Can Golf take advantage of the NFL?

With the latest settlement between the NFL and past players on concussions, and the just announced lawsuit against the NCAA, is the golf industry missing a golden opportunity.  You already hear about parents telling their kids they are not going to play football.  Soccer has taken a minor hit with references to concussion injuries and baseball faces the PED debacle.  Why not turn up the volume on the benefits of golf.

We all know what the benefits are.  It teaches sportsmanship and honesty in rules officiating.  If they choose to walk, it has great health benefits.  Injuries are rare in the sport and it even enhances flexibility and eye-hand coordination.  There are many more, but you get the idea.  Golf is good for you and parents should give their kids the opportunity to try the game.

It’s never good to kick someone when they are down and the NFL will survive.  But my bet is that the game will change drastically in the next 15-20 years.  Less kids are going to be playing and it will change the talent that colleges and the pros can pick from.  I am already seeing this in one of my local high schools.  The current freshman team has 20 kids on the team.  This is out of 500+ students in the class.  That will have a huge impact on the varsity team in three years.  If this trend goes nationwide, you can see the impact.

So why not promote your advantages and remind people of the benefits to the game.   Gaining a few kids now will go a long way in the future.

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.

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.

No rough, all sand on the second hole at Pinehurst.

The US Open goes back to Pinehurst next year where they just completed a renovation to eliminate all the rough and bring the sand dunes back in play.  It will be interesting to see how they set that course up and if they introduce any rough.

Golf Rules the Recreational Golfer Should Ignore

Now that the anchoring ban is to go in effect in 2016, it is time for us to think about this rule and the fact that we need a set of rules for the recreational golfer.  All golf courses have their own rules.  If you look on a score card, you see something like, USGA Rules apply except for the following Local Rules.  What is a local rule?  It’s a rule, or rules, that a golf course enacts due to a feature on the property.  It may be a power line that crosses a fairway, or a free drop from a landscape bed, or something else.  If courses can do this, why don’t we enact recreational golf rules, available at all courses that a golfer can use.  Here are few USGA Rules that should be ignored by the recreational golfer.

Rule 3-2: Failure to Hole Out – In other words, a “gimmie”.  A gimmie does not exist in the rules of golf, yet it should be available to the recreational golfer.  Any putt 2-3 feet in length should be conceded by the fellow competitors.  Remember, I’m talking the recreational golfer, if you have a high dollar game being played, use your discretion in your group.  If a group gives an average of two gimmies per hole this could save two minutes.  Extend those two minutes to an eighteen hole round of golf and you get over a half hour.  That saves a lot of time!

Rule 10-2a.: Order of Play When Starting Play of a Hole – This rule talks about who has the honor on the tee.  We all know that it is the lowest score on the preceding hole.  We also know that we should remember to play ready golf.  When ready golf is played the game is sped up.

Rule 10-2b.: Order of Play During Play of the Hole – The player furthest away is to play first.  Again, for the sake of pace of play all golfers should play ready golf.  Who cares if your companion is a few yards behind you.  If you’re ready, hit away!  But remember to always be safe and don't walk in front of your playing companions.

Rule 17-3c.: Ball Striking the Flagstick – Yes it is a penalty if you are on the putting surface and your putt strikes the flagstick.  Should you have to wait for someone to tend the flag for you?  If strike the flag on that 40 foot putt, good for you and count it as a made putt.

Rule 27-1 Stroke and Distance – This relates to a lost ball or a ball out-of-bounds.  If you hit a shot over a hill, or into a group of trees, and you don’t find it, don’t go back to the original spot to re-hit.  This takes too much time.  Just take a drop in nearest spot where you think the shot may have come to rest.  Same thing if you think you may have gone out of bounds.  However, in that case you should always think about playing a provisional ball ahead of time.  Think of it as a practice shot as well.

And that leaves us with the Anchoring Ban, Rule 14-1b.  This ban is really put in place for the Tour player or highly skilled amateur that plays in regional or national tournaments.  If you’re the recreational golfer and you play to enjoy the game, then keep using it.  Get an agreement with your group that it enhances your round and keeps you playing the game.  If they are true friends and want to keep you in the group, they will understand.