Green Speeds And Pace Of Play, Gullane Edition

Out watching Scottish Open opening day play, an odd thing happened: players routinely putted out 3-4 footers. The overall pace seemed brisk, but relaxed.

Case in point: the group of Fowler, Donaldson and Poulter were at the 17th green. Both Donaldson and Fowler hit mediocre first putts, leaving 3-4 footers for par. Both briefly marked their ball, repositioned for alignment, then putted out.

This is hardly unique in the annals of golf, particularly on links. Except that such putting-out rarely happens any more due to professional event green speeds consistently in the Stimpmeter 12-foot range.

The green speeds at Gullane for round one? According to the European Tour course setup "table": 10 feet, 3 inches.

The "time par" for day one threesomes at Gullane was 4:20. That's about what it took the faster twosomes to get around Chambers Bay this year.

According to the European Tour's charts of player pace for round one, groups played in the 4:28 to 4:48 pace, with the final two threesomes of the day taking a very respectable 4:48. And that's with a few long walks between greens and tees, along with enough breeze to make things interesting (and some rough too).

The moral of the story? Green speeds impact pace of play, not to mention what they do for maintenance cost and architectural integrity.

Setup Run Amok Files: NCAA Women's Finals At Concession

As the NCAA Women's Golf Championship prepares to whittle its field from stroke play to the match play finalists (and gets Golf Channel coverage Monday-Wednesday), Ryan Lavner assesses a course setup that appears to have gotten out of hand. (17 of the 24 teams posted their worst 18-hole score of the year.)

Yes, most of the top teams will advance to match play, but in recent years the NCAA's have suffered from questionable setups (Prairie Dunes bathed in rough for the men last year) and the women facing what sounds like an excessive test at Concession has many worried about what we'll see on TV.

Women’s college golf hasn’t been on national television in years, and everyone hopes to make a good impression when the cameras start rolling for real Monday afternoon. That’s problematic now, Washington coach Mary Lou Mulflur says, because “people will see teams 40 over par in the mix, and it doesn’t make us look very good.”

“This setup is the most difficult I’ve been on,” Alabama coach Mic Potter said. “And I don’t think that’s a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t hurt the perception of our sport.”

Course Setup: “The USGA listened, unfortunately.”

That was Martin Kaymer's assessment of the course setup Saturday at Pinehurst where players felt the hole locations were pretty consistently as difficult as they could possibly be.

Ryan Lavner reports for GolfChannel.com.

But on Saturday, “I think they used the hardest pins they could possibly use on almost every hole,” Jordan Spieth (72) said. 

Said Matt Kuchar (71): “In practice rounds you guess where you think the pins will be and you kind of say, ‘Well, that’s too severe; they won’t put them there.’ And sure enough, that’s where the pin is. It seems to be year after year, and you should know better by now.”

Jim Achenbach has more extensive comments from Kuchar, who many times said he felt the course was teetering on the edge of going over the top.

Kuchar on Sunday's final round: "It (the course) teeters on unplayable … They've got it at the edge, and I'm sure they'll push the edge. I'm hoping a few pin placements are a little kinder tomorrow after they saw what went on today, but I'm not sure I'll get my wish."

Injury Rough Is Back And It's Lamer Than Ever!

I read through the lines after Sergio Garcia's post-round (76) comments about rough in Abu Dhabi, and wrote about it for GolfDigest.com. I think you'll be surprised to find Sergio was right to call out the course setup tactics.

Because just when you thought the days of injury-inducing rough had ended...

Update on 2014-01-16 20:56 by Geoff

**A SkySports.com report quotes broadcaster Ewan Murray praising the rough, even though it might induce injury.

Murray described the course set-up as "marvellous", and said: "You are talking about setting up the golf course to test some of the finest players in the game today. In my opinion, that examination needs to be a stern one.

"Straight driving is very much part of the game and those who hit most fairways should have the advantage over those who don't. You will not beat these players will length alone, but you will identify the best of them by putting the premium on accuracy.

"The Tour should shorten the course on perhaps two of the four days and combine that with tucking the pins away. Give them different tests rather than the same all four rounds.

"The courses in the States are too easy. There is little or no rough and that plays into the hands of the long hitters. Their setting up of courses creates one dimensional players.

Who'd a thunk we'd come to the point that the U.S. was home to low rough and it was Europe trying to give us the dreadful high-rough, yawnfest golf?

"We copy America too often. The European Tour should take the lead, add variety and ask the players some different questions. When you do that the best will come up with the answers."

Asking players to walk a fine thin center line is not asking a different question. It's asking the same one-dimensional question over and over again.