Nicholas Coppolo:
You can MAKE any course a "TEST."
The issue is that the Black need not be so utterly one dimensional that the architectural elements - which Mike G alluded to -- are then completely negated.
I am a big time lover of Bethpage but the Black's transformation reminds me of the transformation of Annakin / re: Star Wars fame to the dark side of The Force.
The course has been bolstered to be tough as nails with little else to highlight from a real shotmaking perspective. It's just simply one bombed tee shot followed by another -- with approach shots that have to be a zillion feet high in the air to greens that are relatively featureless.
The bones that were there when all this work got started were discarded in so many ways for a "new" presentation of the Black and the "improved" version of the course today is far afield from the one I fell in love with over 30 years ago.
Matt,
We may need to agree to disagree
Just because you grow rough and narrow fairways does not make a BB. The test lies the routing, the elevations, the bunkering AND the maintenance practices. Test is not a bad word to me. There is nothing tacky about a course posing a series of demands for the greatest golfers in the world to react to/answer. While this may not be the most creative, strategic, or thought-provoking version of our game, it is no less an important one. And I think its great that a 15 handicapper can have those same demands/questions posed to him for 50-100 bucks.
In my opinion, asking players of any caliber, to consistently execute long accurate drives followed by towering approaches is as valid a demand as forcing players to make sense out of deep hidden bunkers, highly undulating greens, and flighting there ball through a 40 mph wind for a week...
Both kinds of challenges are exciting and intrinsic to this game we love.
Nicholas,
But by taking the bunker out of the equation, the golfer is inviting a near impossible approach shot. That's the whole point of the design - to CHOOSE the best course of action for your game andhave that reflected in your score. Playing out to the left guarantees a bogey or worse - depending on execution, and by avoiding the hazard the golfer is essentially accepting the one stroke penalty.
By narrowing the hole, we've eliminated this choice and the hole no longer becomes a series of questions, but a series of demands.
And if a Pro has the skill to hit a high draw off a slice stance - THEN BY GOLLY HE SHOULD BE REWARDED!!! Are we forgetting that there are certain instances where a pro's skill in crafting such a difficult shot should be rewarded?
Kyle,
I think if you cut fairway left, there is a lot (20 or so yards) of flat ground prior to the slopes that wouldn't require that kind of double crossing shot....which for most pros would be a 7 or 6 iron, I think over would be more likely than around.
I feel pretty confident that no pro I've worked for would "bail out" left if there were fairway there. If anything it would probably result in more confident, longer, more accurate tee shots down the right side, knowing he had plenty of room left if he hooks it.
By knowing he CAN'T miss left, the pro has to execute the shot....not only that, he has to pick the right line, if he is too conservative (to far left), he'll go through with a good tee shot.
I understand the thinking behind cutting fairway on the left from a strategic standpoint but the fact is that 99% of amatuers are going to at least bogey this hole the majority of the time even from the middle of the fairway. And any player that's good enough to hit the high draw off a fade lie, isn't thinking about "bailing out" because of a bunker. I'd rather be in the bunker than in a left fairway against the trees anyway.