The US Open will include graduated rough. Is that Risk/Reward? I consider the choice of playing down the middle to a shorter distance or flighting the ball over trees to cut off a Dogleg, but risking a trap or grass bunker to be risk/reward.
So, are the "Powers that Be" trying to re-define risk/reward? If you miss by a little get a slap on the wrist, but if you really screw up, you'll get nailed to a cross?
Should the focus be on "Reward vs. likely Risks" as a "Players Choice" or extra punishment for unintentional errors?
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5. Graduated Rough = Risk/Reward
For years, the U.S. Open has been known for its impossibly high and difficult rough. This year the USGA designed the rough at Bethpage Black to “fit the penalty with the crime” but utilizing the concept of a graduated rough.
This tactic is not new to the U.S. Open, but it’s definitely a welcome change to Bethpage Black. The rough will range from 1¾ to 6 inches deep and its three cuts will penalize a player the farther offline his ball goes.
The USGA is trying to allow for slight forgiveness off the tee. With the shortest cut closest to the fairway, a ball that gets an unlucky kick or just happens to roll into that first cut still can attempt a desirable shot. On the other hand, the third cut that ranges from 4 to 6 inches in height will severely penalize errant shots.
"We want to introduce more risk/reward, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be an easier test of golf,” said Mike Davis, the USGA’s Senior Director of Rules and Competitions. “We want to give the players a choice. Do you want to play conservative, or do you want to be more aggressive? And if you go to the latter and you pull it off, we want you to be rewarded with a birdie, perhaps even an eagle. But if you do try it, and you don’t pull it off, we want to see you penalized.”
dont cut the rough for 2 weeks wall to wall and bake the greens...20 yard fairways.....thats a TRUE US open........anything less is just another tourny.......might as well be TPC Deere Run(no disrespect to TPC)...but I am kinda old school
Hard greens and narrow fairways I like. 500+ par 4's I think are a little over the top for me. I can see it now Brian Gay Driver, Driver, chip, and a putt. If more than a couple of players, (PGA players), not just qualifiers cannot reach some of these par 4's in two shots they should rethink those holes.
Hard greens and narrow fairways I like. 500+ par 4's I think are a little over the top for me. I can see it now Brian Gay Driver, Driver, chip, and a putt. If more than a couple of players, (PGA players), not just qualifiers cannot reach some of these par 4's in two shots they should rethink those holes.
(nodding head in agreement) But, it seems to be set up as a "skills test" more than winning by managing risk/reward and playing great. Though, I admit that these guys are so great that a punishing golf course set-up may be the only alternative.
When I think about Links style courses with the Scrub Rough including bushes, bunkers, OB markers, Wind, rain and cold, Risk/reward decisions are that much more important to winning. And if it were Match Play (which also lends identical moment by moment conditions), then a fascinating competition could develop. In the real world, like "Match Play" one bad hole doesn't take you out of the running.
So, I guess then, one way or another, the US Open is a game of "Survival of the Fittest".
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