Had a long chat with my son last night after he read my posts. A couple of comparisons with what went on at the Am, which is the closest comparison we have to how the pros may play the course at the US Open.
First, he said at the AM they didn't use any of the tees we used. When I showed him where we played from, he said the Am was played on one or two tee boxes in front of us. Based on that, he estimated they played from 7100 yards tops, maybe even less. He thinks they will do the same for the US Open.
Second, the roll out, as has been much discussed, was 50+ yards at the AM on every hole. On #13 from the forward tees they used, the balls would roll into the bunker at the corner of the dogleg. I hit driver and 4 hybrid to go over the same location - a distance of approximately 400 yards from our tees. Matt and I were looking a Google Maps, and he pointed where the balls landed and rolled, and their forward tee box put their balls so far down the fairway that they could get utilize the fairway contour as it moves down and right, propelling the ball forward on the firm fairways. None of us came close to getting to a place where the fairway had any effect on the ball. I am curious if Brent could, as his length is as good as any amateur I have ever seen. On #7, the Ams were 30-50 yards in front of us, so when they bit off a little bit more of the corner, their balls ran the width of the fairway - approximately 60 yards. Between cutting off a bit of the dogleg and their ball running up the hill (even if at an angle) he said it was a simple mid-iron or less to the green. In contrast, I hit a perfect drive, had 250 left to the pin, nutted a 3-wood and didn't carry the second hump some 30-40 yards short of the green. Kirk's drive ran up and down a fairway contour and was going away from the hole when it stopped; about 10 yards behind me. That is a huge difference.
Third, and this is maybe the most important point, Matt said the conversation between player and caddy with virtually every approach was, "should I go high or low?" In other words, Matt is backing 100% the statements made by Choi and Ben, that virtually every green is accessible by landing in front of the green. (So, I grounded him
). Landing a ball in front of a green does not exclusively define a links course in my mind, and based on their 79 average, if forced to bounce in the ball because the greens wouldn't hold a shot, is the land-short-roll-on game really the way to play the course? Is the course truly receptive to that play, or was it the only option because they knew the aerial game was doomed to failure.
Maybe it is just the time of year that I have played the course, which has been in the spring every time, but as I said before, I can't see how this course is played on the ground under the conditions we played and the pros will play. The pros will be playing in the spring/early summer, at the same time as I always have played it, and not in August when the Am is played.
Turning back to architecture, and as I have thought about what I wrote last night and here, I just think that so much of the course is played uphill, or the greens are above the fairway, that running the ball onto the green makes little sense. In my mind, a hole utilizing a ground game is typically on flat ground or downhill. I guess I don't understand the physics of landing a ball on an upslope and expecting it to go forward with any predictable results.
Maybe that is why I don't understand why Jones ran the course so far up the hill - why wasn't it kept down on the flats to create holes where drives went up and over dunes (#3 at Old Mac, #9 at Royal County Down, #4 and #7 at Lahinch, etc); approach/iron shots with partially hidden greens (only 12 at CB) like the Dell #5 at Lahinch, and other features and holes that could easily have been created with the tools and land he had at his disposal. Like I said, CB is different than anything else I have played and I like some of the holes very much (most notably #3, #6, #10, #12 is different, #13, #15, #16, and #17)
The USGA can't stop NW rain, so how do they get the course firm and fast in Seattle in June, to bring in the game Matt, Choi and Ben all say is possible (if not preferable?) to this course?
Choi, et al, call me when you play in late August, and let's play it from 7100 yards like the AMs at a time when my drives will go 300, and not 250. And maybe we should play it that you must take a minimum of 2 extra clubs to hit your approach shot. That would mean that every shot had to land short and roll on the green. See how the course reacts to playing it that way.
Cheers. It was and is always fun to play with GCAers. See you soon.
