USGA Rough "Flexibility"

How's this for a strange take offered by the New York Times's Charles McGrath not offering tiered rough on Winged Foot's three most birdieable holes.

[Fay] explained later in an e-mail that he was looking for "the mythical half-stroke penalty": the shot that has a chance of getting to the green but that probably won't stay there. Fay added that the U.S.G.A. would also be flexible; on some of the easier holes, like Nos. 5 and 11, the rough might be six inches, and on 6, a 321-yard par 4 that some of the boomers may be able to reach off the tee, he intended to let the grass sprout to eight or beyond. "They're going to need a scythe to get it out of there!" he said happily.

Ah, spoken like a frustrated golfer.

You know, somehow the word flexible in the context of harvesting rough to stop birdies, just doesn't quite work, does it?

Length, he added, wasn't everything, explaining that the Winged Foot doglegs are so severe — in some cases, golfers can't see the green from the tee box — that a player who can't shape his drives may run out of real estate. "Look what happened here at the P.G.A. in 1997," he said. "On the last day you had Davis Love, one of the longest hitters in golf, and Justin Leonard, one of the shortest."

To which, McGrath counters with this: 

A couple of days later I spoke to Rick Smith, Phil Mickelson's swing coach, who said of No. 9: "You've got to blast it there. On the other hand, you're better off in the fairway with 240 in than being in the rough. If guys are struggling, they're just going to hit something accurate." About the driver question, he said: "Initially, Phil felt he wouldn't use both, because the fairways are so narrow — only about 22 yards. But with the length of some of those holes, he's reconsidering, and depending on the conditions, no question he might bring along the other driver."

Sounds like Phil may be flogging!

The story also has Fay predicting Tiger will only driver around 4 times around. Wanna bet? 

Mickelson On Winged Foot, Furrowing

PHIL MICKELSON: Over at Winged Foot, it's tough. It's a very tough golf course. Obviously we know the USGA is going to make it difficult. The rough is thicker and deeper than I've seen it. But I really like the layered rough. In the past you were rewarded for missing a shot with a larger margin of error. If you could hit it into the people, you were much better off than missing the fairway by a yard. Now with the layered rough it's imperative that you keep it, if you do miss a fairway, just off the fairway, because that thick rough is so high that there were sometimes it would take two or three shots just to get it back to the fairway. We'll see a lot of doubles and triples out of that rough, especially given the fact that they're going to keep the people further away. That thick rough won't get trampled down.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: I can always reach the people. If you reach the people now you'll be in the trees and it will be much more difficult to get it back to the fairway, because you have to chip it over the chick rough and get it stopped in a narrow fairway under the trees.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: It wasn't like Carnoustie like it wrapped around and they hadn't cut it for 1 year. They've ^money it perfectly right across the top, probably six inches, just like they said. Very consistent. But the third cut is. But it was thicker than I've seen it. It looks like when the ball would go to the bottom, the grass would just grow over it. It was very difficult.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, yeah, the guy who wins won't be hitting it there. He'll be hitting it in the short stuff or if he ^dismiss it in the shorter cut. However, that thick grass was all around the green, they didn't layer it around the green, the six inch rough around the green.

Q. Do you like it?

PHIL MICKELSON: Do I like it? I'm not in favor of it around the green as much, because it takes the short game out of play. But I think that if you miss it right or if you hit a number of greens you'll be okay.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, oh, yeah.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: No, but I have a hard time seeing it being anymore difficult than Shinnecock in '04 on the weekend. And I think the USGA can make it as hard as they want. Winged Foot is such a good course that it won't require ridiculous things to keep par a good score. In looking at it now, I don't see how guys are going to shoot under par. Of course I say that every open, and every open guys are under par the first couple of rounds.

And on the furrowing...

Q. The sand traps, they're going to do something different for the first time here at this tournament, the raking. It's really going to be a penalty. What do you hear about that, what are your thoughts?

PHIL MICKELSON: It is a hazard and nothing says that the bunkers need to be immaculate. Bobby Jones, back in the 20s, I believe, played Oakmont when they were using those furrowed rakes, and he said that he didn't like it, because it took the skill out of the game. Now, it just depends how bad a lie. Is there a chance we can hit a shot out of it? Or is it going to be just ridiculous where you're lucky to get it on the green, and it takes the skill out of it? So it's a fine line between the two. But I don't mind making a bunker a hazard, because it is.

Well said. It's almost like...na! 

Weinman on Tiger, Phil Sightings at Winged Foot

Sam Weinman offers all sorts of fun anecdotes about the practice rounds played by Woods and Mickelson at Winged Foot.

To Qualify Or Not...

Norman Dabell writes that Lee Westwood has chosen a corporate outting over U.S. Open qualifying at Walton Heath.

Texting Mike Davis...

In Tim Rosaforte's story about the Winged Foot rough harvest, he noted that USGA President Walter Driver impersonated a green chairman-gone-mad by text messaging new course setup man Mike Davis with concerns about the new tiered rough.

Well, it turns out there were several messages sent to Davis as Driver played Winged Foot in a charity event Monday. Thanks to my Blackberry monitoring friends at the NSA, I have obtained Driver's messages to Davis. 

02:22:12 PM EST   Driver here. Lost a ball already in the third cut on #1.  Bad caddy but still…get this taken down ASAP so XC doesn’t have to play this in advance scouting rounds week before Open.  And the intermediate cut is too low.  Have Greynook raise it ¼ of an inch, because I advanced several balls with spin. Must be the grooves ruining game. But still, get on this right away. That is, the height of the intermediate cut, not the grooves. Rugge is handling that for me.

02:31:45 PM EST   Driver here again. Just four-putted #1. Why didn’t you have Fazio soften this green?

03:11:01 PM EST   Driver here again. Just birdied 4 from rough. But that's not why I'm writing. Lost Blackberry reception on 4 green. Please look into this. Can't have this during Open.

03:55:50  PM EST   Driver here again.  Just played #6. Fairway too wide. Paced it off at 21 yards. And I’m not sure about eliminating intermediate cut on the short holes. That was DBFay’s idea right?  Please advise ASAP. Tom Rostafort is hanging around, wanting quotes. I have to make sure blame is properly attributed.

05:45:23 PM EST   Okay, you must be in a meeting and that’s why you haven’t responded to these messages. Driver here yet again. We are at almost 6 hours through 16 holes, big wait on 17 tee. Call pro shop and tell them I have the Citation prepped and waiting over at KHPN (Westchester County Airport for those of you who still fly coach). I don’t want to keep the plane and my guests from Goldman Sachs waiting. We have to be at Pine Valley for a breakfast meeting and golf to analyze possible 2021 Walker Cup.

The Harvest at (Gulp) The Foot

In the May 26 Golf World (not yet online), Tim Rosaforte writes about Donald Trump, who he says is a "golf guy with a business sense and now the credibility that comes with a USGA stamp of approval."

He also writes about going to "The Foot" on Monday to test out the rough they are harvesting at yes, Winged Foot. (Branding it The Foot is part of his effort to come up with the cheesiest, least original golf course knicknames possible.)

Anyway, good news from, uh, The Foot. The rough is growing and everyone is so, so happy! 

Rosaforte writes that he'd like to have the ball concession when superintendent Eric "Greypok" cuts the grass after the Open. Well, when Eric Greytok cuts it, we'll let Rosaforte go for that concession too.

Online at GolfDigest.com, he offers a lengthier, more painful version of his rough harvest observations.

Walter Driver, president of the U.S. Golf Association and the man in charge of the upcoming U.S. Open, stood on the 10th tee of the West Course at Winged Foot Golf Club on Tuesday, and instead of doing what Ben Hogan said\ -- aim to hit it through the bedroom window of the house behind the green of the 188-yard par 3 -- Driver, a legitimate 2-handicap, struck a rare poor shot, flaring the ball out to the right, where it disappeared in a nest of grass.

It was fitting that the first shot hit by the man who will take all the heat for the deep rough at this year's Open required a search party and almost all of the allotted five minutes before finding his pellet. From there, the players in his group were given a snapshot of the chain reaction that occurs in an Open when a ball doesn't come to rest in the short grass. This is not like your basic tour stop, where the big boys can play bomb and gouge. This is wet wire-brush, wrist-spraining, ball-gobbling, destroy-your-mind vegetation, and so the clubface of Driver's wedge closed down, and the ball squirted back onto the closely mowed grass. From there he chipped on and two-putted for a double-bogey five.

Oh, joy! All of this rough is going to make the U.S. Open all about us, the USGA!  They're going to talk about us, and notice, and admire us for putting these Tour boys in their rightful place, which most definitely had better not be 350 yards off the tee!

The early scouting report: Better bring your straight ball. The nitrates, as Walter pointed out, have been working on Winged Foot's lawn. Mix the fertilizer with a wet spring, and a tree-removal program that gives the grass plenty of air and sunlight, and 7,264-yard Winged Foot West is in shape for another massacre.

It's been 22 years, but there is not an Open course that looks more like an Open Course than The Foot, and you can't believe how good the West course looks, how beautiful the green complexes are now that the tree huggers have lost their battle, and how terrorizing it's going to be that third week in June, when the contestants can't take a newspaper double and move with a smile to the next tee.

"Hitting the fairway is recommended here," said Driver at the driveable par-4 sixth.

Ha, ha! Bang fist on table! Such wit!

Halfway through the round, Driver got on his Blackberry and sent a text message to Mike Davis, the USGA's new director of competitions. He had driven into a clump of broccoli on the first hole and couldn't get a club on his ball. After moving it two feet, he expressed to Davis that the second cut was a little too lenient and the third cut a bit too penal. That will be tweaked in time for the opening round on June 15. After Shinnecock in 2004, the president doesn't want this one getting out of hand.

Shinnecock? Something went wrong there?

Hale The Tiered Rough

Hal Hale Irwin, that beacon of wisdom and joviality tells Dan O'Neill that he's all for the USGA's new tiered rough, especially if it means they could narrow fairways even more. 

“Well, I’ve suggested to them that I think it would be great if they narrowed the fairway even more and made the first cut relatively tame and then graduated from there,” Irwin said. “(It would) really put a premium on putting the ball in the fairway. Obviously there's a point up to the ropes where you can do that. Once you get outside the ropes, then it becomes very quickly trampled down.

“That could be what they're doing, trying to say, OK, the farther offline you are, the greater the penalty. There's a point to where that stops -- just happens to be right where the rope line is. Once you get down to where the grass is downtrodden, if you have no trees in your way, it becomes relatively a straightforward shot again.

“They say they're going to extend the ropes out farther than customary to accommodate it. I think that's good. That might try to harness some of these big long bombers that are going to pump it out there regardless of where it goes.”

This would all be so much easier if we just eliminated the short grass. It would cure the groove problem, the flogging problem and the distance problem.

Mulligan at Winged Foot

Tom Yantz offers a few comments on Winged Foot's setup.

USGA director of media relations Craig Smith smiled when he said David Mulligan was a member at Winged Foot Golf Club, site of U.S. Open next month.

Whoa...Smith smiled? Sorry...

Yes, that Mulligan, the man whose name is synonymous with "that shot didn't count, I'll take another."

When the Open starts next month, some of the players might wish they could have a Mulligan or two.

Banging your fist on the table yet?

I didn't think so.

Favoring Caution

The Hartford Courant's Matt Eagan writes about events that "don't live up to the hype," and includes the U.S. Open as his second choice.

2. The U.S. Open (Golf): Andy North is a nice man and a fine announcer, but he won three tournaments in his professional career.

Two were U.S. Opens.

The tournament doesn't exactly identify the legends.

There is poetry in the democratic foundation of our national championship. The tournament is open to any qualified golfer anywhere in the world.

Alas, the USGA annually manages to ruin things - at least for the viewers.

The shin-high rough and concrete greens favor caution and two-putts.

Heroic shots are penalized. Boldness is discouraged. Power is verboten.

What does this mean to us? ZZZZZs.

Arron on Spin

Arron Oberholser talked about Winged Foot and technology prior to the Wachovia Championship:

Q. I talked to you a little bit at Sawgrass about it, but what are your memories about that one round at Winged Foot? What did you come away with?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I'll tell you what, I've heard that they've added about 200 yards to the golf course since when I played it. It's like 7,300 yards now. It used to play like 7,100, just over 7,000. I was playing a wound ball back then with a steel headed driver, and I think the golf course is going to play a lot different now.

I remember having to work your golf ball off the tees out there and being able to do that with the old equipment. With the newer equipment it's kind of stand up and aim and bomb it.

I remember the greens being I remember it being a good test of golf, short par 4s, long par 4s, flat lies, uneven lies, short par 3s. 10 is that really good par 3. You don't get to start on a par 3 a lot, and it's kind of cool actually, I think.

And, a few minutes later, this follow up was asked:

Q. You seemed to suggest that maybe new technology can be a detriment because you can't shape the ball around some of those fairways.

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I think on certain holes in certain situations I think new technology can be a detriment. You're always guessing, well, if I make the swing that I want to make, is the ball going to hook enough, is the ball going to fade enough, or is the ball just going to kind of fly straight. So it's not a question of getting the ball to do what you want, it's getting the ball to do what you want enough because the balls all kind of you don't produce as much spin as you used to. Obviously anybody who understands the golf swing in physics, you've got to produce spin to make the ball curve. If you don't produce, you're not going to make it curve.

Take That R&A!

Michelle Wie passes on a chance to qualify for the British Open, but she's going to take a crack at the men's U.S. Open.

Fuzzy On Winged Foot

Mark Lamport-Stokes shares some of Fuzzy Zoeller's comments on Winged Foot circa 1984 and what it takes to win there. He also said this:

"They did offer me an exemption this year and I turned it down because, hell, I've had my fun, I've had my time," the 54-year-old told a teleconference.

U.S. Open Exempt Field

The current U.S. Open field with the exemption explanation below. 

^{Steven Ames 6
Stuart Appleby 9
Rich Beem 5
Thomas Bjorn 10
Olin Browne 9
Bart Bryant 9
Angel Cabrera 10
Mark Calcavecchia 9
Chad Campbell 9
Michael Campbell 1,8,10
K.J. Choi 8
Stewart Cink 8
Tim Clark 8,9
John Cook 8
Fred Couples 8
Ben Crane 9
Ben Curtis 4
Chris DiMarco 9
Luke Donald 9,10
Dillon Dougherty 2
Nick Dougherty 10
Allen Doyle 7
David Duval 4
Ernie Els 1,4,8
Bob Estes 8
Niclas Fasth 10
Kenneth Ferrie 10
Fred Funk 9
Jim Furyk 1,9
Sergio Garcia 8,9,10
Lucas Glover 9
Retief Goosen 1,8,9,10
Todd Hamilton 4
Padraig Harrington 9
Peter Hedblom 8
Mark Hensby 8
Tim Herron 9
Charles Howell III 9
David Howell 10
Ryuji Imada 8
Peter Jacobsen 8
Lee Janzen 1
Miguel Angel Jimenez 10
Brandt Jobe 9
Steve Jones 1
Shingo Katayama 14
Justin Leonard 9
Davis Love III 8,9
Paul McGinley 10
Billy Mayfair 9
Rocco Mediate 8
Shaun Micheel 5
Phil Mickelson 3,5,9,12
Edorado Molinari 2
Colin Montgomerie 10
Aaron Oberholser 8
Sean O’Hair 9
Nick O’Hern 15
Jose Maria Olazabal 10
Corey Pavin 8
Kenny Perry 9
Nick Price 8
Ted Purdy 9
Adam Scott 9,15
Vijay Singh 5,8,9
Henrik Stenson 10
David Toms 5,8,9
Scott Verplank 9
Mike Weir 3
Tiger Woods 1,3,4,8,9,12}

Key to Player Exemptions –

1) Winners of the U.S. Open Championship for the last 10 years.

2) Winner and runner-up of the 2005 U.S. Amateur Championship.

3) Winners of the Masters Tournament the last five years.

4) Winners of the British Open Championship the last five years.

5) Winners of the PGA of America Championship the last five years.

6) Winner of the 2006 Players Championship.

7) Winner of the 2005 U.S. Senior Open Championship.

8) From the 2005 U.S. Open Championship, the 15 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 15th place.

9) From the 2005 final official PGA Tour money list, the top 30 money leaders.

10) From the 2005 final official PGA European Tour, the top 15 money leaders.

11) From the 2006 official PGA Tour money list, the top 10 money leaders through May 29.

12) Any multiple winner of PGA Tour co–sponsored events whose victories are considered official from April 23, 2005 through June 6, 2006

13) From the 2006 PGA European Tour, the top two money leaders through May 30.

14) From the 2005 final Japan Golf Tour money list, the top two leaders provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the World Rankings at that time.

15) From the 2005 final PGA Tour of Australasia money list, the top two leaders provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the World Rankings at that time.

16) From the World Rankings list, the top 50 point leaders as of May 30, 2006.

17) Special exemptions selected by the USGA Executive Committee International players not otherwise exempt as selected by the USGA Executive Committee.

Testing Their Sense of Humor

Nothing like some good ole blue blazer, what-we-do-to-protect-par humor (from Leonard Shapiro's Washington Post story):

But beyond about seven yards from the first cut, all the way to the spectator ropes, the USGA wants the grass to be between five and six inches, maybe longer. In that sort of spinach, players likely will only be able to hack the ball out into the fairway with a wedge.

"The idea of adjusting the rough is to make it appropriate for the shot they hit," said Walter Driver, the new president of the USGA. "A player who hits it 15 yards out of the fairway, well, let's just say their sense of humor is going to be tested."

Winged Foot and Alternate Tees

The story to coming out of Monday's U.S. Open media day: the use of some different tees to mix things up. Yet another sign that the Meeks era is over, the USGA's Mike Davis has plans to entice players to attack the par-5 12th at least two days, while playing one round from No. 3's 243-yard tee, possibly bring a lay-up option into play that served Billy Casper well in 1959.

Sam Weinman has the story.