Golfdom, November 2017

Historic Approach SHE WAS AN AMERICAN GIRL The yardage announced for Shinnecock is 7439 yards a 443 yard increase since the last Open That is 440 yards longer than would be needed SEAN TULLY superintendent Meadow Club Fairfax Calif Too far in protecting par W ith the recent news that Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Southampton N Y will see its fairways narrowed for the 2018 U S Open we again encounter the effort to protect par by narrowing the golf course After recent work by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw that saw some Shinnecock fairway widths restored to 60 yards this is sad news as we see a great course defending par instead of offering a varied test of golf Hosting a major event historically has meant changes to courses but for the most part they were improvements to the course not an effort to make the course play harder In recent years there has been a noticeable change in course presentation regarding fairway width rough and most notably course length But this apparently is not enough as we see courses adding yardage as they prepare to host an Open Shinnecock hosted the Open in 2004 and the course played to 6996 yards What will being lengthened to address it The first U S Open to be more than 7000 yards was Oakland Hills in 1937 at 7037 yards It would take 60 years to break the 7200 yard barrier at Congressional in 1997 at 7213 yards Ten years later the Open at Oakmont saw the first course at more than 7300 yards playing then at 7355 yards One year later Torrey Pines played to 7643 yards Then theres this year at Erin Hills where the course played to 7741 yards Just looking at these yardages shows that since 2007 the USGA has added 400 yards to the courses that it identifies as U S Open courses Yes its true that competitors dont play to the full yardage listed on the scorecard but the addition of this yardage is a response to how far the professional golfer is hitting the ball today which allows the holes to be played at an increased distance Then you throw into the setup narrowed fairways like what they did at Merion and Olympic long rough with multiple heights of cut and greens that play firm and fast and you have a stiff test of golf But is it setting the right precedent for the good of the game Sean Tully is superintendent at the Meadow Club in Fairfax Calif He can be reached at stully@ meadowclub com or followed at @ tullfescue yardage be for the 2018 Open Before I get to that lets look at how the USGA and the R A define how much farther the ball is going The USGA in 2016 released a distance report that detailed 2003 2015 driving distance information from the seven professional tours around the world That data demonstrated increases of roughly 2 yard per year for four of the tours while the other three tours decreased by the same distance So by USGA standards Shinnecock would need to add roughly 28 yards to account for the increased distance golfers have been hitting the ball in the 14 years since the last time the venue hosted the Open However the yardage announced for Shinnecock and next years Open is 7439 yards a 443 yard increase since the last Open That is 440 yards longer than would be needed using the USGA numbers of a 2 yard per year increase in driving distance Something just is not making sense here Theyve basically added another par 4 to the course to address the latest driving distance figures This is nothing new We saw an increase of more than 450 yards for Merion Golf Club from the time that venue hosted its previous Open in 1981 A more recent example is Pinehurst No 2 which hosted its first Open in 1999 has hosted it twice since then and has seen a 390 yard increase to 7565 yards Looking at yardage from a historical perspective paints a picture that shows the ball going farther and courses 16 Golfdom November 2017 Golfdom com