Ogilvy on Course Setup and Architecture

[Moe Norman]

I'm putting this in here, so people who think it's 'wankery' don't have to read it, but here is an interview with Ogilvy and his thoughts on the problems in golf course design and/or setup these days. Some may find it interesting.



The first thing that needs to be said amidst all the inevitable fuss and
bother that surrounds the brace of high-profile explosions that were Phil
Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie in the 106th US Open at Winged Foot, is that
this was an important victory for golf. Quite apart from being one of the
most accomplished and stylish players on the planet, the new champion, Geoff
Ogilvy, has the potential to be just the sort of wise, high-profile
spokesman the professional game needs if it is to rescue itself from the
technological black hole into which it is currently headed.
Blessed with the sort of curious mind top level golf seems to be almost
bereft of these days, Ogilvy took the time last winter, along with former
European Tour players Bob Shearer and Mike Clayton, to play Royal Melbourne
with ten-year old balls and wooden headed clubs.
"It was a whole new level of fun," he says, smiling at the memory. "You had
to hit it well for the ball to go anywhere. The difference between a good
hit and a bad one with a driver was about 40 yards. With a modern driver you
can hit the ball anywhere on the face really. The difference is only about
five yards. Only afterwards, when I had thought about it more, did I get
depressed by all of that."
Indeed, the direction in which the modern game in general is headed has long
been a concern for Ogilvy. Despite the flashy Puma gear he is contracted to
wear on the course, underneath the logos beats the heart of an unabashed
traditionalist. When he arrived at Augusta National earlier this year for
his Masters debut, for example, he was appalled at what he found.
"I've read a few of Bobby Jones' books," he points out. "I don't think he'd
be that flustered by the addition of length at Augusta. I think he'd have
done the same, given the neglect of equipment by the USGA and the R&A. But
there is no way he'd have grown rough. He'd have kept it 100 yards from
trees to trees. And every blade of grass on the course would have been cut
short.
"I mean, with the greens they have there, you don't need rough. They are
always going to be firm. Which is what Jones wanted. His philosophy was,
?okay, you have 100 yards to hit into, you tell me where you want to go.'
Move the pin ten feet and the other side of the fairway becomes the place to
be. That's the aspect that has been lost. And if Augusta misses the point,
what hope has golf got?"
Then there is last year's Open Championship at St. Andrews.
"My mind keeps going back to the Road Hole," he says. "It's the most
fearsome hole in golf and yet they had to grow all that silly rough up the
right hand side. If they hadn't we would have been hitting chip shots to the
green. Symbolically, they could not allow that. So they had to do it. That
golf hole is the reason the golf ball needs to be changed. It's no fun with
the modern ball. I was hitting a 4-iron off the tee at the Road Hole! Are
you kidding me?"

TBC

[Moe Norman]

Oh yes, and Pinehurst No. 2 for last year's US Open?
"All of the bunkers were in the rough. In fact, not one of them was within
ten yards of the fairway. And all the best angles were taken away by the
USGA growing long grass in the spots where the best drives should have been
allowed to finish. It was a mess."
In the midst of such specifics, Ogilvy has also taken time to analyse the
bigger picture.
"Two important aspects of golf have gone in completely the wrong direction,"
he maintains. "Most things are fine. Greens are generally better, for
example. But the whole point of golf has been lost. Ben Hogan said it best.
His thing was that you don't measure a good drive by how far it goes; you
analyse its quality by its position relative to the next target. That
doesn't exist in golf any more.
"The biggest problem today is tournament organisers trying to create a
winning score. When did low scores become bad? At what point did the quality
of your course become dependent on its difficulty? That was when golf lost
the plot. The winning score should be dictated by the weather.
"The other thing is course set up. Especially in America there is too much
rough and greens are way too soft. Then, when low scores become commonplace,
they think how to make courses harder. So they grow even more long grass.
"But that misses the point. There is no real defence against a soft green.
Today's players with today's wedges can stop the ball from anywhere. The
angle of attack and the shape of the shot mean nothing. It doesn't matter
where you hit it as long as it is between the out of bounds stakes or
between the trees. And so the game becomes a one-dimensional test of
execution, time after time after time."
Reading those words in the wake of his victory in the game's most
one-dimensional event at a Winged Foot almost covered in long grass and
dogged by poor putting surfaces, the irony will not be lost on Ogilvy. Like
last year's US Open winner, Michael Campbell, he is a devoted fan of the
more multi-layered questions asked by links golf. Fifth in the Open
Championship at St. Andrews last year, he had - Road Hole apart - the time
of his life playing the game's ultimate strategic test.
"St. Andrews is the best course in the world because of the shots it makes
you play," he insists. "In our increasingly black and white game, the Old
Course is a million shades of grey. Stand on a tee there and you have
choices to make about where to hit your drive. That's a huge contrast with
any course covered in rough, where any decision has already been made for
you. It's ?hit it here you're good, hit it there you're f_ _ _ _ d.' Which
is stupid.
"Look at the last hole. It is a masterpiece, all because of one little
hollow in front of the green. You have a 150-yard wide fairway and you don't
know where to hit it. One day you might want to get some spin on the
approach, so you lay back a bit. Then the next day you might want to go way
left, so that you can access a pin cut way to the right. On another day you
might want to hit past the pin and on others that may not work - all on a
dead flat hole with no rough and one little hollow. But, because the green
is firm, it is one of the best holes in the world. Plus, everyone gets to
hit the fairway. And everyone finds his ball.
"If the first game of golf was played on some of the courses we play today,
it wouldn't be a sport. It would never have been invented. People would play
one round and ask themselves why they would ever play a second. It would be
no fun."
The contrast between that obvious enthusiasm and his polite but obviously
bored assessment of Winged Foot halfway through the championship he would
eventually win is more than marked.
"It's a different mindset you've got to set yourself," he admitted, after
adding a second round 70 to his opening 71. "If you get yourself in the
right mindset, anyone can do it out here when it's tough. You've just got to
adjust where your brain is. You've just got to be able to read what is a
good score and not a good score. This week you can be as much as four over
par after nine holes and not be in bad shape. That's a big adjustment from
the courses and events we normally play."
Still, he has obviously learned how to cope, as his performance down that
stressful Sunday afternoon stretch revealed. Just don't run away with the
idea that he was having an enjoyable time doing it.
"Look, I don't care, if people want to see us hacking out of long grass all
the time, it's fine with me," he sighs. "I can go and get my fun somewhere
else at another time. But the trouble is that everyone in golf follows us,
the professionals. So it gets harder to find fun places to play. All of a
sudden my dad is out there chopping around in six inch rough, losing his
ball every time he misses the fairway and having no fun. Which makes no
sense. We play a game that 99.9% of golfers have no hope of duplicating."
Finally, just in case you imagine that, in the midst of such articulate
outrage, Ogilvy has been neglecting his own game, think again. This is a
young man with some very definite goals in life.

[Moe Norman]

"Winning the match play certainly raised my profile, especially in America,"
he said before Winged Foot. "As far as my career goes, that win put me back
on schedule. I set myself fairly steep targets because I have enough
confidence in my own ability to think that I am a decent player. I want to
win majors. And I want to get to the stage where my year is built around
those four events and I can play in the best tournaments around them.
"Last year I played well at St. Andrews, nicely at Pinehurst and well at
Baltusrol (where he was sixth in the PGA behind Phil Mickelson). And every
single year I feel like I have improved as a player. So as long as that
continues, I'm happy. I'd like to think I could win an Open. But playing 20
events every year in the US only makes me better at that 60-degree flop out
of the rough! As ugly as it is, you get good at it."
In the wake of Winged Foot, prophetic words indeed. Keep listening everyone.


This guy really knows what he's on about - there's hope yet!

[peter_rs]

Its worth the read... and true good find Moe

[3oneday]

larger would be really cool, I got the first two lines and had to quit, almost as bad as that flashing queerpoofter thing ....

[markTHEblake]

try Alt + V + X + G

We play a game that 99.9% of golfers have no hope of duplicating

Exactly - 99.9% of us will never play golf courses like that, we play golf courses as they were intended to be played and the golf equipment makes it just a little bit easier and more fun.

God help me if I still used my first set of clubs and Golden Bear B51's. I probably would have given up by now.

[Moe Norman]

hopefully an admin will edit for me as the reply box is too confusing for this dumb marketing man.

[AndyP]

That's what the "Go Advanced" button is for, or the remove text formatting button.

It's a good read. Sounds like he has a clue.

[BrisVegas]

good stuff Thommo. Nice to see he values the right things.

[Moe Norman]

hey!

I thought you didn't care and would be staying out of this forum from now on?!

[BrisVegas]

hey!

I thought you didn't care and would be staying out of this forum from now on?!

nice generalisation mate. I just lose interest when the proponents lose the plot in here....

[brad]

Go G.O.

Sounds like he is not only looking after himself, but all the more average golfers out there (here).

Golf = Fun.

I'm impressed that he had a game with old equipment. I would love to know what he shot. ...

[Jarro]

nice read Moe, thanks for that.

The more i find out about this Ogilvy fella the more i like him

[Moe Norman]

nice generalisation mate. I just lose interest when the proponents lose the plot in here....

did I use the wrong emoticon?

but ignoring the fact that I was joking, define "losing the plot"

[terryand]

Leave the poor bugger alone Moe, he has too many thoughts going through his mind about irons and shafts

Terry.

[jimandr]

It sounds like Ogilvy might fancy his chances at designing courses some day.

If he does, it sounds like his philosophy is in the right place.

It will be very interesting to monitor his press conferences from now on. As a Winner of a Major, people will ask deep questions, and might get some better answers than they are used to.

Well done to Moe for picking this up.

[BrisVegas]

did I use the wrong emoticon?

but ignoring the fact that I was joking, define "losing the plot"

I forgot to use an emoticon, fullstop... Sorry, here 'tis

you know exactly what i mean by "losing the plot" ya big stirrer.

[Moe Norman]

"losing the plot" = "educating the unwashed masses" ?

lol!

[BrisVegas]

thankyou for confirming what i had assumed.....

[Moe Norman]

that I have a sense of humour and you don't?

[dc68]

Further to the having a round with Wooden woods and old school blades and a balata nuggett, wouldn't you love to see the top guys play a tourney with this equipment?

[brad]

Definitely. Even better would be a tournament where they have a 5 club rule ? Maybe even make it a skins match