Opinion & Analysis

Valhalla’s setup reveals PGA Championship identity challenges

Published

12 years ago

Aug 11, 2014

Tim Gavrich

People complain every year that the PGA Championship is the only major championship that lacks a distinct identity.

The Masters is all about tradition and Augusta National Golf Club, particularly its PhD-prerequisite putting surfaces and Rae’s Creek.
The U.S. Open is where birdies go to die.
The Open Championship is a once-a-year throwback to the game’s seaside links origins.
The PGA Championship is…the PGA. That’s all, isn’t it?

Sometimes the PGA is held on classic courses–courses that have held U.S. Opens in other years. Sometimes the venue is decidedly modern. Sometimes par is a very good score each tournament day. Sometimes players need to make 20 birdies over four rounds in order to have a chance to win. Sometimes the winner is one of the greats of the game (hi, Rory McIlroy). Sometimes the winner is a one-week wonder (hi, Shaun Micheel).

On Sunday, the PGA of America seemed to be nudging the PGA Championship towards a distinct identity that would finally make it unique in the major championship calendar: that of a rowdy, messy, stadium-style free-for-all shootout. At one point, there were five players tied for the lead, and a half dozen more who seemed to have a chance, before a quartet of the game’s best players started to duke it out exclusively.

But a nudge is far from a definitive statement, sadly, and the golf world will have to wait another year to see if the PGA of America is really, truly serious about giving the PGA Championship an identity beyond the constant promotion of the event’s new slogan: “This Is Major.”

Yes, it is absolutely true that this year’s PGA supplied about as much drama as one can hope for from any major championship–thank you Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson.

But as nit-picky as this sounds, it could have been even better. If only the PGA would fully embrace what will hopefully become its flagship championship’s modus operandi.

They embraced it for the first baker’s dozen holes at Valhalla, which danced beautifully back and forth between birdie holes and tough pars, marred only by the truly dreadful par-4 sixth hole, where players are forced to lay up and leave themselves 200-plus yards to the green.

You know this to be true because from 4 p.m. until about 7 p.m., there seemed to be a big roar every 30 seconds. Mickelson made a long putt, Fowler holed a chip shot, Stenson flushed an iron to within a couple feet of the hole, McIlroy thinned a fairway wood to eagle range, etc. It was intoxicating, and the course’s stadium-style mounding and intimate routing gave a day, which was nearly a washout, the feel of a Ryder Cup or even a Super Bowl.

But from the 14th tee on, all of a sudden, a U.S. Open broke out. For no good reason.

This stretch of holes–the 217-yard par-3 No. 14 and par fours No. 15, 16 and 17 at 435, 508 and 472 yards, respectively–was to be the point at which Valhalla got serious as a golf course. And, boy, did it ever. Those four holes played as the fourth-, fifth-, second- and sixth-toughest on the course for the week, giving up a combined 21 birdies on Sunday. The par-five-in-name-only 18th, by comparison, gave up 47 birdies and two eagles in the final round alone.

And hey, the PGA wanted to test the pros down the stretch, and they succeeded. But they also succeeded in sucking the air out of what could have been a Sunday circus for the ages. But four excessively inaccessible–even in pudding-soft conditions–hole locations and long yardages put an end to that nonsense. Mickelson, Stenson and Fowler each played those holes in one-over par, enabling McIlroy to surge to victory by playing them in one-under. That birdie, by the way, came from an iron out of the penultimate hole’s fairway bunker, from a lie the CBS crew admitted was easier than one in the soupy fairway. Jack Nicklaus’ golf courses are generally wonderful, but if it is ever the case that a fairway bunker shot can be easier than one from the fairway, it is a major flaw in the design of the golf hole.

All the PGA had to do to avoid this abrupt end to the fun of the first two-thirds of Sunday would have been to move the tee up on either the 15th or the crowd-sourced No. 16 hole (nice going, fellow golf fans; you only allowed four birdies!). This would have instead maintained the easy-tough-easy rhythm that makes certain championship venues an absolute joy to watch every year (hi, Augusta National’s back nine). And, by the way, it probably would have sped up the pace of play such that the final two groups would not have needed to play the 72nd hole together in order to finish before dark.

At the risk of appearing to bash the PGA’s running of the course based on half of the course on one of the days, it must be said that they deserve endless kudos for getting the course playable swiftly after Sunday’s rain delay. And with three compelling PGAs and one exhilarating Ryder Cup now in its history, Valhalla is without a doubt a course that should host competitive golf at the highest level as often as is deemed appropriate.

Does that mean it’s perfect? No. Does that mean we should have seen the day’s fireworks continue through the evening, rather than fizzle out? Absolutely.

Here’s hoping the PGA of America goes all-in on letting its championship be known as the birdie-fest of the major championship schedule. If they do, expect finishes like 2014 to become the norm, rather than an awesome outlier.

Such a development would be enough to make the golf world cry out, “Hey, this really is major!”

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Tim Gavrich

Tim grew up outside of Hartford, Conn., playing most of his formative golf at Hop Meadow Country Club in the town of Simsbury. He played golf for four years at Washington & Lee University (Division-III) and now lives in Pawleys Island, S.C., and works in nearby Myrtle Beach in advertising. He's not too bad on Bermuda greens, for a Yankee. A lifelong golf addict, he cares about all facets of the game of golf, from equipment to course architecture to PGA Tour news to his own streaky short game.

16 Comments

Bobby S

Aug 13, 2014 at 4:23 pm

It was a great show to watch! However, IMHO the RAIN made the PGA a “point and shoot” birdie fest. Maybe the PGA they will see what the weather caused and emulate TBD… The Players is as much a major as the PGA IMO.

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Brian

Aug 11, 2014 at 10:52 pm

I think the PGA is what it is – a championship for the touring pro that intends to emphasize shot-making and high skill levels in the participants. The teaching pros who get in have no shot, but as PGA members are offered the chance to qualify – ok – I can live with that. But as others have stated better than I, the venues are, in my opinion, average at best. I’ve not been to Whistling Straights but at least that’s a course with a little zest to it, again, in my opinion.

The PGA should go down this path – select a rota of 5-7 courses that are in a permanent rotation and add every 2-3 years a new up and comer course that gives the average schmuck a chance to experience a pro-tournament venue. I did Southern Hills a few years back and OK in August is a death march. And though I am an East coast guy, more West of the Rockies venues would be much more entertaining for me.

The Valhallas, Sahalees, Hazeltines, et al are not compelling to me – no offense to thise who like those tracks, but going back to Arizona, Palm Springs, Vegas – there are some classic old barnstormer venues that the PGA could help a la the USGA by assiting in renovation and recreating courses we could all play and enjoy.

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- Matthew Bacon
  
  Aug 12, 2014 at 8:39 pm
  
  I live an hour from Oak Hill and that is a lackluster venue that gets way more credit than it deserves and has hosted both US Opens and PGAs and when they “US Open” it such as 2003 they get Shaun Micheel, Chad Campbell and Tim Clark, when they “PGA” it they get Jason Dufner, Jim Furyk and Henrik Stenson.
  
  Reply Report comment
Robeli

Aug 11, 2014 at 10:10 pm

“but if it is ever the case that a fairway bunker shot can be easier than one from the fairway, it is a major flaw in the design of the golf hole.”

I totally disagree and think you made an emotional and biased statement (not liking Rory?).
That shot and lie from Rory on the 17th fairway has NOTHING to do with bad hole design. It was only to his advantage due to the rain. On a normal day, that bunker would have been soft sand and Rory would have been looking at bogey.

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Matthew Bacon

Aug 11, 2014 at 7:27 pm

Or they could put t

Reply Report comment
- Matthew Bacon
  
  Aug 11, 2014 at 7:29 pm
  
  together a complete clown course like the US Open
  
  Reply Report comment
T

Aug 11, 2014 at 4:25 pm

The PGA Championship, is, even though it is a Major, it’s still the PGA. Therefore, it is an easy set-up, built for high-scoring. I don’t get what people are complaining about.

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jeff

Aug 11, 2014 at 3:27 pm

they could improve the whole telecast, if they would ad more protracers/flightscopes on the tee boxes when players need to hit their drivers. would be so much more fun to watch

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Alex

Aug 11, 2014 at 2:59 pm

That was a delight to watch. I hope the PGA holds a shoutout every year to keep excitement going through the season.

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Nick

Aug 11, 2014 at 2:15 pm

Best telecast of the season by a country mile. Making them grind the back nine out made it more nail-biting than any birdie fest. I don’t see much room for improvement for this year’s broadcast especially for the attention starved PGA Championship. But I agree that if the US open is going to be the par fest in the parkland courses, the PGA’s niche is a in gearing the courses for a more raucous low scoring shoot-out.

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Danny

Aug 11, 2014 at 1:34 pm

PGA Championship is just another tournament. There is nothing special about it. The PLAYERS has a better field and plays at a more memorable location.

Me Change is simple:

Only play historical courses, or public courses. This is part of the US Open’s success. People watch the Masters for the golf, and the course. Same with many US Opens. No golf nut gives a crap about Valhalla, Hazeltine, Medinah, Quail Hollow, or Bellerive. If you ask me to name the 20 courses in USA that I could play tomorrow in any dream, none of them make my list. I live near Medinah and don’t lust to play it.

Make it a course I’ve played (or can play), or a course that I lust after.. then you have me tuned in. The US Open does a great job of this. They play at places I can play at, or places I’d only dream of playing at.

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Chip Hunt

Aug 11, 2014 at 1:08 pm

I live in Louisville and caddied at Valhalla for several years, so take my biased opinion with a grain of salt. I love the place and the design The back nine is just incredible for the fans. I don’t think the length of the 15th hole was the issue. I think the pin was just a little to close to the front edge. With the water to the right edge and bunker in front, the players had no choice but to go long even with a shorter iron like Phil had. I will say the fairway bunkers on the course as a whole need more depth or higher faces. I was out there all four days and I don’t think I saw one player miss a green out of a fairway bunker and most of the time they hit it close to the pin. They definitely need to add depth to those two traps on 17. That said the best player won the championship. Watching Rory hit driver from behind 16 tee gives you a great perspective on what he can do with that club. 331 yards with no roll and 17 yards longer than anyone else in the field? Ludicrous.

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Todd Turner

Aug 11, 2014 at 12:54 pm

Was exciting and Valhalla was worthy, but the PGA needs to have it out West more… The weather is better!

Reply Report comment
- lsf_21
  
  Aug 11, 2014 at 5:55 pm
  
  the weather in Kentucky has been nothing short of DRY for the last few months.
  
  The week we happened to get rain also happened to be the week of the PGA.
  
  Reply Report comment
Bobby

Aug 11, 2014 at 12:38 pm

Couldn’t agree more! The other majors have their own specific identities and trying to copy them for the pga would be redundant. The pga should be known as a tournament where it’s going to be a shoot out filled with many birdies and crowds exploding with excitement all over the course on the weekend, especially Sunday. This was a great tournament until it hit those last few holes where it made par a great score. Par should be a great score in a us open, not the pga. When a tournament is that exciting it gets people pumped for golf and just builds up more excitement for Augusta in April.

Reply Report comment
- Lucas
  
  Sep 29, 2014 at 8:23 pm
  
  Depends if you want to hit the ball with power or make a slapping pass at the ball. Use the left side if you want to hit the ball sihatgrt or create a draw. If your swing is all right handed you can count on inconsistent shots such as the slice or pull hooks. Your choice.
  
  Reply Report comment

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Opinion & Analysis

AVL: My U.S. Amateur local qualifying experience

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