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The Adorable Oakmont Greens

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 11:30 AM

  Ok, please allow this stupid little chick some help trying to make sense of things. I've been here for a while and my stats indicate that I have 30,000+ putts attempted. That is quite a bit of practice. And yet I find the practice useless when I can't even lag putt for par at Oakmont. The grids mean nothing. The light blue to light orange speed guide is useless and inconsistant. The rolling beads provide nothing but foolish doom. Fix it.  

• TarheelsRule 5,566 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 11:42 AM

  Wow  frustration from SP.   The greens at Oakmont can try anyone's patience for sure and there are a few places that I don't think you can 2 putt from, I think #9 or #18 if you hit past the hole to the left, you can't 2 putt it unless you make a 15 footer coming back.  It is difficult for sure.

• aceydeucey 504 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 12:29 PM

  ... and why must I power down on an uphill putt.     You would think that with an uphill putt you would need to add power.... not in this game.     You power down on downhill putts and that makes sense.        But also on uphill putts?      Just try putting a 30 foot distance uphill putt, 30 feet on any of these courses.     You'll wind up way past the hole.     Doesn't make sense.        Could someone explain?     WGT?  

• chipshotcharlie 538 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 12:31 PM

  TarheelsRule:

  Wow  frustration from SP.   The greens at Oakmont can try anyone's patience for sure and there are a few places that I don't think you can 2 putt from, I think #9 or #18 if you hit past the hole to the left, you can't 2 putt it unless you make a 15 footer coming back.  It is difficult for sure.

   

  Agreed, not to mention the dots sliding around to there own little disco.Imo this game needs a large portion put to a downloadable version and then play online like most games do. Now i know this is not WGT`s direction, but i feel they will have to look into sooner or later as i can't help but notice a drop in performance with every new coarse.I am also aware it takes a little time to smooth out but to be honest i think theres been real problems since the release of St Andy's front nine.

• neildiamond11790 1,115 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 2:21 PM

  Basically much of Oakmont is the same as BPB #15.  There are places that no matter how well you strike a putt, you cant keep it close enough to the hole.  Just a fact of golf.  I have done pretty well lagging, my theory take the distance up or down, adjust for it, and for downhill take another hunk of speed off the putt.  It has worked for anything downhill, basically whatever you think the speed is, its not and you must play much shorter.  30ft putt, 12 inches downhill on very fast I calculate to about 17ft.  Tourney same scenario I play it like 9 or 10ft, I dont expect it to go in but I dont expect to be more then 3ft from the cup.  I think with some more time we all will get them better.  SP, you have 30K putts, only a handful are on Tourney speed.

• igiveup 110 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 2:32 PM

  A simple rule of thumb for the green at Oakmont is deduct 3 ft for every 10 feet of linear distance and then add or subtract the rise and fall. This will get you very close to the money distance wise. 

  But be careful, the slower the putt... the more it will break.... I had a 24 ft putt at the 1st downhill... hit it at 4ft speed... and lagged it to 11 inches...

  Hope you have fun.

   

• TheLighterDark 1,404 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 5:51 PM

  SweetiePie, you may have seen my say this in a few other threads, but here goes again.

  Before I start, by saying this, I'm not trying to say that "hey my game is better than yours" or anything of the sort. Hell, I barely have 200 Ranked Rounds Played, but I seem to have a grasp on Oakmont. I understand I'm not the best Oakmont[er] out there, and my scores will likely be topped soon.

  Firstly, when I shot 57, I had 17 greens where I was putting. I had 17 because I holed out for Eagle on #2. Out of these 17 holes, I 1-putted 12 of them. Impossible greens? Very doubtful. I'm sure you're familiar with the ones that I, like you, struggled with.

  #8 and #9 are the two I 2-putted on the front. On the back, I 2-putted #13, #16, and #18.

  It's hard for me to give tips on how to control these putts. Everything I did that round was working. I couldn't miss. After three straight birdies on the back, I decided it was time to take it easy and try to save a good score and maybe shoot 60 if I'm lucky. I lipped a 40 footer on #18 for birdie, I made the putt of my lifetime and #15 from 25 feet away, and many other apocalyptic-esque hasppenings. 

  The weird thing is, the only advice I can try to offer you is don't try to make the long putts. I know this seems pretty hypocritical of me as I drained many long putts that round, but the weird thing is: I wasn't trying to. I told myself on some of these putts "Ok, I'm 40 feet away. I'm conscientiously aware that leaving myself a 5 footer coming back could result in bogey. We all know how hard it is to leave a putt short at Oakmont, so I decided to take A LOT off of that putt, enough so that I believed it would never get to the hole. I played a ton more break than I usually would and dinged it. What happened? It lipped the freakin' hole! Luckily it wasn't traveling too fast and I ended up with a 1 footer for the par.

  The advice I want everyone to hear (whether brand new or a seasoned pro) is that you need to leave yourself with a simple putt coming back if you miss. Remember that pars don't lose a stroke, but bogeys take away that birdie.

  Sorry if my egotistical rant is useless information, I'm just saying... that's what happened.

• pinkgirl34 59 Posts

  Thu, Jun 10 2010 7:32 PM

  I agree that for many holes there are parts of the green you land where it's nearly impossible to 2-putt. But I'd have to say that the greens on Oakmont are not nearly as tough as the monster-sloped greens at St. Andrews Open Qualifying. On the St. Andrews Open Qualifying, anywhere over 25 feet, a 2-putt is a very good accomplishment,

• jimgriff 127 Posts

  Fri, Jun 11 2010 7:57 PM

   Hang in there Sweetie Pie, I know you'll figure it out eventually!

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Fri, Jun 11 2010 8:34 PM

  jimgriff:

   Hang in there Sweetie Pie, I know you'll figure it out eventually!

  Thanks jg...the course has me in a straightjacket because of my anger and subsequent violent behavior...had it at -5 after 10 holes...unplugged at #17