Capelle On Golf

For so long it was easy to remember Al Geiberger’s 59, which he shot in 1977. One reason is that Mr. 59 was the only one to break 60 until Chip Beck matched his feat in 1991.

Now, it seems, we are being besieged by super low scores. Earlier in the year Ryo Ishikawa shocked the golf world with a final round 58 in route to a win on the Japan Tour. A week ago Carl Pettersson lipped out a putt on the 18th green and had to settle for a mere 60. Then, a few days ago, young Bobby Wyatt, a high school golfer in Alabama, shot a 14 under par 57 on a 6,638 yard course.

Before the proverbial dust could even settle on this latest foray into double digits under par, J.B. Holmes went out and blistered the Greenbrier’s Old White Course with a spiffy little round of 60, 10 under on this 7,020 track.

With some time on my hands, I decided to examine his round with the aid of ShotLink. Here is what I discovered.

First of all, Holmes played the four par three in a rather pedestrian even par. That means he played the 14 par 4s and 5s in 10 under.

The first par 5 (#12) measures 568 yards. No problem. Just hit a 331 yard drive, a 236 yard second shot, and he’s got a two putt birdie. The second par 5 (#17) is 572 yards long. No sweat. Bomb one 359 off the tee, knock the 224 yard approach to 10 feet and Holmes got an easy two putt birdie.

Okay, that takes care of the six par 3s and 4s, which he played in two under. That means that Holmes played the 12 par 4s, which are normally tough to go super low on, in eight strokes under par. How was this possible? Easy - in this day and age, even previously super long four pars over 440 yards, of which there are six on Old White, have been reduced to pitch and putt golf.

The scorecard for the par fours below shows Holmes score, the length of his tee shots and his approaches.

Holmes on the Par 4s (hole, score, yardage, his drive, his approach)
H–H–Yd.-TS–App.
1–3–449–320–117
2–4–448–306–137
4–3–398–385–42  (drove about pin high!)
5–3–344–269–72  (layup)
6–4–471–330–145
7–3–405–319–93
9–3–404–292–102

10–3–385–319–56
11–4–447–342–129
13–3–474–324–137
14–4–399–299–88
16–3–442–336–102

Besides the eight birdies, the stats that stand out are the length of his tee shots and his approaches. These holes averaged 424 yards, and yet Holmes average approach measured a scant 102 yards, with only three of over 120 yards. In short, thanks to modern technology, today’s courses can be reduced to pitch and putts, especially when a player gets hot with his driver.

The formula for shooting 60 and below has been reduced to this: have the ability on a given day to hit it long and straight, have a strong wedge game (you don’t need to master the other 11 clubs), and putt lights out on today’s pool table greens.

With the super low score mystery solved, you can look for more of these ridiculous rounds in the years ahead except, thank god, at the majors, which are the only ones that count anyway.

NOTE: I just did the math - this is my 400th post/column since my blog commenced in February, 2008. My how time flies.