Is 59 the new norm?

darpar

Two 59's in 2 weeks, with Adam Hadwin ( a Canuck no less) getting another one today!
And Kinser almost shot 59 last week also.
WTH are these guys smokin' these days? 🙂

Typhoon

darpar

If you do the Canadian exchange rate it equals 5 goals in one game.

Typhoon

No kidding. We're out to dinner right now and I saw it on the tv and I'm trying to process it because it used to be rare....now it seems like every week.

Release

We had been pushing the limit of equipment and human physical ability for quite a few decades now.
With the conforming rules set by the USGA and R&A we probably come very close to reaching the limit with the equipments.
With the frequent report of injury from the top players these days, I'm guessing we had perhaps came close to the limit for human body to better the game, so, I'm not worried if there would be a bunch of 59 popping up.

I would also look into whether the 59 was achieve at a par 70/71 course ? P.G.A. par 72 is a little bit more difficult than the par 70 course.

darpar

Release

Par 72 and he had 13 birdies

mcavoy

Hadwin likes the desert. He won a Canadian Tour event in Desert Hot Springs several years ago.

Release

darpar

What a hot round !

Spuzz

Golf Channel announcers ( Steve Sands and David Duval I think) were saying a 59 was possible before the tourny even started due to the perfect conditions and especially the flat greens.
Looks like they were spot on.

sdandrea1

It's the Kirkland Signature ball. It has revolutionized the game...................

Release

sdandrea1 It's the Kirkland Signature ball. It has revolutionized the game...................

I knew it.....has to be.

PA-PLAYA

Any given round for some of these guys, any given week for others. Either way, impressive as hell. It's not as easy as they're making it look.

DC300

That's an amazing accomplishment regardless of conditions. You have to be damn near perfect in everything to pull it off. I don't think it's the new normal, I do think the players are insanely good and the conditions need to meet their talents to prevent it from being so "easy". Let's say you will never see the Any of the Majors get cut up with a 59... that's the best guys in the world bar none, so that's obviously a big part of it. Until I see people shooting 13 under at mini golf I'm not going to worry it's become to easy haha.

mcavoy

DC300
Augusta National could conceivably yield a 59 to the right player under the right conditions. Conceivably. But we would never know about it because AN officials would ship the player off to North Korea where he would be executed by an anti aircraft gun and the crowd ahem patrons would be shipped off to a gulag in the New Mexico desert.

Weirfan

DC300

Yup.

It's happened twice in two events but that's just a very big anomoly.

The fact that a sub 60 round has only been accomplished 9x ( by 8 different players) in the hundreds of thousands of rounds in the history of the PGA tour is a testament to how extremely difficult and rare this amazing feat is.

Further substantiated by the fact that The greatest two golfers in history, Jack and Tiger were never able to shoot sub 60 on tour. Tiger hasn't even shot a 60 on tour afaik

letthebigdogshunt

Two 59's this month. I guess 58 is now the new low score to shoot for. 59 used to be unusual, but now seems ho hum so what.

Eguller

1) Agronomy is just excellent
2) A Tour Pro & 460cc driver = full out swing
3) Conditioning
4) Better irons & shafts
5) The rise of Trakman & Highly Customized fitting
6) The Ball

All those add up to the reasons for more 59's now than in the Nelson, Hogan, Nicklaus, Woods eras....JMO

PA-PLAYA

Don't look now, but 42-yr-old Chad Campbell is currently leading the Career Builder. Chad averages 285 off the tee (last year and this year combined averages). Hadwin (Mr. 59) ranks 117th in driving distance, averaging 294.

It's not just a distance thing. You put most of these guys on a well-conditioned course, receptive greens, no wind... they can shoot low scores. Sometimes incredibly low.

We might see a couple more sub-60 rounds this season, then again we might not see another one for several years. Lots of factors besides how far these guys can hit a golf ball.

Typhoon

PA-PLAYA

Yup...Fuyrk shot 58 and hits it nowhere.

PA-PLAYA

Typhoon

Perfect example. Quite honestly I forgot it was 58 instead of 59. And I seem to recall that he only played the last 6 holes in that round at 1-under. Granted, it was a par-70, the layout distance was somewhere between 6800-6900 yards. But still... 10 birdies and an eagle. Not a long hitter.

Might be one of the rare instances where you could grant a relatively short hitter at that level an additional 15 yards off the tee and it probably wouldn't matter that much. Then again - I'm sure he'd like to find out!

sdandrea1

My lowest scores happen when my driver is accurate (not long) and my short game is in A shape.