To those who bemoan the narrow fairways at Oakmont...

[Doug Siebert]

What would you think of the 1.5" first cut being expanded from a couple yards wide to more like 5-10 yards wide on either side, then going directly to the deep rough and eliminating that 3.5" stuff? (except maybe around the greens)

I kind of like this idea because I think there needs to be a bigger contrast between a good drive that just bounces off the fairway and one that is launched well offline.  That first cut is so small and the fairways firm and sloped enough there are too many drives that hit the fairway and go through the first cut against the next cut or into it.

I think the setup is pretty good overall, but I can certainly see where some holes are suffering due to the lack of width not allowing players to reach the angles they desire on some holes with tough pin positions.  It would be interesting to see players trade off being in the fairway by deliberately aiming into the first cut for the best angle, but risking going into the really nasty stuff by doing so, versus just aiming down the middle of the fairway and trying to avoid the deep rough.

Even so, there is an interesting contrast of strategies here.  You have guys like Cabrera who are bombing away with the driver, and you have Tiger, who is trying at all costs to avoid the deep stuff by hitting an iron on most holes (he only hit five fairways today, but most of his misses just bounced off into the first cut, which I'll bet he considers a successful tee shot at Oakmont)

I have a feeling Tiger's strategy is going to work less and less well as the weekend progresses and things get firmer and faster.  Tiger will continue to have drives bouncing off the fairway into the first cut or worse and those longer irons he's playing better be from a good angle if he's going to find the green, let alone get anywhere around the pin.

[Phil McDade]

Or maybe it's becoming a putting contest.

Bubba has four strokes on Tiger halfway through, and they have hit the same number of fairways (15/28) and greens (21/36). Bubba's taken five fewer putts than Tiger.

Looking at the statistics through two rounds, it seems the only thing that really distinguishes the leaders from folks, say, +6 or higher is making a few more putts. Not surprising, given the toughness of the course overall and the difficulty of the greens. The leaderboard is an interesting mix of bombers (Watson, Cabrera) and finesse guys (Ames, Snedeker).

I like the idea of wider fairways and more immediate, thick, higher rough immediately adjacent to the fairway. Shivas, width-hater that he is, probably will not.

[Lawrence Largent]

These are the best players in the world with the best equipment in the world.  Its funny we say the best player to ever play is playing at this time, but he can't even hit a fairway hardly.  Do you think Hogan would hit more than five fairways?

[Matt_Ward]

Let me add just a bit of behind the scenes flavor -- spoke w Dan Jenkins yesterday and he opined the '53 event was a more demanding track than what you see today.

He also surmised Hogan would be hitting more fairways than what you are seeing today and clearly Tiger is having issues with getting his ball to stay in the short grass.

The width of the fairways is more than sufficient to handle a properly played stroke from the tee. Unfortunately, the latest generation of players is hopelessly addicted to the bomb'n gouge mentality. At Oakmont, such a recipe is prone to the kind of accidents one has witnessed thus far.

[Bill_McBride]

Let me add just a bit of behind the scenes flavor -- spoke w Dan Jenkins yesterday and he opined the '53 event was a more demanding track than what you see today.

He also surmised Hogan would be hitting more fairways than what you are seeing today and clearly Tiger is having issues with getting his ball to stay in the short grass.

The width of the fairways is more than sufficient to handle a properly played stroke from the tee. Unfortunately, the latest generation of players is hopelessly addicted to the bomb'n gouge mentality. At Oakmont, such a recipe is prone to the kind of accidents one has witnessed thus far.

Matt, don't you think the design of modern clubs is adding to the problem instead of helping solve it?  Modern clubs are designed to hit the ball straight.  The great players of the past knew how to shape the ball - today that's more difficult with modern technology, so it's hard to work the shots into slopes, etc.  The result is balls into the deep stuff farther away, but in the deep stuff nonetheless.

I haven't been able to watch much, but what I've seen of Tiger hitting tee shots doesn't look much like the Hoylake success.  There he was hitting the ball on the perfect lines.  At Oakmont it seems he is off line enough to be in the hay.

[Eric_Terhorst]

The leaderboard is an interesting mix of bombers (Watson, Cabrera) and finesse guys (Ames, Snedeker).

Doesn't this illustrate the superiority of the golf course and validate the setup when players with a wide variety of talents and strategies are able to be successful?

[rboyce]

I am not shocked that Jenkins made a comment that favored Hogan and criticized Woods. Does he ever *not* do that?

Players bomb and gouge today because that's what works. If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.

I'm curious, how long was the ~660 yard par five the last time they played here?

[TEPaul]

Doug:

If you did something like you proposed in the initial post minus the high rough what you would essentially have is what ANGC has been doing for the last five years or so.

[Jim Sweeney]

I've always thought that 15 feet of 2-2.75" rough on both sides of the 25-30 yard fairways was a great idea because it would encourage bold play both off the tee and on approaches, yet approach shots from those areas offer enough inconsistancy to cause some stomach issues.

I still like the graduated rough, so something in the 4-6" range sounds good for the next level, followed by the shmegma (my group's term for the really high crap.)

[Craig Sweet]

four to six inch rough?  First of all, 99% of the people playing golf would hurt themselves hitting out of it...second, play would grind to a near halt, and its been my experience that rough height varies from hole to hole because you can't (with normal maintinance staff) mow it all at once...so 4" rough is more likely to be 6" deep on some holes and the 6" rough would be 8" on some holes....

Of course you aren't advocating this for anything but the PGA tour, right?

[Andy Troeger]

You'd have to have spotters to have rough that high otherwise play would take all day. We had a high school tournament where the rough happened to be pretty high for a different event and it turned into a 6 hr slog...not so much because of a lot of lost balls but because it took 3 mins to find half of them...

[Cliff Hamm]

David Feherty as quoted on GeoffShackelford.com:

If the U.S. Open is the sternest test of golf on the planet, why is it the easiest of the four to win? The answer of course is that it isn't the sternest test of golf, it's just the sternest test of driving. You miss a fairway, you're screwed and that brings everybody, regardless of his ability, down to the same level.
DAVID FEHERTY

[Matthew Mollica]

I wonder what makes him think it's the easiest to win? Maybe he lunched with Andy North...

MM

[TEPaul]

"If the U.S. Open is the sternest test of golf on the planet, why is it the easiest of the four to win? The answer of course is that it isn't the sternest test of golf, it's just the sternest test of driving. You miss a fairway, you're screwed and that brings everybody, regardless of his ability, down to the same level.
DAVID FEHERTY"

I love David Feherty, I really do, but that remark is an unthoughtful bomb on his part.

The US Open traditionally does require straight driving but it also takes a whole lot of clear and realistic thinking all day long and a lot of guts and concentration. We sure saw a couple of instances of a lack of that today from Bubba Watson but good credit to his perseverance---he's still there.

I also have generally liked Geoff Shackelford's take on things but if he's saying the US Open should be a whole lot of fun for the players and the fans with peals of roars across the course he's forgotten the obvious and intended differences between the majors, particularly the very different traditional themes of the Masters and the US Open.

On the other hand, one hole at Oakmont really did shine today in that boom or bust risk/reward context of low or high scoring of the Masters holes or of the likes of the 10th at Riviera.

How good did Oakmont's #17 play today in that incredible scoring spectrum context?

[Kalen Braley]

I am not shocked that Jenkins made a comment that favored Hogan and criticized Woods. Does he ever *not* do that?

Players bomb and gouge today because that's what works. If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.

I'm curious, how long was the ~660 yard par five the last time they played here?

You are right rboyce...

Even though Oakmonts rough is supposed to be long bomber proof, half of the top 10 guys on the leaderboard are long bombers.

They do indeed do it because it works.  And on a bigger scale look at all the top rated players in the world.  Outside of Furyk, they are all long bombers...

[Phil McDade]

Baddeley is hitting 57 percent of the fairways, same as Tiger. Others in the field are hitting more fairways: Casey (64%); Ames (62%); Stricker (64%); and Furyk (69%).

Baddeley is winning because of his putting -- 28.3 putts per round, the lowest by nearly one putt per round among the top 12 contenders. Tiger would be running away from this tournament is he was putting anywhere near his normal form -- he's at 32 putts per round, worst among the leaders; only Stricker (ironically, also viewed as one of the best putters on tour) is close at 31.7 putts per round. But those two are making up for it by hitting more greens than almost anyone (Woods at 70% GIR; Stricker 67%, Cabrera 67%).

Remarkably similar stats for all three rounds in some respects -- each day has had two under-par rounds, and Saturday had 4 even-par rounds, compared to 2 on Thursday and 1 on Friday.

[Phil McDade]

I am not shocked that Jenkins made a comment that favored Hogan and criticized Woods. Does he ever *not* do that?

Players bomb and gouge today because that's what works. If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.

I'm curious, how long was the ~660 yard par five the last time they played here?

You are right rboyce...

Even though Oakmonts rough is supposed to be long bomber proof, half of the top 10 guys on the leaderboard are long bombers.

They do indeed do it because it works.  And on a bigger scale look at all the top rated players in the world.  Outside of Furyk, they are all long bombers...

Kalen:

I don't necessarily think of Oakmont as bomber-proof. But it surely is inaccuracy-proof. The stats after three rounds suggest you have to have at least a degree of accuracy off the tee to be in contention this week.

Cabrera is a pretty good example -- the leader after two rounds at even par, he hit 9 of 14 fairways each day. Today he hit 4 of 14, and blew up to a 76 (no one in the last 14 pairings going out Sunday had a worse round). Baddeley has hit 8 of 14 fairways each round; not bad, relative to the rest of the contenders, and he's out-putting everyone.

Yes, there are some bombers on the leaderboard. Akin to saying there are a lot of African-Americans among the NBA's leading scorers.

[JohnV]

I'm curious, how long was the ~660 yard par five the last time they played here?

Don't know how long it was the last time, but in 1939 it was 632 yards according to the drawing from Arthur Jack Snyder that Forrest Richardson uncovered.