The Milkman said:
I want it as close to even par as possible, but by the way things are going it will probably be Justin Rose at -8. I'll be pulling for Rickie though.
I don't get why they refuse to make it hard where it counts. They worry about how tight the lies are around the greens, but these guys can all pitch it off tight lies from 25 yards and put it within 5 feet no problem. Instead of dealing with that they need to tighten the fairways.
In 2004 at Shinnecock the fairways were averaging ~25 yards wide. This week they are over 40. Don't give these guys football fields to land a ball. If they have to take an iron or wood off the tee instead of driver, it takes the 9 iron out of their hand and puts em with a club that wont hold the green nearly as well
EXACTLY!
To me this is a good US Open hole:
- 475 yard par 4
- Fairly generous landing areas with some moderate trouble to avoid until you hit about 280.
- Once you get to 280 it gets TIGHT and FAST.
- Rough or native areas are gnarly and basically a 1/2 stroke penalty because you'll probably just have to hack it out.
- Pin is short with trouble guarding the front or long where going over the green is VERY punitive.
- Greens are very fast.
So now, if you want to pull driver then go ahead. But you better hit it straight because otherwise you're hacking out of the rough or bring a possible unlucky lie into play.
Want to take an iron off the tee? Fine, but it's not a free pass because you still have to navigate a little trouble. And oh, by the way, if you lay back you're going to be hitting a five or six iron to a very fast green where you have a pin that is hard to get to.
So a "routine par" is two good shots followed by a challenging two putt. Or they have to hit a couple of great shots to have a chance to make a birdie.