There's No Me In Media

Yesterday was media day at Pinehurst, and they were obviously working off an old list of golf writers worthy of an invitation.  I mean really, this guy got to play while your humble yet prodigious blogger sat at home waiting for the phone to ring.  

But putting aside my justifiable bitterness, what did we learn?  Very little, actually, but bear with me as it's an incredibly slow Tuesday.  Randall Mell with a pretty good lede:

This won’t look like your father’s U.S. Open.

But it might look like your great grandfather’s U.S. Open.

Maggot, Colin and I played there in late October, and the effect of the restoration is nothing less than dramatic:

Crenshaw and Coore set out to restore the look and intent Donald Ross had when he built Pinehurst No. 2. They removed the lush, wall-to-wall green grasses that carpeted this course and re-made it with wider fairways that spill into unmaintained edges with natural wiry grasses, sand and pine straw. 

The fairways will be wider than typical U.S. Opens. There won’t be a fairway mowing cut and a rough mowing cut. 

“There are only two mowing heights out there,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said during Monday’s media day. “There will be the height they cut the fairways and the height they cut the greens. We’ve never encountered something like that for a U.S. Open.”

When I played No. 2 in the early aughts, I was shocked at how boring the course was from tee to green.  There were no features of note, and no lines visible from the tees.  Because of the severity of the greens, they couldn't have meaningful rough for resort play, otherwise the guests would be out there for six hour rounds.  The result was profound disappointment with an American icon.  The greens on the other hand were something else...

“This is going to be the first U.S. Open played without a maintained rough,” Coore said during Monday’s media day. “Yes, the fairways will be bigger, but the uncertainty of shots that are going to be played from the natural rough, we think that is going to be one of the most interesting stories of the week.”

“We think you’re going to see some of the most spectacular recovery shots in U.S. Open history,” Coore said.

This is where it's going to be interesting, as missed fairways will result in a wide range of lies, inevitably bringing luck into play.  The waste areas visible in the picture above are about what you'd expect from the sand hills of North Carolina, conditions the best players on the planet can handle with ease.  The variability comes from the wire plants, specifically where your ball comes to rest in relation to them.  In my three rounds I saw every possible configuration of ball and wire plant, and since then they've added a reported 80,000 additional plants.  

As for the sandy areas, this will not be a Whistling Straits/Ocean Course situation per Mike Davis, Executive Director of the USGA:

During both the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open in June, some shots will be played from waste areas - where players can ground their club and remove loose impediments without penalty - while others will be played from bunkers, which are considered hazards. According to USGA executive director Mike Davis, a plan is in place to have a line of delineation between the two this summer. 

"We never contemplated having everything 'through the green,' or having everything a hazard," Davis said. "That's just not how the rules of golf operate." 

The definition of sandy areas is an issue that garnered significant attention at two recent editions of the PGA Championship. In 2010 at Whistling Straits, tournament officials played all sandy areas as hazards - costing Dustin Johnson a shot at the Wanamaker Trophy on the 72nd hole. Two years later at Kiawah Island, the ball was played "through the green" - meaning the various sandy areas along the Ocean Course were all deemed to be waste areas.

But it seems as if this might be left a little nebulous:

Davis believes that featuring both sandy areas and bunkers will allow tournament officials to remain more in line with how the course was originally meant to be played. 

"There's a definition to what a hazard is and what a bunker is, and that's what we follow," Davis said. "Just to make everything 'through the green' so it's easier - well it may be easier for the player to understand, but it really compromises the architectural intent of the golf course." 

Davis expects that most balls that approach what the USGA will term bunkers will be funneled to the center of the hazards by "tamped down" and well-defined sides. In the event of a close call, though, rules officials following each group will make the final determination - often erring on the side of caution. 

"The times that maybe it does hang up and it's right on the edge, that's when we've got the official," Davis said. "I think that if we really do get into a place where we say you could go either way, we're always going to stop and say, 'It's in the hazard. Don't ground your club.'"

In playing the course, I didn't sense any confusion as to which was a hazard and which through the green.  That said, I'm guessing there will be lots of discussions with the roving rules officials and that has to slow down play.  

Do watch the Golf Channel video that's embedded in each of the two linked pieces, if only for the graphic of a golf ball next to a wire plant.  There are endless possibilities, and the players' ability to read these lies and pull off the shots is likely to be a factor in the outcome.  Or, if you're of such a mind, you can just endeavor to keep your ball on the grass.