BPBM was fortunate to check out Bulle Rock—a Pete Dye layout that’s typically ranked the best public course in Maryland—and we found the course’s “signature” hole a little suspect. Here’s why, and a more subtle hole from Bulle Rock’s many subtle joys, which better displays Dye’s knack for fun golf.
Continue reading “Bulle Pulpit: Learn to Love Pete Dye’s Strategy, Without The Monumental Hazard.” »
Bethpage Black. Our namesake. Probably the most touted municipal course in the land. You arrive at the first tee and the classic sign subtly informs you that you are about to be destroyed.
Truth is they need that sign, because the holes you can see from the clubhouse are…less than incredible? You might even believe, based on the first and final holes at Black, that you could survive the round. And that’s why we need to be replaced for professional tournaments. As in real life, it’s the parts you can’t see that are truly horrifying. Maybe that was all part of Tillinghastly’s plan…to lure you into a false sense of ease before you cross Round Swamp Road on the way to No. 2, where it gets real. But the two holes you can see from the clubhouse don’t quite match the monstrosity that is Black, and both have willing, aggressive substitutes from the course’s underrated, uncomfortable brother.
The Masters stars tomorrow, and we feel inclined to wade into the vast content swamp that is Augusta National. Our pitch for your slavish attention: Eisenhower Tree, and did it make any difference at all?
Eisenhower (a loblolly pine) stood above among the many landmarks at Augusta National. And, as we’ve established before, we love a good, iconic golf tree. Everyone knows the story of how then-President Ike wanted it gone, and how Augusta’s board stood its ground. Everyone loves the story so much that we still hear it at least once on every Masters broadcast, even after the tree met its end at the wintry hands of an ice storm during 2014. It’s kinda the only thing they can talk about, outside of Jack Nicklaus’s iconic birdie putt in 1986.
We, being stats-based folks, wanted to take a look at the limited numbers we had access to and judge just how much the tree actually impacted play during The Masters by looking at 2014 through the present (it came down in February of ’14) compared to its glorious past.
Here’s what we found:
Continue reading “The Eisenhower Tree: Did It Matter? The Masters, Nandina, Stats, and Tree(s)” »
If you do any research into the Genesis Open, you will meet more articles on honest architecture than perhaps any other tournament. It’s deserved. Pine Valley, Augusta National and Cypress Point tend to be the go-to answers when ranking American golf courses…but those layouts are fortunate to have the “ambience”—as Golf Digest labels it—that comes from unsullied treelines and Pacific Coasts. Riviera suffers in rankings as a result of the surrounding Los Angeles real estate…but it may be the best course in the country based on design alone.
That is an argument for another day. But, if you were going to make it, No. 10 would be at the top of the evidence list. Many cite it as one of, if not the single best short Par 4 in the world. At 315 yards, the competition can absolutely reach the green. But will they try?
So Golf Digest released its list of the Top 100 golf courses in the United States and, as can be expected, nobody liked it. Or at least those who did like it didn’t talk about it on social media. That’s how lists work. Long before we took any interest in golf, we worked for a music publication. We saw firsthand how the year-end lists were only good for generating hatred and loathing, even among the staffs compiling them (especially among the staffs compiling them). Our advice to you: Don’t take lists too seriously.
BPBM’s boss, Ryan, played a bucket list round at Kiawah’s Ocean Course during 2017. Almost everything was perfect. Almost. Teeing off at No. 3, he was saddened to learn that the fairway live oak—the one he had played countless times via Xbox, the one that Rory McIlroy had gotten stuck during the 2012 PGA Championship—had fallen. Despite his par on the hole, that regret lingered, and he would pitch an obituary for the tree to The Golfer’s Journal. That narrow concept became an exploration of a species, a golf course, and especially of the man who designed it.
The brass at TGJ were kind enough allow us to publish the first section as a preview, and we wholeheartedly encourage you to pick up a copy of the Winter 2018 issue and read the rest. Not only because it’s an excellent publication—true, engaging feature stories…not wedge reviews… and exquisite photography—but because Ryan doesn’t really pick up steam until Part 4. Anyway, consider picking one up.
For now, enjoy Part 1 (note that edits may have been made for length in the actual, published version):
What does golf and black metal have in common? The following are two typical conversations held with your snobbish golf friend and your snobbish black metal friend, respectively:
Continue reading “Your Golf Snob Friend and Your Black Metal Friend are Exactly The Same.” »