August 17th, 2009 |
Published in
Uncategorized
Seeing PMik again after a few weeks off
It was really great to see PMik again after a few weeks off, and on Wednesday I enjoyed walking 18 holes at Hazeltine National with him. The course was fairly dry after 5+ inches of rain on last Saturday night. Although the course seemed to be playing nicely, the bent grass greens have been taken over by probably 65% poa annua, and will probably cause some tough putting in the afternoons all week. This will happen because as the ball goes from bent to the poa surface, the little white blooms of afternoon-growth poa can deflect or bounce the ball up or push it off-line.
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July 6th, 2009 |
Published in
U.S. Open, Uncategorized
It’s been two weeks since the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage, and I’m ready to move on to the upcoming British version. Before I do however, I want to let you in on what I think might be one of the greatest pars ever. I’m talking about a par Phil Mickelson made at Bethpage Black - hole #13 during the third round of the 2002 U.S. Open. This par was made before I started coaching Phil, and I only learned about these details in our practice round before the recent 2009 U.S. Open.
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June 16th, 2009 |
Published in
U.S. Open
Son Eddie and I walked Bethpage Black on Tuesday a week ago, to get an idea of how the USGA will set her up for the 2009 U.S. Open. We then left to go up-state NY for a photo shoot for GOLF Magazine at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino near Syracuse. We continued at Turning Stone (four really beautiful courses) getting in three days of fun work with the world’s best golf photographer Leonard Kamsler on the follow-on to our new book Damage Control (in bookstores October 29). Then back to Long Island for US Open week on Monday.
Rain background on entrance driveway
We’ve been in NY for over a week now, and its rained almost every day. Some days had downpours, others only light rains, but there’s been almost no time to dry out the course since the 3 inches of rain 10 days ago plus the 2 inches overnight last Monday night and Tuesday morning. The photo above is what the front drive looked like as we chatted last Tuesday morning with friend Craig Currier, the superintendent and man in charge of conditions at Bethpage Black for the Open. Eddie and I actually worked for him before and during the 2002 US Open at BP Black: he is a great guy and VERY talented. He kept all 18 greens rolling at the same green-speed all week during that Open, which is quite a feat (I hope the weather will allow him to do it again this year).
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