PGA Tour setups going forward

[A.G._Crockett]

Thinking about Tommy Williamson's and Ronald Montesano's threads on Bay Hill, it occurs to me to wonder if what we saw this weekend at Bay Hill might be the "new normal" for Tour setups.  I mean what follows to be free of value judgements; just wondering...


I am starting with the assumption the the PGA Tour, along with the OEM's, very much do NOT want either bifurcation or a roll back.  In light of the distance report, is it possible that the PGA Tour is going to setup courses at least somewhat differently, whether to reward accuracy/fairways, or to reduce scoring, or both?  Or was Bay Hill a random, one-time product of wind and weather? 


It seems to me that the Tour has been a pretty successful business for a long time now, able to identify pretty clearly what is and is not in its financial best interests.  If the Tour believes that bifurcation and/or a roll back is, to some degree, an existential threat to their business model, would the Bay Hill "model" work to stave those changes off going forward?


Just wondering...

[Peter Pallotta]

Good wondering, AG
I don't think it'll be the 'new normal' -- after all, 'these guys are good'. But at select tournaments/venues, like Bay Hill and the Honda-PGA National and Jack's Muirfield Village and Riviera and TPC-The Players etc, we may see tougher set-ups and lower scores going forward, for precisely the reasons you suggest. Along with the US Open, (maybe some) PGA Championships and the British (on occasion), those few Tour stops should be enough to show us that there's no problem at all with technology, and 'nothing to see here' re distance gains.   

[jeffwarne]

Thinking about Tommy Williamson's and Ronald Montesano's threads on Bay Hill, it occurs to me to wonder if what we saw this weekend at Bay Hill might be the "new normal" for Tour setups.  I mean what follows to be free of value judgements; just wondering...


I am starting with the assumption the the PGA Tour, along with the OEM's, very much do NOT want either bifurcation or a roll back.  In light of the distance report, is it possible that the PGA Tour is going to setup courses at least somewhat differently, whether to reward accuracy/fairways, or to reduce scoring, or both?  Or was Bay Hill a random, one-time product of wind and weather? 

If they go that route Zinger may have to rethink his evaluation of European Tour players.
Not a lot of US flags in the Top 10 after 3 rounds and one in top 4 at the end.
Tour setups tend to be quite similar-nice to see some variability which results in different skill sets emerging.
Now if we lost 5 or 6 of the lakes and firmed up the approaches we might even see some shotmaking and a different skill set.
Ooops-headed to TPC next week.....never mind