After the fantastic weekend's golf at Wentworth I would love to know your thoughts on;

 - The course at Wentworth

 - Talk of Wentworth being a new Major

 - State of European, UK or English golf

 - Numnber of European Tour events in England/UK

or anything else that may speark debate after this weekend ?

I think it would be good for more events in England. My son and I went to the last couple of European Opens at the London Club.

Will definitely try and get to Wentowrth next year, he was away this weekend and I was playing catch up on matchplay events at the club.

As for the State of European Golf, as there are now so many Europeans (though not all regulars on the Euro Tour) in the top 10 it means the weighting of the European Tour events increases regarding world ranking points. This might tempt some of the better Americans to make mroe visits here.

I think the Majors stay as they are, there is always talk of the Players Championship in the US being teh "fifth major", I think we should stick to the 4, you could have a new category of 2nd tier "majors" maybe 1 form the US and 3 form Europe to even things up a little!

I'll take one at a time.

THE CHANGES TO WENTWORTH.

Peter Alliss made a very good point over the week-end during commentary. The changes to the Wentworth course have been done for the Top Players and not Joe Public.

Even Ernie Els himself admitted that playing the 12th as a Par4 was wrong, even though the hole plays the same for everyone in the field.

The 18th is the major problem, not because of the design, but because it is the last.. In the past, anything could (and did) happen over the last two holes. A 3-3 finish was not out of the question, neither was a 6-6 finish.

The new design of 18 means that a good player, already having to watch the ditch on the corner, now has to carry the 2nd shot all the way. This is beyond most. Fill in the ditch on the corner if you leave the water in place by the green. The green itself also needs looking at, and Westwood's shot in the play-off shows why. Having been forced to lay up and going in with a short iron, the ball will spin so the green needs more grass next to the water to stop a ball rolling back into the hazard.

TheLyth

THE WEST COURSE AT WENTWORTH - 18TH HOLE 470 YARDS

Without getting into whether or not a tweak here or a tweak there is necessary - most holes on any course could arguably be tweaked to the better but this hole is under particular scrutiny as it is a re-built 18th hole -  I personally believe that the overall design should stay.

World class players ought to be able to land their ball on the green at 470 yards - even the worst scenario for them should be a driver and a three wood.  The fact is however that many of today's top players always play out and out percentage shots, and I suspect that some are unable to rip a high ball if needed.

Percentage  shots are the way to play golf except in one situation:

You find yourself level with your opponent over the closing holes and there arises the opportunity to play a challenging shot against the odds in order to win. What better place for this than the final hole when the pressure is the greatest? 

Golf has to provide players with occasional severe challenges embodying danger and destruction if one fails. Otherwise everything falls down to who is closest to the pin and can putt better. 

One should not feel too sorry for Lee as it was his third shot  which rolled into the water, and he had plenty of green to play with.  It was either get next to the pin or lose. A great spectacle.......great drama.  Drama of a level which sadly is all too often missing in golf.

Ivan.

The 18th on the West Course (Burma Road) is 470yds for the Ladies. It is 539yds off the Championship tee. The last 200yds are up a steep hill,

The ditch on the corner is over 300yds off the tee, but a lay-up leaves a 225yd carry to a 12yd strip of land under a very large tree with the water on the left.

So most golfers will lay up and leave a short iron into the green and short irons spin.

TheLyth

David,

Thanks for that.  I took the yardage off the club's web site but maybe I missed the additional info?

Obviously then laying up is the way to go.

Whether the ditch should there simply to catch short carries, AND also roll backs is a matter of opinion.   

Several of the pin placements throughout the tournament were tight and I personally did not like pin placements on the front edge of greens on top of uphill slopes where one had little chance to get close without an element of luck on ball roll back.

I like tournaments where players have to work hard in order to scramble a few shots under par, rather than say cruise to 16 under.

I also have a sadistic tendency which loves high penalty tariffs and pays a well earned reward for beating the odds.

Whether your view or mine is closest to 'pureism'  I really do not know. It hardly matters. I do not profess to be a pureist and golf welcomes all types. Even these days shirtless ones.  

Having played this course many times in the sixties when it was a natural heathland course with one little natural pond on it, I too am not enamoured with the way this course has been changed to suit the professional game. In the old days both the 12th and 15th were par fives.

They have spoiled the 17th with those ridiculous channels downhill on either side of the green and, as Peter Allis said himself, they have taken away the opportunity to run the ball onto greens, just catering for the mechanical way the game is played today, that is why it was so nice to see Luke take the win with Seve type play.

Lee was playing better and should have hit driver at 18, especially after seeing Luke hit a rairway wood, knowing that he would need three to get to the green.

Why should Wentworth be the venue of the 5th major when it is not even the best course in Surrey, let alone the country.

1) Not enough European Tour events in England / UK

2) Wentworth should never be a "new" or "5th" major, there's only 4 major's and everyone should get used to that and not try to invent another.

3) The course at wentworth, well who cares, I switched off, couldnt stand to listen to Peter Aliss a minute longer with his ridiculous comments like "He must have his putting boots on today", utter drivel. Start with decent coverage then we'll talk about the course.

4) European golf has never been as healthy. World #1 & #2 both English. Brilliant.