US Open is a tricked up dog and pony show so the USGA can try and humiliate players and chest thump. Its the Worst of the 4 majors. Chambers Bay was a disaster.
There is no "ultimate challenge" in forcing the field to hit irons of tees, Putt greens on which balls don't stop and where luck is as important, if not moreso to skill.
Traditions ? Its called evolution.
Choosing the proper club and making the proper shot is golf. Chambers Bay was picked for it’s regional location, not it’s playability. Marion is a shorter course and it provided a great test. Design creates the challenge, not length.
You choose the proper club ( hopefully) for the shot in every tournament. Its not unique to the US Open. If you want to talk about chalkenging every shot , every ball flight , playing the ball in the air and on the ground the true Open Championship is in every way and infinitely a better test of a golf. British Open is undenibly the ultimate test of a golfer.
Not sure why you are bringing length into the discussion? US opens are often the longest course set ups of all the majors.
Back on topic. The 18 hole playoff was stupid. It cost them money, the course lost a day, everybody had to stick around an extra day. This often impacted the next week's tournament .Tv viewership was next to zero and it was unexciting. There was no reason to keep it.
I think the USGA has gotten away from what made their major championship great. It's all about countering distance now, and not by narrowing fairways and pinching doglegs and growing rough, but making holes dramatically longer to counter the longest hitters.
It has significantly reduced the art of shotmaking.
Outside of Bubba Watson, I don't know of a long-hitting player today who has the remote ability to carve the ball on-command like he can. Unfortunately for Bubba - putting is also part of the equation and hasn't exactly been his strongest suit.
The test required years ago in this major has changed dramatically during the bomb-and-gouge era. It's not the same tournament anymore.
That’s what I was referring to. Buying the gas station on the corner and using it to put in a new tee is not the answer. My other favorite tournament is the British Open. The British depend on the elements to create the challenge. Played around Father’s Day the US Open can’t count on weather to help. They took the teeth out of Pinehurst when they got rid of the rough. Now they’re picking links style layouts bot without the weather conditions it becomes bomb and gouge golf. Trees, water, high rough, doglegs, deep traps, you got yourself an open.
They had the right ball, wound balata. The manufacturers wanted to make cheaper balls and sell them for high dollar.
I’m sure metal baseball bats are more economical to make and use than wood and hit the ball farther but thank God MLB didn’t allow it to change their game.
That would likely be based on safety and logistics . Aluminum bats create higher exit ball speeds which would be dangerous , especially for pitchers.
The ball travels further off An aluminum bat which would change the game.
From a fan enjoyment perspective, maybe it would add excitement , more gappers, more home runs , who knows?
All it might take is 1 splintered bat impaling and killing an MLB player for aluminum bats to be a discussion point in MLB. They would need to change the ball though......sound familiar ?
Weirfan
There’s already been a player impaled with a splintered bat (Steve Yeager), but he wasn’t killed.
That was in the 70’s when this was considered an accident and not a reason to ban wooden bats. Also the decade when Rick Monday was hailed as being a hero for stopping the burning of the American flag during a game. Today he’d probably be vilified for impeding on someone’s ‘rights’.
They don’t play overtime in any other sport the next day. The rules before sucked, good riddance.
