Unplayable Lies: Sunday Salutations

The combination of afternoon golf and a dereliction of my responsibilities late in the week give rise to this bonus weekend content. I'll not worry much about the ongoing golf, with the exception of The Curtis Cup, but rather focus on stuff we missed due to my absence.

The Skinny (literally) on Shinny - Alternatively, that which Geoff calls The Narrowing, from Guy Yocum's reporting:

"I said, 'Mike, we need to have a chat,' " recalls Floyd, at age 75 retired but still an influential voice."I asked him, 'Were you happy with the [fairway widths] at Erin Hills?

I don't think you were.' Mike told me he absolutely was not. I said, 'Well, it's going to be on steroids at Shinnecock, because it doesn't move and flow as much. You've got it dead wide, and we've had three really good U.S. Opens here with it tight and narrow.' "

The alert from Floyd, combined with conversations Davis had with smart people in golf, must have set off internal alarms. His reaction, expressed in action more than words, was almost immediate. Within weeks, the USGA undertook dramatic alterations to Shinnecock Hills. It was highly unusual, because the changes were performed so close to the championship and not long after a three-year Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw restoration had concluded with the USGA and Shinnecock feeling more than satisfied.

I wasn't aware that Ray Floyd was an influential voice before his retirement, but I'll let that one go. But the vision of a panic nine months before the event is not confidence-inducing...

Let me share more along those lines:

Coore's low-key summation is understandable, in view of what came next. After Davis spoke with Floyd and other golf-savvy individuals he chooses not to name, a substantial narrowing of the fairways occurred, in golf terms, almost overnight. Under the supervision of Shinnecock's superintendent, Jon Jennings, a crew of 75 workers, toiling 15 hours per day from Sept. 17-25, removed an estimated 200,000 square feet of turf—almost five acres—from the sides of fairways and replaced it with strips of fescue sod sheared from Shinnecock's nine-hole par-3 course and unused areas on the main course. It also was seeded with a fescue strain as close to Shinnecock's as they could find. The target areas for narrowing primarily were the anticipated landing areas for pros, 275 to 325 yards from the tees on the longer holes. For the U.S. Open June 14-17, the fairways transition to a band of fine fescue, followed by the wild stuff—the knee-high fescue and blue-stem grass.

It was quite an adjustment, and Davis acknowledges that what he'd seen in Wisconsin last June played no small role in the decision. "Did Erin Hills influence us? Absolutely," he says. "We went into Erin Hills anticipating wind, and with the firmness there, felt we had to present more width so players could keep balls in the fairway. Looking back, there wasn't enough of a premium on accuracy."

Davis points out that the narrowing is not especially draconian. "The average fairway width [at Shinnecock] in 2004 was 26.6 yards, the narrowest 25 yards, the widest 30 yards," he says. "The average now is 41.6 yards. That's 15 yards wider, a full 50 percent. On the other hand, it's substantially narrower than what Bill Coore and the club had. We felt if we didn't narrow it some, the one element the course wouldn't have was accuracy. I'd just point out that it will be the widest of the Shinnecock U.S. Opens."

On the one hand, course set-up is more art than science, so we should encourage Mike and the USGA to learn from their mistakes. But the question begs, what if we get big winds?

There's a long history of the USGA overreacting to the prior year's play, best represented by The Massacre at Winged Foot the year after Johnny Miller torched Oakmont for that 63. We also saw them out there hacking the fescue at Erin Hills after Kevin Na's video spooked everyone.

It's a piece you'll want to read in full, as there's much to learn about the club, a new adjective (Shinnecockian), as well as about the 2004 disaster at the Redan hole. Good stuff, Guy.

It's A Hit - Dylan Dethier reports on the rave reviews of the Euro Tour's Shot-Clock Masters:

Following a player survey that showed a desire for sped-up play, the European tour

implemented a pilot program at this week’s event in Atzenbrugg, Austria. The rules are relatively simple: players have 40 seconds to hit their shot; if they go over that limit, they receive a one-stroke penalty (10 extra seconds are allotted to the first player in the group, and each competitor is given two time extensions per round). Times are policed by rules officials in carts with large screens displaying a player’s remaining time.

Through Friday’s round, no penalties for slow play had been given out, although video of Chase Koepka showed he pushed the timer to the wire during one shot on Thursday, the clock striking "0" just as he hit.

But this is the payoff:

European Tour CEO Keith Pelley’s goal was to shave 45 minutes off the average round time. He’s not there quite yet — but he’s getting close. During the first round, average round time dropped significantly from the tour’s average: from 4 hours 47 minutes to a brisker 4:13 pace. Interestingly, scores dropped, too. Last year’s first round saw an average score of 72.96, which fell to 72.36 in this year’s opener. Five threesomes played Thursday’s round in under four hours, including the group featuring Peter Hanson.

"I think this is the way we should play golf, and this is the way I was born and raised to play the game," Hanson said.

Like you perhaps, I instinctively hate the idea of a shot clock, but I'd also like 3-balls to be under 4 hours....

Pro golf has been on a slow play sick bed for too long. But after just one round of the Austrian Open/aka Shot Clock Masters, the results speak volumes: as much as 55 minutes faster than the typical European Tour three-ball, rounds 19 minutes faster than the allotted time and no apparent decline in the quality of play.

The European Tour employed 24 rules officials—the biggest logistical impediment to making shot clocks permanent—who did not hand out a single violation in round one.

Best of all, while watching there appears to be no sense of gimmickry or a compromise in quality. Just a better flow and a reminder of faster days.

Gee, guys getting to their ball ready to play.... what a thing!

Three penalties were handed out Saturday, though that's not really the point. Most of the guys use less of their time than expected, but what really happens is that a few slow guys bring the entire course to a grinding halt.

Factor Into Your Open Pick - Does this increase or decrease his chances?

Rickie Fowler's pursuit of a first major championship will continue next week at the U.S. Open. For now, he's content celebrating one of life's major milestones.

The World's seventh-ranked golfer proposed to girlfriend Allison Stokke on Friday, and sorry, ladies, but she said yes. After all, it's Rickie Fowler. And has a beach proposal ever not worked?

Maybe if he were to pull a Rory and back out after invites had been mailed....

Alan, Asked - Not the best week of Alan Shipnuck's mailbag feature, but there's always something of interest. We'll dive in with some Women's U.S. Open thoughts:

Do you remember any situation where the leader looked so lost and out of it, and still won? Aryia was so money after the first playoff hole. Wow. #AskAlan -@David_Troyan

The swing wasn't quite as dramatic but the most recent example would be Jordan Spieth at last year's Open Championship – he bogied five of the first 13 holes before his birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie finishing kick. But what Ariya Jutanugarn did was absolutely incredible, kicking away a 7-stroke lead but somehow rallying to salvage the victory. In a weird way it's more impressive than if she had cruised home and won by half a dozen. Gotta love Ariya's toughness as well as that awesome golf swing.

I didn't see her blow that seven-shot lead, but she always seems under control to me.

Is Zinger turning into Clint Eastwood in 'Gran Torino' or his commentary on applauding an opponent legit? - @CraigPostons

Paul Azinger's criticism of Ariya's good sportsmanship was interesting on a few levels. It was a visceral reaction and I like that Zinger blurted out his disdain. That's what a color commentator is supposed to do: react honestly to what's unfolding. Azinger is old-school in every way, and was one of golf flintiest competitors. No wonder he didn't get it. But after letting it marinate for a little while, Azinger offered more nuanced thoughts and grudging appreciation of Ariya's grace. Sometimes the first reaction isn't the right one. Instead of digging in, he was open-minded enough to see a different perspective. That's also the sign of a good analyst.

But the entire episode speaks to a larger problem in the Fox-USGA alliance, which is many of the commentators aren't regulars in the worlds they're asked to dish on. Zinger does one professional women's event a year, and it happens to be the most important. If he spent more time on the LPGA he'd have known that Ariya's good cheer is not unprecedented. It's not Azinger's fault, just a structural problem with the deal.

I can't add anything to that.

But he was scraping the bottom of his Twitter feed for sure with this one:

Why doesn't the LPGA establish a Masters-like major at a place like Pine Valley, or another rarely-seen course, and build a narrative around it like the PGA Tour does Augusta? - @_realryan

Great question, Ryan, except for a few niggling details. First and I think most important, the ladies do have such an event, currently operating under the title The ANA Inspiration. It's the successor to the Dinah Shore, which has a rich though somewhat tawdry reputation, and is played at the same fine course every year. You might have heard of it if you've any interest in golf....

Secondly, the PGA Tour has no involvement with the Masters, which is run by Augusta National Golf Club. But really, other than that, a great query.... Please write to Alan more often.

I'm amused at how quickly this guy has become the new poster child for slow play:

Should TV networks change the way they cover Cantlay? In other words, cut to him only after he has been over the ball for a minimum of 30 seconds? #AskAlan - @wesleyclark

This day is coming, and soon. Over the years that was how TV learned to treat Jim Furyk's ornate pre-shot tics. Now that Cantlay is becoming a regular contender, the TV folks will have a better feel for his painfully slow pace of play and can smash-cut accordingly. But it becomes problematic late on Sunday, when there are fewer and fewer players left on the course and/or in contention. At some point there's no one left for the cameras to find. So, hopefully the kid will learn to pull the trigger while we're, ahem, young.

Plus, the bastards will screw with ya and go mid-tic when you least expect it.

And, oddly, this Q&A came before that last bit:

What decade will it be when the lazy golf media stops making Tiger the priority story and looks into the incredible number of amazing and interesting (and much more entertaining) players currently on Tour? - Paul (@Fizzhogg)

I was on the road on Monday and did something I rarely do: read the USA Today print edition. The whole top of the article was about Tiger, and I have to admit my heart sank. But reporters and editors and TV networks are simply giving fans what they want; whether it's Internet clicks or Nielsen numbers, it's very easy to quantify the interest in Tiger, which is a few orders of magnitude larger than any other golfer. At this point we're all like prisoners of war when it comes to Tiger: it's often torturous, we want to escape, but we simply can't. I think it's time to stop fighting it and fall in love with our captor. One more injury could end his career. More Sunday failures could convince him to stop grinding and transition into the next phase of his life. The only sensible thing to do is embrace these opportunities to watch Tiger play the game he reinvented, because it could all end quickly, at which point we can give the Patrick Cantlays of the world our full attention.

I find myself still interested in watching him play, it's the wall-to-wall commentary and comical oddsmaking that's getting old. But said commentary has helped me to understand that it's a process, and it is what it is....

Last up and linked to our lead item today:

How and where will the USGA mess up this year's course setup? - Wyatt (@WJZangl)

Ahhh, I've always wondered what was Phil Mickelson's burner account. Thanks for tipping your hand, Lefty.

Good one, Alan.

Notes From Quaker Ridge - Mike Bamberger pens a love letter to the Curtis Cup still underway at Quaker Ridge:

The Curtis Cup was named for two sisters, Harriot and Margaret, do-gooder Boston Brahmins, who were dominant figures in women's amateur golf a century ago.

On this splendid Friday in June, and through the weekend, 16 of the spiritual descendants of the Curtis sisters — eight representing the United States, eight representing the Great Britain and Ireland — are competing for the Curtis Cup.

The youngest of the 16 players, and probably the best known, is 15-year-old Lucy Li, a born-and-raised Californian whose parents were born in China. Margaret Curtis would surely be amazed. She played in a U.S. Amateur at age 13 herself. Fox Sports is on the scene. Better yet, get yourself over to Quaker Ridge and enter a time warp.

What's happening right now at Quaker Ridge is golf at its best. The Curtis golfers aren't trying to sell you something. They aren't putting on a show. They're just trying to play the best golf they can, for themselves and their countries. Same as the Ryder Cuppers, without all the noise.

Oh, and admission is free.

It's well worth your time, and would be even if admission weren't free. I'll put a selection of my own photos from the day (plus a bonus video) below the fold.