Metroman wrote, "The reason that Plainfield is so underrated is because Baltusrol Lower has been so overrated."
How can this be? Is this a claim of discrimination against Plainfield?
Are other great courses similarly discriminated against because they don't host the Big Shows in golf -- Quaker Ridge, Pine Valley, the National, to name a few?
Any man has as much right to his own opinions as have I. However, I do know what I like and when I encounter something contrary to my ideas, but nevertheless liked by others, it seems a good Idea to consider the pros and cons whenever possible.
"There is no disputing tastes, as the old lady remarked as she kissed the cow." Certainly this must be applied to golf and its courses. The merit of any course should be judged by the satisfaction it affords to those who play it. It may not measure up to the standards of the most discriminating players but after all it all is a matter of taste.
During forty years I have probably trod as many golf holes as any man in the world, many of my own creation and many, many more designed by others. I know a good hole when I see one and I think I know a bad one, too. Some of the latter type obviously are atrociously faulty, others just over the border of mediocrity, while some apparently weak ones may be open to debate.
This writer was the golf architect for Baltusrol, and as such I confess my immense liking for my creation, the Lower and Upper courses. They were designed to be equally sought after as a matter of preference.
The secret of my championship courses is no secret at all, long, accurate second shots after long, placed drives. It was the same principle on the Lower in the 1926 championship, at Winged Foot in 1929; the Five Farms course at Baltimore in 1932 during the Amateur National, the Upper in the 1936 championship, and Bethpage in the 1936 public links championship.
My own observations in checking the play over such courses of mine as have been the scenes of National and Sectional championships have made me firmly convinced that the character of the one-shot or, par 3 holes has more to do in checking the assaults of the 70 breakers than any other factor.
A.W. Tillinghast
The Creator of Baltusrol