Phil On New Muirfield 16th: "It's certainly more difficult."

Phil Mickelson didn't sound particularly excited about Jack's redesigned 16th at Muirfield Village.

Q. The new 16th out there, what was your experience like on that?

PHIL MICKELSON: It's certainly more difficult. You know, you're hitting over the water. I thought that you were going to hit more up the green, kind of like 16 at Augusta, but really, you're coming at it from a whole different angle where you're having to fly over the water. I had to change the way I look at that hole.
I thought if we shot up the green I might think about 2 a few times, but really, I'll just try to make it 3 there.

Meanwhile, Dave Shedloski explains Phil's enthusiasm for a 2-iron that is part of his tee shot package heading into Congressional. It is NOT a supplement for his driver. At least for now.

Video: The Runaway Golf Cart

Now before you watch this YouTube video and laugh because no one was hurt and because it's funny, I have a confession to make.

It was the 1992 Champions Tour event at Rancho Park, then known as the Senior Tour and the tournament title was the Security Pacific Classic. I was looping for DeWitt Weaver, a super guy and long hitter. Before we teed off in the first round, about five drops of rain fell and DeWitt sent me to the car to get an elaborately designed, heavy plastic tarp that covered the entire cart, complete with loose flaps covering the entry point to the seating area. Needless to say, as it was my first caddying gig in a professional event,  trying to put this silly thing on one of Rancho's dated carts just 15 minutes before the tee time was not fun.

Anyway, DeWitt finally got the heavy white plastic cover on and while the rain never materialized, I had to contend with this plastic thing throughout the front nine while he walked the fairways. I could not strap the clubs on the back, so I was constantly getting in and out of the cart, trying not to get the clubs tangled in the cover flap. After we finished play on the seventh hole, I was driving the cart up the hill toward the eighth tee behind defending champion John Brodie. As he parked and got out to hit his tee ball, my foot got tangled in the door cover portion of the plastic cover and I could not hit the brake. I nearly ran over the football legend.

Thankfully, he just thought I was a bad cart driver and no one really seemed to notice, but I'd managed to block out memories of the day I almost killed John Brodie. Until today, watching this European Ladies Tour posted video...



"JACK NICKLAUS: He should be here. (Laughter.)"

Jack Nicklaus's Q&A at Muirfield Village included a "What would Woody think" question about Jim Tressel and Jack serving as his own rally killer later on. But in this sequence he proved that he is absolutely not reading the Muirfield Village club newsetter.

Q. Jason Day has had to withdraw from the tournament needing to take a break before the U.S. Open. I know you've just recently granted him membership to Muirfield Village. What do you see in young Jason?

JACK NICKLAUS: We did?

Q. Just recently.

JACK NICKLAUS: Did what?

Q. He has playing privileges at Muirfield Village.

JACK NICKLAUS: He does, and he's not here? (Laughter.) We'll take that away. (Laughter.) I did not know that.

Does Jason live around here?

Q. Yes, he's married a girl from Ohio.

JACK NICKLAUS: Oh, he did?

Q. I just wanted to get your opinion on his play these days because he's a young star in the making for Australia.

JACK NICKLAUS: He's a good player, and if he's got a gal from -- has he married a gal from Ohio?

Q. Yeah.

JACK NICKLAUS: He should be here. (Laughter.)

Update on 2011-05-31 19:50 by Geoff

**A few people in the room wrote in to clarify that the (laughter) was not Jack's, but the audience. Apparently Jack looked less than pleased.

Muirfield Village's New 16th To Debut

According to the GCSAA's preview, the hole is opening this week so I don't know if that means it actually has not seen any play yet, adding to the intrigue. In the photos I've seen it looks like a knock off of Augusta's 16th hole, but with more than one decent hole location.

Here's a YouTube video showing the destruction of the old hole, no great loss for golf architecture.



In this second video is it me or does it look like they added a back left bunker at the last minute?



Update on 2011-05-31 17:13 by Geoff

**Jack on the new hole during today's press gathering at Muirfield Village:

Obviously we have one change, major change, on the golf course, which is the 16th hole, and the 16th hole which used to play to about 214, plays about 200, 201, whatever they put down for the yardage on it. It's a little bit shorter. We took drainage that was coming through in the green that was piped, took that out and put a lake in that area. They ended up at the base at the top of the hill there, those of you that know the area there, the left of 16 was an area we had a little sort of drainage that went down into the creek that goes along 15.

And we used that area to -- we took where the drainage came from and we took the drainage and took it the other direction. In other words, instead of having it come down through the golf course, we stopped it there and took it back towards -- to the street out on Muirfield Drive.

And then they built a lake in that area, put a green alongside it. It's a kind of hole that I think will probably play easier with a good shot under the prevailing wind. The prevailing wind is a westerly wind, southwesterly wind, that usually when we hit the ball before the green was sitting sort of this way, and I think a lot of shots hit in there went through the green very easily or into the back bunker, and I never really cared for the way the ball went into that green.

So what I did is I took the green and put it more this way, which sort of lines up with the prevailing wind. And with the prevailing wind you have the ability to feed the ball back into the green so you don't have to worry about having to stop the ball as easily if you play a smart shot.

And if the wind turns the other way, if there's no wind, then stopping the ball on the green is not an issue.

I think that works out very well. The water is all along the left side of it. I think there's going to be a lot more 2s, there's going to be a lot more excitement. There's more gallery area. There's some hospitality tents there -- I don't know if you call them tents, what do we call them, skyboxes type things -- they're not skyboxes, either, but I don't know what they call them.

Q. Chalets.

JACK NICKLAUS: Whatever they are. (Laughter.)

I think you're going to find a lot more birdies. I think you'll find a lot of fairly conservative 3s, and I think you'll also find a few double-bogeys that will come in there, which an errant shot will not be rewarded and a good shot will be rewarded, which is what a good hole should be anyway.

"If the goal with this new format is to grow the game of golf, why was there no talk of how to stage such an event at your own club?"

I enjoyed the many suggestions from readers who watched the Power Play Golf event at Celtic Manor, and also thought this observation from Stina Sternberg, reviewing the event for GolfDigest.com, should be noted by the television folks.

 If the goal with this new format is to grow the game of golf, why was there no talk of how to stage such an event at your own club? The UK commentators, mainly from SkySports, seemed like they were making things up as they went along and obviously weren't very familiar with the PowerPlay movement.

I think that was most evident when Ian Poulter hit an incredible drive next to the last hole to set up an eagle putt and the on course commentator acted like he'd hit a nice wedge in there, only to be rescued by the play-by-play man who noted what an amazing shot it was.

Jay Townsend, you of course were spectacular.