huestisc
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Brian, congratulations on the podcasts, they're a great addition to your current offerings! I agreed with your assessment of the set-up at the Majors, however I want to point out that the problem with Pinehurst was the setup that week. Normally, it's a terrific golf course, but as with many classic courses with interesting green contours, they weren't designed to be played at 12.5 on the stimp. For members and resort guests, the normal setup is challenging but fine. Also, the idea of combatting length by pinching the fairways and growing the rough is imperfect. Short of a rollback, I don't know what can be done, but it's not how Ross intended the course to be played. Pinehurst #2 is well known for generously wide fairways which allow you to hit driver, but make you think about WHERE in the fairway you want to approach the greens...sounds a bit like St. Andrews, no?
Also, some of the setup just changed the whole strategy of the holes. For instance, they grew the rough in on hole #4 to create a bit of a dogleg shape to try to add a bit of length, to keep it from being reached to easily in 2 shots. What did this do? Well, the left side fairway bunker ended up so deep in the rough that it was out of play. This bunker (on the most direct path from tee to green) was supposed t o tempt players to hug it to reach the green in two, but instead the geniuses of the USGA basically took it out of play.
Anyway, one thing I would like you to talk about at some point is what happened to Bobby Clampett's career? I was just looking at his results and stats on PGA Tour.com, and the guy was just a phenom at the age of 21 or 22, and I see how all the "next Nicklaus" type stuff got heaped on him, especially on the heels of a great Amateur career. Then he just progressively got worse until he just disappeared...I couldn't believe he only had one career victory on tour. I know he has a history of injuries, but is there more to the story? I think a small part of the negative public perception of The Golfing Machine over the years was that a lot of its early buzz was focused on Bobby Clampett, who was their "model". When his game went south, it gave a lot of ammo to TGM critics and other teaching pros. Since he was a Ben Doyle protege I am guessing you would know a fair amount about him.
Also, some of the setup just changed the whole strategy of the holes. For instance, they grew the rough in on hole #4 to create a bit of a dogleg shape to try to add a bit of length, to keep it from being reached to easily in 2 shots. What did this do? Well, the left side fairway bunker ended up so deep in the rough that it was out of play. This bunker (on the most direct path from tee to green) was supposed t o tempt players to hug it to reach the green in two, but instead the geniuses of the USGA basically took it out of play.
Anyway, one thing I would like you to talk about at some point is what happened to Bobby Clampett's career? I was just looking at his results and stats on PGA Tour.com, and the guy was just a phenom at the age of 21 or 22, and I see how all the "next Nicklaus" type stuff got heaped on him, especially on the heels of a great Amateur career. Then he just progressively got worse until he just disappeared...I couldn't believe he only had one career victory on tour. I know he has a history of injuries, but is there more to the story? I think a small part of the negative public perception of The Golfing Machine over the years was that a lot of its early buzz was focused on Bobby Clampett, who was their "model". When his game went south, it gave a lot of ammo to TGM critics and other teaching pros. Since he was a Ben Doyle protege I am guessing you would know a fair amount about him.
