Golfed the US Open course yesterday

[Clarkmeister]

Olympia Fields. Less than a 2 miles from my old High School. Got a few friends who are members and gladly accepted their invite to play on Saturday.

We played from the tips. With the exception of 2 of the par 3's, the tips were all the way back where the pros will be in a few weeks. I normally shoot about 95-100 (from whites at normal courses) and shot a 115 from the blacks. No fluffing lies, no gimmes. We played it straight up. Lost a ball in the rough that was so thick we couldn't see it despite the fact that both my caddie and myself had a good bead on where the ball landed. Had 2 pars, very exciting.

This course is going to be nasty. They are flipping the order of the holes to allow for crowd management. The rough is sitting at about 3.5 inches right now and we saw some "test rough" areas where they are getting it at actual tourney length of 4.5-5". I simply can't imagine. I took a full and hard swing with a sand wedge on one rough shot from about 30 yards and came up short!

In the clubhouse, word was that the greens were stimping at 10.5 that day, and the goal was for 12-13 for the tournament week. The greens were immaculate. Once I figured out their speed, I actually putted fairly well. The bunkers were also impeccable. Could be some interesting shots though because many of the bunkers are STEEP, and its conceivable to see some Road Hole type of sideways shots, depending on the lie and the pin placements.

I didn't fare very well on the par 3 8th (17th for the tourney) which was playing at 249. Ugh. It was super cool playing with all the grandstands erected and imagining the crowds. The fact that it was a perfect day outside was the icing.

Just thought I'd share. Can't wait for the actual event. And when you're watching remember that Clarky shot par on 4 and 15. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

[HDPM]

Very cool to play a course right before or after a major. That is great. I've never had the chance. Well, I did but they didn't tell us, so I missed out. Don't feel bad about the score. 20 shots worse than your normal is a good one and if you normally shoot 95 you have no business playing a US Open course from the tips anyway. But of course you should play it from the tips if you get the chance, as you were smart to do. The time I might have been able to play a course like that I was shooting in the mid-70's on easy courses pretty consistently. (That makes my few rounds this year seem all the worse, LOL) I don't think I could have broken 90 on the major test. I would have been happy with anything lower than about 94, certainly if the greens were still dying as they appeared to be on the Sunday of the event. With some water on them maybe an 89 would have been slightly possible. It's amazing how easy you can lose your ball in that kind of rough isn't it? That's why they have forecaddies and crowds at majors eh? I don't think I'd like that 8th hole. Sounds like driver and a sand wedge from a bad lie to me. The 250 yarder at our local muni is a par 4 and I've only eagled it once. I usually can't find the green. Driver sand wedge, but you get a look at birdie at least.:D

[andyfox]

I got to play Pebble Beach in 1982 a few weeks after Tom Watson's remarkable chip-in on 17 to beat Nicklaus. The rough had been cut down a bit by the time we played. The group behind us had fallen a few holes back, so after we holed out, we all put our ball about the spot Watson had been in. Nobody got the ball within ten feet (I shot 90 and was the worst golfer in the group), but I think Watson's shot would have gone about that far past too had it missed the hole.