"They lose balls in trees at Olympic"

[Jay Flemma]

Mike, great post with one exception.  Driving accuracy at the top of the leader board has plummeted in importance since Mike D took over. Thankfully, the recovery shot has blossomed!  Plummeted may be a bit strong, but there's a drop off in importance of that stat due to the graded rough, and they has definitely silenced the grumbles about "unfair" set-up and a "boring major."

Greens in regulation and putting have been the big stats at the top of the leaderboard lately.

[Joel_Stewart]

The hole you are referring too is the old 8th on the Lake course.  It was a short par 3 which was very tight.  Lofted 7-8 and 9 irons would find the branches that stuck out. The branches were like a basket unless you hit it dead straight.  Sadly this hole is now gone, rerouted by a superintendent that doesn't appreciate classic design, history or quirk.

Here is the hole before it was trimmed back.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Mike well said. I learned this long before my days at Olympic Club. My childhood club in Louisiana was much tougher in the winter when the rough was thin and the balls ran to the trees. I remember one year from the State Am our State Golf Ass leader had the rough mowed down a few days before. On several holes the balls ran to the trees when normally they would only be 3 ro 4 years off the fairway. The roots, tree branches and trees make the penalty much greater. At Olympic Lake this is especially the case on the beautiful and long low hanging branches of the Monterey Cypress. 5 still has one on the left side of the fairway which has provided some of my favorite recovery shots of all time.

[Mike Benham]

Can someone bring up that picture/post that--after a storm--the entire fairway/area under the tree was covered with balls that had been knocked out of them?

You may get your wish today, +20 mph winds in the forecast ...