"I've been building short par 4 golf holes before that became famous."

Yes, they clearly hit rock bottom at the Turning whatever classic, where Tom Fazio was invited into the press center to help ease the assembled inkslingers into an afternoon siesta.

I really would not read this rambling mess of inanity unless you forgot to get your Lunesta refilled. Really, it's press conferences like this that make you understand why most golf writers think that course design is such a boring field.

The uh, highlights...

Certainly the opportunities are endless, and that is one of the unique things about golf design and what we strive for. We strive to create distinctive, unique, special, one of a kind pieces. The PR people add other words to those word pieces and call them lots of different things. But my goal is always to have it very distinctive.

Again, throughout those decades of my career, I've had the opportunity to do a lot of golf courses. None of them look like this golf course. The next group, assuming I'm fortunate enough to live longer, none of them will look like this golf course. Why would you do it again, the same thing?

Why, oh why? Especially when you can come back and "re-perfect" them 15 years later!

Obviously, you take the character and the style, but in the old days much golf architecture in America, golf is roughly only 120 years old, maybe now it's getting to be 130 from the beginning. Which is not a long time. And not many people knew about golf.

When golf was brought here by the Scots, mostly and some of the Irish and the UK countries, the UK Kingdoms of where golf kind of started the idea was a golf professional or someone who knew golf came over with the idea of building a golf hole in the early days of my career I used to hear the word Rodin greens, and Cardinal bunker, and all those old famous things that you can find in the British Isle golf courses. And people would come here to bring those ideas and incorporate them.

Well, we've had enough of those and plenty of those built. And now over the last, say, 50 to 75 years, five or six decades, we have so many golf courses we're always trying to create different styles. And certainly Turning Stone is a perfect example.

Of what? Yes, we've had enough of those Redans! We want our architecture boring and forgettable!

For example, we could have a U.S. Open here if the golf course is of that quality. But what happened what the USGA would require, and I don't speak for the USGA, even though I've done lots of renovations for U.S. Open golf courses. But you look at the history and their concern is the tee shot landing areas. They want to have a 23-yard fairway where the driving areas are. 30 years ago, that same location was 27 yards.

Uh huh.

So there's been changes even in that evolution, because again, it only makes sense if the golf ball goes straighter because of clubs and technology, why wouldn't you adjust those narratives and widths for the best players.

Now for the majority of us, we don't really know the difference between 23 and 27. You know, 27's not wide enough. We want 30. So there are just so many different ways that that could be done, and you would do that. And it wouldn't necessarily be a change, it would be the process because that's what golf is about. That's how it has evolved forever, decade after decade.

Peachy.

Q. Some people talk about the short par 4, the short risk-reward par 4 as being the most exciting hole in golf. Best tournament hole. Did you consider that when you built Atunyote?

TOM FAZIO: Yes, not individually. And I agree with that. I've been building short par 4 golf holes before that became famous. That became the in thing, because lots of people have.

He's such the innovator and precedent setter!