Post by philknj on May 29, 2018 18:17:27 GMT
I left home at 5:34 AM for Raven’s Claw Golf Club (Pottstown, PA) and arrived around 7:30 PM...yippee, I took a route that avoided bridge tolls and the Pennsy Turnpike (NEVER drive it unless absolutely necessary). This was easily the strangest venue I have ever visited for a golf tournament. It’s a public 18-hole course that encircles a housing community. The parking lot was off-limits to spectators, but it was early enough in the AM find a spot on the street close to the course.
The plan was to watch Muni He’s group (11:24 AM start) play the front nine and then I’d leave to play a round at nearby Linfield National Golf Club. As a warm-up, I decided to follow the 7:44 AM group of 2016 USJG & USWA champion Eun Jeong Seong, Jean Reynolds, and Anna Young at the 1st tee. Since the 10th tee was nowhere near the clubhouse, all the groups started at the par-5 1st hole.
The video collection below has a flyover of every hole:
www.youtube.com/user/sirlensalot2/videos
The first hole is called Relic because there is an old stone corner of a wall on the far-right side of the fairway about 100 yards from the green. I don’t know the history behind it. The local rules on the scorecard say you can take relief without penalty from this junk pile if it interferes with your swing or ball flight.
There were heavy showers during the pre-dawn hours the day before, so they employed the preferred lies rule for the fairways. There were no ropes, so I walked on and across the fairways when necessary and they were not soggy at all.
On paper, Seong is too good for this tour...she crushed her driver on #1 and again on the par-5 7th where they had yardage measuring hashmarks...her ball was at 287. I don’t know how accurate that was, since I saw a red spray-painted ‘200’ nearby, about five yards behind a permanent marker that said ‘212’. I don’t get it. She also hammered it over the left side bunker on the right-to-left par-4 5th and added a hybrid or FW rocket tee ball at the short par-4 9th. She also executed a 30-yard bunker shot with almost no effort. So, how did she finish the front nine at +3? Her GIR was so-so and she could not make, manufacture, or conjure up any putts. She finished the day at +5.
Seong is still playing TaylorMade gear...has the 750 or 770 irons. She’s wearing the CJ Shopping logos and I assume it was daddy pushing her bag. I think her Under Armour shoes is a change from when I last saw her 2016.
It was posted everywhere...Symetra Tour: Road 2 the LPGA. Jean Reynolds has been around long enough to confirm that it’s a two-way Road from the LPGA. She was fascinating to watch for the first time in person...plays with no glove and uses a ten-finger grip. She had a Ping stand bag, but her gear looked to be all Callaway, including a version of the old Cally Apex Forged irons. She drove the ball right-to-left with decent distance and hit some good recovery shots after her bad balls...was Even thru nine holes and finished the day at -1.
Anna Young of Saskatchewan and U. of Florida had a Bay Hill staff bag with the Arnold Palmer umbrella logo. She was a short hitter, but made a couple of long putts to keep her head above water. She was Even thru nine holes, but got killed on the back nine, finished +6. She’s also a Cally player, gaming the latest X-Forged irons.
Seong’s group played their first nine holes in about two hours and twenty minutes. On the return to the clubhouse, I stopped at the 9th tee as Hanule Sky Seo and Alex Milan arrived from the 8th green. Seo had the ultra-cool Fourteen Golf FH-900 Forged irons and sported a black top w/ gold pants from Louis Castel. Milan was forgettable although her caddy might have been this guy Jeff I saw at the Seaview last year. She had Coates Oryx irons.
The IG pic below is the clubhouse area, where I killed some time, pre-Muni..the left border cuts off the location of the Symetra Tour trailer in the parking lot, which would carry signs and scoreboards (none of it electronic).
Muni He and her group assembled at the 1st tee. A small Asian guy was pushing her black Southern Cal stand bag. She had a Nike long sleeve top and tight pants combo with a USC visor and stayed perched under her umbrella whenever possible. She had a TaylorMade 10.5 degree M4 driver and TM M4 irons, 6 thru A-wedge. The A-wedge had slightly different cosmetics from the rest of the irons. I’m not sure about the loft setting on the driver...there was ‘+’ at the adjustment location on the hosel...obviously, I couldn’t it pull it out of her bag for a closer look!
Muni’s threesome included Symetra lifer Hyemin Kim, who had Larry the Looper carrying her stand bag. Larry’s shoes said HOKA on the side...I guess that’s a good endorsement considering his line of work. Kim wore a Hazzy ensemble that included a top with a series of big multi-colored blue “Zorro” stripes. Her bag appeared to be all PXG, except for the PW, which was a Vokey 46-degree. Her mom followed the group at a distance under a Kasco umbrella.
The group’s third was Bertine Strauss of Pretoria and the U. of Texas. She carried the scrawniest and flimsiest Titleist Sunday bag you’ll ever see. It generated a chuckle from Larry who said, “that’s a strip down model.” I assume she knew it would be sunny all day, because there’s no way she could have fit any foul weather gear in that bag. She had Titleist woods with Longhorn headcovers and AP2 irons.
Strauss was the longest of the group, but crooked at times. I was behind the tee box at the par-3 6th (160 yards) when she hit a rotten iron dead right...made bogey. At the par-5 7th, she hammered her drive way right. I helped with the search of that ball and found it in the hazard, a Titleist 1 with two red dots...another bogey. She completed the front nine at +4 and finished the day at +8.
Kim was fighting her swing, slinging low hooks off the tee...aside from the missed fairways and greens, it’s also inconvenient on a course that’s mostly left-to-right. She completed the front nine at +2 and finished the day at +4.
I assume Muni has picked up some distance since I first followed her at Ridgewood CC two years ago hitting a lousy-sounding Honma driver. At #7, her drive finished at 247, per the hashmarks. She was hitting a high straight ball or a moderate cut...this ball flight did not hurt her as the fairways had some width and there was no wind. Her swing is long and rhythmic...has a beautiful setup over the ball...by far, the best ball striker in her group.
Muni was Even on her first nine, two birdies and two bogeys, and finished the day at +1. I was surprised to see her hitting a hybrid approach into the small elevated green at the par-4 9th...the ball came in hot and could not hold the green...chipped on and two-putted for bogey...and there’s the problem. The better players are hitting irons into that green...Muni is so diminutive...I don’t know where she will find more power in her game. How many players can “Mo Martin” their way to the LPGA tour?
It was around 2 PM when Muni’s group finished #9, so I left the course for Linfield. It was about 2:30 PM when I dragged my pull cart up to the first tee box...and then the mad scientist in me took over. With no practice or warm-up, I tried a Jean Reynolds ten-finger grip and hit my first drive down the middle. Unfortunately, all my drives after that weren’t so good. Nevertheless, this grip has merit for further experimentation...it worked well on full shots with short irons. I think it may help me stop throwing away strokes on easy par-3 holes. Thanks Jean!
The plan was to watch Muni He’s group (11:24 AM start) play the front nine and then I’d leave to play a round at nearby Linfield National Golf Club. As a warm-up, I decided to follow the 7:44 AM group of 2016 USJG & USWA champion Eun Jeong Seong, Jean Reynolds, and Anna Young at the 1st tee. Since the 10th tee was nowhere near the clubhouse, all the groups started at the par-5 1st hole.
The video collection below has a flyover of every hole:
www.youtube.com/user/sirlensalot2/videos
The first hole is called Relic because there is an old stone corner of a wall on the far-right side of the fairway about 100 yards from the green. I don’t know the history behind it. The local rules on the scorecard say you can take relief without penalty from this junk pile if it interferes with your swing or ball flight.
There were heavy showers during the pre-dawn hours the day before, so they employed the preferred lies rule for the fairways. There were no ropes, so I walked on and across the fairways when necessary and they were not soggy at all.
On paper, Seong is too good for this tour...she crushed her driver on #1 and again on the par-5 7th where they had yardage measuring hashmarks...her ball was at 287. I don’t know how accurate that was, since I saw a red spray-painted ‘200’ nearby, about five yards behind a permanent marker that said ‘212’. I don’t get it. She also hammered it over the left side bunker on the right-to-left par-4 5th and added a hybrid or FW rocket tee ball at the short par-4 9th. She also executed a 30-yard bunker shot with almost no effort. So, how did she finish the front nine at +3? Her GIR was so-so and she could not make, manufacture, or conjure up any putts. She finished the day at +5.
Seong is still playing TaylorMade gear...has the 750 or 770 irons. She’s wearing the CJ Shopping logos and I assume it was daddy pushing her bag. I think her Under Armour shoes is a change from when I last saw her 2016.
It was posted everywhere...Symetra Tour: Road 2 the LPGA. Jean Reynolds has been around long enough to confirm that it’s a two-way Road from the LPGA. She was fascinating to watch for the first time in person...plays with no glove and uses a ten-finger grip. She had a Ping stand bag, but her gear looked to be all Callaway, including a version of the old Cally Apex Forged irons. She drove the ball right-to-left with decent distance and hit some good recovery shots after her bad balls...was Even thru nine holes and finished the day at -1.
Anna Young of Saskatchewan and U. of Florida had a Bay Hill staff bag with the Arnold Palmer umbrella logo. She was a short hitter, but made a couple of long putts to keep her head above water. She was Even thru nine holes, but got killed on the back nine, finished +6. She’s also a Cally player, gaming the latest X-Forged irons.
Seong’s group played their first nine holes in about two hours and twenty minutes. On the return to the clubhouse, I stopped at the 9th tee as Hanule Sky Seo and Alex Milan arrived from the 8th green. Seo had the ultra-cool Fourteen Golf FH-900 Forged irons and sported a black top w/ gold pants from Louis Castel. Milan was forgettable although her caddy might have been this guy Jeff I saw at the Seaview last year. She had Coates Oryx irons.
The IG pic below is the clubhouse area, where I killed some time, pre-Muni..the left border cuts off the location of the Symetra Tour trailer in the parking lot, which would carry signs and scoreboards (none of it electronic).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjIn0g_B03Q
Muni He and her group assembled at the 1st tee. A small Asian guy was pushing her black Southern Cal stand bag. She had a Nike long sleeve top and tight pants combo with a USC visor and stayed perched under her umbrella whenever possible. She had a TaylorMade 10.5 degree M4 driver and TM M4 irons, 6 thru A-wedge. The A-wedge had slightly different cosmetics from the rest of the irons. I’m not sure about the loft setting on the driver...there was ‘+’ at the adjustment location on the hosel...obviously, I couldn’t it pull it out of her bag for a closer look!
Muni’s threesome included Symetra lifer Hyemin Kim, who had Larry the Looper carrying her stand bag. Larry’s shoes said HOKA on the side...I guess that’s a good endorsement considering his line of work. Kim wore a Hazzy ensemble that included a top with a series of big multi-colored blue “Zorro” stripes. Her bag appeared to be all PXG, except for the PW, which was a Vokey 46-degree. Her mom followed the group at a distance under a Kasco umbrella.
The group’s third was Bertine Strauss of Pretoria and the U. of Texas. She carried the scrawniest and flimsiest Titleist Sunday bag you’ll ever see. It generated a chuckle from Larry who said, “that’s a strip down model.” I assume she knew it would be sunny all day, because there’s no way she could have fit any foul weather gear in that bag. She had Titleist woods with Longhorn headcovers and AP2 irons.
Strauss was the longest of the group, but crooked at times. I was behind the tee box at the par-3 6th (160 yards) when she hit a rotten iron dead right...made bogey. At the par-5 7th, she hammered her drive way right. I helped with the search of that ball and found it in the hazard, a Titleist 1 with two red dots...another bogey. She completed the front nine at +4 and finished the day at +8.
Kim was fighting her swing, slinging low hooks off the tee...aside from the missed fairways and greens, it’s also inconvenient on a course that’s mostly left-to-right. She completed the front nine at +2 and finished the day at +4.
I assume Muni has picked up some distance since I first followed her at Ridgewood CC two years ago hitting a lousy-sounding Honma driver. At #7, her drive finished at 247, per the hashmarks. She was hitting a high straight ball or a moderate cut...this ball flight did not hurt her as the fairways had some width and there was no wind. Her swing is long and rhythmic...has a beautiful setup over the ball...by far, the best ball striker in her group.
Muni was Even on her first nine, two birdies and two bogeys, and finished the day at +1. I was surprised to see her hitting a hybrid approach into the small elevated green at the par-4 9th...the ball came in hot and could not hold the green...chipped on and two-putted for bogey...and there’s the problem. The better players are hitting irons into that green...Muni is so diminutive...I don’t know where she will find more power in her game. How many players can “Mo Martin” their way to the LPGA tour?
It was around 2 PM when Muni’s group finished #9, so I left the course for Linfield. It was about 2:30 PM when I dragged my pull cart up to the first tee box...and then the mad scientist in me took over. With no practice or warm-up, I tried a Jean Reynolds ten-finger grip and hit my first drive down the middle. Unfortunately, all my drives after that weren’t so good. Nevertheless, this grip has merit for further experimentation...it worked well on full shots with short irons. I think it may help me stop throwing away strokes on easy par-3 holes. Thanks Jean!