[Mike Sweeney]

In my trips to Scotland, I have been fortunate enough to play a number of the championship tees.  We were able to do this by simply asking nicely!  The biggest disappointment was playing at Birkdale where we were not able to play back, it was very hard and fast and the course played ridiculously short.  I ended up hitting 2-iron off the tee all day as a result.  Not the best way to enjoy the course or the architecture.

Dan,

Sorry to single you out, but you do understand that Tiger Woods WON a British Open hitting one driver over 72 holes of play:

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/britishopen06/news/story?id=2527586

He hit driver only one time the entire week -- the 16th hole of the first round -- and relied on iron play that was so impeccable his caddie kept a sheet of paper of all the shots Woods missed.

There were only three of them.

"I don't think anyone has ever hit long irons that well," Williams said.

The winner at Merion in 2013 will probably hit driver less than 16 times over 72 holes.

How did you score at Birkdale?

[Dan Grossman]

Mike -

I guess I don't understand your point.  On this site, we all talk about technology and how it is ruining classic courses and we should roll back the ball.  Many on this site (not sure if it includes you) believe that the increase in length by all golfers, especially tour pros, have potentially made some of the original strategic intent of the holes on courses like Merion, Cypress, etc. obsolete. 

So, doesn't playing from the forward tees and having to hit long irons off the tee (like tour pros did from the championship tees at Hoylake) exactly make my point that I would have enjoyed the course better from the back tees?  I did play reasonably well at Birkdale, although I am sure I could have scored better from the ladies tees for that matter?

For me, it wasn't about the score that I shot or could have shot, but about how some (not all) of the architectural merit was compromised by a forward tee.

Some might argue that it was hard to compromise the strategic merit at Birkdale because there isn't much there to begin with, but I'm not sure that is true.   

[Philippe Binette]

Tiger Bernhart
you said:  What that is bs.

that's a lack of respect.

Try stepping on the back tee at the old course or any open rota course..
in my trip of 50 places in scotland, when the course was busy, I couldn't step on a back tee with a 6 hdcp...

It's my experience, maybe it struck me more than others.
but show some respect

thanks

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