The familiar saying that good things come in small packages may be about jewelry, but it applies to golf, too.
In this oversized era in which driver heads are the size of mangoes and 500-yard par-4s have become routine at the professional level, there may be no better example that bigger isn’t always better than Royal Troon’s par-3 eighth hole, which got the well-deserved star treatment last week during the Open Championship precisely because it’s small.
Depending on where the tees were set, it played between 108 and 130 yards before the wind was factored. It was a brilliant reminder of what is in danger of being lost in this age of hemi-powered golf.
Short holes are the most fun holes, and isn’t fun at the heart of why tens of millions of us put up with the frustration that is built into the game?
Find me someone who likes playing 200-yard par-3 holes (the 16th at Cypress Point is an exception for its beauty).
Still waiting …
Here’s how Tiger Woods described playing the Postage Stamp: “It’s a very simple hole: Just hit the ball on the green. That’s it. Green, good; miss green, bad. It doesn’t get any more simple than that.
“You don’t need a 240-yard par-3 for it to be hard.”
Exactly.
The most interesting holes on the PGA Tour schedule are short ones.
The par-3 12th at Augusta National.
The par-3 17th at the Stadium Course at Sawgrass.
The par-3 seventh at Pebble Beach.
The par-4 10th at Riviera Country Club.
Remember the par-3 15th hole at Los Angeles Country Club last June during the U.S. Open? It measured 81 yards in the third round and had everyone’s attention.
Remember that next June when the U.S. Open at Oakmont features the par-3 eighth hole that was played at 300 yards in the final round in 2016 when Dustin Johnson won.
When Phil Mickelson looks back on his six runner-up finishes in U.S. Opens, one of his most haunting mistakes may be the bogey he made in 2013 on Merion’s par-3 13th hole on Sunday when he missed the green with a wedge on the 121-yard hole, leading to a bogey.
That’s the rub with short holes. The cost of missing the target should be substantial.
That’s why the Postage Stamp has been admired for nearly 150 years. Hit the green and likely make par, at worst. Miss the green, and the penalty is a bunker so deep that it may lack cell service. Ask Joaquín Neimann if he’s finished playing bunker ping pong (he made an 8 there).
It’s why the 12th at Augusta National is so captivating. The cost of a miss is severe.
It’s why the 17th at Sawgrass is eye candy. If the green were surrounded by sand or thick grass, it wouldn’t be nearly as intimidating, but the tradeoff for hitting a 9-iron or wedge is the absence of wiggle room.
“I think the majority of the best par-3s in the world, there’s very few that are over 150 yards,” Tommy Fleetwood said.
Even as golf surges in unprecedented popularity and clubs are using their newfound capital to upgrade their courses, almost everyone is searching for more distance. Ten yards here, 20 yards there. Another 150 yards overall.
“Trying to win a major championship, and you have a little hole like that that can mess your entire week up. It’s more fun than playing a 250-yard hole with no wind, but it’s probably harder.” – Xander Schauffele
Who is that for?
The next person who says the game is too easy will be the first person to say it.
Without going deep into the arguments about what technology has done to the game – the upcoming ball rollback is an encouraging start toward throttling the runaway power train – clever design can be an antidote to faster, higher, longer.
That’s not to devalue stern par-4 holes that demand two well-struck shots or three-shot par-5s (if there are such things for today’s elite players), but whether you’re watching the best in the world or playing with your mates, options and execution are more entertaining than brute strength.
There’s a reason short par-4s are in vogue. They are fun to play and ask the right questions.
When USGA officials moved the tees up on the par-4 13th hole in the final round of this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, they created more drama as Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau fired away, fully aware of what a big miss might mean.
Short par-3s do the same. That – and the time needed to play – is why short courses are all the rage.
Xander Schauffele, the eventual winner at the 152nd Open, had not played the Postage Stamp before last week, but he appreciated it immediately.
“Trying to win a major championship, and you have a little hole like that that can mess your entire week up,” said Schauffele, who mastered the hole with three birdies and a par for the week. “It’s more fun than playing a 250-yard hole with no wind, but it’s probably harder.”
Those blue boxes from Tiffany aren’t very big, but they don’t have to be. It’s what’s inside that counts.
No matter how small.