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Why fair is the wrong adjective for golf

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You’ll no doubt hear anyone within earshot of an interview this week describe Royal Birkdale as a fair test of golf, perhaps the fairest Open rota test of them all. Please dismiss the speaker as hopelessly tethered to a misconception of epic size.

Golf is not fair. You know it. We can fit our equipment, our apparel, even the courses we play, to take advantage of conditions, but we can never make it fair. In fact, nothing in life is fair, but that’s a topic for Monday’s water cooler or Friday’s happy hour.

Good breaks on the golf course are meant to be celebrated, as are bad ones. We envy the former and we commiserate with the later. We’ve enjoyed one and suffered the other. It is not different with golfing professionals, and if they want it that way, tough beans. They cannot, and should not, have “fair” ever enter the equation.

Have you ever played a farmland course during a drought? That’s links golf. When your fairways are burned to a crisp, yellow like wheat. When the soil seems parched and the dust creeps up slightly, you’ve got the perfect conditions for links golf. Take your putter from 70 yards out and give it a whack. It will bound this way, trundle that. It will hop, skip, carom, ricochet, and might even take unintentional flight. And it will be a wonderful breath of distinction from the game you normally encounter.

If golf were fair, balls would not glance off hazard and out-of-bounds stakes, back into play. Balls would not enter golf holes and spin out, sometimes into hazards. Or would they? Who determines fair? The one who was punished, or the one who was rewarded?

Friends more elegant and eloquent have commented on the nuances that keep golf interesting. They say that uneven lies, unfortunate weather, and unexpected conditions should separate the proper champion from the pretender. I agree. I empathize with tournament players on the wrong side of the draw, but them’s the breaks!

Remember this. A fellow who drains a 45-foot putt on the 72nd green some two hours before the final pairing reaches that same putting surface should not be in contention. A leader who plays a splendid iron into that surface should not be dealt a chip from beyond the green. If golf were fair, Tom Watson would have six Open championships, and Stewart Cink, none.

Now, go out and play some unfair golf. And have an unfair blast the entire round.

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. Ronald Montesano

    Jul 20, 2017 at 10:00 am

    So USA!!

    Going to other countries for golf is only part of the opportunity. You get a taste of their style of course condition, but if you don’t golf with locals and imbibe their opinions and attitudes, the taste is unsatisfying.

    Your observations are spot on. Keep commenting!

  2. Matt

    Jul 20, 2017 at 3:10 am

    No such thing as ‘unfair’ in golf. If I want a score that has any relationship to par, or to approach/better my official handicap for that matter, then it’s fair to expect I’ll be challenged by both the course and my lack of ability to advance the ball perfectly. Isn’t that challenge the whole point?

  3. Double Mocha Man

    Jul 19, 2017 at 10:30 pm

    Wait a minute! That’s me, but I have a 2.8 handicap. So it is true of everyone… though my clubs are 7 years old. And the cart girl can never show up soon enough.

  4. james rebey

    Jul 19, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    That is not what they mean by fair. They are speaking to all the field has a shot at winning by playing their game, not just the bombers .

    • Ronald Montesano

      Jul 20, 2017 at 9:56 am

      That’s an angle, for sure. If it’s what the talking heads mean, then there is certainly marrow to that bone.

  5. Lloyd

    Jul 19, 2017 at 6:25 pm

    But some of what he says is true.

  6. Double Mocha Man

    Jul 19, 2017 at 5:30 pm

    Ron, with respect to that drought-stricken farmland course I thought you were going to say something about the 310 yard drive you hit that rolls forever. And that would be fair. And then that wedge you hit into the extra-firm green (brown) that rolls well over the back. That would be unfair.

    • Ronald Montesano

      Jul 20, 2017 at 9:58 am

      No, because that would be taking advantage of a good result while bemoaning a bad one (unless you wanted a short drive and to be chipping from behind the putting surface.)

      I do appreciate your writing, 2XMocha.

  7. Matt-78

    Jul 19, 2017 at 1:56 pm

    I definitely appreciate the article Ronald and agree on the whole that golf should not be considered fair. However, I see the two uses of the word “fair” in the article to be different. For example, when I hear a pro say that a particular course is “a fair test”, what I hear is that it isn’t overly punishing for certain misses or doesn’t reward only one type of shot. However, the sentiment “golf isn’t fair” in my mind refers to the fact that sometimes good shots are punished and bad shots are rewarded. This is true even on the easiest courses. Sometimes your piped drive finds a muddy divot when you hacker buddy’s slice finds an opening, etc. Like when the tree seed fell into Phil’s putt line while he was putting. This is just my .02 though.

    • Ronald Montesano

      Jul 20, 2017 at 10:04 am

      Your pennies are well received, Matt-78.

      There is much to the term, which is why its bland, banal nature is ineffective. We should strive for greater accuracy in our use of language. #NoDumbDownHere

      The test of what we all take to be fair, or just, or deserved, will always be open for discussion, debate and disagreement. All athletic endeavors have similar moments, be it sweat on the hardwood, a sun’s ray in the eyes, or a loose piece of carpet on the football field.

      Let’s not even bring up the impact of referees!

  8. BlubberButt

    Jul 19, 2017 at 11:22 am

    Ronald doesn’t seem to know what the word “fair” means… I get the sentiment and the feeling you’re trying to evoke from the reader, but you picked the wrong word to center the article around. Everything you listed in your article are examples of how golf is actually fair. Physics doesn’t favor one person over the other. Neither does the weather or course design. Maybe the word you meant was “easy”. Like, “Why Easy is the Wrong Adjective for Golf”. The “good and bad breaks” you describe are just the results of the golfer’s actions.

    • BlubberButt

      Jul 19, 2017 at 11:25 am

      Or perhaps “predictable”. “Why predictable is the wrong adjective for golf”.

      • Ronald Montesano

        Jul 19, 2017 at 12:50 pm

        Your word choices are transparent and finite. “Fair” is neither, which is why so many commentators and tournament professionals default to it, and also why I selected it from the lexicon. The euphemism was chosen by the wizard, not the other way around. Any motion on my part to alter the terminology would have been disingenuous.

        • BlubberButt

          Jul 20, 2017 at 12:16 pm

          Apparently your vocabulary rich with polysyllabic words is not an indication of your ability to follow a line a logic. Even if you want to stick with the original terminology provided (“fair”), that doesn’t change the fact that everything about golf is, in fact, fair. The commentators, or “wizards” are correct, and your entire article is saying that somehow it is not fair. It seems like you want to distort the word “fair” to mean something else in order to make your article (although it more accurately amounts to a blog post) hold water. You say “If golf were fair, balls would not glance off hazard and out-of-bounds stakes, back into play. Balls would not enter golf holes and spin out, sometimes into hazards.” Those things don’t make golf unfair. They’re just the results of physics and a golfer’s actions. They’re completely fair.

    • Ronald Montesano

      Jul 19, 2017 at 12:44 pm

      Nope. Fair.

  9. Ronald Montesano

    Jul 19, 2017 at 7:20 am

    Shank fairy strikes again! Don’t know who it is, but always drops in as a +1 in that column. Wouldn’t be the same withoutcha!!

    • Nick Ritacco

      Jul 19, 2017 at 3:58 pm

      Why are you on a golf site?

      • Ronald Montesano

        Jul 20, 2017 at 10:08 am

        Well, he did drop “viscous” and “plethora” during his tirade, so points for those.

        I feel his/her/zee pain, as there is much about the business of golf that can appear to be at odds with the entry to the spiritual that rounds of golf provide.

        Murphy wasn’t off when he wrote about this in Golf In The Kingdom 1 & 2. There is much to gain from our time on the golf fields.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s LIV Golf Singapore betting preview: Course specialist ready to thrive once again

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After another strong showing in Australia, LIV Golf will head to Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore looking to build off of what was undoubtedly their best event to date.

Sentosa Golf Club sits on the southern tip of Singapore and is one of the most beautiful courses in the world. The course is more than just incredible scenically; it was also rated 55th in Golf Digest’s top-100 courses in 2022-2023 and has been consistently regarded as one of the best courses in Asia. Prior to being part of the LIV rotation, the course hosted the Singapore Open every year since 2005.

Sentosa Golf Club is a par 71 measuring 7,406 yards. The course will require precise ball striking and some length off the tee. It’s possible to go low due to the pristine conditions, but there are also plenty of hazards and difficult spots on the course that can bring double bogey into play in a hurry. The Bermudagrass greens are perfectly manicured, and the course has spent millions on the sub-air system to keep the greens rolling fast. I spoke to Asian Tour player, Travis Smyth, who described the greens as “the best [he’s] ever played.”

Davis Love III, who competed in a Singapore Open in 2019, also gushed over the condition of the golf course.

“I love the greens. They are fabulous,” the 21-time PGA Tour winner said.

Love III also spoke about other aspects of the golf course.

“The greens are great; the fairways are perfect. It is a wonderful course, and it’s tricky off the tee.”

“It’s a long golf course, and you get some long iron shots. It takes somebody hitting it great to hit every green even though they are big.”

As Love III said, the course can be difficult off the tee due to the length of the course and the trouble looming around every corner. It will take a terrific ball striking week to win at Sentosa Golf Club.

In his pre-tournament press conference last season, Phil Mickelson echoed many of the same sentiments.

“To play Sentosa effectively, you’re going to have a lot of shots from 160 to 210, a lot of full 6-, 7-, 8-iron shots, and you need to hit those really well and you need to drive the ball well.”

Golfers who excel from tee to green and can dial in their longer irons will have a massive advantage this week.

Stat Leaders at LIV Golf Adelaide:

Fairways Hit

1.) Louis Oosthuizen

2.) Anirban Lahiri

3.) Jon Rahm

4.) Brendan Steele

5.) Cameron Tringale

Greens in Regulation

1.) Brooks Koepka

2.) Brendan Steele

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Cameron Tringale

5.) Anirban Lahiri

Birdies Made

1.) Brendan Steele

2.) Dean Burmester

3.) Thomas Pieters

4.) Patrick Reed

5.) Carlos Ortiz

LIV Golf Individual Standings:

1.) Joaquin Niemann

2.) Jon Rahm

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Louis Oosthuizen

5.) Abraham Ancer

LIV Golf Team Standings:

1.) Crushers

2.) Legion XIII

3.) Torque

4.) Stinger GC

5.) Ripper GC

LIV Golf Singapore Picks

Sergio Garcia +3000 (DraftKings)

Sergio Garcia is no stranger to Sentosa Golf Club. The Spaniard won the Singapore Open in 2018 by five strokes and lost in a playoff at LIV Singapore last year to scorching hot Talor Gooch. Looking at the course setup, it’s no surprise that a player like Sergio has played incredible golf here. He’s long off the tee and is one of the better long iron players in the world when he’s in form. Garcia is also statistically a much better putter on Bermudagrass than he is on other putting surfaces. He’s putt extremely well on Sentosa’s incredibly pure green complexes.

This season, Garcia has two runner-up finishes, both of them being playoff losses. Both El Camaleon and Doral are courses he’s had success at in his career. The Spaniard is a player who plays well at his tracks, and Sentosa is one of them. I believe Sergio will get himself in the mix this week. Hopefully the third time is a charm in Singapore.

Paul Casey +3300 (FanDuel)

Paul Casey is in the midst of one of his best seasons in the five years or so. The results recently have been up and down, but he’s shown that when he’s on a golf course that suits his game, he’s amongst the contenders.

This season, Casey has finishes of T5 (LIV Las Vegas), T2 (LIV Hong Kong), and a 6th at the Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour. At his best, the Englishman is one of the best long iron players in the world, which makes him a strong fit for Sentosa. Despite being in poor form last season, he was able to fire a Sunday 63, which shows he can low here at the course.

It’s been three years since Casey has won a tournament (Omega Dubai Desert Classic in 2021), but he’s been one of the top players on LIV this season and I think he can get it done at some point this season.

Mito Pereira +5000 (Bet365)

Since Mito Pereira’s unfortunate demise at the 2022 PGA Championship, he’s been extremely inconsistent. However, over the past few months, the Chilean has played well on the International Series as well as his most recent LIV start. Mito finished 8th at LIV Adelaide, which was his best LIV finish this season.

Last year, Pereira finished 5th at LIV Singapore, shooting fantastic rounds of 67-66-66. It makes sense why Mito would like Sentosa, as preeminent ball strikers tend to rise to the challenge of the golf course. He’s a great long iron player who is long and straight off the tee.

Mito has some experience playing in Asia and is one of the most talented players on LIV who’s yet to get in the winner’s circle. I have questions about whether or not he can come through once in contention, but if he gets there, I’m happy to roll the dice.

Andy Ogletree +15000 (DraftKings)

Andy Ogletree is a player I expected to have a strong 2024 but struggled early in his first full season on LIV. After failing to crack the top-25 in any LIV event this year, the former U.S. Amateur champion finally figured things out, finished in a tie for 3rd at LIV Adelaide.

Ogletree should be incredible comfortable playing in Singapore. He won the International Series Qatar last year and finished T3 at the International Series Singapore. The 26-year-old was arguably the best player on the Asian Tour in 2023 and has been fantastic in the continent over the past 18 months.

If Ogletree has indeed found form, he looks to be an amazing value at triple-digit odds.

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Lessons from the worst golf instructor in America

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In Tampa, there is a golf course that boasts carts that do not work, a water range, and a group of players none of which have any chance to break 80. The course is overseen by a staff of crusty men who have succeeded at nothing in life but ending up at the worst-run course in America. However, this place is no failure. With several other local courses going out of business — and boasting outstanding greens — the place is booked full.

While I came for the great greens, I stayed to watch our resident instructor; a poor-tempered, method teacher who caters to the hopeless. At first, it was simply hilarious. However, after months of listening and watching, something clicked. I realized I had a front-row seat to the worst golf instructor in America.

Here are some of my key takeaways.

Method Teacher

It is widely accepted that there are three types of golf instructors: system teachers, non-system teachers, and method teachers. Method teachers prescribe the same antidote for each student based on a preamble which teachers can learn in a couple day certification.

Method teaching allows anyone to be certified. This process caters to the lowest caliber instructor, creating the illusion of competency. This empowers these underqualified instructors with the moniker of “certified” to prey on the innocent and uninformed.

The Cult of Stack and Jilt

The Stack and Tilt website proudly boasts, “A golfer swings his hands inward in the backswing as opposed to straight back to 1) create power, similar to a field goal kicker moving his leg in an arc and 2) to promote a swing that is in-to-out, which produces a draw (and eliminates a slice).”

Now, let me tell you something, there is this law of the universe which says “energy can either be created or destroyed,” so either these guys are defying physics or they have no idea what they are taking about. Further, the idea that the first move of the backswing determines impact is conjecture with a splash of utter fantasy.

These are the pontifications of a method — a set of prescriptions applied to everyone with the hope of some success through the placebo effect. It is one thing for a naive student to believe, for a golf instructor to drink and then dispel this Kool-Aid is malpractice.

Fooled by Randomness

In flipping a coin, or even a March Madness bet, there is a 50-50 chance of success. In golf, especially for new players, results are asymmetric. Simply put: Anything can happen. The problem is that when bad instructors work with high handicappers, each and every shot gets its own diagnosis and prescription. Soon the student is overwhelmed.

Now here’s the sinister thing: The overwhelming information is by design. In this case, the coach is not trying to make you better, they are trying to make you reliant on them for information. A quasi Stockholm syndrome of codependency.

Practice

One of the most important scientists of the 20th century was Ivan Pavlov. As you might recall, he found that animals, including humans, could be conditioned into biological responses. In golf, the idea of practice has made millions of hackers salivate that they are one lesson or practice session from “the secret.”

Sunk Cost

The idea for the worst golf instructor is to create control and dependency so that clients ignore the sunk cost of not getting better. Instead, they are held hostage by the idea that they are one lesson or tip away from unlocking their potential.

Cliches

Cliches have the effect of terminating thoughts. However, they are the weapon of choice for this instructor. Add some hyperbole and students actually get no information. As a result, these players couldn’t play golf. When they did, they had no real scheme. With no idea what they are doing, they would descend into a spiral of no idea what to do, bad results, lower confidence, and running back to the lesson tee from more cliches.

The fact is that poor instruction is about conditioning players to become reliant members of your cult. To take away autonomy. To use practice as a form of control. To sell more golf lessons not by making people better but through the guise that without the teacher, the student can never reach their full potential. All under the umbrella of being “certified” (in a 2-day course!) and a melee of cliches.

This of course is not just happening at my muni but is a systemic problem around the country and around the world, the consequences of which are giving people a great reason to stop playing golf. But hey, at least it’s selling a lot of golf balls…

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

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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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