Rick Golfs

What’s it like for a normal hack golfer to play Augusta National? 2 years ago I got the unbelievable honor of playing the home of the Masters with a member. I still pinch myself. So what did I shoot? Let me take you on a hole by hole journey from the member tees:

@Searchi86075545 Yes but he also has the feel and coordination to still do well enough

@Top100Rick This guy has the yips He could literally be the most coordinated human being you have ever met in your life and that wouldn’t change the fact that he has the yips Unless you have experienced it (I hope you don’t), you will never actually understand it

Short game is just such a wack skill. Adam Schenck putting one handed. Matt Fitz chips cross handed. Putting strokes can look crazy different. Long putters, blades, tons of grips. Technique matters. But hand eye coordination and feel undefeated.

@CuriousAussieX Haha that’s the most normal of these

@Top100Rick Ian Bradley putting left handed 😀

@brianmanzella Was this natural or planned swing changes?

5ish • Original Jack (more hip turn and straighter right leg) • Early 60s Jack (right torso lean, bent right leg, fall back finish) • Late 60s Jack (very centered upper body, slight left lean at times, very little fall back) • Early 70s Jack (less left lean, less centered, more leg drive) • Late 70s Jack (most upright, more narrow, most reverse torso movement in transition) • Early 80s Jack (rounder, deeper backswing, flatter shoulder turn, wrote a book about this pattern)

Its possible that somehow the 97 Masters isn’t appreciated enough. Tiger Woods used a steel shafted driver and a balata golf ball and yet overpowered Augusta and the field. He hit short irons into the par 4’s. Mid irons into the par 5’s. He went driver-8 iron into the 550 yard 2nd hole. He wins by 12. He literally played a different game from the entire field. All while swinging smooth and naturally. He would then change his swing and win the Grand Slam. And yet, somehow one can wonder how his career goes if he never drastically changes this swing. Would love to know the results of that alternate timeline.

How I grade my short game: (1-10) Technique: 3 Hand eye: 2 Feel: 4 Practice: 0 Buying new putters: 8 Time to get to work lol.

@brianmanzella Seems likely. And no lost time trying to find a new swing. How many swing changes did Jack do?

@Top100Rick 25-30 majors and 25 more overall wins

@BallouRay Just replay the 97 Masters in the time slot and it would beat almost all golf events lol.

@Top100Rick The Masters could cancel the tourney and people would still watch.

Why is it that the Masters can do everything better than the billion dollar PGA Tour? The power of a benevolent dictator. Augusta and by proxy the Masters is run by the Chairman. They have committees, but he has the ultimate say. The players get no real say. The advertisers support 100%. The Tours have no say, in fact they have effectively zero power against Augusta. So ANGC can simply make the best product in the world and cut through all the bullcrap. Yes money helps, but as we have learned from government, infinite money isn’t enough if incompetence and bureaucracy and corruption runs the show. The PGA Tour has been filled with that. (Seems to be getting better with the new boss.) 19 days!

I don’t get to decide anything. No idea what you are talking about. But I have never gone to an event and thought “they should change the rules for ME!”. It’s hilarious you call others selfish. Think about that. Your take is 100% narcissism and selfishness and somehow you can’t see that. But narcissism is never seeable by the narcissist, part of the deal.

@Top100Rick @fightinbobbyl How does someone *else* being "100% engaged" (as YOU define that) make YOUR experience better? And who are you to decide that being "100% engaged" can ONLY be achieved if one doesn't take pictures? This is they hypocrisy and selfishness I referenced earlier.

@phorne44 What else could they do? They hold a lottery and give anyone a chance. The demand is just too high.

@Top100Rick All true apart from ticketing, where you have to pay secondary market prices ie $1000 plus for tickets.

@DontCutKids @fightinbobbyl Lmao totally the same thing. It’s not my preferred aesthetic, it’s theirs. Amazing how important you think you are, but everyone else is worthless.

@Top100Rick @fightinbobbyl Anyone who doesn't like the no cameras policy at the Masters because you think your preferred aesthetic is more important than anyone else's, then don't ever take another picture again at any special family event. You don't need those pics, just as Masters fans don't need pics.

@DontCutKids @fightinbobbyl If you want pictures, bring a camera to a practice round. It’s allowed. I have tons. The event is 10x better without cameras and phones. The only event where fans are 100% engaged. It’s amazing. I hope they never change the rule.

@Top100Rick @fightinbobbyl No cameras for one. Everyone says they love seeing pictures from Augusta because no one in the pictures is holding a phone. Why TF do THEY get to enjoy pictures, but the folks AT Augusta don't get to take pictures that THEY can enjoy later? The sheer hypocrisy is astounding.

@Tsar_of_golf The new boss seems to get it better. Make the product great first and then the money will flow.

@Top100Rick Because the masters wants to improve their product and be the best possible. The pga wants to make money and they have lost touch with the game and the product.

@wayner99 True but money isn’t what stops the Tour, they were a non profit.

@Top100Rick Aren't they also technically a not for profit? So they have to pretty much spend every dollar of revenue? So they have the budget to do things that most people can't or won't.

@BrianBuckWargo It gets a lot now

@Top100Rick The least amount of tv coverage. That’s the most important one

@Swingtheclubken Nobody said it should be fair. If the rule was different from the beginning, would you be okay with it?

@Top100Rick "Life is not fair" Nobody ever said golf was supposed to be. But I really do not agree Lets put it this way I think the real winners would agree with me at the highest level. The whinners the losers not so much. Was it a favorite player of yours you think got screwed?

I don’t know how to fix this golf rule and maybe there isn’t a way to fix it. But it just feels so wrong. It can literally be a full or half stroke reward for finding a sprinkler head. Something can be legal and be ethically wrong. That’s what this is.

@fightinbobbyl What rule goes too far? I love the reverence the place gets.

@Top100Rick counterpoint: Augusta certainly has its, uh, peculiarities and a lot of players over the years have felt like they're walking on eggshells there because of the various rules policing behavior that arguably go a bit too far

@GBeardsley The hard part is finding the benevolent guy and then replacing him when he’s done.

@Top100Rick Benevolent Dictator is the best way to make progress on anything... Masters is the bar

@Swingtheclubken It doesn’t, that’s not how breaks work. Especially at the highest level. A good or bad break may never be made up for if the timing is big.

@Top100Rick no rule like that in golf, there is no word for fairway or rough in the rules just thru the green. They used to have a rule for embedded lies that said closely mowed only and it got abused, Trust me Rick the good and the bad breaks balance out.

@mgarber67 He’s just been frustrated for nearing a decade. Dude is still very good, but was once the next ONE. Has to be hard.

@Top100Rick Wow I really like Jordan and it is true Augusta shouldn’t put trees where he drives the golf ball. He can always make a real stand and not play or go back. That would show them until then he should try and figure out how to hit from under trees or not hit them under trees.

@conservmn Also the Butler Cabin Presentation is always awkward.

@Top100Rick Ok, but can they make the press conference setup better? The audio quality is always terrible.