US Amateur thoughts

[Brian Colbert]

I got back today from the US Amateur in Denver. I wanted to share a few thoughts I had about the experience:

Commonground:

Thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful track. I thought the holes were all pretty interesting, though at times it felt like many of them were similar to one another. I think this was really a fantastic set of greens and you can really tell that Doak and his staff enjoyed building this one. My favorite holes were the 5th with the infamous rough mounds in the fairway (which I found off the tee!), the 6th (a replica of ANGC #16), the reachable 8th, the 13th (despite a 4-putt from 10(!!!!!) feet for double), the 14th, and the 16th. I started off very well on Monday, turning in -2 (Although the way I was putting it felt like it could have been about -5), but eventually imploded with that 4-putt double bogey on 13. The hole gets to look pretty small the rest of the day when you miss two putts of <3' in a row on the same green! A couple awful bogeys including a misclub on 15 and then a birdie on 18 totaled a +2 72 on the day. Very disappointing since I felt like I played much better. I knew that I would have to play well at Cherry Hills to make the match play.

Cherry Hills:

What a great golf course! Of the William Flynn courses I have played/seen, this is my favorite. This is a list which includes Huntingdon Valley, Philadelphia CC, Rolling Green, Navy, Lancaster, Plymouth, Philmont, Manufacturers, and Bala. I thought the holes had great variety and were a tough but fair test of golf. The greens were rolling about a 12-13 and were very firm by the time I got to them on Tuesday afternoon. The course was 7400 yards but I felt like it played about 500 yards shorter than that with the elevation. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a putt to drop out there either. Some very close calls but a slow start which included bogeys on 10, 12, 15, 16, and a double on 18 offset only by a birdie on 11 was too much to overcome despite a 1-over 36 on the back. The highlight of the day was a hole out from the greenside bunker for eagle on the par-5 5th hole. It was my first eagle in 8 stroke play rounds of USGA Championship competition. My favorite holes at Cherry Hills were 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, the ALL-WORLD 14th, and 16.

I did see places for improvement at Cherry Hills though. The club added a set of bunkers which cut off the fairway on the 17th hole about 340 yards from the tee. This is a change which I think completely removes the risk-reward component that the hole provides. This is perfectly in the landing zone for 90% of the field and led to many players including myself hitting something less than driver off the tee. If Cherry Hills wanted to host an open again, I think they would need to add at least 400-500 yards to return the course to its original shot values. I played with a kid who hit a driver and a 4-iron onto the green on the 11th hole, something which I doubt William Flynn had in mind when he designed the course! There is room to lengthen the place too, I think they could find it. I also believe that it would be a fantastic venue. I am excited to see how the pros play out there when they host the BMW Championship in 2014.

And finally,

a nice consolation for missing the match play was that I was afforded the opportunity to get to Ballyneal yesterday. I made the 3-hour drive from Denver out there in the morning and got 18 holes in. I can't say enough about how great this golf course was. In my opinion, this course is better than Pacific Dunes and if it were on an ocean it would receive just as much acclaim. Every hole on the course was unique and fantastic in its own right, but the best stretch of holes in my opinion was from the 7th to the 9th. 7 has one of the most unique greens I have ever seen, 8 is an absolutely fantastic par-5, and 9 was another great par-4 which I actually hit driver over the green into the bunkers behind. I found myself most interested in the bunkers at Ballyneal. They are among the most penal I have ever seen. The artistry of the course is amazing and it looks like they moved little to no land to create the fairways and greens. Though I have not seen Sand Hills, to this point in my life Ballyneal is the finest inland links I have ever seen. I will refrain from telling you guys the person who got me out there, but he is a GCAer and he may choose to reveal himself.

I have many people to thank for making my US Amateur trip possible. First, I'd like to take the time to thank Doug Wright as he was a very faithful caddie. He stuck with me for all 36 holes and I don't think I heard him complain once. I'd also like to thank my parents for their love and support. There are many others who have come forward to send me kind messages of support and I'd like to thank them as well, although I will not name them because I have the feeling they would like to remain anonymous. This was my fourth USGA Championship and I hope there will be many more in the future. That said, I will always look back fondly on Cherry Hills and the way the USGA ran their Amateur championship in the Denver area.

[Jason Topp]

Thank you for sharing your experience Brian and congratulations on qualifying!

[David Harshbarger]

Brian,

Thanks for sharing.  Great to hear your thoughts on the courses.  Congrats for making it to the dance.  Here's hoping you are back next year.

Dave

[Ross Harmon]

Brian - good to read your thoughts, thanks for sharing. We're very fortunate to have alot of great golf in Colorado from the mountains to the cities to our gem out east in Ballyneal - I'm glad you enjoyed it all! Congrats on your accomplishments and best of luck in the future!

[Pete Blaisdell]

Brian
  One of the best posts I have read on GCA. I am very pleased that you enjoyed the experiece known as the United States Amateur.

  I have served as a volunteer with the USGA for 23 years and have had the privilege of officiating at 11 Amateurs. The four majors and quite a few other Professional events get the limelight and the hype but I will always consider the US Amateur as my personal favorite. The National Open may be the flagship event of the USGA (AND the cash cow) but the US Amateur, in my opinion , is the most IMPORTANT Championship the USGA conducts.

  Congratulations on qualifying and kudos to you and all the participants who give it a 110% effort.

  Glad you had a great week and, again, great post and thanks for sharing!

[Mark McKeever]

Great post Brian!  (excepty for the Philmont-Flynn part  )

Mark

[John Shimp]

Brian,
I was out there tues as a soectator  Wish i had scene you.  I too really liked cherry hills.  I was amazed how firm and fast the golf course played.  Approach shots seemed to need to land 15 to even 30 feet short to hold the greens. Keeping the drive in the fairway appeared difficult on many holes. Players were careful with what they chose to hit.

Congrats for making the field!

[PCCraig]

Brian,

Thank you for your follow up post. What an experience!

I watched all 2.5 hours of telecast on the Golf Channel last night and thought to myself that it's harder to find a more enjoyable golf tournament to watch on TV. That's because 1) the level of talent is really good, 2) all the competitors are really nervous, 3) the format is perfect, and 4) the players really want to be there and they really want to win!

Congrats again on qualifying. Hope to see you make a return trip in the near future.

[Doug Wright]

I’m glad you enjoyed Ballyneal Brian. Good report on the courses too. Not sure what you see in #4 at Cherry Hills though—an iron layup and a short iron in? Yes I suppose Cherry Hills could lengthen the course 300-400 yards more-- #8 could be a 330 yard par 3 instead of a 270 yard par 3 but what is the point?

The US Amateur this week was a great event for me too. I enjoyed being inside the ropes with Brian as his “faithful caddie”—I think he means I actually showed up—and also while marshaling the par 3 8th hole @ Cherry Hills Tuesday morning and again all day yesterday. As Brian said once during a round, “There’s golf and then there’s tournament golf.

The level of play at the US Amateur is very impressive. We’ve already commented on the prodigious length on display.  I also think the USGA did a fine job setting the courses up for the event. Tough but fair. Except for the vicissitudes of the weather (those who had afternoon times Monday had the worst of it—especially at CommonGround, where the wind went from calm in the morning round to 20-30 MPH in the afternoon), the best 64 golfers this week were identified.

A couple observations from yesterday—the Wyatt/Thomas match yesterday afternoon was compelling. Good friends and teammates battling as hard as they could to advance. As tight a match as there could be. High drama and a huge gallery following the match. Michael Weaver of Cal is a very gutsy player. All square on  17, he laid up short of the first set of cross bunkers and knocked a 260 yard 4 iron onto the island green 15 feet from the hole to set up a go-ahead birdie (so what is the problem with those cross bunkers Brian?). In the afternoon round he did the same thing with his opponent dormie—just going over the green but making a great up and down from there for birdie. He then won 18 and 19 to advance to the quarterfinals. The kid from Portugal, Gouveia, also has serious game. The Gouveia-Weaver match today should be great. 

Interesting that the USGA set up the course to play easier yesterday than during the opening rounds, I suppose to add some “risk/reward” to the equation. Instead of a much longer #1 from a tee lower left, they used the Palmer tee on #1 and most who tried reached it with 3 woods. The par 3 8th—271 yards in qualifying—played to 184. The par 3 12th  also played 60 yards shorter. Final thought—the 18th at Cherry Hills is a very fine finishing hole for match or medal play. Although the distance thing has taken some teeth out of the hole, two really good shots are required.       

[Matthew Petersen]

I don't think there's much room to lengthen Cherry Hills more than it already has been over the years. Multiple tees (1, 3, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18) are already hard against the property line, or other boundaries and most of the others have no real room to go back.

I guess you could go back and to the left on #4 (behind the 3rd green), you could push 8 back (but as Doug says that hole is as long as it ever needs to be already), 11 could be pushed back to have somewhat of a combo tee with #5, and I guess there's room for a little more area behind 12 and 13 ... but that's about it unless they acquire someone's backyard. (There's also a bit of seemingly unused land beyond the wall behind the 18th tee.)

The other issue is that the only reason it would need more length would really be for tournament play and building any more new tees would require eliminating a lot of spectator areas (for example I mentioned you could put a tee for #4 behind the #3 green but that's going to distracting to look at for players on #3 and would leave no real room for galleries to see the action on #3 green).

As long as I can remember, Cherry Hills has had the stigma of being one of those courses that's pretty great but too short for the modern game. It is still able to defend itself quite well with small and severely sloped greens. They have held Senior and Women's Opens in the past, so if the Ams and pros are simply too much for it, there's really no shame in being a club that can host some of those other events.


Doug,

In the afternoon round Weaver actually drove it OVER the first set of cross bunkers. 330 carry! Forget altitude, that's going for it when you have to.