Pinehurst Up To U.S. Open Standards Bare Patches Around Greens No Longer Causes For Concern

One week from the start of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst and all is well.

“We’d give Pinehurst huge marks,” said Michael Davis, the U.S. Golf Association’s director of championship relations who has been at Pinehurst No. 2 since last month.

“If we had drawn a diagram three years ago of where we wanted the course to be one week before the tournament, this would be it.”

The two biggest concerns over the past month - bare patches on the fringes of several greens and the depth and thickness of the rough - have shown significant improvement.

The unsightly spots around the fringes have received the most attention. An application of weed control last winter contributed to the problem, and a month ago there were still noticeable areas of bare ground just off the putting surfaces.

Though there are some spots that haven’t fully covered - particularly on the second, fourth and 17th holes - most areas (some of which were sodded) have filled in nicely.

“More has been made of that than needed to be,” said Paul Jett, superintendent at No. 2. “There are some spots that distract from the aesthetic beauty but they play as well as anything around them. They don’t take away from anything.”

The USGA agrees.

“From a playability and rules standpoint, there’s absolutely no problem,” Davis said.

“NBC may not like it and Pinehurst might not like it but aesthetics mean nothing to us. It’s all about playability.”

Though a final decision won’t be made until tournament week, Jett said he does not expect any fringe area to be deemed ground under repair as had been suggested.

The USGA is wrestling with the depth of the rough. It originally said it wanted 4-inch rough but it’s considering cutting back to 3 inches. In some places, 4-inch Bermuda rough leaves players no option but to pitch back into the fairway.

“No one wants chop-it-out rough,” Davis said.

The rough was slow to come in during May when the nights were cooler than normal. In the past 14 days, Jett said, the rough has filled in and thickened dramatically.

Jett’s crew topped the rough at 4 inches when it mowed last Friday and Sunday but cut it to 3-1/2 inches Wednesday. Jett and the USGA will determine the tournament length this weekend or early next week.

The greens are in pristine condition with the golf course having been closed since late May. They’ve continued to thrive in the recent warm weather and should be ideal for the tournament.

The greens will be cut to .135 inches, the same as they are every day for resort play. To increase the speed, the greens will be double cut.

Jett said his crew will begin increasing green speed on Thursday. The greens have been rolling at 9 feet, 6 inches on the stimpmeter but will be quickened to 10 feet, 6 inches for the tournament.

“We may even go to 11,” Davis said. “But we’ve got no concerns about the speed.”