When The Going Gets Far Too Tough

The US Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania was a feast of golf, with some fabulous play from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Jim Hyler – the chairman of the championship committee – said: “This course is about as perfect as you can get it,” and who could argue with him?

The course was stunning, immaculately prepared and produced very consistent playing surfaces. However, it begs the question why make it so tough?

I stayed up on Sunday evening with a host of golfing friends at Emirates Golf Club, to watch the tournament play out and to hopefully see a British winner. There were a number of debates as to the playability of the course, the general high scoring, whether or not it was right or wrong to set up a course so tough.

The USGA don’t have a target score in mind when they set up the course, they are looking for tough and consistent playing conditions and based on those criteria – they got it bang on.

But seeing the best golfers in the world putting off the green, hitting great iron shots close to the flag only to catch a slope and finish 40 feet away and unable to shoot at the flag from just off the putting surface due to the speed and severity of the green, is nothing to behold.

I agree to a point that the national championship should be more difficult, but ask yourself one question – what do the spectators and those paying to watch on TV want to see?

At the Dubai Desert Classic, spectators marvel at seeing the professionals hit great shots that amateurs just can’t manage. The roller-coaster eagle putts, five birdies in a row, Ernie Els shooting a course record and “that shot” out of the trees on the 18th in 2005 that led to an eagle – they are all great feats of golf.

Unfortunately, the US Open is not about great feats; it’s about the player who gets the most lucky breaks in the rough, the most good bounces on the greens and the player that scrambles the best.

I don’t want to take anything away from Angel Cabrera, because he was the guy that dug his heels in and took home the trophy, which is a tremendous life-changing achievement. However, back to my question – what do the spectators want to see?

JULES’ GEM - TIP OF THE WEEK

If you find yourself in the situation of going to play at a venue where the greens are going to be ultra fast, here are a couple of ways to keep your scores down:

• Choose a lighter putter – heavy putters are not recommended on fast greens
• Chip and putt off the toe end of the club when faced with downhill shots on and around the greens. Hitting off the toe will produce a ‘dead feel’ off the clubface and slow the ball.