-7 at the most, and maybe even with a larger cup of 6-8”, beginners and less skilled players could enjoy a day of golf without fear and frustration. When their skills have advanced sufficiently to play the regular greens, they can take them on. This just might be a way to reverse the trend of losing players, or not getting them at all.

We let little kids graduate from tricycles to training wheels before we turn them loose on a bike. We let them play soccer with much fewer rules to get them into the game. We lower the basket to 7-8 feet for youth basketball. We let the tykes play T-ball, then coach pitch, to get them ready for Little League baseball.

Why can’t we do the same to get them into golf?

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Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs, sets of irons and drivers, and in 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry. Since the early 2000s, Terry has been a prolific writer, sharing his knowledge as “The Wedge Guy”.   But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

39 Comments

39 Comments

  1. Carl

    Feb 13, 2020 at 8:23 am

    Making new greens is an expensive proposition, in a game that is already getting too expensive. I’m 65 years old and whe we need are greens a little slower and not quite so undulating. We also need affordable golf. When I was growing up, golf was a rich mans sport and it’s getting back to that again. You need kids to play and to bring in new people, make it affordable and playable. Everyone wants a tour caliber course, why? I was a top amateur in my day and the course I played on was enjoyable for all. All this extra bunkering and super slope greens came in during the Pete Dye era… ridiculous golf. I prefer the older architects, but we shouldn’t be taking Donald Ross greens and making them a 12 on the stomp meter! They weren’t designed for that. We need to make golf affordable and fun for beginners. I started my kids off at the 150 yard markers of each hole and halfway close on par 3’s. I taught them the etiquette of the game and to respect the course. We let faster groups through and fixed divots and ball marks. I had them play a nice little 9 hole course that wasn’t too hard and had moderate greens.
    Then I played with them! Most kids want to be with their parents and golf is a good game to do that! Spend time together. Make it fun!!

  2. Michael

    Feb 12, 2020 at 9:58 pm

    I know this is a little off the topic but addresses part of the question of getting new golfers in the game. One of the problems I found for young players is that all kids golf clinics in my area are during the week at hours that people work. Most kids would rather learn in a group setting with other kids.

  3. 8thehardway

    Feb 12, 2020 at 7:11 pm

    Build one nice, easy green; mark distances of 5 to 30 feet to the hole in chalk and reserve it for those who want this option 30 minutes prior to their tee time. They can record their putts on a hole-by-hole basis prior to their round and avoid on-course greens once reaching them unless their approach shot lands close to the hole, in which case they have the option to attempt the putt.

    Dedicate part of the existing putting green to this or computerize putting if building a green dedicated to beginners isn’t feasible. With any of these setups, beginners could come any day prior to their round and record their efforts.

  4. Rascal

    Feb 12, 2020 at 5:23 pm

    Just setup some temporary courses in big spaces not being used, like stadiums or sports fields. Don’t need that much room, but perhaps insurance will be the real obstacle.

  5. Acemandrake

    Feb 12, 2020 at 1:49 pm

    Let play/practice be determined by the time spent rather than the number of holes played.

    I like to play between 2 & 3 hours and then I want to go do something else. I’ve been playing for 50 years and at various levels of the game.

    There are a lot of formalities in golf that are intimidating and unwelcoming to non-golfers. “How many hours do you want?” vs. the standard “9 or 18?” might be an enticement.

    Loosen up and play the way you want.

  6. G

    Feb 12, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    Obviously, courses can’t build 18 new green complexes.They could simply mow an area near the green down to a 7 stimp length and let those that want to, play out there. As one of the above commenters noted, he has his beginner children putt out on the foot golf green. The problem is human nature, most people want to play a championship course, regardless if their skill. They want to play like the pros from the back tees on fast greens. It’s stupid, but that’s how most people think-its ego. I really feel like making greens slower would help tremendously. It would also lower costs. I had a friend who owned a course, he was struggling to keep it open. And his biggest expense was the chemicals for greens. As greens get faster more chemicals are needed to keep those greens healthy. The cost from a 9 green to a 12 aporox.doubles just in the chemicals. He eventually closed his course.

  7. myron miller

    Feb 12, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    I play a moderate amount and a fairly large number of different courses each year (50-75) different each year so I see a lot of differences. I see very very few super quick greens, maybe under 5 a year at pro speeds and twice that number at under 7 stimp. There’s one course locally that regularly is at 4-6. Do you really understand how hard you have to hit a ball with a stimp of 5? I can’t do it with a putter. I had to use a wood to get the ball going fast enough to roll to the hole from 30-40 feet away. From what I’ve seen a stimp of 7-10 is adequate for the average golfer and that’s what is found at a lot of courses, especially muni’s. And for resort type courses in Florida that range is pretty much most of them try to keep the courses. I’ve been told by many greenskeepers at resort courses that when they speed them up the average resort golfer has problems and then 4-5 putt and that’s 5-6 hour rounds on the average. Remember the average resort player in Florida probably hasn’t played in 1-3 months (it’s winter up north and generally they can’t). SO they haven’t had a chance to play due to one reason or another.

    Better players don’t encounter fast greens so they struggle for their first round or two on them. But most can adjust somewhat. Now I can’t speak for that tournament in Texas but I’ve seen a number of junior tournaments in Florida, including state high school and there are very very few players that don’t break 90. Most are breaking 75 with the leaders somewhere in the low-mid 60s almost without exception. In fact, at the high school level there are very few kids not breaking 50 for 9 holes with most in the lower 40s.

    I’ve played courses with two pins and they are a major pain the posterior to putt on. Usually one or the other unused pin is in the way and people have to take drops to avoid the wrong pin.

    But moving up is very doable. Most in Florida have senior tees at 5100-5500 which are reasonable for most seniors, even if they can’t reach all the par 4s in 2. On One course I play a moderate amount and regularly shoot a low 18-20s index which gives me a course handicap of 9. Now I know I’m NOT a 9 handicap now, I’m a 18-20 realistically if not more, but courses like these are easy enough (or at least the USGA thinks so) to be very playable. And the course is pretty busy and has a lot of events where players with minimal skills are playing and having fun. But the key is not a gimmicked course but one that is playable for everyone.

    So I strongly disagree with many of his suggestions. Besides the old school teaching was to teach putting and then chipping/pitching and not until the student was comfortable with those go to the longer clubs. Also the suggestion not to move back until one broke 80 consistently at that tee box still makes sense.

  8. J. Arnold

    Feb 12, 2020 at 11:34 am

    Played a fun event a while ago, and each green had 2 holes cut; one reg size, one 12″ and everyone loved it. The 0-10 hdcp players loved the faster play, and the 11+ hdcp ‘newbies’ could sink some putts!
    Took some new players to a local course, and told them they could a) tee up on the fairway only play or count shots starting from the 150yd marker. More enjoyable for them (they could hit greens in 2 shots) and me too (faster play).
    Golf is one of the few sports that asks everyone to play the ‘pro’ rules. Baseball has slow pitch and aluminum bats, men’s hockey has no hitting and no slapshots, skiers don’t learn on double black diamond ‘Olympic’ caliber runs, there are ‘touch’ or flag football leagues, Pickleball (small court tennis) is booming.
    None of the above is costly and it brings more people into the sport, which helps pay to keep courses from closing.

  9. Bob Jones

    Feb 12, 2020 at 10:01 am

    I can’t identify with this problem, because the daily fee courses where I play (NW Oregon), even the recent constructions, are nothing like the ones you’re describing. The problem sounds like designers wanting to make their reputation designing Tour-quality courses and not realizing? caring? that golf is played by millions of people who are anything but Tour quality. But maybe there’s no money in designing courses that can be played by the masses. Or course owners demand a difficult course instead of a playable one.

    As for all those high school and junior tournaments, I just wouldn’t hold tournaments on courses that beat up and probably discourage hard-working young players like that. Is that so hard for adults to figure out?

  10. PSG

    Feb 12, 2020 at 9:31 am

    This guy always has awesome solutions to problems nobody wants solved. I don’t even know where to start with this “take”. Let’s spend millions of dollars on this nonsense.

    Terry, the best way to research an article is to do research. Do you have anything at all to back up your claim that greens are harder now than before? Make sure your hands and brain are connected before you type another one of these.

  11. Greg

    Feb 12, 2020 at 9:05 am

    Shawn
    Agreed
    Probably the least costly and objectionable would be two separate pin placements per green. Additionally, fill in a few of the needless, penalizing bunkers. Two cost effective measures which simplify and speed up play would be the first steps at progressing our game.

    • Fiorenzo

      Feb 14, 2020 at 11:23 am

      I agree with the placement of two separate pins. Players can decide which pin to play for at the start of the round. I presume that the use of these tees will mean that the round would not be acceptable for handy capping purposes but casual golfers and beginners , I am sure, would not be phased.Filling in bunkers I am not so sure, even if they are the bane of my life.

  12. sroooooch

    Feb 12, 2020 at 7:54 am

    1) Stop making golf 18 holes, real people do not have time or money to play that long. Don’t even make them 9, make places that have 5,6,or 7 holes. Who cares? Just make them short and quick, blue collar people have a lot on their plate. Golf doesn’t fit in.
    2) Build pitch-n-putt courses in urban areas all across the country. The PGA has no problem buying courses that no realistic person is ever going to play and then have the nerve to say they’re “growing the game”. Take the game to kids and stop trying to take kids to the game. It will never grow with that mindset.
    You don’t need to make the game easier, just more accessible, the more people who start at a young age makes the game easier for a lot of people. Building muscle memory at youth is far easier than at an older age. People in golf don’t understand the real world and have made no actual attempts to grow the game. Even the first tee is a flawed system that will not grow the game.
    Cheers

  13. MP Fritze

    Feb 12, 2020 at 7:43 am

    I watch the Pro’s on weekends. I really have nothing in common with them, not clubs, balls,etc. i do have the same enthusiasm, though.
    I’m 76 and shoot to a 16 on public courses. All the new equipment that will come out will not help me get better, but its fun to think it will. Love this game.

  14. Vincent Collier

    Feb 12, 2020 at 7:25 am

    Unworkable… the average cost of adding a green to an existing course is over $75k. So that is a $1.3m improvement before the annual cost of fertilizer and reseeding.

  15. Shallowface

    Feb 12, 2020 at 7:11 am

    Not sure why, but my comments don’t seem to post on this section of the website on a consistent basis. Trying again.

    As I mentioned in my comment on Part 1, the onus is on the people setting the hole locations to put them in places that are flat as possible for three feet around the cup. Often times the guy cutting the holes (who often times doesn’t even play golf except for the kind with clown mouths and dinosaurs) thinks it’s cute or funny to put them in places that are impossible. At one course I frequent, they were sending out a couple of teenagers who were visibly gleeful at the places they were cutting the holes. That stopped after I threw a fit in the clubhouse. If a course doesn’t have flat spots available for pin placements, it deserves to go out of business.
    Dan’s post above was spot on as well. It’s a golf course, not a grass farm.

  16. Tim Kozlow

    Feb 12, 2020 at 6:28 am

    We have a bunch of Muni Courses around my area. Easier wide-open courses with no sand. They have a decent length to them but not too many hazards.
    They are always crowded. There are several 60 and 70-year-old men and women who play these courses and maintain single-digit handicaps on them.
    During the summer, tons of younger kids flock to these courses also.

    This is how I started. I played a par three course for a year until I got the guts to play a bigger course which looking back on this it was an easy course but I didn’t know it.

    I’m a single-digit player and I can tell you my club’s course is difficult. Greens are tough to hit. Most are surrounded by hazards. They putt tough and have tons of break.
    Half the people there cannot break 100 or 90 ever. I wonder what they get out of it?

    One of the issues besides what was said above is to maintain a 3 handicap I have to practice and play an awful lot to the downfall of doing other things in life.
    The game is just too hard for most people. Many do not have the time to put into it. It is also to dam expensive. That is another reason these muni courses are always busy. You can get a summer pass there for less than 1000 dollars for the whole season.
    Kids pay 300 for a summer pass and go out there all day.

    I can’t imagine what I have spent on golf in the past 40 years since I was 16.

    Half the kids on these courses spend half the day in the woods looking for balls because they are too expensive.

    The equipment companies, Ball companies and all of the rest of this industry have no perspective besides catering to the affluent rich. That is what it is all geared toward.
    Look at the Pebble Beach pro-am over last weekend. Playground for the rich. It doesn’t promote the game. It just tells all the regular joes that you can watch but don’t touch.
    Maybe it would be nice if they let regular people play for free!!! Talk about promoting the game.

    Golf is a joke the way it is marketed.

    It’s too late for me at 56. This is the game I play but if I was young again and knew what I knew now. I would never play. I would find something else to do.

  17. Moritz

    Feb 12, 2020 at 4:34 am

    The problem is that many courses (at least over here in central europe) are already fighting financial troubles. 18 extra greens (which equal a LOT of maintenance costs) might kill them entirely. Plus: around here, too fast greens are very rare. Most of them could be a bit quicker for my taste

  18. Radim

    Feb 12, 2020 at 3:29 am

    I let my children putt into those footgolf holes. They are usually on the side, no hazards around.

  19. Putt Stuff

    Feb 11, 2020 at 10:06 pm

    The game used to be taught and learned from the green to tee. Now we focus too much on tee to green. Turning three shots into two is attainable for players of all shapes, sizes, and athletic aptitudes when done greenside.

    Golf professionals that focus on the short game are always in demand and can charge a premium compared to full swing only teachers. Teaching players a short game technique will always result in better full swing impact whereas working on the full swing will rarely directly influence short game performance.

    Public facilities also lack good short game learning areas because they are difficult to monetize.

  20. Cory

    Feb 11, 2020 at 8:20 pm

    I think these ideas are great. I bet if you took a few muni golf courses in any city and turned them into beginner courses with no bunkers, no rough, and larger and flatter greens people would be lining up to play it. Even better, make it three 6 hole loops so people could play 6 holes in under an hour or tackle all 18 if they’re feeling up to it.

  21. Jesse

    Feb 11, 2020 at 7:26 pm

    The Superintendent at my course needs to hear about the 3 foot flat area. The Sadist at my club loves to put holes in places that if you are above the hole and miss the putt the ball rolls off the green.

    Agreed – The green complexes at the local clubs not hosting PGA/LPGA/Korn Ferry Tournaments need to be designed in such a way that the local sadist cannot have a laugh at those of us who are looking for the clowns mouth and windmills on the holes he has setup

  22. JThunder

    Feb 11, 2020 at 5:32 pm

    It sounds like the author is referring to specific greens on a specific course. Does this “problem” exist everywhere? If so, I haven’t seen it on the dozens of courses in my area. But I do not have access to private courses.

    Private courses have a long, long history of disproportionate ego. “Protecting par”, as a concept, most often stems from these locations – Augusta National is a perfect example. Between the membership, the designers and the record holders, they constantly and consistently want to make courses tougher. This is a constant direction of discussion at the pro and top amateur levels.

    I don’t tend to see it reflected at public courses, where the management is in more direct contact with their clientele, and they see and hear every day whether people are “having fun” or not. And they receive feedback that gets the attention of their wallet before their ego.

    On the other hand – look at all the “elders” of golf talking about how golf is “too difficult”, and how “everyone is leaving the sport”. Have you ever heard the phrase “self-fulfilling prophecy”?

    Maybe these “elders” should be finding a way to present the *challenge* of golf as “the fun”, and presenting the rewards of golf as overcoming those challenges. Though many will refuse to believe it, young people are ready and willing to accept challenges – assuming those challenges are within the realm of fairness and equity.

    A non-challenging game will lose players faster than a challenging one.

    All that said, golf is NOT for everyone. The early years of Tiger Woods gave the golf industry a taste of ludicrous “growth” and a lot of cash. That is over and we cannot expect it again in our lifetime. Golf is time-consuming, expensive, and – at it’s very heart – difficult and challenging. It also survived for hundreds of years before Tiger, and will after him too.

  23. Shallowface

    Feb 11, 2020 at 4:09 pm

    As I mentioned in my comment on Part 1, the onus is on the people setting the hole locations to put them in places that are flat as possible for three feet around the cup. Often times the guy cutting the holes (who often times doesn’t even play golf except for the kind with clown mouths and dinosaurs) thinks it’s cute or funny to put them in places that are impossible. At one course I frequent, they were sending out a couple of teenagers who were visibly gleeful at the places they were cutting the holes. That stopped after I threw a fit in the clubhouse. If a course doesn’t have flat spots available for pin placements, it deserves to go out of business.
    Dan’s post above was spot on as well. It’s a golf course, not a grass farm.

  24. Shallowface

    Feb 11, 2020 at 4:00 pm

    As I mentioned in my comment on Part 1, the onus is on the people setting the hole locations to put them in places that are flat as possible for three feet around the cup. Often times the guy cutting the holes (who often times doesn’t even play golf except for the kind with clown mouths and dinosaurs) thinks it’s cute or funny to put them in places that are impossible. At one course I frequent, they were sending out a couple of teenagers who were visibly gleeful at the places they were cutting the holes. That stopped after I threw a fit in the clubhouse. If a course doesn’t have flat spots available for pin placements, it deserves to go out of business.
    Dan’s post above was spot on as well. It’s a golf course, not a grass farm.

  25. Golf is golf

    Feb 11, 2020 at 3:53 pm

    That s why cooking, cleaning or kniting exist …people who shoot 300 for 36 holes can go play putt putt after a nice day shopping at the mall

    • Cory

      Feb 11, 2020 at 8:14 pm

      Based on that comment, I’m guessing you

      A) don’t have daughters, or even a wife
      B) don’t remember what it’s like to begin learning a new skill

      His ideas are fantastic and would create a path for beginners to graduate to more challenging courses as their skills improve without the fear of being shamed by douchebags.

    • Flog You

      Feb 12, 2020 at 3:38 pm

      Wow, just wow. I am glad those of your viewpoint are becoming fewer and fewer everyday. I hope you enjoy your mom’s basement, neckbeard.

  26. Jesse

    Feb 11, 2020 at 3:36 pm

    There should be easy courses and hard courses and it seems to me we already have that. I’m a 6 handicap and I play a lot of my golf at a relatively easy muni course. The green’s aren’t blazing. The only forced carries are in the <100 yard range… and if you plunk it in the river you can drop on the other side.

    I've really only played on one course in the past 3-5 years where I felt it was tricked out too much and honestly, of the 12 people who were on the golf trip, most were pissed about the ridiculous number of fairway bunkers making it feel unfair to get penalized for piping one down the middle.

    I do not think tricked out greens are a big problem. If some course did that to a bunch of high school girls for a tournament, well, that's on the course superintendent for being an idiot.

  27. Kumat63

    Feb 11, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    I agree with you Wedge Guy on all points! I’m an accomplished player, competitive junior golf, some amateur tournaments over the years, low single digit HC, been playing 50 years now so I can affirm what you say: in the 60’s-70’s greens were rarely over 5-8 on the modern stimp. Most were flat, gentle bunkering if any (exceptions being the major hosting venues, Augusta, Winged Foot, etc.). Even the green speeds at Augusta in the 70’s were rarely over 10 for normal play as my late father could attest (he was a fabulous putter, great short game, former college golfer scratch to plus HC). The game was about striking the ball and if you hit the green in reg you were thinking birdie and par was virtually assured for a decent player. But today… even the top country club courses and better public courses in my area (North Carolina) run 12+ on the Stimp! Regularly! Even in the winter! And the greens on newer course are huge and undulating. I played a local public course recently (Tobacco Road, Sanford NC) with a friend who is a top amateur (played in US Senior Open not long ago) and he figured the greens that day (it was December!) were running 13 on the Stimp. We each 3 putted from 25 or 30 feet a couple times. There were some short shots that were simply impossible to get close. And I’m a good putter! It took a lot of the fun out of the game. You hit an excellent drive, solid approach and walk away with bogey? And we’re accomplished scratch or near scratch players! It’s certainly part of the reason I practice much more than I play these days. I saw my father nearly stop playing in his mid-late 60’s (early 2000’s) because lightning fast greens helped him develop the yips and the game went from joy to torture for him. You see so many pros with claw, arm lock, weird grips. That didn’t used to happen. We wouldn’t need long putters or arm locks if the greens were never over 10 Stimp. Ben Hogan thought the hole should be 8″ pack in the 50’s! I don’t disagree! For everyone! Love your idea of beginner greens. I think I’d play them myself though, so maybe we should just tone down the madness of lighting fast huge, undulating greens insanely bunkered and make the game fun for everyone again.

  28. Tom S.

    Feb 11, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    Meh. You could just design the greens to have some easy pin placements instead.

    I find heavily protected elevated dome greens on every hole where any shot not on target is punished pretty severely followed by a required mastery of a high and soft pitch shot (where you have to make a pretty high risk hardish swing) to be no fun to play. I’m sure it separates the really good players from the just good players but it punishes everyone else. These courses have their place. Good golf course design for the rest of us can have bail out areas on most holes, the ability to run it up onto long par 4’s, and non-psychotic pin placements on flat areas.

  29. Bob Evans

    Feb 11, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    There is a significant difference between everyday recreational golf and tournament golf. Adding a second set of greens would create an environment of additional expense to the golf course, added sustainability issues, and potentially confusion by the player as to which green to play. There are several things that can be done to make daily play easier without major alterations to the course. First, the superintendents can make the greens easier by using more forgiving pin placements on the existing greens and using lower stimpmeter readings (i.e slow-medium) for recreational play. Second, the superintendent can lower the grass height and width of the second cut of rough for the fairways and around the greens (but leaving the third cut as punitive as required to maintain the integrity of the course). This would have the effect of making iron and wedge shots easier and potentially helping hold the greens better. Finally, you can have a local rule regarding the sandtraps to augment the latest USGA rules to make them less punitive for recreational play. All these can be adjusted for more challenging play by the superintendent for tournament or championship play without much additional cost or effort.

  30. Cletus

    Feb 11, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    Yeah, I think this is the point of muni golf courses. At least where I live there are plenty of options for beginner golfers with slow easy greens. As a scratch golfer I would never play a gimmicky course like stated above with the two sets of greens. Also, in my experience there are plenty of beginner golfers that like being challenged and play the wrong sets of tees. I think it would be difficult to get them to not want to play the faster more difficult greens when they’re right there.

    • Thomas Steed

      Feb 11, 2020 at 8:23 pm

      You, my friend are an ostrich with its head buried in the ground. There are some players who want to be challenged at the start, but a majority won’t. If you don’t agree m, you lack experience in managing millennials and gen z.

  31. SV

    Feb 11, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    I agree that new green complexes have gotten out of hand. However, with faster greens older courses not designed for these speeds have gotten harder also. Adding to the problem is beginners starting out playing the harder courses. It seems no one starts on Par 3 courses and works their way up to a full size course any more. If they did they would have less frustration, enjoy the game more and continue to play.

  32. Dan

    Feb 11, 2020 at 2:01 pm

    Another thing I’ve noticed is that it seems like ever practice green anymore has a no chipping sign up! If the the superintendents had their way, the course would be closed 6 days a week. You wonder why people can’t hit wedge shots from 30 yards in these days?

    • Shallowface

      Feb 11, 2020 at 8:54 pm

      As I mentioned in my comment on Part 1, the onus is on the people setting the hole locations to put them in places that are flat as possible for three feet around the cup. Often times the guy cutting the holes (who often times doesn’t even play golf except for the kind with clown mouths and dinosaurs) thinks it’s cute or funny to put them in places that are impossible. At one course I frequent, they were sending out a couple of teenagers who were visibly gleeful at the places they were cutting the holes. That stopped after I threw a fit in the clubhouse. If a course doesn’t have flat spots available for pin placements, it deserves to go out of business.
      Dan’s post above was spot on as well. It’s a golf course, not a grass farm.

  33. Tacklingdummy

    Feb 11, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    Golf has gotten harder with tougher tracks and tougher green complexes. However, tougher tracks have their place. As your skills progress, you move to tougher courses. If the scores are getting to high at some tracks for some tournaments, then they should move them to easier courses.

    Beginner golfers get eaten up by tough tracks and really good players would eat up easier tracks too much. So it is best to have a good balance of difficulty of courses in every area. Then golfers can play more difficult courses as their skills progress.

  34. Shawn

    Feb 11, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    My first thought to this is how would the standard muni get this done? Our local is already struggling to find enough people to mow and maintain the current course, and now building 18 entirely new greens plus having to maintain them? I don’t see that happening. I heard another idea from an older guy at our course one day- cut two holes on each green. Put one in the easiest location on each green, and one in a more difficult location. Players can decide at the beginning of the round which hole locations they’ll play that day, much like they decide which tee boxes to play.
    As for the state of golf for younger players, I completely agree. I have coached high school golf for 20 years now and we constantly tell kids the quickest way to move up the leaderboard is through short game improvement (especially for the girls). They just nod and spend the next hour trying to sneak back to the driving range with their driver…

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open betting preview

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As the Florida swing comes to an end, the PGA Tour makes its way to Houston to play the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course.

This will be the fourth year that Memorial Park Golf Course will serve as the tournament host. The event did not take place in 2023, but the course hosted the event in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Memorial Park is a par-70 layout measuring 7,432 yards and features Bermudagrass greens. Historically, the main defense for the course has been thick rough along the fairways and tightly mown runoff areas around the greens. Memorial Park has a unique setup that features three Par 5’s and five Par 3’s.

The field will consist of 132 players, with the top 65 and ties making the cut. There are some big names making the trip to Houston, including Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala.

Past Winners at Memorial Park

  • 2022: Tony Finau (-16)
  • 2021: Jason Kokrak (-10)
  • 2020: Carlos Ortiz (-13)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Memorial Park

Let’s take a look at several metrics for Memorial Park to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their last 24 rounds:

Strokes Gained: Approach

Memorial Park is a pretty tough golf course. Golfers are penalized for missing greens and face some difficult up and downs to save par. Approach will be key.

Total Strokes Gained: Approach per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Tom Hoge (+1.30)
  2. Scottie Scheffler (+1.26)
  3. Keith Mitchell (+0.97) 
  4. Tony Finau (+0.92)
  5. Jake Knapp (+0.84)

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Memorial Park is a long golf course with rough that can be penal. Therefore, a combination of distance and accuracy is the best metric.

Total Strokes Gained: Off the Tee per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+0.94)
  2. Kevin Dougherty (+0.93)
  3. Cameron Champ (+0.86)
  4. Rafael Campos (+0.84)
  5. Si Woo Kim (+0.70)

Strokes Gained Putting: Bermudagrass + Fast

The Bermudagrass greens played fairly fast the past few years in Houston. Jason Kokrak gained 8.7 strokes putting on his way to victory in 2021 and Tony Finau gained in 7.8 in 2022.

Total Strokes Gained Putting (Bermudagrass) per round past 24 rounds (min. 8 rounds):

  1. Adam Svensson (+1.27)
  2. Harry Hall (+1.01)
  3. Martin Trainer (+0.94)
  4. Taylor Montgomery (+0.88)
  5. S.H. Kim (+0.86)

Strokes Gained: Around the Green

With firm and undulating putting surfaces, holding the green on approach shots may prove to be a challenge. Memorial Park has many tightly mowed runoff areas, so golfers will have challenging up-and-down’s around the greens. Carlos Ortiz gained 5.7 strokes around the green on the way to victory in 2020.

Total Strokes Gained: Around the Green per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Mackenzie Hughes (+0.76)
  2. S.H. Kim (+0.68)
  3. Scottie Scheffler (+0.64)
  4. Jorge Campillo (+0.62)
  5. Jason Day (+0.60)

Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult

Memorial Park is a long and difficult golf course. This statistic will incorporate players who’ve had success on these types of tracks in the past. 

Total Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+2.45)
  2. Ben Griffin (+1.75)
  3. Will Zalatoris (+1.73)
  4. Ben Taylor (+1.53)
  5. Tony Finau (+1.42)

Course History

Here are the players who have performed the most consistently at Memorial Park. 

Strokes Gained Total at Memorial Park past 12 rounds:

  1. Tyson Alexander (+3.65)
  2. Ben Taylor (+3.40)
  3. Tony Finau (+2.37)
  4. Joel Dahmen (+2.25)
  5. Patton Kizzire (+2.16)

Statistical Model

Below, I’ve reported overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed.

These rankings are comprised of SG: App (24%) SG: OTT (24%); SG: Putting Bermudagrass/Fast (13%); SG: Long and Difficult (13%); SG: ARG (13%) and Course History (13%)

  1. Scottie Scheffler
  2. Wyndham Clark
  3. Tony Finau
  4. Joel Dahmen
  5. Stephan Jaeger 
  6. Aaron Rai
  7. Sahith Theegala
  8. Keith Mitchell 
  9. Jhonnatan Vegas
  10. Jason Day
  11. Kurt Kitayama
  12. Alex Noren
  13. Will Zalatoris
  14. Si Woo Kim
  15. Adam Long

2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open Picks

Will Zalatoris +2000 (Caesars)

Scottie Scheffler will undoubtedly be difficult to beat this week, so I’m starting my card with someone who I believe has the talent to beat him if he doesn’t have his best stuff.

Will Zalatoris missed the cut at the PLAYERS, but still managed to gain strokes on approach while doing so. In an unpredictable event with extreme variance, I don’t believe it would be wise to discount Zalatoris based on that performance. Prior to The PLAYERS, the 27-year-old finished T13, T2 and T4 in his previous three starts.

Zalatoris plays his best golf on long and difficult golf courses. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the category, but the eye test also tells a similar story. He’s contended at major championships and elevated events in the best of fields with tough scoring conditions.  The Texas resident should be a perfect fit at Memorial Park Golf Club.

Alex Noren +4500 (FanDuel)

Alex Noren has been quietly playing some of his best golf of the last half decade this season. The 41-year-old is coming off back-to-back top-20 finishes in Florida including a T9 at The PLAYERS in his most recent start.

In his past 24 rounds, Noren ranks 21st in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 30th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, 25th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses and 21st in Strokes Gained: Putting on fast Bermudagrass greens.

In addition to his strong recent play, the Swede also has played well at Memorial Park. In 2022, Noren finished T4 at the event, gaining 2.2 strokes off the tee and 7.0 strokes on approach for the week. In his two starts at the course, he’s gained an average of .6 strokes per round on the field, indicating he is comfortable on these greens.

Noren has been due for a win for what feels like an eternity, but Memorial Park may be the course that suits him well enough for him to finally get his elusive first PGA Tour victory.

Mackenzie Hughes +8000 (FanDuel)

Mackenzie Hughes found himself deep into contention at last week’s Valspar Championship before faltering late and finishing in a tie for 3rd place. While he would have loved to win the event, it’s hard to see the performance as anything other than an overwhelming positive sign for the Canadian.

Hughes has played great golf at Memorial Park in the past. He finished T7 in 2020, T29 in 2021 and T16 in 2022. The course fit seems to be quite strong for Hughes. He’s added distance off the tee in the past year or and ranks 8th in the field for apex height, which will be a key factor when hitting into Memorial Park’s elevated greens with steep run-off areas.

In his past 24 rounds, Hughes is the best player in the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Greens. The ability to scramble at this course will be extremely important. I believe Hughes can build off of his strong finish last week and contend once again to cement himself as a President’s Cup consideration.

Akshay Bhatia +8000 (FanDuel)

Akshay Bhatia played well last week at the Valspar and seemed to be in total control of his golf ball. He finished in a tie for 17th and shot an impressive -3 on a difficult Sunday. After struggling Thursday, Akshay shot 68-70-68 in his next three rounds.

Thus far, Bhatia has played better at easier courses, but his success at Copperhead may be due to his game maturing. The 22-year-old has enormous potential and the raw talent to be one of the best players in the world when he figures it all out.

Bhatia is a high upside play with superstar qualities and may just take the leap forward to the next stage of his career in the coming months.

Cameron Champ +12000 (FanDuel)

Cameron Champ is a player I often target in the outright betting market due to his “boom-or-bust” nature. It’s hard to think of a player in recent history with three PGA Tour wins who’s been as inconsistent as Champ has over the course of his career.

Despite the erratic play, Cam Champ simply knows how to win. He’s won in 2018, 2019 and 2021, so I feel he’s due for a win at some point this season. The former Texas A&M product should be comfortable in Texas and last week he showed us that his game is in a pretty decent spot.

Over his past 24 rounds, Champ ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 30th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses. Given his ability to spike at any given time, Memorial Park is a good golf course to target Champ on at triple digit odds.

Robert MacIntyre +12000 (FanDuel)

The challenge this week is finding players who can possibly beat Scottie Scheffler while also not dumping an enormous amount of money into an event that has a player at the top that looks extremely dangerous. Enter McIntyre, who’s another boom-or-bust type player who has the ceiling to compete with anyone when his game is clicking on all cylinders.

In his past 24 rounds, MacIntyre ranks 16th in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 17th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green and 10th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses.

MacIntyre’s PGA Tour season has gotten off to a slow start, but he finished T6 in Mexico, which is a course where players will hit driver on the majority of their tee shots, which is what we will see at Memorial Park. Texas can also get quite windy, which should suit MacIntyre. Last July, the Scot went toe to toe with Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open before a narrow defeat. It would take a similar heroic effort to compete with Scheffler this year in Houston.

Ryan Moore +15000 (FanDuel)

Ryan Moore’s iron play has been absolutely unconscious over his past few starts. At The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field, he gained 6.1 strokes on approach and last week at Copperhead, he gained 9.0 strokes on approach.

It’s been a rough handful of years on Tour for the 41-year-old, but he is still a five-time winner on the PGA Tour who’s young enough for a career resurgence. Moore has chronic deterioration in a costovertebral joint that connects the rib to the spine, but has been getting more consistent of late, which is hopefully a sign that he is getting healthy.

Veterans have been contending in 2024 and I believe taking a flier on a proven Tour play who’s shown signs of life is a wise move at Memorial Park.

 

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Why the race to get better at golf might be doing more harm than good

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B.F. Skinner was one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, developing the foundation of the development of reinforcement, and in doing so, creating the concept of behaviorism. In simple terms, this means that we are conditioned by our habits. In practical terms, it explains the divide between the few and far between elite instructors and college coaches.

To understand the application, let’s quickly review one of B.F. Skinner’s most important experiments; superstitions in the formation of behavior by pigeons. In this experiment, food was dispensed to pigeons at random intervals. Soon, according to Skinner, the pigeons began to associate whatever action they were doing at the time of the food being dispensed. According to Skinner, this conditioned that response and soon, they simply haphazardly repeated the action, failing to distinguish between cause and correlation (and in the meantime, looking really funny!).

Now, this is simply the best way to describe the actions of most every women’s college golf coach and too many instructors in America. They see something work, get positive feedback and then become conditioned to give the feedback, more and more, regardless of if it works (this is also why tips from your buddies never work!).

Go to a college event, particularly a women’s one, and you will see coaches running all over the place. Like the pigeons in the experiment, they have been conditioned into a codependent relationship with their players in which they believe their words and actions, can transform a round of golf. It is simply hilarious while being equally perturbing

In junior golf, it’s everywhere. Junior golf academies make a living selling parents that a hysterical coach and over-coaching are essential ingredients in your child’s success.

Let’s be clear, no one of any intellect has any real interest in golf — because it’s not that interesting. The people left, including most coaches and instructors, carve out a small fiefdom, usually on the corner of the range, where they use the illusion of competency to pray on people. In simple terms, they baffle people with the bullshit of pseudo-science that they can make you better, after just one more lesson.

The reality is that life is an impromptu game. The world of golf, business, and school have a message that the goal is being right. This, of course, is bad advice, being right in your own mind is easy, trying to push your ideas on others is hard. As a result, it is not surprising that the divorce rate among golf professionals and their instructors is 100 percent. The transfer rate among college players continues to soar, and too many courses have a guy peddling nefarious science to good people. In fact, we do at my course!

The question is, what impact does all this have on college-age and younger kids? At this point, we honestly don’t know. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t good.

Soren Kierkegaard once quipped “I saw it for what it is, and I laughed.” The actions of most coaches and instructors in America are laughable. The problem is that I am not laughing because they are doing damage to kids, as well as driving good people away from this game.

The fact is that golfers don’t need more tips, secrets, or lessons. They need to be presented with a better understanding of the key elements of golf. With this understanding, they can then start to frame which information makes sense and what doesn’t. This will emancipate them and allow them to take charge of their own development.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Valspar Championship betting preview: Elite ballstrikers to thrive at Copperhead

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The PGA TOUR will stay in Florida this week for the 2024 Valspar Championship.

The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort is a par 71 measuring 7,340 yards and features Bermudagrass greens overseeded with POA. Infamous for its difficulty, the track will be a tough test for golfers as trouble lurks all over the place. Holes 16, 17 and 18 — also known as the “Snake Pit” — make up one of the toughest three-hole stretches in golf and should lead to a captivating finish on Sunday.

The field is comprised of 156 golfers teeing it up. The field this week is solid and is a major improvement over last year’s field that felt the impact of players skipping due to a handful of “signature events” in a short span of time. 

Past Winners at Valspar Championship

  • 2023: Taylor Moore (-10)
  • 2022: Sam Burns (-17)
  • 2021: Sam Burns (-17)
  • 2019: Paul Casey (-8)
  • 2018: Paul Casey (-10)
  • 2017: Adam Hadwin (-14)
  • 2016: Charl Schwartzel (-7)
  • 2015: Jordan Spieth (-10)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Copperhead

1. Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes Gained: Approach grades out as the most important statistic once again this week. Copperhead really can’t be overpowered and is a second-shot golf course.

Total SG: Approach Over Past 24 Rounds (per round)

  1. Tony Finau (+.90)
  2. Nick Taylor (+.81)
  3. Justin Thomas (+.77)
  4. Greyson Sigg (+.69)
  5. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+.67)

2. Good Drive %

The long hitters can be a bit limited here due to the tree-lined fairways and penal rough. Playing from the fairways will be important, but laying back too far will cause some difficult approaches with firm greens that may not hold shots from long irons.

Golfers who have a good balance of distance and accuracy have the best chance this week.

Good Drive % Over Past 24 Rounds

  1. Brice Garnett (+91.3%) 
  2. Zach Johnson (+91.1%)
  3. Sam Ryder (+90.5%)
  4. Ryan Moore (+90.4%)
  5. Aaron Rai (+89.7%)

3. Strokes Gained: Ball Striking

Adding ball-striking puts even more of a premium on tee-to-green prowess in the statistical model this week. Golfers who rank highly in ball-striking are in total control of the golf ball which is exceedingly important at Copperhead.

SG: Ball Striking Over Past 24 Rounds:

  1. Xander Schauffele (+1.32)
  2. Keith Mitchell (+1.29)
  3. Tony Finau (+1.24)
  4. Cameron Young (+1.17) 
  5. Doug Ghim (+.95)

4. Bogey Avoidance

With the conditions likely to be difficult, avoiding bogeys will be crucial this week. In a challenging event like the Valspar, oftentimes the golfer who is best at avoiding mistakes ends up on top.

Gritty golfers who can grind out difficult pars have a much better chance in an event like this than a low-scoring birdie-fest.

Bogey Avoidance Over Past 24 Rounds

  1. Brice Garnett (+9.0)
  2. Xander Schauffele (+9.3)
  3. Austin Cook (+9.7) 
  4. Chesson Hadley (+10.0)
  5. Greyson Sigg (+10.2)

5. Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions

Conditions will be tough this week at Copperhead. I am looking for golfers who can rise to the occasion if the course plays as difficult as it has in the past.

Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions Over Past 24 rounds

  1. Xander Schauffele (+1,71) 
  2. Min Woo Lee (+1.39)
  3. Cameron Young (+1.27)
  4. Jordan Spieth (+1.08)
  5. Justin Suh (+.94)

6. Course History

That statistic will tell us which players have played well at Copperhead in the past.

Course History Over Past 24 rounds

  1. Patrick Cantlay (+3.75) 
  2. Sam Burns (+2.49)
  3. Davis Riley (+2.33)
  4. Matt NeSmith (+2.22)
  5. Jordan Spieth (+2.04)

The Valspar Championship Model Rankings

Below, I’ve compiled overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed — SG: Approach (27%), Good Drive % (15%), SG: BS (20%), Bogeys Avoided (13%), Course History (13%) Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions (12%).

  1. Xander Schauffele
  2. Doug Ghim
  3. Victor Perez
  4. Greyson Sigg
  5. Ryan Moore
  6. Tony Finau
  7. Justin Thomas
  8. Sam Ryder
  9. Sam Burns
  10. Lucas Glover

2024 Valspar Championship Picks

Justin Thomas +1400 (DraftKings)

Justin Thomas will be disappointed with his finish at last week’s PLAYERS Championship, as the past champion missed the cut despite being in some decent form heading into the event. Despite the missed cut, JT hit the ball really well. In his two rounds, the two-time major champion led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach per round.

Thomas has been up and down this season. He’s missed the cut in two “signature events” but also has finishes of T12 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, T12 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, T6 at the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am and T3 at the American Express. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and 6th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking in the field.

Thomas loves Copperhead. In his last three tries at the course, he’s finished T13, T3 and T10. Thomas would have loved to get a win at a big event early in the season, but avoidable mistakes and a balky putter have cost him dearly. I believe a trip to a course he loves in a field he should be able to capitalize on is the right recipe for JT to right the ship.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout +6000 (FanDuel)

Christiaan Bezuidenhout is playing spectacular golf in the 2024 season. He finished 2nd at the American Express, T20 at Pebble Beach and T24 at the Genesis Invitational before finishing T13 at last week’s PLAYERS Championship.

In his past 24 rounds, the South African ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and 26th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. Bezuidenhout managed to work his way around TPC Sawgrass last week with minimal damage. He only made five bogeys in the entire week, which is a great sign heading into a difficult Copperhead this week.

Bezuidenhout is winless in his PGA Tour career, but certainly has the talent to win on Tour. His recent iron play tells me that this week could be a breakthrough for the 35-year-old who has eyes on the President’s Cup.

Doug Ghim +8000 (FanDuel)

Doug Ghim has finished in the top-16 of his past five starts. Most recently, Ghim finished T16 at The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field.

In his past 24 rounds, Ghim ranks 8th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 5th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. In terms of his fit for Copperhead, the 27-year-old ranks 12th in Bogey Avoidance and 7th in Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions, making him a great fit for the course.

Ghim has yet to win on Tour, but at one point he was the top ranked Amateur golfer in the world and played in the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup and 2017 Walker Cup. He then won the Ben Hogan award for the best male college golfer in 2018. He certainly has the talent, and there are signals aplenty that his talent in ready to take him to the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour.

Sepp Straka +8000 (BetRivers)

Sepp Straka is a player who’s shown he has the type of game that can translate to a difficult Florida golf course. The former Presidents Cup participant won the 2022 Honda Classic in tough conditions and should thrive with a similar test at Copperhead.

It’s been a slow 2024 for Straka, but his performance last week at the PLAYERS Championship surely provides some optimism. He gained 5.4 strokes on approach as well as 1.88 strokes off the tee. The tee-to-green game Straka showed on a course with plenty of danger demonstrates that he can stay in control of his golf ball this week.

It’s possible that the strong performance last week was an outlier, but I’m willing to bet on a proven winner in a weaker field at a great number.

Victor Perez +12000 (FanDuel)

Victor Perez is no stranger to success in professional golf. The Frenchman has three DP World Tour wins including a Rolex Series event. He won the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, as well as the 2023 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which are some big events.

Perez earned his PGA Tour card this season and enters the week playing some fantastic golf. He finished in a tie for 16th in Florida at the Cognizant Classic and then tied for third in his most recent start at the Puerto Rico Open.

In his past 24 rounds in the field, Perez ranks 11th in Strokes Gained: Approach, 1oth in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking, 6th in Good Drive % and 15th in Bogey Avoidance.

Perez comes in as a perfect fit for Copperhead and offers serious value at triple-digit odds.

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