[CornFed]

The information I mentioned about the stimpmeter came from the golf course superintendent on the first day of the Fox Sports 1 broadcast.  He was talking to Greg Norman and said they had measured the stimpmeter that morning at about 11.0 to 11.5.  As I mentioned, he indicated that that is about the norm for major championships, which I am fairly certain is not true.  That first day, the players made many comments about the speed of the greens and several pointed out that the practice green was considerably faster than the greens on the course.


The play of the course did seem to quicken as the tournament went on.  Never heard another reference to the stimp reading, but it sure seemed to go up.  But when that happened, the play of the course got much more severe.  Shots that were hit to the dead center of the fairway would catch an awkward bounce, begin to roll, and trickle 50 yards or more until they went into a trap, under a lip of the bunker.  Putts from just off the green would hit severe aberrations in the surface and pop 2" into the air.  Speith's tee shot on the par-3 17th landed just short of the hole and stopped and began drifting back, gained momentum and just kept rolling off the false front 25 yards short and nearly went into a trap.  Grace's 2nd shot on the par-5 18th went past the hole, up a slope 25' past it, started rolling back, caught another slope on the way back and it left him a 30' putt.


I found it interesting that I did not see another comment by Gary Player anywhere since he made the comments in the video I posted above.  I did not even hear the announcers refer to the harsh criticisms that he leveled.  That should have been a major story.  When someone of his stature is that severely critical, you would think the topic would be pursued.  If there were contrary viewpoints with equal credibility, they should have been brought out.  There probably weren't any.  Fox Sports just tried to bury it and pretend everything was hunky dunky.  It wasn't.


I think the players would have given up half the roll that gave them the extra distance you mention if the putting surface could be normalized even a little.  There were admittedly lots of exciting individual shots and the turmoil at the top of the leader board gives announcers fodder to gin up story lines and excitement.  But that turmoil was the direct result of the randomness in shot outcomes caused by poor design elements in the course and poor decisions about how to set up the course each day.


For some reason the USGA rushed to hold this event at Chambers Bay.  The course is only eight years old.  One significant national competition had been held there previously.  The whole thing needed more time to mature and work out the design flaws.  I am relieved that golf will be returning to a more substantive and proven site next year at Oakmont in Pittsburg, PA.  I suspect they will not be returning to Chambers Bay in my lifetime.

[CornFed]

The information I mentioned about the stimpmeter came from the golf course superintendent on the first day of the Fox Sports 1 broadcast.  He was talking to Greg Norman and said they had measured the stimpmeter that morning at about 11.0 to 11.5.  As I mentioned, he indicated that that is about the norm for major championships, which I am fairly certain is not true.  That first day, the players made many comments about the speed of the greens and several pointed out that the practice green was considerably faster than the greens on the course.


The play of the course did seem to quicken as the tournament went on.  Never heard another reference to the stimp reading, but it sure seemed to go up.  But when that happened, the play of the course got much more severe.  Shots that were hit to the dead center of the fairway would catch an awkward bounce, begin to roll, and trickle 50 yards or more until they went into a trap, under a lip of the bunker.  Putts from just off the green would hit severe aberrations in the surface and pop 2" into the air.  Speith's tee shot on the par-3 17th landed just short of the hole and stopped and began drifting back, gained momentum and just kept rolling off the false front 25 yards short and nearly went into a trap.  Grace's 2nd shot on the par-5 18th went past the hole, up a slope 25' past it, started rolling back, caught another slope on the way back and it left him a 30' putt.


I found it interesting that I did not see another comment by Gary Player anywhere since he made the comments in the video I posted above.  I did not even hear the announcers refer to the harsh criticisms that he leveled.  That should have been a major story.  When someone of his stature is that severely critical, you would think the topic would be pursued.  If there were contrary viewpoints with equal credibility, they should have been brought out.  There probably weren't any.  Fox Sports just tried to bury it and pretend everything was hunky dunky.  It wasn't.


I think the players would have given up half the roll that gave them the extra distance you mention if the putting surface could be normalized even a little.  There were admittedly lots of exciting individual shots and the turmoil at the top of the leader board gives announcers fodder to gin up story lines and excitement.  But that turmoil was the direct result of the randomness in shot outcomes caused by poor design elements in the course and poor decisions about how to set up the course each day.


For some reason the USGA rushed to hold this event at Chambers Bay.  The course is only eight years old.  One significant national competition had been held there previously.  The whole thing needed more time to mature and work out the design flaws.  I am relieved that golf will be returning to a more substantive and proven site next year at Oakmont in Pittsburg, PA.  I suspect they will not be returning to Chambers Bay in my lifetime.