Old (Course) News: Pushing Green Speeds To The Brink

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My Golf World column on the ramifications of Saturday's inability to present a playable Old Course in windy conditions will be out later, but in the meantime a few thoughts on the latest major championship course setup fiasco in the distance era.(Jim McCabe of Golfweek.com recounts what happened here and has many player quotes on what they experienced, filed before the R&A commented in the press center.)

We know we are headed for a Monday finish at St. Andrews only because the green speeds are too fast for the contours when the wind is up. Three straight majors with a play stoppage have established that a Stimpmeter speed of 10+ is too much here. Heck, the nearby Castle Course with its exposed position on a hill and featuring modern greens with massive contours was open.

As Paul Azinger and Dottie Pepper noted on air and on Twitter (and as documented by John Strege at GolfDigest.com), they've played in comparable or worse winds here FOR CENTURIES because greens were not this fast. Azinger nominated 9 on the Stimp as a reasonable enough speed and here's guessing that would work. Pepper reminded us that this is the third straight major that the Old Course has been misunderstood by those setting it up. She also pointed out the overall statement this makes about runaway modern green speeds.

Sadly, we've seen this movie before: governing bodies willing to take things up to the edge in a peculiar and perhaps subconsciously self-destructive effort to hold the line on difficulty via trickery. In this case, trying to maintain certain green speeds on a course overwhelmed by modern distances, grooves and made easier by the impeccable conditioning by the maintenance team. Now we face a Monday finish and questions about the integrity of the championship because of risk-taking over a measely a foot of speed on the Stimpmeter (and to a lesser extent meeting the modern expectations of players who'd howl at the prospect of playing greens mown every other day).

One would hope the latest fiasco expedites and crystallizes two ongoing debates: the push for fast greens and the notion of regulating distance (as we do now), just not enough to impact elite players in a way that allows places like the Old Course to not be compromised.

For some context on green speed, check out Jerry Tarde's column from October 2013 on the evolution of documented speeds in America (suggested by reader Joe Ogilvie) and note Sir Michael Bonallack's resistance to knowing Stimpmeter speeds.

That's in contrast to his predecessor, R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson, who knows exactly what the green speeds were today at St. Andrews.

Q. What is the stimpmetre reading for the Old Course for The Open Championship?

PETER DAWSON: Well, we've been targeting between 10 and 10-foot-6, and we were achieving that every day, but we have kept the 11th green about six inches slower than those readings, and we've been consistently able to achieve that each morning.

To nitpick: Dawson recently justified the rebuilding of the hollowed 11th hole ground as able to handle play in high winds and because he didn't want to treat it differently in a championship. But in light of that revelation and more proof that the 10 to 10-foot-6 Stimpmeter range may be too much for these greens, I asked if he might reconsider the peak number.

Q. You said the 11th green a few weeks before the tournament is now puttable in high winds with the changes you've made. You've also said today that the green speed is on that green treated differently. Might you be willing to reconsider what you feel is the championship green speed that you discussed earlier? Is that something that would seem reasonable in light of what's happened?

PETER DAWSON: Well, I think for the vast majority of days here, if we went down to a green speed of something say -- pick a number, nine feet, and we played The Open Championship here, I think most people would think the greens were far too slow, to be honest with you. So it's a balance. 10 to 10-foot-6 is an appropriate green speed at St. Andrews in the vast majority of days. We've had a very difficult day today. The slope on the green at 11 is not directly connected with that. That's connected with slope as opposed to wind speed, and I still think what we did there was perfectly appropriate.

To recap: historic Eden green is changed to handle high wind days and so that it can be treated the same as the other days.

Reality: the changed green could not handle the high wind day if was compromised for and was treated differently anyway.

But more vital than this revelation of architectural ineptitude is the obvious absurdity of tainting a championship in the name of not taking real action on the distance scourge that keeps rearing its head in deflating ways.

Even the Chief Inspector wishes the play that took place for a half hour Saturday at St Andrews could be wiped from the record books, an acknowledgement that this championship may have been compromised by the committee's actions:

PETER DAWSON: Well, I wish we could. Rules of golf do allow you to wipe out a full round, but sadly not part of a round, and it's something that maybe the rules committee would like to look at for the future, but the rules of golf do not cater for that at this time.

First things first. Let's revisit the Overall Distance Standard driving the push for faster greens.