Second Masters Question: Where Does The Year Go From Here?
When you have a Masters like 2015’s, the rest of the year is all downhill from here. Right?
After all, how do you top that leaderboard, winner, ratings, viewing experience and such overall positive impression for the professional game?
Here are three reasons I’m not giving up on the rest of the year potentially superseding what we’ve seen to date. The next few months should be fascinating.
—No gray May. With the WGC Match Play’s one-off move to May and sporting a new and improved format, we have a fun two-week run featuring future PGA Championship venue Harding Park and a Players Championship with so many top players either on their game or experiencing a renaissance. And then May gets better. The European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW Championship, always entertains in late May. But this year it’s followed by the Irish Open brought to us by Rory and Dubai Duty Free at…Royal County Down. It’s not often you get a top 10 in the world course seldom seen by most of the planet and the field could even be better than the previous week’s BMW.
—Chambers Bay Could Be Brilliant Or A Fiasco. I can’t recall a venue that so few players know—except Jordan Spieth and caddie Michael Greller—with so many questions about how the place function. Will it be a masterful, daily puzzle of course setup twists, shotmaking and stunning vistas? Or six-hour rounds, cranky players, goofy shots and a fluke winner? Will players skip the Memorial or St. Jude to get in extra practice rounds? Throw in the Fox Sports debut (though potentially not on AT&T U-Verse), and the intrigue level figures to be high on many levels.
—Gullane And The Old Course. July only gets more interesting with the one-two punch of Gullane No. 1.5 and The Old Course hosting The Open Championship. As thrilling as it is to see the game return to the course that started it all—and remain relevant with help from the neighboring courses—the debut of Gullane on the world stage will introduce many to another course instrumental in early Scottish golf. Two weeks of tournaments starting in golf-friendly towns and returning to backdrops of virtual movie sets could manage to top the Masters.
And what do you think?
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 11:10 PM 77 Comments | in 2015 Masters, 2015 Open Champ., 2015 PGA Tour, 2015 US Open 
Reader Comments (77)
Aye, nice one Chico. So true.
If we have never had a bad lie we are not likely to appreciate a good one, moreover, the ability to play from a bad lie differentiates between a good player and a bad one. We might also remark that good and bad lies differentiate between good sportsmen and bad.
ALISTER MACKENZIE
Now, Greg in Gig Harbor (VERY near Chambers Bay) has a great point.... when I was there a week ago the rough was brutal, eight inches at least in spots. But the curious thing is, there was NONE of Mike Davis' famed "graduated rough." In other words, you could have a perfect lie in the fairway or be less than a foot away in the thick rough and have NO SHOT except for a full-swing sand wedge pitchout. What's more, in many spots this nasty cabbage borders the actual greens. I saw a kid from Seton Hall bomb a drive on 10 but he thinned his wedge over the green and barely found his ball in the knarly stuff barely three feet from the putting surface. Perhaps Davis will cut in some "fringes" or "collars" around the greens but if not, THEN holy hell will break loose. Right now a ball can be resting on on the putting surface but up against a stand of eight-inch grass. What do you do... what will you do?
I am accused of not having an open mind but I look at courses with "All those blind shots, weird tilts to the fairways and greens, unpredictable bounces" as being the heart of the game of design and of great golf course architecture. What player who considers himself a golfer wants predictability - I tell you American Golfers but thank God not all of them.
Predictability is what is slowly killing the American Game, its what created the Master game and course, its what makes players want to use aids - information in todays world is considered as power, however in golf its not, its the player refusing to accept the basic principles of golf, of taking and facing the challenges the game throws up through the combination of skill, course, design, Nature that matters.
RCD is one of the best course in the world if your game is Golf based upon the Scottish model - to dislike it explains the crap and poor design we have suffered on GCA for the past 30-50 years.
Closed mind - never, I am looking at golf from all different approaches, my mind is open, its those who believe they need help or assistance that have the closed minds for not embracing the game full on but only on their terms & conditions - one, they won't walk, two seem unable to judge distances, grab any new hi tech club when ever possible and seek as much information from a caddied or distance books as possible - Never thinking of playing a new course or one that you have not played before on your own merits, skill and through your eyes and your own senses- well try it, it is extremely enjoyable, but being told where to hit the ball takes the whole challenge and learning experience away from the golfer questioning just who actually play that round.
Chocolate box courses are outdated, they are the toys of the rich, they are like that because they can afford to dress their course in that way, but golf is closer to raw Nature than a fake image from a confused mind.
Go to Scotland play not the well known courses but the out of the way old ones that offer wonderful rewards to a golfer that trust in him/herself. Be open minded embrace the game as played for some 6 centuries in our islands
Would you consider range finders and "aid" that is "slowly killing the American Game?" How is information not good for golf? Anyone can go on YouTube and search for golf videos on instruction. Anyone can go to a Golfsmith, Edwin Watts, etc... and hop on the simulator for free and se which club best fits their swing. Is this not better for the game?
I'm just not following your reasoning. And when did blind shots become an American pet peeve? Blind shots suck, no matter which country you're from.
Plenty of great courses in America that even you would like (Cypress Point, Chicago Golf, Pasatiempo, to name just three). Come on over!
Yes you are right there still are many, and that keeps my hopes up.
Of course, you, like me have our likes and dislikes that's normal. Agree with you on all your points - pity about trophy courses they confuse the issue.
Was escorting a group of American friends to St. Andrews a few years back and following a round of golf we were sitting in local pub enjoying some pints. The bartended asked one of my fellow Americans "how did you enjoy your game today?". They immediately quoted the score they had shot and started to tell the bartender his hole-by-hole shots, both good and bad.
The bartender stopped him and said, "you Americans are all alike. I didn't ask you what you shot. I asked you how you ENJOYED your golf today and you want to tell me your score".
He went on tell my buddy that Americans don't know how to "enjoy" the golf course, the scenery, the game itself, etc. without trying to 'shoot a score' they can go home a brag about. And that all Americans know how to do is keep score and that is how they answer the question on how they "enjoyed" their round.
My buddy has had a different approach to his "game" when he plays golf now. He is a very good player, but says that bartender taught him something that day in St. Andrews.
A lot of common sense is spoken by those from St Andrews - see what happens when one is willing to listen!
Lee Westwood scored an albatross at the 9th hole a few years ago and there is a plaque marking the spot where he hit his second shot from and into the hole. We were all yards behind his drive and that should tell golfers they play a different game than we do.
Information gained from outside sources is in my book nothing short of cheating or worst still admitting to yourself that you can't cut it, that you are unable to play golf from within, let alone reliance on God's gifts alone. That when it comes to the very first challenge you fail because you do not have the strength of character to even face the very challenge that is golf.
The sickening replies I get is that the 19th Century Golfers MUST have used some distance marker(s) but when advised that distance as define in modern terms never existed 100 years ago, many do not believe it, but so far the records show no reference to distances in that format, no printed yardage books or markers on the course apart from the March Stones which were boundary markers nothing to do with distance.
The Game of Golf over the last 550 years out of 600 has not had distance aids, it was never even considered as I believe it is a true sign of lack of commitment, of chasing the Dragons tail for low scores and turning ones back on the real and traditions of the game of golf.
Is it not a story, a very sad one of Self importance outstripping the principles of the game rendering the users of outside aids weak in the eyes of the game. Does it not define the users of aids as being willing to compromise everything to achieve a lower score and anyway does in not go against not just the Traditions of Golf but the very Spirit of the Game and that of a true Golfer.
Information should only be gained through our God given senses, that is the game, its the natural ability of the Golfer to face all challenges from within including overcoming them.
The sourcing of Information in golf is what defines the Man or Woman as either a player or a Golfer.
I am sure there are a few people who might buy a book about 9-hole golf course, but, I won't.
And from an author who is tone deaf on top of it - Nicklaus & Player commenting on courses? Give me a break.
Leave the published course commentaries to Darius Oliver, Tom Doak etc. Please.
9 Hole course are as much fun as all the others, you have just got to understand the game you are playing otherwise you will miss the very thing that you are striving for in the first place.
As for Ivan and his publications, if you don't like them, don't read them. As for published course commentaries not all are capable of seeing past the bullshit of modern golf let alone have the balls to comment on it if they could but see it. At least Ivan can see the real issues facing todays game.
Golf is way more that just how big your balls are - that's part of the modern problem, golf is way more than the pay grades of some Pro Golfers too.
Relax and enjoy - 9 Holes may lift you up and make you less grumpy and may even make you smile - although perhaps not in your case , but try it as it may help your anger management problems too!!!!
Now have a nice day
First you bloviate on how carts have been the worst thing for the game in history, as anyone who rides in them (that are not disabled) are not "playing golf." Now, playing only 9 holes as opposed to a full 18 "may lift you up and make you less grumpy.."
You can't have it both ways. Playing only 9 is not "playing golf" according to your rules. I actually like your takes on the game and appreciate your comments/concerns but quit flip-flopping positions.
You really do not know much about golf, its history of for that matter Golf Course Design - your ignorance precedes you and your imagination is limited.
Why do you not just submit your own opinions, it may actually add to the discussions and may even improve your disposition. Then perhaps not as you do want your cake and to eat it.
In the early history of golf most courses started as 9 Hole courses and only a few followed the St Andrews 18 Holes. Many 9 Hole courses did not extend to 18 until the middle to late 20th Century.
I'm guessing the USGA's Mike Davis will do plenty more fiddling before the first ball is in the air in June.
Ever played Saline GC ? Not far from you. I played it twice 16 years ago, loved the views at the top, unusual par 3 on the 8th. And did you play Wooler GC in your youth ? Great views again and good for the lungs !
St. Andrews had 22 holes. Montrose had 25 holes. Gawd, you would have been in hell playing those you poor thing.
You say "PS - most course did not start out as 9 holes. They started out with however many the course builders put on the property. There was no standard."
Try doing some serious research, I have been doing that for some 10 years and through my research I have been able to reunite clubs and Golf's Missing Links site with many a report on their first course, some times finding the initial line sketch map of their course as well as reports as who designed the course and also when it was extended. In the last year over 50 sketch plans have been sent back to the clubs as well as reports on the first courses but alas without a plan. About 15% of what I find has the sketches the others have the course Description with the Hole names and lengths - and surprise surprise 9 Holes is very common in the 19th Century.
So please make statements with some proof to back it up.
I'm sure that Ivan Morris will has seen over the last year many of my posts and info on reports as well as the sketch plans I mentioned above that have gone to the clubs. He may be able to confirm this as fact.
So PS get your facts right or just shut up.
Apart from Musselburgh, please provide a list of pre-1850 9-holers.
Pre 1850 there where just a hand full of course around 30 in the world, yet golf course architecture was way in its infancy at that time. GCA was kick-started by the likes of Allan Robertson who produced what today we would called actual design with real design intent, yet he only started in the 1840.s.
My comment if you had bothered to read it correctly was "and surprise surprise 9 Holes is very common in the 19th Century" when golf course numbers increased to around 34 in GB, this rose to around 160 by the mid 1880's hitting around 1300 by the turn of the 20th Century.
I am not going to spend hours listing 19th Century 9 Hole courses, as that is pointless, clearly you know a little but not sufficient knowledge to list all the 19th Century courses that did not start off as 9 Hole courses. I suppose one might technically call TOC at St Andrews a 9 Hole Course using 9 Green and the same 9 fairways to play their round of 18 between the mid 1750's through to the 1860's.The period when the modern concept of golf course architecture started in the mid 1800's the majority of courses in GB started life as 9 Hole courses, more so as we come to the end of the 19th Century.
Try some research, you may find it very interesting and informative, it has opened my eyes to just how productive and open minded the 19th Century designers were, not to mention the vast and exciting forms and ideas they tried, which are still being used and copied in one form or another today - my suggestion is not a challenge to you but may be very informative in knowing that it was a real Golden Age on not just Golf but also golf course architecture. Please do try it.