{"id":573,"date":"2012-07-05T05:39:39","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T10:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomharack.com\/?p=573"},"modified":"2012-07-05T07:41:33","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T12:41:33","slug":"blackwolf-run-again-promises-sternest-test-for-womens-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/golf\/573\/blackwolf-run-again-promises-sternest-test-for-womens-open","title":{"rendered":"Blackwolf Run Will Again Be Stern Test For Women\u2019s Open"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It looks pastoral, but the Sheboygan River also functions as a recurrent hazard at Blackwolf Run<\/p><\/div>\n

David Albrecht was explaining\u00a0 what makes the River Course at Blackwolf Run the toughest of The American Club\u2019s four layouts. Meanwhile, I provided my own painfully graphic object lesson to back up his observations, all of which figure to be validated during this week\u2019s U.S. Women\u2019s Open in Kohler, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Albrecht, a personable member of Blackwolf Run\u2019s professional staff, cited the wiry rough \u2013 noticeably tougher, for example, than the fescue on the resort\u2019s Straits Course; the intimidating sight lines that suggest few bailout options; the scarcity of level lies; and the severe, three-jack-inducing contours of the green complexes.<\/p>\n

To all that, I\u2019d add gaping bunkers, several daunting forced carries, and the Sheboygan River, a kind of serial hazard threading its way through much of the Pete Dye-designed course.<\/p>\n

No wonder the Open layout \u2013 actually a combination of holes from the River Course and its sister track, Meadow Valleys \u2013 left several competitors waving white towels in surrender when the tournament was last staged here in 1998. The winning 72-hole total was 290, six over par. (Se Re Pak beat Jenny Chuasiriporn in a playoff that lasted 20 holes.)<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s iteration is actually 500 yards longer than the 1998 edition, a par 71, though at 6,994 yards, it will play to a par of 72.<\/p>\n

Forecast temperatures call for extreme heat \u2013 as hot as 97\u00ba F — and humidity for Thursday and Friday, with a chance of thunderstorms and high winds throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

At least Albrecht and I got to play in delightful weather, sunny but cool. It didn\u2019t help me much \u2013 nor did my attendance at Kohler\u2019s joyous Festival of Beer, another attraction that brought me to the resort. Atmospherics aside, though, this is one of the most brutal golf challenges to be found on the planet.<\/p>\n

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David Albrecht was explaining\u00a0 what makes the River Course at Blackwolf Run the toughest of The American Club\u2019s four layouts…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,277563,17],"tags":[541612,3417,2984,70,5829,541798],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-wisconsin-golfer","category-courses-and-travel","tag-us-womens-open","tag-blackwolf-run","tag-the-american-club","tag-kohler","tag-se-ri-pak","tag-jenny-chuasiriporn"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2012\/07\/BWR-River-ccc03937.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":577,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions\/577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}