Cronin on Erin Hills

Tim Cronin does some cross-platform leveraging for the USGA, pitting Erin Hills vs. Cog Hill in a battle of wannabe U.S. Open courses.

When the USGA finally brings the U.S. Open back to the Midwest -- it's booked elsewhere through 2013 -- Erin Hills, a spectacular new course in this sleepy rural hamlet 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, has a remarkably good chance to get it.

How good? Mike Davis, who runs the Open for the USGA, has visited four times. On the grounds the first time after work had barely begun, he didn't return a second, third and fourth time to have a bratwurst.

Erin Hills is more than that good. Opened Aug. 1, it is instantly one of the great courses in the world.

Whoa Nellie. Deep breaths Tim.  

It is also a throwback, a course many will find too quirky, thinking too many of the hazards -- the earth rolling and heaving, leftovers of the last remnant of the Ice Age -- were either placed incorrectly or should have been bulldozed.

And lots of corporate tent space!

Comments

[Scott S]

With the USGA showing an interest, we can't assume off the bat that the course itself is worthless. We can guess, however, that no matter what the merits of the course may be, they will be instantly sentenced to death when a USGA Open team get their hands on it, not to mention their inability to go to a single venue without calling in Rees Jones to squeeze the last breath of life out of it.

[Happy Gilmore]

This is considerbly more of a done deal than many think. The course was developed in close coordination with the USGA. Tim Morghan, Mike Davis, David Fay & Fred Ridley all had hands in advising Lang & Co. what to create. Rumor has it that the USGA will pass on Cog Hill for quite some time regardless of Rees recent butcher job. The course is neither exciting, nor totally removed from it's PGA affiliation.

Erin Hills will be tweaked and tuned a good bit, but will get the Open before 2020. It's too sweet a deal for the USGA to pass up....and we all know how they never compromise for the easy reward!

[Smolmania]

Was anyone else frightened by Mr. Lang's comment about having people enjoy the SIX hours they were spending with him? God I hope he means that he wants them to spend 2 hours and 25 minutes at lunch. . .

[Four-putt]

"The course was developed in close coordination with the USGA. Tim Morghan, Mike Davis, David Fay & Fred Ridley all had hands in advising Lang & Co. what to create. Rumor has it that the USGA will pass on Cog Hill for quite some time regardless of Rees recent butcher job. The course is neither exciting, nor totally removed from it's PGA affiliation."

Happy Gilmore, don't quit your day job. Your "sources" stink. Period. Stop trying to scam us with your air of ersatz authority, because you don't have even a vague clue about any of this hearsy. Name your sources if I'm wrong, otherwise stick a sock in it.

What you have posted above is pure lies, not rumor. Rees Jones hasn't done ANYTHING at Cog Hill except visit a couple of times. Nothing is on paper, and nothing is set in stone, either. And any renovation work will not commence until fall of 2007. My source: Cog Hill president Frank Jemsek.

I know Bob Lang, and have talked with him at length on several occasions, as late as this afternoon. He said while the USGA has made a few suggestions toward Erin Hills hosting the WAPL in 2008, they had nothing to do with the routing or construction. Bob dud say he's going to add over 20 new directional and/or esthetic bunkers after the WAPL.

[Smolmania]

Easy 4 Putt, educate the infidel, don't deprecate them. Nothing is on paper? Except that Rees cashed Frank's check didn't he? He is going to do some work on the course isn't he?

I agree that calling it a butcher job before a shovel is lifted is a little absurd, but isn't that the nature of blogging? I'm kind of looking forward to the changes that have at least been talked about (moving 3rd green to create dogleg right, and 4th tee to make dogleg left). Moving 17 green back so it's no longer a driver lob wedge for the guys able to knock it over the trees on the right -- which unfortunately I cannot do even from the red tees.

Finally, you have to admit that the media-hype for Erin Hills has been pretty over the top, hasn't it?

[Four-putt]

Smolzie --

Sorry. I didn't realize the nature of fun-loving blogs was to encourage passing off lies as truths and perhaps includes winking at slanderous and libelous statements. I for one will be thrilled when Congress gets off its dormant butt and applies Publishing Law to the Internet.

Rees cashing Frank's check is hardly enough prelude to assume a "butcher job." Especially when that statement comes from an anonymous someone who lacks a gram of credibility.

Erin Hills will be a great golf course, no doubt. And maybe someday it will host a U.S. Open. But already one of "the great courses of the world"? That remains to be seen, and judged by many others. So yes, in my opinion the hype over the golf course at Erin Hills has been excessive.

I don't intend that to sound negative against Erin Hills, though. I don't think anyone -- golfers or media -- really understand yet what Bob Lang wants it to be. It will be a terrific, off-the-clock golfing experience, and is designed to be much more than a 4 hour, 30 minute in-play-and-out golf course.

Bob Lang wants to offer a complete golf experience unavailable anywhere else, in many ways the difference between going to a gourmet restaurant and enjoying a leisurely, 7-course dining experience as opposed to grabbing a burger at a drive-up window and gulping it down while continuing down the road. When one goes to Scotland or Ireland to play, is the main concern speed of play? Of course not.

Much of the hyperbole I have read and heard originated in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, and I am not aware of that writer's credentials as a golf course architecture reviewer. And while Tim Cronin may be a fine writer as well, he's not exactly famous for his knowledge of golf course architecture and for his course reviews, either. Tim is a fine historian, but Erin Hills' significant history is yet to happen.

Don't get me wrong. Hurdzan, Fry & Whitten did a marvelous job of routing Erin Hills and choosing its elements. But methinks the hype originates with too many in the media becoming mesmerized by the visual greatness of the site -- the unique topography and natural features. Meaning, there's a lot more that makes a course great besides a great piece of land.

[Four-putt]

May I also add that if you check Erin Hills' website, much of the hype seems to be generated by Wisconsin-based publications and lower-tier regional "golf magazines".

Many of which would, coincidentally, like to get an advertising buy from Erin Hills.