The 18th may say “Par-Four,” but the results may differ. It has played more like a par-five with unprecedented carnage.
While the PGA Championship at the blood-thirsty Atlanta Athletic Club lacks star-power on its unlikely third-round leaderboard, I love what I’ve been watching for three days. And rather than micro-inspect the players or make any predictions, I’m simply going to talk about the golf course.
The Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highland Course epitomizes the dilemma facing golf today. How do you test the best players and make for a reasonably enjoyable and playable golf course for average weekend players – not the tiny minority of single-digit handicappers?
Kerry Haigh of the PGA of America
Kerry Haigh and the PGA get an A+ for their course setup. Likewise, the Club’s staff gets an A+ as well for the golf course’s conditioning. Perfect fairways and firm virtually grainless putting surfaces together can make for low scores. Conversely, the fluffy sand bunkers that finally constitute a ‘hazard’ and shaved surrounds and rock walls make the numerous water hazards attractive targets as well.
This may be the most entertaining setup in major championships I can remember. When you see low scores together with many very high ones, it takes away any legitimate player’s complaints. The longest par-70 course, no one is complaining about the distance. There are plenty of shorter hitters here who are contending. Lots of birdie and even eagle opportunities as well as disasters await as well. When bombers like Tiger Woods or Bubba Watson can blitz the course for half or a third of the round and then imitate my scores the remainder. And converting a longer par-four into a drivable one was fun.
If you want tough holes, I cannot recall seeing premier players suffer as they have with the 18th on the Highlands Course. It enjoys the same shape and concept the 18th at Doral’s Blue Monster, but makes that hole look like “Puff the Magic Dragon.” And the finish begins 263-yard 15th – a hole that players jokingly identify as a “drivable par-four.” Forget the distances, I can’t imagine “average” club players regularly finishing without going into their bag for more golf balls.
The course’s conditioning is fantastic, but the firm greens and the bunkers with their fluffy sand that actually play like hazards. Lots of water and shaved edges make the course very penal – tough, but fair.
Now for the flip side, I entirely agree with Phil Mickelson’s comments about the course being too demanding for the casual player. Phil opined something that just has to be said. In fact, I wrote exactly that just days before the event when I reviewed the golf course here. I guarantee you that despite the fact that the PGA did not choose to grow the Bermuda rough, many single-digit players would not break 100 on the course as it was set up for the pros, and many near scratch players would fail to break ninety. Play the course a thousand yards shorter and your good player might score reasonably well, but how about the “average golfer?” There are too many forced carries, false fronts, deep bunkers, and trees for them to want to play the course often.
Course Architect Rees Jones
Do I blame Rees Jones? No. He is simply doing what his customers want: make their course a test for the best players including the long-hitting bombers. He has done regularly for major championships as he enjoys the title “The Open Doctor.” Like his Dad before him (Robert Trent Jones Sr.), Rees has peppered his redesigns with bunkers in spots that impact the pros’ tee shots. The problem is that they impact the average golfer’s second shots – even from forward tees. In short, his revisions tend to make the courses more severe and less playable for weaker or older golfers, but more challenging for strong accomplished ones.
Rees Jones’ work reflects the modern American aerial game with which he is commissioned to address. Therefore he will often elevate his putting surfaces to accept only a powerfully struck high lofted approach shot (as well as to improve drainage). Seldom will you encounter the low-lying run-up shot or ground game that was popularized in the more strategic or heroic approach popularized by the classic architects like Ross,Thomas, Flynn, or Mackenzie. Indeed, at both Congressional’s Blue Course or Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course he has enhanced the course’s aesthetics – both were much more dazzling to the eye than the original works.
Yes, guests eager to play a championship course will choose to play the Highlands Course so as to add it to their collection – thus supplementing the course’s playing numbers. That said, reportedly more ACC members prefer the club’s other layout. While the prestige may count for more to the AAC members, it is certainly not a sustainable model for golf beyond its borders. Developers who copy this model are bound for operating losses. For golf, that translates a continuing death spiral. The weary too-often used “Glory’s Last Shot” might just be “Golf’s Last Shot” as the tail (elite players) is wagging the dog (everyone else who plays and supports the economic engine). Even the PGA’s “Play It Forward” campaign will sputter at a re-design like the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club.
As for the 2011 PGA Championship, there is now more of an aesthetic “Wow!” factor and the course setup has been absolutely been superb. “Is the Highlands Course a great course?” you ask? I maintain, “Almost, but not quite.” Playability matters too and I hope that golf’s leaders and golf course designers remember who is really sustaining the game and put more versatile designs into motion before it’s too late. And as for the 2011 PGA Championship finale tomorrow, it should be entertaining to watch no matter who wins!
