USGA's Mike Davis: 2010 Open Restores Pebble to Its Past

Since it is finally time for Pebble to shine in the Open, I thought I would re-run this interview with Mike Davis, the USGA's setup man, to give everyone an idea of what changes to look out for this week.

The USGA is bringing its premiere championship - the US Open - back to Pebble Beach next June for the first time since 2000.  In that 100th US Open, Tiger Woods demolished Pebble Beach and the field in winning by 15 shots at twelve-under-par.  The nature of Woods' win caused a lot of critics of the USGA and golf technology to reconsider Pebble Beach as a future venue for the US Open.  The USGA's chief setup man, Mike Davis, tells a different story of that '00 Open.

In a conversation with me, Davis outlined two often-dismissed points about that June weekend at Pebble.  "When Tiger won at -12, there was never really a windy day at Pebble.  There was wind, but it wasn't like what we're accustomed to seeing," Davis noted.

"And if Tiger didn't win, the winning score would have been +3!"

To read more about the changes that you'll see at Pebble in June, check out the details after the jump.

Driven partially by those two factors, the 2010 rendition of the Open at Pebble will only be about 250 yards longer than in 2000.  Playing at 7004 yards on the card, the Open will only feature three holes with significant distance increases.

The 9th and 10th holes were lengthened by approximately 40 and 60 yards respectively for next June.  According to Davis, those holes were lengthened because they both play almost entirely downwind in June - when winds at Pebble are consistently out of the north or northwest.

In 2000, players were able to hit less than driver - sometimes an iron - off of both tees.  Davis wanted to entice players to be more aggressive off of the tee, but to make them keenly aware of the consequences awaiting them.  

The 9th hole was lengthened to now require a 300 yard driver downwind and slightly downhill to the top of the crest.  But in a unique move, actually widened the fairway after the crest and extended it all the way to the ocean.  In 2000, long stright drives were rewarded with a short shot out of the rough.  Davis seeks to restore the value of a long, straight drive - but also heighten the penalty for inaccurate aggression.

Now playing at almost 490 yards, the 10th hole also had its fairway widened for the '10 Open.  The distance hike of some 60 yards was designed to put bunkering on the left back into play.  A driver will likely not be required to play the hole well as a hard sloping fairway to the right - again, to the ocean - will make players think twice.

Finally, the major change to a hole that traditionally plays into the wind is the short par 4 thirteenth.  Davis had the hole lengthened some 40 yards for the Open specifically to bring the crossbunker guarding the fairway back into play.  

"Thanks to some tree trimming, we were able to create a new tee box that helps put the crossbunker back into play on the days where there is a two to three club wind," Davis explained.  "If there is a day with a three to four club wind, then the crossbunker will even be in play for guys like Tiger and Phil."

To give players a decision and an out, Davis has had the fairway widened to the right and short of the crossbunker.  Laying up short will leave a player with an approach of around 200 yards.

Players will be unlikely to fully experience these changes when the Tour comes to Pebble Beach in the winter.  That's because, as Davis explains, the wind is more inconsistent in the winter and often comes from the east and west.

There are some more modest changes to other holes, influenced by other reasons than wind.  The 11th has a new tee box that is ten yards back to accomodate grandstands.  A new tee box is created for the 3rd hole so as to keep the main tee box from being abused for seven days.

More fairways, like the 4th and 6th, were widened to bring the ocean back into play.  After all, the course's full name is Pebble Beach Golf Links.  Davis wanted to restore the seaside links aspects of Pebble.  Studying depression-era photography of the course, Davis used the visuals to guide the restoration of the course to a time when the links much more resembled the Scottish originals.

In fact, if Davis had his way, the famous postage stamp par 3 7th hole would play as it originally did.

"Looking back at old photos, the 7th hole literally used to be a putting green surrounded by sand.  It was really neat.  In fact, I talked to the superintendent about it.  But he explained that they lost so much sand from wind and water crashing on the hole that they just could not maintain it."

Despite the setback to restore Pebble's most famous hole, Davis increasingly sees the need for courses to harken back to maintenance trends of the early part of the twentienth century - before television dictated how superintendents and the public evaluated golf courses.

"I think we will end us seeing more US courses irrigate less.  Not out of desire, but out of necessity."

He said that courses will likely be forced to focus on keeping tee boxes, putting surfaces, and fairways green, but leave the manicuring of the rough up to nature.  And he is all for that as it will create more uneven lies in the rough that require studying.

Davis has been known as a man who favors keeping low the first tier of rough at Opens.  with new grooves regulations kicking in for 2010, they will actually allow Davis to keep the rough even a little lower to encourage aggression to move the ball forward.

"Players may well go for the green knowing that they can make good contact with the ball.  But some of them may lay up because they know they'll have half or a third of the spin coming out of there." 

With the combination of lower rough, the smallest greens in the US Open stable of courses, and (hopefully) a prominent northerly wind off of the Ocean, the course will still play as a par 71 as in 2000.  The aberration?  The 2nd hole will remain a par four for the Open.  

Since losing the two cypress trees to disease that guarded the 2nd hole and forced a shaped shot, the USGA decided that the hole was reachable for every player in the field.  They have since replanted trees but, as Davis jokes, "It'll be a while before we can have the second hole play as a par 5 again."