David Schmidt
Aronimink was fabulous! Those greens are all-world. If all-world golfers can’t putt them well, then so be it! The golf course has to win sometimes also, you know. And this was one of those times. All the big names faded away and we got the best player this week. Just like when Corey Pavin won at Shinny and Rich Beem and KJ Choi and Steve Jones and Danny Willett and Shaun Micheel and all the other one time major winners.
Stop whining about this tournament. It was exciting as hell there until Rai put it away at the end.
And Rex Hoggard is an idiot, pining for more 8000 yard courses for bomb-and-gouge fests. That guy is clueless and I don’t know how he keeps a job with the comments he made this morning on his podcast.
Link to commentEthan Fisher
Not the most walker-friendly course ironically for being named The Walker Course, but Clemson's home track is my personal favorite that I've gotten to thus far. Lots of fun shots out there. One of the best public courses for anyone heading near the Greenville-Spartanburg area.
Link to commentAlex Williams
Agree. It’s the dismissal that I reflect about most of all.
Link to commentA.B. Mengel
I went on Sunday and spent a good chunk of the day at 10 grandstand. So few approach shots close to the pin (Rosey's was great but it was his third after an errant drive). Tons of guys off the green in the lower section to the right and several uphill chips/putts that came right back. Lots of pars. And a lot of interference from 8 green with tee shots from 8 hitting the green and rolling off, sometimes onto 10 green and then needing relief, which slowed things down a lot. P Reed hit the stick on 8 and then it bounced and rolled almost onto 10 green. It was a good spot to camp out for much of the day but just really not a lot of excitement or fireworks. Underwhelmed was probably the right word. Just a lot of up-and-downs.
After Ludwig/Rai came through at 10 I started walking the back nine. I watched his laser-like tee shot on 15 and even at that point on the grounds it still felt like maybe someone behind would step it up and challenge him. I think if it had been 1-2 guys battling down the stretch and he out-dueled them it would have felt different. Nobody else really got out of neutral, and all credit to Rai for just really outclassing everyone else on the back nine. He just locked in and went out and got it when no one else did. I'm sure the energy on the course really changed when he rolled in the putt on 17, but I was in the merch tent at that point and missed it.
Mixed feelings overall, but largely positive. The challenging setup flummoxed many of the players, which was interesting for a while, but didn't seem like it produced a lot of riveting "moments" for much of Sunday. It was high-intensity, but somehow not high-drama?
Aronimink was beautiful. Philly sports fans....yeesh.
Link to commentJoe Meeks
Thank you for the rundown! That must be why Andy mentioned it on the pod a while back.
Link to commentMichael DeWitt
Mackenzie drew the plans for both Scarlet & Gray. Ohio State fired Perry Maxwell early on during the build and then took liberties with what they put in the ground.
Nicklaus finished the hatchet job by turning Scarlet’s #4 into a strong Design Disaster candidate.
As good as UM is now, it could be even better if they scrubbed Arthur Hills handiwork away, recaptured MacKenzie’s full green pads, and felled a few trees that intrude on the playing corridors.
Link to commentJoe Meeks
As an Ann Arbor native, I'm a big fan of the UofM Course. Also, take this with a grain of salt from a Michigan fan; I believe Andy said on one of the pods that Alister Mackenzie did not design the OSU Scarlet Course. Definitely call me out if I'm wrong but I vaguely remember him saying something along those lines.
Link to commentMichael DeWitt
Were there other golf publications that gave Rai contending the kind of consideration and coverage you believe he merited?
I’m sure lots of golf media companies now owe him his due. Well played and well deserved to him. He earned it and his life will never be the same.
These out of the blue winners usually make a ton more sense with the advantage of hindsight.
Link to commentMatt Rouches
In my personal opinion, 2 Eggs is Lawsonia’s ceiling. 3 eggs is reserved for the absolute best of the best courses in the world.
Link to commentHenry Blickenstaff
Fair enough - not that a 2 Egg rating is a slight or anything, just wondering if you all reevaluated courses since this review is a couple years old. Lawsonia is a gem either way!
Link to commentAlex Williams
You guys blew it by dismissing Aaron Rai. Fried Egg is an indie golf news site. That’s how I see what you do. But you missed the biggest story from the PGA Championship by tossing away what came to be one the biggest stories in recent years.
It was an exciting, crazy week in golf, with many an underdog at the top of the leaderboard, culminating with Rai, a south Asian by descent, becoming England’s first PGA winner since 1919.
You missed it. You did not even give any context about what it would mean if Rai won. In the scramble among all the contenders, you ignored Rai and treated him with almost no respect.
You had such a story here. Instead, you chose snark over substance.
I love your camaraderie but analysis is also what I turn to you for when following the pro tour.
It’s hard to dial it back but think of your listeners. We don’t know these players like you do.
I hope you give Rai his due. He deserves it. He did not deserve to be dismissed.
Link to commentAlex Williams
You guys blew it by dismissing Aaron Rai. Fried Egg is an indie golf news site. That’s how I see what you do. But you missed the biggest story from the PGA Championship by tossing away what came to be one the biggest stories in recent years.
It was an exciting, crazy week in golf, with many an underdog at the top of the leaderboard, culminating with Rai, a south Asian by descent, becoming England’s first PGA winner since 1919.
You missed it. You did not even give any context about what it would mean if Rai won. In the scramble among all the contenders, you ignored Rai and treated him with almost no respect.
You had such a story here. Instead, you chose snark over substance.
I love your camaraderie but analysis is also what I turn to you for when following the pro tour.
It’s hard to dial it back but think of your listeners. We don’t know these players like you do.
I hope you give Rai his due. He deserves it. He did not deserve to be dismissed.
Link to commentBeau Scroggins
Not right now. But you will be able to in about a week and a half!!! Stay tuned.
Link to commentTommy Mcguane
Reflecting on this tournament, I think I liked it overall. I think I come away, not frustrated with the winner, but a little underwhelmed with Sunday and the bunched leaderboard. It’s not that I wanted Sunday to be a birdie fest, but it seems like the course was kinda easy to make par and very difficult to make birdie except on a few birdie holes. I think with Harmon and Rai and Spaun there is the go to commentary that they are world class players and normal tournament set ups do not reward their skill sets. I don’t think this is incorrect, I just think it’s a default narrative when a less popular player wins, which maybe that’s a contradiction in itself (since they’re inherently less popular because they don’t win because of the normal setups and what they reward).
I think the overall take away for me is just emphasizing the need for a rollback. I already heard Brandle blaming the course set up or the lack of trees and openness, but when the only option to challenge players/curtail low scoring is high rough and the challenging greens we saw this week I think it shows the need for less distance. Even there, I find myself wondering if high rough to stop low scoring is worth it. They’re still going to be hitting a high lofted club into the green no matter the rough height, whether they’re in the rough or in the fairway. So what’s the point of watching them hack it out of high rough back into the fairway or into the center of the green. It doesn’t seem like more skill and it isn’t more interesting for me to watch. It’s disappointing to me that a course like this can’t be played in its most strategic and in its most interesting and exciting form. In the end, I just end up not turning pro golf on as much because and instead watch something on YouTube or go do something else, rather than watch something I know will make me a little annoyed.
I’d really like to hear what others thought about the tournament and their lasting impressions. This one was more confusing for me to wrap my head around for some reason. Also I’m happy to hear any challenges to any of my thoughts because as I said, I’m still figuring out what to think about the setup and how the tournament played out.
Link to commentMike Terwilliger
Hi Evan,
Lots of good responses here and I saw the note/invite you got to Windsong. I hope that works out for you! If not, here would be my 2 cents on some of the public golf in the area...I took the ones you listed and put them in a sort-of order.
- Keller...fun track, good price, a few fun quirky holes, good history, usually in great shape
- Troy Burne...in Hudson, WI just across the river. Only 8 minutes from Stoneridge. I prefer it to Stoneridge. Lehman design that used to host a Korn Ferry Tour event (it wasn't Korn Ferry...forgot which iteration of that tour)
- The Wilds...Weiskopf design. I like the variety of holes they have, especially the par 4's and 5's
- Braemar...good bang for your buck. They did a super job with the re-do a few years ago and you have to think on quite a few tee shots on the 4's and 5's. Only thing I don't like is that the five par 3 holes often times play about the same distance. They're starting to get better but I've had rounds there where I've used the same club on all of the par 3's.
- Chaska Town...solid choice. Another one with a nice variety of holes. Was alternate course for US Am a few summers ago. I like it but not as much as the others listed above.
- Rush Creek...getting really pricey the past few years...up to like $175 now which around here is a lot. I'd rather play Keller 3 times than this once:). When this was built they thought it could host a PGA event, that turned out to be not close to the truth but it is a nice course.
- - Stoneridge...$150 to play. Just played it this weekend and already in terrific shape. I love the first 11 holes and holes 12-18 are still good but don't flow as well as first 11
Have a super trip!
Link to commentCullen Robbins
Love this thread. Are we able to post pictures in the replies?
Link to commentNick Franzen
I played there earlier this month and I think hole #6 is such a fantastic golf hole. Its is sooo fun. The blowout bunker that guards the green is so fantastic. Its got a fantastic green site as well.
Link to commentTommy Mcguane
I think at this point it’s just the final pairing Rahm and Aaron rai that are in contention. If rai birdies the par 5 and gets to 8 I think Andy is gonna have the night off from the pod
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