Eight thoughts about the U.S. Open

My real job precluded me from making the trek out to Tacoma last week, so I watched from my couch like everybody else. Here are a few observations from afar about the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay…

1. The Greens. No one needs to leap to the defense of the agronomy team at Chambers Bay. Make no mistake: they did exactly what the USGA wanted them to do and they did it magnificently. This course was built, modified and managed over the past eight years with this event in mind. The plan all the way along was to make it rugged, different and fun to watch. Unseasonably warm temperatures pushed everything to the edge and, I think, USGA executive director Mike Davis just gleefully rolled with that.

2. Fescue Mania. Combine an unseasonably warm spring in the PNW, the inherent risks of hosting a major at a public facility and the “agronomic experiment” of fescue/Poa putting surfaces and something was bound to happen. The resulting putting surfaces were (how should I say this?) charismatic. Whatever you call them, they didn’t stop the best players in the world from shooting under par and the top golfer this year rightfully emerged as the winner.

3. Sustainability. Gil Hanse and a couple of other people said, “This is what sustainability looks like.” I call B.S. on that. I’m tired of this notion that “brown equals sustainable.” Green is the color of healthy turf and healthy turf is good for the environment. It doesn’t have to be glow-in-the-dark verdant green, but it doesn’t need to be beige. The bottom line is that, unlike the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club which launched ultradwarf Bermuda into “next big thing” status, I don’t foresee a groundswell of courses rushing to plant fine fescue on their greens.

4. The Bitching. Players have every right to say what they think about conditions. They also have a responsibility to be grown-ups and not appear to slam putters on a green or otherwise act like a jerk. Billy Horschel acted like a jerk. As did Gary Player, a man for whom I have the utmost respect, who very uncharacteristically went off on Robert Trent Jones II and his team. Maybe the biggest surprise of this event was Player making Bob Jones look like the more rational and statesmanlike of the two. I could have never predicted that.

5. The Course. Big kudos to Bruce Charlton and Jay Blasi for using that piece of ground so brilliantly. Fantastic bunkering. Fabulous elevation changes. Great use of natives and features like the train tracks and old structures. Really cool and a great statement about what an American golf course can look like (but not necessarily what every course should look like). By the way, what was nearly unmentioned during the week was that this is only the third government-owned course to host an Open (besides Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines) and that it’s ably operated by a management company (Kemper Sports). This was a triumph for public golf…but that apparently wasn’t one of the approved USGA/FOX storylines.

6. The Course as a Venue. The vast spectacle of Chambers is awesome if you’re playing it or taking pictures from tee to green. But, that same scope made it tough as a venue for spectators and television. The complaints about keeping spectator rope lines waaaaay back seemed valid. I also personally felt it just wasn’t that telegenic. The cameras don’t do the place justice in much the same way that Carnoustie and the Old Course are hard to shoot for TV, particularly when it’s cloudy or hazy.

7. FOX Sports. I tried to give them a fair shot. I tried to focus on the fact that neither Johnny Miller nor Chris Berman were yammering from my TV set. I really tried to accept FOX. But the incessant, often just dumbass commentary from Joe Buck, Greg Norman and their endless cast of burbling characters completely wore me out. Every one of them was trying so hard to be smart and major-esque that they all sounded like fools. And poor Holly Sonders in her miniskirt doing those post-round interviews in front of an interactive screen was just excruciating to watch. Her big question to winner Jordan Spieth? Did you have a fifth outfit ready just in case of a playoff? And the dozen or so various (and all wrong) pronunciations of the words “Poa annua” by members of the FOX crew were like nails on a chalkboard for all turfheads. Hell, at least Johnny Miller knows how to say Poa.

8. The USGA. I love nearly everything the USGA has been doing the past few years. They’ve been incredibly supportive of superintendents and are leading a great campaign to educate golfers about the realities of maintenance, sustainability, pace of play, etc. I love the people of the USGA and their passion for what they do. That said, after a few years of “making a statement” with their venues, I’m ready for some old-school 6-inch rough, wicked-fast greens and beat-the-daylights-out-of-you traditional Open golf at Oakmont next June. See you there!