Even the pros CAN’T break par at this course!
[Music] Today I’m taking on one of the hardest courses I’ve ever played. It is a test. Oh my word. Together with a whole field of professionals, we’re going to try and do something which hardly anyone achieves. To break par at this impossible course. Oh my god. Narrow fairways, undulating lightning fast greens, and pin positions to terrify a golfer. Just this is the least fun I’ve had in the competition. Is it Oak? Is it Carni? No. This is Marple Golf Club. And as you can see, it overlooks Manchester on the hills. And it is by far one of the hardest courses I’ve ever played. It’s only 5,500 yards off the tips. And yet, nobody hardly ever breaks par here. The course record over decades is three under and that is because of the greens. They are fast. They are slloy. They are terrifying. I don’t know what’s going to happen in today’s comp, but I need to try and figure it out. This is match number three on the tea representing Quest Golf Academy, Peter Finch. a little bit wetter in front of the green than it was. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting round today. I’ve not felt like this physically inept in in quite some time. The greens are really the deciding factor today in many respects cuz the course is short and even if the pins are tucked, you’ll be able to hit some greens. But the the slopes and the the quickness of them, it’s going to be a challenge. Yeah. Chipping in the States out of Bermuda onto Bermuda Greens compared to chipping here at home. It’s different um in a way that I can’t fully quantify. That’s good though. You don’t want me to open up, mate. You don’t want to unlock the dark recesses of this mine. Trust me, stuff in there that had set your feet on fire. So 140 is the pin. Got a good angle in. Just want to keep it right. Such a big pull. Such a huge pull. Don’t really see how there’s a way that’s not in the water. Wow. So bad. Got away with it. Just Three up and downs, three holes. Scramble city. We’ll all be going for this one, I think. 300 yds. A little bit down off the right. Green wall slopes from right to left. So, want to be trying to hit this where those bags are. If I can avoid doing my usual 30 odd pull. This is going to be a quick put. Trust me. Just didn’t have enough spin. But overall, it’s actually going to be quite straight. Not green to start getting too aggressive, aren’t I? 260 downhill into wind. I really want to try and hit my hybrid, but it’s just into wind. I just can’t go long left. If I miss right, it’s okay. I think if I grip down on this, just hit like a peeler in there. I think that should be the number. It’s 250 to basically definitely clear it. So, yeah, just a little fail. Cheers. God, I love this mini driver. Ah. Yeah. Cheers. Couldn’t bring myself to aim like two foot. Right. It’s birdie. It’s fine. Just take the birdie. Move on. Tricky part three. Distance control has been pretty good. My starting line with my hands. It’s all right. Let’s get loosened up. Go. really [Applause] so much brake. Just a bit sloppy. I knew this was going to like be an issue today. Like going to face some puts where three and a half 4 foot and I’m aiming good foot and a half outside the right. But hey, just got to roll with the punches. So, this is a hole where you just got to swallow a bit of pill. It’s 332 yds. I think I’m going to hit a six off this T. A man, it’s tight. It’s tricky. Stay patient. It’s good. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, it’s okay. gives me a good view of the uh good view of the pin, good view of the green. So, said it before, just going to keep it patient. Jeez, actually can’t relax over anything. All right, to four through that little patch of the course. One under par. It’s all right. Just reset. Go again. Got a couple of drivable par fours coming up again. So 275 down the hill. Par four into wind. It’s just a touch longer than the the one we knocked it on a few holes ago. Just a normal mini driver. Just got to miss right because this is the pin. Just tight left behind that bunker. My god, there fish flying everywhere. Keep cutting. Yeah, that well. Yeah, it just bit just be left to the green. Just got to miss right. Just got to miss right. I’m a little bit long. A little bit past the 10 again. This is why missing on the right side’s important. So, it’s still a chance for a birdie, but I’m kind of hitting onto a down slope, right to left. If I miss right, I’ have been hitting into the ups slope. So, this is just pure just pure touch really. Probably try and land it short and dribble it on. All right, come on. Selected your spot. Just pitch it in there. Really patience. Stay patient. Stay patient. Let’s hold that line. All right. That pin is diabolical. I love it. Love the challenge. Love the game of golf. All right. Come on. Just land it onto the green. Just try and let it release. Go on then. Go on. Go. Go. Go. Oh. Ah, close. Just needed to carry more pace onto that slope. Not bad. Not bad. Stay patient. It’s a good It’s probably my best today, I think, so far. nine holes level part. Now, I just want to say a massive thank you to channel partner Shot Scope for sponsoring this video and sponsoring the channel. Now, they’re not just a partner. I have been using Shot Scope genuinely throughout the last year to prepare for my competitions using their online dashboard cuz I can plan my round out even if I’m not familiar with the golf course, figuring out distances to hazards and where I should be playing my approach shots from given hopefully that I hit a good T-shot. And of course, I have been using their products and it just so happens that I’ve had my best year in competitions. And if you want more information on Shot Scope, make sure you head down into the description below. All the links are there. They are a fantastic company and go check them out. 66 to clear that bunker on the left. So yeah, I’m just going to wh just a seven iron. Crazy hole. No, it is out of bounds like left and right. Yeah. Patience, patience, patience, patience, patience. I just trying to get as much spin as possible. How How has it stopped there? Patience. Okay. Patience. It’s It’s a test. It is a test. Oh my word. Just pulled that first one just slightly. Just slightly. And obviously hit it a little hard. But the most frustrating thing is I hit it a little hard. Like just a touch. No time to switch off on these at all. That second port was good. It just didn’t turn back. Okay. One over. Patience is key and that’s the thing like level par around here 68 would be great would be great in context but I think I’m hitting the ball well enough to put myself in position to to be better so to keep it going keep believing stay patient in man it’s like a war of attrition stay patient that was a good putt Go on. Keep going then. Big kick. Right. Go on. Not my best, but it’ll do. At the moment, I’m just just a fisherman just waiting in me boat. The law’s just bobbing. Just waiting for that bite. But I can’t rush it. Can’t force it. Come on. Just trust it. Wow, it’s going to be some frayed frayed nerves today. Get off it, wind. Wow. Wow. It’s uh it’s really hard. That was a mental error because I think like some of these pins are unfair, but that’s the nature of the golf course. That’s the one that we’re playing. Like compounding errors is just a way to to start racking up a score. God, that is how smelly is that? Right. However, we have we’ve got six holes left of opportunities to make birdies and a par five and a driveable par four. So, we got chances. Okay. Come on. Come on. It’s behind you. Fresh start. Let’s clean the sleeve right now. Fresh time. Maybe we should uh call ourselves the Fbreze brothers cuz it’s feeling so fresh right now. Got an eight irine in here. 179 in the middle of the green. 186 pin. So, I’m just going to go drift middle through the green. If it drifts, that’s fine. Sit down. Sit down. Sit down. Sit down. That came out like a tomahawk missile. Honestly, right at this moment, this is the least fun I’ve had in the competition, I think, this year. And that includes when I shot 80. Come on, just trust your feel on these putts. Don’t Don’t get locked in. Trust your feel. Try and stay patient. I’m trying. I know it’s difficult, Pete, and I know you’re now talking to yourself, but try and stay patient. Don’t snap anything. Let’s do another fresh start cuz I just wanted to punch you in the face. It’s the last one. Just just trust yourself. Just trust yourself on the greens. I’ve done it really well all year. Let’s score. Right. Five to go. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Drivable. Tough. Par three. Tough par four. Par three. Par five. I feel remarkably positive actually. All right. Come on. You Come on, Pete. You’re a great player. Great place. Just cut a torch. Front left bunker. I think so. That was a good shot. Just anything like a a little hop forward maybe per chance would have been lovely. A right angle to the right. There’s a good shot by that. That was good. Kind of exactly what I wanted to do. So Oh, you could just off. It was a good put. It was a good put. 230 par three. kind of a bit in congress for the rest of the course really. Cheers. I think this light literally might be the hardest comp I’ve had all year. I think my future is no line. I think my future’s no line. This something we did have a chat with kind of Phil about in the lesson and when I was using the line, I needed to check and correct it. And when it was bang on, my line was good. That’s why I’ve changed my my putter these last few weeks. Um to have a clear sight line on the back of the putter because that helps me align up better even without a line on the ball. Quite the day, but for a PJ event and get round in less than four hours is going to be a miracle. Marle encourages quick play. Cheers. It’s perfect. I’m so tired. Come on. Go. Popped up weirdly high. All right. Come on then. Let’s trust it. Oh my god. Just take me now. Murder me, Harry. Cheers. Right. Come on. You cut this a lot more than you think. moving. Hey, cutting. We could have done with a touch more. It’s quite a severe dog leg really. Oh well, this has been quite a day on paper. It’s been my best year ever. Doesn’t feel like it today, but one more chance to be a hero. 196 wind down off the right. Middle is 204 7585. Just a little six. Wow. Um, it’s not like a good strike. Just something on the ball maybe. All right, I think we’re pin eye left. Another chance to show off my short game skills. It’s going to be a challenge. Not sure whether to chip or to put this. It’s just unbelievably quick and left to right. Oh, I’ve had enough today. Cheers, buddy, mate. Well done, mate. Cheers. Cheers, buddy. [Music] I’m a bit beused about what’s just happened there. So Josh, who I was playing with, I think he’s winning and he might have won at two under. We’ve all come off there. Not quite sure about what’s gone on. I am absolutely Oh, right. I want to just have a quick look back at the season to try and give my ego a little bit of a massage and just try and figure out what we can do moving forward like Quest for the Open and comps cuz today is a bit dispiriting. I feel a bit low. Very low in fact. Stop looking at me. Right, come on. Let’s go back to the office. Okay, back in the office and we’re going to look through today’s round very briefly as far as the stats are concerned, but also what I’ve done this year in competitions. And also again, a massive thanks to Shot Scope for being partners of the channel. I’ve been using their online hub to keep track of all my scores and all my stats and anything that crops up in the videos when we talk about stats is all through the Shot Scope website. So, today I shot a 71, which was three overpar. Josh, who I played with, um, actually shot two under, and he’s the only pro in the field that shot underpar, and some of the scores were really high. I finished in tied eighth, which goes to show just like the difficulty of what this course entailed. Not because of length, just because of tightness and of course because of the greens. My strokes gained on putting today was -7.29. So, I lost 7.3 strokes against a torpro baseline. Wow. But it doesn’t quite tell the full story. I’m willing to bet that everybody in the field today probably lost strokes putting it. Now, if you don’t know what strokes gained is, you can kind of have a look. Just Google it. It’s a it’s a benchmark of how to measure performance in different areas of the game. But normally, it’s measured against your field. So, whoever your competitors are during a week, it’s normally measured against them. The baseline here is just measured against the course and it obviously can’t see the severity of the greens. So, a bit of an anomaly. Um, but yeah, I still didn’t put very well at all and that was a huge letdown. But over the course of this year, and this kind of brings us on to what we should be doing like moving forwards as far as these pro comps are concerned, it’s something which we’ve pushed forward with a lot this year mainly because I want to play in comps. I want to improve my game. I want to pass that knowledge on to you guys, but also from a YouTube standpoint, it’s something that we do different to try and show maybe a different side of professional golf and also to show improvement. Fingers crossed. And over the course of the year, it’s been pretty good. So, I’ve recorded with Shot Scope all my competition scores. And Marvel’s three over today. But then we go four under, four over, three over, three over, one under, three over, five under, even, three over, one over, four over, two over, three over, six under, even, eight over, two over, one over, even, two under, seven under, two under, three over, two under, one over, six over, six over, four over, as we get to the start of the year. So that’s in reverse. So, some good scores, some average scores, and actually only a few real stinkers, which is one of the biggest improvements that I’ve seen in my game over the course of this year. It’s It’s not so much that I’ve shot some of my lowest scores in competition, which I have. I’ve also shot some Have I actually told anyone about the 59? What? What the I’ve not told anyone about this and I didn’t record it so I don’t really think anyone will believe me. So just before over qualifying I played at Forb ladies which is kind of similar I suppose to Marvel as far as length but it’s a completely different golf course as far as accuracy and the greens. You’ve got to keep it on the fairway but the greens are getable. And I was on for shooting a 59 on that golf course before I absolutely made a wreck of the last hole. So not only in competitions but actually in games where I’ve been playing and practicing. seen a really big improvement, but it’s under the gun. It’s under the test where I still need to be better. But guys, let us know what do you want to see with these comp videos moving into next year because it looks like the schedule is kind of working against me as far as travel is concerned. So, this will probably be my last pro event of 2025. But just let me know, are you enjoying these videos? Is there anything we can do with the comp content which would make it more enjoyable for you guys to watch? Just get into the comments. Just let us know. Big thank you to Shot Scope for partnering with the channel. If you want more information on them, hop down into the description below. All right, guys. Thanks for watching. Subscribe if you haven’t already, and we’ll see you next time.
A huge thanks to channel partner Shot Scope for elevating my game this year. For more info on how they can transform your game and the distance-measuring devices I use, check them out here: https://shotscope.com/uk/
My final tournament of the year – and this time I take on the course where NOBODY ever breaks par!
For more info on my clothes and equipment in this video, check them out here: https://linktr.ee/finchgolfmedia
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20 Comments
You have to go back! Also get fryer and carter to give it a go.
😂😂 Well Done Pete 😂😂
Is "the world's best putter" really afraid of super fast, slopey greens? 🤣🤣
You bottled it again!!!
Pete’s putting is like…
Great Video. I really like the breakdown of the round.
Would love for you to take Wes Bryan there. Watch the fireworks 😀
Overall this year has been your best of the three I have been watching. A big step up from last year in quality, variety and of course your performance and success. The partnership with Titleist has really worked, and you have done some cracking collabs. Like almost everyone having the pro comps is a real differentiator, allows for variety and space between the collabs here and in the US and give us an insight into the UK pro scene. Please don't stop doing them. You are obviously limited on how much you can do for YouTube when playing in a comp so I say stick with the formula – it works !
Also a quick note to say that I'm also an avid Shotscope user, love the insights, and highlighting areas for my own improvement – the team there are awesome. Looking forward to seeing what comes from them in 2026 as well.
GETTIN PRETTY FLEXY WITH THE SCOTTY ON 12 THERE, PETE!!!! Love your channel!!!
Finchy, you're the only YouTube golf player I watch consistently and believe or not, I'm trying to follow your attitude on the course! I'd like to see you play more competitive golf – any chance you could play on a mini – tour to help set you up for Open qualifying? More money on a USA tour? Lastly, the best players I know, fade their approaches to the green; would a fade give you more GIRs?
3:25 seeing as you pull more left, please try aiming at 2 o clock or right of the flag more, compensating for the pull?
22:30 again, big pull. Come on Peter.
Challenge tour?
Have you thought about trying to show your score vs the leader as you progress through the round?
WE NEED a "Best of DTC video" no one has done it and a lot of us are interested in DTC, but dont know which one to go with(Tokamo, Vice, McGregor, Ben Hogan, Eleven, Haitch, ect) 🙏🤝
Love the videos, Pete. FYI no one in the states understands what “cheers” means in response to “nice shot.” 😉
Yep Peter show patience but also remember the process as well. Have really enjoyed following you golf journey and advice once again, many thanks from us in the Antipodes.
Love the comp videos as brings a good mix of content to the channel which is great. Also helps to highlight pro golf at a local level and also some good courses that don’t cost £300+ to play. Marple GC is a good little track for a visit and definitely no gimmes.
Please, please get yourself a new putter and an extensive lesson. You seem to pull everything putt under pressure
In regards to on the course during comps I appreciate you are extremely limited. I do like to see the build up, so pre round and warm up and the quality of the video then does come down to the editing team which I think has been really high level this year