In His Prime

I am a man that is not afraid to admit his mistakes. Earlier this year, I named Brooks Koepka as the future of American golf (See post on February 8, 2015). Don’t get me wrong, Brooks Koepka is a great golfer that I do expect to play a large role in the world of professional golf over the next few decades. The problem is, he is not Jordan Spieth. (In fairness to me though, I did say that I expect Spieth to “very ably challenge” Koepka.)

On Sunday, Spieth capped off one of the better years in the history of golf by claiming the FedEx Cup thanks to a victory at the Tour Championship, and put the notions of Jason Day being player of the year to bed. There is no doubt that Spieth’s five total victories plus the FedEx Cup this year are impressive. Almost as noteworthy is the fact that Spieth is so good that he shot a total of 271 at the Tour Championship and basically wrote the title of this article for me. (If this sentence doesn’t make sense, don’t worry about it. If it does, take a few moments to enjoy the fact that this sentence makes sense to you.) What really made 2015 a special year for Spieth though is what he did in the four tournaments that define most professional golfer’s careers. He took home the Masters in record tying fashion. Then he followed it up by grinding out a win at the U.S. Open, albeit with some help. With two majors under his belt, something most professional golfers only dream about as a career major total, Spieth almost did the unthinkable at St. Andrews as he came up painfully short of hoisting the Claret Jug and setting up utter chaos at Whistling Straits. With the single season grand slam no longer a possibility, Spieth could have had a letdown at the PGA Championship, but once again he battled, and it took a record setting performance by Jason Day to keep Spieth’s hands off of the Wanamaker Trophy.

Jordan Spieth is indeed in his prime. Surely a crazy thought as he has spent only 22 and some change years on this planet, but nevertheless true. Not only that, he probably has at least two decades of being in his prime ahead of him. What really makes the future of professional golf bright though is the fact that it is not a one man show. Jason Day made this very clear by having a truly remarkable late summer that included his first major championship and was good enough to seriously put him in the player of the year conversation with Spieth; a conversation that had looked like it was over in June. One must not forget the Northern Irishman either. It is amazing to think that, just a year ago, Rory McIlroy was the man with two majors in one season and on top of the world of golf. I suspect that he is poised to bounce back next year. (Although I am not entirely sure that it could be called a bounce back year. He won multiple times this year and had a pretty solid season. He was just overshadowed by Spieth and Day.) Finally, it bears mentioning that Rick Fowler was no slouch in 2015 either. It was nice to see him finally compile a trophy case worthy of his bank account. Any one of these four men by himself would be exciting. All four pushing each other to be the best golfer in the world. Now that has the makings of being something special.

The Old Stomping Grounds

On the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend I had the privilege of going back to the first golf course at which I was a season pass holder, Grand View Golf Links. Although I moved on to bigger and better courses with age, this nine-hole track located just outside of Duluth, Minnesota, will always hold a special place in my heart.

Grand View can be characterized as a quirky layout and it wastes no time in apprising a golfer of this fact as it opens with a par three, a rare occurrence for a first hole. Although it plays uphill, it is only 132 yards and offers an opportunity to get off to a strong start. With a deep ditch to the left, a row of pines to the right, and a green that slopes from back to front, it still demands a certain measure of respect and can certainly punish the nonchalant golfer.

The second is a short par four that plays well downhill. With plenty of room to miss on the right, a golfer can take a slash with the driver off the tee. However, hitting less that driver on this short par four is certainly a reasonable play. The real defense on this hole is the green which slopes downhill in the first half and then levels out. With this being the case, it is often necessary to land even wedge shots short of the green if one wants to hold the putting surface.

 Following the second is another par four that offers room to miss on the right and, if you plan on missing the fairway, right is the way to go as the Dry Dock Bar and Restaurant parking lot sits just to the left of the fairway. A final consideration off the tee is the ditch that crosses the fairway 232 yards away. Even if one can’t reach this ditch, hitting less than driver off of this tee is not a terrible idea as the hole is only 326 yards. Just like with the tee shot, for the approach, if you plan on missing the green, miss right, as there is a hill just to the right that often repels a golfer’s ball onto the green.

 The fourth is a par four of only 267 yards that certainly offers some the opportunity to drive the green. As is the theme at Grand View, the place to miss on this hole is right. However, this does leave a tough uphill shot over a deep bunker. A well placed tee shot though, for those that don’t have the firepower to reach the green, leaves an easy shot to a green that is essentially in a bowl. With this being the case, any shot that reaches the edge of the bowl will roll down onto the green.

Back in the day, the fifth played as a long, uphill par three. The green has since been moved further up the hill and to the right and now plays as a par four. The tee shot sets up nicely for a smooth baby fade (for a right-handed golfer) with the big stick, a shot that certainly fits my eye well. Playing uphill to a two-tiered green, one cannot fall asleep on the approach though.

 Another somewhat recent change at Grand View is the new back tee on the sixth. Even with this added length, the hole isn’t terribly difficult as it is a par four of 367 yards that plays downhill. Not only that, the hole allows a golfer to take a solid rip with the driver as one can hit the ball almost anywhere and still be in play. The terrain at the sixth is somewhat hilly though which can make for an awkward stance on the approach.

At only 425 yards, the seventh is a very short par five. It does play slightly uphill and has out of bounds down the whole left side, which adds some challenge. As usual though, there is plenty of room to miss on the right. Any integer greater than five on this hole will surely anger most golfers that have any facility in the game.

Back in the day, a golfer could take out the anger induced by a poorly played seventh on the eighth by pulling out the driver and having a rip at the green as the eighth used to be a semi-drivable par four. In modern times, the eighth is a short, downhill par three carved out of the woods on the hillside to the left of the old eighth. Only a less than full wedge is needed. Even so, it can be tough to get the ball close to the hole, especially with a front pin, as the green slopes from front to back.

 Throughout the round, a golfer is probably wondering why the course is called Grand View. Well, that question is answered on the ninth tee, which is well above the fairway, and indeed offers a grand view of the countryside. The hole is a par four of 375 yards that plays towards the parking lot. With the hole playing so far downhill, driving the green is not out of the realm of possibility. The prudent play, however, is to knock an iron down the fairway, which leaves only a short wedge shot to a green that slopes slightly from front to back making it difficult to hit the ball close to a front hole location.

If you have never played Grand View, I hope that I have you intrigued with the course and, if you have played Grand View before, I hope that you are yearning to go back. For me, it was definitely great to go back to the old stomping grounds, to play the holes that I have played so many times before and to see the changes to the course as well. Grand View is where the game of golf first courted me in earnest, and I must have been truly smitten because I am still an avid golfer to this day, and the game never even had to take me to a malt shop. Even as I write, my mind hearkens back to various memories at Grand View like all the times I took empty beer cans from the golf course trash cans and put them into my friends’ golf bags hoping that they wouldn’t notice and that their parents would find them. Those were good times indeed, good times indeed.