lol no.

Before the tournament Luke Donald said he'd take the over for 100 for a 10 handicap.

Yeah think an 8 handicap is kind of pushing it. Think 100 could be close/doable I guess if they had an amazing day but definitely no way they shoot under 90 and actually thinking about it simply due to the length I do not think there is a chance they shoot under 100

no way to either imo

I think 90 is a long shot but I think breaking 100 wouldn't be inpossible. Depends on what type of 8 handicap you are. I'm about 250 off the tee but spray it a little but have a solild short iron and short game so I think breaking 100 would be ok.

Mind you I would probably 4 putt every green...

I didn't talk to any players about it since I missed the cut and didn't play Saturday. Personally, I think he should have been disqualified because he stated that his intent was to talk like of sight relief (incorrectly) by going back a couple yards and he then signed his scorecard. To me, this doesn't fit into the HD TV decision by my understanding of it because nobody called in. Tiger basically admitted to an incorrect drop in his post round interview and signed his card without taking the penalty for the incorrect drop even though he didn't realize what he had done wrong at the time. I think if he had gone on to win it would have been more controversial cause IMO it was a very favorable decision for him. I know all the necessary rules to get around most situations out there, but all the decisions are complex. To me my first reaction was "incorrect card, DQ"

Yes I am exempt.

Favorite moment was right watching my first tee shot come down perfectly, I let out a big smile and felt a less nervous after that.

Best shot I hit was my second shot into 18 on Friday, I was 142yds downwind uphill and hit PW just past pin high and it spun back within a few inches of the hole before finishing about 4ft and I made the putt.

I didn't do a whole lot with the amateurs, only a couple of us were in the crows nest on the same nights. I believe all of us had rented homes with our families so we were there most of the time.

I was very impressed with Guan. He had to be the most mature 14 year old kid I have ever met. I was surprised how well he spoke English. As far as the slow play ruling, I have always thought that guys who get slow play penalties rarely don't deserve them. Officials never penalize for slow play, so if you get one it is usually well deserved. Hopefully that will get him going in the right direction and he can speed up some, I had heard from people prior to the penalty that he was very deliberate.

Thanks, I can tell you now, I have no desire to go to school tomorrow or the rest of this week. I will have to start studying for a midterm that I will be making up from being gone...so I will likely be procrastinating by posting on here or something else that will distract me from school.

Not 90, that would be a career round. I think most 8s probably would not, it just depends on your strengths. You would need length with the course playing 7400 yds but also have reasonable control around the greens so you could make easy bogeys to break 100. I think if an 8 played well they might break 100. Just for comparison, my high school buddy (played at a midlevel college, now grad student) and I sat down and figured out what he would shoot on a good day. Now he doesn't practice much and is probably about a 5 handicap, hits it about 265-270 and would be a good for a 5 around the greens. We figured on a great day he would shoot 85 and that was being pretty generous.

Good going that whole week Michael. Congratulations on the great achievement. I can't imagine the experience you had. I hope you have many more.

I was the guy who yelled over to you just past the tee on 15 on Monday and on #4 at the par 3 contest.

It looked like Fuzzy was putting on quite the show on Wednesday.

What was it like playing with him in the par 3? Did you get paired with him by choice, by chance? Were the greens over there the same as the main course?

is 11 as big of a beast as it looks on TV. Looks like any miss tiny bit left is water.

What is playing 12 like in the tournament?

What did you find was the easiest/hardest hole to play and why?
Mad props for playing arguable the greatest tournament in the world. You will look back on this week for a very long time.

I think most competitive golfers feel that way about Tiger's ruling.

Desi must be proud of you. Got the Cal golf guide. Maybe I will have to donate now

Go Bears

Man I so badly want the tinfoil hat theory to be true.

Ya I remember you one 15, don't remember in the par 3 for some reason. Fuzzy was definitely putting on a show, it was a lot of fun. I just put my name down on a blank time and he added himself and Hubert Green with me. I saw him Sunday before and played 9 with him and he mentioned we would be playing together. The greens on the par 3 were a tad slower than the course I think.

11 is hard. The tee shot is a wide fairway but if you get too far right you are completely blocked out. If you can get your second shot on the left side of the fairway it is a little more manageable because you have a better angle into the fat part of the green and if you miss right it works out a little better.

12 wasn't too difficult for me, the wind was never up that much. Thursday I hit easy 9 iron from 142 to about 10 feet past the flag and burned the edge on my putt. On Friday I hit easy 8 iron from 156 to about 15 feet and burned the edge once again. Both days the wind was slightly in and right to left.

Easiest hole was 2 or 15 for me. On both holes you still have a good chance at birdie with certain pins as long as you put your layup in the correct spot. Obviously you can go for both, but if you have to lay up you still have a good chance at birdie. Hardest hole was 1. The tee shot can be tough, you either take 3 wood and lay back to the wide part but have longer in, or try to hit driver further up between the trees and bunker. Then the green is very sloped and the actual area you have to stop the ball isnt that large.

Alright Stads might as well give us a hole by hole trip report.

How bad is the cliff on the front right of 6? How tough is the back right pin? Front left on 3 did you get to play that pin at all?

How did this experience affect your perception of your ability to play at the PGA level? More or less confident you can do so?

Favorite pro you spent time with?

Weirdest request from a patron and/or twitter follower?

quoting this because he probably has you on ignore

Why would he? I've never had a disagreement with him.

I don't get the whole ignore thing anyway. God people are just talking to each other. Seems childish to not be able to handle reading what somebody says.

Stads,

Just wanted to say thanks for coming in here and talking about your experience. This is cool as **** and we really appreciate it.

Looking forward to Merion

Way to go Stads! Was your first impression like mine and most that have vistited Augusta HOLLY F IT IS UP AND DOWN! lol I couldn't imagine what walking it would have been like. Did you have nerves teeing up with spectators so close and did you have any thought of OMG don't snap hook and kill someone lol

U.S. Open odds are already out.

MICHAEL WEAVER 1000/1

In the words of Al Czervik, "Alright everybody place your bets, place your bets!"

This!

A few questions of my own:

2 things about the course that surprised you?

2 things about the experience that might surprise us?

Most underrated hole on the course?

If you could replay only a single hole one time, which would it be?

Thanks for doing this!

The ledge drops off about 5 feet short of it to the front of the green and left of it drops 2-4 feet depending on how far onto the green you are. I would say the entire area of that shelf is about 9 yards wide and 10 yards deep so it is pretty tough to get it back there. I did play a pin way over on the left on 3 on Friday, you just aim out to the right and let the slope bring it down.

It didn't deter any plans I have to play at that level. It would have been discouraging if I felt like I went out and played great and missed the cut, but there were a few mistakes I made each round that would have gotten me just back to the cutline. What the week really helped me with was getting comfortable on that big of a stage, I think that will be something valuable when I get to Merion for the Open.

My favorite guy to play with was Watney, with Rory in a close second. Both of them were great guys and really fun to play with. I would ask some other guys questions and they would answer, but both of these guys would talk back to me and have a conversation while we played which was nice.

Strangest interaction with a patron was signing an autograph and taking a picture of this girl who was probably 15-17 and then having her father say "shes still single"...I just replied with "well I'm not", it was funny but kinda strange as well. The girl must have been pretty embarrassed.

Absolutely, I don't mind doing it at all. Kinda helps me remember everything that happened.

I had been to Augusta before to watch in 2009, so the elevation wasn't a surprise to me. I wasn't nervous in general with spectators there. Only time I was a little worried was on 15 on Thursday. I hit it right in the trees and Tiger was coming up 17 so there was a huge gallery where I hit it. (15 and 17 run parallel) People were crowding around when I hit and I had a fairly narrow window to punch out through and people were in real tight. I wasn't worried about hitting them on the fly, but more if I were to catch the tree and ricochet it would hit them.

One of the more difficult aspects to grasp is how the general lay of the land runs to the 12th green and how much it can affect putts. That gave me trouble the first time I was there reading the greens because it had a big affect.

Something that may be surprising is how it is difficult to judge the wind. Holes are basically shaped through the big trees, and if you are in a hole that is exposed on two ends (such as green and tee) to the wind, the wind will feel like it is blowing straight in or down cause it is going through the trees down the hole. So it was important to keep in mind which way the wind was supposed to be blowing and trust that.

As far as the experience, the events that they had for the amateurs were pretty incredible. I probably can't go into too much detail, but some of the people I got to meet at these events were heavy hitters in golf as well as business and politics, it was pretty cool.

The most underrated hole is number 1 by far. The tee shot is one of the narrower tee shots on the course, behind 7 and 17, and the green is not real receptive to the length of shot you hit into it. If you miss the green you will have a tough up and down from just about anywhere.

I would love to replay hole 8, because if there is one hole that caused me to miss the cut, it would be 8 since I went for it in two both days and made bogey. I may tweak my strategy and lay back a little bit. I just gave away shots on that hole and two birdies there instead of two bogeys gets me to the weekend. That was the biggest leak in my game during the week, I gave away shots on easy holes.

Thank you so much for letting us inside the ropes.

this was a great recap. can't wait for the us open.

Yeah, thanks for all your Q & A. Looking forward to the US open as well.
Did you watch any of Sunday's round on TV. What did you think?

Wow, what a treat to read, thanks man.

Great stuff Stads! Awesome Masters insights. BOL@Merion