• The KillerFrogs

TCU Golf 2025-2026

JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Pebble Beach is Tom Hoge's personal ATM. He shot a bogey-free 65 yesterday. Today he's 2 under through 13 at Spyglass and T8 overall.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Tom Hoge with five straight birdies to close the front nine at Pebble. He's up to T6.

Update: Hoge finishes with a 68 and ends up T14. Scheffler puts down a final-round 63 and finishes 2 shots back of winner Morikawa.
 
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JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU men are in action on the Gulf Coast at the Watersound Invitational. Four teams among the top 11 are in the 12-team field, so there's some good measuring-stick competition. Frogs project as the 6th-best team in the field and stand 6th after the first round, with Miller, Udovich, Wylie, T Wilt, and Beauchamp (plus H Wilt) all shooting between -1 and +2 in round 1 yesterday.

Scoring: https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/239245/scoring/team
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
After Round 2 the Frogs' team position is unchanged, but Nate Miller shot a 66 to move up to T5, and Sam Udovich shot a 68 to move up to T14 (both from T22). Great play from the freshmen! Hope those guys stay around.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Winner! Nate Miller shoots another 66, including a birdie at the last, to finish as tri-medalist at the Watersound Invitational. Nate went 14-0-1 vs. top-100 players.

Miller's final birdie also lifts the Frogs into solo 3rd as a team. TCU beat #9 Ole Miss and #11 Alabama. Another good showing for the men.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Weird tournament in Houston for the TCU women. Projected as the 9th-best team in a strong field, they finished T6, so they beat expectations. But that was mostly due to poor performances by 6th-ranked Arkansas (also T6) and 11th-ranked Mississippi State, which was 10th. Meanwhile, Baylor and SMU both finished ahead of the Frogs, which had no top-10 individual finishers. (Camille was T11, Kirsten T20.) Sofie Dimitrova also played well.

Gracie McGovern, who won a tournament in the fall, was out of the lineup for the first time this season. Hope she's not dealing with an injury. The Frogs held it together without her, but it would be nice to see everybody dial it in some week.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU men are on the course at the Desimone Invitational at Lake Merced Golf Club. Texas golf doesn't always translate well to Bay Area conditions, so I never have high expectations for tournaments like these, but the Frogs have been playing well, and it's a competitive 15-team field with three top-10 teams and a bunch of teams in the 20s and 30s--a good test.

I know some here have played Olympic...any thoughts on Lake Merced? It recently underwent a Gil Hanse-pseudo-restoration. By that I mean that no one cared for the original Willie Locke design, so Hanse's team reconstructed the signature par-3 13th from when Alister MacKenzie rebunkered the course in '28...and then did their best to drop in MacKenzie-style bunkers and sight lines elsewhere. Probably the best that the club could do to generate interest, given the elite neighborhood.

Frogs are starting Beauchamp, Miller, Udovich, T. Wilt, & Wylie, with Dial getting some PT as an individual. Scoring: https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/238750/scoring/team
 
gohornedfrogs

gohornedfrogs

Tier 1
Lake Merced was a good course even before Hanse. To my knowledge, it was always highly respected. Rees Jones probably did the changes that people may not have liked. One of my old bosses was GM there for a while. We practiced there before a tournament at Olympic a long time ago. Course turf conditions were superior to just about anything you’d get in Texas at that time. Since it’s all bent grass now, in a cool climate, that’s likely still true.

What’s funny are the trends. In the 90s and 2000s, Rees Jones was the Gil Hanse of the day. Everyone is trying to undo what he did now. Will history repeat itself?
 
W

Wexahu

Full Member
gohornedfrogs said:
Lake Merced was a good course even before Hanse. To my knowledge, it was always highly respected. Rees Jones probably did the changes that people may not have liked. One of my old bosses was GM there for a while. We practiced there before a tournament at Olympic a long time ago. Course turf conditions were superior to just about anything you’d get in Texas at that time. Since it’s all bent grass now, in a cool climate, that’s likely still true.

What’s funny are the trends. In the 90s and 2000s, Rees Jones was the Gil Hanse of the day. Everyone is trying to undo what he did now. Will history repeat itself?
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I've become not a fan at all of Gil Hanse courses, I don't understand the appeal. The huge fairways and greens are boring, can't remember watching a tournament played on one of his course where I thought, man, that was exciting. Generally, I think the current trends in architecture pretty much stink.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
gohornedfrogs said:
Lake Merced was a good course even before Hanse. To my knowledge, it was always highly respected. Rees Jones probably did the changes that people may not have liked. One of my old bosses was GM there for a while. We practiced there before a tournament at Olympic a long time ago. Course turf conditions were superior to just about anything you’d get in Texas at that time. Since it’s all bent grass now, in a cool climate, that’s likely still true.

What’s funny are the trends. In the 90s and 2000s, Rees Jones was the Gil Hanse of the day. Everyone is trying to undo what he did now. Will history repeat itself?
Click to expand...
Many design trends rotate back. I think we're already seeing the pendulum of the minimalist movement in golf swinging back toward maximalist.

Even brutalist building architecture has gotten something of a reboot recently. The Jones design concept isn't dissimilar--artificial look, repetitive features, functionality (in terms of pace of play). But the trend toward water conservation is permanent, and the focus on variety is unlikely to go away. Were the Jones style to be re-explored, it would have to find a place for half-par holes.

My comments about Lake Merced had mostly to do with its competion. The two close neighbors in the top 35 of the course rankings are untouchable at the top of the food chain. The Club with the most similar history, Cal Club, has jumped into the top 100 following a makeover focused on MacKenzie's bunkers and firm-and-fast conditioning allowed by its slightly-drier location. Even the muni down the block is hosting majors.

Meanwhile, Lake Merced lost key land to a freeway and had experienced multiple overhauls, so it needed something to keep it in the conversation. I get Wex's perspective on Hanse, Kidd and others taking the challenge out of driving. But they needed a big name and some photographic eye candy to stay relevant among SF clubs, and Hanse and the 13th seem as good as any.

By the way, the Frogs are at the top of the leaderboard two-thirds of the way through Round 1, so they don't seem to be experiencing shock from non-Texas conditions.
 
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W

Wexahu

Full Member
JogginFrog said:
Many design trends rotate back. I think we're already seeing the pendulum of the minimalist movement in golf swinging back toward maximalist.

Even brutalist building architecture has gotten something of a reboot recently. The Jones design concept isn't dissimilar--artificial look, repetitive features, functionality (in terms of pace of play). But the trend toward water conservation is permanent, and the focus on variety is unlikely to go away. Were the Jones style to be re-explored, it would have to find a place for half-par holes.

My comments about Lake Merced had mostly to do with its competion. The two close neighbors in the top 35 of the course rankings are untouchable at the top of the food chain. The Club with the most similar history, Cal Club, has jumped into the top 100 following a makeover focused on MacKenzie's bunkers and firm-and-fast conditioning allowed by its slightly-drier location. Even the muni down the block is hosting majors.

Meanwhile, Lake Merced lost key land to a freeway and had experienced multiple overhauls, so it needed something to keep it in the conversation. I get Wex's perspective on Hanse, Kidd and others taking the challenge out of driving. But they needed a big name and some photographic eye candy to stay relevant among SF clubs, and Hanse and the 13th seem as good as any.

By the way, the Frogs are at the top of the leaderboard two-thirds of the way through Round 1, so they don't seem to be experiencing shock from non-Texas conditions.
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If in fact true, this is good to hear.

I don't know if minimalist/maximalist matters as much as just making better golf courses. 7.800 yard courses that are miles wide and have huge greens are boring. And they massively favor bombers too, which I don't think the vast majority of people want. Everyone like to hate on TPC Sawgrass (mostly because #17 is gimmicky, and it is), but it tests ball striking almost like no other. I know that course cost a fortune to build and isn't easy to replicate, but that course's shot values should be the blueprint for design IMO. Not overly long, much more exacting targets, small greens, etc.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
(Edited based on updated scoring)
Frogs shoot -15 in Round 1 to sit in 2nd as a team, 2 shots back of #9 Arizona State. Sam Udovich had a late run of 4 birdies in 6 holes for a 67. He and Jack Beauchamp (68) are both in the top 10. Wilt and Miller added 69s. Team continues to impress.
 
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JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
The Frogs struggled throughout the final round at Lake Merced, but Sam Udovich eagled the last hole to lift TCU over Texas, SMU and Cal to capture solo 2nd as a team.

And it was a true team effort, as the best individual finishers (Udovich and Nate Miller) were T20. Hard to finish second as a team with no top-15 finishers. A good result that should lift the Frogs in the rankings.
 
F

frog525

Active Member
Wexahu said:
I've become not a fan at all of Gil Hanse courses, I don't understand the appeal. The huge fairways and greens are boring, can't remember watching a tournament played on one of his course where I thought, man, that was exciting. Generally, I think the current trends in architecture pretty much stink.
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Gil sucks. Not sure how he keeps getting these jobs. Completely destroyed a lot of colonials character
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Wexahu said:
Everyone like to hate on TPC Sawgrass (mostly because #17 is gimmicky, and it is), but it tests ball striking almost like no other. I know that course cost a fortune to build and isn't easy to replicate, but that course's shot values should be the blueprint for design IMO. Not overly long, much more exacting targets, small greens, etc.
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Had a chance to play TPC Sawgrass many years ago, when it was a test of length as well. Amazing how well it has held up to equipment changes and won increasing respect from design buffs, even as trends ran the other way.

Whether maximalist or minimalist, good design makes good players feel uncomfortable while still allowing them control over outcomes. But the pros are so good that discomfort also involves set-up tricks, and courses that hold their shot values in those conditions are few.

I also understand the reasoning for destination-golf experiences that emphasize fun/scoreability. Sometimes it's good to do 4 hours of mental battle with a top designer. But sometimes it's good to enjoy a memorable setting that asks some interesting questions and still lets you post a score. I'm not a good enough player to have both types of fun at once. And between those two styles, I'd probably split 10 rounds 3-7.
 

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