I certainly understand the "entertainment only" mantra, but that is said of fortune-telling, astrology and all that other happy horse manure. We all know, however, that there are thousands out there that cannot take a breath in the morning before consulting their horoscope: for them it is "life or death!" I believe, also, that there are many die-hards on WGT who are not so much "for entertainment only," the ones who must win everything to which they put their hand and there is no tomorrow if they lose.
I love the game and, even though I do not do better than a little above average because of the intricacies of VEM, etc., I can still laugh and see the irony in the fact that one of my putts from 30 ft. hangs 0.2 ft. from going into the hole! :O) My biggest "frustration" (if I may call it that) is when I hit a certain club under certain conditions and land in a bunker 10 ft. short of the green. Then, I use the same club under the same conditions, hit the same shot and wind up in a bunker 10 ft. over the green! It is the same way with putts: one time the break is there and takes the ball with it, the next time the break is clearly still there and, with the same exact stroke, there is no break at all! I just scratch my head and try better the next time around, for the fun (entertainment) of it. :O)
One other thing that used to really get my goat (since I am on a roll!) was when I first began playing with the starter set of clubs and "house" balls: on certain holes, like the 18th at Merion, I could "ding my tee shot and still not reach the beginning of the fairway and be in the rough to start! :O( Since I have better balls and the longest clubs available, that has not happened to me in a long while, until yesterday! The tees were all the way back and, even though there was a tail-wind, I miss-hit just a bit and did not make the fairway! That brought back old memories. :O(
I have been saying all this in the context of VEM to make one point: if this VEM is so dominant in the games of higher-ranked players, how in the world do people still shoot scores in the low 50's for 18 holes??? No one in real golf ever shot better that a 59 (and I believe that only twice in PGA history, Al Geiberger in Memphis many moons ago and one other fellow in Las Vegas more recently)! How do these guys shoot in the low 50's so consistently if there is someone behind a curtain tweaking the parameters to, ostensibly, keep us all on an even playing field?
Sometimes I swear there is someone who has a leash on my ball when I putt so they can yank it to go where they want it to go and not where I intended it to go. :O) I know this will sound paranoid, but I swear it is worse just after I ignore the little prompts from WGA that "this is your last ball, buy another sleeve for xxx credits now." I always ignore that prompt and play with a "house" ball for a while and then sometimes I get the feeling I am being "punished" on the greens when I putt. :O)
Anyhow, I just wanted to hear anyone's thoughts on these mad ramblings of mine. Please continue to enjoy and support the game as I do. When I do (like the blind squirrel getting the acorn once in a while!) hit a long shot to within a foot of the pin or sink a long, twisting putt, or my two holes-in-one, it gives me a great joy and elation that I would not get if every shot was winner. So, I guess, I play for the occasional high and the anticipation of it being one shot closer every time I do less than spectacularly. That is why I enjoy playing so much! :O)
Respectfully,
P-47