Congressional

For those of you who are relatively new to golf (like me) and therefore not to familiar with the venue for this years U.S. Open, or for those of you who would like to see the changes made to the course since it last held the event in 1997, have a look at this interactive map I found on Golf.com :

http://www.golf.com/golf/generic/0,31317,2071705,00.html

Starting to really look forward to this now, I think the 18th could provide a very entertaining / nail biting finish, but do you approve of the alterations ?
And for those of you who remember the last time the U.S. Open was held here do you think the changes made have improved the layout ? And length of rough and general set up aside, do you think the course will now be easier this time around or even more of a beast ?

I like the look of the course and the changes made since Ernie won there, I think the 16th is going to be pivotal this week, US Open my favourite major, and can't wait to camp in front of my tv for 4 days

An estimated reading of 14.5 on the stimpmeter for the greens? The USGA hasn't lost its sense of humour then?

Grass which goes this way and that so no way for the ball to gather into (undoubtedly) tight pin positions. Spin is going to be king this week.

The USGA are noted for establishing a seemingly daunting lay-out with many options for changing course set-up to account for weather conditions and/or to promote different "looks" for certain rounds.

So don't expect every hole to be stretched to its fullest conceivable length and don't be surprised to see green speeds tweaked if the wind gets up.

Given a healthy growth of rough and perfect weather early this week, the USGA will have every option at their disposal, especially as Thursday promises some rain to soften the place up.

Can't wait and we should at least see off-line drives punished for a change. too many times do we see the likes of Phil be last in fairways hit and almost win. The earlier shoot out between Bubba and Phil (hawai I think) was remarkable for the fact that Phil found it easier to hit from fairway bunkers than the fairways.

Kwini

Can you confirm that Steve Williams is now on the bag of Adam Scott this week. Could this be round 2 of the changing of the old guard, as Woods clears out the wood, after leaving IMG earlier?

Adam Scott himself confirmed Steve Williams is on the bag in a brief intevreview he gave said "Steves won a host of majors over the last 15years so hope I can tap some of that experience and see if we can have some fun"

Looking forward to this week can see another first time major winner coming our way sunday evening

Agree Mav,
So: What price against a first-time winner this week?
Got to be about evens I would think.

kwinigolfer wrote:Agree Mav,
So: What price against a first-time winner this week?
Got to be about evens I would think.

kwini

Highly likely I think. 7 of the OWGR have yet to win a Major.

Anyone else think it a bit pe-cul-iar that the guy who modelled his swing on Tiger Woods has hired yon redneck?

Do you all think it's fair to say that the U.S. Open has what is traditionally thought of as the toughest set up or is that a bit of a myth

Sway check out the winning scores over the last few years

No myth. It is the toughest test. Whether or not it's always a fair test though is open to question.

Doc - point taken

gaelgowfer wrote:No myth. It is the toughest test. Whether or not it's always a fair test though is open to question.

Exactly. Toughest doesn't necessarily mean "best".