OT: Travelers Championship 2023

[mauconnfan]

To your point.. I knew a guy who had a HS buddy who was on the PGA Tour and would always play at the GHO/Travelers Tournament.. Would come over to my friend's house for a BBQ on Fridays and we were frequently invited over.. This guy lived on the "cut line" throughout his professional career and was not an elite PGA player by any stretch.. You really felt for the guy on those Friday nights as he was waiting for the cut lines to be announced.. More than once he was told (called on the phone) while having a burger and being told he did not make the cut.. Really tore him up when he got the word.... Think he played in 350 PGA events and made the cut 197 times.. Now playing on Champions Tour with not a ton of success ..But still chasing the dream.. A tough way to make a living for a "middle of the pack" touring pro.

Can you tell us who this was? If not I get it!

 

[Umami Zen]

Can you tell us who this was? If not I get it!

Sure.. And you will ask.. Who is/was he? Dave Rummells

 

[mauconnfan]

Sure.. And you will ask.. Who is/was he? Dave Rummells

No I have followed the tour forever, certainly knew of him and saw his name many times over his career. Don't know much about him honestly but just curious, it was a good story, thanks!

 

[jleves]

Sure.. And you will ask.. Who is/was he? Dave Rummells

Official money: $1,909,430

Considering the expenses of being on tour including travel, hotels, food, caddies, etc., that's not really very comfortable over a career.

 

[Umami Zen]

Official money: $1,909,430

Considering the expenses of being on tour including travel, hotels, food, caddies, etc., that's not really very comfortable over a career.

Never said he was "hitting it out of the park".. Was originally responding to a comment about how tough it was to be a "middle of the pack"/lower tier PGA pro and make a decent living.. It's a real grind emotionally and financially.

Denny McC had a second place finish at Memorial yesterday that paid more than Dave's career earnings.

 

[NJHusky]

Never said he was "hitting it out of the park".. Was originally responding to a comment about how tough it was to be a "middle of the pack"/lower tier PGA pro and make a decent living.. It's a real grind emotionally and financially.

Denny McC had a second place finish at Memorial yesterday that paid more than Dave's career earnings.

Middle of the pack guys make a lot more coin now than 20-30 years ago. #103 is over 1 M ytd!

 

[Umami Zen]

Middle of the pack guys make a lot more coin now than 20-30 years ago

Absolutely.. And even more now with the recent development of the elevated PGA events.. DR is playing Champions Tour events vs his older PGA buddies who are still beating him.. Loves the game.. Not much else to say..

 

[jleves]

Never said he was "hitting it out of the park".. Was originally responding to a comment about how tough it was to be a "middle of the pack"/lower tier PGA pro and make a decent living.. It's a real grind emotionally and financially.

Denny McC had a second place finish at Memorial yesterday that paid more than Dave's career earnings.

There was another comment that got removed or changed relating to 'very comfortable' hence my reply. Making a living playing golf doesn't sound like a bad deal no matter the level.

 

[Palatine]

Official money: $1,909,430

Considering the expenses of being on tour including travel, hotels, food, caddies, etc., that's not really very comfortable over a career.

It gets comfortable when you add in sponships, free equipment, free rental cars at tournaments and a bevy of extras.¹

 

[Chin Diesel]

Cromwell next up on the tee.

Obviously a great field due to it being an elevated event. Strongest field ever for this tour stop.

It's one of the shortest, if not the shortest tracks on the tour. Built out residences, train tracks and CT river make lengthening course a challenge. I'd love to see the course expand to a Par 71 and get the scoring average per round up about 1.5 - 2 shots per round. Yes, I realize adding a stroke to par and then seeing scoring go up a stroke is a push overall.

I've never walked the course, but it seems like 10-12 would be easiest area. Extend 10 down and to the left and make it a Par 5 and then redo 11 to keep ot a Par 3 but at a different angle.

Regardless, 15-18 are a great finishing stretch of holes which make for great TV and the huge crowds provide over the top excitement.

 

[MJKI]

Cromwell next up on the tee.

Obviously a great field due to it being an elevated event. Strongest field ever for this tour stop.

It's one of the shortest, if not the shortest tracks on the tour. Built out residences, train tracks and CT river make lengthening course a challenge. I'd love to see the course expand to a Par 71 and get the scoring average per round up about 1.5 - 2 shots per round. Yes, I realize adding a stroke to par and then seeing scoring go up a stroke is a push overall.

I've never walked the course, but it seems like 10-12 would be easiest area. Extend 10 down and to the left and make it a Par 5 and then redo 11 to keep ot a Par 3 but at a different angle.

Regardless, 15-18 are a great finishing stretch of holes which make for great TV and the huge crowds provide over the top excitement.

Have gone many times. Best in memory is the Spieth hole out. What a tournament.
I love starting at 8 in the morning in the grandstands watching the par 3 for a few hours, and then heading to 10. You can sit pretty close to the run off on 10 and get a great view of just a really cool hole. Turn around, you can see the shots into the downhill 11th. Stay there until the final groups are around 7/8, and make your way to the back of 13/tee box 14. 13 is a great golf hole, not a huge window to hit your drive into and then a risk/reward shot in that everyone can go for in 2. Have seen many a balls hit over the green and then having to chip downhill to a sloping green that brings the water into play is always fun. When the leaders make the turn, I like to head to behind 16 where you can see the 15 tee shot (SHAVE THE LEFT ROUGH), 16th hole, and 17th tee shot. 18 is a meh hole, balls funnel to the same spot always, so I just go there when the final group passes 16 since 17 doesn't have a great viewing spot.
Overall, its an excellent course for watching golf. Exponentially better than LACC, and the viewing experience both on TV and in person will be leaps and bounds better than last week.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Middle of the pack guys make a lot more coin now than 20-30 years ago. #103 is over 1 M ytd!

In his section on Full Swing, Joel Dahmen basically says this. He knows he can't win a major, but says "someone's gotta be the 70th ranked golfer in the world." He's got almost $11M in career earnings.

 

[XLCenterFan]

CT is about to show those losers at LACC how to host a tourney. That was one of the worst US Opens I've ever watched. The limited gallery was pathetic. Can't wait for Sunday...will be on one for an hour or 2, then walking the course backwards until I meet up with the leaders. Ending in the gallery on 18. Yearly tradition.

 

[uconnfan68]

Cromwell next up on the tee.

Obviously a great field due to it being an elevated event. Strongest field ever for this tour stop.

It's one of the shortest, if not the shortest tracks on the tour. Built out residences, train tracks and CT river make lengthening course a challenge. I'd love to see the course expand to a Par 71 and get the scoring average per round up about 1.5 - 2 shots per round. Yes, I realize adding a stroke to par and then seeing scoring go up a stroke is a push overall.

I've never walked the course, but it seems like 10-12 would be easiest area. Extend 10 down and to the left and make it a Par 5 and then redo 11 to keep ot a Par 3 but at a different angle.

Regardless, 15-18 are a great finishing stretch of holes which make for great TV and the huge crowds provide over the top excitement.

They are severely limited in any options to lengthen the course. Extending 10 would end up too close to the railroad (I think). That require a dramatic change to 11 also.

It is what it is. I’ve played most iterations of it in the past 60 years, from Edgewood to TPC. It seems like the pros torch every course these days.

 

[Vuce]

They are severely limited in any options to lengthen the course. Extending 10 would end up too close to the railroad (I think). That require a dramatic change to 11 also.

It is what it is. I’ve played most iterations of it in the past 60 years, from Edgewood to TPC. It seems like the pros torch every course these days.

Agreed. The last 5 or 6 years the Masters champ has been between -10 and -20. The Travelers winner has been between -12 and -19. The pros are so good. I will be up there volunteering there again this year again starting with the Pro Am on Wednesday. Great week!

 

[UconnPT2007]

TPC River Highlands is frequently rated by the pga tour players as one of their favorites, and the Travelers as an entity has been voted by the players as their favorite event several several times. Travelers really goes out of the way to accommodate them, the crowds are fantastic, and the course doesn’t require you to be a bomber to be able to win. Also 15-17 holes are up there in the best 3 hole stretches in golf. Drivable par 4 with water on the left, par 3 over the water, par 4 over the water. If only they could make 18 a little fancier, though the natural amphitheater around the green to finish is glorious. Can’t wait to go on Friday!

 

[Deepster]

TPC River Highlands is frequently rated by the pga tour players as one of their favorites, and the Travelers as an entity has been voted by the players as their favorite event several several times. Travelers really goes out of the way to accommodate them, the crowds are fantastic, and the course doesn’t require you to be a bomber to be able to win. Also 15-17 holes are up there in the best 3 hole stretches in golf. Drivable par 4 with water on the left, par 3 over the water, par 4 over the water. If only they could make 18 a little fancier, though the natural amphitheater around the green to finish is glorious. Can’t wait to go on Friday!

I usually sit on 18 and even though it’s non descript from a visual perspective I don’t feel like there’s a high % of birdies.

I just looked it up and 18 isn’t in the top half of holes for birdie. I guess it’s not as easy as it appears?

 

[Hurleyman216]

15 is by far the most entertaining hole to watch on the course. You see guys putting for eagle that 3 putt for par. You see bogeys pretty routinely due to bad tee shots and many birdies mixed in. The slope around that green is ridiculous. Having played the course a handful of times you can’t really appreciate how difficult it is until you’re on the course. I played in a scramble there for many years and one year I drove the green with a 3 wood and our group which ended up winning and shooting 15 under actually 3 putted from 40 feet away. Very cool hole to watch live.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

They are severely limited in any options to lengthen the course. Extending 10 would end up too close to the railroad (I think). That require a dramatic change to 11 also.

It is what it is. I’ve played most iterations of it in the past 60 years, from Edgewood to TPC. It seems like the pros torch every course these days.

Any way to incorporate the old practice area? Not sure if the club still uses it for such.

 

[Waquoit]

15 is by far the most entertaining hole to watch on the course...Very cool hole to watch live.

Whenever I go, I make sure to spend some time there. You see a guy almost drive the green but his lie stinks so bad he's lucky to par.

 

[05Alum]

Any way to incorporate the old practice area? Not sure if the club still uses it for such.

While the course was doing drainage work this past year they used the old practice area to create a short par 3 "19th hole". It's not really space that could be used to create a longer hole, unless they wanted to totally overhaul the 18th hole and create a significant dogleg right. It also is used for the "fan zone" during the travelers now and I think that's been generally a positive thing. Without some massive changes I don't think there is a lot of spots to add yardage to the course. The reality is these guys are so good and so long, adding 300-500 yards to the track really doesn't move the needle. The fairways are narrow. They grow the rough. There's only two par 5's, which are scoring holes for the pros. They have done a good job with the layout they have keeping it relevant.

 

[uconnfan68]

Any way to incorporate the old practice area? Not sure if the club still uses it for such.

Most pros couldn't hit woods on the old range.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Most pros couldn't hit woods on the old range.

Yep. It's the only open space I remember within the course but probably not much help if any to lengthen the course.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Just heard Thursday Saturday Sunday sold out. Per Channel 3.

 

[Waquoit]

Just heard Thursday Saturday Sunday sold out.

That's nuts (in a good way)! Tickets aren't cheap.