Talking (2010 Majors) With Rod Morri

Talkingolf.com's Rod Morri interviewed me this week about the 2010 majors and in particular, the architecture and setups we saw. It's a long one...you were warned. But Rod knows his stuff and asks some great questions.

There is also a version with media player embedded on the News And Reviews page.

Rod has also interviewed Tom Doak and Bill Coore.

Who Dustin Johnson Should Be Expecting Thank You Notes From...

1. Pete Dye - should thank DJ for creating a distraction that will have us forgetting about the worst goofiest finishing holes imaginable. The 17th has been a well known absurdity at 235 yards with extreme banks more suited for a 135 yard par-3, not something receiving mid-to-long irons. But the re-worked 18th was the real standout Sunday, with the new green not improving matters over last time and the re-imagined strategic options non-existent throughout the tournament. That, however, was also the fault of...

2. Kerry Haigh - The PGA's setup man didn't get Whistling Straits right. This is a course that has to be set up with a 20 mph wind in mind no matter the forecast, and the last two PGA's there have given the impression they were not thinking of the effects of wind. There is way too much dark green, U.S. Open-style rough in places that Dye intended as fairway, or worse, thick stuff harvested next to greens. It's all made more disappointing when you hear that they were out primping the stuff up. (On a faux links!?) There also did not appear to be enough varying of yardages and in the case of No. 18, an unfortunate use of a front left hole location likely not accessible with a wedge, much less 5-irons on up to hybrids as we saw Sunday.

When the best shot--according to Faldo and Nantz--is a 5-iron to 20 feet from Rory McIlroy, something is amiss (unless they are playing into a gale force wind, they were not). For all of the people who like to brand what the USGA's Mike Davis does as gimmicky, you can imagine what he might have tried: use the same hole location but move the tee up 75 yards to give the players a chance to use the new fairway and leave themselves with a flip wedge. Potential risk-reward and maybe even better television. This also would have taken those sandy pits along the right side of the fairway out of play, and we probably wouldn't be talking about crowd control and walking rules officials today. But thanks to Johnson's mistake, few noticed just how awful the hole played all week and especially Sunday. (No scoring average for Sunday is available on the website, I guess we'll have to wait for Golf World to hit the mailboxes?).

3. Tiger Woods - He missed the Ryder Cup team on points and now, according to a Tweet by Steve DiMeglio, may miss the playoffs. Unfathomable! And yet, no one is talking about it today.

Dear Dustin: Thanks, From Tiger, Kerry and Pete.

Flashback: "Let me say that I saw flesh-and-blood children digging up rocks and building sand castles in bunkers overlooking the eighth green."**

John Garrity, on Wednesday of PGA week, foreshadowing the inevitable questions about Whistling Straits's sandy hazards with two styles of maintenance, two types of preparation and most definitley two types of supervision.

The sand hazards at Whistling Straits are unlike those at any other major championship. Roped-off spectator paths lead you right into the sand, which is neatly raked on one side of the rope and churned up like a child's sandbox on the other. And before you challenge that last metaphor, let me say that I saw flesh-and-blood children digging up rocks and building sand castles in bunkers overlooking the eighth green.

Update on 2010-08-16 20:02 by Geoff

**Nice spot by reader Michael C. of a PGA posted Getty Image of kids playing in a Whistling Straits bunker. Adorable on so many levels. And screen captured here just in case it should magically disappear into cyberspace.

"I think it's a good thing for St. Andrews so long as it does not stifle progress. I would want to be very satisfied that that was the case before being a supporter of it."

The sacred contours of the second hole should be protected from "progress." (Click to enlarge)Lost in the R&A press conference talk over changing the Old Course boundaries, the last minute rough mowing and the overall jaw dropping wackiness that is a the R&A trying to set up their home links course, was a question and Peter Dawson answer in today's presser. Steve Elling reports:

The Old Course has reportedly been listed as a nomination candidate for World Heritage status, a program run by the United Nations to help ensure that cultural icons remain protected, if not unmolested, for enjoyment by future generations.

Sounds like a perfect match for the so-called Home of Golf, yet Dawson said he only conditionally supported the notion -- providing that it must still allow some wiggle room for further R&A tinkering.

"I think it's a good thing for St. Andrews so long as it does not stifle progress," Dawson said. "I would want to be very satisfied that that was the case before being a supporter of it."

Of course, his definition of progress is a lot different than the way others see it!

Kostis Proposes The Impossible

Warm chuckles to be had by most reading Peter Kostis' proposal to socialize the costs of runaway technology by suggesting the USGA build two of its pricey facilities to host various national championships. If written with a trace of irony in making the USGA pay for faulty regulation, I'd say it was a brilliant column, but I think he actually believes this is a good idea and a great use of millions of USGA dollars. (Assuming they had to write a check for USGA greens with Sub-Air they might rethink their subsurface standards, and if they owned their own courses they might get tired of adding new tees and narrowing fairways).

Anyway...

Each facility would be home to three courses: one to host the U.S. Open, another for the U.S. Women's Open and a third for amateur events — the men's and women's U.S. Amateurs, the Walker Cup and the Curtis Cup.

The most elite American designers would be asked to create these courses, with input from the USGA — Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore; Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish; Jack Nicklaus; Tom Doak; Rees Jones; Robert Trent Jones Jr. ; Pete Dye and Tom Fazio. Who wouldn't be honored to donate his time and expertise to such an amazing project?

Getting Morrish and Weiskopf together, now that would a miracle.

By having its own national championship facilities, the USGA would have year-round control of the speed and firmness of the greens, the thickness and depth of the rough, the trees and the width of the fairways. And because the courses would be built with modern golfers and equipment in mind, we would see challenging but logical holes instead of tricked-out versions of classic layouts. Imagine fairway bunkers that guard the fairway instead of being 10 yards in the rough because of altered fairway lines. With modern SubAir drainage systems, the USGA could control runout in fairways and firmness of greens even in rainy conditions.

Are we doing SubAir under fairways now too?  That would only cost what, $40 million!

Think about all that for a minute. By creating these facilities, courses like Merion, Winged Foot, Pebble Beach and Shinnecock Hills would no longer have to be lengthened or altered to meet USGA championship standards. The crown jewels of American golf course architecture could remain exactly as they were intended.

Which was what, museum pieces?

No those great places were for the golfers first, their architecture and the bigtime events that have defined them and will continue to do so. At least, I hope.

Pebble's 17th, Another Look At The Evolution

Not to beat a dead golf hole, but I just loved this effort by the art department (a.k.a. Tom Naccarato) to show us how much the fronting bunker at Pebble Beach's controversial 17th has eaten into the green. You may recall I detailed the issues here in this story and video.

First, the historic image (click on images if you wish to enlarge them):
 

And now, mid-Photoshop layering, the old bunker and the evolved together:

 

The view today:

And a restored look: