USGA proves a course needn’t be long to be difficult
By now you’ve had a chance to digest the US Open. Whether it was for another heartbreak for Phil Mickelson, a great victory by Justin Rose, or another lost major for Tiger Woods, we are all remembering a great week. Before I delve into my take on the championship, I want to commend Matt Shafer and all the volunteers on his crew. They faced a miserable week before, and during the tournament, and kept the course in great playing condition.For years we have watched courses get longer and longer due to technology behind the golf ball and club. Not only have PGA Tour venues gotten longer, but so have our local courses. So when the USGA announced it was going back to Merion, a course that played to 6,544 yards in 1981, we immediately wondered what it was going to do to fight the distance issue. Here’s how you make a golf course difficult.
Grow the rough - In past years the USGA had gone to a graduated rough that was shorter near the fairway and longer as you got farther away. The thinking was to punish a more offline golf shot and give you a chance if you only miss the fairway by a few feet. This year they threw that all out and went to one long, nasty rough height. This punished the golfers, especially on the longer holes when you had no choice but to chip out. This also put a bigger premium on accuracy, something the USGA loves to do.
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| Narrowing the fairway on the second hole. Not only did this put the bunkers far off the fairway, but also brought the road into play. |
Narrow the fairways - If deep, thick rough wasn’t enough, then how about narrowing the fairways as well. I’ll start out by saying that Merion sits on about 110 acres, so it is not a wide course. Designed by Hugh Wilson, the course features dramatic elevations changes, subtle angles of attack, and challenging greens. All those alone have allowed Merion to host a record 18 USGA championships. So why narrow the fairways? Well, to take driver out of their hands and force them to hit longer shots into the greens.
Some players only hit driver a handful of times. Mickelson didn’t even carry a driver in his bag and Rose hit irons off many tees down the stretch to keep the ball in play. I will say that Rose seemed to be the most consistent off the tee, which probably led to his victory.
Hide the pins - I’ve attached the pin sheets from the third and fourth rounds. As you can see, not many pins were in the middle of the greens. Most were tucked 3-4 paces from an edge. This made it difficult for players to attack the course and had most of them playing in defense. In my opinion, it didn’t make for interesting golf.
Add distance - Off course the USGA added distance. It wasn’t going to play on a 6,500 yard course. No matter how they tricked it up, the pros would pick it apart and be double digits under par. They don’t want that to happen. So they found over 400 yards to add to the course. This included lengthening three of the par 3’s to over 230 yards, moving the fourteenth tee so you had to play across the putting green, plus other changes. Finding distance got to be so difficult that Mickelson even said to USGA Executive Director Mike Davis, “274 yards, that’s terrible, we can’t even reach it.” following his play on the par 3 third hole on Sunday.
As a golf course architect, when a client says they want the course more difficult, I tell them they can do that without touching the course. They might not go as far as narrowing the fairways, but grow the rough long and hide the pins, and you can make any course unplayable.
What disappoints me about this US Open, is they took the strategy out of a brilliant course. Narrow fairways eliminates the angles that can be present on the course. That is what makes Augusta National such an excellent course. It allows you to hit the fairway, but if your not in the right position, you have a difficult time getting to the pin.
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| No rough, all sand on the second hole at Pinehurst. |
