Muirfield Village Golf Club, home of The Memorial Tournament, was designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1976.
During his prime Jack Nicklaus was amongst the longest hitters on tour and his characteristic ball flight was the 'power fade'. He was known for his excellent course management skills, iron play and putting.
The design of Muirfield Village reflects Jack's playing style. The fairways are wide and many of the tee shots favour a left to right ball flight. There are short par fours and reachable par fives which can reward the long drivers of the ball.
The greens are small and contoured and it is a second shot golf course that demands accurate iron play. Well placed bunkers and testing rough require the players to think their way round the course and constantly shape shots to the correct parts of the fairways and greens.
It is no surprise that Jack won his own tournament in 1977 and again in 1984.
He has constantly tinkered with the venue to ensure it plays true to the original design in spite of changes in technology. Over the years he has added yardage, deepened bunkers, reshaped holes and narrowed the fairways to 26-28 yards.
Apart from continual drainage and erosion programmes there have been no changes to the course since last year.
The drainage has been an important undertaking because many times in the past wet conditions have made the course very accessible to scoring. Jack is not preoccupied with par and believes a good golf course should give up good scores in perfect conditions but he wants a faster golf course which will truly test the players' skills.
The course is in great shape and Jack said; 'My goal has always been to have the golf course fast. If we don't get much rain I think you're going to find a very fast and very demanding golf course. We prepare it as close as we can to what you think you would have a major championship on.'
After a wet spring the three inch rough is thick and consistent. Sergio Garcia feels; 'If you miss a fairway, it's going to be a bit of a struggle. The rough is quite thick. Unless you get quite lucky, it's quite difficult to get it to the green with more than a seven or six iron.'
After his practice round defending champion K.J. Choi noticed; 'The rough around the greens is two times longer than what it was last year. So it's going to be very tough if you miss the greens. Jack was right when he said, 'I don't think the guys will enjoy hitting out of the rough this week.'
The 2006 tournament saw the introduction of rough raking the bunkers.
The idea is that rough raking creates furrows which can cause indifferent lies in the bunkers making them once again a penalty rather than a pleasant break from the rough. It forces players to think off the tee rather than 'grip it and rip it'.
Jack feels; 'You might get a bad lie which forces the players to strategize.' This year only the fairway bunkers will be rough raked.
Indeed the players are forced to think their way around course and K.J. Choi believes that can only come from local knowledge and experience; 'I know where to hit it and I know where I shouldn't hit it. I think that gives me a lot of advantage and even on the difficult holes I know how to approach them.'
Below are the hole averages from last year.
HoleYardsParSc AvRank
147044.0974245543.97111340143.92913420033.09117552754.62617644743.92614756354.61118818532.94012941244.03483,6603635.2251047144.16031156754.820151218433.09151345543.989101436344.04671552954.706161621533.02391747844.17121844444.26013,7063636.266727,36671.491
It is a testament to the course design that players with totally contrasting golf styles from Fred Couples to Jim Furyk are on the roll of champions. In 2006 Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich shared second place!
The mix of fast conditions, penal rough and fairways bunkers make the course a level playing field. Jack feels; 'The shorter hitter and longer hitter is sort of balanced.'
The course provides a solid all round test of golf and only players at the top of their physical and mental game will contend this week.
Schalke stay on track
Hertha back on track
BYRON NELSON INSIDE TRACK
