Be Careful What You Wish For Files: What Would A Winged Foot Massacre 2 Prove?

USGA

The appeal of hack-out, last-man-standing golf has always been a mystery.

The joy of seeing tour pros brought down to a lower level is deeply narcissistic. To want to watch skills reduced or nullified, to make you feel better about your lousy game is both selfish and terribly simplistic.

But it’s been a while since we’ve heard of a setup so anticipated for the carnage it will inflict. Winged Foot this year sounds legitimately cruel, with spot-fertilized rough, tight fairways, old-style rough, restored hole locations and no fans to mash down the tall stuff.

Players made very clear in pre-tournament assessments that they expect this to be a war of attrition.

The last car not to crash into turn three may prevail Sunday. That last car will have done a lot right to win, but will it be a real display of skill or just a better effort to survive than other contenders?

After some ugly early century attempts to combine old school USGA setups with modern green speeds, they got away from the attrition approach. Things changed at Winged Foot in 2006 when Mike Davis introduced staggered rough cuts and flexible tee placements, including on the par-4 6th. It all went quite well until some setup hiccups in recent years led to the USGA pulling back on some of those advances in course setup.

Many others saw the U.S. Open lose its identity. They were not totally wrong. But some of that identity loss was brought on by equipment advances which can only be offset by so much harvesting of fertilized rough.

Now, John Bodenhamer and Jeff Hall try to balance the best components of the old approaches while appeasing those wanting to see an old school U.S. Open. Not a fun task. Particularly when you factor in the headstrong Winged Foot membership that always seem a tad too bogey blood-thirsty.

The USGA’s setup team will earn their money balancing these desires while also trying to get the tournament in on time. Perhaps the specter of long rounds in early fall days will help justify a sensible setup Thursday and Friday. Because the U.S. Open pressure, Winged Foot’s many elements and a host of top players in fine form should produce a memorable week as long as things stay sane. But push it too far and there could be another massacre. A worthy winner could still emerge, but history tells us as chance enters into the equation, the winners become more surprising.

Golf Digest has been slammed over the last week for publishing a list of “underwhelming” U.S. Open winners. It was a poor choice of words and some of the selections were even worse. But I understood their point: some U.S. Open winners are more convincing than others. That doesn’t mean they are bad people or even unworthy.

But knowing what we know now about the role of setup and architecture, a place like Winged Foot does not need silliness to produce a well-earned, U.S. Open-style victory.

So for those hoping to see carnage at the expense of skill: be careful what you wish for.