Anybody Watch The Big Break?

Cafe Society
1

On the Golf Channel?

I love the show, mainly because the contestants have to perform golf related tasks, and the loser goes home. Alliances don’t help and it doesn’t matter if your plane is late, perfoming under pressure is all that matters.

Anyway, I came in to say that a former contestant, Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, made it through Q-School and will be a full time PGA Tour player next year. He cruised through the first five rounds and barely held on, shooting 77 on the final day to make it by one stroke.

He wears two gloves at all times including putting, swings with a baseball grip, and his swing makes Jim Furyk look like Fred Couples. Add to that the fact that he looks and sounds like he was a cast member of “Deliverance”, and we should have a nice new personality on tour next year.

To anyone who is watching the current show, how in the hell is Hiroshi not on tour?

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I’ve seen a few episodes, and it can be pretty good. You don’t have to be a golf nut to like it, but it helps. IAAGN. :slight_smile:

3

I watched part of the ladies’ one. I’m sad I never got really into the habit of watching it and I never DVRed it (partly because my listings for it were screwed up - I’ve never had that problem wtih other shows, but for the Big Break it would say it was recording it and give me something else!) I loved that all the tasks were really and truly about golf. Either you made the drive or you didn’t. Either you made the carry or you didn’t. You had the shot in your bag or you didn’t. It wasn’t gimmicky or politicky or anything but golf-skill based, generally speaking. Cool show.

4

I used to watch it sporadically, but have recently gotten more regular.

Just today I googled “Big Break Mesquite” and turned up a site with brief bios on all these guys. Sounds like most of the guys this time around have spent quite a bit of time on the various mini-tours. And just about every one listed his profession as “golf professional.”

Why isn’t Hiroshi on tour? Kinda goes to show you how crazy good those guys on tour are, doesn’t it?

(Man, I hung the sticks up a month ago, there’s snow on the ground, and I’m already jonesing for March. Gonna have foot surgery end of Jan to give me plenty of time to recuperate before golf weather rolls around. Would rather slog thru slush in a boot, than miss any links time!)

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[QUOTE=Zsofia]
You had the shot in your bag or you didn’t. It wasn’t gimmicky or politicky or anything but golf-skill based, generally speaking.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, who can forget that time Tiger won at the Old Course by breaking the glass with only a couple of seconds to go! :stuck_out_tongue:

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[QUOTE=Zsofia]
I watched part of the ladies’ one. I’m sad I never got really into the habit of watching it and I never DVRed it (partly because my listings for it were screwed up - I’ve never had that problem wtih other shows, but for the Big Break it would say it was recording it and give me something else!) I loved that all the tasks were really and truly about golf. Either you made the drive or you didn’t. Either you made the carry or you didn’t. You had the shot in your bag or you didn’t. It wasn’t gimmicky or politicky or anything but golf-skill based, generally speaking. Cool show.
[/QUOTE]

I like the women’s versions much better, too. They are a lot cattier, although the older men seem to be, too. Someone always seems to be on the verge of a major breakdown.

On the current show, the guy who got eliminated this week, the former pro wrestler/long drive champ, seemed to be universally hated. He rubbed me the wrong way, too, although I can’t seem to put my finger on exactly why.

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[QUOTE=Dinsdale]
Yeah, who can forget that time Tiger won at the Old Course by breaking the glass with only a couple of seconds to go! :stuck_out_tongue:
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but that’s like when they have to make dresses out of coffee filters on Project Runway - they’re still making dresses, just not in a normal or professional way.

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Seeing as tho the few Doper golfers will likely show up here, do you mind if I hijack a bit?

This morning’s paper had an article about a recent survey in Golf Magazine, rating the top 50 cities for golf. Apparently they ranked each city on 7 factors: weather, affordability, quality of courses, accessibility, name architects, availability and crowdedness.

Chicago was ranked 1st in number of courses designed by “esteemed architects,” and 4th in terms of “The best courses in the best overall condition.” So how the hell does it end up with a cumulative ranking of 46th out of 50?!

Now I readily acknowledge that Chicago weather sucks a good portion of the time, but I don’t se how in the world we can rank below Columbus, Rochester, Detroit, and Indianapolis - all of which are in the top 20. Hell, I bet there are at least 50 public golf courses within 20 miles of my house, including courses that have held PGA, LPGA, and Seniors tourneys. Probably more than 50. Not to mention private clubs like Medinah and Butler.

Whaddya think, folks? What do you consider the best cities for golf? Do you think you can name 45 better than Chicago? And could you seriously argue that Indy is a better golf town?

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Golf posts make the website fail.

Here’s the article online and here is the ranking methodology.

Weather is the biggest factor and having courses ranked in their top 100 list bump you up. How expensive is it to play a public course in Chicago? How hard is it to get a tee time?

There are a lot of northern cities pretty high on the list, though.

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No real South Carolina places - just one backwards NC? I have not had the pleasure of playing on my home state’s most famous year-round golf courses (many of them, however, quite spendy) but it’s gotta be better than the northern Midwest, where I saw my first frozen river. I mean, really.

Here is the link to the list.

ETA - I see I’ve been scooped. Anyway, you can’t tell me that Myrtle Beach or Charleston aren’t better golf cities than Chicago.

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[QUOTE=Dinsdale]
Whaddya think, folks? What do you consider the best cities for golf? Do you think you can name 45 better than Chicago? And could you seriously argue that Indy is a better golf town?
[/QUOTE]

Carmel, of course. :wink: I was just down there last week. Heaven.

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I got no objection to Myrtle or Carmel ahead of Chi. Toss Vegas up there too. (Although you’ll need to take out a small mortgage before hitting Vegas or Carmel!) Never meant to suggest Chi should be #1. But 46th? And behind the likes of Detroit?

[QUOTE=Dinsdale]
Hell, I bet there are at least 50 public golf courses within 20 miles of my house, including courses that have held PGA, LPGA, and Seniors tourneys. Probably more than 50. Not to mention private clubs like Medinah and Butler.
[/QUOTE]

I apologize. Looks like I was way off on the number of courses around me. Just did a search on my zip code on this site.
Counting both public and private clubs, including 9-hole tracks (but not the number of courses at a particular club. Cog Hill, for example, has 72 holes) there are 127-freakin clubs within 20 miles of me. Hell, there are 66 of them within 10! Let’s see how many towns can beat THAT!

Of course, right now every single one of those courses is buried under several inches of white stuff… :mad:

I play pretty regularly - at least 2X/week - from April through October. And if you want to, you can hit good weather in March and November. I make a point of rarely paying over $50 for greens fees, and generally play pretty good - tho not top rate - courses. Someplace like Dubsdread is around $125. That’s too steep for me other than as an occasional treat. But there is no shortage of very good courses available for $40-50. Especially if you look out for specials and coupons. And you can play some really, REALLY good courses for $75 or less.

The only way someone would have trouble getting a tee time is if on a Friday they decide they want to golf a particular course the following morning. Many - if not most - public courses have leagues/permanent times on Sat/Sun mornings. But I know of several courses that have great deals for weekend afternoons, and tee times are always open. And if you plan ahead, it is no difficulty to score a tee time at a good course when you want to play. Weekend tee-times are no problem for me, or any of my friends, or anyone who is a serious golfer. I belong to Sat and Sun a.m. leagues, and know several guys who have permanent tee-times at other courses if I want to play somewhere different.

Anytime any of you golfers are passing through, give me a shout out a week in advance and I’ll set us up at a mighty fine track.

My only complaint is with the suggestion that 45 cities in America are better for golf than Chi. And if weather is so important, how do Indy, Detroit, and Rochester beat Chi?

back to the Big Break, I think most of the guys’ problem with Jerry was that they didn’t think he was as good a golfer as them. And they were probably right. That Brian strikes me as an especially cocky SOB.

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[QUOTE=Dinsdale]

Of course, right now every single one of those courses is buried under several inches of white stuff… :mad:

[/QUOTE]

[mechanic] Well, there’s your problem! [/mechanic]

It’s so damned cold here now. It’s only hitting 60 today. I’m wearing long underwear. I’d go play this weekend but I don’t know if I can stand how cold it is! (Only half tongue in cheek!)

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[QUOTE=Zsofia]

It’s so damned cold here now. It’s only hitting 60 today. I’m wearing long underwear. I’d go play this weekend but I don’t know if I can stand how cold it is! (Only half tongue in cheek!)
[/QUOTE]

I hate you! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Man, I never would have bet that 'Rosh would have been knocked out. he clearly didn’t have his “A” game, tho. Can’t believe he missed that short putt early.

Gotta expect Brian to make short work of Josh.

Are they at altitude or is there some other reason the course is playing so short? I mean, they were hitting 5-irons and less for their second shots into the 5-pars, and I think they were all describing a 180 yd hole as a "normal 8-iron.

It was fun and interesting to see them just playing straight-up golf after weeks of “special events.”

My wife hates this show - I’m not sure why!

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Tuesday, Dec 18 at 10p Eastern is the finale.