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"...In the United States we play what I term "target golf." Our courses
have boundaries, or borders, of trees, fences, and hedge, and our
fairways are well defined, easily distinguishable from the rough.
Sometimes at Carnoustie it was almost impossible to determine
from the tee where the fairway and the rough were identical in
color.
When they build a course they just go out and seed a tee, seed a
green, mow a fairway between them, and leave the rough the
same way it's been for a thousand years and will be for two
thousand more. They put sand traps everywhere. Traps on six of
the holes were strategically placed in the middle of the fairway at
perfect driving distance required for those holes. You had to find
your way around those traps because if you played short of them
you could not reach the green on the second shot.
Normally, they mow the fairway about once a month and mow the
greens about once a week. Since this type of course is easy to
build and easy to maintain, golf is very inexpensive and everyone
plays. The fee for a round at Carnoustie is 49 cents. It's
unfortunate that we do not have a large number of courses with
similar fees so more people could play golf over here.
Heather and gorse are abundant in the rough. Heather,
something like a fern, grows in clumps about eight inches to a foot
high and as thick as it can be. If you get in it, you have to hit the
ball about 10 times as hard as you would otherwise, and then
most times it won't go more than 10 yards or so. I was in it only
once, thank goodness, and that was on a qualifying round. It was
up close to a green and fortunately I came out of it all right.
Gorse is taller, sometimes waist-to head-high, and is a brambly
bush. I don't know what you do if you get into it, and I never
wanted to find out. I didn't practice getting out of the gorse or
heather because I figured anyone who would get into it frequently
wouldn't have a chance anyway.
Every fairway is rolling and full of mounds, and you hardly ever have a level lie.
It was bounce golf. I'd hit a shot and never know which way it might bounce when it
landed. I do know that in 72 holes of the tournament I never bounced an approach shot
"stiff" to the pin. By that, I mean close enough for what we'd consider a cinch putt.
You'd think in 72 holes anyone would "luck" one up there that close, but I never did.
It was what I'd call a "burn-happy" layout, too. There are two burns, or creeks - the
bigger Barry Burn and Jockie's Burn - that play a large part in making the course difficult.
In addition, there are several long ditches, or trenches, in the roughs. I tried to find all
of them, not only because it was a certain one-stroke penalty if you hit a ball into one but
because if I ever walked out into the rough I didn't want to fall into one and break my leg.
They're about three feet deep, and I'm surprised there aren't a lot more one-legged golfers
over there because of those ditches.
Their championship tees are called "tiger" tees. I thought this was because they were so
far back in the heather and gorse that only tigers would be there. I didn't learn differently
until my return to New York, when Bobby Jones told me where the name originated. The people
call a golfer who plays from the back tees a "tiger," and the golfer who plays from the much
shorter, front tees a "rabbit." I played several rounds at Carnoustie before I realized I was
being a rabbit part of the time. You can't find some of those tiger tees unless you have a
caddie or partner who knows the course well.
While practicing, I formulated my plans for the tournament. My degree of sharpness at the
time governs my attack and expectations for a particular tournament. A lot of things enter
into this plan - the type of course, the weather, places where there's a possible need for
sacrifice, and places where chances may be taken. I believed after two weeks of practice
that the tee shot would be the most important because of the course and the weather, and
thought that a score of 283 would win it.
You have to hit an extremely long tee shot at Carnoustie - the course measures more than
7,200 yards from the tiger tees - and you have to keep your drive out of the heather, gorse
and sand traps. Therefore, I did a lot of practicing with wood clubs, more than I normally
do for tournaments..."
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