By Steve Gordon
I was in attendance at the Media Day for the ShopRite LPGA Classic. It is a scramble golf outing for the media people then a luncheon and press conference with the previous years tournament champion. This is all in advance of the tournament played on the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Resort in Absecon, NJ on June 2, 3 and 4th.
After all the media participants were rounded up they read the rules for the outing which were the normal for scramble play and they included the provision that anyone over 55 could play the forward gold tees. That's me folks.
The Bay Course is not a long course situated on the bay across from Atlantic City. Its defense is the always present wind, tall fescue grass and small fast undulating greens. It's a fun course to play and it is a test of shot making and that is why it attracts many of the big names to come play in it.
If the wind is up as it was in 2014 when Karie Webb won with a score of -1 the course is all you can handle. One commentator on the Golf Channel remarked on air that year that the players came to the ShopRite and a US Open broke out. The course was playing that tough. Last year the wind was moderate and the winning score by defending champion Anna Nordquist was -17.
Back to the scramble. Here were one playing partner and myself and the other two components of our scramble team didn't make it in for the early start time. You might think it would make for a long day and a disadvantage with only two guys playing in a four man team format. The rules allow for four balls so it meant we could each hit two shots. Advantage or disadvantage?
As both of us were upwards of 55 by more than a decade we did have the forward tees to look forward to. The course plays a shade over 6000 yards from the white tees that we normally play when we go there. The forward gold tees on this day would give us about 1000 less yards to play with on a mostly normal wind condition day.
We started on the 8th hole in the shotgun start. It was playing 288 yards from the forward tees and a good drive put us less than 100 yards from the green and we started with a birdie as my partner has a very good shot game. Moving on to the 411 yard par 5 ninth hole playing into the wind another birdie was the result.
This was fun.
The bottom line is that as we were putting our tee shots out there in good positions and didn't have to hit medium and long irons or hybrids to the greens there were birdies to be had. In the end we finished 12 under par with a score of 59 that included two eagles.
We did fudge a little however on the first hole where we crossed paths with Nordquist for a photo op and some light conversation. The defending champ was out and about around the course just greeting all the media people and hitting shots here and there. She didn't have her clubs but said if we gave her a club and a ball she'd hit a tee shot for us. Without a practice swing she roped one for us.
We equated ourselves well with solid shots in front of the pro from the 345 White tee box but guess whose tee shot we used there to make a par from about 80 yards away?
Where I am going with this is that the rules allow for senior and women players, who don't hit the ball as far as younger players, to play from a more reasonable distance. Both my partner and I still hit it OK, but playing with younger, more athletic and more agile players our tee shots are sitting on the turf looking up at their balls flying past in the air.
I see players various places I go who just put ego in front of reason and insist on playing golf courses from the wrong set of tees. Why not take what the rules give you and go out and have fun. For our round on the Media Day we had a blast and it was so much fun not to be standing out in the fairway wondering if we had enough club to reach greens in regulation or having to hit woods in where others were hitting medium irons.
The recommendation from this retired mind is move up to more forward tees from the traditional regular or White tees. Play a yardage that suits your game. I guarantee it'll be a more rewarding experience.
I was in attendance at the Media Day for the ShopRite LPGA Classic. It is a scramble golf outing for the media people then a luncheon and press conference with the previous years tournament champion. This is all in advance of the tournament played on the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Resort in Absecon, NJ on June 2, 3 and 4th.
After all the media participants were rounded up they read the rules for the outing which were the normal for scramble play and they included the provision that anyone over 55 could play the forward gold tees. That's me folks.
The Bay Course is not a long course situated on the bay across from Atlantic City. Its defense is the always present wind, tall fescue grass and small fast undulating greens. It's a fun course to play and it is a test of shot making and that is why it attracts many of the big names to come play in it.
If the wind is up as it was in 2014 when Karie Webb won with a score of -1 the course is all you can handle. One commentator on the Golf Channel remarked on air that year that the players came to the ShopRite and a US Open broke out. The course was playing that tough. Last year the wind was moderate and the winning score by defending champion Anna Nordquist was -17.
Back to the scramble. Here were one playing partner and myself and the other two components of our scramble team didn't make it in for the early start time. You might think it would make for a long day and a disadvantage with only two guys playing in a four man team format. The rules allow for four balls so it meant we could each hit two shots. Advantage or disadvantage?
As both of us were upwards of 55 by more than a decade we did have the forward tees to look forward to. The course plays a shade over 6000 yards from the white tees that we normally play when we go there. The forward gold tees on this day would give us about 1000 less yards to play with on a mostly normal wind condition day.
We started on the 8th hole in the shotgun start. It was playing 288 yards from the forward tees and a good drive put us less than 100 yards from the green and we started with a birdie as my partner has a very good shot game. Moving on to the 411 yard par 5 ninth hole playing into the wind another birdie was the result.
This was fun.
The bottom line is that as we were putting our tee shots out there in good positions and didn't have to hit medium and long irons or hybrids to the greens there were birdies to be had. In the end we finished 12 under par with a score of 59 that included two eagles.
We did fudge a little however on the first hole where we crossed paths with Nordquist for a photo op and some light conversation. The defending champ was out and about around the course just greeting all the media people and hitting shots here and there. She didn't have her clubs but said if we gave her a club and a ball she'd hit a tee shot for us. Without a practice swing she roped one for us.
We equated ourselves well with solid shots in front of the pro from the 345 White tee box but guess whose tee shot we used there to make a par from about 80 yards away?
Where I am going with this is that the rules allow for senior and women players, who don't hit the ball as far as younger players, to play from a more reasonable distance. Both my partner and I still hit it OK, but playing with younger, more athletic and more agile players our tee shots are sitting on the turf looking up at their balls flying past in the air.
I see players various places I go who just put ego in front of reason and insist on playing golf courses from the wrong set of tees. Why not take what the rules give you and go out and have fun. For our round on the Media Day we had a blast and it was so much fun not to be standing out in the fairway wondering if we had enough club to reach greens in regulation or having to hit woods in where others were hitting medium irons.
The recommendation from this retired mind is move up to more forward tees from the traditional regular or White tees. Play a yardage that suits your game. I guarantee it'll be a more rewarding experience.
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| Steve Gordon, Anna Nordqvist and Bob Oliver |
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