It's All About Location

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Olympia Fields, Ill.. -- The cadence was rhythmic. Much like a quarterback at the line of scrimmage, Tom Meeks barked out his play.

"OK, we've got a seven and a five right," says Meeks. "Then we have a nine and then a … OK, now get a 17 and a five right. Then I need a 20 and a four."

The three other bystanders took note and moved to the beat. Only this was no football game. Rather, it just was another exercise in how the USGA decides hole locations prior to a U.S. Open. The numbers that permeated the air were the amount of paces (to represent feet) from the front fringe of the green.

Each morning during championship week Meeks, Director of the Rules of Competition for the USGA, and USGA Director of Championship Agronomy Tim Moraghan set out at the crack of dawn to study potential hole locations on each green. Sometimes they're up so early that it is they, in case you're wondering, who shake the birds from their nighttime slumber.

"Our goal," says Moraghan, "has been that we want to offer a competitive course in which the players are going to use a variety of shots and hopefully all of their clubs."

That's why, believe it or not, hole placement is so important. The location of a hole can dictate how a player approaches the green starting at the tee. Players are given hole-location sheets before the start of every round, which contains exact yardage to the flagstick. A second sheet that the players don't see is the one Meeks and Moraghan carry, the one that shows how hard each hole is based on a scale ranging from one to four, with one being the hardest.

"The players are really mathematicians," says Moraghan. "It's all about math. Now add into it that they're great players. They and their caddies are so precise; it's the difference between knowing how far an 8- or 9-iron will get them."

Meeks, in a moment of defense, intimates, "I had one player at one of the Opens who came up to me and said, 'Based on your hole location sheet, I should have had a hole-in-one.' He just didn't think our measurements jived with his."

In determining where a hole should go, Meeks relies on old-fashioned technology. He uses paint cans on the greens as markers. After each measurement is read aloud, a different colored paint spray can is placed on each potential location. There are four spray cans to represent each round.

Meeks putts three to four golf balls at the various eight-inch-high paint cans. The main reason why they're placed at different points on the green is so Meeks can get a better understanding of the slope and undulations; and also to grasp the green's degree of difficulty.

"If it [the ball] picks up speed, then we've got to adjust. Players know that if they get above the hole, they have their work cut for him," says Meeks.

As putts are considered satisfactory, dots are sprayed onto the green to mak their place. In the midst of an Open, nothing could be worse than having to scramble to replace a lost hole location.

As Moraghan relates, "It's more than just picking four spots on the green. Anyone can put a hole in the ground. That's easy. But we want this as accurate and true of a test as we can. We want to challenge the players."

That's why Moraghan starts the process by focusing on four factors: One, he looks at the design of the course and thinks how the architect wanted it to be played.

Second, the incoming shot is factored in. How it'll bounce, how it will sit and and, ultimately, how it will lie. Next, the contours of the course are studied from a wide array of angles, which, lastly, leads to the paint-can putting test.

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him at kklavon@usga.org with questions and comments.