Didn't think of it quite this way before.....

[Jeff_Brauer]

John,

GSW is always an option on your next or any trip to DFW.

[Brent Hutto]

I can think of a handful of exceptions among decent USA courses I've played but in general I can't see why a good player with a scorecard in his hand would ever mess around trying to make the ball swish forward through the soft collars and aprons that surround the typical green, whether it's a 100-year-old classic or something built by Tom Fazio last year. When the apron is softer and wetter than the green, with longer grass and in some cases even a different kind of grass than the putting surface there's just no percentage in forcing such a low trajectory that the ball bounces instead of stops.

Hi Brent -

Did you happen to watch the guys this afternoon at Harbour Town?  Boo Weekley played exactly that kind of shot into the par 5 15th (hit short and bounce on to a front flag position).  He had to lay up from a slightly cuppy lie in a bunker, and his 3d was from maybe 85 yds iirc.  He hit it to about 3 feet.  While I am sure it's not the most common shot, sometimes it remains just the right shot.  (That assumes the player has a reasonable chance of pulling it off; Kostis's comment was that the target short of the green was the size of a pie plate).

I haven't been to HH, and I know it's your neighborhood, so I welcome any further thoughts on the course, esp. if you've played there or attended the toon-a-mint.

Jason,

Hard as it is to believe but I've lived a lifetime in South Carolina and never been to Harbour Town or attended the Masters. Then again, I believe I've only set foot on Hilton Head once as far as I can recall. Heck, my mother has been to the Heritage a couple times and she hardly knows a golf ball from a snowball.

There's a course I've played a handful of times just up the coast from Hilton Head that has been through several bankruptcies and owners. During times of limited maintenance budgets it gets very scruffy and patchy but the one fun thing about it is you can catch it during a dry spell and the hardpacked sandy soil allows all sorts of running shots and odd bounces that you never see during regular overwatered, overgreen conditions. I think if the powers that be wanted a firm Harbour Town during Heritage week the ground would probably allow it sans rain.

Sorry I can't offer any more local perspective on the matter. I've got friends who live in Bluffton who are always inviting me to come stay overnight and play golf out on Hilton Head. I ought to arrange a look at Harbour Town one of these years...

[JC Urbina]

Jeff
One of the best stories I like to tell about working with Jack at Sebonack is the time we played a round prior to the grand opening.  The group was Jack, Jim Lipe, Michael Pascucci and myself.  We got to the thirteenth hole a par 5 and we were about 20 yards from the green. I dropped a ball close to Jacks and  I got out my trusty 7 iron and bumped it up within a few feet from the hole, anybody who has played golf with me knows I usually play my seven iron when I get close to a green.  Jack hits his wedge high in the air within a few feet of the hole and then says to me" You don't think I can hit that Bump and Run shot do you"  I replied I haven't  seen you do it yet.
He drops another ball pulls out an flattish iron takes a couple of practice strokes and bumps the ball up within a few feet of the cup.  I said why don't you do that all of the time?  His response I don't have to.  He doesn't have to and neither do 95% of the golfers who play on a regular basis.  Jack executed both shots to perfection but chooses to hit the lofted shot.   I like the bump and run for the fun of it and it fits the type of courses we design.

If you are wandering who was closer to the cup on the Bump and Run I will let Jim Lipe be the spokesman he witnessed it.
 

[W.H. Cosgrove]

I hail from the Pacific NW where no matter what grass the course was planted in originally, they all go to Poa eventually.  Poa is soft.  Hitting a consistent bump and run to a poa green is very difficult. 

With that background, how much of the comments from youth are dictated by the changing conditions around the putting surfaces over time? A new course is firm, the stand of grass is homogenous and as stated the surfaces are large all creating a less complicated spot to attack. 

The older course probably has a combination of grasses, it is more than likely softer and the putting surface is a smaller target all of which conspire to making it more difficult to hit a consistent shot. 

No wonder they prefer the newer course.