A friend of mine and I had coffee just before she went back to her place outside of Tacoma. She was excited about the U.S. Open being close to her home and we argued about the future of golf in the country. She felt if Jordan Speith or another American golfer won it, all of golf would begin a road to recovery; you know, become the next potential Tiger Woods. I don't golf anymore, but I have grown to become fond of the majors. The players are exceptional and the quality of their shots and how far they hit the ball is almost beyond belief. Besides, my mother loved to watch golf with dad and with him gone, we follow it together. Way more exciting than the another season of Survivor or Big Brother. So here's the question to those of you who watched some or all of the U. S. Open: Was it good for golf with Jordan winning or did it become a drag on the game and it's potential growth? There's no question, the majors are always played on great golf courses; many with history and an allure of holes that are memorable and exciting to watch. For me, this course was akin to going up to Bell Rec Center and watching the oldies play the mini-golf course. Every hole looked similar, the fairways and greens were near on impossible to see the ball on camera and the spectators were so far away, I can't imagine paying for a ticket and then having to watch the action through binoculars. And of course there was the whole putting fiasco. Good greens should be a given; these were anything but. No offense to Chamber's Bay and the good folks who put the course together, but if this is the future of golf, the game is dead in the water IMHO.
I enjoyed watching the golf tourney. It was refreshing to see the pro golfers struggle with the conditions. There were many courses we played in the midwest that were converted cow pastures and potato fields which made for interesting rounds. It doesn't seem to me that this tourney would hurt golf play in Sun City but rather inspire golfers to adapt to the course.
I agree that it's fun to watch the pros challenged with tough conditions. It's also nice to see a course vastly different than the norm though I had a hard time following the ball also. Considering Aggie's reference above, I can't help but share my converted pasture golf course. Those are sand greens (browns).
We golfed on a course that had sand greens. After you putted into the hole you had to drag a piece of carpet around the "green" to smooth out the sand for the next group. Fairways had no irrigation system(only Mother Nature) and you'd better get to your ball before the crows picked it up!
