Observations:
I spent yesterday at OH's watching the first round of qualifying for the US AM. These guys are good, although Maverick M. shot 73 on the south before coming back with 69 on the north today. He'll likely make match play. 49 rounds in the 60s yesterday including some 67s and 68s on the South. They played the north at 6850, 400+ yards below its max and played a few holes on the south from up tees such as 9, 11, and 12. The South ran 3 strokes tougher as might be expected.
I watched the saddle green at 11 for a while and also 8, 12, and 16/17. The hill between 8 and 11 greens provides a good opportunity to view large areas of the course. I was struck by a few things. To me the course looked tired. Some of that is due to the drought conditions we've had in Michigan this year which has stressed the trees. Also with fewer trees over the last couple years the cart paths stand out more. I'm not sure we can blame the younger Jones for that as an aerial view from 1951 shows the cart paths between 8&11 and 1&9 as well as along the right of two have been there at least since then.
In addition I've been lead to believe that spruce trees are the worst of the worst for golf courses based on (un)playability, shadows cast all year long, and there ability to soak up water and nutrients. I was struck by how many spruces Oakland Hills South still had. They're all around 12 and 16, between 7 and 8, 11 and 16, right of 18, the list goes on. The entrance to the club is stacked with (dying) spruce trees. I would have thought Oakland Hills of all places would have played up their oak trees and not the spruce trees. Now several of them hide maintenance areas but I'mm talking here about trees where Phil M can hit it on 16 and other holes. [size=78%]I also noticed that the big trees on the 8/11 green hill were making it tough to grow turf close to the 11th green, which the boys were flying with their down wind wedges. [/size]
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[/size][size=78%]On the positive side I watched [/size][/size]several players from directly behind the 17th tee. It's a great uphill par-3 that's been slowly lengthened back to 237. These guys were hitting long irons and a few hybrids. From my view of Ross drawings and photos this hole has been relatively unchanged since the beginning. Slipping over to 16 green, the back right bunker eliminated by RJ now allows the water to surround the right peninsula pin position. I'm sure that's tougher on depth perception and more penalizing, but somehow makes the green more like a TPC course than Ross. I also don't like the view from the fairway as the bunkers used to claim the hillside more. The same aerial from 1951 shows the fairways on 16 and 17 completely melding together in '51. Not sure how that affected play for the better player but more in keeping with Ross width than what Trent is normally associated with. I also noticed that Jones had kept for '51 the full width fairway so that you could play right toward the water. Gary P would have had a tight lie in the fairway and not behind trees back in '79(?)[size=78%]
[/size]It looks as though the course is waiting for Hanse's plan to be implemented. Hopefully the plan will be tweaked and resold to the members, if only to widen the fairways and remove the space trees.[size=78%]
[/size]Any others see play yesterday? and notice the conditions?[size=78%]
[/size]Anthony[size=78%]