Moonah Madness

This sounds familiar (thanks to reader Michael for this):

The Australian PGA Tour has fined its own chairman, Wayne Grady, as the fallout over Moonah Links continued yesterday on the final day of the Australian Open.

Grady was fined an undisclosed sum over his verbal spray directed at Australian Golf Union executive director Colin Phillips on Friday. At least three other players — Stephen Leaney, Stuart Appleby and Craig Parry — are also to be fined for their criticisms of the course and the AGU, which runs the Open.

The fines come from the tour's tournament director Andrew Langford-Jones.

"Obviously 'Grades' committed a breach of our code of conduct," said the tour's general manager, Gus Seebeck, yesterday. "As our chairman he knows he carries extra responsibility to stay within that code. The comments that were made were not meant for public consumption, but they were overheard by certain people, unfortunately, and they were of a personal nature.

"Grades knows this, but it's a closed shop now, and it's between Wayne and Colin to patch up their personal issues."

Grady's attack came during the furore over the state of the 12th green on Friday, when Peter O'Malley's ball blew off the green in high winds. Phillips was the tournament director, and this was his last assignment after 27 years in charge of the AGU.

Doesn't this boil down to the same thing? Today's players are not eloquent when it comes to explaining why setups are over-the-top, and governing bodies either (A) don't have much idea what they are doing when it comes to course preparation in inclement weather, or (B) are trying to produce a "respectable" winning score in the face of major changes in the sport?

Moonah course architect Peter Thomson responded to the player complaints, and it leaves me wondering if the golfing great has spent just a bit too much time sitting around the Royal and Ancient clubhouse listening to clueless administrators commiserating about the spoiled modern pro. From Martin Blake's story:

Thomson responded wryly when I asked: "Do you think some of these players spend so much time in the U.S., where they are pampered and looked after so much with course preparation and everything else, that when they come home and it gets a bit tough they don't react well?

"I'm impressed with your opinion . . . I know that is what everybody else thinks," he replied.

"But, as a side issue, it has struck me that it would be a very sad day if the players were able to select the courses on which they wanted to play.

"The R&A would not have a bar of that, nor would the USGA. In fact, for the last 50 years of my lifetime, the USGA has been responsible for making courses so difficult that people take three irons off the tee.

"But neither the R&A nor the USGA buckle when they get a bit of criticism. I would like to think our championship joins that category.

"In order to convince the world that we have a championship that matches the big two, we have to have a comparable course. That's what this is."

Trying to mimic the USGA and R&A course setup strategies probably isn't the wisest thing to do these days. But based on the player feedback, I'd say the AGU succeeded in one respect.

The Art of Course Setup, Vol. 467

From the wild and wacky Australian Open:

Stephen Leaney refused to sign his card for a 74 in protest and was disqualified.

He had a bogey and playing partner Peter O'Malley had a triple-bogey at the par-3 12th, prompting tournament officials to start lightly watering the green for every subsequent group to negate the impact of the strong northerly wind.

O'Malley had a par putt of less than a meter that was caught in a wind gust and rolled three meters past the pin. After he marked and replaced the ball, it rolled further from the hole. He asked officials if he could replace the ball again, but the request was disallowed.

"You can imagine how we felt," said Leaney. "We'd got the rules officials over to make a decision and then they recognize what was going on and water it."

O'Malley, who made the cut at 4-over, declined to comment.

Lengthgate?

My latest Golfobserver.com column is now up. Lengthgate looks at the accusation many players are making privately that the Tour is encouraging the extension of courses to produce star-studded leaderboards.

Azinger On Disney Telecast

Mike Tirico wrapped up the Funai Classic telecast by noting the low scores despite the lengthening of Disney World's Magnolia course and asked for Paul Azinger's final thoughts.

PAUL AZINGER: Well it was lift, clean and place all week and that made it a lot easier. But I'm always a fan of David being able to beat Goliath. You know, Corey Pavin could beat Greg Norman and Gary Player could beat Jack Nicklaus. And if we keep getting longer and longer every week it's going to be a one dimensional show.

IAN BAKER-FINCH: That's right. 

Casper on Course Lengthening Trend

Add Bob Casper to the list this week saying that lengthening courses is a mistake. His solution:

No doubt, distance is an advantage off the tee. But firm greens and flyer rough negates the upper hand of the power game. It's a scary notion that millions of dollars can be spent for renovations and restorations to courses in hopes of affecting a tiny percentage of players known as bombers. The formula for success for all golf's governing bodies should be firm -- and unchangeable.

Firm is good, firm is good.

And thankfully, Casper never once mentions narrowing the courses any further (he, unlike some, apparently realizes that there is a point when 20 yards is closer to a walkway than a fairway). But it is interesting how there continue to be more calls for rough when this year's flogging approach has only become more accepted despite efforts to stop it. The more they narrow fairways and the more rough that is harvested, the more the players just swing away. 

More O'Meara

Tim Rosaforte writes about the lengthening of Disney's Magnolia course, where he says the 7,500 yard course has become major like in toughness (well unless you look at the scores).

"This is the Funai Classic," said John Cook after his practice round, "not the U.S. Open."

Rosaforte provides another opportunity for more Mark O'Meara brilliance. He, the co-architect of the splendid TPC Valencia (where the even the Champions Tour refuses to go).

"I'd like to see them pinch in the fairways and plant roses bushes with big thorns," O'Meara said. "If you want everybody to compete, play a course hard and fast. At Augusta, take out the secondary cut and take the pine needles out into the fairway and let the trees be the equalizer. Most of these doglegs today, these guys hit it over the doglegs and the hazards. You have to hit the ball long. You have to be strong and you've got to be powerful."

How to fix the game, by Mark O'Meara

At least Mark O'Meara honestly sums up what all of the arguing over lengthening and narrowing courses is really about: scores, and prevention of low ones.

"What they should do, if they want to fix the game, is look at the places with the highest scoring averages," said O'Meara, who dabbles in course design. "Make courses drier and faster, with more trees, make it more penal. Make players think a little more instead of just reaching for the driver and swinging as hard as they can."

Fix the game, look to the places with the highest scoring averages. What a great idea!

As for his comments about addressing flogging (add trees, rough, etc, etc, etc), haven't they already done that?  (Except fast and firm, which is difficult when the Tour seems to be followed by rain every week.)

Flashback

While doing research for a story, I stumbled across this article on Tiger from May, 2001. He was asked if course design was in his future.

Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player began their design businesses in their 30s and 40s.  The 25-year-old Woods said he has no clear timetable for beginning a design career. He also said that he wouldn't necessarily design long courses just because he is known for his length.

"You really don't have to have the hole 470 or 480 yards for it to be challenging," Woods said.

I point this out because 470-480 was sort of still a "long" hole four years ago for most players, except maybe Tiger.

Yet how many times during the Presidents Cup did you see players hitting wedges into 475 yard holes?  And NBC's announcers making sure to point it out?

While watching I was thinking that you would need another 75-100 yards to create a "long par-4" in the modern professional game, assuming you would like to see a mid-to-long iron approach.

Fast and Fiery

Lawrence Donegan writes from Firestone about Paul McGinley's fine play and his thoughts on course setup.

Paul McGinley, one of the more thoughtful members of the professional circuit and therefore one of the more strident critics of the obsession with ever longer courses, sounded like a man who had found nirvana yesterday and not just because he shot a four-under-par 66 to vault up the leaderboard at the NEC Invitational here. Firestone Country Club, built in 1929 as a recreational facility for the workers at the eponymous rubber company, is an old-style course, its narrow fairways lined with matured trees and its greens defended by subtle slopes. At 7,360 yards it is not particularly long by PGA tour standards, yet with the average score for the first two rounds at a fraction below 72 - two over par - it is one of the more troublesome.

What does it say when 7,360 yards is "not particularly long by PGA Tour standards?"

"That's because the course is playing fast and fiery," the Irishman said. "Why don't people get it into their heads that the way to stop technology is not necessarily holding the ball back. Let's find a way of making the courses fast and fiery like it was today. That way length isn't so important; then ball control becomes important; course management becomes a factor; keeping the ball below the pin as well."

Sadly Paul, most in golf think that fast and fiery is bad because such conditions merely shorten courses. The other benefits (premium on placement, variety of shots, accuracy, introduction of temptation, etc...) just don't outweigh the desire to prevent the occassional 350 yard drive. Of course, the players carry it so far now (thanks to those workout programs) that the 350 yard drives are all carry and no roll!