And coming up on May 2 at 2 pm EDT is the 1962 match between Sarazen and Cotton at St Andrews if you want to see what the Old Course looked like 45 years ago.

It's too bad they never show the Hogan and Snead match. Does anyone know why?

Thanks Michael. I've got to buy that one, I haven't seen it in a long time.

I stayed at home with a sick kid.  The coverage jumped from the 6th hole to the 13th which was pretty disappointing.

The course was setup with some tough cabbage if you missed the fairways, although those two seemed to be hitting them pretty consitently.  Gene took a 7 on the par 3 5th...ouch!

The most interesting thing to me is how much Gene resmebles Jeff Magaret.  Same body type, same demanor, similar swings, not very talkative, kinda shy.  Maybe it was just me, but he was a dead ringer for jeff.

Anyone who doesn't think there has been a distance revolution just watch this program and pay attention to the length of their drives and clubs into the greens.  

I was struck by the seeming width of the fairways -- I've heard/read that Pine Valley is deceptive in that way; that because the stuff off the fairway is so terrifying and penal, that it gives the player a sense the fairways are more narrow than they actually are. It also seemed that there were plenty of approach shots in which the green was above the fairway; I'd had the impression that PV was relatively flat, and the land had more movement than I'd thought.

For a moment, I thought the announcer was going to say "Devil's A....hole;" I don't think the phrase "Devil's Hole" fooled anyone! That is one phenomenal green.

I would also speculate that today's players are MUCH bigger and stronger than yesteryear. Not only equipment, but physical strength of the players causes the huge increase in distance.

Totally agree.  I watched the match last night, the players have much shorter swings too.  Fairways are cut longer, which I'm sure has a material affect on how far the balls roll out.  But the biggest reason, IMO, for distance gain is that today after a round many players eat a soy tofu kelp bar and hit the gym.  Yesteryears saw them w/ a burger and beer in hand.  

New equipment certainly helps, but I think it helps the most in off-center hits.  Which then allows a player to have a longer swing, swing harder and ultimately gain distance.

Back to topic.  I really enjoyed the match.  I wish every hole was shown, but that's tv I guess.  I love the special effects they needed to employ because cameras couldn't follow the ballflight.  Nelson hits a low, smoking drive......cuts to the next frame of a ball being gently thrown on the ground by a stage hand just a few feet off frame.  

I too thought Gene was going to call it the Devil's Arsehole, but pulled back at the last second.  It didn't look as penal as it does in modern pictures, but that could be from the weird angle they showed.

CPS