A Little Piece of Scotland

Rough grass areas have great value as well, and whilst we will see little of it during the weeks of the US Opens, it can test the best and of course the worst golfers. In fact, one would argue that its value is more important today than it ever was because of the way golf courses have been designed and maintained. Around the world, courses are set up to be soft and receptive thanks in part to extensive irrigation systems and their capacity to throw a lot of water onto the playing surfaces. Hard, fast and dry has unfortunately become a foreign language as golfers seek out (and at times demand) green and lush conditions. The result of this being that golf has become very much a “target game” with little interest in the ground. This is not helped by the fact that many courses are designed to be played in the air - golfers are forced to hit over bunkers or water to reach an intended target.

Having said that, rough grass has the ability to negate the aerial game, and here’s why:

When a golfer finds the equator of the ball below the grass line (ie in rough) it is almost impossible to predict what the ball is going to do upon landing. In this case those creative golfers amongst us will start to survey the fairway and green surrounds to see how they can use the slopes to positively propel their ball towards the target. Golfers are no longer focused on a small target; rather they are “forced” to look at the big picture and in doing so start to harvest some creative thought.

"Can I use that bump to propel my ball forward towards the target? What if I get a negative bounce off that slope? What if I over hit that ridge line?"

According to legendary Golden Age course architect Max Behr, the object of golf architecture “is to give an intelligent purpose to striking the ball” and it’s obvious under different conditions that both rough and short grass has the ability to achieve this end - so neither should be ignored nor scorned.

Donald Ross grew up in Scotland and apprenticed under Old Tom Morris before moving to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, where he would reside at Pinehurst for the better part of his life. In No 2, he designed a little piece of Scotland, as if to remind him of home - how could he forget those creative ground shots he would hit at the links at Dornoch and St Andrews?

Now, one hundred years on, it will be interesting to see if the best golfers are able to replicate some of the shots Mr Ross would have played all those years ago and in so doing prepare themselves for the next “Open” held in July.

Paul Jansen is the principal architect for Jansen Golf Design. For more information visit his website at www.jansengolfdesign.com