I’d like to contribute to the discussion and support the cause. Be great if you could permission me…
Cheers, Arnie
Count me in. Happy to help in anyway
Love to join, add me please
Steve
Me too. Please add me.
1 more here. Please count/let me in.
Please add me to the think/tank list.
Thank you
Same here!
ok… look at the bottom of the homepage here for the secret link!
Let’s all try to contribute in there, and not just eat the free popcorn!
Some great stuff going on already.
I would be interested in adding to the conversation. Thanks.
Hi Lag,
I would also be interested in contributing to this idea.
Thanks,
St Hubbins.
contemporarygolfer.com is available which could be good for something
With Christmas season, Dad had the Golf Channel on tonight. I watch that about as often as I watch paint drying on a wall. But they had a replay of this years Congressional Classic. Incredible that this could be promoted as anything other than The Congressional Classic.
12 records broken?
Really?
The Persimmon Record still remains at 8 under. Hogan, Nicklaus.
That last picture is amazing it looks like very little difference between the rough and the fringe at Congressional. Almost looks like you could putt a ball from that rough onto the green. You can really see the difference if you look at the edge of the bunker from Pebble Beach compared to Congressional, and you cant see Hogan’s feet at all, but you can see the soles of the guys shoes at the bottom picture. Hopefully that was just a one year thing, because the USGA did seem to set Winged foot and Oakmont up pretty tough in recent years, and i played the 04 us am at Winged Foot and it was definitely not setup easy that year, though the rough wasnt anything like Hogan was dealing with in that picture.
Been wondering how difficult the USGA set up is for the US am. Lag I know that you have played very well if a few ams, and saw that Fader played in 04. Were these courses the hardest the each of you has played? Lag, were all of your ams during the persimmon era?
Wow…now that is ABS encapsulated in all it’s glory! What a great pic!
Captain Chaos
Winged Foot was brutal in 04. I talked to a couple guys who played the 04 open at Shinnecock and they said winged foot was much tougher than the first three days of the open at Shinnecock. There was also a very steady rain the first day, and while that did soften the greens it also made the course play very long. I was hitting long irons into alot of holes and had to hit a 3wood into 9th hole. Only 2 guys shot below 71 on the West course and the cut was 150 which is one of the higher cuts for that tournament. But they dont always set it up that tough, and alot of it had to do with the fact that it just a very tough course, maybe one of the toughest in country, i think Ogilvy won the 06 open with +5. But i know Mickelson had the lead through 71 holes, and he was driving it fairly wild all week, but from what i remember you couldnt really get it around Winged Foot and shoot a decent score with mediocre ballstriking and wildshots.
ocat1979 posted:
With US Open approaching, Johnny Miller was interviewed yesterday and made a few good comments about rough and last years Congressional setup:
On evolving U.S. Open setups:
More on USGA setups:
I just can’t resist the temptation to play devil’s advocate on the subject of US Open rough. Go back through the list of US Open champions and you will find a steady stream of Jack Fleck/Orivlle Moody/Steve Jones type winners. Certainly great players, but they weren’t exactly multiple major winners or even consistent contenders. Go through the list of Masters winners (in the pre-rough days) and you do find some surprises, but the historically great players win more often…much more often than they win the US Open. So which is the better test to determine the greatest champion?
I think last year almost everyone agrees that the US Open rough was too light and that the scores were too low, but didn’t the (arguably) best player in the world win? I can’t remember which USGA official said the purpose of the US Open was not to embarass the best players in the world but to identify them. Did they do that last year?
The longer rough certainly produces a more difficult golf course, but if the #1 player in the world and the #300 player in the world hit the ball in the rough (as eventually they all do) and the only option available to either is to chop it out 75 yards, how do you identify which is the better player? I like to see a challenge where the best players can work some magic and at least have a chance to overcome the challenge while the less capable players are stymied.
The best player should win. That goes for every tournament, not just the US Open. However, the best player doesn’t necessarily mean the longest, most powerful player. If you can hit the ball 350 yards off of the tee and miss fairways, but still have good opportunities to hit the green and score you are still going to have an advantage over someone who hits it 280 yards in the fairway. When the rough is short, short to average length players have no chance. Rough should be the distance equalizer. If you can hit it 350 down the pipe then more power to you, you should have an advantage. But if you spray it all over the place then your distance should hurt you.