GOUGE: Seems every major somebody says something idiotic about technology making great courses obsolete. This time it was Peter Kostis suggesting that Carnoustie was there for the taking when the wind didn't blow and that Carnoustie is not a great test. Begging the wizard's pardon, but Carnoustie ranked the third most difficult course for the year. Sure it's long, and sure its difficult finishing hole is converted from a par 5, but let's just find out how technology made it so easy. How about all those 73s, 74s, and 75s shot by the final groups in those windless, soft conditions (Paul McGinley, Steve Stricker, Chris DiMarco)? Six players averaged 300 yards plus for the week. Guess how many of those six won the tournament? None. Guess how many finished in the top 10? Two. Richard Green averaged less than 270 off the tee and finished with a 64 on Sunday. The beauty of Carnoustie is that it gave you options, and in many of those cases, each option was loaded with danger. That beauty is what we need more of in design, not simply mammoth length. But then you paid a visit last week to a site that better makes the point about how the golf course can beat dreaded technology every time, didn't you?
BOMB: Got that right, Scooter. You don't need the results from Carnoustie to tell you courses aren't being obsoleted by technology, you needed to be with me--in Milwaukee at Brown Deer Park GC, a lovely little gem measuring a whopping 6,759 yards, making it the shortest course of the 55 layouts used on the PGA Tour.
Although the course is within a park complex and fans indulged throughout the week on local favorites such as bratwurst, Culver's frozen custard and several trips to the Miller Lite Oasis, Brown Deer Park was no picnic for the players, producing more rounds over par than under and a stroke average of 70.177 against its par of 70--a higher stroke average in relation to par than courses such as Muirfield Village or Colonial CC. And a higher stroke average than seven courses on tour that measure more than 500 yards longer including 7,457-yard Redstone and 7,411-yard Plantation course at Kapalua. And while Carnoustie may have been hit with a little bad weather Sunday, there was no such problem in the land of the Brewers. It was sunny and warm all four days.
So how did 78-year-old Brown Deer Park survive? By bringing in Pete Dye or Rees Jones or Tom Fazio or some other hot-shot architect to gussie up the joint? Or perhaps it was designed by a master such as Tillinghast or Macdonald and needed no such updating. Not quite, the little course that could is the brainchild of George Hansen, who designed a whopping five course in his lifetime. Hansen's day job was as superintendent of the Milwaukee Parks Department and designed the five courses for the city's parks system. Last week Hansen's smart combination of doglegs and use of a creek that forced players into go-no go decisions off the tee on a number of holes combined with a hearty--but not unmanageable--four-inch rough to keep the numbers from getting stupid. In another era he'd be Old Tom Morris. Joe Ogilvie won and the three others closest to him at the start of the day (Tim Herron, who was leading, Tim Clark and Kenny Perry) shot 72, 71 and 71, each of them over par. These are not choppers, folks. Between them Herron and Perry have won nearly $35 million on the course. Clark is a two-time Presidents Cup player. Brown Deer vs. them should have been a mismatch. It wasn't.
One more time, it's not technology that makes golf courses obsolete. It's a lack of imagination on the part of the architect. You don't need 7,400 yards to test the best. Last week, 6,759 proved more than enough.
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