It already has a really great name, and now The Reserve at Moonlight Basin is about to take center stage in the world of golf.
Viewers who dial up TNT at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday for the fourth installment of The Match will see this Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in all its glory.
Listed at No. 3 on Golfweek’s Best Private Courses in the state of Montana, Moonlight Basin sits at an elevation of roughly 7,500 feet in Big Sky, Montana. The course can be stretched to 8,000 yards, and the 17th hole is the centerpiece: a 777-yard par 5 that drops considerably from tee to green.
The Match pits the duo of Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady against Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers. DeChambeau is one of the longest hitters in the professional game; at 51, Mickelson can still get it out there, too.
So how will these two big-hitters handle the elevation and the course at Moonlight Basin?
It’s not as easy as just taking two less clubs.
“It’s hard to say that generically, because when you hit the ball harder, and you hit it higher and you have more spin to keep it in the air when you have a lot less density in the air, you might get 15 to 18 percent (more distance), but if you hit a bit of an easier one or you shorten your backswing and the ball is lower and it doesn’t have as much spin, it might be only 8 percent difference,” Mickelson said. “So to say that it’s two clubs or to say that it’s an X-percentage difference is not going to be very accurate because it has more to do with the trajectory, the height, the spin, as well as the speed off the face.”
To obtain more accurate distances, Mickelson and DeChambeau—as well as other PGA Tour pros—deploy golf gadgets such as the Quad and the Trackman.
“I had a lot of success in Denver early on in my career winning the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and then the International there at Castle Pines,” Mickelson said of two high-altitude locations. “In the past, what I’d use is past shots that flew X yardages and so forth. But with today’s devices, like the Quad that Bryson has and that I have that takes into account altitude, barometric pressure, temperature and tells you with an algorithm how far it should be flying and then we can go out on the course and actually see if it’s flying that.”
Trackman is also a valuable tool of the trade.
“You can set it at a normalized setting which means for me at sea level, zero altitude and 72 degrees,” Mickelson said. “I can see what I would hit my normalized numbers. Then it has another one of actual, what did the ball actually fly? And you can see what it actually flew at this altitude. So if my 8-iron flies 170 and I’m hitting, it’s saying I’m hitting my normalized number of 170 but up here it’s flying actually 195, well, then I know that my new reference number for my 8 iron is going to be 195.
“It’s these kind of details that Bryson is very good at, probably the best on Tour.”
DeChambeau also talked potential distances and how his gadgets measure them.
“Let’s say normal, sea level, let’s say it’s 340 with a driver, it’ll say it’s flying 390 or 400 yards here and then I just use that number for the day. … 8-iron going like 205 yards and it says it’s going 240, I’ll just use the 240 length,” he said.
“A 240-yard 8-iron? That’s a bomb there, bro,” Rodgers chimed in.
“That’s a chip shot for me. Wait till you see me [Tuesday],” DeChambeau replied.
“For me, it’s just going to be hitting as many bombs as possible. This golf course and this elevation, I’m going to be trying to hit it on many greens that are 400 yards plus.”
from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3wuwnKF