Thinking about Austin CC some more more...

[V. Kmetz]

Hello,


I did enjoy watching and getting familiar with the course on TV, not that every last thing is my cup of tea, but it did get me considering these questions...


1. Is there a way to resist big-hitter "speeding" on a 480-700 yard hole that doesn't unduly punish the average or recreational player? Like a bunker at 315 from the championship tee, that is 280 from the blue tee, 250 from the white tee, and 225 from the forward tee...


2. What do you think the winning medal score would have been in a 4 round tourney?


3. Is it too niche-geeky to suggest that golf broadcast might be advantaged well to have a "secondary" alt-broadcast, like they do for some big college football games and Olympics? where you could have pros, architects, etc...have that running commentary about how the course operates and why that mound is there, etc... I usually enjoy those kind of talks (like Nicklaus often does at Muirfield) and Tom Kite was fantastic as a spokesman for the architectural value(s) of that course...I could have listened to him all week...


4. So pleased to see the 280 yard hole, and many holes of 250-350 yards starting to earn greater voice in the public notices... I've come to the conclusion that for watching tournament play...if it must be a wedge that these bombastic drives earn, I want it to observe it from 53 yards rather than 153...that's what grows wearisome for me...not that the drives aren't breathtaking, but that the resultant shorter approaches are also on steroids...a 150+ shot is no longer intimidating for its exhibition of length and control, it's just control...just as we used to say "that green was never designed to hold a 3-iron," we now fail to say "that green offers no challenge or sport if approached with a 9-iron, wedge or 54 degree"


cheers
vk

[Bill_McBride]

Several times I was surprised to see players drive within 50-60 yards of a green.  To me those are tough pitches, I was surprised they weren't laying up to 85 yards for a lob wedge.   Of course they hit lob wedge 110 yards these days, so silly me.   


I thought ACC was fun to watch because of all the half par holes. 

[Carl Rogers]

From the tube, it sure seemed like a lot retaining walls were needed.  It had to be pricey to build.  Great location, great views, but less than ideal property.

[Matthew Rose]

I think those half shots have to be as challenging as anything those pros face these days. I wish I saw them more often.... they require so much effort because things like trajectory and spin become harder to control.


If I were designing short par-four holes, at least for tournament players, I'd put all the trouble at 100-120 yards or "ideal wedge territory" and dare the players to get closer.

[Tom_Doak]

From the tube, it sure seemed like a lot retaining walls were needed.  It had to be pricey to build. 

At the beginning of that project the owner, Corby Robertson, told Pete there was no budget.  At the end, Mr. Robertson told Pete he had gone over the budget by $2 million, because they didn't think there was any way he would spend more than $x million [I think it was $8 million].  Pete used to get a kick out of saying he had "exceeded an unlimited budget" by $2 million!