Nature and chosen lies lead to low ratings at

ATLANTA– Part of the changes the PGA Trip started at this Tour Championship– with many focused on the end of the starting-strokes age– was to make East Lake Golf Club a more requiring test.Mother Nature had

other plans. “In response to information suggesting fans want to see winning ratings better to par, the PGA Trip guidelines committee will change its course setup approach to encourage more risk/reward minutes throughout each round, additional increasing the drama and competition to figure out the FedExCup champ,”this month’s Greensheet, which is sent out straight to players, read.The newsletter went on to discuss that target green speeds at East Lake were 13 1/2 on the Stimpmeter and the primary rough height would be 3 1/2 inches, a half-inch more than in past years.Daily thunderstorms and downpour have mostly kept that toughening at bay with the field on pace to match last year’s winning total, sans starting strokes, which would have been 22 under by Collin Morikawa. Preferred lies have remained in location for all 3 rounds.”Definitely a couple pins that were a bit more

towards corners. If you compare to in 2015, just with conditions today, flags barely moving and it’s drizzled a lot over the last day, so things that you can’t manage,” Morikawa stated.”It’s simply Mother Nature. When conditions resemble that, we’re going to be shooting at pins. That’s just the nature of what we do.”Lift, tidy and place, you have actually got a great deal of wedges on this golf course. Can’t truly do much to tuck them away because even if you do tuck them in corners, we’re firing away with a wedge.” Last year, East Lake played to a 68.61 average as a par 71 compared to this year’s 67.87 average as a par 70.