Lots to cover, perhaps even some "udder" stuff at the end. Go ahead, strap yourself in, because it could get a little bumpy...
Winged Foot, An Appreciation - A few years ago one of the major golf magazines introduced a unique spin on their typical course rankings miasma. Instead of ranking golf courses, they ranked golf CLUBS, which proved to be an interesting take. Though this would be a far better framing device if I could remember whether The Foot actually made the list...
You certainly don't need me to inform you of Winged Foot's seminal role in the growth of golf in the U.S. It didn't exist as golf took root in the U.S., but was built to catch that second wave during the Roaring 20's, and has deservedly had a seat at the big table at least since 1929. We'll drop into this topic via Mike Bamberger, who pens this love letter to the club:
The Meaning of Winged Foot: The club’s exceptional courses aren’t the only thing that set it apart
Of course I'll grab some juicy excerpts, but this is a rich personal history that you'll want to read for yourself. It so happens that the '74 massacre was Mike's first major, and that doesn't end his personal reflections on the club.
Having nothing to do with anything else, this was my first reminder of the famous Lee Trevino quote from that 1974 installment:
I recall, loosely, a quote from Trevino about the Winged Foot rough in ’74: “Your caddie would put the bag down to look for the ball and you’d lose the ball, the bag and sometimes the caddie.” Perfect. (Except for height, Trevino had every kind of gift a person can have, including the gift of hair.) I’ve often wondered how that quote settled in me. Via Red Smith? Or maybe Dave?
Dave being Dave Anderson, the Pulitzer Prize winning sports writer.
Mike was of course there for the Davis Love rainbow (Mike co-authored a book with Davis, which he charmingly refers to as "helping with the typing"), but it's these comments from Davis that I wanted to share:
“My favorite thing at The Foot is the classic clubhouse and the locker room. Those metal lockers, big enough for a tour bag. The old-school shower room. The massive sinks. You don’t see sinkslike that at new clubs.
“You go to Winged Foot and you can just feel how many rounds have been played there, all the card games played there, all the stories that have been told there. You know that every big-name pro and businessman has been through there. The courses are beyond great. But I would join just for the locker room, for the clubhouse — and for the lunch.”
The sinks? Got it...but I know exactly what he means, and felt much the same in the locker room at The National.
And this from Butch Harmon:
Butch Harmon, whose father was the longtime pro at Winged Foot, recently got me straight on Armour and the club. Armour was a member. Winged Foot was his hangout. Butch grew up at Winged Foot, along with his golf-obsessed brothers, Dick, Craig and Billy. “That’s one of the things about Winged Foot that sets it apart,” Butch told me. “People might say it’s a blueblood club, but they don’t know it. There are a lot of members at the club who made it on their own, in real estate, construction, contracting, trucking. There are Wall Street guys. There’s inherited wealth. But many of the members started something, did something, and earned their way in that way. What they all do is love golf. You’re not getting in without that.” So Tommy Armour, cooling his jets in a lounge chair beside the 18th green, that day when Hale Irwin and the ’67 All-America golf team met him. Hubert Green was on that team, too. Green had a T26 finish in the ’74 U.S. Open. He was trending himself.
You'll know it's an historic club for the simple reason that it has a club historian...Duh! Neil Regan is the lucky guy, and Tim Reilly shares from the rich vein of history. This factoid from back in the day caught my attention, as two of the guys folding sweaters in the pro shop could play a little:
There aren’t many clubs that are preserving history from a PGA Championship, five U.S. Opens (soon to be six), two U.S. Women’s Opens, two U.S. Amateur championships, Walker Cup and a U.S. Senior Open. And that’s just from tournaments hosted. Tommy Armour was a Winged Foot member who won three major titles. Head professionals Claude Harmon and Craig Wood both won Masters while working at Winged Foot. The list of accolades from those attached to the club goes on and on.
There's a Mickey Mantle story, though I'll go for this other Yankee:
Mantle isn’t the only New York Yankee to leave his mark on Winged Foot. In 1929, Babe Ruth used an off day to soak in the U.S. Open action. The winner that year was Bobby Jones, golf’s equivalent to Ruth. There’s an iconic photo of Ruth kneeling down behind Jones with a cigar in his mouth. A moment in time that could have only happened at Winged Foot.
Ruth was spotted spending significant time playing at Winged Foot in the weeks before the U.S. Open while nursing a mysterious injury. But in ’29, the most prominent sportswriters in town were Winged Foot members, and so Ruth’s transgressions remained their little secret.
The media holding out on us? Wow, the more things change...
When one visits a place like Winged Foot, one knows the leave some time available to scan the walls for artifacts. But what other club does this?
For Winged Foot’s repeat visitors, display cases in the clubhouse are regularly updated, to rotate in its embarrassment of riches. Repeat visitors? If only we could slip into Winged Foot once! Consider this up-close look at its keepsakes the next best thing to being there.
Which comes from this item:
The stuff of legend: 22 awesome artifacts you’ll only find in Winged Foot’s historic clubhouse
I imagine culling the feature to only 22 items to be the principal challenge.
Shall we start at the beginning? Well, almost the beginning, the program for that 1929 U.S. Open. See if you can spot the oddity:
Yup, it used to be called the National Golf Open Championship.
One of the curiosities involved here is that that 1929 Open seems to meet every test for success, yet the USGA didn't return the Open to Winged Foot for a full thirty years. I've no clue why...
Not to be missed is Bobby Jones' scorecard from the first round of that '29 Open:
That 69 was the course record. He played that day with Al Espinosa, with whom he attended church and bested in a route in the Sunday, 36-hole playoff.
We shan't slight the ladies:
Which event, alas, ended in tears... You guys know the Jackie Pung story, right? Before there was Roberto de Vincenzo, there was Jackie.
But before we leave the artifacts, how about a look at some golf balls. First, from Mr. Jones:
Square dimples? And from their professional:
Eddie Bugniazet (1984, 1994, 1997 club champ): Plus eight. [grins]
Jeff Putman (2009 club champ): High scores.
John Lamendola (2018 club champ): I’ll concur. Over par.
Bugniazet: But I will add: We want a fair test. A very fair test. You don’t want to hear that
players — I don’t think people realize that on the West Course, even if we’re playing it as easy as it could be, on an outing day, there’s still really no let-up. And I think in U.S. Open conditions they’re going to realize, when they get to about 13 and they’re even par and they still have to hit a few more shots, they’re gonna go, “Oh boy.”
I guess my point is that it’s a demanding 18 holes and we don’t need to trick it up. Of courses, there’s the rough, and the greens will be quick. But I think it’ll stand for itself.
They've been collectively on message with that +8, and it's always accompanied by a smile. Lots of concern expressed about fairness, which I just don't get. I mean, when has the USGA ever botched a set-up?
We'll conclude our ode to the club with thoughts on their iconic clubhouse:
It was designed to look as if it were rising out of the ground. The idea was to make Winged Foot’s clubhouse part of the essential backdrop to the greens closest to the famed building. Golfers approaching on the ninth and 18 holes of the West Course, as well as those hitting into the 10th and 18th greens on the East Course, get a view of the famed stone structure that makes it seem integral to the holes they are playing.
That’s exactly what architect Clifford Charles Wendehack (1885-1948) had in mind when he collaborated with golf course designer A.W. Tillinghast on Winged Foot Golf Club in the early 1920s. The two architects achieved this by careful site selection and alignment of the building. So closely did they work together on sight lines and design that when Wendehack published his now-legendary masterpiece on clubhouse design, “Golf & Country Clubs” (1929), he sent a copy to “Tilly” with this note: “To the distinguished course architect – A.W. Tillinghast. From his most humble co-worker. C.C. Wendehack April 5, 1930.”
In a way that has never been fully appreciated by the golf design world, the two architects led parallel lives, achieving creative heights during the 1920s with work that was particularly prominent in the New York City Metropolitan area. Both wrote extensively for golf publications and design magazines, using their literary output to publicize their craft and to generate work. Both faded into obscurity in the mid-1930s, though Wendehack’s denouement was not as sad and as broken as Tillinghast’s. If Tillinghast’s story is now well known, Wendehack’s is not. But understanding him and his work helps a visitor to Winged Foot appreciate the iconic nature of the clubhouse as a landmark in American architecture.
This watercolor was painted by Wendehack himself:
Wendehack didn't just build clubhouses, he also literally wrote the book on the subject:
For all the books focusing on golf architecture from the interwar period known as the Golden Age of Course Design, Wendehack’s “Golf & Country Clubs” is the only one devoted to clubhouses. Indeed, it remains not only an essential volume but the only book focusing on the special character and schematic structure of these buildings.
Lastly, this from the memorabilia collection:
A.W. Tillinghast designed and built Winged Foot’s East and West courses, and Clifford Wendehack designed and built its clubhouse. When Wendehack gifted to Tillinghast a copy of his heralded book Golf and Country Clubs, he signed it reverently: “From his most humble co-worker.”
Two of the Golden Age greats combining to create a masterpiece. So great that we're willing to overlook the fact that neither thought about including a driving range...
Winged Foot, The Golf - I've never heard JC Sites's name before, but he also sends time with Club Historian Neil Regan. There's some good history to be found, including a Willie Park, Jr. appearance that was new to me. But I was struck by his thoughts on the actual golf course, first his favorite tree:
There have been videos circulating of Winged Foot from above, and it’s impossible not to notice some majestic tree canopies across the property. Can you talk a bit about their role inthe framing of the course?Without a doubt, my favorite tree on the West is the Elm on No. 2. It’s as beautiful an Elm as there is in America right now, and it's as perfect a tree for a golf hole as there ever was. Tillie designed the entire hole around that one tree, even writing in an article titled Giving Individuality to Golf Holes that he wanted to showcase this beautiful specimen of a tree. He even discussed how you name a hole – all 36 holes here at Winged Foot have names – and he, of course, named this hole Elm. Tillie was a master on the property of combining trees, tees and greens together. And the best example is the Elm on 2. Because if you look at it from above, you realize, Holy cow, 2 West green, 3 West tee, 5 West green, 6 West tee – they're all right around that tree.
And this on the greens:
Tillie ended up creating greens that are still memorialised today. If you could take one for your backyard, which one would it be?
OK, I realize I’m cheating here a bit, but Monday through Saturday, it would be the 1st green on the West course, and on Sunday, I’d take the 15th green on the West.
I’ll break it down to you this way. Every feature of every other green at Winged Foot is somewhere on that first green on the West course. Look at the two sides of it, for example: The
The 15th green. right side has a “step” that you’ll see on 3 West green, and the left side has that really graceful big sweep and a backstop that you see on 18 West green. Those undulations are pure genius on Tillie’s part, because you can break your speed across the fall line of those swales by using the counter slopes. Indeed, it’s the reason why Winged Foot’s greens are still functioning now without having had to change the grade of the slopes over the years, even though we cut the grass at a tenth of an inch instead of a third of an inch like they used to do. You can putt these greens at 13 on the stimpmeter, and they still work magnificently.
As for 15, it’s a 46-yard deep green at an oblique angle with about eight feet of elevation gain – that’s a three or four club difference, with the shape and trajectory of the approach different for each pin location and each distance choice.That Sunday pin position in the back right is something to watch for. It’s as good as any pin position in the golfing world.
And this, reminiscent of the joke about Royal Dornoch's second hole:
What would you say is the most difficult shot on the West course?
I’ll keep it simple. I'm going to echo what Gil Hanse said: "Your third putt on West No. 1." [ed.’s note: Gil restored Winged Foot in 2017]
The green that Jack famously putted off of in 1974.
Jim Nantz is a longstanding member of the club, though a no-resident member at this pint. We've previously touched on their equally-renown East Course, which was originally slated to host that 1929 Open. Nantz makes the argument that, when the USGA next returns, they should play a composite course:
When Winged Foot hosts the U.S. Open next time around, I’d love to see a full representation of its two courses. I’m talking a composite of the famous and familiar West Course, and the lesser known but equally (some say surpassingly) magnificent East Course. On the surface it sounds like a radical idea, but I’ve long believed that a combination of the two would result in a design that is formidable, beautiful, sensible and unique in major-championship golf.
First, a quick summation of the two courses, both designed by A.W. Tillinghast. The West Course has staged five U.S. Opens—the one set for Sept. 17-20 will be its sixth—and a PGA Championship. It has history and grandeur. It is known for being a brute; Irwin’s winning score of 287 in 1974 was seven over par. Its fearsomeness was immortalized in Dick Schaap’s classic, Massacre at Winged Foot. It is a course with big shoulders, a straightforward, no-letup test that punishes even the greatest players. It plays to a championship par of 70.
The East Course is more varied and visually appealing. Most members believe it is the more interesting of the two. It has history as well, a pair of U.S. Women’s Opens and a U.S. Senior Open. Like the West, it’s a test. Susie Maxwell Berning’s winning score at the 1972 U.S. Women’s Open was 11 over par, and Roberto De Vicenzo totaled one over in winning the 1980 U.S. Senior Open.
Those greens are going to be the focus this week, a dramatic contrast with last year's PGA at Bethpage Black. There Tillie died before the greens were ready to be shaped, and the result was unnaturally flat greens as compared to the architect's other courses. A lucky thing, given it's a public course...
Here, they are diabolical, and I'll look forward to how NBC captures that on two-dimensional TV screens. I'll share this interactive guide with you, though it didn't do much for me on my 2D monitor:
U.S. Open 2020: Can you read a Winged Foot green?
No. Next question, please.
Yesterday's Tour Confidential panel took this crack at the Over/Under line:
2. Early reports out of fearsome Winged Foot West is that — no surprise — the rough is gnarly and the fairways choked. Winged Foot superintendent Steve Rabideau told The Journal News that he had 8-over in mind as a potential winning score. You taking the over or under?Dethier: Under. These guys are just too good. Everyone hits it long, and somebody is going to hit it long enough and straight enough to win. Nobody would be happier than me to see an over-par winning score, but I’m inclined to think a handful of players are going to finish in red figures.
Sens: Under. Over par is one thing. But 8-over seems extreme. Too many great players wielding too much high-tech weaponry. Given that our fearless editor, Alan Bastable, made three pars (!) in 12 holes on media day, I figure someone will keep it close to level.
Zak: UNDER! For every reason stated above. Even when Oakmont and Shinnecock have seemed fierce to the point of unfair in years past, the winning score has still been right around or under par. I feel like 3- or 4-over is as bad as it’ll get.
Bamberger: Under. But I like how Steve is thinking.
At +8, you have to take the under... But at +4 it's a far more difficult proposition.
TV Stuff - Coverage windows are wide:
Thursday, September 17: 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 2-5 p.m. ET (NBC)
Friday, September 18: 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 4-7 p.m. ET (NBC)
Saturday, September 19: 11 a.m. -7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
Sunday, September 20: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 12-6 p.m. ET (NBC)
More golf than any one human being can consume... But I'll be doing my best.
So, I posed that query above regarding the TV coverage, and there will be a few quirks:
2. A virtual first-tee grandstand
Select members of the U.S. Open Victory Club will have a virtual, Webex-powered front-row seat behind the 1st tee at Winged Foot West. (Webex has already pulled off a similar offering for fans of the Manchester City soccer team, who can watch virtually from the side of the pitch.)
“We’re not only using technology to bring fans on-site, and bring that to life, but also to leverage the amount of data and scoring data that we pass through everywhere on the golf course,” Singh says. “We’re really excited about being able to connect fans in that unique way, given that they can’t be on-site this year.
I understand each individual word, yet have no clue what they're talking about...
This had me concerned, at least until I remembered that it's be a Faldo-free zone:
3. Expect to hear more from the broadcasters
Under normal circumstances, Roy likes his broadcast team to go quiet in the moments before a player hits a shot, but without less ambient noise to work with, the analysts will need to fill the void.
“When we do really big-time golf events, I prefer to have our announcers lay out more often, where they set up a shot, but then lay out,” Roy says. “That accentuates the drama when you have the murmur of a crowd. And it just makes a shot that much more dramatic. So without fans, it’s going to be a better play to have our announcers actually talk wall-to-wall. We did that over the course of U.S. Amateur, and then did it last couple of weeks at the playoffs, and it still gets your juices going. And we’ll continue to do that.”
That wall-to-wall bit is concerning, but it's obviously different without the crowd reactions.
Are you guys sure about this one?
4. Dramatic moments will be accentuated — with music!
Replays are one way to get the crowd going after a big moment. But in our fan-less reality, a music overlay will help play up the drama.
“When a big putt is made, or an incredible shot is made, I do several replays, and we pump the crowd, because that’s part of it,” Roy says. “Because the nature of the golf, most golf shots are executed, and you get the polite applause. When you get a crowd roar, that’s gold. But we don’t have that now. So if a great shot is made or a big putt is holed, and I start doing these replays, I actually add some music in, which I never would’ve done before. Dramatic music to help fill that void that you’re missing from the crowd.”
Siri, please mute my TV.
I'll leave the "Who ya got?" stuff for another day (which likely means Thursday morning). That brings our U.S. Open coverage to an end, and we'll just throw out a couple of quick items under the Udder Stuff header.
Golf's Moment - I'm the guy that's been telling you all along that golf isn't dying, but it's nice to see word getting out:
During this extended season of social distancing, warm temperatures and desire for physical activity, the golf industry has seen a dramatic resurgence, with people investing in lessons, flocking to ranges and courses and shelling out money for clubs and gear. What had been perceived as a sport on life support has been infused with a renewed energy, driven by young adults.
That's great, though it only took denying them all other activities and any contact with other human beings. Kidding, but as we all know, it's only good if the right kind of people are playing:
According to research from the National Golf Foundation, there have been notable increases in participation among juniors and beginners, along with returners, as golf has positioned itself as a healthy way to pass time during this crisis.
“The number of junior golfers (ages 6-17) could increase by as much as 20% this year, a potential COVID-related bump of a half million golfers by year’s end. During a time when many other activities were on hold, including youth sports in many instances, we’ve also seen increases in the number of beginning and returning golfers of about 20% during the first half of 2020,” NGF editorial director Erik Matuszewski told Yahoo Finance.
Nationally, rounds of golf were up 19.7% year-over-year in the month of July, marking the biggest increase ever for a high-volume summer month since NGF started monthly tracking in 2000. This reflects an increase of approximately 10 million more rounds than in July 2019. In August, rounds were up 3% nationwide over the same period in 2019, after climbing from a 16% year-to-date deficit on April 30.
To paraphrase the NY Times, golf is growing, women and children hardest hit.
Of course the best part of the story is watching folks trying to grab a slice of the credit, such as Mr. Monahan. But now comes the hard part, not squandering the opportuntiy.
The Wall, Further Reflections - Dylan Dethier was all over the Great Wall of Dinah in the post-tournament news cycle, so I find it interesting that he feels the need to add five points a day or more later. Yeah, it really was that effed up a move...
First, this GMTA moment:
3. What’s up with the wall, anyway?
You’d think, for something that is very clearly just an opportunity to showcase sponsor logos,
that the wall would do a better job showcasing sponsor logos, right?! I mean, check out this picture of Mirim Lee in front of the Blue Monster after she chipped in for eagle at 18. Notice anything? YOU CAN’T EVEN SEE A SINGLE SPONSOR LOGO!
I have very few principles in life, but one of them is this: If you’re going to sell out the architectural and strategic principles of the finishing hole at an otherwise-terrific major championship, you’d better get your money’s worth in brand exposure. Just an ethos of mine.
I assume that, like Groucho, you have others...
But that seems to me to be the single funniest part of the travesty.
Dylan restates this from the TC round-table, that the advertising should have been asea:
What would have been a better solution, you might ask? I’m glad you did! I think it would be terrific to have a floating plane-shaped island, sort of like the red umbrella at the Travelers, that you could put in the water short or long of the green. It would look awesome in aerials, there would be no mistaking the logo and it would have the added benefit of not deflecting and/or swallowing important golf shots.
Admittedly, this get a tad existential:
4. There’s a big difference between a grandstand and a wall
This is actually the most interesting dynamic of the entire discussion. If the same series of events had happened with a grandstand in the same spot, would we feel the same way? After all, there’s been a grandstand behind 18 at the ANA for many years — a few feet further back than The Wall and slightly narrower, but the idea is the same: it guards that back water. Same thing, right?
No! In my mind, there’s a huge difference, and I’ll try to explain why. With the grandstand there, you’re at least still catering to the fans on site. You’re elevating the in-person experience, which elevates the television viewing experience in turn. The entire thing is heightened with a crowd looming over the action.
Obviously there's a reason to have a grandstand there... there is simply no reason to have a big friggin' "blue thing" there.
But the placement deserves scrutiny as well:
Making those chip-shots that much easier... Just no bloody reason for it to be there.
Australian architect Rod Morri jumps into the fray as well. His thoughts are good, but first this amusing bit about Mike Whan:
For a guy who rarely gets it wrong in PR terms it’s been a less than stellar couple of weeks for Mike Whan.
The LPGA Commissioner missed a huge opportunity by not finding a way to get Women’s Open champion Sophia Popov in the field for the ANA Inspiration (despite technically being right) then compounded the error with the debacle that was the wall behind the 18th green at Mission Hills.
That's two biggies this week, so are we sure about that "rarely"?
But he makes the important point here:
Going for the island green from an iffy lie late in the final round of one of the most prestigious events in the game should be compelling stuff for player and spectator alike.
But thanks to the presence of the wall, what might have otherwise been a momentous decision for some of the best players in the game became, instead, a choice with a security blanket.
With the danger behind the hole all but guaranteed to be out of play, the ‘momentous decision’ simply becomes one of execution: carry the water at the front of the green and you’re all good.
That's well said, at least until that last bit. In fact, the damn sign removes all but trace levels of the ned to execute, because the player can hit it a sfar as they want. Executing, in a golf context, I take to include a level of precision that is quite clearly absent here.
Nobody can say whether the outcome of the tournament would have been different had the course setup team not decided to put the wall in place. But there is no doubt it played a part in the final outcome.
If you mean that the same person would have won, not bloody likely. But more to the point, certain of the players would have had to lay up from iffy lies, and would therefore have had to demonstrate actual golf skills to secure their birdie or eagle. That's sufficiently different for this observer...
I'll see you Thursday for sure, if not tomorrow.
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