Ask the Expert....

Having start to frequent this board a bit more in the last week or two, I have noticed the level of knowledge on here by some posters is incredible. From historical events to local knowledge of some courses, the depth between you is very broad indeed.

On one of our other sections, we have an "ask the expert" section, where people can ask questions of the resident expert in their field. It has led to some fascinating discussions and insights that I certainly wasnt aware of. From behind the scenes politics to views on current athletes, the thread has been an incredibly entertaining read.

It hasnt been hampered by ego over stupid questions being asked - instead its a genuine classroom for all levels of questioning.

This led me to approaching one of the golf sections resident masters - Kwinigolfer - to attempt to emulate the thread for the members of this part of the board. Kwini was very humble as to the areas of expertise and has suggested that he would be happy to do it, but may limit his musings/ facts to the USPGA and associated questions.

He also suggested that a couple of other posters may be able to help in other areas where he is less knowledgable. So hopefully members such as PrinceDracula and Ned will also help out where possible.

So I now declare this thread open for you to "ask the experts" on all your golfing matters.

So if you have any questions you ever wanted an answer to, post them below and our resident Golfing Professors will do their best to answer them!

Thanks

H

Edit - I believe that Drive4show has played a huge number of courses around, so if he is willing, he can become our course expert!

To get the ball rolling, I will ask the following question:

Who is the greatest player from the USPGA who never came over for the Open championship and why?

Good Lord!
Think you'd have to restrict that to relatively "modern" times, 1970 to the present, at least.
I have an idea about one relatively recent consistent winner who definitely never crossed the water, but would be interested in other informed guesses.
One player who definitely marched to a different scheduling drummer was Bruce Lietzke, all 13 PGA Tour wins of him, but even he made it across, with some success, a few times.
Even Scott ("St Andrews is the biggest piece of mess I've ever seen") Hoch played a few times, came 8th once!

If a player is off +4.5 handicap and enters a competition that is a 3/4 handicap allowance, what is his handicap for the competition?

JPX,
You'll have to find a real expert, especially as handicap systems are different here than there.
I agreed to be put in the hotseat to help with questions regarding the PGA Tour and anything else I could help with.
But application of your handicap system is way out of my league. Sorry!

Must admit Im struggling a bit with the whole logic of this thread.
If you have a question you really wanted to to ask on here wouldnt you just ask it anyway, you know some people do know a lot on certain subjects and will probably feature on the thread with some good answers. And if an exact answer is required may well give it though lets face it Google can do that most of the time.
But surely most replies to questions on here, such as the one Hobo posted, are entirely subjective however much knowledge the expert in question has, be it Kwini or anyone ?

Diggers wrote:Must admit Im struggling a bit with the whole logic of this thread.
If you have a question you really wanted to to ask on here wouldnt you just ask it anyway, you know some people do know a lot on certain subjects and will probably feature on the thread with some good answers. And if an exact answer is required may well give it though lets face it Google can do that most of the time.
But surely most replies to questions on here, such as the one Hobo posted, are entirely subjective however much knowledge the expert in question has, be it Kwini or anyone ?

Thats very true - google can answer a lot, however, this thread should allow you to get an answer with a bit of personal touch and ask a follow up.

You are quite right about the subjective nature of some of the answers - my question was guilty of that. However, other questions like the one asked about handicaps will have an answer. Although I have named a few people in the OP as being the experts, there is nothing stopping anyone else answering a question should they know the answer.

Thats kind of my point Hobo, the question could be about ..well anything. So surely you then get to the stage of who is the expert for that particular area of the game.......like say handicaps as an example........which brings you full circle as to why not just post a question as a normal thread to the whole board anyway ?

What's a golf course??

Digs,
I only agreed to do this in the spirit of helping out with anything related to the PGA Tour etc in the USA.

I think you are right in two ways; the amount of info that is google-able. And the knowledge of most posters on this golf board. Certainly many, as I tried to convey, with much more expertise than I.

I'll help where I can but that help is clearly limited!


As for the question posed by Hobo, I'm struggling to find a golfer with a better record than Don January who never played The Open Championship. More recently, Wayne Levi won 12 times on the PGA Tour but never played competitively in GB&I so far as I can trace.

Wasn't a pop at you Kwini, you've probably forgotten more about golf than I will ever know. Its just that I suppose I already take it as a given that withing a particular thread you will provide the most knowledgeable answers to certain questions raised.
If it already works etc etc.....

I was about 240 yards or so away from the green on a par 5 and about 20 yards infront of a marker post that indicates the direction to the flag, you know the big black and white stripy poles. Well I thought that there is no way I am gonna hit it with a rescue club but I managed to strike it flush and it hit the top of the poll and looped backwards and right about 30 yards onto the third green (this was the 5th) where a fourball were putting out in the same competition. This was the same bloke that I nearly hit with a sliced drive into the sun two days previous and I had a bit of a set to with him as he said I never shouted when I clearly did

I think this thread is very valid. Agreed, it's possible to google just about anything but sometimes an opinion is worthwhile as well.
Personal experience counts for a lot as well in certain areas.

tarka

those posts SHOULD be removeable, if in doubt...........

Of course an opinion is valid, everyone comes on here to give an opinion dont they ? Thats the whole point of the board as far as I'm concerned, to have some discussion over whatever interests you in the game.
But if I wanted to post a question about say, who makes the best forged irons...who would I be asking ? Could be one of ten posters who could be considered experts so of course I'd just raise a normal thread and see who came back with good advice.
Also I thought the idea of threads was too stay on specific topic. On this thread you could have 5 questions raised which various people chip in with certain answers....result one very messy thread.

To be fair Digger, most threads on here end up going off topic for one reason or another due to personal agendas or petty squabbles and they end up pretty messy.

I don't really see any difference to how this may end up.

Fair enough, think its completely pointless myself but hey, Ive said my bit.

Well indeed, the whole point of forums!

ok i have a rules question.
I was playing in a society wih a friend and he was teeing off on a par 3 with an elevated tee with dense bushes either side of the ball.
while taking a practise swing (hadnt adressed the ball) he clipped the side of it by accident and it scurried off the side of the tee box into the bushes never to be found again.
my view was that there is no penalty for this but our other playing parter reckoned that there might be as a result of having to change balls.
What do you think?

If he hadn't yet put a ball in play on that hole, and there was indeed no intent to make a stroke then the ball should be replaced with no penalty

but he doesnt have the ball!

hend085 wrote:but he doesnt have the ball!

Another ball is then OK

Personally, I think it should have been a 2 shot penalty for muppetry

May I suggest Mac as course architecture expert...

We may have a friendly rib about the Doak Scale, but he had pointed me to a few books book which have increased my knowledge of this aspect of the game greatly and i think he's the man to ask if your intersted in golf course architecture.

JPX wrote:If a player is off +4.5 handicap and enters a competition that is a 3/4 handicap allowance, what is his handicap for the competition?

+5
His playing handicap is +4. The 3/4 allowance is calculated as +4 *4/3 = +5

drive4show wrote:tarka

those posts SHOULD be removeable, if in doubt...........

can't remove it. It was a rubbish story anyway and I made it up

Eyetoldyouso wrote:

JPX wrote:If a player is off +4.5 handicap and enters a competition that is a 3/4 handicap allowance, what is his handicap for the competition?

+5
His playing handicap is +4. The 3/4 allowance is calculated as +4 *4/3 = +5

So what would a scratch player be playing off?

Rossa,
Agreed, Shotrock too!

But I think we have to get the "spirit" of what was originally proposed sorted or this thread will wither away - all the regular posters know who to ask on most subjects, just the occasional visitors that this might help.

Have to say, I like diggers am a little confused by the point of this thread. Sureley if you need to ask a question then you just start a new thread and who ever can contribute will?

I'm with Diggers and McLaren. Surely the whole golf section is in effect "Ask an Expert" isn't it?

And do you have to be an expert to answer the question? And who decides who is and who isn't an expert? And who decides whether my question requires an expert answer or whether anyone can answer it?

Or are those questions I should be asking an expert about?

Maybe this thread should revert to a thread where newcomers can see who knows what...

Basically a thread where people can nominate other members as experts, so the newer members know who to look out for on a specific subject.

So the list so far would be..

PGA Tour - Kwini
Rankings - Drac
Golf Course Architecture - Mac/Shotrock
P.E./Weightwatchers - Super
Lime green apparel - LJ

Feel free to add to the list!

Hell. I know nothing about GCA compared to people with a real knowledge of the subject. I am nothing more than a keen enthusiast.

Davie wrote:

Eyetoldyouso wrote:

JPX wrote:If a player is off +4.5 handicap and enters a competition that is a 3/4 handicap allowance, what is his handicap for the competition?

+5
His playing handicap is +4. The 3/4 allowance is calculated as +4 *4/3 = +5

So what would a scratch player be playing off?

Scratch
0*4/3 = 0 or 0 *3/4 = 0 Didn't they teach you anything at school (only joking)

Eyetoldyouso wrote:

Davie wrote:

Eyetoldyouso wrote:

JPX wrote:If a player is off +4.5 handicap and enters a competition that is a 3/4 handicap allowance, what is his handicap for the competition?

+5
His playing handicap is +4. The 3/4 allowance is calculated as +4 *4/3 = +5

So what would a scratch player be playing off?

Scratch
0*4/3 = 0 or 0 *3/4 = 0 Didn't they teach you anything at school (only joking)

You forget, Davie went to school during WWII and chalk and slate were rationed back then, so no wonder he didnt learn Maths.

I'll have you know I have a University degree in Maths. That's why I asked the question.

I'm well aware that anything multiplied by zero is zero - it just doesn't seem right that scratch golfer gets no reduction - but then realized that neither does a 1 or 2 handicapper, (or +1, +2) so I guess its fair enough

Another Rules question:
it was foursomes matchplay where player A hit into a marshy waterhazard. as his partner player B was readying himself to hit the shot from the hazard player A was rooting for balls about 10 yards away with his pitching wedge (but still in the same hazard).
do you think there is a penalty here?

McLaren wrote:Hell. I know nothing about GCA compared to people with a real knowledge of the subject. I am nothing more than a keen enthusiast.

Fair enough but out of us lot, a keen enthusiast is a expert as we get

On the subject of golf course architecture, i played what i consider to be an absolute gem a month or two back...

Designed by Harry Colt within the grounds of a manor house rumoured to have landscaped by Capability Brown and two miles from the centre of a major city.... Have a guess?

It was relatively short, but so many great looking holes... the 18th was a pig of a finishing hole compared to the rest but still i would encourage anyone to play it if staying in the said city....

Lots of rules questions and we dont have a rules expert yet.
Wouldnt it make a lot more sense to just have a thread dedicated to rules questions ?

hend085 wrote:Another Rules question:
it was foursomes matchplay where player A hit into a marshy waterhazard. as his partner player B was readying himself to hit the shot from the hazard player A was rooting for balls about 10 yards away with his pitching wedge (but still in the same hazard).
do you think there is a penalty here?

Ohh good one... I have literally no idea, but i would assume as soon as he has hit his shot he's no longer 'active' as he cannot play the next shots so no penalty... but if player B were to dump it in there, then what?

I'm puzzled...

Rossa wrote:

McLaren wrote:Hell. I know nothing about GCA compared to people with a real knowledge of the subject. I am nothing more than a keen enthusiast.

Fair enough but out of us lot, a keen enthusiast is a expert as we get

On the subject of golf course architecture, i played what i consider to be an absolute gem a month or two back...

Designed by Harry Colt within the grounds of a manor house rumoured to have landscaped by Capability Brown and two miles from the centre of a major city.... Have a guess?

It was relatively short, but so many great looking holes... the 18th was a pig of a finishing hole compared to the rest but still i would encourage anyone to play it if staying in the said city....

At a guess, somewhere in or around Bath??

Rules Question

Playing a 3 man Texas Scramble, needing 4 drives from each player in the team. On the 18th tee, one member has only taken 3 of his 4 drives so he has to tee off. Ball is sliced into heavy rough, ball is lost. Is the next step for all 3 of us to hit from the tee under penalty thus making it 3 off the tee? Our playing partners were adamant that it should have been the same guy to tee off again and only him. I argued it wasn't and we took my shot from the tee and made a bogey. The other team continued to say we'd broke the rules.

D4S,

In the words of Roy Walker, Its good but it's not right...

I'll give you a clue - the golf club shares it's name with a County Cricket Ground...

Rossa wrote:

hend085 wrote:Another Rules question:
it was foursomes matchplay where player A hit into a marshy waterhazard. as his partner player B was readying himself to hit the shot from the hazard player A was rooting for balls about 10 yards away with his pitching wedge (but still in the same hazard).
do you think there is a penalty here?

Ohh good one... I have literally no idea, but i would assume as soon as he has hit his shot he's no longer 'active' as he cannot play the next shots so no penalty... but if player B were to dump it in there, then what?

I'm puzzled...

I assumed the same as you Rossa but they were given the penalty of loss of hole. there was an GUI rules official on scene to make the call. I was really surprised by it to be honest. It led me to wonder if it would be the same ruling for a 4 man team or 4ball. i cant imagine it is but i really dont know.

There was some dude who claimed to be an expert on rules think his user name began with M. Reckoned he was the "rules champ" at his club I think.

One to avoid in a fourball if you ask me as I can't think of much more boring to be an expert in myself but to each their own. Hell I get all giddy filling in an excel spreadsheet for a betting syndicate I'm part of.

EmmDee57 wrote: Rules Question

Playing a 3 man Texas Scramble, needing 4 drives from each player in the team. On the 18th tee, one member has only taken 3 of his 4 drives so he has to tee off. Ball is sliced into heavy rough, ball is lost. Is the next step for all 3 of us to hit from the tee under penalty thus making it 3 off the tee? Our playing partners were adamant that it should have been the same guy to tee off again and only him. I argued it wasn't and we took my shot from the tee and made a bogey. The other team continued to say we'd broke the rules.

seems clear cut to me that you all hit 3 off the tee

Rossa wrote:D4S,

In the words of Roy Walker, Its good but it's not right...

I'll give you a clue - the golf club shares it's name with a County Cricket Ground...

Trent Bridge Golf Club?

EmmDee57 wrote: Rules Question

Playing a 3 man Texas Scramble, needing 4 drives from each player in the team. On the 18th tee, one member has only taken 3 of his 4 drives so he has to tee off. Ball is sliced into heavy rough, ball is lost. Is the next step for all 3 of us to hit from the tee under penalty thus making it 3 off the tee? Our playing partners were adamant that it should have been the same guy to tee off again and only him. I argued it wasn't and we took my shot from the tee and made a bogey. The other team continued to say we'd broke the rules.

If you took your drive as three off the tee then you have in effect taken his drive anyway so I'm saying you're in the right.

JPX wrote:

Rossa wrote:D4S,

In the words of Roy Walker, Its good but it's not right...

I'll give you a clue - the golf club shares it's name with a County Cricket Ground...

Trent Bridge Golf Club?

Nope...

Keep trying

Rossa wrote:

JPX wrote:

Rossa wrote:D4S,

In the words of Roy Walker, Its good but it's not right...

I'll give you a clue - the golf club shares it's name with a County Cricket Ground...

Trent Bridge Golf Club?

Nope...

Keep trying

Another clue...

A major 'red brick' university's golf team play their home ties at this club...

On the Texas Scramble question I'd say it was the same player to play 3 off the tee

Just my opinion but I agree with Digs on this one

In that most new articles are seeking advice or opinion, if this thread is designed for that very purpose, aren't we just going to end up with a golf board with no new articles, only this very very long thread?