"The distance elite players are hitting the ball hasn't fundamentally changed the balance of skills that lead to good scoring."

John Paul Newport makes the case above--distance gains have not fundamentally changed the game--and I'm not sure if this was the best week to write this story after a soft Plainfield looked completely overmatched by modern equipment (a stunning 31 players finished in double digits under par for 54 holes while the winner was 19-under for 3 rounds).

At both super-long Erin Hills and relatively short Plainfield, approach-shot accuracy and short-game prowess remain the most important factors, as they always have.

"I'd rate length in about the middle, or maybe just below the middle, in terms of what Erin Hills is testing for," said Michael Hurdzan, who co-designed the course with Dana Fry and Ron Whitten. "It can be an advantage, but it's not the primary determinant of who does well."

Just curious, how many players making it to the US Amateur match play were over the age of 25 and hitting it short?

Erin Hills is set up as long as it is mainly because of its fairways. They are planted in fescue on a glacier-created sand base and run extremely firm and fast, in the style of British links courses. They are also wide—80 yards in some places, compared with 30 yards or so at typical U.S. courses. Even so, accuracy off the tee is more important than distance, given that almost nobody at this level is short any more.

The story goes on to talk to Geoff Ogilvy for the "other side," you know the pesky one about making changes to great courses to accommodate the "distance creep," yet sadly ignores the cost burden this has had on courses which have made changes due to new safety issues or simply because they want to keep up with the level of golf where "almost nobody is short any more."

Not noted is the sad state of public golf, just noted in the same paper two days ago, which should be thriving due to the benefits golfers are receiving from improved equipment.

So if "distance creep" hasn't changed the balance of skills that lead to good scoring, then what would happen if you took away the rough, the narrowed fairways, the new back tees and softened/slowed green speeds designed to combat distance creep?

You'd have Plainfield this week.