Andy North - "You don't come back and play here anymore until...

[Brad Swanson]

"...you change some of the greens"   That's a disappointing perspective from a 2-time champion and fellow Madisonian.

[Mike_Young]

That's stupid.  Cars and tires got better and better and yet the Daytona 500 didn't pour oil and ice in the turns...

[Pete_Pittock]

Must have missed that. Muted the TV after I reached my drivellimit.

[Jon Wiggett]

Its his opinion which he has a right to but I certainly would not agree with it. The course could do with a little more width though.

[Greg Chambers]

When was the last time anybody gave a shit about what Andy North had to say?

[Jon Wiggett]

When was the last time anybody gave a shit about what Andy North had to say?

8:47:53

[Mark Pearce]

How about "not coming back here anymore" until an East Coast crowd can behave even remotely like a golf crowd?  As grating as the course set up is, the racket coming from the crowd over the TV (and I can only assume it's worse actually there) is embarrassing.  Since when did we accept this behaviour?

[Tim Martin]

When was the last time anybody gave a shit about what Andy North had to say?

Andy North won two U.S. Open’s in tough conditions. I don’t agree with his stance on this but he certainly has a right to weigh in.

[Dean Stokes]

How about "not coming back here anymore" until an East Coast crowd can behave even remotely like a golf crowd?  As grating as the course set up is, the racket coming from the crowd over the TV (and I can only assume it's worse actually there) is embarrassing.  Since when did we accept this behaviour?

ditto. At The Ryder Cup.....its the norm even though it’s still brutal. At a National Open strokeplay event to be cheering golfers balls off the greens and abusing foreign players is quite unacceptable. I’m surprised the USGA are letting this go to be honest.

[jeffwarne]

How about "not coming back here anymore" until an East Coast crowd can behave even remotely like a golf crowd?  As grating as the course set up is, the racket coming from the crowd over the TV (and I can only assume it's worse actually there) is embarrassing.  Since when did we accept this behaviour?

Spot on Mark

[Sean_A]

When was the last time anybody gave a shit about what Andy North had to say?

Andy North won two U.S. Open’s in tough conditions. I don’t agree with his stance on this but he certainly has a right to weigh in.

+1

Its one thing to disagree with a rule...and there are plenty of golf rules which are disagreeable.  Its quite another thing to insist the ruling was incorrect when even a guy like myself can clearly see that the ruling was spot on.  I don't pretend to understand why there is a difference between 1.2 and 14.5 in this case, but then the rules of golf are a black art. This is a tough crowd.  Crack a beer, sit back, live and let live.  At the end of the day...none of this matters.

Ciao

[jeffwarne]

"...you change some of the greens"   That's a disappointing perspective from a 2-time champion and fellow Madisonian.

Takeaways such as North's'are what worries me most about over managed setups.
And yes hes earned the right to be heard and was one of my favorite players growing up.
Just seems like the wrong takeaway.
Shinnecock's DESIGN was not the problem.

[Niall C]

Jeff

Was there actually a problem ?

I confess the only coverage I saw was the last dozen holes or so of the leaders on the final day, however I saw guys mostly hitting fairways, sometimes with irons, some great approaches and some not so great where there was a premium for being on the right part of the green.

Those that missed the fairway had to mostly chop out or try and play a run on shot which is surely better than “bomb and gouge”.

I dare say the earlier days were perhaps harder but that’s just the conditions. Surely golf, if anything should be about learning to accept the conditions and play it as it lies. Apologies if that sounds like a rant.

Niall 

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

How about "not coming back here anymore" until an East Coast crowd can behave even remotely like a golf crowd?  As grating as the course set up is, the racket coming from the crowd over the TV (and I can only assume it's worse actually there) is embarrassing.  Since when did we accept this behaviour?

Agreed. Made my respect for ANGC grew even more. Why did Fox have such strong microphones in the first place, picking up every grunt and fart from the players? And was it me or did if seem like they implemented a delay on Sunday - my sound kept cutting in and out after almost every tee shot. I assume they silenced the crude talk.

I blame the Phoenix Open

[Adam Clayman]

The greens did show a certain lack of universal recovery opportunities. A potential flaw, only identifiable at the ridiculous speeds seen on Saturday. Considering the east coast bias, I doubt anyone, other than the pros, whose ever been there, would be objective enough to opine credibly.

[Michael George]

If Andy North is advocating changing the greens at Shinnecock Hills, he deserves every bit of criticism.  Let's change one of the great courses in the world so that the pros can play it once every 10-15 years. 

However, if Andy North is saying that the USGA has to harden the greens to such an extent to make it competitive for the pro golfer and the winds on Long Island create unplayable conditions at those speeds, he may be right. 

However, the answer is not changing golf courses.

The USGA is also responsible for equipment limits.  The answer is pulling back the equipment (both clubs and golf ball).  The distances and sweet spots on clubs these days are a real problem that the USGA doesn't seem interested in fixing beyond what it has already done...... and the dispersion (sweet spots) on modern clubs is not discussed enough.