Erin Hills too Easy?

[MMB1500]

They had 8300 yards to play with, if they wanted to make it hard they could have. The USGA had lost its way and Mike Davis isn't helping with his idea of course setups anymore.

 

If 2018 is a failure to produce drama an tough conditions as well, I thing 2019 you will see and entirely knew crew setting up the open.

 

Ever since the Olympic Club, the setups have gotten easier, and the courses have gotten worse, they need to figure something out, and thankfully there are no more terrbile courses on the rotation for quite some time

 

Let's not pretend Olympic Club was a success. Webb Simpson won that year.

[Ajit]

They had 8300 yards to play with, if they wanted to make it hard they could have. The USGA had lost its way and Mike Davis isn't helping with his idea of course setups anymore.

 

If 2018 is a failure to produce drama an tough conditions as well, I thing 2019 you will see and entirely knew crew setting up the open.

 

Ever since the Olympic Club, the setups have gotten easier, and the courses have gotten worse, they need to figure something out, and thankfully there are no more terrbile courses on the rotation for quite some time

 

Olympic Club was probably the least watchable US Open in recent memory. It produced a nondescript leaderboard and was fittingly back-doored by a non entity of a golfer.

[youdamantiger]

I think we should take this concept to other sports. Bring in the fences at all major league ballparks by 50 feet. Let's start seeing more homeruns. Widen the soccer nets by a couple of feet on each side. Lower the rims at NBA arenas to nine feet. Shorten the NFL field to 80 yards.I want to see actual exciting games, not this pedestrian professional sports we have now. We need more offense and more scoring. Entertain me!!!

 

In all seriousness this attitude that the integrity of the game and the recordbooks should give way to our clickbait, instant gratification culture is sad. It is the infantilization of sports, the professional athlete, and, lastly, the spectator to believe that only those contests which provide us with high octane offense are worthwhile. It is the age of the ADD Fan. But I never thought I would see the day that this attitude seeped its way into golf. This US Open was like a Big Gulp Slurpee from 7/11. An empty calorie treat that provided nothing memorable but a brain freeze and a sugar rush.

 

You guys can get your fix for pitch and putts the other 51 tournament weeks of the year. Hows about giving us grouches just this one week. Pretty please?

[gvogel]

The lower total score was lower at Pinehurst. If the USGA has called two of the par 5's par 4's, and said that the par for the course was 70, you guys would say that Erin Hills was a fine US Open course. Heck, for the modern pro on a course with fast fairways, a par 4 can be pretty close to 600 yards. I remind you that Justin Thomas hit 18 yesterday with 2 3-woods. Big deal, right?

 

Whatever. I liked the look of the course.

 

We'll just have to wait and see what the best players in the world say about the course, as time goes by. Our opinions aren't worth the internet space upon which we write.

[youdamantiger]

I think the governing bodies of all professional sports have a responsibility to the great players of the past to protect the sanctity of their records. Not to ensure that they're never broken, only to ensure that, if they're broken, it is by a greater effort on the part of the individual athlete and not by a substantial alteration of the field of play.

[Guia]

There is certainly is some sour grapes in Miller's retort. However, interesting the U.S. Open was, and it was fun to watch, it was pretty much a show about power. This course did not live up to what is expected of a U.S. Open Championship.

Young guys will love the show of power, that is where the game has taken them. Older players are scratching their head about where was the difficulty expected of a U.S. Open.

What is interesting though is the attitude of the USGA. Are we seeing what is going to be the type of U.S. Open for the future, have they changed their attitude about par being a challenge?

I enjoyed the tournament but hope to never see another U.S. Open like it.

[OBbogey5]

These guys don't seem to have a problem getting up and down from off the green. Where are the "death" places where you simply cannot miss??

 

I like the idea of new courses for the US Open, but why do they all have to look like they're in Ireland or the U.K.? Chambers Bay was fun because the balls rolled so much that it was a blast to see where the thing ended up. But this course just ain't doing it for me. It's boring.

 

Create some new courses that fit the bill for a US Open - narrow, thick rough, hard greens.

 

Hmmm never heard this take...

 

Did I double post? What's your point, BUB?!

[mjen43]

There is certainly is some sour grapes in Miller's retort. However, interesting the U.S. Open was, and it was fun to watch, it was pretty much a show about power. This course did not live up to what is expected of a U.S. Open Championship.

Young guys will love the show of power, that is where the game has taken them. Older players are scratching their head about where was the difficulty expected of a U.S. Open.

What is interesting though is the attitude of the USGA. Are we seeing what is going to be the type of U.S. Open for the future, have they changed their attitude about par being a challenge?

I enjoyed the tournament but hope to never see another U.S. Open like it.

 

I think we have and I have no problem with it. Par is just a number. It can be manipulated anyway one pleases. The USGA now understands that setting up a course in such a way that allows the player who plays the best that week to demonstrate his full capabilities makes for a much better tournament and much more worthy champion.

[UncleJohn’sBand]

They had 8300 yards to play with, if they wanted to make it hard they could have. The USGA had lost its way and Mike Davis isn't helping with his idea of course setups anymore.

 

If 2018 is a failure to produce drama an tough conditions as well, I thing 2019 you will see and entirely knew crew setting up the open.

 

Ever since the Olympic Club, the setups have gotten easier, and the courses have gotten worse, they need to figure something out, and thankfully there are no more terrbile courses on the rotation for quite some time

 

Olympic Club was probably the least watchable US Open in recent memory. It produced a nondescript leaderboard and was fittingly back-doored by a non entity of a golfer.

 

To this and the post above, Jim had it won till 16. It was a difficult course that produced difficult scores, unlike this wide open s*** show of an open

[Shilgy]

Here's what I like about this Open. With too many venues you look at the leaderboard the last day and the only thought is "can the leader hold on". What many posters are along for is one way movement on the board, down. What's wrong with the best in the world being able to make a few birdies? A procession of irons of the tee and hitting to the middle of the green is not a showcase for the best golf nor does it identify the best player.

[Dave230]

They had 8300 yards to play with, if they wanted to make it hard they could have. The USGA had lost its way and Mike Davis isn't helping with his idea of course setups anymore.

 

If 2018 is a failure to produce drama an tough conditions as well, I thing 2019 you will see and entirely knew crew setting up the open.

 

Ever since the Olympic Club, the setups have gotten easier, and the courses have gotten worse, they need to figure something out, and thankfully there are no more terrbile courses on the rotation for quite some time

 

Olympic Club was probably the least watchable US Open in recent memory. It produced a nondescript leaderboard and was fittingly back-doored by a non entity of a golfer.

 

It was between major winners McDowell and Furyk for most of the day, while major winners Harrington, Toms, Dufner, Els were on the leaderboard. Westwood had a good chance before his ball got stuck in a tree. People like to pick on Webb Simpson, but he had won twice the previous year and finished 2nd on the Money List in 2011.

 

This one on paper has Koepka had 1 Euro win, 1 PGA win, beating Harman by 3 shots, who has 2 PGA Tour wins. It has Fowler and Matsuyama on the leaderboard but also Schauffele and Mullinax in the top 10.

[Darth Putter]

grest point. Not sure why Texas or Florida etc. do not host the Open. There certainly are some great venues that could host.

 

Bad weather. Too hot in summer. Courses in Texas suck (I used to live there.) Florida courses are weak as well. Plus the humidity is unbearable.

 

Colonial might be the only one for Texas at the moment and it's area is just too small for a US Open. Seminole is a worthy Florida course, but I don't think they want the bother. The TPC is equipped to hold the Open, but it has other priorities. The only place in the south that will get the US Open every decade is Pinehurst #2.

 

The midwest has no headliner course that would appear once a decade in a rota, but the USGA will keep searching. I'd be fine if the USGA decided the next midwestern US Open was going to be at Erin Hills.

[Darth Putter]

They had 8300 yards to play with, if they wanted to make it hard they could have. The USGA had lost its way and Mike Davis isn't helping with his idea of course setups anymore.

 

If 2018 is a failure to produce drama an tough conditions as well, I thing 2019 you will see and entirely knew crew setting up the open.

 

Ever since the Olympic Club, the setups have gotten easier, and the courses have gotten worse, they need to figure something out, and thankfully there are no more terrbile courses on the rotation for quite some time

 

Let's not pretend Olympic Club was a success. Webb Simpson won that year.

 

Olympic is snakebit when it comes to its champions.

[Darth Putter]

Here's what I like about this Open. With too many venues you look at the leaderboard the last day and the only thought is "can the leader hold on". What many posters are along for is one way movement on the board, down. What's wrong with the best in the world being able to make a few birdies? A procession of irons of the tee and hitting to the middle of the green is not a showcase for the best golf nor does it identify the best player.

 

What's the old complaint about the USGA? They're not trying to identify the best golfer, they're trying to identify Ben Hogan.

[Darth Putter]

There is certainly is some sour grapes in Miller's retort. However, interesting the U.S. Open was, and it was fun to watch, it was pretty much a show about power. This course did not live up to what is expected of a U.S. Open Championship.

 

Young guys will love the show of power, that is where the game has taken them. Older players are scratching their head about where was the difficulty expected of a U.S. Open.

 

What is interesting though is the attitude of the USGA. Are we seeing what is going to be the type of U.S. Open for the future, have they changed their attitude about par being a challenge?

 

I enjoyed the tournament but hope to never see another U.S. Open like it.

 

They certainly were very "R&A" about the setup this week. A reasonable set up and just let the weather be the weather.

[clinkinfo]

most likely 14 under will win the US Open. I think it's time for a US Open venue that actually proves difficult. I'm not sure why setting up an Open for Par being a winning is such a bad thing?

 

This was a terrible US Open. It would have been a good PGA or memorial type tournament, but for a US Open, absolute rubbish. US opens should be won with scores close to par. US opens should value driver accuracy, not give extra wide fairways to miss in. US open rough should be difficult to advance the ball out of. US open Greens should have only small acceptable landing areas with significant penalties for missing. All in all, I feel it missed on almost every mark.

[HighSpeedScene]

Lots of people"should"-ing all over the place.

 

 

[mjen43]

most likely 14 under will win the US Open. I think it's time for a US Open venue that actually proves difficult. I'm not sure why setting up an Open for Par being a winning is such a bad thing?

 

This was a terrible US Open. It would have been a good PGA or memorial type tournament, but for a US Open, absolute rubbish. US opens should be won with scores close to par. US opens should value driver accuracy, not give extra wide fairways to miss in. US open rough should be difficult to advance the ball out of. US open Greens should have only small acceptable landing areas with significant penalties for missing. All in all, I feel it missed on almost every mark.

 

Just pretend par was 70. The PGA did that at Baltusrol last year and Jimmy Walker shot a -14 266 on a course that is actually a par 72 for regular play. If the USGA decided to arbitrarily manipulate par to 70 this week like they have done before in the past, only 8 players would have shot under par and nobody would be complaining.

[Joe85]

I'll say what I said in the "links" thread.

 

This was not a US Open. This was like a glorified regular weekly track - the Honda Classic or a Tough Bob Hope Classic.

 

I kind of feel like my free Sunday off was somewhat wasted watching it. That's sad. I'm in my late 30s now and this - well, Rory going -16 was disgusting to me, to be honest - and even last year I could tolerate - Chamber's Bay at least had some water, and trains were cool too, but I just didn't like this course today.

 

 

I've been watching all the majors religiously since probably I was 18 - and more sporadically before that age, and this wasn't the greatest tournament in the world to me, and the US Open, over the years, grew into meaning that to me, as an American: THE greatest, toughest, most important tournament in the world I could ever aspire to.

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, we can't really take what BK did today and legitimately stack it up against anything. We can't stack it up against Tiger at Pebble, or Oakmont or even for that matter Bethpage or the majority of US Open tracks of the past. Even Chamber's Bay was a tough track, and I loved watching it last year. Something today just felt...off.

 

 

I don't know how I feel right now, but earlier I felt cheated - I wasted my day on this tournament, and it's really a pity. The Open (the British Open) to me, might be the best tournament in the world to win at this moment, because at least that's the Home of Golf.

[bladehunter]

most likely 14 under will win the US Open. I think it's time for a US Open venue that actually proves difficult. I'm not sure why setting up an Open for Par being a winning is such a bad thing?

 

This was a terrible US Open. It would have been a good PGA or memorial type tournament, but for a US Open, absolute rubbish. US opens should be won with scores close to par. US opens should value driver accuracy, not give extra wide fairways to miss in. US open rough should be difficult to advance the ball out of. US open Greens should have only small acceptable landing areas with significant penalties for missing. All in all, I feel it missed on almost every mark.

 

Just pretend par was 70. The PGA did that at Baltusrol last year and Jimmy Walker shot a -14 266 on a course that is actually a par 72 for regular play. If the USGA decided to arbitrarily manipulate par to 70 this week like they have done before in the past, only 8 players would have shot under par and nobody would be complaining.

 

Depends on which holes you change as to whether it would change the winners score. At best it makes him -12ish. Hardly one of the toughest us opens. That argument just doesn't work here.

[golf1010]

Way to easy

If you need wind and sun to make it tough it's to easy

Can't stand -16 winning

I watch those scores every week

It was a PGA nothing more.

 

[mjen43]

most likely 14 under will win the US Open. I think it's time for a US Open venue that actually proves difficult. I'm not sure why setting up an Open for Par being a winning is such a bad thing?

 

This was a terrible US Open. It would have been a good PGA or memorial type tournament, but for a US Open, absolute rubbish. US opens should be won with scores close to par. US opens should value driver accuracy, not give extra wide fairways to miss in. US open rough should be difficult to advance the ball out of. US open Greens should have only small acceptable landing areas with significant penalties for missing. All in all, I feel it missed on almost every mark.

 

Just pretend par was 70. The PGA did that at Baltusrol last year and Jimmy Walker shot a -14 266 on a course that is actually a par 72 for regular play. If the USGA decided to arbitrarily manipulate par to 70 this week like they have done before in the past, only 8 players would have shot under par and nobody would be complaining.

 

Depends on which holes you change as to whether it would change the winners score. At best it makes him -12ish. Hardly one of the toughest us opens. That argument just doesn't work here.

 

Sure it does. 1 could have been a par 4 the first three days. 18 could have been a par 4 every day. 15 could have been a par 3 yesterday. The USGA manipulated par on 18 at Chambers Bay throughout the event. Pebble Beach plays as a par 71 for the US Open but a par 72 for the PGA Tour. There's no difference.

[Joe85]

What boggles my mind also is the number or "par 4s" that were 500+ - yet these guys still shredded this course.

 

 

 

At this point, I don't know what the US Open is or stands for anymore. In between all the PC rhetoric being spewed on TGC this morning - someone said something that was correct (and there is a a paraphrase in this):

 

The Open was "nature's" major

The Masters was "invitational" (or something like that, can't remember if it was "known for its greens or what")

The US Open was "the toughest test"

 

 

The US Open no longer stands for what it has always stood for since I've been watching it.

 

 

I don't believe that USGA has gone that soft, as winning score at Chamber's Bay was -5. Now we can argue about all these newby course (Bethpage, Torrey, CB, EH) and I'm willing to discuss that, but for the love of golf, the US Open is supposed to stand for TOUGHEST TEST.

 

 

I hope USGA corrects its errant path in due time.

[vwgolfer]

Too easy? Over half the field on Sunday finished over par. Looks like the top 10 are just that much better this week.

[ckwL]

Yall stay crying on this site.

[birdiebarrage]

most likely 14 under will win the US Open. I think it's time for a US Open venue that actually proves difficult. I'm not sure why setting up an Open for Par being a winning is such a bad thing?

 

This was a terrible US Open. It would have been a good PGA or memorial type tournament, but for a US Open, absolute rubbish. US opens should be won with scores close to par. US opens should value driver accuracy, not give extra wide fairways to miss in. US open rough should be difficult to advance the ball out of. US open Greens should have only small acceptable landing areas with significant penalties for missing. All in all, I feel it missed on almost every mark.

 

I like "forgettable". Not sure why we need another links-style course that is so dependent on weather when the British is just a month away. Chambers Bay got roasted by critics and yet, that produced a much more exciting tournament.

 

The USGA caved. They could have stretched this course out and left the rough higher. They panicked and when the weather didn't cooperate, you got what felt like another PGA TOUR stop. Missed opportunity.

[Joe85]

Yall stay crying on this site.

 

You stumble over from HF Boards? Those...people over there, well, I won't even get into it as it's got to be a function of the system up there.

 

Too easy? Over half the field on Sunday finished over par. Looks like the top 10 are just that much better this week.

 

 

There were so many records set/destroyed this week.

 

 

How many were double digits under par? Check.

 

Record low? Check

 

Record low in one Open? Check.

 

 

Could go on and on. It was sad.

[Hawkeye77]

I'll say what I said in the "links" thread.

 

This was not a US Open. This was like a glorified regular weekly track - the Honda Classic or a Tough Bob Hope Classic.

 

I kind of feel like my free Sunday off was somewhat wasted watching it. That's sad. I'm in my late 30s now and this - well, Rory going -16 was disgusting to me, to be honest - and even last year I could tolerate - Chamber's Bay at least had some water, and trains were cool too, but I just didn't like this course today.

 

I've been watching all the majors religiously since probably I was 18 - and more sporadically before that age, and this wasn't the greatest tournament in the world to me, and the US Open, over the years, grew into meaning that to me, as an American: THE greatest, toughest, most important tournament in the world I could ever aspire to.

 

Furthermore, we can't really take what BK did today and legitimately stack it up against anything. We can't stack it up against Tiger at Pebble, or Oakmont or even for that matter Bethpage or the majority of US Open tracks of the past. Even Chamber's Bay was a tough track, and I loved watching it last year. Something today just felt...off.

 

I don't know how I feel right now, but earlier I felt cheated - I wasted my day on this tournament, and it's really a pity. The Open (the British Open) to me, might be the best tournament in the world to win at this moment, because at least that's the Home of Golf.

 

Move to France - take Al Franken along.

[kgk]

grest point. Not sure why Texas or Florida etc. do not host the Open. There certainly are some great venues that could host.

 

Bad weather. Too hot in summer. Courses in Texas suck (I used to live there.) Florida courses are weak as well. Plus the humidity is unbearable.

 

Champions in Houston held the 1969 US Open.

It's holding the 2020 Women's US Open.

[DivitsInTheGreen]

Easy or hard, who cares? I could design a 5k yard course that no one could shoot under par on. 5 yard wide fairways and 6in rough. Greens so steep and fast that they don't hold any shot. What you want from a course is a fair test for all that play. This one most certainly was. One of the shortest hitters (not knocking his stature) on tour was leading until an hour from the end. Yeah the end lacked drama. So did Tigers finishes when he beat everyone by ten. Everyone hates the hell out of Augusta too, right? Stupid tricked out easy course.

 

Yes this course played under the average stroke differential for a US Open. I don't care. It was a great course that played fair for everyone. The greens were great. Fairways, while wide, were not overwhelmingly so. The rough was punitive (not going to use the other five letter "p" word). Had it not rained so much and had there been 20+ mph winds everyday par may have won it. It's crazy to blame the course. Those upset are upset that it lacked ending drama and/or big names at the top. I'd guess if you asked those "big names" if the course was tough they'd say yes. Such a silly argument to say it was "too easy". If I sniffed par on any 7800 yard course I'd have to pinch myself to wake up. Even if the entire course was a fairway leading up to a green with no trees, rough, or bunkers/hazards of any kind.