Some applaud, or at the very least, don’t see it as a big deal. I tend to disagree – this is not only a sign of the times, it’s a sign of the problems the game faces. 8,200 yard courses are not sustainable for any number of reasons – from the added cost of maintenance to the time it would take to play a course that long, golf literally can’t afford for technology and/or ego to allow this to become common place. To top it off, the wildly undulating greens stimped at a 12 for the tournament, making three putts common.

The purpose of the Back Black Challenge was to put some of the better players in the state to the ultimate test and also to see how difficult Erin Hills would play from the tips. The course is considered a potential U.S. Open site by the United States Golf Association.

But not even the USGA would make Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson play an 8,400-yard course. For comparison, Whistling Straits measured a record 7,536 yards for the 2004 PGA Championship, but the actual yardage for three of the four tournament rounds was considerably less.

“I was looking at it from a U.S. Open perspective,” said David Albrecht, the head professional at Blackwolf Run. “I don’t think they’ll use some of the tees we played.”

The opening hole was a 655-yard par-5. There were par-4s of 535, 535, 521, 516, 512 and 509 yards and par-3s of 242, 223 and 221.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” said Charlie Delsman, who shot an 83. “Nowhere else can you go and play an 8,400-yard course. The yardage is intimidating. You stand up there on the par-4s and it’s 535 or 520.”

Sorry, but I have no interest in half the par 4s playing in excess of 500 yards – I don’t find that compelling golf at any level. Think how drab Augusta was this year – and it has one par 4 in excess of 500 yards, the now goofy 11th hole which should be renamed “Tree Farm”. Let’s hope that the USGA finally gets somebody back in charge that understands two things – golf needs compelling leadership on both technology and pace of play and tournament golf needs compelling course setups. Perhaps then there is hope for the future of golf.

Personally, I find that sad commentary on American golf. For the most part, though, he’s right about the 17th hole summarizing what many Americans’ want out of their golf – ultimate risk and ultimate disaster. Sure, if the participant succeeds, he’s rewarded with a somewhat nice prize – he gets to keep his golf ball. But the disaster is what the American golf spectator craves.

And many organizations are racing to give that spectator exactly what they want. The USGA has been specializing in it since the turn of the previous century. The Masters, under the tutelage of the USGA, did a pretty good job this year. Now the PGA Tour is getting in on the act – redoing the golf course so that they could get the rough longer and the greens faster.

American golf is actually pretty boring today. The unimaginative 6″ rough which leads to only one shot – the ever exciting wedge back to the fairway. The perfectly manicured 25 yard, flat fairway. The flat, two tiered green stimping out at 14. The bomb and gouge excitement of 320 drive and wedge to 8 feet to a pin 6 feet from the green’s edge. Yep – American golf at its finest. Every once in awhile we get something a little different like the 17th at Sawgrass – but there isn’t any subtlety, nuance or options. It’s in your face brutality.

And, sadly, that is exactly what the American golf spectator is looking for today.

Perhaps it’s just coincidence that Dye’s wife, Alice, last week sent a congratulatory note to Billy Payne, the freshman chair of Augusta National GC. In the letter, Alice included a quotation from Gene Sarazen that she had found in an old issue of Golf World. Wrote the Squire: “When the greens are soft, anyone can play. If they’re hard, the cream rises to the top.”

“I don’t know where she finds these things,” Pete said, laughing. “It sure sounds about right, though. I built [Sawgrass] to be firm and fast, which is how it played at the start.”

“It’s a great test, but has a lot of blind tee and second shots,” world number one Woods said in his monthly newsletter Tuesday. “Overall, I’d say it’s a lot harder than Augusta National.

“It’s an old-style course and I kept trying to figure out where the USGA (United States Golf Association) was going to put the pin placements for the U.S. Open in June. I’m still not sure.”

Not to be outdone by Augusta’s 240-yard par 3 fourth hole, Oakmont has stretched their par 3 eighth hole to 288-yards and begun the predictable bragging of “the longest par 3 in US Open history”.