When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
The thirteenth is a solid par-3 and a fine test of skill, but this one just doesn’t capture hearts and minds like the tenth. It could be the location or the distance or the more seemingly generous opening to the green.
That relative simplicity of the left-to-right favoring look is offset by the pitch, contours and all but impossible back hole locations. Just a tough par-3.
Winged Foot's 13th is a 212-yard par 3 that puts a premium on distance control. The front two-thirds of the green slope significantly from back to front, so landing on the wrong level will result in a very challenging two-putt.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 8, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/6f23EC2Nr5
At 633 yards with a giant tree blocking the way for players trying to get home in two, we might have an actual three-shotter on our hands. Winged Foot West’s 12th bends to the left and even after a stock 330-yard drive does open up a view of the beautifully restored putting surface.
Note the roll 2/3rds of the way through the green where the surface goes away from the player. A very different twist on a course where many greens slope steeply back to front.
The 633-yard, par-5 12th at Winged Foot is the longest hole on the course. Clearing an 80-foot-tall tree at the turn of the dogleg with the second shot is imperative to allow a clear view of the green.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 7, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/CBgdFrlGRr
Any concerns you had that next week’s U.S. Open was all business, only allowing essential folks on site and not just Hale America 2, can rest assured, Danny Noonan is only coming out of retirement for the practice rounds, reports the New York Post’s Mark Cannizzaro.
The story is a fun look back at some of actor Michael O’Keefe’s backstory in jokingly throwing this idea out at Golf.com and his interesting tie to Winged Foot, along with the pro golfer who will go for the stunt, Danny Balin, and the looping gig broker, Michael Breed.
Asked if he plans to bring a lighter carry bag for O’Keefe next week, Balin said, “No, he’ll be carrying the full tour bag. I’m going to put him to work.’’
Balin said he DVRed “Caddyshack’’ on Tuesday night even though he estimated he’s watched the movie “15 or 20 times.’’
“I’m going to have to watch it to get the one-liners down so I can give it to him,’’ Balin said. “Because I’m going to be all over him during this whole … stunt.’’
Michael Breed, the former Golf Channel instructional personality who now teaches at Trump Ferry Point, was the middle man to this transaction, reaching out to Balin, his fellow Met Area pro, and pitching the idea of O’Keefe caddying for him.
“I try to take this somewhat serious, so I would never do this during a tournament round,’’ Balin said. “But I was like, ‘Yeah this will be cool. Danny Noonan. Monday and Tuesday.’ It’ll be a fun couple of days. It’ll lighten the mood up.’’
The USGA plans to have some fun with this, making it a social media event on its platforms.
Thank you for the warning.
The other short par-4 at Winged Foot is a visual gem with granite, strong fairway slope, attractive bunkering and a picturesque second shot.
The 384-yard 11th is arguably one of the more memorable on the property and could highlight how the game has changed since the West Course last hosted in 2006.
Given its distinct fairway tilt and narrowness, the intrigue during this year’s tournament may center around whether players automatically lay-up with an iron, or, use their strengthened ransverses abdominis’ to carry the ball 330 and gouge a lob wedge onto the green.
Another enjoyable flyover courtesy of the USGA and Deloitte:
Mike Dougherty of the Rockland/Westchester Journal News stopped in at Winged Foot where the rescheduled U.S. Open is set to start next week.
The focus appears to be on winning scores and rough, which is too bad since such projections rarely end well.
There is plenty of good stuff about the agronomic shift the club had to make due to the pandemic and the tournament’s new mid-September playing.
Speaking to superintendent Steve Rabideau about the hoped for outcome of preparations, it seems a high winning score would be gratifying.
As he reached into the rough to retrieve the golf ball Tuesday, Rabideau quietly offered a familiar refrain.
“Plus-8. Plus-8. Plus 8. … That would cap a very difficult summer,” he said. “And my guys know that’s what I’ve been thinking.”
Several of them were applying fertilizer to the rough nearby.
The USGA’s Jeff Hall says the team plans to “let Winged Foot be Winged Foot,” and from the sounds of this, I hope there are plenty of marshals ready to look for balls:
"There were extra hours invested and extra cost involved for water to irrigate the rough and nurse it through a difficult summer so it’s typical Winged Foot U.S. Open rough," Hall said. "They’ve done a masterful job ensuring the rough will be a key component in the golf course setup."
It will again be graduated, but less so than in 2006.
The primary cut will be narrower and will initially top out around 3 1/2 inches, according to Hall. It will only be utilized on a select number of holes. The danger zone will be more prevalent and start the week at 5-plus inches. Even the rough under the majestic specimen trees is dense.
In case you were wondering, the length of days is addressed by Dougherty. He reports the split tee start will begin 6:50 a.m Thursday and Friday despite a sunrise just a few minutes before that. However, the field has been reduced to 144 from the tournament’s traditional 156 with finishing rounds in mind.
The “3-iron into some guy’s bedroom” (Hogan) at 190 yards will play 214 this time around, so 3-irons are unlikely even with the added length to offset better absorption of Vitamin D fueling linebackers-turned-golfers.
What is so charming about Winged Foot’s 10th when, on paper, it’s seemingly pretty simple?
There is the aesthetic factor, for starters. As Tom Nieporte, the club’s long time pro once said, “it’s like a painted picture, every time you play it”.
The hole is undeniably beautiful, simple and crying out to be painted. Most of the best holes sit on a landscape in ways that are attractive to an artist.
There is also the 10th’s location in the round. Buried elsewhere on the West Course it would undoubtedly be a much-talked about par-3. But put it in front of the clubhouse and the 10th takes on a different majesty, particularly since so few clubhouses in the world are accented by views of a par-3.
Then there is the cross bunker short of the green, somehow not filled in by a committee trying to appease less-skilled golfers or citing maintenance budgets, even though A.W. Tillinghast was just such a culprit during his PGA of America Tour. Such bunkers help create painting-worthy holes and disturb depth-perception.
The green provides a charming combination of elements. It’s elevated 8-10 feet above the surrounding ground, is steeply pitched and is somewhat pear-shaped, the opposite presentation of the preceding hole. Recoveries from the bunkers are rare and the overall effect is a green playing smaller than it appears. So think Postage Stamp, only 80 yards longer.
As with the other Winged Foot holes we’ve looked at so far, the restoration of putting surface space and hole location options adds so much character. I particularly love the 10th’s “infinity” look of the rear putting surface area peeling over the back. The effect from the tee, at least in this flyover, is to make an already intimidating shot look tougher. This, even though the addition of putting surface on the back slope could be used to a player’s advantage during this year’s rescheduled tournament.
No. 10 at Winged Foot is a 214-yard par 3 that features the deepest bunkers on the course, sitting 8½ feet below the putting surface. It's also the only hole to play in a westerly direction.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 5, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/XTmqeQyd3x
The first par-5 reduced to a par-4 in 2006 returns to its three-shotter roots for the 2020 U.S. Open.
However, due to the influx of brussel-sprout based dieting and more players incorporating standing one-arm preacher curls into their workouts, a driving hitting the fairway should set up a long iron into the green.
The putting surface shape and contouring here is masterful, with the wide front gradually shrinking as the green goes. A simple looking green has so much going on with seemingly random contours and bumps, meaning even with its reachability, it should serve as a much better short par-5 this time around.
No. 9 at Winged Foot is a straightaway, 565-yard par 5 that played as the longest par 4 in #USOpen history to that point in 2006. Its greenside bunkers will pose a challenge for players attempting to reach the green in two.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 4, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/FlvkEKZjO9
Originally 413 yards in A.W. Tillinghast’s 1922 plan, the 8th is up to 490 yards for the 2020 U.S. Open. A distinctive left-to-right shape and overhanging trees forces an obvious shot shape. We might even see more than 8-iron hit into a par-4!
Another fantastic green complex restoration is on display, highlighted by the mid-right area jutting out into the bunkers and supported by slope. It’s not pinnable, but just adds one more fun feature that gives a player something to work a ball off of, but also a more pronounced penalty should they miss right.
No. 8 at Winged Foot is a dogleg-right, 490-yard par 4. The angle of the fairway will require precision in choosing and executing the line of play.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 3, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/odK0S9H0kX
The 162-yard par-3 seventh at Winged Foot is the shortest of the one-shotters and if the green is hit in regulation, a solid birdie chance.
But this Tillinghast original is not “right in front of you”, with the elevated green likely making club selection of a nine iron or wedge to tricky for today’s under-par living Adonis’s.
The USGA flyover thanks to Deloitte:
The 162-yard, par-3 7th is Winged Foot’s shortest hole. Its challenging greenside bunkers sit 7 feet below the putting surface.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 2, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/lr6ZOg0d61
The shortest par-4 at Winged Foot West is a dandy and often listed with the best short four’s in the land.
Long known as the place Ben Hogan used 5-iron off the tee for the best approach distance, the sixth had seen a left greenside bunker added to guard the creek (oy!) and huge build-up on the rightside bunker. That’s been taken down and the green shape fully recaptured.
On this flyover the 321-yarder doesn’t not look particularly appetizing to drive with rough and water looming left of the green, but with such a narrow fairway and today’s players traveling with flexibility-inducing foam rollers, they may just bomb and gouge their way to the hole despite the baggage coming with such an approach. The rough may render the creek’s role fairly meaningless, so we’ll just have to wait for tournament week to see what today’s Hogan’s are thinking.
No. 6 is Winged Foot's shortest par 4 at just 321 yards, but it also has the narrowest fairway. Aggressive players might attempt to reach the green from the tee.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 1, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/Ov124AQdMe
Having had wedges and short irons into the first few par-4’s, 2020 U.S. Open invitees now confront a dilemma at the fifth: bomb it over the trees and try to carry is 320, or hit a right-to-left tee shot to a semi-blind fairway skirting Tillinghast bunkers?
Yes, we know how that movie turns out.
Another simple and beautiful holes with the cross bunker short of the Hanse Design-restored green providing just another example of Winged Foot’s artistry and distinctiveness. The USGA’s flyover for this year’s tournament, brought to us by Deloitte:
No. 5 at Winged Foot is a 502-yard par 4 that played as a par 5 in 2006. The drive zone is not entirely visible from the tee and recovery shots from the greenside bunkers are particularly challenging.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) August 31, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/WRQszv9Vef
Winged Foot’s 467-yard 4th features fairway bunkers 300 off the tee that will only come into play for those who have elected not to hit the gym regularly. With a nice right to left bend that’ll fit the eye of most, the 4th ought to be a drive and short-iron. The extraordinary green complex has seen a huge restoration effort mirroring A.W. Tillinghast’s original.
Here is the flyover from the U.S. Open Twitter account, which is currently flooded with a lot of retweeted drivel and sad attempts to seem young and cool. You’ll thank me some day for this embed and sparing you of the unraveling U.S. Open social media account:
No. 4 at Winged Foot is a slight dogleg left measuring 467 yards, with bookend bunkers in the drive zone. The approach plays slightly downhill to a squared-off green that was expanded during the 2016 restoration by Gil Hanse.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) August 30, 2020
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/jq0WQtQlPt
Oh, and that amazing putt helped Rahm claim the BMW Championship in a thrilling finish over Dustin Johnson, who also made a doozy to send the tournament into overtime.
But I digress. Why focus on the BMW when the real story is next week’s Thursday leaderboard? While we’re in the midst of this playoff let’s send it down to Steve Sands for more. Will JT be four back or two back next Friday? Could Rahm cut into his deficit next week with a win this week? Inquiring minds do not need to know.
Fourteen years into this FedExCup, we’re still subjected to the hard sell. I realize there is a gargantuan sum of money at stake. And a season-long sponsor demanding full value for their investment even at the expense of other sponsors trying to have their moment. Yet once again, a compelling final round on a penalizing parkland course was mostly overshadowed by the effort to push FedExCup narratives that no sane individual cares about in the best of times. During a pandemic, it’s nails-on-the-chalkboard stuff. Especially with a fascinating final round featuring a better-than-most variety of characters.
As NBC’s Paul Azinger noted on Saturday, the FedExCup is a “pretty prestigious” competition. That was an apparently slight he mopped up, undoubtedly after an 904 area code popped-up on someone’s phone. This overall demand to focus on the perennially lame “playoff’ race was more of a shame than normal. The NBC team really never got to go deep on any topic or even do something mildly in-depth on the difficult setup conditions. There were just too many non-BMW obligations to juggle.
Even Mackenzie Hughes’s putt to get into the Tour Championship, while dramatic, felt like NBC’s team turning it into Ouimet beating Vardon and Ray. The hard sell brings down genuinely great moments.
Producer Tommy Roy was working without several once-normal production values that would have made this “playoff” event better. Yet the final putt replay sequence was vintage NBC stuff, yet not having an aerial shot of a few key tee shots getting amazing kicks off of trees turned out to be a huge storytelling miss we’re not used to with NBC. Particularly with CBS now mastering that element over the last 11 weeks and Winged Foot looming in two weeks, we can only hope the accountants loosen some purse strings. (NBC’s 2006 U.S. Open coverage was so epic in part thanks to aerial’s of Phil’s 18th hole adventure.)
Mercifully on this Sunday, we had Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm to thank for an unforgettable 2020 BMW finish.
Their absurdly long putts are embedded below and Daniel Rapaport covers all of Rahm and Johnson’s reactions here at GolfDigest.com. If you just have to know what the Tour Championship leaderboard looks like Friday morning (Labor Day finish), Ben Everill has it in this FedExCup points race roundup.
Take a look at the ShotLink scatter chart for the 18th green Sunday and note how there was no birdie putt resembling what Rahm made. Johnson’s make in regulation is highlighted in the second slide followed by a clean slide showing the 18th hole birdies in regulation:
Video of Johnson’s incredible 18th hole birdie putt, sending the 2020 BMW into overtime:
Rahm’s 66-footer for the ages:
The final round highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:
Winged Foot’s 243-yard third is in that sour spot no one likes unless they’re standing on Cypress Point.
With a classic Tillinghast bunkering scheme, the steeply pitched green should welcome today’s 4 and 5-irons unless tournament tees are moved up. A particularly goyish house behind the green also highlights OB lurking, though such a costly outcome seems unlikely on a hole of this length.
No. 3 at Winged Foot is a long, demanding par 3 where players will be happy to take par and move on.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) August 29, 2020
1959 #USOpen champion Billy Casper famously laid up, and made par, in all 4 rounds, choosing not to take on the narrow, well-bunkered green.
In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/0TvqETe1S3
The 484 yard second is highlighted an audacious green enlargement/restoration that took place under Hanse Design’s supervision.
The tee shot features a bend to the right and kind of odd looking outside-the-dogleg fairway bunker at 300 yards, in other words, only a minor annoyance to most in the 2020 Hale America 2/U.S. Open tournament.
Don’t hesitate to hit pause when the flyover reaches the green. Most will focus on the overhanging tree—certainly an odd hazard on a classic course. But spend more time looking at the putting surface shape. You can see a lot of intricate movements, no small feat in the era of USGA Green construction that has made contours and extreme shapes quite cumbersome to create.
Yet it’s those corners, bends and wings that add more interest and natural lines, all things you’d expect in a revered design. For more on Winged Foot’s effort to rebuild greens and retain contours, the USGA produced this video two years ago.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
