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If creativity means that you have to think and then take an iron to play for position vs. safety the architect is playing into the hands of the that Leaguegolf refers to who don't want to see a players taking an iron off the tee.

The real problem is that the average is ignorant of the purpose of the game which is to take the fewest shots not to hit the longest drives - unfortunately, TV being what it is and sensationalism being the key to larger numbers of viewers and hence sponsor exposure - we'll continue to "ooh" and "aah" over the drives of lets say, JB Holmes without asking why he uses such a ham handed putting grip,.

In this way "the greatest tour in the world" unfortunately contributes to the dumbing down of golf - why don't the commentators praise the guys who use irons when that's the intelligent way to play a hole?

Why don't we have more tracks like Whistling Straits, which while very long, also punished the **** out of the wayward shots and allowed a great shotmaker like Justin Leonard to be in there right to the end?

It would strengthen all the tours which, as of now, can't compete because they can't put up the purse money. Would you expect the PGA Tour to put up the money for these events in Australia, South Africa and Britain so that they can bring about their own demise?

Still not a fan of the "World Tour" concept, although the WGCs should be world events. Better scheduling would allow for the best players to be able to make their way to Australia or South Africa twice a year at a convenient time...the decision to play the Match Play so soon after New Years in 2001 was what doomed it IMO, not necessarily that it was in Australia.

Nobody is preventing any player from playing "iron off the tee." You just don't see such players doing very well on the leaderboards.

I'll tell you why......because J.B. Holmes destroyed the field with his power game and left those playing irons off the tees in his dust. Seems to me that he found a much more successful way of taking the fewest shots. Even an "ignorant average fan" can figure that out.

The announcers do praise those that use irons but they only get to praise them on Thursdays and Fridays because intelligent, irons off the tee, players aren't often around on the weekend.

Bad example......Check VJ's driving stats for the week and then tell me who won. The first day at Whistling Straits he was last (or near last) in driving accuracy and first in Greens in Regulation. Oh...and didn't VJ hit driver in the play-off when those intelligent, iron playing, opponents laid-up?

There's more than one way to get the ball in the hole and the bombers are always going to have an advantage when they keep it reasonably close the fairway. Golf isn't about "style points." It's about who gets the ball into the hole in the fewest number of strokes. Give Mr. Leonard VJ's length and he'd have driver in his hand every hole too!

That's why they need to make the rough more difficult. Penalize the bombers for missing the fairway, make them chip it back out, hehe. I don't think we'll ever agree on this though...

Do you think the shorter hitters hit the fairway every time? Make the rough equally penal and the short hitters would have no chance at all. Penalize just the longer hitters and you're not playing golf. Where does it say that you have to be short and accurate to play golf?

You're right, we may never agree.

No, but I think their fairway percentages are a LOT better than the bomber's.

The danger of putting too penal rough just off the fairway is ,like the US Open ,you take the driver out of play. You have to keep the driver in the game , but use your imagination to make driver a risk/reward play.

If you have a low hanging tree on the left, a drive that goes left leaves the player with a tough shot, requiring him to hit a big draw to get it round. That is a penalty play without rough. A three wood /2 iron would leave a longer straighter shot intot he green.

You don't get points for hitting a higher percentage of fairways.

You would if they made it rough-er. hehe :P

Given the strength of today's players, and the equipment they use, courses would have to put 6" rough everywhere to keep the playing field level. Do you really want to see US Open rough all over every course?

Start putting 6" rough out at 270-280 and listen to all the shorter hitters scream!

Lots of good points made here on both sides of both of these arguments.
As far at the WGC goes, until golf becomes the focal point and not sponsorship, most of the matches will still be played in the US. That being said, when the US PGA Tour raises over $1 billion in charitable donations, it's really hard to argue when they petition for the matches here. But as others have stated, that doesn't do much to grow the game elsewhere, or bring it to fans worldwide.
As for courses, I still think the rough needs to be grown in, as well as course design making a stand. I'm not necessarily talking about US Open rough on every course, but more than what they have. I'm not trying to take the driver out of anybody's hands, but I do want them to think about their shot, as well as where they want to hit the next one from. I'm not trying to penalize the shorter hitters either - they are already handicapped by their length. But what you want to do is identify the best players, whether it the big 5 winning more often or if someone gets hot for a week.
As I mentioned before scores haven't really changed much over the years, but that's not just because courses have been lengthened. It's also because golf is hard!!!! With all the new technology available, with golfers being in better physical condition by and large they still aren't going significantly lower on a daily/weekly basis. So while I make the point that courses need to design and cut a bit differently to curb the "hit it long, find it and hit it long again" mentality, even hitting it long isn't regularly getting the job done.
I don't want to penalize long, I want to reward straight, regardless of distance.

Good post!

I believe modern technology has surpassed course design because clubs and balls have rendered shot making courses obsolete. 270 yards straight on a 480+ yard Par 4 means birdie isn't really a frequent option. Drivers are designed for less spin off the tee and golf balls are designed to fly farther with less spin and optimum launch angles. Todays bombers run far less risk of smashing a mishit offline than they did even 10 years ago.

Greg Norman was probably the longest, straightest driver of the golf ball in history, until the new equipment made mishits less penal. Today's bombers that have grown up playing this new equipment don't know, or fear, mishits. Course designers thought narrower fairways and bunker's at 300 yards would slow down the bombers. Now they just fly it over those bunkers at 300 yards.

I don't have the answer to this problem but I do know that distance is here to stay......and it's only going to get worse.

Yesterday they showed this year,s long drivers - only 1 in the top 5 has won a tournament this year - so I guess they're just toying with the field.