Notes From The Flood Zone

I only caught a bit of yesterday's coverage, as we had a nine-hole social outing at our place.  Lots of disappointments among the favorites, but also much golf yet to be played...

And also much nonsense, as usual....  For instance, Golf.com leads their Five Things We Learned on Thursday feature with this:

1. A bearded Jimmy Walker is playing like it's 2014 again. Our unlikely early leader is 37-year-old Jimmy Walker, who shot an impressive five-under 65 in Thursday's opening round. Many saw Walker's play as a return to form, harkening back to his glory days in 2014-15, when he won five titles.

Walker played a fine round of golf and is the deserving leader, but it was one day.... And those glory days?  You mean when he won big-time events like the Sony, Frys.com and Valero?  Jimmy is a nice player, but he hasn't to date done anything that would lead a fellow to expect him to be in the mix late in the proceedings...

Shack has a good roundup of the coverage, but I completely misinterpreted this:

Michael Shamburger has this roundup of the tough day for favorites and stars, beyond Henrik Stenson, Day and Fowlerwho both posted nice scores.

So I'm scratching my chin wondering if there's bad blood between Geoff and Mike Bamberger, perhaps tribal rivalry between the Golf Digest and Golf Magazine teams... But lo and behold, there actually is a Michael Shamburger, and here is that roundup to which Geoff refers:

• E – Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, and Adam Scott
• +1 – Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Sergio Garcia, and Bubba Watson
• +2 – Masters champion Danny Willett
• +4 – Rory McIlroy
• +7 – U.S. Open champion and Vegas favorite Dustin Johnson appears to have completely ejected

That last one is a complete shock, given the recent fine form he's displayed.  Though, like Jason Day, I though it foolish for him to go to Canada last week.

Whoever wrote this link for a worthy Alan Shipnuck piece didn't do him any favors:

McIlroy Can't Keep Pace with Day, Mickelson

Sir, the man is T115, there's no shortage pf players he failed to keep pace with... including several club pros.  But I digress.  Anyway, here's Shipnuck on Rory:

While Day is back to making the game look easy, McIlroy was a woebegone presence throughout the opening round. He had droopy body language by his second hole, already beat down by his season-long inability to convert on his bountiful scoring opportunities. His birdie-less 74 evoked that disastrous birdie-less 77 he had shot on Masters Saturday in front of god and Jim Nantz (and playing partner Jordan Spieth.) On Thursday at Baltusrol, McIlroy took 35 putts and failed to hole anything longer than 6 feet 11 inches, leaving a series a makeable birdie putts short of the hole. He lost a whopping 3.95 strokes-gained to the field and it got so bad that at one point James Corrigan, the salty scribe for The Daily Telegraph, tweeted, "If Carlsberg made putters, Rory McIlroy would pour it down the toilet." To which Ian Carter, a BBC Sport correspondent, parried, "He might miss."

Afterward McIlroy stated the obvious in calling his troubles "a mental thing." He added, "I just need to be a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more free flowing with my stroke. … It's good on the putting green. It's just a matter of getting it from the putting green to the course. Maybe that's why I'm starting to be a little bit more assertive and not quite as tentative." The good news for McIlroy is that he's pounding his driver and his iron game was sharp. But as we saw during his missed cut at the U.S. Open or Saturday 73 at Troon, there is an elemental spark that is missing, and it's hard to imagine he's going to find it on the sweltering practice green at Baltusrol.

 Rory's putting has been simply dreadful, but as Bob Harig notes it's by far not his only issues:

Putting has typically been McIlroy's nemesis, the part of his game that would be considered average or even substandard compared with the rest of his skills. He needed 35 putts Thursday despite hitting a respectable 9 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation. 

His proximity to the hole average of 31 feet is another problem, and for the year he ranks just 84th on the PGA Tour in approaches to the hole from 100 to 125 yards. From 125 to 150, it is even worse, as McIlroy is 148th, averaging 24 feet, 6 inches. 

Considering how far McIlroy hits the ball -- he averages 304 yards off the tee and was 308 on Thursday -- his inability to hit it close with short irons helps explain some of the putting woes.

Hmmm....maybe he could spend some time with DJ over the weekend to work on his wedge play.... Eh, who am I kidding?  he'll shoot 68 today and end up with another back-door Top Ten.

Jason Sobel on DJ's surprising fall from grace:

Johnson opened with a 7-over 77 at Baltusrol Golf Club that included two double-bogeys 

and just a single birdie. He finished the day tied for 143rd place, ahead of only five other players, three of whom are club professionals. 

The score also left him a dozen shots off the lead of Jimmy Walker after just 18 holes.

After back-to-back pars to start his round, Johnson pulled his tee shot on the par-4 third hole and was forced to lay up, then three-putted for double. 

He immediately bogeyed three of his next four holes, then posted another double on the 11th hole, when he left his second shot in a fairway bunker. He even failed to take advantage of his length on the two closing par-5s, finishing his round par-bogey.

It's for sure a surprise, especially that six on the finishing hole, but it's still golf.

Alan Bastable compares Beefsanity to Linsanity here:

Let's recap. Golfer with beard and cute nickname wins tournament. Golfer with beard and cute nickname says he's going to celebrate by drinking copious amounts with friends. Golfer with beard and cute nickname actually does celebrate by drinking copious amounts with friends. Golfer with beard and cute nickname becomes cult sensation. 

Golfer with beard and cute nickname comes to New Jersey to play in his first PGA Championship and receives the kind of greeting usually reserved for players who have won PGA Championships. Golfer with beard and cute nickname loves every minute of it. 

As does everyone around him. That's the thing about Beef. He's the lovable sidekick from your favorite sitcom, and yet there's no shtick about him. His rapport with fans, his accessibility, his joie de vivre -- it's genuine. All of it. You can't not enjoy watching the guy.

He shot a very respectable 70 yesterday amid the ruckus....dare we hope that he'll be on the Euro Ryder Cup team?  I'm not sure that Darren Clarke has that good a sense of humor.... 

Thursday Threads

There are balls in the air in Springfield, NJ, though at this point it's only those of three club pros....But just a few things to sort through and then I'll let you go....

Golf.com leads its Five Things We Learned on Wednesday feature with this:

1. Sergio Garcia has no plans to live in a cave when he retires, in case you were worried. The nine-time Tour winner was asked about how he would feel if you he finished his career without ever winning a major. Sergio responded,"I'm not going to go in a cave and stay there until I die."

Fair enough, though it leaves me wondering if he would do this in his cave:

Other bits:

2. No one will reach the monster par-5 17th hole at Baltusrol in two shots. Don't believe us? Then take it from Dustin Johnson, the biggest bomber on Tour, who said Wednesday he didn't think anyone would make eagle there this week. But what did the U.S. Open champ think about his chances to putt for eagle at the par-5 18th? "Everybody is going to reach 18."

I'm expecting that someone will hole a wedge there, but that's about all.... 

4. Jason Day is out of gas. The World No. 1 told reporters that he was "running on E" today after a chaotic night in which his wife ended up in the hospital after an allergic reaction. The defending PGA champion is also battling a bug he thinks he caught from his son.

We had this bit yesterday, but it only reinforces my point.  Yes, there were unexpected circumstances with his family, but it's not the first time a father caught something from his spawn.  Going to the Canadian Open was an unforced error....

As for everyone's everyman, well, the beef goes on....

The Beef hype has arrived at the PGA Championship. Fans out here are dressing up like the cult hero from the Open Championship at Troon -- he’s being stopped for autographs left and right, you can hear "BEEF!" being called from all over Baltusrol. 

Even defending champ Jason Day chimed in on Beef Fever, calling him, “A top bloke.” Going on to say that Beef: “Looks like a guy you want to go down to the pub and have a beer with, even if you don’t drink.” High praise. 

Johnston's nickname needs no ratifying; the guy is now endorsed by Arby’s for crying out loud. And as his other Titleist Vokey wedge was stamped with nine different steaks, Beef's latest wedge from Titleist leaves no doubt as to who the owner of it is.

The writer seems unclear how this all works.  He's endorsed Arby's, not the other way around... But here's a peak at his mouth-watering wedge:

First thing you'll notice is that it's the S grind.....OK, maybe not the first....

Did you notice that John Daly is in the field?  The PGA is the major without an identity, though they now have a Past Champions' Dinner and those guys get to play, so you know who they want to be when they grow up.

On that subject, this header caught my eye:

John Daly's patriotic outfit will restore your faith in America

That seems a remote probability at best....But patriotic is way down the list when I see this photo from the dinner:

Thanks for dressing up, John.... At least they had the good sense to put him on the outside, where he'll be easy to crop....Yanno, I don't particularly like dressing up either, but sometimes you just need to suck it up.

Do we think he's angling for a vice-captaincy:

I believe it was Sigmund Freud that said, "Sometimes a practice round is just a practice round."  Bill Pennington, writing in Pravda, is way over-interpreting this:

Jordan Spieth continues to tell people he is not in a slump. Phil Mickelson must once

again expound on the heartbreak of another second-place finish in a major championship.

Perhaps that is why Spieth and Mickelson played a practice round together on Tuesday, preparing for the 2016 P.G.A. Championship. Separated by 24 years in age, for a day they might have been the salve to each other’s burdens, real or invented.

Not that either needs too much help defending, or explaining, himself.

Or maybe they just enjoy each other's company or ran into each other on the range?  We've been hearing this bot from Jordan for a while now, and can only hope it's true:

“I’ve gotten back to kind of the gunslinger — the way that I grew up playing, which is just step up and hit it,” he said. “I went from over-dissecting shots to really feeling like less is more.”

That may not sound like the player that the golf world came to know last summer when Spieth entertainingly, and amusingly, would harangue himself with detailed, verbal post-shot analyses on the course. But Spieth apparently wants to do less of that.

“Golf is a game where you smack it, go up to the next one and smack it again, then count it up at the end,” he said. “Simplifying things has really been the trend recently. It’s really helped me.”

 He's a sound engineer's dream, but one gets the sense that he hasn't been helping himself with the sturm und drang on every shot.  

Udder Stuff - Did someone mention Ryder Cup Assistant Captains?  Well, the Euros are one-up on us as of now:

The European Ryder Cup team's vice captain squad has swollen to five, potentially boosting Club Car's third quarter revenues as Darren Clarke looks to become the first captain to have a shuttle driver for every two players.

According to a BBC report, 2002 winning captainSam Torrance joins Ian Poulter, Paul Lawrie, Thomas Bjorn and Padraig Harrington on Clarke's coaching squad at Hazeltine in Minnesota.

Good one, Geoff,  a nice subtle riff on your evergreen cart-driver meme.  And this was good as well:

Oddsmakers have installed Mark James, Neil Coles, Peter Alliss and a hologram of J.H. Taylor as co-frontrunners to grab the next vice-captain spot.

And a perfect listing of names...  Most would have gone for Vardon or even Braid in that last bit, but the most obscure of the Great Triumvirate is pitch perfect.  Now, can I get that fee in twenties....

I'm planning to look at the Ryder Cup teams after the PGA, but I'd recommend an industrial-size grain of salt with this:

Rory McIlroy says Team Europe is probably going to be the underdog at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, and that's just fine with him.

"I'd say it’s very evenly matched, but if anything…" McIlroy told GOLF LIVE host Ryan Asselta, hesitating. "I'd give the U.S. a slight advantage in terms of who you would say is the favorite. But we don't mind that. We don't mind being the underdogs. Hopefully we can go in with that mentality and try to get another one."

So, why does he think that? 

"This American team, they're young and they're hungry and they're motivated to try to go out and beat us. We're going to have at least five or six rookies on our team, and coming into an environment like a Ryder Cup away from home, it's tough. It's tough to play your first Ryder Cup like that."

A fair point I'll acknowledge, the U.S. squad will have far more experience.  Of course that experience is almost exclusively of losing Ryder Cups, but still....

A Sour Note -  I'll share this Martin Dempster piece, mostly because he agrees with me... the subject is Keith Pelley's plans for a wacky Euro Tour event with shot clocks and less than fourteen clubs and he's on board with all that...with one exception:

As for PA announcers and music? No! Neither belongs on a golf course and there really is a fine line here between trying to be, in Pelley’s words, innovative and creating something that just doesn’t sit with the fundamentals of the sport. On the one hand, the European Tour chief’s vision is aimed at trying to attract more young players to the sport. But what if the cost of that happening is losing too many of those who actually like the game as it is right now? Personally, I think change of some sort is required but let’s be careful here because, as Stenson and Mickelson showed us just over a week ago, the traditional form of golf can still show the sport off in its full glory.

I was of course making a point about a different issue, allowing millennials and other freaks of nature to blast their music on the golf course, to the inevitable irritation of those golfer's not residents of their parents' basement.  But still, it's always helpful to have someone with a byline make the case that our game can be pretty damn good.  

Midweek Musings - PGA Edition

A couple of other items before we focus on that little get-together in New Jersey....

A Linksapalooza - If you prefer your golf of the linksy persuasion, and we certainly do here at Unplayable Lies, then this will have you circling date son your 2017 calendar:

As we predicted last October, the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory

Foundation will return to Northern Ireland with Portstewart Golf Club confirmed as the host venue from July 6-9. 

Founded in 1894 and long considered one of the country’s finest links courses, Portstewart will be staging a European Tour event for the first time when tournament host Rory McIlroy defends his title there next summer. 

The change of date means the events will be the first of three links events in a row before The Open at Royal Birkdale with Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Dundonald Links retaining its prime date, the week before the game's oldest Major.

I simply couldn't be happier, both to have another week of links golf as well as for the good folks of the area....We've played The Strand course at Portstewart several times with our good friend Lowell Courtney, who happens to be a member, and I've little doubt that it will present well for the event.

You can read more of Portstewart from our Ballyliffin journey here (please be polite and overlook the typos), as well as some not-half-bad photos from yours truly.  The only qualification to bear in mind is that it's the outbound nine that provides the eye-candy, some of the most dramatic dunes in links golf.  The inbound holes are stout, but are simply laid out on less dramatic terrain.

This to me is far more significant, as relates to the European Tour, than the golf-on-steroids plans discussed yesterday, as it further strengthens the national open of a golf-crazy country.  It also serves as a further inducement for Americans to come over early and adapt to the seaside game, though we'll have to wait to see if they get it.  The only loser would seem to be the French Open, which moves to the slot on the schedule in May formerly occupied by the Irish.

But Lowell and I are happy, and that's really all that matters....

Olympic Fever - I know, it's really hard to contain ourselves....  Now comes word that another player may not be in Rio.... though this one will mostly affect Maggot:

I just met a girl named Maria....

Another golfer might be canceling her flight to Rio, but not because of scheduling conflicts or the Zika virus. 

Maria Verchenova, a Ladies European Tour pro from Moscow, is the only Russian golfer who qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, but less than two weeks before the start of the Games, the International Olympic Committee determined that "all Russian athletes seeking entry to the Olympic Games Rio 2016 are considered to be affected by a system subverting and manipulating the antidoping system."

Although the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended an unprecedented blanket ban on Russian athletes for what its offcials called "the single biggest doping scandal of all time," the IOC decided to leave it up to each individual international sports federation to vet each Russian athlete under its jurisdiction, so Verchenova's fate now rests with the International Golf Federation.

C'mon, let the poor girl in....She's not likely to contend, and Golf Channel has nine hours a day to fill:

Verchenova, 30, is the No. 338-ranked player in the world and the first Russian golfer to become a full-time member of the Ladies European Tour, where she has competed since 2012.

As I once said of former Yankess catcher Frankie Cervelli, a noted weak stick, if they're using PEDs, they're doing it wrong.

 In other Olympic news, we have this fashion report:

Bubba Watson has said from the beginning that he's excited about representing the

United States at the Olympic Games in Rio, as golf returns to the Olympics for the first time in more than 100 years. He'll be the top-ranked golfer in the world in the field, and from a fashion standpoint, he has already made a mark in the introduction of these shoes. 

The 10-time PGA Tour winner and two-time Masters champion will go for Olympic gold in these limited-edition, Team USA shoes from G/FORE. You know, even further evidence of his intense pride to represent his country.

Given the prevalence of raw sewage, I think the high-tops were a good call.

Fun With Names - We usually focus on the ladies, obviously because of the prevalence of Asian names...  I know, it has to be racist, but a blogger needs content.  So quit with the damning me to eternal perdition and enjoy this SkratchTV video in which Asian Tour players names are entered into Google Translator.  

Shall we turn our attention to the PGA?  Thought you'd agree...

The Long Of It - We've come a long way in the PGA Long Drive competition, heck even Bubba is at least trying to pound one out there.  For most of yesterday Rory was the leader in the clubhouse, and surprisingly seemed to care a great deal about it:

“Obviously, the PGA of America have had this long drive competition for a long time,” McIlroy said. “I know Jack Nicklaus still carries his money clip from 1963. It’s a nice little accolade to have. … It’s a cool concept. It’s a lot of fun and I think the guys enjoy it.”

McIlroy gave it his all Tuesday, blasting one 345 yards down Baltusrol’s first fairway. He then anxiously watched the leaderboard as players tried to knock him out of the top spot.

But it wasn't meant to be:

Instead, it was Ben An who snuck one out two yards farther, at 347. 

McIlroy heard the news as he was walking out of the interview room. He wasn't pleased.

With An's career earnings of $4.8 million compared to McIlroy's $50 million, it might be the only way the former U.S. Amateur champion will ever get into Rory's pocket.

To be fair, An was in the better side of the draw.....OK, but here's the funniest part.  Golf Channel had the good sense to cover it and use ProTracer, and this was the scatter diagram of the field:

You see that outlier heading straight for the trees on the left?  There was understandable curiosity over whose skank that was....and we have an answer:

One niggling detail?  Bowditch isn't, you know, in the field at Baltusrol....  But good on the Aussie for covering for his mates (though, and I don't mean this to be harsh, if I were Poirot I'd start with the twenty club pros).

The Seventeenth - She's a brute, at 649 yards..... Peter Burkowski planted himself there on Tuesday, and tells of DJ's plan of attack:

Dustin Johnson eats par-5s for breakfast. The longest hitter in the game also boasts a top-

10 scoring rate on par-5s. 

When he came to the tee box at the 649-yard par-5 17th on Tuesday for a PGA Championship practice round, his mere presence elicited a deafening silence of anticipation from the gathered crowd. 

His drive, a 330-yard bomb, drew oohs and ahhs from the people watching. No"Bababooie!" or "Mashed potatoes!" This was shock and awe.

Yet when he got to his ball, he had nearly 320 yards left to the pin, and even for the lanky, angular DJ that was too tall a task.

Johnson took an iron and placed it perfectly short and right of the gnarl of bunkers protecting the elevated 17th green.

If you care about your scorecard, it makes little sense to go for the green.  But this was Tuesday, so why not?

But then he did something I only saw one player do all day: he paused, dropped another ball, and grabbed his 3-wood—to applause from the gallery—and went for it.

That familiar bowed wrist and explosive action at the ball whooshed through impact. He’d pured it … 20 yards short.

Even for the hottest golfer on Tour with a dynamic swing and distance for days, the 17th bared its teeth.

David Dusek looks at the hole differently:

Is Baltusrol’s 17th hole really a 649-yard par 3?

 Here's the obvious logic:

“It becomes a par 3,” said Craig ‘Weeman’ Connelly, who caddies for 2010 PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer. The consensus among Connelly, other caddies and many players is that if everyone lays up on the 17th, it becomes a contest to see who can make the most birdies using a pitching wedge from between 80 and 125 yards out.

That's all well and good, but to get to your 100-yard Par-3, you need to find the fairway with your drive and hit your "lay-up" some 250-260 yards.....Oh, and straight.  What I can't find in these analyses, is the length of third shot for a player that misses the fairway and has to lay up short of the cross bunkers.  That's a much longer Par-3....

To answer your obvious question:

But will anyone go for it and try to make eagle? 

“I think that if it goes down wind, yeah,” said Connelly. “If it goes downwind and you get guys like Dustin, Bubba, Rory, Nicholas Colsaerts, Thomas Pieters, those guys will give it a whack,” he said.

Inevitably a guy like Colsaerts will give it a go....But I think that will be limited to players out of contention and those that need nothing short of an eagle when they reach No. 17.  There's just way too much difficulty around that green, and a better chance of a four with a wedge in hand.

Day Time - I can't find anything written on the curious scheduling of Jason Day, the defending champion this week, though it was the subject of discussion on Golf Channel last night.

Despite the compressed schedule, Day went to the Canadian Open last week, where he was also the defender.  He did not show up at Baltusrol, a golf course on which he has never set his eyes, until this morning.  He asked the PGA to reschedule his press availability from Tuesday to Wednesday morning, after which he will play a practice round.  His only practice round!

What am I missing?  The man has himself too exhausted to play practice rounds at a major in which he is defending, because he couldn't pass up The Canadian Open?  The schedule is insane, but can't these guys say no to easy money?  Sheesh!  I certainly wouldn't have him on my fantasy roster if I, you know, had one....

All Things Baltusrol

Now that I've reacquainted myself with this blogging thing, shall we discuss the long history of this week's iconic venue?  I thought so....

How Is That Spelled? - It's an awkward word we can all agree, the more so as it's actually the name of a man.... and quite the unfortunate man at that:

That guy was Baltus Roll, and for an inkling of his fate, look to his remains. They're

buried roughly five miles from the Baltusrol clubhouse, in the Revolutionary Cemetery, in Westfield, New Jersey. 

"In memory of Boltus Roll," his rust-hued tombstone reads. Note the misspelling. A minor insult added to his injuries. 

"Murdered," the tombstone also reads. 

Until the incident in question, on Feb. 22, 1831, Roll led a quiet, rural existence, tending oxen and raising crops on the same lilting land where the golf club lies today. He was a thrifty fellow, or so the locals said. Rumor was that he had lucre stashed away in the farmhouse he shared with his wife.

Like a lot of rumors, it fell on the wrong ears.

Around midnight, on that frosty February date, two men burst through the farmhouse door while the Rolls were sleeping, according to testimony provided to authorities by Roll's wife, Susanna. After demanding to know where the money was, the intruders, she said, "dragged my husband out of bed, punched and beat him, and took him out of the house."

It's usually the wife in these cases, but Mrs. Roll seems to have an alibi.... 

News of the murder spread quickly. So did a police investigation, which focused partly on a clue fit for a Hollywood film. No, they weren’t looking for a one-armed man. They were hunting for a horse with a missing shoe; its hoof-prints had been found at the crime scene. 

As it happened, just such a horse belonged to a man named Peter Davis, a local ne'er-do-well whose distinctive blue eyes, it also happened, matched a description of one of the killers provided by Susanna. Throw in the fact that in the weeks before the murder, Davis had been overheard in town talking about his need for money, and the cops had a prime suspect. The other guy they wanted was Lycidias Baldwin, who was known to run in Davis' company but likely aroused suspicion with his name alone.

Why?  Baldwin is a common-enough name.... Oh, I see, Lycidias is the knid of name you'd invent if it didn't already exist...

As a manhunt closed in on him, Baldwin holed up in the boarding room of a Newark-area tavern and took his own life, overdosing on opiates. Davis, who was apprehended quickly, went before a judge and jury in a highly publicized procedural that the tabloids helped sensationalize. 

"It was like the O.J. trial of its time, the 'trial of the century,'" Wolffe says. 

Among other highlights, the courtroom spectacle featured a pit-bull of a defense attorney, a "Johnnie Cochran of his era," in the words of one modern-day newspaper story, as well as the testimony of a rope expert, who linked rope found on the three-shoed horse to rope that had been used to hogtie Roll.

If the noose doesn't fit..... 

Pre-Tillie - Baltusrol is justly famed for its two Tillinghast designs that have been faithfully maintained all these years, but the club's history predates Tillie:

Golf has been played over the grounds at Baltusrol for twelve decades, first on a rudimentary nine-hole course, then on the “Old Course” of 1895, and now on the Lower and Upper Courses, designed and built by A.W. Tillinghast between 1918 and 1922.

You may be surprised to learn that the club hosted both a U.S. Amateur (1904) and a U.S. Open (1915) before the sainted Tillie stepped foot on the property.  The N.Y. Times, of all places, has an interesting article on a unique feature of that Old Course:

There is nothing exotic about the 16th hole on the Lower Course of Baltusrol Golf Club. Competitors in this week’s P.G.A. Championship in Springfield, N.J., will encounter a 230-yard par 3 that plays slightly downhill to a well-bunkered green. The most dramatic moment to occur at No. 16 was in the 1993 United States Open, when Lee Janzen holed a chip shot for a score of 2 during the final round on his way to a two-stroke victory over Payne Stewart.

Where the putting surface of the 16th hole is situated, though, once existed one of the most talked-about features in early American golf: the sport’s first island green. The site was the location of the 10th green on Baltusrol’s Old Course, an 18-hole layout created in 1900 that was used for two decades before the opening of the Upper and Lower Courses in 1922, built by the noted golf course architect A. W. Tillinghast.

A postcard showing Chick Evans teeing off on the famous 10th hole, which featured an island green, in the 1915 United States Open at Baltusrol Golf Club. Credit

 There's a wealth of historic detail to be found, including this bit:

The British stars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray played an exhibition against Low and Alex Smith at Baltusrol the week before the 1913 United States Open in Massachusetts. In the morning round of the 36-hole match, Ray hit his tee shot into the moat fronting the 10th green, the ball settling in mud a few inches below the surface of the water.

Ray went into the moat and was cheered by spectators when they realized he was going to attempt a shot. “Then came a moment of stillness,” reported The Sun, “followed by a shower of spray, and the ball shot across the green, coming to rest about five feet from the cup.”

That U.S. Open referenced above?  It was only The Greatest Game Ever Played. 

Tillie did away with the island green here, but built a couple of his own, lest you think the idea originated with Pete Dye:

Although Tillinghast ultimately did not resurrect the island green at Baltusrol, he was a fan of them in his designs. Before his work at Baltusrol, for example, he created the ninth hole at Shackamaxon Country Club in Westfield, N.J., in 1916 and the 15th hole at Galen Hall Golf Club in Wernersville, Pa., in 1917, both of which featured island greens.

Does building two make him a fan?  Pete Dye has an amusing comment about how that's all poeple think of with him, and he had done the same number as Tillie....

The one at Shackamaxon is now their finishing hole, and I played it a couple of weeks ago....  I offer no opinion on it because a miscommunication with our caddie (that's my story and I'm stickin' to it) left me hopelessly out of position....

Tillinghast -  From the club's website:

The courses which opened in 1922 were the culmination of Tillinghast’s “Dual Courses” project, a bold initiative to build two courses side by side at the same time. Untried prior to Tillinghast’s proposal, the Dual Courses concept was an historic accomplishment in the world of golf course design at the time and made Tillinghast’s career. In fact, his seminal work at Baltusrol was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior's National Park Service. Baltusrol is also listed on the State of New Jersey and Federal Registers of Historic Places.

It was the roaring 20's, and Tillie was very much of his era....He died penniless and a drunk, but what a legacy....   I'll save it for another time, but the fact that he was only honored with entry to the World Golf Hall of Fame last year is an enduring disgrace, although perhaps that invests the hall with too much significance.  Because Tillie was far more than an architect, he was a significant writer and photographer of golf, and probably the most influential proponent of our game of its early days in this country.  A truly significant figure in the game...

David Fay was a longtime member, and penned this reflective feature on the club.  This is the most important bit:

Most first-time guests want to play the Lower Course, site of two of Nicklaus' four U.S. Open titles and Phil Mickelson's PGA Championship victory. But the members are partial to the Upper, site of the 1936 Open. The Lower is a brute. The Upper is far more nuanced, built into the side of Baltusrol Mountain (more like a bunny slope) with wild greens. Both courses were built in 1922 by A.W. Tillinghast. True, the range isn't great, but it's a helluva lot better than those found at other Tillie gems such as Winged Foot, Somerset Hills and Quaker Ridge. 

Playing a few holes on the Upper on a late afternoon is one of the joys of the game. The course is so expansive and bucolic, yet from a number of vantage points, you get great views of the Manhattan skyline less than 25 miles to the east.

The range is now first-rate, but the Upper is such a great course and far more enjoyable than the Lower.  There's not a flat lie to be found and the greens are simply spectacular....  Play those greens and then tell me what you think of Bethpage Black!

The Upper is so good, that Travelin' Joe Passov shares twelve things we need to know about it, including this bizarre moment:

3. No stranger to big-time events, the Upper played host to a U.S. Open before the Lower did, when Tony Manero claimed the title in 1936. Paired with Gene Sarazen in the final round, Manero blitzed the Upper with a five-under 67, for a score of 282, breaking the all-time four-round mark by four shots and edging perennial hard-luck bridesmaid “Lighthorse” Harry Cooper by two. Cooper was further victimized by one of the strangest 72nd-hole scenes ever: he was forced to wait nearly 15 minutes to hit his birdie putt after his playing partner, Leslie Madison, had his wallet picked from his pocket. After a bizarre, frenzied search for the thief, Cooper went back to work—and three-putted.

And this is the appropriate spot to work in Wrong-Way Ed Furgol, testament to why players need to know the rules:

4. The Upper did see pivotal U.S. Open action in 1954. During the final round, Ed Furgol took the title when he made par at the final hole after snap-hooking his drive into the trees. He played his eight-iron second up an adjoining fairway (the 18th) on the Upper course, hit close to the 18th green of the Lower with his third and got up and down for par. He wound up beating Gene Littler by one.

The Opens -  The club has hosted seven U.S. Opens, the last in 1993.  Only the last four of those were on the Lower, two of which you don't need me to know were won by Jack Nicklaus.  We discussed Furgol above, and the 1993 edition was won by Lee Jantzen, a good player but no Ed Furgol....

If I don't seem enthused about the Lower Course, it's just that it's the Bataan Death March of courses....  One long, tough, heavily-bunkered Par-4 after another.  They're all fine golf holes on their own, but there's little memorable about them...

I do agree with David Fay on this as well:

I love everything about Baltusrol except its most photographed hole, the par-3 fourth on the Lower. The hole itself is good, but that damn stone wall guarding the green just doesn't seem in balance with the other 35 holes. It has a Florida look. I wish in the redesign that Robert Trent Jones Sr. had opted for a grass slope, kind of like the 12th at Augusta National, where a ball just might hang up on a tuft of grass near the edge of the pond.

It's just completely out of character with the rest of the place.....

But that's not the only damage inflicted by the Jones family....  Rees came in to toughen the joint before the '93 Open, and added his typically saucer-like bunkers which look like eyesores next to the deep Tillie bunkers.  I've never understood the strategic value of bunkers that shallow, but it's the contrast that really grates.... 

I do think both finishing Par-5's are really strong golf holes, and love how differently they play.  But it's such a weir routing, where the only two three-shotters are the final two holes.  Seventeen is of course famous for its length, but it's the crossing bunkers that make it work.  Players that find the fairway with their drives will not give them a passing thought, but from the rough they will torment the players.  And the finisher is just a classic reachable Par-5, though one can find all sorts of trouble off the tee.

It's a fine golf course and will be a fair test for the boys.....it will, however, not televise especially well and you'll struggle to remember the holes.  And if like me, you're lucky enough to count a Baltusrol member among your friends, ask t play the Upper when invited.

There's also this wonderful B&W gallery that you may enjoy.

Back In The Saddle

Did you miss me as much as I missed you?  I thought so....

No weekend wrappage per se, but let's clear the decks of some items we need to discuss, then we can flood the zone on Baltusrol coverage.

Rota Doings - The header to Shack's review of the reimagined Ailsa Course will have heads in Philly exploding:

DONALD TRUMP'S TURNBERRY: THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE DELIVERS WITH HIS RENOVATED AYRSHIRE COURSE

Well, he hired the best people and it's gonna be YUUUUGE!

As Donald Trump has set sight on the White House, a prominent part of his life prior and 

during the run has been a revitalization of this historic resort. There is a reason he left the campaign trail to christen the re-opening: Turnberry has been a labor of love and a significant capital investment. 

Turnberry is a marvel in every way. The resort has become one of the world’s elite again, the stuff dreamers a century ago hoped for in putting a five-star hotel on a hill overlooking a links and majestic lighthouse. Should your budget allow and your pallet call for world-class links golf, dining and accommodations, Turnberry is an essential stop. But don’t be in a hurry to leave.

You say pallet, I say palate, let's call the whole thing off.  But seriously, are there no editors and/or proofreaders left?

But it's quite the rave:

The new 4th green.

While always a beautiful setting thanks to the Ailsa Craig, the Firth of Clyde and the resort’s own majestic lighthouse, the old Turnberry featured several uninspired holes and -- despite being home to four of the Open Championship’s most memorable finishes -- a bland back nine. 

Turnberry has reopened with almost no weak moments, improved views of the Firth, restoration of ancient-looking fringed bunkering and an abundance of thrilling shot-making opportunities. Furthermore, Turnberry’s dramatically revamped 9th, 10th, and 11th holes are comparable to the best trifectas in golf: Pebble Beach (7th-8th-9th), Cypress Point (15th-16th-17th) or Augusta National (11th-12th-13th).

Turnberry is often the favorite course of those visiting Scotland, as its rugged coastline and visual beauty will mask the existence of too many indifferent holes.  In that sense the comparison to Pebble Beach is obvious....

But like Pebble, when it's good it's really good....The other obvious issue is that the two finishing holes were always weak sisters.  Now this is something of an occupational hazard with links, as there is often a simple necessity to get the golfers from the clubhouse, built inland near the road, to the more interesting terrain nearer the water.  But at the old Ailsa, there were just too many of the weak sisters, and it didn't help when Open Championships were won and lost on them.

Most of the interest has centered on the new ninth hole, as Geoff explains:\

Ebert didn’t have to do much to the par-5 seventh and par-4 eighth, as both are beautiful, left-turning holes playing through coastline dunes. It’s at the new ninth where Ebert and many others (including R&A officials) pondered a better use of the cliffs and lighthouse setting. Ebert briefly toyed with a drivable par 4 but Trump insisted on a classic par 3 over the cliffs, a huge improvement over the par-4 tee shot that used to be played from the same tees.

As we've previously discussed, it's a classic design.... for Hawaii.  I can't think of such a hole in Scotland and Ireland, and one can't help but wonder about playability in heavy winds.  Though the old ninth, with it's humpback fairway that kicked balls left and right, will not be missed.....

Geoff's slideshow doesn't include a photo of the new ninth, but he does include this of the new Par-3 11th:

You know, if you like this sort of thing....

Read the whole thing. because it sounds like everything has been thought through fully and the garishness has been limited.  There's a short course located just below the hotel that they've had the good sense to upgrade as well, and a forthcoming renovation of the Kintyre course as well.

So, while politics is another strong interest of mine (or was), I'm puzzled as to whether a Trump win increases or decreases the odds of the Ailsa staying in the rota.... 

In other rota doings, Lewine Mair tells us in the Global Golf Post that the R&A is a tad chintzy with the host venues.... Color me shocked.  

See No Evil... - Have you heard the Scott Stallings story?  Well then, pour yourself a fresh one and pull up a chair.... Here's the background:

When his 2014 season ended at the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston,

Stallings returned to his home in Knoxville, Tenn., and paid a visit to Dr. Raye-Anne Ayo, a local family medicine practitioner. According to a sworn declaration signed by Ayo, a series of blood tests revealed that Stallings' testosterone level was hovering on the low end of the range of normal, possibly the result of a 2005 surgery in which doctors removed from Stallings a potentially precancerous undescended testicle. Ayo concluded "Stallings's testosterone level was sub-optimal for him and was possibly contributing to his feelings of fatigue" so she recommended that he take a daily dose of the over-the-counter hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) "if it was permissible by the Tour." 

Stallings' testosterone levels weren't low enough to garner a diagnosis of hypogonadism, a disorder in which the body produces little to no testosterone, but according to some experts, that doesn't mean Stallings shouldn't qualify for medical treatment.

Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, an associate clinical professor of urology at Harvard Medical School and the author of a book called Testosterone for Life, said that there is "a growing awareness that testosterone deficiency is a serious medical condition that profoundly affects men in terms of general health."

Stallings then makes a mistake, taking a supplement readily available at your local CVS....then self-reports to the Tour:

It was April 2015, and the three-time PGA Tour winner had been summoned to meet the most powerful man in golf, Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, in the clubhouse at TPC Louisiana before the start of the Zurich Classic. Stallings would finally have the chance to plead his case in person. Or so he thought.

The golfer reviewed his talking points in his head. He had made a mistake, but he also had immediately reported himself, as golfers are supposed to do, and apologized. Surely, the Tour would forgive him for acting hastily when his health was on the line. Finchem, he thought, would understand.  

"I walk into a room, Finchem is there with a few other guys, and before my butt hits the seat, I'm handed a piece of paper telling me I was suspended for three months," Stallings recalled. "I was very much in shock."

My first question is why is Finchem the one dropping that hammer on Stallings?  He's got minions and sycophants to do his dirty work, no?

And this is pretty naive:

"I thought the Tour would have my back, but obviously they didn't," Stallings said. "I hope no one has to go through it ever again."

You screwed up Scott, you trusted them....

Obviously Stallings made a mistake and the rules have some grey area related to low testosterone, but the guy had a serious medical issue and he turned himself in.  So, why deprive the man of his career for three months over this?  Well, see if this clarifies anything?

The decision to make Stallings the newest member of the most exclusive club in golf had already been made. He joined Doug Barron, Vijay Singh and Bhavik Patel as the only players known to have run afoul of the Tour's Anti-Doping Program since its inception in 2008, his name forever etched on a public naughty list in perhaps the only sport that prizes integrity over success.

Does it surprise you that:

1.  Only four guys have been caught in the Tour's drug testing, and that the only household name was long past his prime (and a noted thorn in Commissioner Ratched's side);
2. That failed drug tests for recreational drugs are a private matter, but the Tour would announce this suspension as a "self-reported drug violation" with no further details;
3. That in refusing to add blood work to their protocols the Tour can't possibly catch any use of PEDs by their players.

The above will only surprise those under the misapprehension that the program was designed to eliminate the use of PEDs in golf.   As opposed, of course, to creating the appearance of a rogorous drug testing regime.

Where's The Beef? - Endorsements, like mergers, often leave us scratching our heads, certain that the benefits can't cover the cost.  For instance, is there a little kid in Texas insisting that his mother only serve him the high fructose corn syrup peddled by Jordan Spieth?

But the good ones are notable, whether it's TopGolf acquiring ProTracer or even Brooke Pancake revealling that she's more of a Waffle House kind of girl....  But this one, is more of a "What took so long?" reaction:

It has already been a storybook year for Andrew Johnston, the golfer better known as "Beef," who most recently notched a sixth place finish at the British Open last week.

Though he won earlier in the year at the Spanish Open, his performance at Royal Troon was most memorable, establishing him as the fun-loving cult hero receiving raucous "BEEF!" chants on each tee come Sunday.

Furthering his legacy, the 27-year-old Englishman has now inked an endorsement deal with Arby's, also famous for their beef. So, starting at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, he will wear the logo of the franchise sandwich restaurant on his shirt and hat.

Hey, I'm just glad these two kids found each other....

Millennial Bait -  I've long bemoaned the dreary sameness of week-to-week life on Tour, but I'm guessing this is a bridge too far:

The European Tour is set to revolutionise golf with a radical new format, played over just six holes and featuring time limits for shots, music and 'different' clothing. 

Following the lead of Twenty20, which has transformed cricket, the European Tour are looking to play golf over a shorter format than its traditional 18 holes, with added elements of theatre to add to the spectacle.

He added: 'Yes, there'd be a shot clock. Yes, there'd be music and players would probably be dressed a bit differently.

Why would they do this?  C'mon, the answer is in the header:

The theory goes that these additions will help attract more young players and boost TV audience figures.

We usually discuss these millennial-inspired "innovations" in the context of golf course operations, in which I typically note that it's fine to try anything, though you might want to ensure that you're not alienating your existing customer base.

In this case, knock yourselves out....though Geoff is making his support contingent on including the stymie.

Henrik 2.0 - Bob Harig has an interesting profile of Henrik's work with Pete Cowen, and to me the interest is mostly in how bad a state the Swede's golf game was at its nadir:

Yet as Stenson makes the quick turnaround to this week's PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club, it is interesting to note how bad he once was, how little ability he had to do anything close to what he accomplished in Scotland. 

"He couldn't hit the world, let alone the fairway,'' said Pete Cowen, Stenson's longtime instructor. "And it could be with every club in his bag. He could hit 5-irons out of bounds, 7-irons out of bounds. There are three important things, and they are to start the ball on line, and have the correct flight and spin. Henrik couldn't start it on line, and then you have no idea where it is going to finish.''

And now he's a ball-striking machine.... But I love that Cowen has skin in the game:

The deal Cowen makes with his clients is to be paid a percentage of their prize money; he does not charge them a fee per session, nor a set amount per week or per year. So working with Stenson meant some bleak times for the instructor as well. 

"It was two and a half years of nothing, basically, but that was my commitment to him,'' Cowen said. "You're not winning anything so I can't charge you anything, so let's keep going until it happens. We saw bits of sparks in there occasionally, but not very often. He just persevered.''

And I just love this closer:

Warming up prior to the final round at Royal Troon, Stenson was hitting everything perfectly. Cowen knew his work was done. There was little left to do but see his longtime pupil off to the first tee, from where he proceeded to produce the round of a lifetime. 

Cowen didn't stick around to watch, opting instead to get in his car and head south back to England. He listened to the final round on the radio, from where he could undoubtedly hear that sweet sound of the club meeting the ball, one he had worked so hard to help produce.

So much for the longest walk in golf.... 

Prestwick Golf Club - A Love Poem

What a jolly course it is, to be sure! What a jolly place to play, too, for we shall probably have had it reasonably to ourselves. It shares with Muirfield, among the great Scottish courses, the merit of being the private property of the club, and that is a merit that grows greater every year. It is a beautiful spot, moreover, and we may look at views of Arran and Ailsa Craig and the Heads of Ayr if we can allow our attention to wander so far from the game. Tradition and romance cluster thickly round Prestwick... BERNARD DARWIN

Allow me to begin with an aside, as I'm frequently consulted by those planning their first golf trip to Scotland.... the issue is that I'm equally frequently ignore.  As just one example, a Willow Ridge member will be leaving for such a trip in a few weeks and will be playing Troon, but can't find time for Prestwick, a most unfortunate unforced error.

These thoughts are triggered by Paul Weaver's love poem to Prestwick in The Guardian (h/t Shack), which you are required under your membership agreement at Unplayable Lies to read in its entirety.  Prestwick may not call itself the home of golf, though it has a strong case to do so:

A few Bubba Watson drives from Troon is the place where it all started, where the greatest golf championship of them all was conceived and born – and matured with such assiduous care it might have been the local whisky. 

This is the moonscape in South Ayrshire otherwise known as Prestwick Golf Club. And it was here, on 17 October 1860, that the first Open Championship took place, with eight professionals playing three rounds on the 12-hole links course. 

Ken Goodwin, club secretary, says: “They started at noon and played two rounds. Then they went up to Prestwick, to the Red Lion Inn to have lunch, and then came back to play another 12 holes. So the first Open, including lunch, was completed in four and a half hours.”

A scene from the 1925 Open, the last held at Prestwick.

Want a little more history?

The whole place has the patina of legend about it. The first 12 Opens were held here, and 24 in all. “The first event was really by invitation,” says Goodwin. “The local clubs were invited to send their best man. For the following year it was decided the event would be open to all the world. So some people might argue that the second playing, in 1861, was the first true Open.” 

The club had been formed in 1851 following a meeting of prospective members at the Red Lion, just a mashie niblick stroke from the club. Allan Robertson was considered the finest golfer in Scotland and in the world at that time. He was the first man to beat 80 around the Old Course at St Andrews and, it was said, never lost a match for money. 

When he died, in 1859, it was decided to hold a contest the following year to find a new champion. The favourite was Old Tom Morris, who had built the course. But Willie Park won it. “Old Tom, who was keeper of the green as well as the ball and club maker for the club, won four times, the last in 1867,” says Goodwin. “He was 46 and is still the oldest winner in Open history. The following year his son, Young Tom, won, and at 17 remains the youngest champion.”

Old Tom worked for Alan Robertson in St. Andrews, until they had a falling out over golf balls.... you really should read this if the history of our game holds any interest for you, as it won't disappoint.  But Prestwick, St. Andrews and Musselburgh (home of the Park family) fought for primacy in the game during this era, with Prestwick's creation and staging of those early Opens making it first among equals....for a while.

While Prestwick's days of holding majors is long in the rearview mirror, it remains a great day of golf for the club player:

Prestwick’s most famous hole is probably the Alps, the 17th now but originally the 2nd. The club thinks it is the oldest hole in championship golf. Goodwin says: “Other well-known holes are the 3rd, the Cardinal. It contains the Cardinal Bunkers, which is a system of bunkers, two very large ones and a smaller one. Then there is the Himalayas, the par-three 5th. “It’s a blind hole. There are a number of blind shots played here. If you can see the flag from the tee, you’re probably looking at another green.” 

Even golfers who do not necessarily drive as badly as Ben-Hur have problems here. “Prestwick,” wrote the legendary writer Bernard Darwin, “has been the scene of more disasters that have passed into history than any other golf course. Willie Park’s catastrophe at the Alps, James Braid’s celebrated eight at the Cardinal in 1908 (I can still in nightmares see his ball glancing off the sleepers and into the burn), Mr Hilton’s eight at the Himalayas in 1898. I do not know how many shots Willie Campbell took when he sliced at the 16th.” The bunker there became known as “Willie Campbell’s grave”.

Think Pete Dye invented the use of sleepers (railway ties) in bunkers?  Think again, as you look at beloved Employee No. 2 in one of those above-referenced Cardinal bunkers back in 2009:

By the way, on that 12-hole course used for the first Opens, the first hole was 578 yards....  And that was just before graphite shafts and 460cc driver heads became available.  Young Tom famously made a three there in one of his wins...

Do you like your golf course features with memorable names?  Prestwick has you covered here as well...

The Archive Room, with pencilled-in scores from the 1860s, tells tales of terrible traumas outside. Darwin added: “Holes and bunkers that can bring down great men with so terrible a crash deserve great names and in these Prestwick is rich; the Slough of Despond, Purgatory, the Goose Dubs, Lion’s Den, the Pill Box, the Precentor’s Desk and Sandy Neuk.” It feels friendlier in the clubhouse.

The Slough of Despond?  How great is that?

Shack had his own thoughts as well, including this on the design:

As for Prestwick's architecture, the course retains its playing charm and design fascination, an astounding notion given how so many courses do not age well. The appreciation heard last week for its merits is heartening and offers more evidence that a greater awareness for design is in the game. Just like North Berwick's recent renaissance, Prestwick no longer is getting tagged with a negative "quirky" or "bizarre" labels. Instead, the overall walkability, memorability, variety and at times, audacity of the holes appeals to a broader golf audience than 20 years ago. The fun word is getting throw about too, and never in that demeaning way suggesting the course is too "easy." 

The Himalayas remains such a thrill to play, and a great reminder that blind can be exhilarating. What I can't figure out: why the blindness is better received in 2016 than even 2006? Is it the awareness before arriving at Prestwick that has people prepared? Or just the overall desire to have a sense of a natural adventure that has been re-introduced by more lay-of-the-land courses? Either way...

I suspect there's some self-selection at play, in that those seeking out Prestwick go for this very thing...  Though there are, as noted above, whose offense is more that they don't know that such a thing is on offer.

 Shack had many great photos in his post as well, including this from the walls of the club:

Read it all, as the kids like to say.  And read the book as well, you'll learn much about the game that you love...