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Sitting here watching Rory McIlroy go to 16 under after four holes in the final round of the U.S. Open, listening to the announcers tell me that he won't have more than a wedge into any of Congressional Country Club's par fours on the front nine, makes absolutely no sense. A wedge?

You can blame the weather or you can blame superior equipment technology, but frankly, the U.S. Open should not resemble a weekly PGA Tour event. This is the national championship of golf. The USGA—golf's governing body—insists that this should be the toughest event played every year, yet McIlroy cruised to victory. I even heard someone refer to it as a "rout."

Where were the 4-irons? The 5-irons? I would have taken a utility club. Anything other than a wedge.

True, firm, and fast course conditions are to be expected at The Open Championship and nowhere should this be more evident than at The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, this week.

By definition, links is "sandy, level to undulating land built up along a coastline, usually bordering an ocean or lake." Sounds like St. Andrews to me. Remember the running-on-the-beach scene at the opening of "Chariots of Fire?" That was shot in St. Andrews, on the sands abutting the Old Course. You can get a similar feeling in the U.S. at a few notable courses such as Shinnecock Hills, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, and The National Golf Links, probably our best examples of links-style courses.

Over the last few weeks, the commentators covering the tennis matches at Wimbledon have noted that there had been no substantial rain in Great Britain for six months, a concern echoed by Gordon Moir, Director of Green Keeping for the Links Trust, which oversees the courses at St. Andrews. The forecast for the Open is more what we think of for British golf-cool, wind, and rain. But if things remain atypically dry, what can the players expect? Just like the runners in "Chariots," it will be like playing on a beach-undulations and dry sand. Very different conditions from what they face nearly ever other week of their season.

After watching a week's worth of U.S. Open coverage, all I can say is that if the time spent analyzing hole locations had been given over to the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico would be spotless by now.

It boggles my mind how much fuss can be made over placing a 4-1/4-inch hole in the ground 8 to 10 inches deep. And how many people are needed to do so.

From my days as an assistant superintendent through 23 years helping position holes for major golf events, I thought I'd seen every possible method of picking locations. Once upon a time, the legendary PJ Boatwright of the USGA would throw his pocketknife in the air, watch it stick in the green, and ask me, "How does that look?" The galleries were almost as stunned as I was.

 

The U.S. Open is on next week, which means the eyes of the golf world will be looking closely at Pebble Beach and the USGA's new mantra, "Brown is the New Green."

It is certainly true that golf courses can be wiser in their water use. Many people think courses waste water and should be more tightly regulated. In fact, most golf facilities in this country are pretty good stewards of land and water. "Water is the new oil" so those of us who care for courses must be judicious in our water use and actions.