It wouldn't be a U.S. Open without just a little — and in some years, a lot — of grousing about the conditions and the set-up of the golf course. And right on cue this morning, those worries began to surface about Congressional CC's Blue Course and, more specifically, about the conditions of the 2-year-old Penn A-1/A-4 bentgrass putting surfaces.
There was this report in today's Washington Post, which quoted Stan Zontek of the USGA Green Section saying, "To be honest, we're behind." There was this post from the blog of John Huggan with Golf Digest which said Congressional's greens are "already showing signs of wear and tear." There was this post from golf blogger Stephanie Wei which focused on some trouble spots on the front of the 17th green. And the greens were a definite topic of conversation during the just-concluded USGA news conference (more on that to come).
So, what's the story? Are the greens at Congressional really in trouble? If the answer to this question was a simple one, a basic "yes" or "no", then the answer would be an unequivicable "no, they are not in trouble." But unfortunately, this question isn't all that simple.
First, there are most definitely areas around some of the greens that are showing signs of stress, almost all of them related to the heat wave that suffocated the Mid-Atlantic states the previous two weeks. The photos in Wei's post of the 17th green certainly illustrate this. We actually addressed this in a blog post last week about how the Blue Course was handling the early blast of heat and humidity. Heading into this week, those areas were getting some special care in the form of liquid fertilizer treatments and extra waterings in an attempt to spur some quick regrowth, but there is no arguing there are thin, worn spots surrounding some of these greens.
That being said, though, these stressed areas aren't really on the greens, at least to my eye. More accurately these are collars and approaches around the putting surfaces, maintained at different heights of cut than the green itself. Again, the photos in Wei's post show the problems on 17 are almost entirely on the approach to that green and not actually on it. If there are areas on the greens themselves that are stressed to this extent and that will impact the playability of the course, then I haven't seen them.
So why in the Washington Post story referenced above is Zontek, the head of the Mid-Atlantic region for the Green Section who is running lead on their efforts at Congressional this week, addressing the greens with the media if there isn't a problem, you ask? Well, again, it's all a matter of interpretation. I interpret Stan's comments as a reference more to not being able to achieve pre-tournament goals on green speeds (they were shooting for 14 to 14 1/2) and rough heights (they were targeting anywhere from 3 3/4 to 5 inches tall, depending on where in the rough you measured) because of the effects of the recent heat wave rather than any kind of warning about the impending collapse and decline of these greens.
In fact, I can tell you that when it comes to the health and the performance of these new greens on the Blue Course, the full-time maintenance staff couldn't be happier. Every other measurement being used to monitor the vitality of these greens aside from green speed — moisture content, firmness, root growth — are coming in exactly where they hoped they would be. If anyone on the maintenance team was actually sleeping this week, they'd be sleeping easy.
When I showed both director of golf and grounds maintenance Mike Giuffre and the second assistant on the Blue Course James Hayes the media reports linked above earlier today, both men read with interest but then basically shrugged their shoulders. "That doesn't bother me too much," Hayes told me. Giuffre had a very similar response: "I'm not worried. Sure, we have some areas that we wish were a little greener, but not much we can do about that because of the weather we had leading into this week. The greens are doing great."
And for those worried about uber-slow greens this week at the U.S. Open, one parting note for you — last night, I watched as crews conducted a little experiment on one green in particular. After the green was Stimped and then single cut, it was rolled with a Smithco roller that previously was only being used on approaches and is heavier than the rollers normally used for the greens. After the roll, the green was measured again. In less than 10 minutes, they were able to coax another foot in green speed out of that putting surface.
So, yeah, the greens should be plenty quick when championship play actually begins tomorrow.
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