Roughing It Fathers Day Weekend?

Fathers Day weekend is almost here, and that means its time for both the Links Parent & Child Tournament and the US Open. The US Open is one of my favorite events of the year. We can watch some of the world's best players battling par, and each other, under very difficult course conditions. The second major of the year is run by the USGA, not the PGA Tour, under the guiding premise that a winning score for America's open championship should always be close to par. Consequently, host courses are set up to be even more challenging than usual with deep rough, narrow fairways and challenging pin placements.

The USGA Rules and Competitions Committee has strict guidelines for host clubs about how the Open should be set up. It encourages local clubs to emulate these standards for their own open or club championships. The guidelines cover everything from parking arrangements to the positioning of ball washers and water coolers around the course. They speak to how the course should be set up, what equipment is to be used, and even include contingency plans should there be an accident or inclement weather.

Some of the more interesting guidelines deal with the physical set up of the course. Fairways are to be no more than 25 to 35 yards in width and are to be cut at an angle against the direction of play. Sand traps are to have a minimum depth of 4 - 6 inches and have their facing lips newly cut so as to prevent balls from plugging in them. Teeing areas must be level, with markers set exactly six feet apart. Flag sticks are to be at least 6 feet in height and are to be clearly marked with flags of a uniform bright contrasting color for visibility Finally greens must have sufficient area so that a cup can be placed in a level area where a ball struck with force at distance may come to a stop within six feet of the hole.

Perhaps the most famous aspect of a US Open is the attention paid to the rough. The guidelines state that rough needs to be "of a a sufficient height to pose a significant problem." The USGA places a premium on shot making accuracy rather than distance, and feels that a shot into the rough should cost a player potentially at least half a stroke every time a fairway is missed. In order to get the proper height and thickness the USGA even recommends the specific type of mowers to be used (rotary rather than reel) and suggests that all cart traffic be kept out of the rough for a week before the first round of play. The US Open is an equal opportunity major moving around the United States to a different club each year.

At Links the grounds crew frequently hear about the deep rough on the mounds found throughout the course. We are frequently asked why it can't be cut lower or just cut down period. Next time you find yourself deep in the cabbage, or rolling through a fairway, don't get mad. Instead feel honoured that the grounds crew here think highly enough of patrons to set you up with US Open-like conditions! Better yet, adopt the USGA philosophy that accuracy trumps distance. Club down a bit to something you can control, keep it on the short grass and watch the strokes come off your score. The Parent - Child tourney this weekend might be the perfect time to exercise a little more control and a little less scrambling. Unlike the US Open though - we don't have a cut! You'll get to finish what you start and hopefully have a little fun along the way!