Is USGA unfair with setup of Open courses?

[HDPM]

When I was a kid I did a little caddying at a nice country club. Snotty club, but it had a beautifully maintained course. Wonderful greens, perfect fairways. You couldn't get a bad lie in the fairway and the greens were perfectly true. (They had a lawn bowling green to the standard of the other greens too.) Anyway, I was looping for a total jackass one fine morning who hit a good opening drive. As we were walking down the fairway he noticed a few grass clippings from the freshly mown fairway. So he started bitching about the maintenance saying they should play winter rules under such abominable and oppressive conditions. I couldn't believe it. Not only was there grass, there was perfect grass. He needed a dose of muni golf. What a wad he was.

[BadBoyBenny]

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As mentioned above, the course played the same for all players (with the exception of two groups who missed the watering on one hole).

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I don't buy this for one second. The rough at this course was weak enough that someone could drive their ball 3 yards from someone else and one would have a pretty little fluff lie and the other would have it buried. Also it seemed to me like putts from very close positions would break very differently. I think it was the most inconsistent professional course I have ever seen.

I think the inconsistency did have some influence on who was around at the end, I think Funk got pretty lucky the first 2 days, and shouldn't have been as close as he was. The top 3 guys though, its hard to argue that they didn't play the best golf of anyone and I still think the best man won. His recovery game was the best I've ever seen at any tournament (however, I've only been watching golf for about 5 years)

I don't disagree with your opinion on the equipment, how can anyone compare today's guys to Jack, or a Sam Snead when they're almost playing a different game? I think a better than killing the ball way would just be to shrink the maximum clubhead size and lower the allowed COR a little, it would go a long way in separating the great from the good.

It's always been my opinion that Par should be about the median score for each round of the course, and if someone can take a course that an average US Open qualifier pars and beat the crap out of it... great for them.

[M2d]

JAS,
have you ever played Lincoln in SF or harding park pre remodel? those are the types of greens I was talking about. Where the green is cut so high (or not cut at all) that you'd have a rebound coming off the stimp, resulting in a negative stimp meter reading. where you not only have to read the break, but also the bumps to tell where your ball will hop. mix standard muni type course maintenance with the foggy not quite rain, not quite fog weather of the sunset (what a misnomer) district in SF, and you have a wonderful putting day ahead of you.

I once played Lincoln and there was a temp green on the fourth or fifth hole. I honestly couldn;t tell the difference.