Saturday
31May2008
"Jack (Nicklaus) is the only one who wants this rough, believe me."
Paul Daugherty talks to Steve Flesch about the setup at the Memorial and says the PGA Tour would not set the course up this way if they were in control.
"I'm not a fan of chipping it out every time you miss a fairway," Flesch said. "Or if you hit it in a fairway bunker, chunking it out."
According to Flesch, it wasn't the PGA Tour's decision to make Muirfield Village's 7,366 yards play like an episode of "Man Vs. Wild."
No player came to town this week saying, "Please groove the bunkers and make the rough tall enough to hide rhinos."
Who, then?
"It's a four-letter word, and he runs this place," Flesch said.
Yeow.
"Jack (Nicklaus) is the only one who wants this rough, believe me. This is like going to Bay Hill. It's Arnie (Palmer's) setup" there, said Flesch. "I don't want to cross a line, but ..." Flesch paused here, then continued. What the heck. "It's their tournament, their golf course. Jack can do whatever the hell he wants."
At the beginning of today's telecast, Jack and Jim Nantz had an exchange about the setup where Jack said he was just setting it up the same as always and that the combination of the weather and tour requirements had it this way.
Meanwhile you'll want to check out Doug Ferguson's piece on D.J. Trahan's wild battles with the wretched 18th.
"I think that's a pretty crappy hole," Trahan said while stalking away from the course after shooting a 6-over 78 in Saturday's third round. "But nobody wants to hear that, right? Everybody wants to hear that it's a great hole. But I don't think it is. I think it's unfair and it's ridiculous."
Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 07:21 PM
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Reader Comments (20)
And the 18th at Cypress Point has taught me never to judge a course by it's final hole. (But the 18th at CP is not really a bad hole; it's just ridiculously anticlimatic after you've played 15, 16, and 17. But I digress.)
The course set-up is, perhaps, Jack's revenge, but he has not cut the purse has he? The payout is not based upon a sliding scale that gets lower as the winning score goes up, is it? I seem to recall the the money list is the putative measure of success on tour and everyone has to play the same course, don't they?
Shut up, pros. It looks bad.
Some guys just think if they shoot anything over a 70 the course must be unfair........
The 14th is a pretty good hole, isn't it?
And after reading the article by Doug Ferguson on D.J. Trahan's trials and tribulations on the 18th I have come to the conclusion that Mr Trahan should be in line for some sort of slow learners award, at the very least he qualifies as being a bit "special".
I read lots of folks here decrying the fact that driving accuracy doesn't matter anymore because hitting a wedge with square grooves out of the rough isn't any meaningful penalty anymore.
So, every once in a while, the pros play the way I play....scared to death of a big push-fade.
Cry me a river DJ.
05.31.2008 | wulters
======================
Bay Hill has seen a number of players take the stop off their list after Arnie tricked up the greens a few years ago...
...so be careful what you wish for.
ES
That said, it and the set up go against all I believe the game of golf to have once been. It is no fun to play courses like that with such unidimensionality. Narrow fairways ringed by heavy salad, lots of water (the stroke play player's ultimate hazard i.e. BLACK/WHITE) tree-choked and some of the worst bunkering schemes in the world. Fast greens (The bane of the hack) are actually easier and more fair once you are used to them. I have visited the course soon after da Mum-orr-e-al and most of the greens were just about dead from the stress of the tournament. Just what golf needs.
THAT said, MVGC is an insult to the HCEG name and is a glorified housing track, especially unfriendly to the lowly spectators. Most of the "good holes" are just "hard holes" again, cream to the stroke play maven.
Definitely depends on "your definition of good". MVGC is probably only the third or fourth most interesting course in Columbus, OH. Likely unplayable or at least no fun to 99% of golfers.
Not to mention no Tiger this weekend, sheesh.
That being said, the fairways at MVGC are NOT NARROW. Except for some of the second shots (on par fives) - shots players are hitting with irons - they're pretty darn generous. I measured the landing areas of some holes at over 45 yards in width, and the landing areas on most holes are roughly twice the width of the fairways on which the average golfer plays.
Yes, the rough was penal, but you shouldn't be in it. It's called "rough" for a reason, and only the most horrible, horrible tee shots found the rough. The rest found the fairways.
Go at a tucked pin and miss? You find the rough. Play for the center of the green and two-putt? Sounds like smart play to me. Heck, do that 72 times in a row and you finish T10. Or have the pros learned nothing about one of Jack Nicklaus' greatest assets: his course management skills?
Furrowed bunkers? I think the entire PGA Tour should use 'em. It doesn't affect the guys near the greens, but it does from the fairway bunkers. Not as much as the rough, but it's not like being in the fairway either - a perfect half-shot penalty.
Trahan? Sour grapes. Look at the scores under totally ideal conditions the first day: -7 was leading. The wind got up on the second day, but really only punished those still going at the flags. On the weekend, the grass was even longer, and the stopping and starting Saturday hurt, but the course was still fair.
While I understand this is a legitimate choice for an architect, and fine for a tour set up, pretty tough for a regular guy to have every hole this way.
Am I missing something?