The Artistry Of Pinehurst's Transitions

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Even though I was here in February, the look and conditions of Pinehurst No. 2 exceeded my highest expectations Monday, which I noted with Gary Williams on Morning Drive.

The sandy areas of Pinehurst No. 2 are rightfully getting all of the attention because of the way they've transformed the look here.  The recapturing of sand, interspersed with thousands of plantings, gives the impression of weathering and maturation even though it's only been a little over two years of growing time. (Toby Cobb spearheaded this effort for Coore and Crenshaw and deserves great credit for such an artisinal touch in the planting, followed by deft maintenance by the No. 2 crew).

(Click on image to enlarge)But after walking the course again Monday of U.S. Open week, attention should turn to the transition zones from fairway to the sandy scrub. They should not pose a rules issue but these transitions will be noticed in HD, perhaps to a point that people think it's poor maintenance by super Kevin Robinson and crew. The opposite is the case: the pine scrub areas are the work of a master maintenance and irrigation design team.

To create a gentle shift from fairway to scrub takes artistry on a scale we rarely experience. How many times have you played a course lined by native areas, only to find the first five to ten feet more dense than areas well off the beaten path? All because of faulty irrigation design sending overspray into those natives. This is traditionally driven by the weird obsession with covering every inch of a property in irrigation "coverage," even at the expense of playability.

Pinehurst's return to a single row of irrigation heads that reduced the number by 700, has been key to the impressive playability of the transitions. The lack of a sharp contrast between fairway and scrub is beautiful to those who love their golf natural, though the look of the occasional exposed sand where there "should" be fairway may prompt cow pasture lines in 19th holes across the land. But we'd rather see a transition of sand and grass than tall stuff just off to the sides of play. The look also exudes naturalness. History tells us that the more natural a course seems or looks, the more we accept the arbitrary nature of things such as "waste" hazards.

So if you hear people criticizing the brown and rugged Pinehurst, remind them that it's all about accentuating the playability of Donald Ross's design. Even if the initial impression may not seem like the lush beauty that golf grew addicted to, to some of us the imperfection is just perfect.

Rolling Riviera’s Fairways!? A Simple Explanation

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If you’ve watched the opening two rounds of Northern Trust Open play, it’s been apparent that the course is firmer and faster than ever. For Kikuyu fairways, it’s a rarity to ever even contemplate any kind of run to the fairways unless the ground is frozen. As for an explanation, suffering through drought says a lot and so does all of the incredible soil moisture reading work undertaken by superintendent Matt Morton’s crew.

However, a few of you wrote with alarm at my previous mention that the fairways are rolled to increase firmness. The image of rollers on greens is often met with skepticism and I certainly had the same reaction when I first saw the large rollers on Tuesday. But Riviera superintendent Matt Morton has a simple explanation.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to try to speed up the course through equipment,” he said.

In other words, reduce the use of growth regulators and other chemical tricks to tighten the turf and firm up the course. Morton wants to best accentuate Riviera’s many subtle design features, many of which are muted by spongy Kikuuyu. It also helps that Morton has grown to love links golf, is reading Alister MacKenzie’s Spirit Of St. Andrews, and wants to use more sustainable tools to make Riviera play faster and firmer than ever. It’s working.

There have been some 350-yard bombs from the leaderboard dominated by long hitters, including a few with a good bit of roll that is unusual for Riviera. The field average of 283.1 through (almost) two rounds is right on the tour average but high for a kikuyu course. Still, the precision necessary on a firmer course has made the golf fascinating to watch and should weed out the less-precise by Sunday (22 are within 6 strokes of the lead when play was halted because of darkness Friday). The fairway turf has also never looked more pure, which the tour rules staff chalks up to the rollers.

Morton first saw the fairway rolling effects at Merion last year and Riviera has since purchased two Tranz-former rolling units that look like fairway mowers. The Tranz-formers were put into play just a week before the tournament, but have been in use twice a day during competition. The long-term impact has not yet been determined, but Morton hopes to reduce mowings and in general, continue to shift Riviera toward the more sustainable Australian model of maintenance emphasizing grass management that involves less consumption of precious resources.

And rolling lightly nourished turf instead of constantly mowing overfed grass is a good place to start.