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Olympic Question

• gamerC 25 Posts

  Mon, Jul 15 2013 7:22 AM

  I've just started to play Olympic recently, and even though I hate it, I'm going to keep playing it until it makes sense to me. My questions have to do with yardage and rough.

  On #10, I had 139 to the pin, 3' above me. The wind was 8 mph from left to right. I hit my 145 yd 8 iron with about 98% power and a hair more than 50% backspin. I expected it to be very close. The shot only went 124 yards and landed in 50% rough.

  This seems to happen a lot at Olympic. My first question is, are there specific holes that consistently play long or short, and if so, which ones?

  Also, the rough doesn't seem to play like it does anywhere else. Chips pitches and flops all play short. I can't get a feel for how much power to hit the short shots with. Does anyone have a formula for these?

  Thanks.

   

   

• amb1923 223 Posts

  Mon, Jul 15 2013 3:19 PM

  I hope you come to like Oly the more you play it. It's one of the courses on here I enjoy a lot - possibly because it's so different.  A few general thoughts in trying to answer some of your questions:

  • Overall, I think because there's so much elevation change, the course plays very differently and you have to adjust your yardages accordingly.  #1, #3, #12 play shorter, #s 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 18 all play longer going uphill on the second shots. I usually don't play those shots with any backspin.  It does take a while to get a feel for each hole.
  • #s 4, 5 and 10 have some pretty serious dogleg action (esp. 4 & 5). I'll often backspin my drive and take some power off to stay in the fairway.
  • Some of it also obviously depends on the clubs & balls you're playing - Nikes respond to spin more, so it can cut down your distance significantly depending on the hole.
  • it's hard to get a GIR from a drive in the rough here. Like Oakmont, it seems to be a bit more punishing
  • A lot of the pin placements are tucked up near the edge of the green, with heavier rough around them. If you short-side yourself, it's often tough to chip close; In general, I tend to pitch more on this course, and add a little more power if the shot is going into an upslope.

  A few thoughts; hope they're helpful.  Happy hitting!

• MichaelStroke 2,066 Posts

  Wed, Jul 17 2013 2:15 PM

  Olympic is a real PITA because you need to play it like it's 3-5 yards longer than listed on about 4 or 5 holes.  It's also a struggle to figure out how to play some really nasty green slopes.

  It's not just Olympic though.  Kiawah has a hole like that, as does RSG.  It just adds some flavor.

• courteneyfish 15,796 Posts

  Wed, Jul 17 2013 10:19 PM

  The greens are a lot easier on the slow or standard setting. It's worth setting up like this in practice or within a club to get the hang of them. I also find that use of the punch helps a lot on Merion and taking a lot of notes too.

• chrisironsbones 3,524 Posts

  Thu, Jul 18 2013 4:03 AM

  Take 12, It might say 18 feet down (dont know exact number) but Its more like 24 feet, or plays shorter.