Blue Monster Changes To Appease The Wee Knockers

This is sad but not unprecedented given the location of Doug Ferguson's byline: Trump National Doral is seeing several fairway bunkers changed to appease the tour's shorter hitters who have been the biggest complainers about the revamped Blue Monster. The same gripes were registered about Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner's TPC Boston redo, though the PGA Tour largely held its ground against those complaints.

At Trump National Doral, the "fair" word was dropped after the 2015 WGC Cadillac leaderboard was dominated by those able to drive the ball a long way with enough accuracy to separate themselves.

Ferguson writes:

Andy Pazder, chief of operations for the PGA Tour, said a shorter bunker is being removed and another bunker is being added further out on the left.

''That makes the tee shot more fair,'' he said. ''And even the long hitters who can't quite carry the bunkers on the left and still hit 3-wood comfortably.''

That was just one example. The other changes are mainly about covering over some bunkers that were in play only for the medium hitters and extending or moving bunkers that would challenge the longer hitters.

Pazder described the changes as a result of ''continuous feedback we've received over the last few years after Gil's redesign.''

''This is designed to create a little more of a level playing field as it relates to those who carry it 300 yards and those who don't,'' he said.

Of course the suggestion of rolling back the ball to lessen the distance disparity will be met with skepticism, so just change the courses. And of course, we all know that if the long hitters keep driving it relatively accurately, the chances won't mean a thing.