[Brian_Ewen]

For those that have played Hoylake , would you prefer it routed like this , or the original way ? .

I notice the members are going to play it the Opens routing for a couple of months , and then decide what to do .

[Adam Clayman]

Martin, What an interesting turn of events.

The R& A were so concerned about the conditions, they started to add water yesterday. Then, as I understand it, the rains came overnight. Now, what we have is a brown course that plays soft. Truely a mind screw, if you will.

Ironically, the opening day at Ballyneal, in Holyoke, was of a similar screw.
A half an inch that morning softened the canvas, but the preceeding month and a half of dry heat had taken her toll on the look of the fescue. Not to worry, from just the half inch, within 72 hours, she was back to green and playing firm.

Love that mind screw. But would've loved to see Hoylake play like a bitch on steroids. Maybe Sunday.

[tlavin]

I vote that it be renamed Royal Yellow Asphalt Golf Links.

[Philip Gawith]

Brian - Sean and I had the discussion yesterday. We agreed that the the old routing is better. This is because the terror of the (old) first hole, with the cops all along the right, normally played into a howling wind, is integral to the history of the course, and all that you think about when you come to play the course, in a way that the sixteenth/eighteenth can never match.

Perhaps after a stunningly exciting finish on Sunday evening with eagles/birdies and disaster galore, we will review this opinion - but i doubt it.

The current routing detracts from the power of the old 1st hole, and I don't think the excitement that the new 18th brings compensates adequately.

[Mike_Clayton]

The course was a lot different this morning than it was last night although it dried out as the day went on.It needs a decent bit of wind to make it really interesting bit there is no sign of that happening.


Hensby hit his second out at 3 and made 7 but apart from that its playing 2 iron,6 iron and nobody is having any trouble with the hole.It needs the wind to come up for it to be scaring anybody.

[JMorgan]

So any 60 yard rolls today?  I haven't seen any tele coverage.  Boy that course is crisp and DRY!

[ForkaB]

The colour of the course on Wed. was more light beige than brown.  Even without any rain, and running about as fast as possible on the fairways, the pros were eating it up.  I saw one of the no-name pros hitting lob wedges off hardpan to a practice pin perched about 15 feet behind a high-lipped bunker and he landed 10 in a row on the only spot that allowed him to get close to the hole.  Unless the wind blows at 30mph+, scoring will continue to be relatively low.

[Keith Durrant]

One of the advantages of the normal routing was that the last 5 holes played in opposite directions, alternately, into and down wind.

Come Sunday and a play-off, what will be the 4 play-off holes? 1, 2, 3 and 18?

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