Rolling Riviera’s Fairways!? A Simple Explanation

If you’ve watched the opening two rounds of Northern Trust Open play, it’s been apparent that the course is firmer and faster than ever. For Kikuyu fairways, it’s a rarity to ever even contemplate any kind of run to the fairways unless the ground is frozen. As for an explanation, suffering through drought says a lot and so does all of the incredible soil moisture reading work undertaken by superintendent Matt Morton’s crew.

However, a few of you wrote with alarm at my previous mention that the fairways are rolled to increase firmness. The image of rollers on greens is often met with skepticism and I certainly had the same reaction when I first saw the large rollers on Tuesday. But Riviera superintendent Matt Morton has a simple explanation.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to try to speed up the course through equipment,” he said.

In other words, reduce the use of growth regulators and other chemical tricks to tighten the turf and firm up the course. Morton wants to best accentuate Riviera’s many subtle design features, many of which are muted by spongy Kikuuyu. It also helps that Morton has grown to love links golf, is reading Alister MacKenzie’s Spirit Of St. Andrews, and wants to use more sustainable tools to make Riviera play faster and firmer than ever. It’s working.

There have been some 350-yard bombs from the leaderboard dominated by long hitters, including a few with a good bit of roll that is unusual for Riviera. The field average of 283.1 through (almost) two rounds is right on the tour average but high for a kikuyu course. Still, the precision necessary on a firmer course has made the golf fascinating to watch and should weed out the less-precise by Sunday (22 are within 6 strokes of the lead when play was halted because of darkness Friday). The fairway turf has also never looked more pure, which the tour rules staff chalks up to the rollers.

Morton first saw the fairway rolling effects at Merion last year and Riviera has since purchased two Tranz-former rolling units that look like fairway mowers. The Tranz-formers were put into play just a week before the tournament, but have been in use twice a day during competition. The long-term impact has not yet been determined, but Morton hopes to reduce mowings and in general, continue to shift Riviera toward the more sustainable Australian model of maintenance emphasizing grass management that involves less consumption of precious resources.

And rolling lightly nourished turf instead of constantly mowing overfed grass is a good place to start.

Kneejerk Reaction: Trump Doral Blue Monster

A few quick thoughts on my trip around the revamped Trump Doral, which was a combination of site inspection and insights from Gil Hanse, who, with Jim Wagner, remodeled the resort’s Blue Monster course. I will be discussing the course on a special four-hour Morning Drive Thursday that will be covering the media day for the course’s re-opening.

View from 11th tee feels like a hole at Seminole (Click to enlarge)A longer, hopefully more eloquent review is to come in Golf World, but for now…

—More sophisticated. The course has gone up a multiple notches not only in the strategy department, but in the overall grandeur of the property. By no means was it ever going to be Pebble Beach east, but the combination of tree removal, re-grading fairways, raising greens and refining some of the less exciting holes has given the property a grander feeling reminiscent of William Flynn’s Indian Creek (not coincidentally, Doral architect Dick Wilson was a protege of Flynn). It looks and feels like an older classic, with refined features and presentation.

—More routing points better connected. The previous version of the course felt like 18 holes plopped on a flat piece of Miami, but with the moving of a few greens many of the disconnecting points are gone. The finishing holes appear to have a really nice flow, sadly interrupted with some overly aggressive corporate tenting, but most improved of all is the move of the 9th green closer to the 18th. This should create a more dynamic energy around the clubhouse come tournament time.

11th tee view has touches of Seminole (click to enlarge)—The first hole is vastly improved. Now a super risk-reward par-5 with water at the green, this should be the second hole of a sudden death playoff (after replaying 18, of course).

—The range is way better. The downside, however, was an overly aggressive planting of palms along the 10th hole. The straight line and braces holding up the palms give the impression of a row of cell-tower trees. Hopefully undergrowth will soften the look over time.

—The finish could become the best on the PGA Tour. The three hole finale at TPC Sawgrass will always be tough to beat, but Doral’s 18th is better. Furthermore, the new short par-3 15th features a green with multiple hole locations that could produce some hole-in-ones, but the peninsula green will also see plenty of water balls. The 16th, which became drivable when all the guys started eating Chipotle instead of Five Guys, remains drivable if the tees are up and when they are not, is a far more beautiful, interesting drive and pitch with a raised fairway that will no longer be the mudball parking lot that the old hole presented. And amidst all of this water, Hanse and Wagner retained the old 17th hole’s huge green but with better bunkering and a superb mix of shot shapes required to make birdie.

—The greens are perfect, the fairways will need a few more 80 degree days to allow the superintendent to take them to a lower cut. The approaches are noticeably top-dressed and firming up, which will be critical for a few new run-up options to front hole locations on what before was strictly an aerial golf course.

Overall, the most stunning thing about Trump Doral? No gold crests! The Donald took the Sheikdom accoutrements down many notches, which only adds to the sophisticated and revitalized Blue Monster.

No Bill Murray At Pebble Beach, Bring On The Suits!

Josh Sens explains why Bill Murray will not be making his usual mockery (with a few funny moments) this year at Pebble Beach. He's got a movie to plug.

Before you get too excited, Doug Ferguson reminds us how much this event means to the G4 set and the Cialis-replacing boost they get from making the cut.

And as much as Murray's antics may pain you, just brace yourself for more than you ever wanted to see of the PNC chairman!