Torrey Pines will carry a complicated legacy into the U.S. Open history books.
On the one hand, few golf courses in America can claim the mantle of hosting multiple U.S. Opens. And judging by the event’s future venues, Torrey Pines marks the swan song of the USGA’s dalliance with public golf courses. It therefore enjoys a stature reached by few golf courses at all, much less truly public ones.
On the other hand, Torrey Pines is an objectively dull golf course. Its greatest asset — a stunning cliffside hanging over the Pacific Ocean — is badly underutilized by the routing. The land’s most interesting feature, the canyon running between the 13th and 14th fairways, serves as a penal afterthought rather than a strategic challenge. The greens are uninteresting; the bunkering is formulaic.
That doesn’t mean Torrey Pines is unlovable. But if you took away Torrey Pines’ history and its oceanside setting, it would be forgettable at best.
That’s not to suggest that every major venue must be an architectural masterwork. But if the USGA’s chief role is to advance the game of golf — to showcase the game’s greatest aspects, and to inspire fans to become advocates in their own clubs and communities — then the U.S. Open’s sites should embody a gospel worth evangelizing.
The U.S. Open’s host sites aren’t chosen simply for the sake of elevating those courses’ profiles. Ostensibly, they’re chosen because they’re the best of the best — and have something to offer the rest of the country. Not all our home courses can play like Pinehurst No. 2, but they can embrace the firmer, browner fairways that more sustainable maintenance practices create. Not all our home courses can play like Shinnecock Hills, but nearly every course could improve from wider driving corridors and greens surrounded by short grass.
I’ve always thought that the best part of playing great golf courses is not merely the thrill of playing great golf courses — but the opportunity to see new, interesting design elements, and to seek them out in the rest of the world. Anyone can find a great bottle of wine for $200; the trick is being able to find a great bottle of wine for $15 — and that’s a lot easier if you know what makes the $200 bottle so great.
Which brings us back to Torrey Pines — the golf equivalent of a $5 bottle wrapped in a $195 label. Its most memorable qualities — an oceanfront view, and a rare historical importance — are irreplicable in the real world. As an example of architecture, Torrey Pines is a far better example of what not to do with your neighborhood course than what opportunities lay unseen.
Ultimately, the USGA’s greatest contribution through bringing the U.S. Open to Torrey Pines has been the message that public golf matters. But with true public golf venues disappearing from the U.S. Open’s future, and with this public venue so lacking elements worth re-creating in the wider world, Torrey Pines’ real legacy may be that of a missed opportunity.
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