[DGPT Silver] GRIPeq 41st Kansas City Wide Open presented by Dynamic Discs

[@CD-]

Jul 7-9
https://kcwideopen.com/
https://udisclive.com/live/kcwo2023

DGN live all 3 rounds.

Small chance for scattered storms Fri into Sat. Temperatures in the 70s and 80s with relatively calm winds < 10mph

Bad Rock Creek DGC
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=7010
~10000' for MPO and 8000' for FPO KCWO Liberty Gold layouts. Gold layouts have some changes/new holes since last year. 2700' added to MPO layout & 2400' to the FPO layout since 2021. Longest layout has 4 brand new holes, 4 new long teepads, 5 new long pin positions, and a couple combined holes. Par 69 should be around 1000 rated based on recent qualifier event run on the layout.


2022 results (A-tier, 1st round WaterWorks, 2nd & 3rd at Bad Rock Liberty Gold 9100' MPO/8100' FPO):
FPO: Ellen Widboom (+7) - hot round +2 at BRC
MPO: Andrew Marwede (-25) - hot round -9 at BRC matched by Joel Freeman

2021 results (B-tier, 1st round BRC 7300' MPO/3rd round 5600' FPO)
MPO: Gannon Buhr (-20), -11 hot round at BRC (OG Gold layout)

 

[Shallows]

Cool video.

 

[seedlings]

Let's go KC. Hope Bad Rock Creek gets a positive response from pros.. AND maybe some pros shoot YT vids on other courses.

 

[Nova P]

2022 results (A-tier, 1st round WaterWorks, 2nd & 3rd at Bad Rock Liberty Gold 9100' MPO/8100' FPO):
FPO: Ellen Widboom (+7) - hot round +2 at BRC
MPO: Andrew Marwede (-25) - hot round -9 at BRC matched by Joel Freeman

2021 results (B-tier, 1st round BRC 7300' MPO/3rd round 5600' FPO)
MPO: Gannon Buhr (-20), -11 hot round at BRC (OG Gold layout)

I feel like something is missing here.

 

[TheOtherBill]

I feel like something is missing here.

Hmmm, probably this:

FPO · Open Women (4)Show round ratings | View hole scores
1 18.00 Nova Politte 74995 901 +19 64 66 56 186 $374


Nice win!

 

[@CD-]

I feel like something is missing here.

Hmmm, probably this:

FPO · Open Women (4)Show round ratings | View hole scores
1 18.00 Nova Politte 74995 901 +19 64 66 56 186 $374


Nice win!

:doh:
Nova Politte shot a hot round -1 on the par 57 FPO layout to take down the win in 2021 :thmbup:. Looks like Nova went from 4th going into Rd3 to 1st with that performance.

The FPO layout in play this weekend is a par 66 (and was a par 67 last year). FPO ratings for par of 66 should be in the 960s (best score at the qualifier for that layout was 70 rated at 934). Par is 68 for MPO layout and a +1 69 rated at ~1000 for the sanctioned qualifier tournament a few weeks back. With the current entries we might see a handful of rounds in the 50s each day in MPO (-9 or better) and FPO should see a couple under par rounds per day, maybe a hot score in the 50s for the tournament.

A lot of effort has gone into this redesign of the gold layout the last 2 years while maintaining the original Red/Blue/Gold layouts at BRC. The fairways have become more clear/'fair' so expect more consistent play from the field overall compared to last year's rough cut w/ original tall grass outlines. Gone are the tweener holes without scoring separation and the OB tall grass areas & natural rough have been reduced on a few fairways to entice more risk being taken.

 

[mrclc]

Looking forward to this one for a number of reasons. Any KC locals have some interesting local insight on the course?

 

[seedlings]

Looking forward to this one for a number of reasons. Any KC locals have some interesting local insight on the course?

Bad Rock Creek has a ton of recent updates and improvements based on that flyover. I haven't played it since June 2022 where I shot -1 from the whites. I don't know if golds were even available then. It's a totally different course for the pros because of all the added OB. What I remember as wide open easy-ish holes are now USDGC style OB. The wooded holes are very tight, and I don't recall a lot of options. You have to hit the one line in the woods. 60/40 woods/openOB holes.

 

[@CD-]

Plenty of walking paths for spectators, only a few holes will have inaccessible views of the tee/green (unsure what the spectator areas will be). Video coverage might not show it really well but there is a bit of elevation to hike down/up from on the course.

Luckily the hot/humid weather moved on from last weekend (100+ with the heat index) and the temps won't be high enough to get really steamy out there.

Handful of eagle opportunities for MPO on the par 5s and hole 1. Starting holes 1-3 will likely score as the easiest holes for the top 20. Hole 6 & 8 are really challenging to birdie - tee shot has to hit a certain line and landing zone and can leave golfers pinched off from approaching the green. I predict MPO hole 8 will be the least birdied (tunnel tee shot, blind approach, protected green on 3/4 sides within the circle).

Some of the holes would fit in at Pickard Park, others at Maple Hill or Fox Run/Brewster Ridge.

 

[seedlings]

Practice rounds are showing up on YouTube. Connor Oreilly and Cole Redalen don't like the teepads, but seem to like the course.

 

[dukesilver]

I thought Nikko was playing this because the Lone Star Disc insta showed he was, but now I don't see him listed. What happened?

 

[Arisugawa]

I thought Nikko was playing this because the Lone Star Disc insta showed he was, but now I don't see him listed. What happened?

Kat Mertsch withdrew with E.Coli complications according to her social media. Best guess - since she is not playing, he's taking the time off to help her or to rest up himself.

 

[seedlings]

If no one watched this, you should. IMHO this course managed to tick all the boxes for shot shapes demanded by both woods guys and bomber guys. I'd really like to see a full field play Bad Rock Creek.

 

[Cgkdisc]

If no one watched this, you should. IMHO this course managed to tick all the boxes for shot shapes demanded by both woods guys and bomber guys. I'd really like to see a full field play Bad Rock Creek.

Design was fine. If missing the mandos and OB areas did not include penalty strokes, just lie relocation, competition would have been even tighter and more like golf. This would reduce flukiness and improve competition on every course that has them, not just Bad Rock which was already good, at least for MPO, without penalties. Scoring separation already occurs from players not executing various shot challenges. No need to tack penalty strokes on top of those errors.

 

[Steve West]

Design was fine. If missing the mandos and OB areas did not include penalty strokes, just lie relocation, competition would have been even tighter[STRIKETHROUGH] and more like golf[/STRIKETHROUGH]. This would reduce flukiness and improve competition on every course that has them, not just Bad Rock which was already good, at least for MPO, without penalties. Scoring separation already occurs from players not executing various shot challenges. No need to tack penalty strokes on top of those errors.

FTFY

"more like golf" is not seen as a plus by many. The rest of the argument is stronger without it.

 

[Cgkdisc]

FTFY

"more like golf" is not seen as a plus by many. The rest of the argument is stronger without it.

But by many more than not.

 

[seedlings]

Design was fine. If missing the mandos and OB areas did not include penalty strokes, just lie relocation, competition would have been even tighter and more like golf. This would reduce flukiness and improve competition on every course that has them, not just Bad Rock which was already good, at least for MPO, without penalties. Scoring separation already occurs from players not executing various shot challenges. No need to tack penalty strokes on top of those errors.

Disagree when talking about the pros. Most of the extra strokes I saw weren't OB/Hazard penalties, but missed gaps, leaving them out of position. Excellent throws should be rewarded and errant throws should be penalized. An excellent throw and a mediocre throw should not expect the same score.

I agree that flukiness and 'bad luck' should be minimized, but missing a mando isn't bad luck when it comes to the pros.

 

[Steve West]

But by many more than not.

Let's see the poll results.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Disagree when talking about the pros. Most of the extra strokes I saw weren't OB/Hazard penalties, but missed gaps, leaving them out of position. Excellent throws should be rewarded and errant throws should be penalized. An excellent throw and a mediocre throw should not expect the same score.

I agree that flukiness and 'bad luck' should be minimized, but missing a mando isn't bad luck when it comes to the pros.

Penalty padding is not golf, and they are not needed for scoring separation. In fact, you don't want artificial scoring separation. Pro level ball golf has virtually no penalties, just skill and distance challenges resulting from landing in sand traps and rough. The top PGA 200 players average 1 penalty of any kind per 2.5 rounds over the season even on courses with several water hazards. DDO averages 6 penalties per player per round.

We can have even more OB areas and mandos as challenges, just no need to also tack on penalty strokes. Our "penalties" would simply be loss of distance or lie relocation to a challenging drop zone. Players then use their skill to avoid adding more strokes to their score for their misfire. All that matters in the game of golf is stroke separation based on errors like not parking your drive/upshot or missing your putt, not padding scores with additional penalty fluff to make courses look tougher.

 

[Nova P]

On this topic, the one hole that I think is extra extra is #2, with the hazard for missing the island and the two sawn-off telephone poles guarding the mouth of the tunnel. Kicks off of the poles frequently go left or right into rough so dense and unworkable that the player can only pitch out. . . into hazard. Oof.

(Smarter players will just re-tee, hope to park it, and take their four.)