THESE are knee-jerk times of instant re- action where even the jerking of said knee is considered too slow and cumbersome for this rapid fire world.
The global parish pump that is Twitter seems to stoke up a frenzy just about every other second and golfers are just as guilty of tossing fuel on the social media flames as anyone.
Almost as soon as Chambers Bay was unveiled as the host venue for the US Open, Ian Poulter, a man who Tweets more times than a hungry chaffinch, stuck his online oar in. "Well, several players have played Chambers Bay in prep for the US Open and the reports back are it's a complete farce," he tapped feverishly, without pausing to think that maybe he should reserve judgment until he had actually examined the venue with his own eyes.
Of course, the pampered pros of the modern era are not that keen on ventures into the unknown. Chambers Bay has never hosted a Major championship before. In fact, it's never hosted a tour level event before. For great chunks of the season, the global campaigners are competing on pristine, manicured, one dimensional courses that almost allows them to switch off the creative sides of their golfing brains and bash and batter away with the same run-of-the-mill shots week in, week out. Rugged, raw Chambers Bay, with its curves, dips, borrows and undulating, unpredictable greens, will certainly be an eye opener and, by all accounts, should get those creative juices flowing.
"There's been a lot of debate but not a lot of people I've spoken to have actually been there," said Stephen Gallacher, who was making the long trek to the north west Pacific coast along with his fellow Scots, Marc Warren, Colin Montgomerie and Blairgowrie amateur Bradley Neil. "You know what it's like. Someone goes and then comes back and tells folk about it, then it becomes a bit like Chinese whispers. Until you get there, you don't know. You know it's going to be tough. The US Open is always the toughest week of the year anyway. The greens will be slopey, there's not many trees. In fact, I think there's just the one. It's a bit like Whistling Straits and Kingsbarns here in Scotland. Visually it looks pleasing on the eye, rather than tree lined with big areas of heavy rough.
"It's good that not many people have played it. It seems to be a course where there are so many options. You can bump and run it, putt it, flop it, chip it, use rescue clubs, three woods, whatever. The more options you have the more chance you have of getting it your own way. All that you see at this place is just golf holes."
Some of these holes may just change during the event. The course concludes with a risk and reward par-5, unless it is playing as a par-4 that day. Mike Davis, the executive director of the United States Golf Association, has stated that the pars of the first and 18th will be fluid during the tournament. The two holes will play to a collective par of nine, but the par of each individual hole could change on a round to round basis. That should keep the grey matter ticking over. The general quirkiness of the layout means Chambers Bay will be a par-70 that will play anything between 7200 and 7600 yards each day.
"In some cases we may end up putting tee markers on slight slopes," Davis said. "There may be some where we give the players a little downhill slope, a little uphill slope, a side slope. So that's interesting."
Gallacher, who has not made the cut in any of his three previous US Open appearances, is certainly interested by the prospect.
"You hear that they will change the par around and there are par-3s that are 220 yards with 20 yards downhill, the next day it's 150 yards with six yards uphill," he said. "That's brilliant. It's just variability to keep you on your toes. They try to do that, to entice you to go for it, to take shots on. It's right on the sea, it could be warm, it could be windy. It's a new place, a new adventure. You have to go with the mindset that it will be tough and take on the challenge and enjoy it."
US Open courses have tended to be set up to ensure that par is a prisoner. Tight fairways and impenetrable rough often combine to produce grim battles of plodding, gouging attrition as players simply try to avoid a bogey or worse instead of launching swashbuckling assaults on birdies or eagles. Chambers Bay, which in many ways will resemble something like a British links course, will certainly be tough but it will allow that much needed element of expression and adventure.
Peter Uihlein, one of the few players in the field with decent knowledge about Chambers Bay having won the US Amateur Championship there in 2010, said: "The best thing about Chambers Bay was the amount of creativity that we had to use."
According to Davis, the players who do their homework and go about their preparations with the kind of meticulous attention to detail of a forensic scientist will prosper. "I would contend that there is no way a player would have success here at Chambers Bay unless he really studies the golf course and learns it," he said. "The idea of coming in and playing two practice rounds and having your caddie just walk it and using your yardage book, that person's done. He will not win the US Open."
So who will? "I believe the players from Britain are going to have an advantage," said Martin Kaymer, the defending champion from Germany. "It looks like a links golf course so I think you should look out for the Brits."
Maybe the aforementioned Poulter won't find Chambers Bay so farcical after all.
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