He's the Best....now what?

[Brian Manzella]

Brian Manzella, brianmanzella.com, 01-06-2011, 07:28 PM, Who's game would you take over the next five years—Rory.

Look it up.

I watched him for 2 hours on the range at the Masters this year.

The best—no contest.

If he putts good, like he did this week, he is only some magic behind Tiger 2000-ish.

He has THE modern swing.

He is a nice guy.

So now that golf has a #1, now what?

Is Tiger done? Hell no. Is this the same Tiger that almost won the Masters. This year?

On a week where the USGA and the PGA of A both were pushing for playing the forward tees—something I am all for—the USGA Open was played on a long-driver's delight.

I really hope Rory would shoot 62 the last day and break ALL THE STUPID meaningless records, so they could just go back to playing golf on 7200 yard courses.

Go back to Merion, and slick the greens up and let 'em play.

In fact, stop with all the silly notion that you can stop progress. It happens in every sport. Dirk would score 50 a game against the Magic Lakers, Drew Brees could take the 2-11-1 1970 Saints to the playoffs, and Verlander would make Mantle look silly.

I want to see golf played on course like everyone plays on. Just like the old days.

My Dad was a 6 handicapper. He went to Lakewood, home of the old New Orleans tour stop, in its mid-1970's heyday. From the tips, he parred the first four holes like it was nothin'.

My Pop would be +2 on a good day through four at the TPC of Lapalco.

Golf needs WAY better TV coverage. Geez, Johnny, Rory has the flattest left wrist of all time putting????

The biggest difference in the upbringing of the foreign pros and the US pros is simple—silly college golf.

You want to make college golf better?

No coaches, no teams.

Really.

I know some the euros play US college golf....and a lot of the great ones DID NOT.

The PGA Tour needs to have at least two other "feeder" tours like the Nationwide.

There ought to be a subsidized tour that you "try out" for.

Thanks Rory—golf is back!

 

[faux_maestro]

Nice summation of recent threads. The flat left wrist comment was all hyperbole, NBC seems to be guilty of it more than CBS/ABC though it may just be that it is more obvious. I LOVE Rory's swing and how athletic it is. The putter is all that stands between him and half a grand slam. He could have had that huge lead going into Sunday at the Masters. Bet the big hook at 10 wouldn't have happened if he was leading by 8.

 

[BrendanC]

Have watched Rory for many years and yeah - he is fantastic.

I do wonder about the hook he gets now and again. It is not just at the Masters, I have seen him hit BIG hooks at many tournaments, especially with driver and long shots, e.g. going for the par-fives in two. And he hit one or two at Congressional as well, but the course was very forgiving of a left ball.

Also, he seems to struggle with wind due to v.high ballflight, despite plenty opportunity to play links etc as youth.

What was good about Congressional is that even his offline drives tended to be only a yard or two off - with maybe one or two exceptions. The way the rough sets up, that really helped with his GIR stat.

I like the way he had weaknesses (related strategic, mental and putting) but went away and improved them quickly. His sand play was also exceptional this week, and his tempo was great too.

Making that quick improvement is like what Tiger did with his pitching and short irons at one time early in his career - went from poor distance control to excellent. Tiger also improved from a poor to a great sand player early in his pro career.

So McIlroy is still getting better.

Winning again will be much easier.

Having got his first one early, I do think he may go on to be able to win Majors like Nicklaus - through consistency, hitting GIR and par-5s in two, staying out of trouble, holing the odd one and lag putting well.

Maybe he will also come to be seen as a great strategist - simply because he can hit what he is aiming for more often than anyone else.

He will not need the same level of 'dramatics' as Tiger did i.e. the amazing up and downs and the long putts.

Here's a recent quote from his coach Michael Bannon: 'Rory has always had the potential to play at this level. He's done a lot of work this year on his body. We look at the swing a bit more often now to make sure the good swings are in place more often. He's developing a level of consistency now that we haven't seen before.'

 

[wulsy]

Brian Manzella, brianmanzella.com, 01-06-2011, 07:28 PM, Who's game would you take over the next five years—Rory.
The biggest difference in the upbringing of the foreign pros and the US pros is simple—silly college golf.

You want to make college golf better?

No coaches, no teams.

Really.

I know some the euros play US college golf....and a lot of the great ones DID NOT.

Coaches ruin golfers, no doubt about that.

What percentage of coaches/pros/teachers know what they are talking about and help rather than hinder, in your opinion Brian?

 

[scotly]

McIlroy was in command of his game this week, no doubt.

Way too early to crown him.

The large lead, entering the final round, made mute how his game held up under pressure. When pressured at the masters, his game folded up like a lawn chair. This tournament did not provide the definitive answer to that question.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Coaches ruin golfers, no doubt about that.

What percentage of coaches/pros/teachers know what they are talking about and help rather than hinder, in your opinion Brian?

Let's say we are talking about players who can shoot par in a tournament at least one round.....

10% would help, 50% would hurt, 25% no effect, 14% would ruin, 1% would be really good.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Thread link:

http://www.brianmanzella.com/golfing-discussions/14656-over-next-5-years.html

BTW I said Rory before Brian

 

[BrendanC]

I think the definitive answer on his putting and short game will only come one way or another at Augusta next year.

He will do fine on the links greens at Sandwich and looking at the leaderboards from the last two Opens, you start to think it might suit as a ball striker's course (Jacobson, Kenny Perry, Norman, Garcia, Singh, Bjorn, Love III, Langer, Els, Price Couples).

All about the wind, and as someone else said, south of England in July is very different to Scotland.

PGA: Atlanta Athletic Club is Bobby Jones' club so....should suit a hooker heh? Maybe David Toms can give him a few pointers on how to play it.

 

[jertapper]

Thread link:

http://www.brianmanzella.com/golfing-discussions/14656-over-next-5-years.html

BTW I said Rory before Brian

Nice.

I didn't watch the entire tournament but a friend mentioned something about the announcers saying Rory went to Dave Stockton for putting help. Assuming he was right, did they mention or does anyone know what he changed? Has it significantly helped or did he just happen get on fire this week?

 

[mgranato]

Is Tiger done? Hell no. Is this the same Tiger that almost won the Masters. This year?QUOTE]

... and the same Tiger who also finished 4th in the Masters in 2010 (his worst year to date), and the same Tiger who at 35 can't walk without "assistance." I don't think the fork is in him yet, but it is bearing down on him pretty quickly.

Props to you, Jim, and the couple other guys who picked Rory over the next 5 years. His career is in the driver's seat right now. Only 4-1/2 years to go. By then we'll know if Tiger can bench press a fork, if Rory has the fire, if Day can be the next Rory, if Lee will avoid becoming the next Monty, or if Fowler can win anything. Should be fun!

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

I will say that Rory will not dominate with his big ole push draw; i am a young man but every time i see a "Drawer" under pressure they always over do it and most of the time are in a much worse off position than a straighter or fade ball hitter.

I think he needs to try and tame the draw a bit more and he'll become even more dominant. Now please note i'm not saying turn him into a fader, just less of a draw i think will be better for the long term.

 

[jertapper]

I will say that Rory will not dominate with his big ole push draw; i am a young man but every time i see a "Drawer" under pressure they always over do it and most of the time are in a much worse off position than a straighter or fade ball hitter.

I think he needs to try and tame the draw a bit more and he'll become even more dominant. Now please note i'm not saying turn him into a fader, just less of a draw i think will be better for the long term.

When they ran the tracker on his ball I was a bit surprised at how big of a draw he was playing. I would say it was a borderline hook. I wasn't surprised when he was in the left rough. I do think the camera angle on the tracker probably made it look a bit more exaggerated though.

 

[faux_maestro]

Rory looks to get underplane at times to me. No one agrees, must be my eyes.
I fear Tiger is finished barring an elite surgeon . His knee is obviously so bad . I'm amazed I've just typed that. .

I agree that Rory is underplane

I don't think Tiger is "finished", but the days of him winning more than 2-4 times per year might be over.

 

[mgranato]

Let's not forget... none of Tiger's majors came with Rory in the field.

 

[dschultz6072]

And none of Rory's majors came with Tiger in the field...

 

[Jared Willerson]

Tiger ain't done folks....rory's performance will flat out inspire him. I dare say that El Tigre is chomping at the bit to rehab, putt, chip, practice and finally play.

Tiger had more GUTS on the golf course than anybody. He just needs to go back to being who he is and not trying to be this fan and media friendly thing that he is obviously not.

 

[noobie]

Tiger ain't done folks....rory's performance will flat out inspire him. I dare say that El Tigre is chomping at the bit to rehab, putt, chip, practice and finally play.

Tiger had more GUTS on the golf course than anybody. He just needs to go back to being who he is and not trying to be this fan and media friendly thing that he is obviously not.

I've never been much of a Tiger follower but how does Tiger have more guts than every other golfer (and why would that be important for a golfer)? As far as I can tell, he had a higher level of concentration and ability but he never struck me as someone who is gutsy.

 

[islandgolf629]

Brian Manzella, brianmanzella.com, 01-06-2011, 07:28 PM, Who's game would you take over the next five years—Rory.

Look it up.

I watched him for 2 hours on the range at the Masters this year.

The best—no contest.

If he putts good, like he did this week, he is only some magic behind Tiger 2000-ish.

He has THE modern swing.

He is a nice guy.

So now that golf has a #1, now what?

Is Tiger done? Hell no. Is this the same Tiger that almost won the Masters. This year?

On a week where the USGA and the PGA of A both were pushing for playing the forward tees—something I am all for—the USGA Open was played on a long-driver's delight.

I really hope Rory would shoot 62 the last day and break ALL THE STUPID meaningless records, so they could just go back to playing golf on 7200 yard courses.

Go back to Merion, and slick the greens up and let 'em play.

In fact, stop with all the silly notion that you can stop progress. It happens in every sport. Dirk would score 50 a game against the Magic Lakers, Drew Brees could take the 2-11-1 1970 Saints to the playoffs, and Verlander would make Mantle look silly.

I want to see golf played on course like everyone plays on. Just like the old days.

My Dad was a 6 handicapper. He went to Lakewood, home of the old New Orleans tour stop, in its mid-1970's heyday. From the tips, he parred the first four holes like it was nothin'.

My Pop would be +2 on a good day through four at the TPC of Lapalco.

Golf needs WAY better TV coverage. Geez, Johnny, Rory has the flattest left wrist of all time putting????

The biggest difference in the upbringing of the foreign pros and the US pros is simple—silly college golf.

You want to make college golf better?

No coaches, no teams.

Really.

I know some the euros play US college golf....and a lot of the great ones DID NOT.

The PGA Tour needs to have at least two other "feeder" tours like the Nationwide.

There ought to be a subsidized tour that you "try out" for.

Thanks Rory—golf is back!

I agree with everything you said, but Progress does have an upper limit or ceiling (barring no advancements in technology). It's the improvement of the average player that causes a mean-shift of the whole population (in this case; Pro golfers) towards the right wall top performers.

 

[noobie]

I agree with everything you said, but Progress does have an upper limit or ceiling (barring no advancements in technology). It's the improvement of the average player that causes a mean-shift of the whole population (in this case; Pro golfers) towards the right wall top performers.

I agree and you can even look at it at the top end performers. I did a quick look up of the 100 meter dash world record over the years. In 1910, the record was 10.6 seconds. In 2010, the record "only" improved to 9.6 seconds. Think of how much we've progressed in the past 100 years in terms of shoes, training, nutrition, "illegal enhancing drugs," etc only to see a ~10% improvement. If Drew improves the 1970 Saints by 10%, they'd still be only 3-10-1.

 

[footwedge]

I've never been much of a Tiger follower but how does Tiger have more guts than every other golfer (and why would that be important for a golfer)? As far as I can tell, he had a higher level of concentration and ability but he never struck me as someone who is gutsy.

Tiger fits the definition of gutsy, like him or not.