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Bethpage Black...Width of Fairways

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brad_miller:
It is stated that they average 26 yards in width, what is the plan going forward after the open? read somewhere that they where 45 yards on average. Isn't this harmful to all of golf when the press makes this out to be a macho thing, wouldn't it be better if the point where made that is for one event, our national open, being played by 156 of the best "young" players in the world. How many Green Chairman are calling the Supts and telling then to narrow the fairways?

On the positive side anyone reading the press should understand that F&F is harder and more fun, even if ones drive sometimes goes farther.

Dunlop_White:
Brad,

Exactly! It annoys me to no end that the perceptions of green's chairmen and memberships across the country are influenced by the USGA's treatment of Open venues. It is imminent that 7250 yard par 70's and 26 yards of width in many of our country club's fairways may soon be the standard or the norm.

There are many ways to defend par!

Extending holes to the boundary and squeezing them to death with high grass, however, has become the model. Too often these alterations are employed without deference to the architect or his design intent. As a result, many of our classic courses have lost their character and design integrity.

Instead, try making the course firm and fast. Maximize the strategic nature of the design. Visually accentuate bunkers and hazards to make the golfer think. Make other "looks", such as debth and distances ambiguous to the mind's eye. Take the tall grass away from the greens for a variety of shot making options. These are examples of other more interesting methods of protecting par which are consistent with the classical approach.

The daunting, mental elements of the game must be revived!

Dunlop

John_D._Bernhardt:
I agree with this basic view of how the USGA takes the architecture and natural defenses out of a course.

brad_miller:
John, let them do what they want with THE OPEN, just don't make the world think that is how a members course should be set up and played day in and day out. BB looks like it would be one heck of a course for the avg-good single digit player with 35-40 yard fairway width and 6700-6800 yard distance, although its hard to take those bunker shapes from the blimp, looks like a bio lab class.

Mike_Cirba:
Brad,

Geoffrey and I debated the Bethpage bunker issue a little bit yesterday, and although Bruceski's pics made them look somewhat better from ground level, I still don't see them looking anything like Tillie would have built, even at his most stylish.  Since you've played SFGC, which seems to be Tillie at his flamboyant best as far as bunkering, do you see any similarities?

They certainly don't appear as they did when I played the course about 10 years ago, when they had a rugged, rough-hewn nature, albeit not in prime condition.  Overall, the course looks amazingly better conditioned, but also amazingly more formalized, demarcated, and overly stylized for my tastes.  

Still, I'm glad that Rees did the work at Bethpage that catapulted it to US Open status.  

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