An interesting perspective from Jason Sobel on espn.com, especially in light of the fact that the course was anything but fast and firm over the weekend because of nearly incessant rain.
1. The fast and the furious
Back when Augusta National officials made major course-lengthening changes before the 2002 Masters, there was a widely held belief that they were "Tiger-proofing" the venue to keep big hitters such as Tiger Woods from overpowering the field. Of course, this notion was invalidated when Woods triumphed that year and again when similar changes were made before the 2006 edition of the tournament and another big hitter, Phil Mickelson, won the rain-soaked event.
Only when the course played fast and firm last month, yielding average-length hitter Zach Johnson as champion, did we see the true effects of neutralizing the world's big bombers.
After almost a full decade of stretching courses to the limits -- two of the past three PGA Championship venues have played to more than 7,500 yards -- it has become apparent that there's more than one way to skin a cat, to speak in Tiger terms.
Long and strong is out. Fast and firm is in.
The folks who run things at Colonial have known this all along. Let the old-style venue, which this week hosted a PGA Tour event for the 62nd consecutive year, serve as Exhibit A for the latest phenomenon. Despite persimmon woods having given way to mammoth-headed 460cc drivers and gutta perchas having transformed into Pro-V1s, the course -- at 7,054 yards -- played exactly 19 yards longer than it did when Ben Hogan first triumphed in 1946.
So what do players think of the lack of activity at Hogan's Alley over the years? David Toms has called it his favorite tour venue; Furyk said the event is "probably my favorite course to play and probably my favorite tournament"; and Arron Oberholser declared that he'll "never miss" a tournament at Colonial.
Although heavy rains contained the usual quick conditions on the course this week, it still should serve as a reminder to those who set up PGA Tour venues that longer is not necessarily better -- nor tougher.
http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/columns/story?columnist=sobel_jason&id=2884497