Dave Pelz: “Studying the game”

Welcome to the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach!

Let's get it Started!

This is sure to be an exciting US Open: challenging to players (small, firm and fast greens, and challenging rough), fun for fans (to walk and bask in the beauty of Pebble Beach), a great golf course design and set-up, and a great field including the most talented golfers in the world. And have I mentioned the possibility of winds having a hand in the outcome (although the weather predictions are now for low or no wind).

 Let me give you a closer look at some of the course conditions which will challenge the the players this year.

Pebble has very small greens: According to the GCSAA (Golf Course Superintendents Assn.) the average green size on Tour tournament courses is 6000 square feet, with the largest at 9000 square feet. Pebble Beach greens average only 3500 square feet in comparison. This means many shots that normally hit greens will miss at Pebble, and there should be lots of scrambling going on this week. 

Take a look at what the 8th green looks like from the middle of the fairway (recognize that a 100+ foot vertical drop-off, down to the water, lies between this spot and the green). The shot was taken from about 180 years out from green center.

The 8th Green at Pebble Beach - small by all standards

 When players do miss a green, there will be some liquid-fertilizer fed rough grass to deal with. The USGA has graduated the cuts around greens, hopefully to make worse misses receive worse lies and face more difficult challenges. This takes much more than normal work and maintenance, but is a great way to test the skill of the players.

Greenside rough at Hole #9

 

From off the tee, when the field misses a fairway on inland holes, they will face a graduated rough cut which again is designed to provide worse lies for worse shots. I think this concept is the most fair way to prepare the course, and give cudos to the USGA for making the effort to do it.

Graduated right rough at Hole #11

On these holes, you can either draw a lie like this:

Rough Lie - OK but Tough to control

Or like this:

Rough Lie - Really Really Rough

 On the coastal holes, a missed fairway on the wrong side can lead to a ball rolling quickly into trouble through a fairway-cut shaved all the way (on #’s 6 and 9), or almost (on #10) to the edge of disaster. These next two photos show the fairways on the right sides of Holes #6 and #10. The hazard line on #6 is actually 3 or 4 feet into the fairway, a somewhat unusual situation.

Right Rough at Hole #6

Right Rough at Hole #10

 

While the USGA has taken the course closer to the ocean, it is still fair (they widened the fairway they shaved to the edges of the cliffs), and it is certainly more beautiful and exciting than ever (imagine if one of your shots were headed toward the cliff, and you knew it would have no help in stopping from the rough which is now gone). And speaking of beauty, I’ll have some more photos and comments on the beauty of Pebble in a couple of days. Till then, think about how the Tour players are preparing their games for the US Open, and its challanges.