Poll: The Major Venue You Are Most Looking Forward To?
/The masses who watched Morning Drive saw the portion where we talked 2015 major venues and the oddity of three courses outside Augusta providing treeless golf.
Now this may seem trivial to some, but consider this: once the Masters is played at pine-lined Augusta National, the next three men’s majors will all be contested at “links style” layouts—and brace yourself for the overuse of that phrase in 2015. Only The Old Course at St. Andrews presents pure links golf.
The PGA Championship returns to Wisconsin after just a five-year absence from Whistling Straits, where the exposed layout sits high above Lake Michigan and more than any 2015 major venue, emphasizes an all-aerial target attack. The wild card in so many ways remains Chambers Bay, which celebrates its eighth birthday during U.S. Open week. Most of the field will not have played the course in competition unless they were in the 2010 U.S. Amateur, so expect to hear about more advance scouting trips than ever before. Though with the potential for the most radical day-to-day setup possibilities of any U.S. Open course, Chambers Bay figures to be the most confounding U.S. Open contestants and pundits have ever encountered.
This is all interesting because so many of today's Hogan's and Snead's love their "fits the eye" and "it's all right in front of you" designs. Translation: confining, tree-lined, underexposed inland courses. I'm not sure how much this will impact 2015 major championship handicapping, but I have to think this more exposed style of golf will not please players who find such open-air golf uncomfortable.
But who cares what the players like? I want to know which major venue you are most anticipating this year. As much as I love the Old Course and can't wait for The Open, it's hard not to be intrigued by the mysterious Chambers Bay or the antics Whistling Straits may produce...
