With the exception of Augusta National, perhaps no other club in the country defines itself around the championships that it has hosted than Baltusrol Golf Club.
A lot of the discussion here this past week or two has been largely critical of the Lower Course, with words like "uninspiring" and "unimaginative", and "boring", and "forgettable" thrown around.
On the face of it, it's easy to see why this Discussion Group, who generally tends to prefer courses that are "fun", "natural", "strategic", "optional", "charming" and let's face it, "forgiving", would have a knee-jerk reaction to a course that is largely a straightforward, narrow, 7500 yard, par 70, rough-laden "test of golf".
Although designed by one of the Golden Age masters, the Baltusrol Lower that is on the ground today is clearly not the same course he built in 1924, and hasn't been for some time. Instead, it has been revamped and reshaped a number of times for championship play over the years, first by Trent Jones and then over the past decade by his son Rees.
However, to the membership's credit, even with a great deal of changes over the years, the basic Tillinghast framework clearly remains. The routing is the same, the bunkering schemes largely still intact, most of the greens are original, yet the changes in distance, modernization and width seem to make it play quite a bit differently (re: much tougher for the average player as well as the professional) than probably Tillinghast might have envisioned.
The members at Baltusrol make no apologies for this. Unlike many Golden Age courses that either can not or will not redesign holes to keep up with the play of top golfers, Baltusrol seems to feel that to honor their rich heritage, they must remain a vital and vibrant part of Major tournament golf.
To that end, they've accomplished some good things in the past decade. They've removed many trees, and dealt effectively with some maintenance issues. They've rebuilt their bunkers and although many feel that Rees's stylistics don't really look like Tillinghast, the club evidently is generally happy with them.
Most recently, new bunkers have been added on a couple of holes, with the idea that length alone won't be sufficient to test top players.
Looking beyond 2005, the club has determined that they need to move existing bunkers closer to the fairway and further from the tees. They are looking to create a permanent US Open type test, and the planting of bluegrass roughs that we see this week is just the first stage. I've heard that the fairways will be subsequently narrowed in the 275 yard plus range.
The results this week seem to indicate that they are doing some things right. Many of the top names have risen to the top of the leaderboard, and the course seems to still yield to low scores, while making "par" a good number to shoot for.
In thinking about the individual holes at the Lower Course, I do admit that a few of them aren't quite as memorable or distinctive, but I'd ask anyone to name a bad hole. Instead, it's a course made up of consistently very good, solid golf holes that while not particularly flashy, do have their high moments on holes like 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 13!, 16, and I must admit that I enjoy the final two holes quite a bit and think they make for an interesting tournament finish.
I also think Baltusrol Lower is one of the most pleasant walks in golf. There is something very pastoral and serene about the grounds, in the setting below the mountain, and I'd never miss an opportunity to play there.
However, I think what I'm getting at in this post is simply this. The Baltusrol Lower course, despite we might think it should be, will continue to be altered just like Augusta National. The fact is, to create a Major championship test for today's modern tournament professionals, a course cannot stand still simply because the folks in Far Hills have not monitored equipment very well.
If a course/club still desires to be a Major player on that Championship stage, as Baltusrol certainly wants to do, then what is wrong with changing their course to keep up with the times? It's not like it's a static environment with Tiger Woods easily reaching the 17th at 650 yards uphill.
I don't know that any club wishing to host Major championship golf has the choice to sit still any longer.
That's unfortunate, but it's also the reality.