Ryan
How about a review from PGA Pro Steve Stricker?
Story Date: 2006-Jul-23 at 02:23:58
By Gary D'Amato
NATURAL WONDER: Erin Hills provides a major test for Stricker
Town of Erin, Jul. 23, 2006 (Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News delivered by Newstex) --
After just six holes at Erin Hills Golf Course, Steve Stricker was 2 over par and had faced approach shots of 195 and 212 yards on par-4s, not to mention a 251-yard par-3 that played into the wind.
Stricker turned to course owner Bob Lang and grinned.
"When do the hard holes start, Bob?" he asked.
Like most golfers in Wisconsin, the Madison-based Stricker, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, had heard much about Erin Hills, the rough-and-tumble public course modeled after the classic links courses of Scotland and Ireland.
The course, designed by Hurdzan / Fry Golf Course Design Inc., in collaboration with Ron Whitten, is scheduled to open to the public Aug. 1.
A national buzz has been building since the United States Golf Association awarded the 2008 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship to Erin Hills. Never before had a course been selected to host a USGA championship before it opened.
Erin Hills already is being talked about as a potential U.S. Open venue, and after playing it Friday, Stricker understood why.
"A lot of holes remind me of Shinnecock (Hills)," he said. "That's what Bob said the USGA told him, too. Some holes just have that U.S. Open look. It's like nothing I've ever seen in our state."
Stricker and his father-in-law and swing coach, Dennis Tiziani, accepted Lang's invitation to play a round at Erin Hills before it opened. They tackled the course from the black tees, or approximately 7,824 yards. That is about 400 yards longer than the typical major championship venue.
Experimenting on some holes with a 46-inch Titleist driver that he has not yet put in his bag for competition, Stricker shot a 3-over-par 75 with four bogeys and one birdie.
"It's a tough course," he said.
All four par-5 holes were longer than 600 yards and Stricker was unable to get home in two on any of them, although he did hit a 3-wood second shot just short of the green on the 615-yard 14th.
On six of the 10 par-4 holes, he had 190 or more yards into the green for his second shots. He had to hit a 3-wood from 221 on the 496-yard ninth, which played into the wind.
Erin Hills recently was laser-measured and rated by the Wisconsin State Golf Association and the numbers are staggering. From the tips, it measures 8,266 yards. The course rating, which reflects the score a scratch handicap golfer would be expected to shoot on his best day, is 79.9.
By way of comparison, the course rating from the back tees at Whistling Straits, site of the 2004 PGA Championship and the 2007 U.S. Senior Open, is 76.7.
From the other sets of tees, Erin Hills can be played by mere mortals. It measures 7,112 yards from the blue tees, 6,544 from the green, 5,434 from the yellow and 4,543 from the red.
But it wasn't the sheer length that most impressed Stricker about Erin Hills.
He could scarcely believe the natural ruggedness of the terrain and the fact that dirt was moved on only four holes during construction of the course. Fairways flanked by tall native grasses wind through glacial dunes, and greens are perched atop eons-old ridges and mounds.
"It's unbelievable," he said. "It's such a natural-looking place. It's amazing how the land is cut naturally like this and how it looks like a golf course should be here."
Tiziani agreed.
"I think it's great," he said. "It's hard to believe this is the way the land was. You would think this came out of some graphic design CAD system. It's certainly everything that I heard it was."
Stricker and Tiziani praised the A-4 bentgrass greens, which are still growing in but already are rolling at about 7½ to 8 feet on the Stimpmeter. They asked a lot of questions about the fescue fairways, how Erin Hills would be maintained and how it would play when it grew in and matured.
"It is a links course and I hope they play it like a links," Stricker said. "It should be a little brown and it should be firm because you have the length here where you can put (the tees) way back and then you need a little roll. And the fairways need to be short, with good firmness to them.
"It should be a little brown. People would need to get used to that look. All the links courses I've ever played in Scotland, it's usually firm and fast and a little brown. They have the same grass here and that's the way it's supposed to be."
Stricker said some touring professionals might have a problem with a couple blind shots on the course, particularly on the 201-yard seventh hole, inspired by the famous Dell hole at Lahinch in Ireland. He also thought four 600-yard par-5 holes might be excessive.
"I think if you were able to get up by the green on some of the par-5s, go for it in two and maybe get it on, it would be good to bring that element into play," he said.
But he said Erin Hills exceeded his expectations.
"It's fantastic," he said.