Mike Davis' US Open setups: you like them?

[Matthew Rose]

I like Mike Davis because he is not afraid to try experiments.

Not all of them work, of course.... as the years pass I think we'll see Davis' setups get better as he learns which experiments work and which ones do not. I like the graduated rough, the alternate tees, the occasional driveable hole or reachable five.

The ideas that seem to work the least involve forcing ideas into places where they don't really fit. Turning a 390 yard hole into a 290 yard hole for the sake of making it driveable, for example. #7 at Olympic worked because it was built that way. Same thing with some of the chipping zones.

[Joel_Stewart]

Most people like them.

[Garland Bayley]

Mike Davis is overstepping his bounds big time! He is making every green chairman think they can change a course willy nilly, because any numbskull can do it as evidenced by the USGA example. Say how you want the grass grown and maintained, but leave the architectural components to someone more competent.

Chambers basement is a stupid idea of the highest order!

[George Freeman]

Trying to impose Pinehurst-like chipping areas on any course that hosts an open seems wrongheaded to me.

Unless, of course, they happen to be playing that year's US Open at Pinehurst...

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I have zero use for SHAVED areas. I have disliked them since the USGA started promoting them in the mid 1990's

[George Freeman]

I have zero use for SHAVED areas. I have disliked them since the USGA started promoting them in the mid 1990's

Tiger - why?

[David_Tepper]

John Garrity called Olympic "the best set-up in US Open history."

http://rss.golf.com/tour-and-news/us-open-golf-2012-olympic-club-was-perfect-test-2012-us-open

[Terry Lavin]

John Garrity called Olympic "the best set-up in US Open history."

http://rss.golf.com/tour-and-news/us-open-golf-2012-olympic-club-was-perfect-test-2012-us-open

That's high praise, indeed. When will the club restore fairway lines and remove the added bunker?

[Joel_Stewart]

John Garrity called Olympic "the best set-up in US Open history."

http://rss.golf.com/tour-and-news/us-open-golf-2012-olympic-club-was-perfect-test-2012-us-open

That's high praise, indeed. When will the club restore fairway lines and remove the added bunker?

The fairway lines haven't been correct at Olympic since the 1966 US Open so to answer your question, never.  At least with the current superintendent.

[Terry Lavin]

So it IS a perfect setup. Both the pros AND the member are setup.

[Tom ORourke]

I usually like the course changes from day to day. I was wondering if Furyk never thought #16 would be played from that short tee, and never practiced that tee shot, and did not have a feel for it. I do not think drivable par 4s are mandatory but he seems to like them. And I would rather see fairways a little wider but get rid of the shaved areas around the greens. I like the historical idea that the open means you need to know how to chip from bad lies. So basically I am mostly okay with him from a player standpoint, a grade of a solid B. But, as a spectator, I was pushed so far back at Bethpage and Winged Foot that I was spectating from the middle of the trees rather than the old days where you got to get up close and personal to guys hitting it a little crooked. I do not care for the graduated rough that much as it means the spectators at Bethpage were often walking in the trees on very slippery slopes, causing numerous injuries to them and the marshalls. A little common sense there would help.

[Matthew Essig]

Again -- I like much of what I saw at Olympic, although it appears the course is of the type that it's fairly easy to narrow the fairways, utilize existing trees, and firm up the greens to produce tough conditions. I think Davis -- assuming he's still doing this -- will be quite tested at Pinehurst, Chambers Bay and Erin Hills in terms of establishing difficult scoring conditions at courses meant to play fairly firm, fast and with width.

Only 5 amateurs broke par at chambers bay during the stroke play portion.

Then Mike felt bad for making it so hard, so he made it easier for the match play portion.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

The shaved areas seem completely out of character with small greens and the design history of this course. The USGA will do what it wants for the US Open but we do not have to live with stupid shaved areas like the bubbles off 13 or the shaved area to the right of 17 or left of 16. Or for that matter any of them not fronting on the green. As I stated it became fashionable with the USGA in the mid 1990's. Yet as it was pushed around the country it was a hole here and hole there. It never fit the course and frankly very few irrigation systems are set up for it. Most create chipping areas from wet turf. Only MPCC Shore and the Cal Club out here are kept firm and fast enough for shaved areas around the green playing correctly. They work on links or links like courses but not most courses and certainly not Olympic Lake 90% of the time.

[Kevin_Reilly]

The shaved areas seem completely out of character with small greens and the design history of this course. The USGA will do what it wants for the US Open but we do not have to live with stupid shaved areas like the bubbles off 13 or the shaved area to the right of 17 or left of 16. Or for that matter any of them not fronting on the green. As I stated it became fashionable with the USGA in the mid 1990's. Yet as it was pushed around the country it was a hole here and hole there. It never fit the course and frankly very few irrigation systems are set up for it. Most create chipping areas from wet turf. Only MPCC Shore and the Cal Club out here are kept firm and fast enough for shaved areas around the green playing correctly. They work on links or links like courses but not most courses and certainly not Olympic Lake 90% of the time.

Tiger in 1998 they tried it on the 9th green, back left, and the feature was pretty underwhelming.  I thought for the tournament the shaved areas were interesting, but I agree for everyday play it is too much, particularly on 13.

[Mike Hendren]

I'm with Tiger.  IF you're going to shave turf for chipping areas, at least stop halfway down the slope or after level ground is reached so that the ball doesn't by defaut settle against the rough line. 

Theoretically, the chipping area is intended to create doubt in the mind of the better player by giving him options.  In reality, they are being used to feed the ball away from the green.

Bogey

[Garland Bayley]

I'm with Tiger.  IF you're going to shave turf for chipping areas, at least stop halfway down the slope or after level ground is reached so that the ball doesn't by defaut settle against the rough line. 

Theoretically, the chipping area is intended to create doubt in the mind of the better player by giving him options.  In reality, they are being used to feed the ball away from the green.

Bogey

Excellent point Bogey.

Double Bogey

[Bill Brightly]

I've only heard Mike Davis speak live once (thanks to Pat Mucci at Mountain Ridge) and seen him on TV a few times. Has he ever suggested that the changes made by the USGA should remain in place after the event is over? I get the impression he wants the course set up to suit the championship, and for the US Open, he wants to make it as hard as reasonably possible to test the very best players in the world in a way that they are rarely tested. He wants to demand accuracy and severely punish aggressive plays that So I love the US Open setups, except for what the members must go through leading up to the event.

The idea that the rest of of us should play golf like this on a regular basis is laughable. Even the pros could not do that on a regular basis, I think they would burn out. Maybe Mike Davis could be more proactive and say something like: "For professionl use only, do not try this at home."

[Dan Herrmann]

Bill,
How is Merion supposed to bring back the 12th and 15th greens?  Some changes can't be undone.

[Bryan Icenhower]

I like how Mike experiments.  If the tournament really is supposed to be the toughest test in golf then making changes like moving tee boxes up versus back would be something to admire.  One need look no further than 16 this week and how the change directly influenced the tournament result. 
"I was a little unprepared for the tee shot on 16," Furyk said after the round. "We get a memo to check all tee boxes and that they're going to play from different sets, but that was 100 yards up from the back tee. ... I think the lack of knowledge of where I was supposed to hit it on that golf hole, I let it get in the back of my mind and didn't make a good golf swing because of it."

Tough tests go to the mental grind and preparation as well.  If that's what the US Open is, then I admire Mike and his approach in finding ways to bring that to the surface.