Women's British Open 2021: What is the key difference between men and women's golf majors?
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ByEurosport
Updated 17/08/2021 at 19:20 GMT
Caddie Brian Nilsson is in the unique position of being a bagman on the men's and women's golf tours. The Australian has worked on the European PGA Tour for 25 years with the past 11 representing Nicolas Colsaerts, but he has recently been using his experience to help his compatriot Su Oh, who he will assist at this week's women's British Open. Nilsson explains the key differences at major level.
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The 45th Women's British Open begins at Carnoustie in Scotland on Thursday with Germany's Sophia Popov defending the title, but is distance and power the only key difference between men and women at major championship level?
Veteran caddie Brian Nilsson has worked for a quarter of a century on the European PGA Tour with the past 11 years seeing him carry the bag of Belgium's former Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts.
He will make the change to the women's game this week when he assists his fellow Australian Su Oh in her quest for a first major having worked for his compatriot at the recent World Invitational in Northern Ireland and last week's women’s Scottish Open.
While former World Match Play champion Colsaerts can nudge his 6-iron a whopping 203 yards, 25-year-old Oh can reach 165 with the same club.
It is easy to assume that distance and power off the tee is the only difference between the leading men and women at the elite level of their respective tours, but Nilsson has offered a fascinating insight into the key variations that is worth noting.
They are playing a different game in various aspects of golf, according to Nilsson.
“Most of the women don’t generate the same clubhead speed as the men,” Nilsson told GolfDigest.com.
“So they also generate less spin. And the flight on their shots is generally lower and flatter, the ball releasing more after it lands.
Where a male pro hits, say, a 9-iron and pitches it 150-odd yards, the ball will grip on landing. But when maybe 90 percent of the women hit a 9-iron, the ball will release on landing. Because they don’t get the same spin.
Without putting any spin on his revelations, Nilsson explains: "Here’s the thing. In Ireland (with Oh) we came to a hole that was playing really strongly downwind. We had 145 yards to the pin and were trying to land the ball 137.
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"From there, it would run to the hole. I asked Su what the 137 yardage was playing. I reckoned it was maybe a two-club wind. She said it was playing about 130. I was shocked by that. I couldn’t believe it. Only seven yards of help? In this strong a wind?
"So she selects her little 9-iron, hits it perfect and has a putt for birdie. Once I thought about it, that made sense. Because she generates less spin than I’m used to seeing, the ball doesn’t stay in the air as long. So the wind has less of an effect on how far it goes.
"In that same situation, Nicolas would have been trying to pitch the ball close to the hole. But let’s say he was trying to hit it 137, same as Su. Given the strength of the wind, he would have hit what we would see as a just over 100-yard shot. With a sand-wedge."
So is having less spin a huge disadvantage for the women? Not so, explains Nilsson. Perhaps especially so around a 72-par track like Carnoustie on the east coast of Scotland, where the wind and rain can wreck swings and rounds more than the championship course.
"Because the women hit their shots flatter and with less spin, they get more penetration,” opines Nilsson.
Their shots go through the wind better. On, say, a 110-yard shot, most men would be hitting the club that usually sends the ball 125-yards. But the women don’t have to allow nearly that much. Their yardage adjustment is a lot less, so their club selection is more straightforward.
"There was a par 3 in Ireland where there was an obvious pin position behind a bunker," he continues. "Right away, I could see that becoming a bit of an issue if the hole played downwind. And it did. On the day we were there, it was 139 yards to carry the bunker, then seven yards from there to the pin, then seven more to the back of the green.
"I knew Su couldn’t carry the sand with her 9-iron. So she had to hit an 8-iron. At least that’s what I told her, despite the fact that I knew it was unlikely that the ball would hold the putting surface. Which it didn’t.
"Later, I thought about it more," he continues. "We actually played the hole the wrong way. We should have hit the 9-iron and aimed 30-feet left of the flag. That was the best option. Me sticking to my guns was a mistake. Su hit a nice shot. It pitched right by the flag.
"But the ball finished over the green. That was my fault. We should have gone left. All of this is a big adjustment for me. But I’m fascinated by it. And the next two weeks we are playing links golf. So the ball will be on the ground more than normal. That’s another adjustment."
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