Watching the Ryder Cup and my enjoyment is being seriously undermined by the poor course. Valhalla is very average, artificial looking and no way World Class. I know Europe used "3 fields ruined" aka The Belfry but I would have thought you could find a way better track than this.

Everything I have ever read on this golf course is that it is outstanding and it seems to be in incredible condition.


As for who chooses it the PGA of America they have also chosen it before for the PGA

I do think they expected a lot of birdies

by the way are you European

not sure how its chosen, but 2012 is at Medinah in Chicago

I don't know what course you are watching but it looks good to me. What is wrong with it? It has hosted a major. I personally am getting sick of seeing the same courses used on tour for the last 20 years.

clearly you don't have HD TV where ever you are. The course looks great, and I think it's got a lot of very interesting holes.

I believe the PGA of America owns Valhalla.

the layout looks cool to me, but some of the greens seem a bit brown, and some of the rough a bit thin, but its hard to see on tv.

The US is leading so the course must suck? Is that what you are saying??

Dude, I am a proud citizen of the United States of America. What I am saying is that I saw some spots on the greens that looked brown and dry. I also said it was on my TV, and that I might be wrong.

I was replying to the OP's topic, not your message. Dude.

you do realize that much of the country has been in a drought right?? not every course can look like augusta!! this place did not host 2 pga championships by accident......the only reason the euro courses look so lush is because they have cooler moist weather.

Money talks when it comes to be picking these courses. Notice the past few and next few Euro courses are all resort courses...

Valhalla is a great track for a Nicklaus design, if you like those. There are a couple greens, specifically one of the par 3's, that have some kinda knappy spots on them. But overall it looks spectacular in HD.

Imo, there are much better courses out there than Valhalla and Medinah. Imo a big reason the Cup is here (and the PGA championship) is the simple fact that they own the course, and thus no course rental fee

Ahhh...I hate hearing the D-word. Most of the country is NOT in a drought...and Augusta Georgia would be in the worst area of the drought. NC/SC/GA are all above average for rainfall this year in most locations...and professional courses should never be affected by a drought anyway...most use an alternate source of water like a lake or pond on the course. This course is no exception.

Here's a news flash; Kentucky is hot in the summer so a few brown spots are expected I would think. I'm not a personal fan of Jack's courses but if the US keeps this up I might be pretty soon!!!!!!

These greens look super fast and I think they have to be cut very, very tight to get those speeds so a few brown spots would not surprise me. It is certainly not a drought situation as they got drenched when what was left of Ike blew through, I think.

There is nothing wrong with brown as far as putting goes... Valhalla is a cool track and it looks really lush right now. I don't think any of the players are going to be complaining.

Ike didn't dump any rain on Louisville, Most of the rain went north. August and September are the two dryest months here. I would say there has been less than 3 in. of rain in the last 8 weeks.

sure Augusta is going to look like it does in April in the middle of rainy season. If you held the tournament in Sept, you would get a few brown spots there as well, No course is safe from that.

I think it's very solid golf course and a very good example of Nicklaus design (my experience being limited to having played a grand total of two of them.)

The condition looks to be perfectly okay to me - and the UK on-course reporters have all described the overall condition and, in particular, the greens as being excellent.

Was it just the winds that Louisville got hit with? I know they talked about "clean up" during the telecast.

Just the winds, If they got any rain it wasn't very much, I live 25 miles from the course and got no rain all day.

Also a few of the greens are only about a year old. They closed down the course to put in changes for this.

I'm not certain of all these details but I think how this event found it's way to Valhalla had to do with moving Whistling Straits into a PGA "rota", if you will. They fastracked Whistling Straits in there after all the hoopla as to who would use that venue first to host a major, the USGA or the PGA of America. As 50% partners with the club, they had a contract with Valhalla to play another PGA there and to bump them out of that they gave this Ryder Cup to them. This decision was made before buying the remaining 50% after the 2000 PGA. This sound familiar to anyone?

I think its a nice course, and it looks in great shape to me. For excitement I think that little pond/river will add even some more excitement down the stretch. Look what happened to Boo and JB on it today.

I am not a big fan of Valhalla. The PGA owns the course and that is why it is hosting the Ryder Cup and the two PGA's. You can't tell me that this course even comes close to Brookline, Winged Foot, Oakland Hills, Medinah, Baltusrol, even the course where the Wachovia is held. Of course, I am a fan of the old school, traditional layouts.

Well, being there today the course was in tip top condition. I saw no brown on any greens but some of the rough was indeed burned out. The course itself is in fantastic condition.

By the way --------- Ky has been very dry this year. Pleanty of rain in the spring but very little since.

What's wrong with a little brown on the green? It's the end of summer, for crying out loud!

Agreed. Imo Valhalla is a tricked up course...lots of earth moved. It looks great, the holes are neat and well designed. Personally I just prefer to see something shaped more naturally

Not much earth moved at all.
I grew up hunting the property, and aside from greens, bunkers, and clearing trees, the place is as they found it.
The island green on 13 was always there, just raised and rebuilt.
They actually removed the raised tees on 17.

I think Valhalla was in great shape for the conditions we have had in kentucky this year. The rough was cut low, but from what I understand is there was a reason for that. I believe Azinger wanted it that way.

The greens were in great shape on Thursday when I was there.

Personally, I think Valhalla is a great course, but I will say that if the Club at Olde Stone has the right management as it continues then it will most likely surpass Valhalla as the best course in the state of Kentucky.

Very surprised to hear that, but pleased none the less.

Just because a course isn't a perfect shade of green all over doesn't mean it's not in good shape.

I've walked or played many courses all over and I can say the course as in excellent shape on Friday when I was there (mid September in KY). The layout was a great layout for this type of event. Both teams played great golf but just look at how many lead changes many of the matches had.

I think the course showed very well and a good many matches made it to 18. Which is a testament to the players and the course. What I don't like is folks who are killing a course that haven't actually seen it in person or played it. Now everyone is entitled to their opinion so that's fine. But I rather lay my own eyes on a course and not be fed a broadcast to make up my mind. HD TV is great but it's no substitution for the real thing (yet!).

Now some may disagree but I feel it was an excellent choice for the Ryder Cup. Let's not forget it was also chosen for the great fan support the 2 PGA's got. And I can say the fans certainly came through.

Now if the US had lost I'd be infavor of plowing the course up and putting a Walmart on the property to erase the painful memories.

I've got no idea about this because i had to watch it on the computer.
The SkySports commentators (most were americans btw) did mention the greens being very closely cut on several occasions. They said this made for some spots on some greens where there was almost no grass left.

They did seem very fast, but nothing out of the ordinary IMHO. I didn't like how the rough was mown though, those big stripes distorted the views.

I didn't love the layout of the course, but considering it has hosted 2 of the best 5 golf events in the last decade (08 Ryder and the PGA face-off between Tiger and Bob May), you have to admit it is built for drama.

I lived in Cincinnati for many years and had the opportunity to play Valhalla several times a year because of a business connection. I can tell you the course didn't show nearly as well on tv as it does in person. The front 9 and back 9 are two very different layouts because the terrain is different. And, because of the terrain some holes and areas are limited to spectators and coverage because you just can't get to them. Many of the modern tournament courses are designed with spectators and tv coverage in mind....Valhalla wasn't. I'm not sure the guy who originally started the club ever had the intention of it becoming a PGA owned, major championship course. I think NBC did a good job at picking up coverage on most of the interesting holes but I did notice they seemed to focus on the beginning and end of each 9 while not having much from the middle holes on each side.

Excellent point.

Re green speeds - I asked Mark the Superintendent how fast the greens were on Friday. He responded they were running fast, but not stupid.

I believe Mr. Gahn always desired to have a major tournament there (they said as much in one of the ceremonies), but I can't say if he ever intended to sell it to the PGA. If you look at the land they have, they have plenty of room for the infrastructure needed - the room for the 40k sq foot merchandise tent, the different villages and corporate tents along 7, 9 and 17. To me, it easily accomodated 40k people on Saturday and Sunday. With the space they had, they did not need to squeeze corporate tents on every hole. The tree clearing they did on the back btw 12-17 really opened up the course for better viewing opportunities. The elevation changes and the mounding also allowed for a lot of good views on the holes. Sure, you can't have spectators on every hole from tee to green, but that is due to Floyds Fork running through the course (e.g., on 2 and 6).