Tiger Press Conference Gets Mildly Tense; Tabs To Rejoice

There were a couple of uncomfortable moments in the Tiger Woods press conference today as the standing room only assemblage of inkslingers served and volleyed at St. Andrews. Interestingly, all personal life questions were posed with a wee bit of how shall I say it? No accent...if you live in these parts.

Q.  Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your act on the golf course.  He's gone on record.  Many of us over the years have heard you use the F word, we've seen you spit on the course, and we've seen you throw tantrums like chucking your clubs around.  Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums this week and respect the home of golf?

TIGER WOODS:  I'm trying to become a better player and a better person, yes.

Q.  Your public image has been transformed in the last year or two.  Does it bother you what the public at large thinks of you?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, most of the people have been fantastic.  The places that I've played and the people that have come up to me have been great.  As I said, most of the people have been so respectful over the years here, and I wouldn't see anything different.

Q.  Would it bother you if there was a perception of you as a different sort of person now?

TIGER WOODS:  Hey, it's their opinion.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

And this pointed question on Dr. Spaceman Galea.

Q.  I understand that you had a two‑hour interview with the FBI a couple weeks ago.  Can you confirm that was the case?

TIGER WOODS:  That was the case, yes.

Q.  And are you able to go into any details as to why they specifically wished to speak to you?  And also why you felt it necessary to use a doctor from out of the United States, who apparently is not registered to ‑‑

TIGER WOODS:  Well, I can't go into any of that because of the fact that it's an open case so far.  So that's an ongoing case, so I can't comment.

The real news out of the session, besides six holes now being grassed at his Dubai project (what a relief!), was the revelation that Tiger may abandon the same putter he's used for all major wins this week due to greens he said are Stimping under 9.

TIGER WOODS:  Yeah, I've always been tempted to change my putter on slower greens, and as I said earlier to Steve, I've always struggled when greens are really slow.  My stroke has always been, even from when I was a junior golfer, was built in ‑‑ I always feel more comfortable when the greens get quick.  Some of my best putting rounds were when the greens were running at 14 or something like that on the stimp like at Memorial.  I feel so comfortable on those type of greens.

But on slower greens, I've always had a hard time.  I've always experimented with other putters throughout the years, but I've never put one in play until now.

Update on 2010-07-14 15:47 by Geoff

****Mark Reason's analysis is captivating though he may be reading a bit more into this than necessary!

The opening two questions were asked by Americans and they were softballs. A relieved Woods welcomed them on first-name terms.

BBC 5 Live's Iain Carter then brought up Woods's reduced public image and wondered if St Andrews offered a Road Hole to redemption. Woods gave that the full headlights on beam. The smile was flicked on. He said: "I would like to win no matter what."

A couple of questions later came the first fastball. London press agency man Dick Turner asked: "Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your image on the golf course. Many of us have heard you use the 'F' word, we've seen you spit, we've seen you throw tantrums like chucking your clubs. Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums and respect the home of golf?"

Woods said: "I'm trying to become a better player and a better person."

Then he said his prayers and went to bed. Baby Buddha did not have a lot to say to us, but the media pressed on regardless. How much work did he have to do to rebuild his reputation? Rewind, press play: "Just trying to become a better person."

Day One At The 2010 Open Championship

The required shot of 1 and 18, click image to enlargeIt's a sad state of affairs when the WiFi is better on the train than it is in the dorms of one of the world's great universities. So only now as the clock is past midnight am I even able to log on at dial-up speeds! Therefore the nightly comments will be brief and unfortunately, I won't be able to surf around and link to some of the better reporting as in the past. Plus, I just can't wait to hop into this top-sheet lacking bunk of a bed (because there was that unidentifiable object strongly resembling a mouse turd or a piece of dried ear wax from the ghost of Tom Morris resting on the sheet...what a nice welcoming gift).

Speaking of Old Tom, his ghost must be using my bathroom because the energy efficient light that only comes on by identifying a human presence will not go off. Sweet dreams!

Oh you want to hear about the golf?

- If you ever have the chance to take the train from London to St. Andrews, do it. What a joy. The scenery is magnificent (see my Tweets). Oh, and the trains run on time, they are immaculate, the service is friendly and did I mention, the WiFi was stellar too?

- The Old Course looks as splendid as you might imagine, though I was shocked by how lush it is. In the areas I walked, it is not particularly firm (especially compared to the courses I saw last week). If the weather is benign, the combination of today's equipment and modern agronomics will render the place vulnerable to super low scores. Not that we care about low scores, but it would be nice if some of the strategy is allowed to be presented.The 16th's fence and contours (click to enlarge image)

- Did you know they added a new tee on the Road hole? It's as if nothing else exists on the golf course based on today's media center chatter. Of course, the tee is absurd not in the added yardage it brings, which is appropriate given the regulatory malfeasance of the governing bodies. Furthermore, the tee has been melded discreetly into the path between the tee and 16th. But there is the absurdity once again of teeing off over boundary stakes. No matter how much you prepare for it after the last Open, the sight remains bizarre.

- The other real crime of the Road continues to be all of the rough, which not only is in places where there should be fairway, and includes an unnatural narrowing down to 13 paces about 75 yards from the green, but it's also rough that appears to have been unnaturally prepared compared to other native grasses on the property. And with a green complex to approach to like that, it's unnecessary to be irrigating hay off to the side of a 495-yard beast.

- Tuesday marks honorary degree day for Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Padraig Harrington. The University of St. Andrews has been called out for Tiger's omission, but the real surprise is that they are giving Harrington a degree when he hasn't won at the Old Course and he's still a long way from completing his career. I will be attending and I believe you can watch online. My slow connection precludes me from pinpointing the web address of the event, which comes from the site of Bobby Jones's epic final appearance in St. Andrews. Perhaps someone can post a link below?

- Playing golf with hickories is just the best. But I'll bore you with that next week. The focus remains on the Home of Golf. At least, as long as I can get online.

The new 17th tee (click to enlarge) 

The 17th from behind. See if you can spot the fairway! (Click to enlarge image)

"It's unfortunate because you're trying to get drama. It's a TV sport. The 17th has given them some great drama over the years. The change nearly has the opposite effect."

I'm sure we'll all be exhausted by the Road hole talk this week, especially since most centers on the new tee and not the narrowness of the landing area. But in reading Mark Reason's account, it's still a wonderful topic because of the golf-ball-goes-too-far element going mainstream in prominent UK papers like the Telegraph. (See post below.)

Also interesting is Graeme McDowell's view that many players will play the hole more conservatively and therefore have the opposite effect of the R&A's intent.

Players like McDowell have also warned that much of this week's field will now be more conservative and lay up to the front right edge of the green. They fear 'The sands of Nakajima' to the left or the path and wall to the right.

McDowell said: " It's unfortunate because you're trying to get drama. It's a TV sport. The 17th has given them some great drama over the years. The change nearly has the opposite effect. It's certainly a pretty significant change."

The R&A argues that if Tom Watson had the bottle to hit a 2-iron in his iconic battle against Seve Ballesteros in 1984, then the modern golfer should be able to cope with a 4-iron. Peter Dawson, the R&A chief executive, points out that the hole's length had not changed since 1900 and that players were coming in with very short irons.

The R&A hope that the extra length will force players to use a driver off the tee and a mid to long iron coming in. That will increase the risks of mistakes and bring the hazards more into play, particularly the infamous Road Hole bunker, nicknamed 'the sands of Nakajima' after the Japanese player who took five shots to get out.

Andrew Coltart was even more eloquent on the topic in a Scotland on Sunday piece by Paul Forsyth.

Andrew Coltart is another who fears that rolling back the years will lead to more conservative, even boring golf for the galleries. "I'm not sure it's going to be harder. In a way, it's going to be easier because you are going in there with a longer club. Part of the difficulty before was the temptation to go for a tight pin tucked behind the bunker. Now, if you're going in with a 4 or 5-iron instead of a 9-iron or wedge, that temptation is gone. You're just going to play short and right, and run it up the slope. You're going to see fewer guys in the bunker."

Coltart, who came through International Open Qualifying at Sunningdale, is rather a student of St Andrews. A member of the Scotland team that won the Dunhill Cup there in 1995, he loves the Old Course and everything it stands for. It has its faults - such as the pace of play, and the limited view it affords spectators - but the historic challenge it presents ought not to be tinkered with. "When Usain Bolt keeps breaking the 100-metre world record, they don't stick another couple of yards on his line to level it up. What's wrong with low scores? Let's make it attractive, make it exciting."

"OK, things change, time moves on, but people still look at art in the same way they did before. They still marvel at them. They don't touch them up to go with the flow. They should have left the 17th as it was. It's a gorgeous golf course, a wonderful place to play, but if you start making changes, it's not the same golf course. It's not the one played by the legends whose footsteps you are trying to follow."

"Excessive golf ball distance has also had significant adverse affects as regards golf’s architectural and cultural heritage."

The Telegraph published a letter from select architects and writers calling on the R&A to do something about distance race via the golf ball. Heroes I say!

* The greater length that the ball travels has created a demand for longer golf courses. The increased acreage required for new golf courses has amplified the environmental impact of golf course construction and maintenance, with greater inputs of fuel, fertilizers, pesticides and water required.

* Increased golf ball distance has increased the danger golfers, greenkeepers and the public face. On the same angles of dispersion, golf balls travel a greater distance, creating safety problems on and around old golf courses and the need for greater safety margins on new golf courses.

* Land is one of the most important factors for the creation of new golf courses. As the next wave of golf course construction will be in the developing and highly populated world, excessive golf ball distance is a barrier to actual and responsible golf course development. The extra need for environmentally sensitive materials along with greater quantities of capital and labour for golf course development and maintenance greatly increases the cost of golf.

* The extra distance walked on long courses forces up the average time per round. Four and five hour rounds are driving many potential golfers away from the game.

* In total, the excessive length the golf ball now travels directly challenges the future development and sustainability of golf.

* This says nothing of the architectural values of our classic courses, denuded by golf ball length just as the famous Road Hole has demonstrated.

These negative length factors were highlighted during the recently held World Forum of Golf Architects in St. Andrews. A vast majority of the 180 delegates were in favour of further rectifying steps to be taken, beyond the ‘v’ groove changes then reported by the R&A and USGA representatives.

So little patience with the groove rule change! Here, here!

The undersigned believe this is the right time for the golf community (i.e. players, golf architects, course owners, tournament spectators and playing equipment manufacturers) to give our ruling bodies full support for ball and equipment measures that will help make golf sustainable and flourish in the 21st century. We believe measures should be taken to ‘roll back the ball’!

Signed:
    •    Peter Nordwall FSGA, President of FSGA (Federation of Scandinavian Golf Course Architects)
    •    Graham Papworth SAGCA, President of the SAGCA (Society of Australian Golf Course Architects)
    •    Ken and TK Sato JSGCA, Board Members of JSGCA (Japanese Society of Golf Course Architects)
    •    Jonathan Gaunt EIGCA, Senior Member and Nick Norton EIGCA Graduate (European Institute of Golf Course Architects)
    •    David McLay Kidd, Principal of DMK Golf Design
    •    James I Kidd, Director of DMK Golf Design
    •    Donald Steel, Past President of British Association of Golf Course Architects, Association of Golf Writers and English Golf Union
    •    Malcolm Campbell, Golf Writer & Chairman of the Links Association
    •    Hurdzan Fry, Environmental Golf Design

Q&A With Scott Macpherson, Part II

No course has been more deserving of thorough analysis and a loving attention to the details of its evolution than the Old Course, and Scott Macpherson done it with St. Andrews: The Evolution Of The Old Course. He compiles rich anecdotes and lavishly illustrates this handsome tome to help us understand just how much the Old Course has evolved and more importantly, why it retains its brilliance.

In Part II of our Q&A on the eve of the 2010 Open Championship, he talks about specifics of the course and his own design work with Greg Turner.

GS: Tell us what you've seen in terms of the Road Hole's "fairway" width evolution. Did the fairway used to open up more toward the first green so that players could bail out but face a much more difficult approach?

SM: Geoff, as you know, the term 'fairway' is a relatively modern term. But let's not get hung up on that semantic.

An article published around 1900's talked of the course in the 1850's and the course was described then as being "very narrow" with the fairways not any wider than "a good broad street". So traditionally there has not been a lot of width on the course. But as you know, with the greater amount of play, the course widened with all the wear from golfers. The grazing sheep (not taken off the course until 1945) also kept the rough grasses down, and kept the 'fairways' wide.  But how wide did the 17th hole get? I'm not sure anyone knows, but I think it is safe to say that the corridor has changed over time. Only after the railway Station was built in the 1850's and Old Tom built the 1st green in 1870, and the bunkers down the left of the hole formalized, could it possible be said that the playing corridor was set.

It is probably important to say that with the road running along the back edge of the green, the best line into the green – especially if the flag is at the back, is from an angle that allows a golfer to hit down the length of the green. This is obviously from the far right. How far right could you get? Probably not much right of where you can get today due to the railway station. As regards the area around the green, this hole has only been a par 4 since (and including) the 1960 Open Championship. Few players back in the early 20th century would have got past the Scholar's bunker, so this was the more important area for many decades. Now with the hole being a Par 4 there is greater interest in the Road Hole bunker. (There is possibly too much interest in it actually appearance – it most important aspect is it position and the area from which it gathers balls)

 
The 17th in reverse plays as the second hole (From St. Andrews: The Evolution of the Old Course, click image to enlarge)GS: The 17th in the reverse Old Course, which would be the second hole, is depicted in your book and the strategy looks fascinating assuming there's a bit more width. Do you know anyone who has played it?

SM: I have played it many times. A few years ago, the Links Trust started allowing the 'reverse course' to be played in April. I think it was for a week at first. Now they do it every second year for about 2-3 days. The 17th in reverse is a tremendously difficult hole. Particularly the approach shot to the green. The hole becomes a real adventure, and it (and the 12th in reverse) are high-lights of the experience.


GS: You feature a graphic showing just how little square footage is actually pinnable on the Road Hole and Eden greens. Do you know actual square footages of pinnable green space on those holes?

Scott Macpherson's slope percentage analysis of the Old Course's 11th green (From St. Andrews: The Evolution of the Old Course, click to enlarge)SM: When the greens are running over 10.5 on the stimpmeter, I think the for the 17th green, the pinnable area is just over 300m2. For the 11th, it is about half that – say 150m2. i.e not very much!

GS: You detail the issues with boundaries on the course, when did the right of the Home hole become out of bounds? Would you prefer it to have no boundary and to see a few shots off of the doorsteps of Tom Morris's golf shop?

SM: The Out-of-Bounds areas became such on the 17th of July 1911. It was mainly a practical solution I understand. I love the 18th hole because the golfers expect to make 3 on it, and yet this hole can provides scores from 2-6 quite easily. No change needed.


A hazardous bunker, Hole O'Cross, date unknown (Tournament play on the Corner Of The Dyke (Geoff Shackelford Collection, click to enlarge)GS: Which version/era of the Old Course would you most like to play and why?

There have been some monumental periods in the evolution of the course. If one could time travel, of course it would be fascinating to see and play the course when it was 22 holes and then in about 1850 after the March stones had been put in the course was 18 holes and Halkett's bunker still existed on the 18th fairway. But if I was to choose one period I'd love to go back to 1904-05 and meet Old Tom, Horace Hutchinson, John Low, Garden G Smith, Harry Colt, understand the pressures on the Old Course (extra visitors, new haskell ball, new lawn mowers, Open Championship coming) that culminated in the addition of the 200 yards and extra 13 bunkers. This was a dynamic period – and I wonder how different  the pressures where compared to where we were in 2005 with the Pro V1.

GS: They've added tees in some rather bold locations of late, but one thing we learn in your book is that bunkers have come and gone quite regularly until the last fifty or so years. Would you like to see something done besides tees?

SM: I celebrate the men, such as John Low, who have been at the centre of shaping the changes to the course while protecting its spirit. I don't underestimate the difficulty of this at any time, be it in 1900, or 2010, but I wonder if it would be more difficult today, now that millions more know, herald, and worship the Old Course. Having completed the research I see myself as a traditionist not a protectionist, and would like to see the Old Course add some more bunkers – and fill in a few of the obsolete ones – to keep the strategy of the golfing test at it's optimum. e.g. I would like to see the hollow just past the last of the beardies, and in the middle of the 14th fairway, made into a bunker. This would make the longer hitters have to hit the ball down a narrow corridor between the wall and this bunker to get as far down the fairway as possible. The bunker would be in keeping with the Beardies and improve the strategy of the hole.
 

GS: Tell us about Close House and your design work there with Greg Turner.

SM: Not many young architects are getting opportunities to design new courses these days so this project is a huge personal privilege to me. I was approached to design the course in 2004, and it took 5 years before we broke ground in April of 2009. The course is located on an old English mansion property near Newcastle, UK,  complete with 200-year old oak trees, Ha-ha's and ancient monuments. I felt that the course needed a theme in keeping with the history of the property and suggested we build the course in the style of Harry Colt. the owner of the property owns many race horses so he liked the equine connection, and the course is to be called the 'Colt'. No two holes on the course follow in the same direction, the course is very strategic with a second shot being rewarded depending on the excellence of the first. The course is designed to look harder than it plays, with some holes having a small degree of mystery that will reward the regular player of the course. For a comparison, the course has almost 300 feet of elevation difference between the highest and lowest points – much like Pasatiempo – (and this is not a bad comparison on another level as Mackenzie use to work with Colt) but the highest point is on the 11th hole, so it is a all down hill to the Clubhouse from there. I am very excited about this course, and look forward to the opening in May/June 2011.

"This is the difficult thing, when you see that the end is coming."

Oliver Brown files a heartwrenching must read story on his visit with Seve Ballesteros.

It is heartbreaking that it shall not now come to pass. Ballesteros, barely out of his hospital bed, was first attracted to the notion of a St Andrews comeback last July, when he watched Tom Watson revive days of yore at Turnberry. He could scarcely credit that his former nemesis came within one errant eight-footer of winning a sixth Open, aged 59.

"I feel very sorry about that missed putt for Tom. For me, the champion of that Open was Tom. He did everything to win, but golf is an unpredictable game. He was a great inspiration to me. That was when I thought about going to St Andrews. He brought me that desire and determination.

"St Andrews, you see, is unique: the road hole, Hell Bunker, the museum, the hotel, the shops in the town where everybody is selling golf – all of it. I want to spend time with the people there. They want to see me, and I want to see them. It's an appreciation."