Final Doral Thoughts: Poll Results, Letter To The Donald
/Before we move on from a lively WGC Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral--okay the WGC at Doral--I felt compelled to write a short open letter to Donald Trump in hopes of convincing him not to leave people with a negative impression of the Blue Monster. Which is exactly what would happen if he were to embark on the big change he wants to make at the 17th hole and also in lengthening the short par-3 15th.
Say what you want about The Donald, but he has built his business on not acknowledging his shortcomings. A quick redo of the redo would be a mistake, particularly on a golf course that exemplified all of the elements you hope for--drama, strategy, fun, demand--with just a little time needed to build some thatch in the greens and get the setup right.
With 500 votes cast (thank you), 44% of had a very favorable reaction to the Blue Monster, 39% were favorable with some modest tweaks, 9% didn't see much difference and 9% had a and unfavorable view.
We also talked about the reaction to the course on Morning Drive and among other topics, Gary Williams revealed that Rocco Mediate envisioned that dreary Sunday back-right hole location for the 15th. Something closer to the water and allowing the players to feed a tee shot down to the hole, and maybe even make a hole in one, would have started a nice Sunday tradition.
I'm not the only one hoping for setup tweaks instead of design changes. John Hawkins in his Monday Hawk's Nest and Alan Shipnuck in Heroes And Zeros also suggest a similar approach for The Donald.
And finally, nice to see Peter Jacobsen back in the impersonation business in a big way, offering up a Donald Trump bit for Morning Drive.