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Miniature Golf

• TTEST47 18 Posts

  Sun, May 19 2013 5:38 AM

  I'm not a golfer in real life, so I'm posing this question to those who are and play WGT, as well. I can not believe that in real life their exist greens like #5 on Merion with so many tricky breaks and slopes. Half the time if you are not careful you will miss a put and end up with a chip shot to recover due to the extreme slopes. It is like playing miniature golf, and I think it's slightly ridiculous! I would love to hear responses from those who actually play the game.

• CerinoDevoti 3,232 Posts

  Sun, May 19 2013 9:44 AM

  It's pretty realistic and I've played greens with  drops and fall offs that are about the same. It indicates you've hit your approach to the wrong spot.

• srellim234 2,077 Posts

  Sun, May 19 2013 11:10 AM

  They do indeed exist. Greenskeepers intentionally take advantage of those slopes to penalize you for missing the correct side of the hole, too. I can think of multiple greens on different courses we play in real life where pins are cut just below a severe slope so if you put your approach on the green above the slope it's impossible to stop a putt close unless you hit the cup and that stops it.

  I remember an interview with a winner of the Masters years ago where he actually prepared for the tournament by practicing his putting on the smooth concrete floor in his garage. He knew he would miss a few approaches on the high side and used the concrete practice to leave himself second putts that were still going to be on the green.

• andwhy67 2,816 Posts

  Mon, May 20 2013 4:57 AM

  It is tough, i have had some disasterous results on this hole, but here's one!

  http://www.wgt.com/replay.aspx?ID=231ef075-fe42-4c1f-8ceb-a1b90092fec0

  Go to options, you can untick the windmill tab!!

  TTEST47:

  I'm not a golfer in real life, so I'm posing this question to those who are and play WGT, as well. I can not believe that in real life their exist greens like #5 on Merion with so many tricky breaks and slopes. Half the time if you are not careful you will miss a put and end up with a chip shot to recover due to the extreme slopes. It is like playing miniature golf, and I think it's slightly ridiculous! I would love to hear responses from those who actually play the game.

• jeffmatulich 482 Posts

  Mon, May 20 2013 10:44 AM

  Absolutely they exist - golf is a very difficult game and putting is where it gets done. And as others have said, to set yourself up to score you better be in the right place with your approach.  My home course has several holes that if you are not in the correct area of the green with your approach you are going to 3 putt (or worse) 80% of the time.

  Another thing to recognize is that for the Majors (Masters, US Open, British Open, and the PGA Championship) they intentionally set up the course to push it to its absolute most difficult.  And for US Opens (run by USGA) that means super narrow fairways - very very deep rough - and lightening fast greens with wicked pin placements.  So in terms of how WGT has Merion (and Oly) set up I think they did a great job. Though I really really wish they had all four pin placements.

  In addition to knowing where your approach shot needs to be on the green another thing to consider is knowing where to miss....golfers know where the bail out area  of a hole is so that if they miss the green (sometimes even intentionally) they'll have a  relatively  easy up and down.  #5 at Merion is just that type of hole - if you miss short and a bit left of the pin you have a routine flop up to the hole which if  executed  properly should give you a makable putt - take your 4 (if you can) and run....

  Good luck!