Video: Dissecting Olympic Club's 14th Fairway

Olympic Club is an awkward golf course even with wider fairways and no rough. It makes you feel awkward and requires some awkward shotmaking. And I say that in the nicest way possible having played competitive rounds here. We don't have enough courses like Olympic that make players feel uncomfortable.

That said, one of my favorite holes has long been the par-4 fourteenth which has many classic strategic elements. It "fits the eye" of a right handed golfer hitting a draw, but more than that, it was always so fun to turn a drive over to position yourself down the left side for the best angle to attack the green, flirting with trees and junk left. The more you played safe to the right, the tougher the second shot became due to the wind direction (behind and from the right), slope of the fairway (right to left) and tilt of the putting surface (right to left).

So I was a bit shocked to see the fairway contour, which has been moved left virtually under the treeline, leaving nearly two fairways worth of rough down the right. The move is made, in part, because of the advances of equipment since the last time the U.S. Open was there. Drivers turned over would probably get players to a downslope that would leave them with flip sand-wedge.

Nonetheless, Bubba Watson summed up the problem with the setup:

Next hole, 14, they moved the fairway over. I hit it in the middle of the fairway, but had to slice a 9‑iron about 40 yards just to hit the green. It just doesn't make sense.

Those are the two holes that really are in my mind that we don't even know how to play. Me and my caddie were going over them, me and the other golfers were going over them, talking about it on the putting green. Not sure what's going on with those two, but you try to make your pars and get out of there. That's the only two spots that I see that are iffy on the whole golf course. The other parts of the golf course are just tough. Just a hard test of golf.

In the first video, here are some thoughts on the stunning amount of rough, which I recorded as Lee Westwood clipped overhanging trees from a lie on the left side of the fairway. Strange stuff.

I move back toward the tee for video #2.

Comments

[TXQ]

I'm not comfortable with your saying we don't have enough courses that make players feel uncomfortable. That's akin to telling teacher he forgot to assign homework.

[RickABQ]

The more I see the videos of this course the more I think "goofy golf"... Not that there's anything wrong with it.

[Buddha]

Buddha feels that Mike Davis has lost so much light and spirit; that he is blinding himself from the ease of reality of picking up the phone and telling equipment that the current ball is no longer allowed and these courses can resort themselves to the freedom which we all seek and honor.

Either that, or Mike Davis has forgotten what graduated rough was all about. (Possibly)

Buddha expects a lot of karmic debris to take place just North of Daly City.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Don't understand what all the whining's about. a) the rough looks quite short to me and b) surely it's been cut to that length not to make fools of the players but rather to stop the ultra boring bomb and gouge game we see week in, week out? If the players miss the fairway, they're just going to have to use a little more imaginiation in how they go about getting the ball to stay on the greens.

Aren't these guys supposed to be the best in the world at their trade?

If it weren't so insulting to my own gender, I'd call them a bunch of whiny girls!(lol)

[rose]

Brutal

One of the more ridiculous attempts to strengthen a hole I have seen. Without the trees its merely bad because it completely eliminates the natural driving corridor and negates the topography. With the trees its miniature golf.

Mr. Davis: TEAR DOWN THIS BALL :-)

[Fester]

How about you guys move the US Open to a proper golf course, somewhere like Royal Melbourne, perhaps, and you wouldn't need to have fairways that are 20 yards narrow.
Seriously, the vanity on the part of the USGA in the protection of par is nothing less than embarrassing.

[JRS]

The USGA recently completed the changes at Merion for 2013 and went with a similar strategy on no. 2 there. Fairway shifted against the road, rough brought in to about the middle of the original fairway and bunkers squeezed. The landing zone can't be more than 15-20 yards wide. If you hit a fade into the fairway, you're bouncing into the road. If you hit a draw, you're bouncing into 5-inch rough. Same story plays out to some extent on a few other holes, including nos. 7, 8, 11 and 15. Add to that the fact that they shaved the rough leading into the bunkers and creeks, and it makes for a simply brutal set up. I liked the original (i.e., 2-3 years ago) better because it felt genuine and classic.

However, the new green on 12 is a nice improvement.

[VRWC]

Completely agree with @fester...we should move the US Open to other countries more often.

[tlavin]

I thought the setup at Pebble was bad. They haven't started playing yet, but this one looks suspect as well.

[AndrewB]

Geoff, if you get a chance can you ask Mike Davis to explain their rationale on the movement and narrowing of 14 fairway to where it currently is? I've heard his explanations for the other setup aspects that have raised attention like 16, 17, and 13, but not 14. I always find his explanations insightful and worth listening to when considering how these setup changes affect play.