Jack: I Could Have Won 25

Paul Forsyth pulls all sorts of fun stuff out of Jack Nicklaus, who was in one of his chatty moods at the Open Championship. On his 18 majors:

“Once I got past that record, I didn’t have a big push to do much else,” he says. “I didn’t know I had Tiger Woods pushing me. I would have probably worked harder and maybe won more if I had. I can’t say I prepared for every major the way I should have. I can’t say that I didn’t give away opportunities. Records were never really that important to me until it was too late to go back and go for them.

“Never in my life did I add up how many I had won. Tiger has been adding from day one. He has grown up that way, and the more he does it, the more he is reminded of it. He doesn’t know anything else.”

And...

Nicklaus is proud of his majors, but there are more important things. “To me, my record is 18 professional majors, five kids, 46 years of marriage, 19 grandkids and a successful business. I have other friends, I have enjoyed what I have done, and I have been able to smell the flowers along the way. Those are the things that are important to me, not the 18 majors. The 18 majors are not my life, they are part of it.

“If I had been really serious about building a record that nobody was going to touch, I wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of the other things I have enjoyed. I have had a very balanced life.

“I spend time with my kids, I have grown up knowing them, and if golf had been the only thing I did, that wouldn’t have happened. I could have won 20 or 25 majors, but I think I would have been a miserable person.”

The implication is that Woods, whose late father compared him to Gandhi, is not on this earth to have a good time. Should the world No 1 successfully defend his title at Royal Liverpool this afternoon, the biggest prize will not be the Claret Jug, which he has won twice already, but the fact that it will take him to within seven majors of the holy grail. From the moment he pinned the Nicklaus record on his bedroom wall, his only dream has been to achieve immortality.

“Tiger is a pretty well- balanced kid, who likes to do other things, like diving and fishing, but he is living in a fishbowl. He can’t go anywhere without people reminding him who he is and what he is here for. I never used to worry about anything like that. I could go to any restaurant and nobody bothered me. He’s like a rock star. They’re on top of him all the time. I wouldn’t trade my life for his, not for any money you want to name.”

And this is fun, considering he'll be President's Cup captain again in 2007:

“In this year’s US Open, six of the top 10 were foreign players, and so were 14 of the top 20. We have some very good players, but if you look past Tiger, Phil (Mickelson) and Jim Furyk, it’s pretty thin.”

Neither is he especially impressed with the Europeans, save for a select two or three. Nicklaus, who is captain of the US Presidents Cup team, says the world’s best players are from neither continent.

“There are more good world players than there are US and European players combined. Maybe, in the Ryder Cup, it should be the US and Europe versus the rest of the world.”

Player, Harmon Call For Rollback

Alex Lowe on SportingLife.com, writes about an interview given by Gary Player on BBC Radio Five Live:

Player has been saddened by the sight of Tiger Woods and Ernie Els using long irons off the tee this week because their drivers would send the ball too far on the bone-dry links at Hoylake.

He has urged the Royal and Ancient, the world body in charge of setting golf's rules and regulations, to take immediate action.

"As a spectator, I want to see Tiger and Ernie and the top players taking a driver," Player said.

"They are all hitting off with three irons and four irons. The ball is going so far that they can do that and I find it very sad the Open championship has come to that.

"The R&A and the USGA (United States Golf Association) have to cut the ball back by 50 yards.

"In 30 years' time players are going to be hitting the ball 50 yards beyond Tiger.

"It is a technology issue. The galleries have said to me 'I want to see these guys hit a driver'. These fellas are all hitting irons off the tee.

And...

Butch Harmon, Woods' former coach, agreed with Player and insisted there is no problem with the professional game operating under different regulations to amateur golf.

"The ball is the big problem. It goes so much further than it ever did," Harmon told Sportsweek on BBC Radio Five Live.

"If you take these players back to equipment Gary won his three Opens with they wouldn't take irons off the tee because they would then have to hit woods onto the green.

"The R&A and USGA have to step up to the plate and decide what they are going to do with it. Professional golf can have own rules compared to amateur golf."

Donald: "Everything I do in my swing is geared towards hitting it higher and farther."

Following the third round, Luke Donald talking to the media:

Q. Is it a problem that playing so much in America you don't play on linksy courses? Jack was saying yesterday that you should be able to play on any course.

LUKE DONALD: Everything I do in my swing is geared towards hitting it higher and farther. That's very much against what you need on a links course. But in saying that, most people are doing that, even over here in the European Tour. It's not an excuse.

Falling Back On Marketing

Peter Bart, writing in the New York Times about Hollywood's struggle to make decent films:

Today’s studios, however, are peopled by marketing gurus and Harvard M.B.A.’s. They are keenly aware that the ground is shifting under them, as it did 30 years ago. Their young audience is distracted by video games and the Internet. The huge DVD business has hit the wall.

Their basic response, however, is to fall back on marketing, to tell the public what it wants...

Sound familiar?

Instead of wondering if ratings are declining because golf's "product" is less interesting to watch, the Commissioners fall back on marketing to enhance the product. The influence of setup and architecture or the role of technology plays? Not on their radar screens.

Norman v. Uihlein

Greg Norman argues for bifurcation, Wally Uihlein fights for his bottom line in Guardian point-counterpoint arguments that have appeared elsewhere. Norman:

The distance that pros hit the ball now is affecting the long-term vitality of the game. Not only are classic courses being made obsolete, strategy and skill are being taken out of golf. And lengthening and toughening courses is adding to the expense and time required for the public to play the game.

Uihlein:

Yet the professional game continues to grow and prosper because of the abilities of the players, and because the rules in place more than adequately control technological influence.

Hale Hale

We've got another anti-golf ball technology, pro-communist sympathizer in the game as John Huggan outs Hale Irwin who was playing the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

Take the dogleg right 7th hole. After Irwin slid his drive perfectly round the corner, just as the course designer intended - the Englishman simply blasted his tee-shot over the high tree on the right and into the distant fairway. While impressive, it was also a depressing sight, one that was not lost on Irwin either.

"There's a limit to what an older player can do, or what their minds will let them do," he explains. "When you nurture your game by manipulating the ball around the course - fading and drawing shots, hitting the ball high and low - you can't suddenly switch to hitting the same shot over and over.

"It's a whole different mentality and one I have tried to avoid. It just isn't my game and it's so hard to with today's equipment anyway.

"That shot I hit on the first hole is a perfect example. Twenty years ago that ball would have been in the loch way left of the green. It would have curved that much. But now what feels like a snap-hook only turns a few yards in the air."

Still, he is not above sticking up for his own generation and the way they used to play. Like so many, Irwin is not a fan of the direction modern technology has taken golf.

"I've been impressed with the play I have seen here this week," he conceded. "Every time I go play with the 'kids' the calibre of play never ceases to impress me. But they aren't any better than the great players of the past; it is just that they get so much benefit from modern equipment. Today's clubs and balls allow a very different type of play.

"Take today, Paul and I weren't really playing the same game. Like so many, he hits it high and launches it out there. They don't have to worry too much about the wind and just go for it. That's not depressing as much as it is just different. But I do feel that the game is suffering just a bit.

"The players of the past - the Nicklauses and the Watsons - manoeuvred the ball. They hit it high and they hit it low, shaping their shots to the conditions. But today's player just hits the one shot. If there's a debate between a 7-iron or an 8-iron they choose the 9-iron! They just go ahead and kill it. I don't say that disrespectfully, but it is not the game I know or the game I play." 

Golf On Steroids

Eric Rozenman in the Chicago Tribune says golf has its own steroid issue to deal with.

Chicago-area golf fans can witness routine drives at this weekend's Western Open at Cog Hill that would have been impossible barely a decade ago. That's because golf's on steroids. Not the players, the equipment.

We'll let this next reference to Augusta National Country Club slide because it's leading to a slick analogy.

Monster drives have changed the game so much that long par fours that used to call for a mid-iron second shot to the green now take a mere pitch. Four years ago, William "Hootie" Johnson, then chairman of Augusta National Country Club, which hosts the Masters, mused out loud about requiring a low-octane ball. Honorary club members Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer applauded, but Johnson backed off, lengthening the course instead.

That, of course, is the opposite of the Indianapolis 500 model. As engine technology advanced, race officials imposed power restrictions rather than change the event to the "Indy 600."

And...

The royal and ancient game of golf is undergoing the same extreme makeover suffered by auto racing when dragsters displaced sports cars: bigger, louder, but less sporting.

And...

Golf needs to end the distortion caused by ever more juiced equipment. The game must re-emphasize skill over technology. Today's "live" balls are live enough--and metal woods, like metal bats, belong in the minor leagues.

Tarde: Wishes Distance Regulation Had Happened

In his August, 2006 editor's column, Golf Digest editor Jerry Tarde lists his "Top 5 Wished They'd Happened" moments in golf. Number 5:

The USGA holding the line on distance in 1976, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006. 

This, combined with his June Top 5 that included 4 ways to deal with distance (only one suggestion to do nothing), requires that I add Tarde to The List. I'm sure this will make his month.

Commish For The Day

Gary Van Sickle puts himself in the (frightening) shoes of Tim Finchem, Carolyn Bivens and David Fay, and tells us the things he'd do if he were running the game.

Pucker Up and Shill

That line about the smaller the ball, the better the sports writing? (Wind, Plimpton, Jenkins...one of 'em said it first.)

Well GolfDigest.com's "Bomb and Gouge" blog is going to do everything in its power to prove that it's not true.

This latest puckering up to a certain advertiser based in the lone state where Bruce and Steven can get married:

Gouge:  It is hard for me to say this, but if a professional golfer can average 207 yards off the tee and make the cut at the most prestigious tournament of the year, then maybe we don't need to worry so much about a rollback of any kind. 207? It is true. Rosie Jones did that this week. In fact, only the teenage wondergirl hit it farther than 280 on some of her measured drives. Hardly anyone else even came close to that. OK, so Rosie was barely in the tournament and retired from competitive golf after putting out on the 18th on Sunday. But still the average drive at the U.S. Women's Open was just 228.7, and that's hardly a threat to any golf course.

That's right, they are gauging distance by using a tournament that had standing water in its bunkers and a tournament where they couldn't even let spectators on the course on practice round Monday. Either they are intentionally misreading readers, or they didn't actually watch the event. Either way, not good. Oh but it gets better.

You want to know what's the real problem? People who complain that the golf ball is going too far may be short-sighted. The problem is that at the elite level (men) it's not the ball, it's the golf course. If men are driving it 28 percent farther than women, then why (at least in the case of the U.S. Open) are the men playing a championship course that is only about 10 percent longer? Shouldn't the U.S. Open and all significant men's championships be played at courses that are about 8,000 yards long, or at least 7,500 yards long? Well, I guess they're not because there's no room to make Winged Foot, Oakland Hills, Oak Hill, Southern Hills and Merion that long. That infatuation with the past is what Emerson called a foolish consistency. 

Whoa, we're quoting Emerson now! Deep stuff. (Note to really cool classic courses out there that are sick of spending money updating their courses so people like Bomb and Gouge can play the latest equipment they get for free: it's Mike Stachura and E. Michael Johnson, feel free to charge them double.)

BOMB: But finally, FINALLY you might be coming to your senses. The ball is not the problem. The courses are not the problem. Drivers are not the problem. Know why? They’re ain’t no stinkin’ problem! And we don’t need to go to 7,500 or 8,000 yards, either, to keep it that way.

Opponents of distance regulation have long said “grow some rough.” Worked pretty well at Winged Foot, don’t ya think?

Uh let's see. Tiger said watching the weekend was his "punishment" and according to one publication, the ratings tanked.

Worked great. 

Oh but here's the best part.

Throwing out the Match Play where they don’t keep the stats, there have been 26 events so far on the PGA Tour this year. In nine of them—more than a third—the winner has ranked 34th or higher in driving distance for the week. That’s out of about 70 players or so that make the cut. In six of those events the winner ranked 58th or higher. That’s right, 58TH—a lot closer to last than first. The winner has been in the top 10 exactly 10 times. That means sometimes distance wins and sometimes it doesn’t. And when distance is the difference-maker I’m all for it. Golf is a sport. An athletic endeavor where physical superiority should be rewarded. But unlike weight-lifting, it’s not the sole determinant of success. Tiger, Phil and Vijay may blast the cover off the ball, but I don’t think they’d be choppers if they didn’t. Holmes and John Daly and the like will wow us every so often with a week where they whack the ball a mile and hole an equally-lengthy amount of putts. But Fred Funk will win a Players and Jim Furyk a U.S. Open playing small ball.

So yes, distance only matters sometimes. That's why Bomb and Gouge continue to fight for every golfers right to buy things that let them hit the ball longer, free of USGA regulation.

If distance doesn't matter that much, then why do they so shill so hard to keep it from being regulated? 

Knowing Club Selection In Advance

Heres what Phil Mickelson had to say about his club selection on 18 at Winged Foot while meeting with da medja in Chicago:

Fortunately what I have found has helped me play well or have that type of performances these past years in the majors is that I've done the prep work beforehand and I know what club selection I'm going to hit off each tee, given weather conditions, whether it's raining, whether it's hot or not. I already know and have known for weeks in advance what clubs I'm got to hit off each tee, so it's helped me approach the tee box with confidence knowing what club I'm going to hit.

It helped me when I hit the driver on 18 at Baltusrol on the last hole and ended up making a birdie. It helped me at The Masters knowing what club and what driver I was going to hit off each tee, and it helped me at the U.S. Open. Unfortunately I didn't execute the way I wanted to.

But it has erased a lot of the doubt as to the decision-making, what club am I going to hit, what club should I hit. I already know weeks in advance, and it helps me hit those shots and visualize those shots in practice before I ever show up the week of The Open.

Now, we have debated Phil's two-driver concept at Augusta here and here and here.

But I'm wondering if his ability to select clubs in advance says something about the state of the game.

This is not a technology question, but I believe one about the state of course setup and course design.

Is there something wrong with setups and designs when a player of his magnitude (and others like him) know what they will be hitting on holes well in advance of tournament time?

Or to put it another way, is the golf more interesting and testing if the design and setup create decision-making situations that can not be made in advance?

Wind and the player's philosophy play a role in this, but isn't there something seriously wrong when some spontaneity is missing from the major championship equation?

I was both elated and troubled by Mike Davis's decision to announce the alternating of tees during the U.S. Open. Elated that he was doing it, troubled that he was giving everyone advance notice.

Don't we learn who is most skilled by finding out who can handle a club selection and playing strategy question under pressure?

Enough rambling...your thoughts? 

6200 Yards Obsolete On The LPGA Tour Now?

Sal Maiorana at the LPGA event in Rochester:

Karrie Webb may have felt like biting her tongue after completing a disappointing 2-over-par 74 in the first round of the Wegmans LPGA on Thursday.

During a pre-tournament interview, Webb was asked if Locust Hill Country Club — with its lush rough and fast greens — would be an ideal prep course for next week's U.S. Women's Open.

"I think it's perfect for driving the ball because it's really a tough challenge driving the ball," said Webb. "We're going to be facing a lot longer second shots (at Newport Country Club in the Open) into par-4s than we do here. But it's always good to touch up the wedge game and the short irons because if you are missing a few fairways at the Open, you're probably chunking it out to about that distance anyway."

Ouch.

However unintentional her backhanded swipe at Locust Hill may have been, Webb's assessment was right on. Locust Hill, set up the way it is for this tournament, is too short at 6,221 yards by today's standards, and that was definitely proven during the second round Friday.

Yes, the course has built-in defenses with its thick rough bordering firm and narrow fairways, and greens that are fast and often difficult to read. Then there's the fickle Rochester weather. Thursday it was swirling winds.

I get all that. But how do you explain this? During the first round, when the wind was whipping and many of the players said it was really tough to judge distances and select lubs, there were 35 rounds under par of 72, nearly double the first-round average of 19 over the first 29 years at Locust Hill.

Ogilvy: "golf is a better game when the ball goes shorter for us profiessionals"

Geoff Ogilvy talking to Reuters:

"I think golf is a better game when the ball goes shorter for us professionals," the 29-year-old from Melbourne said.

"I don't understand why we have to get to the point where we change the Augusta National... we had it for 70 years so why change it? Courses like that make golf more interesting."

 "We (professionals) are the top 1 per cent of golf and, at the most it's 1 per cent of that 1 per cent who really benefit. It helps the guys who didn't need the help.

"Guys who used to be able to drive 300 yards (274 metres) can now hit it 340 (310 metres). Long term it's not good for the game."

Golf as Antidote To Bonds, Enron and Abramoff!?!?!

The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger pieces together many beautiful sentences in somehow relating the no cell phone policy at Winged Foot (except for the USGA President's PDA), no cargo pants at Congressional and other "traditions" that show golf is above the sins of other sports and politics.

It's just a game. But a game that defines the conditions of its experience with words like "fairway" and "rough" may have something useful to tell the wider world in a time when tradition seems old hat.

We might agree, for instance, that a sense of personal honor, at the most basic level, appears to be an eroding tradition. Enron, Abramoff, Bonds are words that define a new, at-the-edge world of business, politics and sport. Baseball almost surely will admit into Cooperstown several users of steroids because, as any lawyer will tell you, there was no formal rule against it at the time.

Golf, unlike most everything else, is by and large scandal-free.

Oh right!

The Open at Winged Foot last week enforced, with metal detectors, a rule of nearly unimaginable harshness: no cell phones anywhere. "That is a rule which is almost universal in golf at traditional clubs," says Robert Trent Jones Jr., the golf-course architect. "You are out of touch while you are on the property so you come into touch with the game of golf, its friendships, yourself and nature."

And the inevitable technology stuff. I'm not really sure what he was going for, but I suspect it messed up the theme and that's why he brushed right over it.

Of course change comes to golf. Technology can't be capped. Course layouts adjust. Fear persists that the USGA will cave in to the promoters -- the "Taco Bell Shinnecock Open"? Winged Foot's members rolled their eyes at the 36,000-square-foot merchandise tent atop their driving range (not the one Mr. Mickelson hit).

Change in golf is similar to the Founding Fathers' view of new constitutional amendments; it is supposed to be hard, to keep the silliness out. "New ideas have to pass the test of the traditionalists," says Mr. Jones, the architect.

Uh huh.

And when change comes, what was left behind remains in memory. "I miss some of the old sounds," says Kevin O'Brien, a member at Congressional. "The sound of metal spikes on pavement or the sound that a good persimmon driver made."

Golf is a 500-year-old institution. In the U.S. it has 25 million adherents. It is vital not in spite of its traditions but because it refuses to abandon them. Tradition is its wellspring. Other institutions, under great pressure these days, might take note.

Yes, like the USGA for starters! 

An Important Victory For Golf

John Huggan says Geoff Ogilvy's win was an important victory for golf because the Australian has "the potential to be just the sort of wise, high-profile spokesman the professional game needs if it is to rescue itself from the technological black hole into which it is currently headed."

So many great quotes to pull here, so just read it. Some you've read before in other Huggan stories, but to see them all together really makes a powerful statement about Ogilvy's fresh take on things.

And after you read it, contrast it with this nonsense.