Wannamoisett Must Go!
Who cares if charming old Wannamoisett has hosted the Northeast Amateur for almost fifty years and has produced a wide array of champions.
Looking at the scores and Ryan Herrington's Golf World Monday write about about the record low scoring by Peter Uihlein and the field, it's clearly time for next year's 50th anniversary to usher in a longer slog of a course that can cope with all the gym time allowing these young lads to overpower once challenging layouts.
Just kidding!
Seriously, at what point do elite players start realizing (if ever) that they are playing in an era that will be slapped with a big asterisk? I wonder if they ever get a sense that bomb-and-gouge is a less satisfying version of the game, particularly on courses like Wannamoisett which are no longer unable to pose interesting strategic dilemmas and a genuine test of their skill?
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 08:46 AM
Reader Comments (9)
Probably is (his best argument)...there's no other defense now...maybe the "oh, what time period would you like to roll back to...gutta percha?" argument...that one seems to really stump people.
Fitness, "progress"...it's just a BS smokescreen....ticks me off when I keep hearing about how the kids' today would demolish those elite players of yesteryear...
-LK
I've played Wannamoisett and thought it was hard. Considering the course sits on only 90 acreas they don't have a lot of options.
I guess they can call Ron Forse (again) who did some pretty good work in 2009, not sure what else he can do?
I remember opening with 68-69 I think (too old to recall exactly) and felt I had shot the best two rounds back to back I was capable of at the time.
I have long said that the ball and equipment is making a mockery of out great courses. Yes, the players are fantastic, but if you look at the winners at the Northeast Am, you will see a lot of major champions on the list.
When will the powers that be get it and address the issue of the ball going too far?
For the 15" cup-play-it-forward-on-a-12-hole-course advocates the place is still a bear at 6700 and change. Be more upset about the number of classic courses like Wampanoag and many others that were butchered over the years by so-called architects. That's a helluva lot more destructive than how far the ball travels for the best players.
Romanticizing the ol' ground game with these guys is a waste of time, 300 yard drives be damned.
I thought the same thing. Par 69 course, 6600 yards, soft greens/fairways and little to no wind and the lowest score for any round was -8 (61). For all of the hand wringing over how far the ball goes today and yes some of the inflated distances people are in theory hitting the ball (See Mickelson, Phil and 227 yard 7 irons per tv) it still seems that at the top amateur events and on the professional level that many players are still shooting over par on a quite regular basis at a time when the equipment (balls included) are at the best level they have ever been and by some accounts should not be happenng since the game has become to easy.
Of course I'll be told I'm wrong and have no idea about anything by some.