I'm surprised this hasn't come up, but again, I may have missed it,...if I did, let me know and I'll delete this post.......

What is all the bickering about regarding Shinnecock Hills last weekend ?!? It's the US Open,...what do you want,....a putt-putt course?!

I see the condition of this course like a tough sport shot for a big/major PBA stop or tournament.....yes ?

Quit your b*tching and play the game! What's the matter, can't handle nice +7 for a tourney ?!

Best players in the world need the best/toughest challenges in the world...end of discussion!

Thoughts? Comments?
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JEFF
There is doing in not doing

Edited on 6/22/2004 8:12 AM

To put a little perspective on how hard Shinnecock was.

I read a story by a Golf magazine writer about the open. He said he was able to play the course on Monday after the tournament. They had watered the course and the greens had not been rolled or mowed since the tournament Sunday. “Was the course fair, probably but “ he stated that seven and ten were still nearly unplayable 24 hours later with no wind.

While he didn’t state his handicap he said he was not a bad player (I take that to mean he is a single digit handicapper) but that he didn’t break 100 and he QUIT after 13 holes. That would mean he would have shot 130 to 140 had he finished the round.

His final statement was he could now appreciate even more just how good the pros really are.

This has become a trend to an extent.

The British open has hard greens and fairways too!

But in many or most places it has runup area.

It has it's sense of capriciousness also as to when your Tee time is. Tiger In the Woods(new name), going out in his grand slam pursuit in the British in the  worst of the weather and shooting 81!    Versus at Pebble Beach when he won his US open he got the best of the weather.

However the hardness of the greens has been considered in the design of the holes in the British, in most cases.  Versus at Shinnecock pins were set right behind traps and the out(safe) areas often left the ball veering off a crown.  Therefore smart players starting aiming for misses to go in traps or even to hit the ball to the front corners in front of greens where they had the simplest uphill chip or pitch.  Not even trying to hit the greens in many cases!  Basically the safe way to play was to play the course as though you were trying to shoot no higher than 80 and then depend on your short game to get you as close to par as reasonable!

Whereas the original design of the course was never intended to have greens so hard due to the severe slopes and possible pin placements behind bunkers.
One has a condition or course setup that is incompatible with the course design.

This course Shinnecock because of the crowning of the greens and the rock hardness of the greens became virtually unplayable.  This was only a slight difference from Pinehurst #2 where Payne Stewart won and guess who Phil Mickelson came in 2nd!  Crowned greens that were very hard(not as hard as Shinnecock) led to the same result.  Two great pitchers of the ball in contention.

See that is the problem, it is now a pitch and putt contest, or if they make it fair(like days 1 and 2) these guys will shoot 12 under or slightly better.
The USGA wants the scores to be near par and therefore has to go to unfair!

REgards,

Luckylefty
PS as I said above aiming to the safe area of the green(a famous Nicklaus tactic) was not even feasable as many greens had no safe area to aim at, even away from the pin!  
PPS on this course with his best game of his prime I don't believe that Nicklaus could have broken par.  This is not saying that Phil Mickelson or Goose are better golfers, Nicklaus was better T to green and a better putter consistently and the best pressure player ever.  I'd guess Jack in a premium performance anywhere from +1 to plus 6 on this course.  Of course if he complained they would have softened the course more for Sunday!


Edited on 6/23/2004 5:37 PM