"Holding onto...the Old Course as tests for elite players out of an obligation to the past is sheer folly."
/It's time for another interesting tirade by Bollocks and Garbage Bomb and Gouge who put shopping above even the most sacred traditions. This time a reader wonders at what point the game breaks after sigificant advances render courses obsolete or pocketbooks empty and the Belch and Gulpers joined forces for this gem:
When does the game break? When it refuses to move forward by mindlessly clinging to the past. Amazing how Dr. Naismith let his game advance beyond the peach basket.
The USGA has changed its ball regulations as recently as 2004, and if you read the rule carefully, it may have even been more restrictive. But to your concern over the great venues, I can only offer this:
Myopia Hunt
Newport CC
Garden City
Prestwick
Musselburgh
Chicago GC
Oh but here's where it gets good.
We've had the courage to move past these venues as sites for major championships because for reasons of length, and sometimes more importantly, infrastructure, they stopped being relevant as a site.
Courage? Well, I guess placing consumption over Chicago Golf Club does take courage.
They didn't stop being relevant as significant golf courses. Are their places in history any less secure for not being part of any major championship rota today. No. But holding onto the Winged Foots, the Augusta Nationals and Merions and even the Old Course as tests for elite players out of an obligation to the past is sheer folly. Let's remember that Merion didn't host a U.S. Open until 1934, nearly 40 years after the U.S. Open began. They had the courage to do new and different things back then. Where is the courage to do the same today?
True, it does take courage to move golf's most historic events to lousy new 8,000 yard courses in order to preserve the right to buy a new driver every year. It takes even more courage to put such a thought in print.