Opinion & Analysis

How low can you go?

Published

9 years ago

May 12, 2015

An anonymous pro golfer commented on one of my articles last month (What score makes you happy?) saying that he’d once shot a 60 and hadn’t been aware of his score at all while he was playing the round.

Since I’m no pro golfer, at any point of the 18 holes I can usually tell you pretty accurately how many birdies I’ve had that day, though granted, it doesn’t take too long to count to zero.

But it got me wondering about low scores, and how low can you go.

“I had a 76 last year. That’s my personal best,” Kenny told me around the driving range at Anaheim Hills. “I was just unconscious. I’ve only broken 80 three times in my life, so far.”

“I had 12 pars and shot an 83 once,” said Bill, while shielding his face from the sun with his arm as he waited to tee off at Marshal Canyon one Saturday morning. “Can you imagine how badly I had to play on the other 6 holes to shoot 83?”

“It wasn’t my lowest round ever but the first time I broke 90, I had to make a birdie on 18 for 89,” Manny told me over his hot dog in the snack bar at Griffith Park.

“You talk about pressure. My friend told me on the 18^th tee I needed birdie. It was at Los Serranos South, the long par-5, but we were playing the white tees. Hit my third shot on to about 15 feet and made the putt. It was in from the second I hit it; the putt was perfect. I was dancing around the green.”

“I had 62 once,” and I looked kind of incredulous at the quite overweight 60 year old who I thought maybe was telling me how many donut holes he’d eaten this week. “Seriously, a 62. Course it was a 4-man scramble, but it was still fun to go that low,” and as he laughed his belly shook.

“My low net was a 63 in a tournament once,” Devin told me at the driving range. “People were saying I was a sandbagger but I just had one of those days; shot a 75 playing off a 12 handicap. I got what’s called an ‘exceptional tournament score.’”

That is exceptional, I said. “I haven’t shot another 75 since that round,” he answered, shaking his head. “The next tournament my handicap was 3 strokes lower and that time I think I had a 75 net.”

Six times on the PGA Tour a pro golfer has broken 60. Those competition-record 59s were rewarded with cash and admiration, not a handicap penalty. But how do you shoot a score that low?

“I got off to a good start one day last summer,” Arturo told me at Montebello Country Club. “I was 2-under through six holes, made the turn at 1-under and I was still under par through the 13^th hole. On No. 14 I hit a great drive, then nearly shanked my second shot out of bounds. Finished with a 74 and I was pissed all day until I realized that it was still my best round ever. But I’m still upset about that shot, really… the worst shot I hit all year and it came during the best round I ever played. Strange.”

“I broke 100 for the first time last year,” Adam said while practicing his putting at La Quinta. “I’ve only been playing for two years and this summer I’m going to break 90.” He said it with the optimism of someone who still thinks golf can be mastered.

“I remember the first time I broke 80,” Larry told me in the coffee shop at Indian Hills. “I didn’t even know it until after I added it up. I knew I had a good round going and I was nervous over the 5-footer for bogey on 18. If I had known it was for 79 there’s no way I would have made it.”

I asked him if that was his best round.

“No, that was a few years ago. I’m a 9 now so I’m in the 70s pretty often. Had a couple of 75s last year, and a 73 two years ago, that was my best,” he added. “My dream is to shoot even par. My fantasy is to break par someday.”

A stooped man with silver hair was hitting long putts from one side of the practice green to the other at Griffith Park. I figured if he’d broken 90 he’d have a story to tell me.

“A 64,” he said, and I guess I looked surprised. “I had a slew of ‘em. I golfed all my life — I only putt now. I putt every day until I make one from one side of the putting green to the other. Some days it takes longer than others.”

His name is Stan. “I shot in the 60s pretty often. It was a bad day if I wasn’t at least at par. There were some great players around then,” and he mentioned a couple of names that I didn’t recognize.

“We used to play all over, but the first 64 was at Hacienda. It was in 1951, we played a lot after the war and those were good times.” I asked if he remembered any of the shots from his first 64. “Like it was yesterday. There was no drama to the end though, we’d already won the match. We were playing against some hot-shot lawyer and his partner I can’t remember — took home some good money. My guy Bill was good that day too; we would play anybody, anywhere.”

“The 64?” I asked.

“Yep, I don’t know how many of ‘em I had, there was a bunch. Never shot a 63. A couple of ‘em could have been better, but I wasn’t playing for the score, I was playing to win.”

Just like that anonymous pro, I realized.

What’s your lowest round ever and what was it like?

Let us know in the comments section below and read the first chapters of Tom Hill’s humorous golf book, A Perfect Lie – The Hole Truth 18 Holes of Golf in Pursuit of the Round of a Lifetime, at 7-ironpress.com. Get free shipping on the paperback with the code GOLFWRX, or $4 off the e-book when you enter the code GOLFWRX1 at check-out.

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Tom HIll

Tom Hill is a 9.7 handicap, author and former radio reporter. Hill is the author of the recently released fiction novel, A Perfect Lie – The Hole Truth, a humorous golf saga of one player’s unexpected attempt to shoot a score he never before thought possible. Kirkus Reviews raved about A Perfect Lie, (It) “has the immediacy of a memoir…it’s no gimme but Hill nails it square.” (kirkusreviews.com). A Perfect Lie is available as an ebook or paperback through 7-ironpress.com and the first three chapters are available online to sample. Hill is a dedicated golfer who has played more than 2,000 rounds in the past 30 years and had a one-time personal best handicap of 5.5. As a freelance radio reporter, Hill covered more than 60 PGA and LPGA tournaments working for CBS Radio, ABC Radio, AP Audio, The Mutual Broadcasting System and individual radio stations around the country. “Few knew my name and no one saw my face,” he says, “but millions heard my voice.” Hill is the father of three sons and lives with his wife, Arava Talve, in southern California where he chases after a little white ball as often as he can.

32 Comments

Joe

Aug 10, 2015 at 11:41 pm

My lowest score ever is a 67, an extremely good iron round and I didn’t have too many putts over 16 feet. That was in 1983 when I was a 2 handicap.
Since that time I have had only 2 or 3 sub 72 rounds. Now in my twilight years (75 years old) and playing to a 12, sub par rounds are only a memory and could only happen on a putt-putt course.
Damn that Windmill hole.

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stephenf

Jun 6, 2015 at 8:22 pm

Lowest score was 64, but it was mostly just good midrange-to-long putting. Didn’t hit it any better that day than most days, and actually sort of scraped it around on some of the holes, but it was a nonpenal golf course, frankly, so you could go miss-miss-putt for birdie a lot (by “miss,” I mean “miss” for a scratch player, which I was). Miss the drive into the scraggly, sparse rough, get lucky enough for some kind of lie, blade it out of there on the green, make a 25-footer, or whatever. The score was more or less a fluke, and not a “best” round, really.

Later, as a plus-2, I did have a few 65s (very few — I was more of the steady 69-70 shooter rather than the 63 one day and 78 the next) and quite a few 66s and 67s. I remember one 65 in a tournament fairly well — hitting it OK off the tee, not awesome, but good enough, and hitting it pretty well with the irons. Closed with a disappointing miss on the 17th from 12 feet for eagle after a 250-yard 2-iron (not all that awesome — it was well-hit, but with the old standard Wilson Staffs, sort of hard in front of the green…well-judged, hit solidly, and on line, I guess, but it’s not like I flew it 250 and stuck it by the hole), then hit 9-iron to about four feet above the hole on #18 and saw two breaks, had to make a decision…still kinda proud of that make.

One more, a 66 I’m still pissed about: Again in a tournament round, started out (no kidding) seven under after the first six holes, hit it at least as well from that point to the end of the round and never made another putt. Had a shot at 28 on the front nine until I missed a sidehill three-footer for par on #8 and then a five-footer for birdie on #9. Missed about four from inside 7-8 feet on the back nine for birdie. Just disgusting. I really felt like a 60 or even 59 was coming that day, felt good all day, hit every putt exactly like I wanted, but they just stopped dropping. Sometimes it works out like that. Years and years later, I still hate it, but that’s golf. (I still contend that for six holes, I might’ve been playing better than anybody in the world that day. Can’t disprove it, so it must be true. 😉 )

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Martin

May 23, 2015 at 4:13 pm

My best round is +4 to par, a 75 on a par 71 and last summer a 76 on our par 72 course.

The 75 was a few years ago, teed up on 17 +1 with a short par 3 and a relatively easy par 5 18th. 3 putt bogey on 17, teed off on 18 with a 3w to play safe, pushed it a bit didn’t have a full swing. Punch it down the fw, had exactly 300 yards into the green, perfect 3H. Hit one of the alltime worst shots ever, 130 yards and 80 yards offline.

Made a double for a 75.

Last summer playing with 3 guys I work with, sloppy front including 2 doubles, 41, birdies 10 and then made 8 pars for a 35 on the back.

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Ryan

May 22, 2015 at 11:29 am

I find the notion that people can finish and round and not know how many under they are just crazy. I’ve tried my very hardest to immerse myself in the shot at hand for 18 straight holes and I haven’t found the secret yet. It’s just so exhausting.

Personal low is 62 on a par 70, but shot 63 on a par 72 in college. I was in the zone on both rounds but still knew where I was to par, just didn’t “care”. A few beers probably helped in both cases.

I’ve shot 30 twice for nine, both with excellent opportunities to put up the magical 29, and couldn’t do either. First time I came to the 18th -7 after 8 on the back (par 36), short par 5, got it down by the green in two, skulled a chip, chunked another, then got up and down for 30. Still burns to this day even nine years later. Second time was a par 35, came to the ninth -5 and needing birdie for 29, hit it to 8ft and lipped out the putt. That one doesn’t hurt because I didn’t choke.

Realizing over the last couple years that I need serious work on my mental game to have these kind of rounds happen more often, not just once a decade.

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Sean D

May 21, 2015 at 9:19 pm

I was 18 years old in 1998. My dad was the superintendent of the course where I grew up so I played there every day and worked for him on the course. I was like a 5 handicap at the time. I think my lowest score ever at that point was a 73. Par was 71. Never shot even. It was in the fall in up state NY and they had just finished spiking the greens over a three day period. This was a muni course so there’s still sand all over them and there Bumpy as hell. It was Men’s night at the club which was on a Tuesday. I shot 66 on the worst spiked greens you ever saw. I made every putt. Thinking back about it now it was a joke. I had two bogies that day too. Whenever I go home to visit and play with my dad the old timers who still have coffee at the club every day pull me aside and say “I still remember the day you shot 66 on spiked greens.” 17 years later and these guys in their mid 80’s remember. I won mens night and like $15 bux in pro shop credit. So I’ve got that going for me.

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Griiz01

May 18, 2015 at 11:38 pm

I’m 52 years old. Been playing since I was 5 years old. A lot of good rounds and a lot of bad ones. I’ve been as low as a 1 handicap but with life getting in the way I probably stay around a 9-10 handicap these days. My best rounds are when I’m not thinking. Meaning that I’m not thinking about my swing at all. I will think about where I want to place the ball or even how a shot needs to come off, but I’m never thinking about the swing (the mechanics).

When I was younger, I thrived on competition, the more pressure you put on me the better I played. I ate it up. I was too young to know better. I didn’t know I was suppose to be nervous or worried. I just knew I was suppose to do all I could to win.

Now-a-days, I just like going out and enjoying my time on the course. I don’t worry about scores, I just completely enjoy the greatest game ever played by man.

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Adam

May 18, 2015 at 8:23 pm

One thing I’ve always found interesting. On my best rounds, I haven’t been the one keeping score. Lately, I’ve had some of my better rounds, but certainly not my best, and those rounds have been when I’m keeping meticulous note of stats…FIR, GIR, sand saves if applicable, putts, etc. The rounds that have been my absolute best are the rounds when I’m just along for the ride and don’t keep score other than telling my playing partner what I got on the hole. Anyone have similar experience?

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Robert

May 14, 2015 at 9:27 am

I shot 62 at my home course Holly Tree CC earlier this year. It tied the course record from the men’s white tees. I didn’t make a birdie until the 5th hole and turned in 3 under. But I got crazy hot on the back nine (29). That was the first time I broke 30 for nine, and I’ve had a lot of close calls. I wasn’t even thinking about going that low until I holed out for eagle on the 16th hole which put me to 8 under. The final two holes are good birdie opportunities, so once I got to -8 I knew today was a great chance to tie or beat the course record. I made birdie on 17 making a really good 10 ft putt. The 18th is a very reachable par 5. I hit a great tee shot and had between 5 and 6 iron to the green. All I could think of was, just hit the green and give yourself a chance. I did get home in two but had probably 60ft for eagle. I hit a good putt to about 4-5ft and somehow rolled that in. Not bad considering I played 14 holes 10 under and par’d two of the four par 5’s. Pretty good feeling that day and I don’t think I’ve been so nervous on a golf course since I first broke 70. Looking back on it I don’t think I was striking the ball any better than usual, it was just a really good day with the putter. I had to make an 8-10ft par save on my second hole. I don’t make that and the whole day is probably changed. I had three other 63’s out there both from the white tees and two from the championship tees, one of them was in a pro-am. I wish I could boil all those rounds down into some kind of secret to going that low but there isn’t. Sometimes it’s just your day and you’re making all the putts, sometimes you just start hitting it close and it seems easy. It’s just golf, you never know what’s going to happen, and I think that’s why we all continue to play again and again.

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RG

May 14, 2015 at 8:09 am

Wow, people posting here claiming handicaps that obviously don’t know how GHIN works should stop, it’s embarrassing.
Tom, A Perfect Lie is a good name for your book if your adding some of these replies.

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Fiorenzo

May 14, 2015 at 3:54 am

74 playing in a mixed golf day with my wife as partner and sharing a cart. At the time I was playing off an 8 handicap. Due to the constant bickering I was not really aware of what was happening till the last few holes which led me to tighten up and possibly loose out on a better score. Now, years later there is not much chance to improve that score although the bickering is still there and going strong.

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Ryan J

May 14, 2015 at 12:32 am

I’ve shot 68 more than a dozen times and one 66 on a par 70.
When I shot the 66 I played the first nine in 38 strokes and then finished with a 28 with a bogey. I didn’t even notice how low I was because I was frustrated with a few three putts that first nine and had three or four of those back nine birdies inside five feet.
That round was the third time I had broken 30 in nine holes but the other two ended at 68 because I got caught up in the score trying to go low.
In golf, the hardest person to beat is yourself.

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Tim

May 13, 2015 at 9:41 pm

Personal best is a 74 (par 72), which includes a triple bogey on the first hole, and a double bogey on the second hole. So after starting the round 5 over, I followed it up with my longest stretch of under par golf ever including holing out from a bunker on 17 for a birdie. I knew during the round I would easily best 80 but didn’t want to do the math until after the round because I knew it’s possible I was flirting with even. Prior to that my personal best was 79.

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Bob

May 13, 2015 at 9:08 pm

74. I hit the ball straight all day, got my chips one-putt close, and sank most of the makable putts I had. There weren’t any miracle shots– just a day of good golf for 18 holes instead of 14 or 15.

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Joel

May 13, 2015 at 5:12 pm

I have shot 72 twice in my 45+ year golfing career. The interesting thing about each was I pulled off the birdie hat trick on the last 3 holes, 38 out and 34 in. Can only imagine the possible score without a couple of mistakes. I am working to break par this year and move my handicap below 2.0(currently 4.6).

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Horace

May 13, 2015 at 4:21 pm

Shot 70 once (probably a 12+/- HC then). Had an eagle ($25 skin), three birdies, and three bogies in a weekly Sunday 4-5 person BB Tournament on a San Antonio muni with hard-pan and some thin turf. The bogies came on three holes where one competitor beat me to tee box and hit out of turn.

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Joe

May 13, 2015 at 2:44 pm

Dear Stone Thrower,

An 8 handicap shooting even par should call no one a sand-bagger.

Signed,

Glass House

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John

May 13, 2015 at 1:30 pm

I have only shot even par for 18 holes twice, but the second time was special. Driver, 5-iron on the 490 yard par five 18th hole for a double eagle for a 72… should have retired from the game right then and there – it doesn’t get much better than that!

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- Craig
  
  May 14, 2015 at 4:13 am
  
  What is a double eagle. It is called an albatross.
  Some STUPID yank commentator calls it that. HE is not correct
  -1 is a birdie
  -2 is an eagle
  -3 is an albatross
  
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Sam

May 13, 2015 at 12:18 pm

My best is a 78, your wouldnt believe it but I went bogey, double then bogey on my first three holes, I then oplayed that nine in another three over and somehow I shot even on the back nine to shoot my best round to par, (I had a 75 but on a par 68). I noticed that on the back nine I just started to not care and I made two birdies in a row. I went on to place 3rd in the tournament but I know if i hadn’t gone +4 on the first three holes, it could have been and even better day.

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- Bob
  
  May 13, 2015 at 9:10 pm
  
  I believe it. You just had your bad holes all at once instead of sprinkling them throughout the round.
  
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Blake

May 13, 2015 at 11:00 am

My best is a 62… I was -8 thru 12 and it was a par 70, so you know what crossed my mind… Anyway, the putts stopped dropping and I played par golf in for -8..

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Ben

May 13, 2015 at 9:51 am

I shot 75 (+3) last summer as a 9 index. Had a great feeling before the round but that quickly faded after bogeying 4 of the first 5 holes. Settled in after that and hit 11/13 greens, made 3 birdies, and shot even par on the back 9. On the last hole I pulled my tee shot way right but then hit my 135yd uphill, blind approach over towering pines to 3 feet. I was almost emotional after tapping in knowing I just played the round of my life.

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Paul

May 13, 2015 at 6:48 am

Par 73 shot 65 4 times but twice I was -7 after 9 and started thinking 60 choked my way in both times but I think my best round was playing match play a few years back tripled 3 to go 3 over finished eagle,eagle to finish 8 under on 12 no gimmies last eagle holed 8 iron my opponent was just laughing he was more excited then me I think.

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Joe

May 13, 2015 at 5:26 am

Shot 59 to break my own course record of 62 last year (par 72), club championship, second round of stroke play. It was an interesting round… I demolished an entire pizza in the restaurant in between rounds so I was in a complete food coma, practically unconscious for the front 9 and part of the back. I don’t even remember clearly what I did on those holes. I didn’t realize where I was at until I eagled the 14th, happy to maybe get a skin in our side game and noticed the guys I was playing with looking at me and the scorecard nervously (they know not to say anything if I get something going). I had to ask, they told me I was -12, and I played the most nervous closing 4 holes of my life. Scraped out a birdie on 17, almost blew it on 18 by driving it through the fairway close to water but managed to get it done. One of the biggest achievements of my career and I don’t even remember most of it lol.

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- Progolfer
  
  May 16, 2015 at 1:30 am
  
  Great story Joe. I’m the anonymous profesisonal golfer he’s referring to in the beginning of the article. Isn’t it funny that on our career days, we had no idea what was really going on? Everything always slows down when I’m playing well, and I just get so into it and absorbed. That’s the key to success in golf (and life, too)– you get out of your own head and connect with what you’re doing. The rest just takes care of itself… Thanks for sharing your story.
  
  Reply Report comment
Nate

May 12, 2015 at 9:35 pm

I was around a 20 handicap until I got serious about my game after graduating from business school two years ago. Last summer, I broke 85 for the first time playing with a coworker at a local metro. I was -1 through 6, even through 8, and finished with an 11 over 83. Was a great round but I am still kicking myself for for playing the final 10 holes at +9. I just started leaking oil on the back 9…spraying the driver all over the place!

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Martin

May 12, 2015 at 8:49 pm

My best two scores are a 75 on a par 71 slope rating 124 course with a bogey, double finish and a 76 last summer on our par 72/133 course, shot 41/35.

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other paul

May 12, 2015 at 7:29 pm

Played 9 holes on a local muni. Shot 38, on the 9 hole course. I have never done better then an 84.

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RobG

May 12, 2015 at 4:47 pm

I’ve broken 80 about 6 times but two times really stand out for me.

I grew up playing golf around guys with money but they only gambled during their men’s league. The summer I turned 19 (legal age in BC) I joined the men’s league and my first night out, the money and prizes were on the back nine. I went out in 38 (+2) and came back in at 35 (-1). I took about $260 in birdie and skins money. Not bad for a 1st impression.

The second round (same course, same summer) I shot a 76. This one is special because 3 days prior I was sitting on the hood of my brothers car catching a ride up to the house when he gunned it and shook me off as a prank. I was wearing steel toed work boots and couldn’t catch my feet. I landed hard on the dirt driveway and mangled both my hands. I was picking rocks out of my palms for 2 days. I was playing golf with two gloves on packed with gauze and by the end of the the round blood had soaked through both my gloves. I guess the pain kept me from gripping too tight because I hit about 6 of the best shots of my life that day. Karma is a wonderful thing, I took my brother for $60.

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Mike

May 12, 2015 at 3:48 pm

Broke par through 9 holes for the first time last week then sorta choked on the back. Still my best ever at a +2, 74.

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Alex

May 12, 2015 at 2:19 pm

Last year I made par at my home course (71). My handicap at the time was 8 so I shot 63 net. The best thing was I was +3 on the 10th tee and I made 3 birdies coming home. The bad: I lost by 1 to a sandbagger LOL.

Reply Report comment
- RG
  
  May 14, 2015 at 8:05 am
  
  You are obviously making this up and have no idea how GHIN works, stop you are embarrassing yourself.
  
  Reply Report comment

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

Published

3 days ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.

Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.

However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.

Past Winners at TPC Louisiana

2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks

Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)

Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.

This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.

McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.

Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.

Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.

Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.

NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 LIV Adelaide betting preview: Cam Smith ready for big week down under

Published

3 days ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.

For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.

The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.

The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.

*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*

Past Winners at LIV Adelaide

2023: Talor Gooch (-19)

Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami

Green in Regulation

Richard Bland
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey

Fairways Hit

Abraham Ancer
Graeme McDowell
Henrik Stenson

Driving Distance

Bryson DeChambeau
Joaquin Niemann
Dean Burmester

Putting

Cameron Smith
Louis Oosthuizen
Matt Jones

2024 LIV Adelaide Picks

Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)

When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.

At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.

The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.

Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)

Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.

In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.

For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.

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Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: What really makes a wedge work? Part 1

Published

1 week ago

Apr 18, 2024

Terry Koehler

Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.

Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.

But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.

To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.

Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.

If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.

In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.

Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.

While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.

So, what about grooves and face texture?

Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.

Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.

But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?

The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.

So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.

And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.

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