"This is a very dangerous trend."

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Ed Sherman looks at Oakmont's tree removal and the efforts of courses in the Chicago era to undo years of green committee meddling.

Meanwhile Matthew Futterman in the New Jersey Star-Ledger also takes on the issue with a New Jersey focus and gets some epic quotes out of Rees Jones.

From Winged Foot to Wykagyl, Oak Hill to Oakmont, the trees are coming down, and the results are courses with open parkland-style views, where it is far easier to grow thick, healthy rough, and the tracks more closely resemble the original designs that made them classic more than a century ago.

At Winged Foot in Westchester, site of last year's U.S. Open, nearly 2,000 trees are gone. Oak Hill near Rochester, N.Y., site of the 1995 Ryder Cup, took out more than 1,000, including one planted in honor of former Ryder Cup player Miller Barber. The Jack Nicklaus tree survived.

Wykagyl, the New Rochelle, N.Y., club hosting this year's HSBC Women's World Match Play, took out 1,200. Pauley doesn't have an exact number for Plainfield, but he has taken out 250 during his two-year tenure there, and hundreds more came out before he arrived.

The tree-cutting debate enters the spotlight this week as the U.S. Open returns for the eighth time to Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh -- a course where thousands of trees have been removed in the past two decades.

Advocates say the classic courses are once again becoming the places they are meant to be.

"There are no trees on the golf courses in Ireland and Scotland," said noted golf course architect Stephen Kay, who designed courses at Blue Heron Pines near Atlantic City and Architects Golf Club in Lopatcong and is an advocate of the tree-clearing movement. "They could plant them. Why don't they?"

Not everyone is a fan of the tree-chopping movement, though. Montclair's Rees Jones, the so-called "Open Doctor" for his work renovating Bethpage Black and other top courses, called it a "huge mistake" except in the case of a few select courses.
Would those be at the courses undoing your dad's work?
"Trees are a part of golf, as we saw last year on the final hole of the Open, where Phil Mickelson lost because he hit his last drive into the trees," Jones said. "This is a very dangerous trend."

Dangerous? No, dangerous is a member of the Jones family meddling with a classic course!

David Fay, executive director of the United States Golf Association, said he favors cutting back certain trees on certain courses, but not everywhere.

"It depends on the course," Fay said. "In the cases of both Plainfield and Oakmont, I am a big fan of what the two clubs have done. Ditto Winged Foot."

And this is beautiful...

Jones said Donald Ross, who designed Plainfield in 1921, intended for his courses to have trees. He worries that all the tree-cutting will render the wide-open courses too easy for the world's top golfers, who can now bomb drives 350 yards without worrying about hitting the so-called bunkers in the sky.

"At Augusta they are planting trees, just for this reason," Jones pointed out. 

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Trump, Vol. 1

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trump_headshot02_299x400.jpgSI's Michael Bamberger had the uneviable task of playing each of Donald Trump'sDavid Fay bloated golf courses and filed a lengthy essay on his good times. Well, at least the online version seems a lot longer than the print version, or maybe I just missed a page? Anyway, a few nuggets, including this on the USGA and Executive Director David Fay.

In the men's locker room, on darkly stained doors with gold hinges, there were lockers bearing the names of several USGA executives. Working at the USGA is about like working in a university, in terms of salary and benefits, and the initiation fee at Bedminster is $350,000, with annual dues of around $18,000. The club's not meant for those living in the genteel poverty of golf administration.

"Do you have corporate memberships here?" I asked Trump.

"No," he quickly answered.

"What about for the USGA guys?" I asked.

"For them I do." It meant this: The top USGA executives were welcome at the club as honorary members. Certain USGA executives have enjoyed such privileges at various nearby oldline clubs, clubs owned by their memberships. But Trump's a new kind of personality for the USGA, and his course is a new kind of course.

Which is exactly why they should decline!

Hmm...fast forward to this long overdue clarification.

On Jan. 21 USA Today published a front-page story that outlined Trump's golfing ambitions, most particularly his desire to have a U.S. Open at Bedminster, his New Jerseycourse. But there was one paragraph in the story that caused problems. In the story Trump describes David Fay, the executive director of the USGA, as a member of the club who plays the course frequently and has a locker near Trump's.

Fay read the story, seething. He told me later that he was only an honorary member and that he had played the course as an honorary member exactly once, and that if he had a locker there, he knew nothing about it.

Whoa there. So he did accept an honorary membership from a guy who you know badly wants a U.S. Open? And you thought the Donald wouldn't take advantage in his own special way? Okay! 

Let The Oakmont Previews Begin...

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oakmont2.jpgI rolled my eyes through E.M. Swift's excellent Golf Digest piece on the Oakmont members and their obsession with humiliating guests via greens stimping at 15 and other nonsense.  There really is more to the game than inflicting misery, isn't there?

Meanwhile Gerry Dulac looks at the club's tree removal for Golf World, building on his original Post-Gazette piece, and offering some fresh insights into the politics:

The decision to get rid of all the trees created one of the most contentious periods in club history, pitting members who liked shaded, tree-lined fairways against those who sought to restore Oakmont to its original design (and, by doing so, improve turf conditions). It didn't help that some of the trees were secretly removed without the consent of the membership. But with the U.S. Open returning for the first time in 13 years, most of the members have apparently embraced the new look, even if some are reluctant to say so publicly. Trees have been replaced with high fescue grass that sways in the wind, creating the Scottish look Fownes desired.

"If [the support is] not 100 percent, I don't know who is on the other side," says Ford, Oakmont's pro since 1979. "There is no grumbling at all. Everybody is very upbeat about it."

To be sure, the new-look Oakmont has received rave reviews from just about everyone in golf. What's more, the restoration, which began shortly after the club hosted the 1992 U.S. Women's Open, has helped restore some luster to the Oakmont tradition. Because of the changes, Oakmont has moved up to No. 5 on Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Courses, behind only Pine Valley, Shinnecock Hills, Augusta National and Cypress Point. Even the USGA is pleased with the new look, advising other clubs seeking to undergo similar restoration to form a committee and visit Oakmont.
Fast forward... 
Oakmont's decision to remove trees was not widely embraced, even outside the membership. Environmentalists wrote letters and e-mails, protesting the wide-ranging elimination and citing the ecological problems created by their loss. A local church even offered prayers, asking for the trees' survival. Internally, some club members threatened lawsuits, claiming trees were removed without their knowledge.

"There are now 85 bunkers on the Ailsa and this plodder seemed to splash out of most of them."

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The Scotsman's Mike Aitken hunkers down in full resort-newsletter mode and swoons breathlessly over the R&A's distance deregulation driven changes to Turnberry, artfully running through the cringe-worthy checklist of what a major championship "test" is to provide.

In terms of heightening the difficulty of the Ailsa - both Tom Watson and Nick Price won at Turnberry with 72 hole totals of 268, the lowest winning scores for an Open in Scotland - the most significant changes have taken place at the 16th, 17th and 18th holes. The 16th, once pretty but toothless, has been transformed. By moving the fairway left, the re-modelled par 4 has become a 458-yard dogleg which approaches the same green from a far trickier angle.
Key word, trickier. That usually means rigged to combat the distance jumps that we failed to understand and regulate.
This alteration enabled Martin Ebert from MacKenzie Ebert course designers, with input from the Royal and Ancient,

 His name's Peter Dawson...sorry, continue... 

to create a new back tee for the 17th which stretches a previously soft par 5 to 558 yards. Throw in a new 18th tee built to the left of the 17th fairway and it's little wonder George Brown, Turnberry's golf course manager, believes the alterations to the last three holes have added a stroke-and-a-half of difficulty to the finish.
And now you know why they haven't turned out a decent architect since MacKenzie, and he wasn't really even Scottish. 
Where previously the aspiring champion standing on the 16th tee thought about making a couple of birdies, matching par is now no disgrace.
Well, and you know Turnberry has produced such dogs for winners. Watson, Norman, Price and that horrible duel in '77! It had to go!
According to Michael Tait, director of the R&A, the changes to the Ailsa are sure to enhance the reputation of a links which hasn't staged an Open since Nick Price clutched the Claret Jug in 1994. "It's important at any Open venue to have closing holes which will test the best players in the world and we believe the changes at 16, 17 and 18 will give Turnberry a very strong finish," said Tait. "The burn in front of the 16th green didn't really come into play for the top players before. By re-routing the hole, and changing the angle, we feel the second shot there is much more challenging.
Yawn... 
"The Ailsa has always been renowned as the most scenically beautiful links on the championship rota and we were fortunate to be able to build new tees on the seventh and the tenth holes which add to the visual appeal as well as toughening the golf course. The new tee on the seventh has been built on reclaimed land from the sea, while the new tenth tee, with a shot over a rocky promontory, is quite spectacular."

As well as adding 227 yards of length - the par-70 Ailsa measures 7,224 yards compared to 6,967 in 1994 - 21 new bunkers have also been built. Having played the course last week with Stewart Selbie, Turnberry's manager, it is clear how shrewdly these hazards have been deployed. There are now 85 bunkers on the Ailsa and this plodder seemed to splash out of most of them.

Okay everyone on three, one, two, three, "oy vey!"

Golf.com's Ten Most Overrated Courses

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may30_overrated06_600x600.jpgNo byline on this one, and it's hard to argue with a list of overrated courses including Sahallee (left...I know, looking a tad tired) and topped by Medinah No. 3. But this seemed way harsh Joe, err, I mean, whoever wrote this:

Admittedly, nice guys Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw had a tough act to follow in doing the third course at Bandon Dunes Resort, and on an inland plot at that. But those early raves have turned to furrowed brows for those who properly contemplate its back nine flaws, chiefly the ridiculous 14th hole and the inexplicably left-tilting landing area on 16.

Perfection Is Boring

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Thanks to reader Rob for noting Lorne Rubenstein's column pondering the perfection of Muirfield Village's conditioning and role that such pristine conditions play in the game.

The problem is that golfers, and not only tour professionals, expect perfect conditions in modern golf. They want to know that a ball hit into a spot in the fairway will stay there and not careen madly off a firm slope into a bunker. When they do find sand, they expect a perfect lie. They also expect the sand to be the same in every bunker on the course.

Nicklaus took some action in this regard. He furrowed the bunkers last year so that not every ball that settles into the sand will sit up. Some players whined. The furrows aren't as deep this year, but they're still furrowed. "Bunkers are meant to be a hazard," Nicklaus said. "Why have them otherwise?"

That's a good point. Nevertheless, Muirfield Village and most every PGA Tour course still offers ideal conditions. But golf was never meant to be played on courses so produced and contrived that they might as well be domed. Barring wild weather or stupidly narrow fairways and rough so high that there's no shot to play but a hard thwack out, today's courses are mostly the same and mostly boring.

 

Avenel Redo Update

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Leonard Shapiro reports in the Washington Post that the TPC Avenel redo is still going to be pricey:

At the moment, the course is getting permits approved. The next step is a meeting before the planning board on July 12.

The PGA Tour, Sullivan said, has set the money aside. They'll pour $8 million into the clubhouse, including expansions to dining areas, upgrading locker rooms and new fixtures and furniture. Another $12 million will go into the course, with what Sullivan described as "significant changes in design of tee boxes, bunkers and green complexes, as well as all new bentgrass on the fairways and greens."

$12 million for an existing course! Amazing. 

"If they want to learn the business, they've got to pay their dues and go and work under some other people."

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Thanks to reader Tom for this Lewine Mair piece on Jack Nicklaus criticizing player architects for mailing in designs. Oy vey...Jack. You can't have your son-in-law designing courses under your name and go on rants like this!

The ball, fine. But come on, this?

Mair writes:

Jack Nicklaus has let the cat out of the bag. In an interview for CNN, to appear on Saturday, Nicklaus confirms that there are top golfers who have lent their names to courses which they have never clapped eyes on.

Nicklaus does not include Tiger Woods, whose first design project is under way in Dubai. Though he begins by saying: "Tiger doesn't know anything about designing golf courses at the moment", he makes it clear that when Woods lends his name to a project, "you know it's going to be good".

It is more the general trend of tour players assuming the role of designers with which Nicklaus is so uncomfortable. "There's a lot of fellas out here who know how to play the game, but they don't really understand a golf course," he says. "If they want to learn the business, they've got to pay their dues and go and work under some other people. That way, they'll not only be able to use their name to produce a facility, but they'll produce a facility they're proud of.

"What you don't want," he continues, "is to have people saying, 'This is a Joe Jones' course' when Joe Jones was probably never there."
Nicklaus is interviewed on CNN International's Living Golf on Saturday at 6:30pm.

 

McCabe On TPC Boston

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The Boston Globe's Jim McCabe files the first review of Gil Hanse and Brad Faxon's TPC Boston redo. Unfortunately, no photos with the story online or at the club's web site.

Dramatic new bunkering with grass that falls back into the sand caught the group's attention at many holes, starting at the first, and a series of "chocolate drops," which are mounds of grass-covered dirt, now lend character to holes. Aesthetically, TPC Boston looks so much better than before that Hanse should be considered a miracle-worker. He has done what any great designer strives to do -- players will not only have to think their way around , they'll have to hit a variety of shots.

Of course, fickle PGA Tour players surely will critique the changes. Those involved are especially eager to hear the reaction to the par-4 fourth, changed from a goofy, dogleg right of 425 yards to a fairly straight and drivable par-4 of 299 yards -- but one that features a green that can't be more than 3,300 square feet and provides demanding shots from just off the green. So, fire away, laddies.

Dramatic, too, are the changes to the par-5 seventh, which now features a cross bunker roughly 140 yards from the green and creative greenside mounding, and to the par-5 18th, to which Hanse has added a strip of rough stretching out from a bunker. The par-3 16th? It is shorter, but now the green sits closer to the pond, so it's a more daunting shot. The par-4 17th? It might just be the best hole on the back nine, a brilliant piece of work that features one large grassy mound on each side of the fairway, but just enough room for those players who feel they can thread a draw between them.

Will some players moan? Sure. It's usually the second order of business at tournaments, after hopping into the courtesy car.

That's one part of the equation that isn't new.

''I wish the USGA was talking to us, but they're not.''

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Len Ziehm details some of the changes Rees Jones plans to make at Cog Hill.  Naturally the latest pricey toy designed to please the USGA is part of the package: a SubAir system under the greens. And guess who will pay for it?

This was buried deep in the story...
Jones' involvement is no guarantee, though, that Cog Hill will get its coveted U.S. Open.

''I wish the USGA was talking to us,'' Jemsek said, ''but they're not.''

“We are at or beyond any other Open in terms of general inventory sales"

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Tod Leonard reports on the cash cow that the Torrey Pines U.S. Open is becoming and boy just in the knick of time to help pay those pesky USGA employees who expect things like...health benefits! Damn people!

“It has gone extremely well,” Griffin said. “We are at or beyond any other Open in terms of general inventory sales and gross dollar sales. People were really starved for something like this, and they have really embraced the opportunity.”

We're moving inventory! That's what happens when you have good product. Just ask Tony Montana.

“It has been terrific, as good as it gets,” said Pete Bevacqua, the USGA's managing director for all U.S. Opens.

The Open by which all other Opens will be judged – at least before Torrey Pines – is the 2002 event at Bethpage Black on Long Island that generated enormous interest because it was the first Open to be staged on a state-operated facility where everyday golfers regularly played.

Bethpage smashed attendance records, drawing 297,500 fans for the week, and Golfweek magazine reported the gross earnings likely exceeded $100 million for the nonprofit USGA, which uses the money to stage all of its other championships and support its golf programs.

There was an enormous city of 78 hospitality tents at Bethpage that cost as much as $175,000 apiece.

At Torrey Pines, the first municipal course to host an Open, there will be about 60 tents in three villages on the North Course (many of them going for $210,000 each for the week), but there are 11 other hospitality areas, mostly situated in the Lodge, that well exceed $175,000.

"That 77,000-square foot testament to conspicuously conspicuous consumption."

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They won't be framing this John Steinbreder column on the TPC Sawgrass monstrocity. As he did in the wonderful Club Life, Steinbreder puts the new structure's excess into perspective.

For one thing, a clubhouse should never draw more scrutiny than the course, or courses, it is designed to serve. It should be, at most, a compliment to the track on which the rounds are played, and only a secondary point of interest.
And more importantly...
My fear is that its vast size and scope might inspire others to go to similar extremes when building or modernizing the places where they don their Eccos before a round, much in the way Green Chairmen have for years responded to the impeccable look and lushness of Augusta National by attempting similar feats on their own tracks, often with disastrous results. The temptation to follow in those footsteps can indeed be great, and only the most sensible and steadfast club leaders will be able to ward off fellow members who decide they must have at least some of what the folks at Sawgrass have, no matter how inane or incongruous those desires may be.