I just realized I know very little about Gene Sarazen's golf game. He was a good bunker player because he invented the sand wedge, and he once holed a 4-wood; that's about all I know.
I suspect he wasn't a very good putter ... complaining about freakish greens is one thing, but when you propose enlarging the hole, that's a pretty good hint.
Great point, Tom!
Someone who was in favour of enlarging the hole certainly can't be the best judge of the architectural merits of putting greens!
Not so fast Tom and Jeff. There's an alternative way of looking at it, but first, consider the game of basketball. The hoop is 18" in diameter. The ball is 9" in diameter. What if the hoop was only 14" or 16" in diameter? Would it be a different game? For sure. It would move the focus of play inside and reduce the overall dimension and balance of the game. Would great shooters complain, e.g., Steve Nash? For sure. Would incredible all round players complain, e.g., Alan Iverson? For sure. You wouldn't see AI score too often if he posed no outside threat. Would Shaq complain? Not a chance. Would fans complain? For sure. Basketball actually went the other way, not by enlarging the hoop, but by adding the three point line. To add dimension to the game. To broaden the potential scoring zone.
Hockey and football did the same thing by adding the forward pass. To add dimension. To broaden the potential scoring zone.
I know absolutely nothing about Sarazen's game. But I think it possible that he was an excellent putter, as good as the other pros, but likely a significant cut above most of the rest in virtually all other aspects of the game. However, his overall superiority was diluted by the size of the hole. The smaller the hole, the more putting becomes an exercise of avoiding three putts and the more diluted superiority from tee to green becomes. I believe Sarazen, Miller and Hogan all thought the hole should be bigger because they felt the guy who consistently puts it to 10-12 feet is rewarded very little compared to the guy only half as accurate on his approach shots.
Sarazen, Miller and Hogan, all great ball strikers, were I suspect great putters for much of their careers, and if their putters started failing them, it was probably because they began to grumble about how little reward the game provided to those demonstrably superior tee to green. And grumbling and complaining about the unjustness of it all was probably the kiss of death to their putting ability.
Like the forward pass and the three point line, enlarging the hole in golf would broaden the potential scoring zone. But if freakish greens are what these guys were really complaining about, then if their wish for a larger hole was granted, they probably wouldn't be too happy because greens would most certainly become far more, not less, freakish as a result.