"What we're saying is, 'Guys, you've got to lay back of this cliff because you won't have any rough to stop your ball if you hit it too long.'"

We've heard a lot about the elimination of turf buffers along the cliffs at Pebble Beach but haven't seen much in the way of images. The look of turf right into the cliffs is sensational, though I can already hear the bitching by players!

Brett Avery reports on some additional last minute tweaks to the U.S. Open setup and provides some images of the changes. The work on No. 8 seems sure to make players a little less aggressive with their tee shot lay-ups.

The aiming rock was removed and the fairway shifted dramatically to the right, toward the cliff, long ago in preparation for the event. But only a few days ago the mowers removed all rough at the end of the fairway, too.

Update on 2010-05-18 00:05 by Geoff

Rob Matre offers some perspective on how the buffer between golf course and cliff looked at Pebble Beach prior to this change.