They may well Mark. And they should, given they are currently allowing drinking water to stabilise the Burnley Tunnel, and irrigate the Flemington racecourse.
I played the East Course on Thursday and I did not get close to having a lie remotely close to being bad - and surely that ought to be the measure of the quality of the fairways
Perhaps they were not Metro perfect but its a golf course not a turf experiment. (not to sugest Metro is a turf experiment). I think the condition is perfectly adequate for golf - and every putt went exactly where I hit it and you can ask for no more than that.
I am obviously a fan but I have yet to see anything much better than the west course at RM - and with no grass its still a top 25. I have not seen Oakmont but I have seen the rest and it belongs right there alongside the very best.
Clayts,
you're talking to a kindred spirit. I absolutely love RM but I think you may be looking at the current conditions a little too generously.
The course presentation is nowhere near what it once was and nowhere near what it should be. The acceptance / tolerance of current conditioning is dangerous, and will only lead to the course being in condition inferior to what it could / should be.
The Club has a power of work to do to present the course at its best for the President's Cup in a few short years. Surely you don't accept that it is presentable for such an event in it's current form. I agree the holes are truly magical, but they should be conditioned better.
And this is coming from someone who doesn't value conditioning as highly as others!
Matthew