Under Davis, USGA's setups increasingly fair

The 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black saw a couple of unfair carries, but that trend has disappeared as the USGA's flagship event evolves into a fairer test.

By Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
 
The U.S. Golf Association has been around since 1894, which seems almost as long as some of the par-4s it uses in the U.S. Open.

But a closer look shows how far one of golf’s major ruling bodies has come in the seven years since the national championship was first staged at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.

For that, the world’s golf golfers can tip their hats to one man: Mike Davis, the USGA’s senior director of rules and competition.

Prior to Davis taking over as the USGA’s primary course set-up man at Winged Foot in 2006, the U.S. Open took almost as many verbal shots from the players as literal ones because the USGA often crossed the line of being very difficult to unfair.

All one has to do is go back to the course setup at the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, a task that used to fall on Tom Meeks. Hitting fairways always has been essential for success in a U.S. Open, but that year, just reaching a couple of the fairways proved to difficult unless you were one of the game’s longer hitters.

At the 492-yard, par-4 10th, Meeks set the tees so far back in Friday’s second round, it required a 248-yard drive into a stiff breeze on a chilly, overcast day just to reach the short grass; that left many golfers seething at Meeks afterward. Nick Price called the setup “pathetic.” Scott Verplank, whose straight-but-short game seems a perfect fit for the U.S. Open, said he considered making a mockery of the moment when his drive at No. 10 landed 20 yards short of reaching the fairway.

“I thought about declaring an unplayable lie, going back to the tee and hitting another ball,” Verplank said. “I could keep hitting it there and going back for an hour and a half. Obviously, the USGA didn’t watch the Weather Channel.”

Fact is, Meeks and the USGA officials knew the weather was going to be dicey, but that didn’t alter their decisions. “We don’t allow the weather to affect how we set up a golf course,” Meeks said, quite arrogantly.

Well, they should have. That’s what PGA TOUR rules officials do every day; ditto for their Royal & Ancient counterparts.

Another thing to consider here: Price and Verplank aren’t exactly rebel rousers; they are the voice of reason.

But that was then. There should be none of that type of complaining when the U.S. Open returns this week to Bethpage Black. There certainly hasn’t been since Davis took over his role three years ago.

Davis has relied on several strategic changes that have been welcomed by players who hit it long or straight. First off, he has implemented a graduated-rough system that gets deeper the farther the ball strays away from the fairway. If the ball lands a yard or so in the rough, a player usually has the option to go at the green; shots farther off line usually require a chip-out.

But perhaps the best strategy Davis has implemented is one that requires the players to think their way around the course by teasing them with drivable par-4s, often drastically changing the course setup each of the four days.

I can remember arriving at last year’s pulsating U.S. Open at Torrey Pines each of the five days of competition – where a limping Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate in a Monday playoff – eager to see what Davis had in store for the golfers each day. Which of Torrey Pines’ par-5s were going to be reachable? Would the par-4 14th be drivable? And, yes, Davis’ staff consulted the weather forecast before making those decisions.

“It’s all about giving the players choices,” Davis said.

That’s what makes the U.S. Open so compelling: No golf tournament in the world in a bigger mental challenge than this one.

Jim Furyk likely would have won the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont had he not twice tried to drive the par-4 17th, making bogey each time to lose by a shot to Angel Cabrera. And Davis’ setup last year enabled a shorter hitter like Mediate to trade body blows with Woods for five days.

This is a week where golf fans want to see great golf under difficult circumstances, not listen to players complain about an unfair setup.

This is a week where, as former USGA executive Sandy Tatum once said, the USGA is trying to identify the world’s best players, not embarrass them.

It may have taken the USGA more than a century to strike a proper balance, but it seems worth the wait.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.