[ad_1]
When it comes to major championships, the pedigree of the golf course is important. The courses keep the history of the players who won there.
Arnold Palmer is at Cherry Hills. Ben Hogan is at Merion. Tom Watson is at Turnberry.
Tiger Woods, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews also won four consecutive majors for the so-called “Tiger Slam” in 2000-1 at Valhalla and Augusta National.
However Augusta National Golf ClubThe host of the masters is different from the others. It was originally designed by two greats: Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones, big amateur. The only big game played on the same course every year. And their champions are returning as members for that week. Mark singing birds and blooming azaleas.
There’s just one problem: Modern professional golfers hit the ball so hard that classic golf courses are overpowering, and some have trouble finding ways to stay current and challenging.
Just two years ago Bryson DeChambeau It dominated Winged Foot, which is considered among the toughest championship venues to win the United States Open. He hit it as far as he could and then pinched it on the green. The tough, high hardness of the US Open made little impression on him (although he was still the only player to finish below par).
Now, like the days of gamers Gene Saracen, The 15th green that won the Masters in 1935, hitting par-5 with a board, is behind us. But the fear is that it will be a wedge, a much easier stick to hit, rather than someone like Woods hitting the 7-bar on the same green.
Augusta National aware That the masters transcend golf. It is very important to prevent the field from falling victim to sticks and balls that help players increase their distance. Another classic course, the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles questioned its future as a major site earlier this year at the Genesis Invitational, when players trotted down adjacent fairways to get closer to the green.
so how Augusta National Has he continued to challenge players and counter golf balls that fly farther and quickly spin to a stop, and drivers who throw those balls 330 yards and beyond? It is a combination of technology and psychology.
“Augusta National continues to add length reasonably where they can,” said Ben Crenshaw, 1984 and 1995 champion and renowned golf architect. “The subtle changes are well thought out.”
For such a historic trail, Augusta National changes pretty much every year. This year he extended the 11th and 15th holes, which became less strategic as players hit farther, and the 18th with his massive bunker waiting to devour any straight hits.
If the tees are pushed back, the added distance is around 50 yards total for the three holes. The goal is to change the way players approach these holes. This is not a new issue.
“The length debate has been going on at Augusta National ever since Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie designed the course,” said Joe Bowden, a local doctor, longtime volunteer and member of the adjacent Augusta Country Club. “The first year the Masters was played in 1934, the course length was 6,700 yards. This year the course will officially measure 7,510 yards for the 2022 tournament.”
There is a limit to the length though. As wonderful as it is to watch Augusta National on TV and experience it in person, it’s not exactly set in a meadow. Guarded by Washington Road, an average commercial street as Magnolia Lane is gorgeous; settled neighborhoods; and as its neighbors call the Augusta Country Club, National, the state’s second-largest city has only this much room to grow.
A few years ago the club even went so far as to purchase an entire hole from Augusta Country Club so it would have space to extend its own 13th hole. The then president of Augusta Country Club stated in a letter to its members that Augusta National will rebuild some of their 8th and 9th holes as part of the deal.
However, the club can vary the speed of fairways and greens as it wishes, by how they water them and also in which direction they cut. “People don’t understand how much this can speed up or slow down a course,” said a former golf assistant aide in Augusta, who requested anonymity as employees are not allowed to talk about club issues. “But it’s much bigger than you think.”
A club that regularly adjusts its angles and hole lengths has more striking things to do, and it still serves the main purpose of the pitch. Michael Hurdzan, who designed the 2017 US Open’s Erin Hills, pointed to a few things the club could do to reduce the effect of distance and still be consistent with MacKenzie’s design. One might be to keep playing the trees. They can be used to block shortcuts that players can use. “There are only two dangers that make a difference to the big player,” he said, “trees and water.”
think something different about the shelters. Today there are 44 bunkers, which is twice as large as when the course was built, but only 12 fairway bunkers. Only three of them are in the back nine, where the championship is often decided, and two of them are in the 18.
“Open roads are basically bunker-free,” said Hurdzan, who defends the bunkers, known as cross bunkers, that run into the grass. “Mackenzie wasn’t afraid of cross bunkers. If someone wanted to toughen him up, he could use cross bunkers or more bunkers on the lawn. You could try hitting the big rider and risking it, or you could hit a shorter stick and hit a longer iron.”
Of course, what all classic trails fight for is technology: a ball that flies farther than ever before when it hits a rider bouncing like a trampoline. This is an issue that golf’s two governing bodies addressed in an update released in March. Observers think it’s time to make changes to the equipment.
“With all due respect to the players, it’s not their work that makes the ball go farther,” said Geoff Shackelford, a golf course architect and commentator. “You hand over 10 years of technology and they will go backwards. 30 years of technology – they’re going to really go back.”
“There’s a lot Augusta can do to make it harder,” Shackelford added. “It won’t be irrelevant, but it loses some of its appeal when you take away some of the things we know.”
Attempts to retake the distance were met with resistance, Shackleford noted, but not so in the March announcements of the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. He said technology makes it harder to stand out as a player. “Probably muting some extra special skills from super elite players.”
But length can be misleading at Augusta. Greg Norman was among the tallest actors of his era. Norman seemed to have the advantage when he found himself in a playoff in 1987 with Seve Ballesteros, whose short game made up for his crazy tee kicks, and Larry Mize, a relatively short shooter.
But that’s not how it ended. On the second playoff hole, Mize got into a bird to win the playoffs.
“With his height, Greg had an advantage,” Mize said. “Thank God golf is more than length. The tallest hitters don’t always win the Masters.”
Still, Mize said it would also be in favor of the USGA, which deals with what the technology does to distance.
“I know it’s hard to get him back,” Mize said. “But I’m hopeful 20 years from now that golfers won’t be hitting any more. I’m optimistic Augusta will still stand. It’s a special place and a special event.”
[ad_2]
Source link