The NEW LOOK of Championship Golf
removal via tree pruning, healthy turf growth at low mowing heights can also be obtained to a level unimag- ined two or three decades ago. And greenkeepers can also opt to mow less and roll more—enabling the club to achieve smoother surfaces, as well as coordinate effective green speeds. That means the course will be more consistent from one green to the next. All of these techniques allow for
impressive degrees of control in setup. But it’s not just a maintenance matter; it’s also a more sophisticated philos- ophy of course setup, most of it attrib- utable to the work of Mike Davis, the current USGA executive director. Davis previously was in charge
of championship set up. Under his supervision, U.S. Open courses started adopting a variety of ways to make the course more amenable to shot- making and decision making. The use of greenside chipping areas, modestly introduced at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., in 1997, is now standard for championships, and gives players who miss greens the op- tion of a lob wedge, a bump-and-run shot or putting for recovery. Starting with Pinehurst in 1999,
the rough was actually cut back on the eve of the championship to get away from the older, strictly punitive view of rough. That way, there would be uncertainty involved as to whether
a player could muscle a shot out and try to reach (and hold) the green. At Winged Foot in 2006, the USGA introduced graduated rough—longer on short par-4s, more forgiving on long par-4s. At Torrey Pines in 2008, the 435-yard, par-4 14th hole, run- ning along the canyon rim, was short- ened by 65 yards for the final round, to create a dramatic, risk/reward driv- able par-4. That same year, the tees on two of the par 5s were flexed by as much as 50 yards, making them more (or less) reachable in two on alternate days. The setup was dictated by wind and weather, as well as pace of play. The flexibility is best explained in
terms of “half-par” holes—those that vary from normal regulation length. That can mean a par 3 like the 13th hole at Merion Golf Club in Ard- more, Pa., playing 100 yards, and the third hole playing 275 yards. It can also mean par 4s measuring 520 yards. At The Olympic Club-Lakeside Course in San Francisco in 2012, players faced back-to-back par 5s measuring 670 yards and 522 yards. In some ways, the model for
much of this was evident all along at Augusta National Golf Club, where three of the par-5s for The Masters were designed as “par 4 and 1/2.” As for flexibility in setup and the
golf course varying its presentation, the Open Championship has seen
this for over a century, with weather the decisive factor, as links courses are flexible enough to handle both extreme drought and extremely wet weather. Yet there have been excesses even there. It’s easy to recall images of the impenetrable rough and Barbie Doll-waist fairways during the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie. To be sure, that championship fol- lowed an unusually wet winter, but the roided-up rough prompted the R&A Championship committee to take a closer, more systematic look at its own setups. The same impact was evident in the U.S. after the suddenly dry, windy, rock-hard conditions of the final round of the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y. That championship forced the hand of the USGA and the result was a more flex- ible approach to setups. Pinehurst, without rough in 2014,
will represent a major step. So will Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., the following year, where some of the fairways are 70 yards wide, and where wind, firm ground and wild contours are sure to make for some incredibly inventive golf shots. It’s a long way from single-file
down the middle. Whether it produces a better champion isn’t clear. But it certainly produces golf that’s more interesting to watch, and that demands more imagination from the players.
Chambers Bay
Pinehurst will host the men’s and women’s U.S. Open in consecutive weeks this June. SPRING 2014 /
NCGA.ORG / 49
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