[Tom_Doak]

The recap of Tiger's birdies was frightening to read in the paper.

First hole:  2-iron, 8-iron to six feet.
Fourth hole:  3-iron, 9-iron to twenty feet.
Fifth hole:  Driver, 6-iron, sand wedge to eight feet.
Ninth hole:  4-iron, 8-iron to a foot.
Tenth hole:  5-iron, 9-iron to four feet.
Thirteenth hole (a par five):  3-wood, 7-iron to bunker, up & down.
Fifteenth hole:  4-iron, 7-iron to twenty feet.

I'm not taking anything away from his great round, or from his course management.  I am just wondering if Perry Maxwell ever envisioned that the "options" he was providing off the tees at Southern Hills would one day be whether to hit a 2-iron or a 5-iron from the tee.

Also, interesting that Tiger seems to be laying back to 8-iron or 9-iron distance and avoiding his wedges.  Probably just a function of the dimensions of the doglegs, but possibly not.

[rboyce]

yep, he was hitting 2i-8i yesterday on the mid-range par 4s and driver-w on the long par 4s. the course seems to be having the desired effect on golfers not named Tiger tho.

the theory that Southern Hills wasn't a good course for Tiger is in the trash can. He may have even taken some offense when the media suggested as much. chalkboard.

when Tiger is swinging freely he spends all his mental energy on the short game and putting. and, that's not a good thing for the field.

my guess is that the best way to Tiger proof a tournament is to make the course short and wide open. the exact opposite of what most people think.

[Dan_Callahan]

If there's one thing the past decade has shown, it's that there's no such thing as Tiger proofing a course. If he is playing well, he will win. Doesn't much matter if the course is long and tight (Firestone) or short and open (Old Course). It seems like he can hit any club in his bag as far as he wants (yesterday he reached the 500-yard par 4 with driver-wedge). He also might be the best championship putter in the history of golf.

I think the Tour and the USGA needs to stop thinking about Tiger proofing and instead set up the best possible course for the field. If Tiger is that much better than everyone else (which he is), he should be winning most of the times he tees it up.

[Bill_Yates]

Tom,
Perry Maxwell didn't provide those options off the tee, the USGA and the club and ball manufacturers did.

What Tiger did however, was "discover" the proper way to play Southern Hills with today's equipment.  Obviously, it is still an extremely strategic course.

[Jeff Doerr]

I see a number of things going on here:

1) You have a player who is showing a physical and mental mastery of the game. He develops a game plan for a course and is able to execute on that plan better than anyone. He also has the discipline to stay with the plan. As Dan said, he should be winning most of the times he tees it up.

2) Doglegs AND TREES make a course strategic and difficult, even for guys who can carry a driver 310. It's one of the reasons I like to watch Harbour Town and I love the setup they have at Southern Hills.

3) It's the ball... If I'm not mistaken, Tiger still plays forged blades with steel X100 shafts. My guess is that he could  get into the top 10 in most tourneys with only 2-LW and his putter.

[Kalen Braley]

I think it would be very interesting to watch the Tour play a whole year on "shorter" courses such as Southern Hills.  While Tiger is having his way with the field, at the same time he is on his A game this week and would likely have his way with the field regardless of the course they are playin.  I submit last weeks win on the long Firestone course as Exhibit 1.

As Tiger has been able to hit all of these irons off the tee, I only wonder why more in the field have not copied this winning formula??  Other than Sergio at Carnoustie, has anyone else shown that they can hit long irons.... straight.... and over 250 yards on a consitent basis??  Or is this the real difference in why he is winning this week as opposed to his superb short game and touch on the greens??

[C. Squier]

Perry Maxwell never met a person that had Tiger Woods' talent, physical ability or mental toughness, ergo he never envisioned someone hitting those clubs on his course.  

Tiger hit his wound Tour Balatas the same distances he's hitting his TW Platinum now....its not all the ball.

CPS

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Clint, I don't believe we have we met and maybe you are in the ball end of golf business, but I wonder if you would agree with this....

if Tiger was hitting a balata, would he swing as freely and as hard off the tee knowing that an off hit with the wrong spin would go as far but would go more off line than today's ball?

[wsmorrison]

"I am just wondering if Perry Maxwell ever envisioned that the "options" he was providing off the tees at Southern Hills would one day be whether to hit a 2-iron or a 5-iron from the tee."

Apparently not, and he wasn't alone.  I assume that Southern Hills was designed as a championship test.  I have no idea about other Maxwell designs (Prairie Dunes was originally planned as an 18-hole course).  Some golf course architects of that era and before Maxwell did envision the future of golf and designed accordingly providing elasticity.

[C. Squier]

Clint, I don't believe we have we met and maybe you are in the ball end of golf business, but I wonder if you would agree with this....

if Tiger was hitting a balata, would he swing as freely and as hard off the tee knowing that an off hit with the wrong spin would go as far but would go more off line than today's ball?

I am in the "try to get out of work so I can go golfing" side of the business.

Tiger's swing has gotten tighter over the years, footage from his US AMs and even early majors prove just that.  Though I'm sure I'll be refuted on the basis of his instruction over the last few years.  But that ALS reduces your question to just personal opinion, which doesn't matter anyway.

Yes, I do believe he would swing just as hard.  He uses the same swing on tight courses as he does on open ones.

CPS

[JMorgan]

Tom, I too was amused by Tiger's choice of clubs off the tees, but what has caught my attention even more so is the way the balls are reacting to the greens from the approach.  Do you think the greens would have been constructed differently if Maxwell had known how much the equipment would change over the next 70 years?  I am sure the ball is reacting a lot differently on approach than it did in the late '30s.  

[David Druzisky]

couldn't it be said that he is adapting his game through club selection to the design of the course.  Moreso hitting the yardages that maxwell used in determinig the design of the holes - not the clubs maxwell intended. ?  He realizes that there is no value in bombing it past the intended ideal landing areas.  He is scorring because this mental toughness (strategy) is coupled with his accuracy and great putting this week.  He still has to execute and he is.  This is a great example of him using his abilities smartly and I can not find fault in any of what goes into that.

[Tom_Doak]

David:

As I said, I'm not finding any fault with Tiger.  I'm just wondering what that much length means for architecture.  Should we design our doglegs so that great players are rewarded for laying up to the corner with 4-irons off the tee?

[Rick Shefchik]

I'm tempted to answer "yes" to that question.

It's just possible, if nothing changes on the B&I side, that we're seeing the golf course of the future. I'm finding Southern Hills to be a much more interesting course than I remembered it to be from the U.S. Open, and I think it's because the distance explosion has actually introduced options, rather than limited them. The 360-yard par 4's are now practically driveable, if a player like Daly choses to go that risky route. On the other hand, players with Tiger's power (and smarts) are dialing it back on the tee and bringing the long and mid-irons back to golf.

It's been fun to watch, and given me a new appreciation for tree-lined, dog-legged courses.

[Dan Kelly]

I think it would be very interesting to watch the Tour play a whole year on "shorter" courses such as Southern Hills.

And I would like to see Tiger Woods play a whole year without a driver in the bag -- regardless of what course he's playing.

I bet he'd win even more often than he does.

[Brent Hutto]

Should we design our doglegs so that great players are rewarded for laying up to the corner with 4-irons off the tee?

Yes, I think that is one valid and interesting style of course you should consider building.

What you could end up with is a course on which a 40-year-old ten handicapper can hit three woods and drivers to the ideal landing areas from the members tee and the best players in the world can play the same "strategy" with 3-irons and 4-irons from the way back tees. Then the elite players will be rewarded with 9-irons and sand wedges from a good lie and angle whereas the members get to try their hybrids or fairway woods on the same approach shots.

I think that's at least as interesting a course as the more usual arrangement where there's a choice between:

a) double-digit handicappers play from tees 80, 90, 100 yards in front of the tournament tees or

b) the elite golfers play every hole driver, sand wedge.

[David Druzisky]

might be one of the ways to bring back use of the long iron - at that level.

For what ever reason - and it might be worth studying - that course is not yielding much to an overpowering approach vs others.

[igrowgrass]

David:

As I said, I'm not finding any fault with Tiger.  I'm just wondering what that much length means for architecture.  Should we design our doglegs so that great players are rewarded for laying up to the corner with 4-irons off the tee?

How would you fix it?
Add more back tees to element the iron option off of the tee?  
Last year at the British Open (Royal Hoylake) Tiger ironed the golf course to death and no one complained, it was called 'brilliant.'  Does the problem arise with hitting so many irons because it is not links golf?  

[Jim Nugent]

I have a theory, or a speculation, on how to Tiger-proof a course.

First you must convince him to hit driver off all or nearly all the par 4's and par 5's.  Second you must heavily penalize him if he misses many fairways.  Finally, you must pray he drives the ball poorly.

Question: why are the scores so much lower at Southern Hills than Oakmont?  The rough? The greens?  Risk/reward?  Something else?  

[Rick Shefchik]

Jim,

My theory would be that Oakmont played longer and straighter, forcing (or tempting) the players to hit driver much more often than they are at SH; and the penalty for missing the fairway at Oakmont was greater than it appears to be at SH.

[Tim Bert]

David:

As I said, I'm not finding any fault with Tiger.  I'm just wondering what that much length means for architecture.  Should we design our doglegs so that great players are rewarded for laying up to the corner with 4-irons off the tee?

Personally, I don't think you should design your golf courses for the great players.  There are enough suitable tests for them already, and they are in the vast minority of golfers.  Who cares where the freaks of nature hit the ball with their long irons (except for the rare occasion where the owner has commissioned a US Open design.)

There is a pretty big gap between the best of the Tour players and the best of the rest.  Design for the best of the rest, and then provide another set of tees a little further up for the rest of us mortals.

[Dan Kelly]

He should have put his driver away today.

[David_Tepper]

The commentators on TV said a short while ago that, due to the heat, the ball is carrying equivalent to playing at an altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 feet. If this explanation is correct, it would certainly account for how far the players are hitting the ball and why driver is not required on so many holes

[Tom_Doak]

Jim N:

The scores are lower because the greens are softer and because the greens at Southern Hills are two orders of magnitude easier than Oakmont's.  At Oakmont the players were just trying to two-putt if they were outside 12 feet, and they had a hard time of it at that.

[Dan Kelly]

...the greens are softer...

I walked on some of Hazeltine's greens during the trophy ceremony of the 2002 PGA Championship, and was just amazed by how soft they were. Quick, but soft.

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