The Olympic Club Defeats the Equipment

This week the U.S. Olympic Club in San Francisco hosted the U.S. Open.

In recent years, the venues have been structured to allow the advances in golf equipment to dominate scores. Last year at the Congressional, the winning score bested par by 12 strokes. Not so in San Francisco this year.

This hundred year course carved out of a gigantic sand dune extracted its revenge on the tour pros. In my opinion its about time. Even though they fade cut the semi rough around the holes, it was not enough when many shots ended up in the trees and into the 7-8 inch rough. The winner on Sunday will score close to par. That is how it should be. A major tournament is not like just any other stop on the tour. At least 6 months of course preparation goes into the hosting of this event. This is one tough course.

In another sport the same event disparity exists. Baseball home runs in Denver despite its huge middle outfields are frequent. San Francisco sports a "pitchers" park with heavy air and strange right field sight lines. Very few home runs are made.  New parks take on a concept of being hitters parks or pitchers parks. This has not happening  in the world of professional golf. New courses are made to be successes for their members. When the pros hit it.... its mincemeat. It takes an old time golf course to remind the faithful that golf is game of toughness.

A true golf champion will come out of the U.S. Open this year The winner will have to stay concentrated as 35,000 adoring fans will fan across the fog banked hills. They will watch their favorite golf struggle. The golfers will have to use their heads and plan each shot. The holes are terraced and narrow. The greens are hard and tricky. The fairways have always been narrow. The elevation changes are tremendous. Many of  holes are blind. They cannot see from the Tee box where the ball needs to end up. Physically this course is demanding.  It takes it out even the spectator to walk from the bottom of the golf course as it parallels the road that encircles Lake Merced to the club house on top of the hill.

As for Lake Merced, after sailing this wonderful lake for 5 years in our little 14 foot sloop I can tell you first hand that the wind never comes exactly from the same place in any consecutive hour. The golfers will have to figure this wind vulnerability into their game right off.

It is by far the most complicated golf course to have a US Open held in many years. I am happy that it is held there this year. It was the first place that I learned to follow golf. I covered it in 1998 with my friend Tom Olson, and my father, Ken Brown. We had some of the first digital cameras on the course. It is fun to see the coverage and see that the trees have grown and the course is a tough as it was when Jensen won. Tiger was a sensation on the course and in the final rounds failed again.

:) Pat