Rob..hold on a inute..
you said that even if Marino's shot had hit the green it would not have stayed on...so please explain to me where is any risk/reward?
If he hits the ball three more feet, which would have cleared the trap and been arguably the perfect shot...he is in the back bunker
he 'misses" the shot by three feet and ends up plugged...so there is not any risk reward...where is that real golf?
George...I am not aware of any pin placements and ensuing rock hard greens have ever resulted in a shot less than ten feet from what one consider ideal on #17 at Players ending up in the water.
You can say golf is not supposed to be fair...but really it should be remotely equal for everybody.
Is the architecture that bad that rock hard greens and plugged lies are the way to "protect par"?
Firm greens are good, but do away with the bunker and give a guy a chance to run the ball on.
Then you'd see the water come into play.
That hole called for a super high shot to have a chance to hold the green with no other option.
Difficulty is good, but how exactly do you seperate players if everybody goes over (or buries)
For the record, I have no problem with soft sand as it makes sand a real hazard.
Now just the player some other option
and get rid of 1/2 of those ugly bunkers