THE BROADMOOR
A course that measures 7,047 yards will be a grind for the world’s best women’s golfers. Tackling it with the benefit of high altitude should at least give them a fighting chance.
That was the logic of U.S. Golf Association executive director Mike Davis in concocting the record layout for the U.S. Women’s Open, which begins Thursday (practices start Monday) on the East Course of The Broadmoor at an elevation of 6,230 feet, the highest among 27 LPGA Tour stops.
No other event on the 10-month circuit comes close to matching what players will face in Colorado Springs, which last hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 1995. Most other LPGA Tour events are contested virtually at sea level, the exceptions being stops at 1,150 feet in Phoenix; at 1,368 feet in Rogers, Ark.; at 1,867 feet in Henderson, Nev.; and at 5,138 feet in Guadalajara, Mexico. The other three majors are played at less than 600 feet.
Davis estimates the altitude in the Springs should make balls travel as much as 12 percent farther on holes that are downhill, including No. 17, a 600-yard par-5. That means when defending U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer hammers a typical drive of 245 yards, she’ll get much-needed extra distance to give herself a manageable approach shot.
Creamer said she wants “to hit the ball higher. Take advantage of the altitude. Get more distance with my longer irons and with the driver. … Not every golf course you have to have a draw or a fade, but you do need that here. There are certain fairways that you want to take advantage of the slope of the fairway. You know it’s going to be much firmer, and the most distance and the roll that I can get is something I want to take advantage of.”
Capitalizing on the altitude will help negate difficulty on greens Davis dubbed “every bit as scary as what they were last year” at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club, where Creamer was the only player below par at 3-under. Ditto for rough as thick as 4 inches, “so the farther you get off the beaten path,” Davis said, “the more severe the rough will be.” And same goes for sand traps that are “more like hazards,” Davis said, “like they’re designed to be.”
Players undoubtedly will rely on the altitude during an “incredibly difficult” stretch from No. 10 to No. 15, Davis said. “If you can play those holes anywhere close to par, maybe a few over,” he added, “you are absolutely going to pick up strokes on the field.” With the altitude, pars also are possible on No. 17, despite its length, and the other two par-5s, No. 3 at 560 yards and No. 9 at 535 yards, and Davis maintains they all “can be birdie holes.”
In surpassing Interlachen Country Club in Minneapolis, the previous longest course for a U.S. Women’s Open at 6,789 yards in 2008, the par-71 East Course is certainly “not all about power,” Davis said. “It’s about shot-making and thinking your way around the golf course. … Length is never the issue, and I don’t think it will be this year either.”
That was the logic of U.S. Golf Association executive director Mike Davis in concocting the record layout for the U.S. Women’s Open, which begins Thursday (practices start Monday) on the East Course of The Broadmoor at an elevation of 6,230 feet, the highest among 27 LPGA Tour stops.
No other event on the 10-month circuit comes close to matching what players will face in Colorado Springs, which last hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 1995. Most other LPGA Tour events are contested virtually at sea level, the exceptions being stops at 1,150 feet in Phoenix; at 1,368 feet in Rogers, Ark.; at 1,867 feet in Henderson, Nev.; and at 5,138 feet in Guadalajara, Mexico. The other three majors are played at less than 600 feet.
Davis estimates the altitude in the Springs should make balls travel as much as 12 percent farther on holes that are downhill, including No. 17, a 600-yard par-5. That means when defending U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer hammers a typical drive of 245 yards, she’ll get much-needed extra distance to give herself a manageable approach shot.
Creamer said she wants “to hit the ball higher. Take advantage of the altitude. Get more distance with my longer irons and with the driver. … Not every golf course you have to have a draw or a fade, but you do need that here. There are certain fairways that you want to take advantage of the slope of the fairway. You know it’s going to be much firmer, and the most distance and the roll that I can get is something I want to take advantage of.”
Capitalizing on the altitude will help negate difficulty on greens Davis dubbed “every bit as scary as what they were last year” at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club, where Creamer was the only player below par at 3-under. Ditto for rough as thick as 4 inches, “so the farther you get off the beaten path,” Davis said, “the more severe the rough will be.” And same goes for sand traps that are “more like hazards,” Davis said, “like they’re designed to be.”
Players undoubtedly will rely on the altitude during an “incredibly difficult” stretch from No. 10 to No. 15, Davis said. “If you can play those holes anywhere close to par, maybe a few over,” he added, “you are absolutely going to pick up strokes on the field.” With the altitude, pars also are possible on No. 17, despite its length, and the other two par-5s, No. 3 at 560 yards and No. 9 at 535 yards, and Davis maintains they all “can be birdie holes.”
In surpassing Interlachen Country Club in Minneapolis, the previous longest course for a U.S. Women’s Open at 6,789 yards in 2008, the par-71 East Course is certainly “not all about power,” Davis said. “It’s about shot-making and thinking your way around the golf course. … Length is never the issue, and I don’t think it will be this year either.”
- Courtesy of The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Co.
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