EarthGolf

Just a few more quotes to add to the changes that will get tested starting tomorrow at TPC Boston and the Deutsche Bank Championship.

“It’s the mental aspect — we’re trying to make them think,” he said. “That’s the whole idea. You want to be able to test the players and make them come up with a game plan.”

On the 15th hole, there’s a bunker on the left, but if a player steers clear of it off the tee, he has a clear shot at the green, but one he cannot see as he makes it. Blind shots, chocolate drop mounds and strategically placed fescue grass, the long stuff that just hides balls, is prominent on the remodeled TPC.

“I like the changes,” said Tiger Woods, who will defend his title against the top competitors including, for the first time, Phil Mickelson. “Being a playoff event, we knew the caliber of the course would need to be improved and I think they’ve done that two-fold.”

Woods had input on every hole, but he did not dictate changes. The world No. 1 made suggestions, and the spirit in which they were intended spawned some of the changes.

“We took his suggestions to heart,” said Hanse. “If he suggested a bunker on the first hole on the left — there’s no bunker, but we did put a chocolate drop mound there.”

One thing Woods agrees on, based on a film he viewed showing the revised layout, is the TPC poses a challenge now befitting a mini-major.

“Before (the changes), that really wasn’t the case,” he said. “If you got it going, you could take it pretty low.”

Vijay Singh took it very low in the third round last year, shooting a 61 and taking over the lead. Woods came back to win, but had to shoot a 63 on the final day to do it. Those low numbers won’t be likely this year.

“People get fixated on difficulty as quality, and I think that’s all wrong,” said Hanse, whose primary objective wasn’t to make the course tougher — that was included — but to make it more New England-esque.

I think the best quote of the bunch is Hanse’s last - difficulty absolutely does not equal quality. Despite what the USGA or Augusta National may want us to believe.

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