Hello,
I was going to add to the thread of August 4, but thought a new thread was in order to fully flesh this out among interested parties (re: us geeks who probably should be doing something else with 70% of their time spent on this and here).
Preamble: I know the PGA is not going to put 60 point headlines announcing our findings...I know there are commercial and big money interests of which I don't know the details, and probably neither does anyone else...I know I (or you) will move millions of dollars around in a single sentence to promote our views...I know that what we might propose will not be a magic elixir to cure all ills and restore competitive golf to some lofty position we think it should have or has lost....So, let's just pretend that it is what it is, an ideal fantasy of what the world should be.
1. The American PGA tournament should be moved permanently to May, and the Players Championship moved back to the end of March, at the termination of the "Florida" swing, where it generally has served as logical geographical end point.
a. The environmental argument is that in the US, May is statistically (rainfall, average temp, long daylight) the most temperate month in the most total regions of the 48 contiguous US states and therefore permits the largest scope of choices for where to place the tournament with a reasonable expectation of good conditions. It is also "late" enough in the almost every US growing season whereby any region/course selected can be well-prepared for championship conditions, especially when a major tournament now details these things for 3+ years.
b. the contextual argument, as important as any, is to cluster the modern Grand Slam in a period when interest in golf is at its zenith, when an American audience has begun to play themselves, and to re-cast the (near-impossible) Grand slam chase as is the Triple Crown in horse racing. Instead of the advertising of "Golf's last chance for glory" there would be a laser beam on the Masters winner and quickly gratified answers about the state of the world's best players in any given year. This monthly symmetrical heartbeat (middle of April, middle of May, middle of June, middle of July) would put a real pulse to the major championship season, and build quite briskly out of the Hawaii>West Coast>Florida tournaments that shake off the snow once football is winding down and Premier League is on weekend mornings over here.
c. In that pulse, I think the Open championship is a much better place to end the "Major" championship season, a much better place for a popular leading golfer to rescue a major from a mediocre season, or a medicore career, a much better place for an older golfer, a Norman, a Watson, a Clarke, a Mickelson to drink from the fountain of youth...a much better place for an unknown to either announce his entry into the mix, to secure his one moment in the sun, or to confound the public regard (like Daly -- who, we forget, was akin to "Beef" winning at Troon, when he won at St. Andrews in 1995, which was one of the amazing weeks of golf I can remember)And finally, wouldn't it be an amazing place to crown a grand slam champion. If such things should happen, isn't it somehow "right" that they happen on the most ancient and oft-implacable grounds and with the broadest field as there are in the game?
d. And in the other ventricle, the US Open would be rightfully placed as the 3rd hurdle in the golf season...the hardest manufactured test (to a 280 standard) should be the brute a golfer should have to pass...if they didn't make hay before here, tyhis is now place to do it...if they have had a good season, they can make it a great one, and a great one made historic (like Spieth last year), and of course if someone should have won the first two majors...a Goliath before you get to go overseas and perhaps make it immortal.
2. The American PGA championship should be moved to that roster of top courses which have FACILITY to host a massive event and which are within easy reach of population centers (and/or destination sites until themselves).
a. Here, I'm talking Bethpage, Torrey Pines, Pinehurst, PGA National, off the top of my head. As these names imply, I'm also thinking the tournament ought to glom up the best public/municipal facilities in this regard and phase out the private courses as best they can. I'll take your word for it as to which other facilities fit this description, but even at 36 holes, Baltusrol proved its no match for fiscal strength and accommodation to maximum people for massive revenues as is something almost as close to NYC like Bethpage. These neighborhood courses are already bursting at the seams for the USGA's facility needs. As much as I hate the "roman" NY crowds and shit shows like Phoenix, the PGA should be doubling on the value of now going second and have the biggest crowds of the year on big, big places where attendance records can always be broken. I think the time for old-time neighborhood courses is nearing an end, time to put on a new show, the second act, on courses people can play.
b. I'm not so sure what would be involved, but perhaps the PGA would be interested in building a few select PGA National facilities near such population centers, whereby this (and their club pro championships and top regional/sectional events) are played. A wonderful thing to build on if you ask me...what could be better than having four or five wonderful courses where your home pro can send you when you're out of town, or on a golf trip, or that's available for resort/daily fee play in season.
3. The PGA should definitely NOT go back to match play, whether it was moved to May or not.
a. match play is too capricious because there is no way to accurately seed a bracket of so many golfers. There is far too little reward for being a top seed (by dint of rankings or qualifications) as there is for being marginally within the bracket. If a player has earned a top seed, there should be no way Glenn Day should gets to eliminate Jason Day, because the world #1 had a few poor swings and a 3 putt in his first six turn. Maybe if they gave Jason a +3 start for his earned seed, then we could talk.
b. And on the audience/viewership/interest note, such early undeserved eliminations foil the beginning, middle and end of the tournament, when 4 A listers are out on Wednesday and by Saturday you know your winner is going to be either Paul Casey, Vaughan Taylor, Colt Knost and if you're lucky, Sergio Garcia, but prolly' Brooks Kopeka.
c. Third, the other three majors are medal competitions and so the nature of the task must be according. It's the long slow grind of 16 rounds on 4 wildly different top courses, with the history of championship golf always staring you in the face. To render one at match play, just makes no sense now. what's the upside?
d. At the same time, I definitely think the Fed Ex cup SHOULD be incorporating a match play element to the whole shebang. my notions of how this who shape are subjective and first-glance, no point sharing them here in digression.
A'right...Emperor Pro VK has dispensed his annual address on the topic...Parliament? Act.
cheers
vk