The forum seems lacking in talk of the greatest game in the world, but Mr Scientist set me thinking this morning with the below....

 

We have always known that Balmedie was a white elephant and his claim that it would be the greatest course in the world was always completely laffable. It's not even the best course within 5 miles of there and there are numerous better in the NE let alone Scotland let alone the UK let alone Europe let alone the world. What he didn't factor in and we all knew was that you can't sell tickets for a minimum of 5 months out of 12. The haar comes in during peak times, July & August to wipe out some days and it's way too cold for tourists in the winter. Plus the price was so ridiculous he was never going to get locals to play it more than once, or occasionally twice or more if a freebie.

While I agree with all of the rest, plus you missed out that he didn't bargain for how long a course takes to be ready for play from new build in our climate, I take issue with how good the course is.

 

Let's forget Trump being a total erse, that's a given. And we'll move past best course in the world because again, that's a helluva tall order, and will always be subjective anyway, and obviously it isn't.

 

I honestly don't think even Royal Snoberdeen can beat it, far less anywhere else in the north east, he truly has built an astonishing layout.

 

What are your issues with the course?

You (and I these days) may be playing a greater number of positional and/or recovery shots but I can assure you that however we hit it, it's one of only seven shot type possibilities e.g. Drive, Approach, Putt etc.

Chemical fine tuning etc. which I appreciate is rife in cycling, athletics and gymnastics etc. doesn't really affect me given that our software only measures performance specifics on the course. My roles in the planning and preparation phase involve the scheduling and composition of practise, game, personal and course management and mental coaching (and within that including one specific and crucial skill) but that's only for a fraction of our online users who have become personal clients. I've never come across situations in golf where the line gets blurred but I fully understand your point in other sports.

Parents however, your point nails it. They are the biggest handicap to all of us engaged in helping golfers improve. Specifically they know their son (or daughter, dads of girls got banned from caddying by the R & A!) better than we do but they don't work in golf, a sport where everyone has an opinion and many parents think they know best. The Leadbetter fall out with Lydia Ko was a high-profile public case but we face the same shit every week of our lives. Or I don't. Any more. I've worked out how to close them down and shut them up very efficiently although it took some trial and error and if they don't like it, see ya later, I don't care. The golfer often comes back themselves, sometimes when it's too late unfortunately.

My client who scratched this week and is driving home as we speak doesn't like living in the bubbles, neither on the PGA Tour nor European Tour. My words to him to conclude our first text chat this morning were: -

Valderrama a superb test and perfect prep for a US Open. Tough course, will blow away any cobwebs in your mental examination. Demanding greens for putting too, but the confident putters thrive on them. Fuck Birmingham but missing Spain would be a bad mistake in my opinion.

He became a multi millionaire in his rookie year. He doesn't need to play this week for the money and it's not a big purse anyway. It's more important for him to be happy and well prepared for the bigger events and a week off just now fits perfectly, for other reasons too. So he's not an example to fit your debate either really. Some have to play and take every opportunity they get, others feel pressured to play for reasons which tragically includes OPE - Other People's Expectations but always, without passion and desire, they're never gonna make it, in anything. 

Edited August 25, 20205 yr by rocket_scientist

3 hours ago, rocket_scientist said:

As I said, I know nothing but you are raising a whole bunch of different points so I need to deal with them separately;

I was talking about UK amateur golf and Scottish football being in decline. This is demonstrable and provable by any and every measurement criteria that we care to throw at it.

Yes the technological improvements (and strength and conditioning and other factors) make the ball go further in golf, progressively so over the last 30 years (whereupon this remains the biggest issue facing the R & A today) but I'm not looking at whether sports are, or should, improve in future years, I'm only talking about the declining standards that we are getting in UK amateur golf - which will inevitably come through to UK professional golf - and in Scottish football in general. This is wholly down to having less participants at school-age level, not just what the authorities might spin but on the street, in the parks, on the golf courses. Without a healthy grass roots feeding in, there is always going to be less quality coming out.

I don't think anybody should be "pushing sports people to perform better" other than dedicated coaching teams working with the consent of the individual, who must be motivated to want to succeed. It's just that there are less of them around in football (Scotland) and golf (UK) these days. And performing "for us", I don't get. We are paying customers in football and if the product isn't good enough, less of us will go. I have no idea what you mean by cycling being able to answer that, not because you're wrong, simply because I have no idea (it, like snooker, not being an area of interest for me).

My "level of analysis" wasn't available 15 years ago but it can't possibly "take things too far". It is a very simple tool that is now used in 98 countries and the only thing that we do is measure performance in golf. Well, it's a very complicated bit of software engineering - being able to capture the infinite possibilities that can, and do, occur in the game into a use-able, user-friendly format with maximum mathematical click economy built in, on both web and App functions - but to the golfer, it performs a very simple set of tasks and produces uncomplicated data output that fits our core objective, albeit it takes a wee bit of effort to understand the full power of the information capability, this being a game where our pros produce over 5,000 individual pieces of data every year, and often considerably more than that.

There are some things in golf that do go too far in my opinion, where over-use of science blinds the user to the reality and obfuscates the simplicity of the objectives of the game (and of its seven different shot types) but performance measurement in the way that we do it does not do this. It only takes 5.5 minutes online and less than 5 minutes on the App to capture the total shots played in a round, helped by certain defaults, both of clubs used by distances from and all putts less than 6 feet being holed, unless we miss them where two additional clicks are required.

As for 14 hours a day etc., different golfers do very different things in practise and it is important to tailor each preparation and planning structure for the individual. One size does not fit all in golf, despite some over the years trying to impose this.

It's not a game for the professional athlete, it's a business and like every business, they get managed differently. In golf however, it's important to empower the golfer to own their own ambitions and their planning and preparation etc., before reflecting and measuring on what they can do better next time. Golf being a game of "never-perfect", there is ALWAYS something that can improve.

 

That makes sense 

20 hours ago, Donofanewera said:

None of the others are friends of mine but I remember you and your pish from various forums that excluded you. I’m going to ignore you as you’ve got issues I can’t solve 

 

17 minutes ago, Donofanewera said:

That makes sense 

You couldn't quite manage it eh? You couldn't last one day.

Your obsessional behaviour is tragic to witness. Your mates will be along to back you up soon, just like you back them up in similar ad hominem attacks.

And then you'll all get banned. And possibly me too for responding.

Fucking sick and twisted boy.

Calm down Bridget, agreeing with your point of view and you’re still angry

Stop the abuse, Rocket brother. This why Bebo had to give you your marching orders. Take a leaf out of the jacobite's book and keep a lid on your rage. 

You invested your time in editing my words. For what aim?

Now that your sidekick is here, why don't you call up your third and we can have a cosy foursome?

What is your problem?

I don't like to get too caught up in data, I'm a feel player. Only time I've ever paid any attention to my stats is when I tested a Titleist TS2 9.5 degree driver with a HZRDUS Smoke 6.5 extra stiff shaft. A marked improvement in ball speed, spin and distance compared to my usual Project X 6.0 stiff. I asked the pro to let me now try a HZRDUS 6.0 to compare. He said I didn't need that shaft anymore. I have been using the 6.5 ever since and it can feel dead the first few strikes. You definitely need a good warm up on the range before puting it into play on the course. 

Edited August 25, 20205 yr by royal deeside cowie

I am busy tonight.

I won't be moderating posts on here.

Either knock yourselves out and bans will be forthcoming or preferably ignore one another.

5 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I don't think that the standard in snooker is on the decline

It definitely is. When Hendry won his titles the overall standard was much higher, there was more competition for titles.

O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams are still picking away 20 years after their peak.

Snooker used to be huge in Scotland and the UK in general, when the fags sponsored it. Now it's a minority sport.

Ok then, a race against the clock here...

Since our cosy chats this month look like they've come to the end, I really want to learn something, from the three of you who I termed mutant migrants.

That's not very nice is it? It's a nasty thing to say. I don't deny a capacity for gross coorseness but I would argue that it was a term invoked in defence, when it became obvious to that your sole reason for posting was to target me, relentlessly and (I would argue) with great childishness and immaturity, with no end goal in mind and nothing positive achieved.

As a keen student of the human condition, what I want to know is why?

With everything going on in the world right now, who has the energy and the will to seek out confrontation on an online forum for seemingly no good purpose and zero discernible gain?

I know that I should have ignored all three of you, instead of only one of you for most of the time, but irrespective of my actions in self-defence, what drives and motivates you lot? I really want my impressions of you to be wrong or mistaken. 

3 minutes ago, tup1 said:

It definitely is. When Hendry won his titles the overall standard was much higher, there was more competition for titles.

O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams are still picking away 20 years after their peak.

Snooker used to be huge in Scotland and the UK in general, when the fags sponsored it. Now it's a minority sport.

Is this like golf and football in your opinion in that we don't have as many youngsters playing snooker as we did?

8 minutes ago, rocket_scientist said:

Is this like golf and football in your opinion in that we don't have as many youngsters playing snooker as we did?

For sure. It's a pub sport really, pubs are on the decline, so is the sport itself.

However we blame the kids for not taking part, after taking away the facilities for them to do so. If I had a pound for the number of times I've heard Xbox or Playstation is to blame I'd be a millionaire.

This fails to recognise that Xboxes and Playstations are available in almost every country in the world.

 

 

 

All the traditional pub sports are in decline, standard of pub pool teams now is so much lower 

14 minutes ago, rocket_scientist said:

I know that I should have ignored all three of you

Yes ignore the 3 cunts. They have set out to target you from the off.  

 

 

4 minutes ago, Donofanewera said:

All the traditional pub sports are in decline, standard of pub pool teams now is so much lower 

You're telling me.

Who you calling a cunt

3 minutes ago, Donofanewera said:

Who you calling a cunt

You, Poirot, and Cowie.

Leave Rocket alone and try and say something constructive. You're not on AFC Chat now pal.

Just now, tup1 said:

You, Poirot, and Cowie.

Leave Rocket alone and try and say something constructive. You're not on AFC Chat now pal.

Lol. You don't need to defend me. I just find their incapacity to post anything other than destructive quite astonishing. I am genuinely intrigued by how they turned out like this, grown fucking men too?

6 minutes ago, rocket_scientist said:

Lol. You don't need to defend me. I just find their incapacity to post anything other than destructive quite astonishing. I am genuinely intrigued by how they turned out like this, grown fucking men too?

They call themselves 'The Sultans'.

I'm not really defending you, I'm just trying to avoid you getting a ban.

 

I’m certainly not a self titled sultan so wrong tree. Don’t call me a cunt 

13 minutes ago, tup1 said:

You, Poirot, and Cowie.

Leave Rocket alone and try and say something constructive. You're not on AFC Chat now pal.

Wow, the irony 

2 minutes ago, tup1 said:

They call themselves 'The Sultans'.

I'm not really defending you, I'm just trying to avoid you getting a ban.

Wow, honestly, they consider themselves an organised "gang"? I never knew this and I've never come across any of them on the hat that I can remember, certainly not with these usernames. The level of pathos has just deepened.

I banned myself from AFC Chat because of the amount of total mutants on there. I will happily take a ban from here if my conduct in self-defence was considered too robust. The world is too pussy and I would rather have no part of a PC - or woke or whatever the term is - forum.

3 minutes ago, Donofanewera said:

Wow, the irony 

 

5 minutes ago, Donofanewera said:

I’m certainly not a self titled sultan so wrong tree. Don’t call me a cunt 

Oh dear, it's turning on you now I fear tup.

Instead of getting all upset and he called me names boo hoo, why don't you answer the question of WHY you seek confrontation?

5 minutes ago, rocket_scientist said:

Wow, honestly, they consider themselves an organised "gang"? I never knew this and I've never come across any of them on the hat that I can remember, certainly not with these usernames. The level of pathos has just deepened.

I banned myself from AFC Chat because of the amount of total mutants on there. I will happily take a ban from here if my conduct in self-defence was considered too robust. The world is too pussy and I would rather have no part of a PC - or woke or whatever the term is - forum.

Aye you're right, a good ban is all part of the game. The internet is heavily censored these days, controversy is not in fashion.

Aye they're a gang. There's a few more of them to join the party yet.

34 minutes ago, tup1 said:

It definitely is. When Hendry won his titles the overall standard was much higher, there was more competition for titles.

O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams are still picking away 20 years after their peak.

There might have been more competition for titles (I disagree, nobody came close to Hendry), but the standard has demonstrably improved. The number of centuries, long potting etc is far superior these days, and there's probably 20 players that could bang in centuries for fun. Robertson, Selby, Trump, Ding etc are all miles better than yer John Parrotts etc who would be on the fringes during Hendry's reign. He'd be the first to say so. 

O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams were significantly better than anyone else when they first came on the go. They are at the peak of their sport. That sport doesn't require much fitness, so can be played for much longer. They don't win everything these days, far from it, but they're still at the top because they set such a high standard and retained that standard. If Steve Davis had retained his standard, or Jimmy White, they wouldn't be winning anything these days (they'd likely have improved of course).

 

34 minutes ago, tup1 said:

Snooker used to be huge in Scotland and the UK in general, when the fags sponsored it.

I really don't think there's any need for homophobia.