Geoffrey Childs asked:
David- if you were the committee chair in charge of setting up Winged Foot for this year's US Open championship how specifically would you have prepared the golf course for play to identify the best player? You are confined to allowing balls and clubs on the conforming list. Thanks
The limitation on your question (confining me to the conforming list) shows that you entirely missed my point. If the USGA has no choice but to take the course to absurd lengths, fairway widths, rough, etc. this is because they have failed to address the equipment issue. In other words, the USGA has handcuffed itself by failing to address the equipment problem.
Regardless, I’ll answer your question. Widen the fairways so as to bring into play the approach angles which were intended to be in play. So that the golfer must actually try to position himself to get the best angle into the wicked greens. As for the rough they could do all sorts of things, all of which include getting rid of the graduated cut. Cut it to create tough but still possible recovery shots with flyer lies. Cut it all down so an off line ball would get further offline and eventually blocked by tries. Quit watering and maintaining it all together so missing the fairway would become a crap shoot. Whatever they do, they should bring back in the possibility of the golfer doing something spectacular or stupid. As it was, generally the only guys who had this option were the ones who missed badly enough so as to clear the rough.
Mike Golden Said:
Actually, David, my point was (and is) that these guys are so good that if you really want the true champion they need to be stressed enough to bring the best golfer that weekend to the top. A normal tour setup doesn't do that, nor will any golf architecture (at least for the top pros). If you had ever played with one of the touring pros, even someone at the bottom of the money list, it would be evident.
I am not convinced that no architecture can do it . . . Riviera always seems to hold its own against the players in January, and it is usually playing soft. The greens at WFW seemed pretty extraordinary, with golfers failing to get close even after having to repeatedly lay up. They had to set the pins in easy places on Sunday just to keep their target score in target. They were not going to go PGATour low even with fairways cut at reasonable widths.
But if you are correct that no architecture can do it, then lets quit having the USOpen at these great courses. If the architecture is irrelevant, then let’s not pretend otherwise. Showing the general public a course like Winged Foot playing like that only reinforces a bunch of nonsense about what makes a good course and good architecture. Just find a so-so long course where they can grow rough to their heart's content and have the Open there. Move the tourney to Torrey every year! Make it clear that this isn’t about the best players challenging the best courses, but rather about “stressing the players” so that only the best will be able to survive. Or let the USGA build their own “Stress Test Courses,” one in each region. That way they could take their “graduated” penalty concept to its full fruition.
I would like to see the ball and equipment dialed back for the tour as much as anyone else-I rarely watch tournament golf anymore because I find it boring and repetitive, but if you think it's as simple as the USGA changing the specificiations then you are living in a dream world. The industry has become too large and changes such as that would have an enormous economic impact on all of the equipment manufacturers. They are not going down without a fight.
I never watch golf unless the course is interesting, and that only happens a handful of times a year. As for how easy the problem is to fix, who’s fault is that? The USGA ignored their own tech people when they let the COR go above .77 and they have had their heads at least partially in the sand ever since. They have put themselves in the position they are in, and the longer they wait the harder the solution becomes. As for the equipment manufacturers, they are not golf, and don’t have the same interest as the golfers or the courses, so the USGA should step back and reconsider just who they represent. Let the equipment manufacturers fight. They will lose. So long as the Masters, and USGA are on board it can be done. Surely the USGA can control the equipment at their own tournaments.
I see nothing wrong with, for a brief period of time, turning a course like WKW into an examination of the top player's nerves, course management skills, and ability to play under pressure and stress. If you do, then don't watch the tournament, just as I ignore almost all of the others during the year. We play a completely different game than these guys anyway.
I see a lot wrong with it, but little of it has anything to do with my viewing pleasure. I actually enjoyed watching the tournament if only to see the few guys who ended up on trampled ground and imagining how the course would play under real golf conditions. My concerns are about the health and future of the game of golf and its great courses. If the USGA wants to test the best players at the best courses, then they should do that. As it is now they have taken the real course out of play.