The goal of constantly protecting par does not help architecture no matter who does it.
This is a really interesting, thought provoking statement that I think deserves closer examination.
Prior to the US Open at Shinnecock this year, I would have agreed with this statement immediately and repeatedly.
However, after much thought and reflection of what transpired, I am starting to think that, while "protecting par" in and of itself might be a bit silly, the steps taken to do so can
in some instances really result in an increased positive focus on architecture,
if the right lessons are learned and applied.
The standard practice of narrowing fairways, growing rough and adding length do little to highlight architecture, and, in fact, tend to remove strategy from the game (which we all remember Thomas said was the soul of the game), emphasizing simply execution of a desired shot.
However, I truly believe the extremes of firm and fast that we saw this year really emphasized the architecture at Shinnecock. Obviously #7 was a bit over the top and could have used a teeny tiny bit more water. There might even be some other holes where this was true (please don't say #10 - I thought it was great that the playeres were forced to work so hard for a 5 on a shortish par 4). But, by and large, it seemed to me that, aside from holing putts, one of the things that Retief and Phil really did well was think their way around the course - missing on the wrong side, taking the safe play where prudent, going after certain pins where equally prudent.
I also truly believe that if more setups were like this, that the Tour Pros would adapt relatively quickly, and that we would ultimately have a superior product to what we have now, at least in terms of what I personally find fun and interesting.
I will take a Tour Pro standing at the base of the hill on #10, trying to figure out how in hell he's going to walk away with a par, over a Tour Pro, standing in the fairway, yelling "be the right club" ANY AND EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.
Read Pat Brockwell's quote that I have at the bottom of all of my posts. Read it and think about it. Read it over and over again and think about it over and over again. It really does sum up the state of golf course architecture rather well, IMHO.