GOLF DIGEST preview of Royal Liverpool

[Tony_Muldoon]

They might get their wish with the weather. A very hot spell breaks on Thursday.  It will play F&F.

http://uk.weather.com/weather/local/UKXX0083?x=16&post=post&code=code&y=7

[John Sabino]

Tony - thanks for the post. Good for the R & A. Whitten's article was totally off base. They are correct that he shouldn't have written an article that bad without even playing the course. Having played the course in May I believe it will be a fantastic open and Hoylake will be put back on the rota. Joe

[Dan Kelly]

I quote Mr. Whitten's conclusion:

"Best that members of Royal O.B. enjoy this Open as its last hurrah. Sooner or later, every Open course will become obsolete, the Old Course at St. Andrews included. Someday the R&A will quit clinging to that which its name evokes and finally move on.

"Looking backward is no way to move forward."

I know that Mr. Whitten no longer replies to questions here, but I do wonder how he would answer this:

Once every Open course becomes obsolete, what will the R&A move on to? (Or, as Mr. Churchill might have said: On to what will the R&A move?)

[Mark_Fine]

I will read it this evening and offer some more comments.  I've played Hoylake a dozen or more times and have enjoyed every round.  I don't like to see them finishing on #16.  Also, #1 is a great starting hole (a real gut check right out of the gate).  

[Matt_Ward]

Tom D, et al:

What is so wrong with a critic having such a harsh assessment?

Might it be that Whitten often shuns away from such direct and clear feelings? I would hope not because candidly that's what an architectural critic is supposed to do right.

My issue has been that with Whitten now engaging more and more in the actual design end of things he has put himself and more importantly Golf Digest in a terrible fix because he is now becoming more and more of an item from which his critic's chair is not prepared to handle to the benefit of its readers.

Tony M:

The biggest mistake the R&A took was in responding to what Digest said. Once you do that you start down the slippery slope in providing two things for the magazine -- a place at the top of the discussion heap (always a plus for any media outlet) and second you provide some sort of standing for what the piece said (that helps the stature of the magazine versus others who don't get the kind of direct comments linkage).

Gents:

Can someone help me out -- does Whitten actually say he has not played the course? If that's the case -- then his comments (from a strictly fairness component) lose points from my vantage point. Without a direct playing experience it's hard for me to weigh such comments as being on target and just nothing more than bomblast.

[Ulrich Mayring]

I believe this Whitten piece is meant more like an entertaining column, not like a serious analysis of the course.

However, one thing I did wonder about Hoylake was the bunkering. I don't know how current these pictures are, but it looks more like the artful, but somewhat contrived designs I'd expect on a RTJ course. Apparently Donald Steele did the "restoration" work.

Ulrich

[Dan Moore]

Matt,

I don't believe the GD article says one way or the other if he visited the course.  In response to the GD article Royal Liverpool's Head of PR stated he had checked his records of visitors and he did not believe Ron Whitten had visited the course "in my time."   It is entirely possible, if not likely, Mr. Whitten visited at some earlier point in time.  

[peter_p]

   The best anagram I can make from Ron Whitten is Wet Tin Horn. Putting the history of Hoylake in perspective, the last time The Open was held there some local group just released
'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.
   If the tented village is being put into the driving range between will the 3rd (1st) become something like the road hole with a drive over the buildings if you want to carry the corner? I agree that there would be serious problems with the great grandstand around the original 18th hole.
   My recollection of a cop is that is the ditch between the hole and the driving range.
   With the rough as dessicated as I saw it on TV it probably won't be a great factor. My prediction, look for low scoring the first two days as the get the full field around, then level out on the weekends- figure a -12 lead at the cut, winner at -15.