Is American Golf too American?
Another year of The Open Championship and I can always say that I love watching this tournament. When you watch golf being played on links land, you just get a special feeling of that is how golf is meant to be played. Maybe it’s because I’ve had the opportunity to play links golf. I just find the game over there much more exciting.
You have to be very creative to play good links golf. As we saw on the telecast, the conditions are constantly changing. More angles come into play as you try to play away from hazards and judge the wind conditions. We don’t usually see that here in the States. This got me thinking that maybe golf here has gone beyond its roots.
Your first comment may be that we don’t have the similar land forms that we find on links golf. There are few, such as Bandon Dunes, but most of our golf is played inland. However, I have played the inland, or heathland courses of England. You still get a special feeling when you play these courses. Golf is just different over there and I’ve often thought that we are trying to do too much with our courses. Here are a few examples of where things differ.
Green Speeds
The first thing that came to me on the differences is when they mentioned that they did not cut or roll the greens for Saturday’s round. I wonder if they would ever do that for a tournament here. I recall the US Open at Shinnecock Hills in 2004. The USGA starved the greens of water and got them to a speed that was unattainable.
In that tournament, Phil Mickelson three-putted from 4ft. Tiger Woods said, “This is our national championship and Shinnecock Hills is a great golf course, but they lost control of it. This is not supposed to be how golf is played.” I thought maybe they had learned something until this year when rain caused them to double or triple cut and double roll greens to get a certain speed. We saw what happened with Dustin Johnson at those speeds.
At Troon the R&A let the weather dictate how the course played. They made the decision on Saturday not to risk having an issue on the greens and kept them slower. Did this impact scoring? Not at all. Players were forced to adjust and most did, but they did not shoot the low round of the week that day. All the players said that the course played great and nobody complained about the greens. You might say that the course played easy as 20-under won and another was at 17-under. That was only two of 156 golfers. Next lowest score was 6-under. That just shows that two guys played great golf for the week. It was much more exciting to watch them battle to make birdies then struggle to make pars. If the course setup is supposed to determine the best golfer, that happened. Stenson and Mickelson were the class of the field and Stenson proved to be the best in the end.
Bunkers
Another thing to marvel at is how the bunkers played and set up the golf course. In the UK, bunkers are hazards! Players calculate their game plan to avoid them at all cost. You would hear the announcers say that you need avoid them or you will have to pitch out without reaching the green. Fairway bunkers were basically a stroke penalty.
You also saw many players, especially on the Postage Stamp hole, have to play sideways or away from the pin. If they tried to play a bold shot, sometimes they ended up back in the bunker. Players did not complain about this, they knew that is the how the game is played on this course.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve consulted with a course and they say they can’t get to the green from a certain bunker. They expect to have a chance with every shot. Give them a bad lie or poor stance in the bunker and it is the fault of the design or maintenance. We have lost the art of the bunker being a hazard, something I may address in another blog.
Do we try to get everything too perfect?
Expectations of course conditions in the US is high when it comes to golf. A lot of that has to do with the expense of the sport. If you pay $100 for a round of golf, you expect perfect. It amazes me that some of these same people don’t fix ball marks or rake bunkers. Yet everything needs to be perfect. Golfers in the UK still believe in the “Rub of the Green”. Get a bad lie in the bunker and they learn how to play it.
Golfers here want perfect sand, fast greens, and acceptable rough where they can advance the ball to the green. For the most part, our golf courses supply that type of course. This is all a result of our golf course superintendents.
Superintendents today are the most educated we have ever seen. They continue to take classes to learn about new innovations and use these in the most environmentally sensitive way. Technology has advanced to supply them with excellent mowers, state of the art irrigation, and grasses that resist diseases. If a member, committee, or patron asks about doing something on the course, they either find a way to do it or explain why it can’t be done. Our superintendents are pushed to provide us with outstanding conditions, most often in difficult growing environments. In some ways they are their own enemy by always supplying what is demanded. I don’t envy them on a 90 degree summer day in Chicago.
Will there ever be change?
Will we ever lower our expectations of golf course conditions? Not as long as golf is shown on TV. Professional golf offers great exposure for the game. Each weekend we see 12-15 hours of live golf on TV. That is more exposure then the NFL. However, it doesn’t help golf when we see ten or more mowers rolling down a fairway and a hundred volunteers raking bunkers and mowing greens. For one week a year, these courses are in the best shape possible. Local golfers see this and expect the same with a ten man crew.
Superintendents are getting better at explaining when expectations get beyond budgetary reasons. More explanation is needed and it would be nice if the Golf Channel, or broadcast TV, would take 5-10 minutes each week to show how many people it takes to achieve these conditions. Then they could relay that this is for this one week and your local course should not expect this every day.
Golf today is about sustainability. The more sustainable we can make our golf courses, the better we can make the sport. Even a slight adjustment in expectations will go a long way. Let’s appreciate smooth greens over fast greens, don’t worry if you see a weed, and accept that bunkers are hazards. Golf has been around for over 500 years. It is our job to set it up for another 500.