[JWinick]

I enjoyed the final round at Erin Hills yesterday, and it was fun to see a course I've played a few times host a US Open.    A few thought and observations:

• It's a great site for fans to view the golf, definitely superior than Whistling Straits, for example.    There was really only a couple of spots (the 14th green for example) in which you couldn't see what was going on unless you were in the stands.   Because its such a big property, it allows 35K fans to be able to walk the property and not feel too crowded.  On the other hand, because it's so big, it's a tough walk and some of the walks from tee to green (especially 10 to 11) are ridiculous.
• It's a great golf course on a terrific property.     
• It did not feel like a US Open.   I'm sorry, but it just didn't.   This would be a great PGA championship / Ryder Cup site, so it's a shame that the PGA is tied up with Whistling.   I guess we will have two Open Championships this year!    A US Open should be on a tested tournament site that doesn't require heavy winds to challenge the best players.   So, if the USGA desires to protect par, I don't think it makes sense to change either the fairway widths or the height of the fescue / native grasses.   Your only choice is to use the length the course already has and stretch it to 8,000 yards.   But, the USGA would be sending the wrong message.   
• The course has an easy start (1&2) and an easy finish (14-18, except for 17), so that helps give the players time to get comfortable with the course.    I would argue that the Players has the best finish in all of golf because you have an easy Par-5, followed by a brutal par 3 and Par 4.    A tough finish creates more drama as someone in the Clubhouse at say 7-under can maybe win the tournament if the leader stumbles near the end.   
• The USGA needs to bring back the 10-shot cut rule, which would have added Justin Rose, Adam Scott, etc. and possibly Rory, Rahm, Dutin, etc. into the cut.   I don't understand why they want such a small cut. 
• Finally, I wonder what the USGA is going to say when FOX tells them how bad the ratings are.   Is it a coincidence that the last two tournaments on new courses in small markets (Erin Hills and Chambers Bay) were the poorest US Open's ever?  I'm convinced that there is a correlation between the ratings and the size of the markets the properties are located in.    I'm curious to see what FOX tells the USGA behind closed doors.   
• And, if the players love the property, that's actually a curse because it means they have no fear.   

My two cents....

[Tom_Doak]

"If the players love the property, that's actually a curse because it means they have no fear."


+1


It was the same for the Olympics.  The desire of the governing bodies to avoid controversy leads to less interesting golf.  But gone are the administrators who could say things like "We are not trying to embarrass the best players in the world, we are trying to identify them."

[JWinick]

The expectations of the USGA were so low after the last couple of disasters that anything would be viewed as a relative success.    I liked Jason Sobel's take as I think it summed up most of us's thoughts on the tournament. 


http://www.espn.com/golf/usopen17/story/_/id/19663647/golf-give-my-us-open-back

I want the U.S. Open back.
I want a U.S. Open where fairways are the width of hotel corridors and greens are the consistency of trampoline webbing. I want a U.S. Open where some poor person in the production truck is forced to hover his finger over the mute button all day, because players can't stop cussing about their misfortunes. I want a U.S. Open where pars are good scores and bogeys still aren't all that bad.

[JWinick]

Tom,


I finally read that great 7-part series in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.   I didn't realize how they basically screwed you over.   Curious on what your thoughts are with respect to Bob Lang.   Hard to view him as anything but a tragic figure.    I mean the guy blew everything....

"If the players love the property, that's actually a curse because it means they have no fear."


+1


It was the same for the Olympics.  The desire of the governing bodies to avoid controversy leads to less interesting golf.  But gone are the administrators who could say things like "We are not trying to embarrass the best players in the world, we are trying to identify them."

[Tom_Doak]

I finally read that great 7-part series in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.   I didn't realize how they basically screwed you over.   Curious on what your thoughts are with respect to Bob Lang.   Hard to view him as anything but a tragic figure.    I mean the guy blew everything....

I wasn't screwed over exactly; the client I had couldn't close the deal and somebody else wound up with it.  It happens all the time in this business; it was more bothersome at the time because I knew it was a special site and I hadn't had one of those yet.  But I've had about ten since then so I can't complain.


I do feel bad for Bob Lang, or for any developer who sticks his own money into a golf project and loses it.  (Same for my client Lillian Williamson, who preceded Bob, and luckily didn't lose as much but gets zero recognition.). Indeed, the only misconception in the Bob Lang story is that he wasn't the visionary behind the golf course; others had already done that and it just fell into his lap. But he WAS the visionary behind building an 8000 yard course to hold the U.S. Open, so I sure hope he enjoyed it all.

[JWinick]

I heard the back story on Bob Lang from some of my Wisconsin banker friends and bank advisors (I'm in the industry too).   He was basically the typical overextended real estate developer that would take on any project, so long as the banks would give him the money.      I'm frankly surprised that he got so much credit to buy a golf course in the first place, although I think he just leveraged his other cash flowing properties to make it work.   

I finally read that great 7-part series in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.   I didn't realize how they basically screwed you over.   Curious on what your thoughts are with respect to Bob Lang.   Hard to view him as anything but a tragic figure.    I mean the guy blew everything....

I wasn't screwed over exactly; the client I had couldn't close the deal and somebody else wound up with it.  It happens all the time in this business; it was more bothersome at the time because I knew it was a special site and I hadn't had one of those yet.  But I've had about ten since then so I can't complain.


I do feel bad for Bob Lang, or for any developer who sticks his own money into a golf project and loses it.  (Same for my client Lillian Williamson, who preceded Bob, and luckily didn't lose as much but gets zero recognition.). Indeed, the only misconception in the Bob Lang story is that he wasn't the visionary behind the golf course; others had already done that and it just fell into his lap. But he WAS the visionary behind building an 8000 yard course to hold the U.S. Open, so I sure hope he enjoyed it all.

[Ben Sims]

JWinick,

Finally, I wonder what the USGA is going to say when FOX tells them how bad the ratings are.   Is it a coincidence that the last two tournaments on new courses in small markets (Erin Hills and Chambers Bay) were the poorest US Open's ever?

I think you're going to need to qualify that statement. The west coast opens almost always have the highest ratings, just by the fact that their coverage reaches into east coast and central prime time.

[Andrew Buck]

Having never been to Erin Hills, was is it the winds it's reliant on, or the firmness?  Watching Tommy Fleetwood make bogey on 18 on Saturday you could get a sense how easy it could be for a shot to get away from you if firm and fast.

[JWinick]

Ratings for Chambers Bay were not good....    But prime time is a valuable asset, and they will likely have other programs that will do better.

JWinick,

Finally, I wonder what the USGA is going to say when FOX tells them how bad the ratings are.   Is it a coincidence that the last two tournaments on new courses in small markets (Erin Hills and Chambers Bay) were the poorest US Open's ever?

I think you're going to need to qualify that statement. The west coast opens almost always have the highest ratings, just by the fact that their coverage reaches into east coast and central prime time.

[Howard Riefs]

Finally, I wonder what the USGA is going to say when FOX tells them how bad the ratings are.   Is it a coincidence that the last two tournaments on new courses in small markets (Erin Hills and Chambers Bay) were the poorest US Open's ever?

 
1.  It’s not accurate. The 2014 event at Pinehurst had the lowest final round ratings among US Opens the last 29 years. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2017/06/19/Media/US-Open.aspx
 
2.   The top three players in the world and six of the top 10 missed the cut at Erin Hills. But you think people didn’t tune in on Sunday because it was played on a newer modern course in a smaller market? The final round of the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits featured an exciting finish between Day and Spieth, and received strong ratings. How is that possible based on your logic?
 
3.  Among U.S. metro areas, Seattle/Tacoma is ranked 15^th (and Milwaukee is 39^th). Seattle is larger than Pittsburgh, San Diego and Tulsa. Did those other cities have higher rated US Opens because their metro size is …. smaller or because they played on an older course?

[Jim Nugent]

While it's true that the world's top three players missed the cut, that statement is a bit misleading:

DJ injured himself the night before the Masters and has never been the same since;

Rory is 48th on the 2017 money list, has no victories this year, and hasn't won a major since 2014;

Jason also got injured, missed several cuts this year and hasn't won since May 2016.

They are the top three, but based on past play, not recent. 

[John Connolly]

I realize the USGA speaks out of both sides of its mouth. The side I'm happy to see is an implicit proclamation of the value of relatively tree-less US courses. Challenge golfers to find the strategic lanes off the tee and turn up the heat as they come into robust greens and green complexes. The other side of their mouth is the endorsement of the need for greater acreage for great golf. They've put themselves in a terrible position regarding what it takes to produce championship golf, and its derivative - everyday play. And I've no idea how they'll escape that tar pit. But for now I'll take solace in the growing awareness of the nonsense of tree-lined corridors.

[David Wuthrich]

Please bring back Sandy and David!!


Sandy Tatum


                             Former USGA president Sandy Tatum, photographed in 2014.        Jason O. Watson/Getty Images     "We're not trying to embarrass the best players in the world. We're trying to identify them."

- Sandy Tatum


Frank "Sandy" Tatum is one of the major figures in the USGA's history. That includes serving on the executive committee from 1972-80, and serving as USGA president from 1978-80.


In 1974, Tatum was the chairman of the championship committee. And that year's U.S. Open has gone down in history as "The Massacre at Winged Foot."


The winning score, by Hale Irwin, was 287 - 7-over par. And that +7 score in relation to par is the highest since 1963. Pinched fairways, crazy thick rough, severe greens. Tatum pulled out all the stops at the 1974 U.S. Open.


Some players believed it was a reaction by the USGA to Johnny Miller's final-round 63 to win at Oakmont the previous year. Tatum and the USGA always denied that. (Winged Foot is just a very tough course, after all.)


But the conditions and the scores at Winged Foot in 1974 led some golfers there to complain that the USGA was trying to embarrass them.


And that charge led to Tatum's famous retort, quoted above, which since then has become something of an unofficial credo for the USGA.


One of Tatum's successors as USGA president, David Fay, later confirmed that the USGA wants the U.S. Open to "always (be) regarded as the world's toughest golf tournament."

[Kalen Braley]

I think its arbitrary to just focus on the top 3...as we all know from the world match play, there isn't much difference between the top 64 players in the world and anyone can outplay anyone in any given tourney.


That being said, DJ was competitive in his first 3 events back from his injury including a 2nd place finish at his first return event.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

And don't forget that Phil M FTA, speaking of "star power" and Sergio & Spieth, who made the cut,  weren't  near the final groupings. Nevertheless, the TV Ratings were the second WORST ever for a US Opem:


https://sports.yahoo.com/2017-u-s-open-ratings-second-worst-ever-151518973.html


As far as the course is concerned, Jack N said this:


I'm not sure that I thought that was what a U.S. Open should look like, but I'm not used to seeing no rough around the green or wide fairways with extreme rough if you hit a real bad tee shot.  And I'm not sure that I thought that was what a U.S. Open should look like, I don't want to be an old fogey about it and say that everything that we did was the right way.  There's other ways to do it and they did it a different way and I think they had a great tournament.

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2017/6/19/jack-on-erin-hills-great-tournament-but-im-not-sure-that-i-t.html

[Kalen Braley]

Steve,


That JN quote almost sounds like Trump-ian in nature...except with complete sentences.  He says explicitly... twice... it didn't look like no US Open, but it was great anyways.  Can't the same be said about pretty much every other event on Tour?

[cary lichtenstein]

Why does it have to look and behave like a US Open that terrorizes the players. Greens that hold nothing, putts that never stop moving, rough that is so deep you can't find a ball, let alone move it.


To try to defend par so that no one can shot under par is easy, just make the course unplayable, put OB on both sides of every fairway, cover the greens every nite with a tarp so they dry out, cut them to a 1/64 of an inch, let them turn purple. What's the point.


The pros are so good, the ball goes way too far, let them play with one ball, 70 compression and let's see how they do.

[Tim Gavrich]

The "Erin Hills conundrum" is that the amount of fairway-length grass available on the course and the dependency of scoring on weather are directly correlated.


Do you want the pros to hit more than 10 drivers per round? Then you need to be okay with someone like a Brooks Koepka getting in the zone off the tee and making the course look disquietingly easy, tee to green.


Do you want pros to have more complex demands than chop-and-hope when they miss greens? Then you need to be okay with the possibility that rain will fall and cause scores to be low.


In Chambers Bay and Erin Hills, the USGA brought the U.S. Open to two courses that rely on firm, fast conditions and wind as principle defenses against the best golfers in the world. In other words, the USGA brought the U.S. Open to courses that ape the courses of the Open rota.


I think the fact that Brian Harman finished second to Brooks Koepka tells you that Erin Hills was a proper test. That it yielded more birdies than usual is down to the weather, not the USGA.

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