Has anyone played Black in the past month or so? Playing this thursday and wondering just how nasty the conditions are.

I found the course to be fairly benign. The rough was up but not terrible. The graduated rough is already in place which i believe is less penal then the course is usually set up prior to NY State Open's in July. The lack of play has definitely improved the greens. They are slow but rolling MUCH truer than usual. Usually well rolled putts will bounce off the proper line and lip out. Also the bunkers were very soft & sugary. It was difficult to get out on 1 shot as your sand wedge would dig in much deeper than one would expect.

Helpful?

very helpful thanks - I was anticipating the rough would be really bad. Thanks for the sand tip - new sand i guess. How many yards off the fairway was the graduated cut?

10yds.

this is spot on. especially about the rough, which is not anywhere near as thick as usual yet. i had no problem getting solid shots out of it. Mike Davis, however, did say that they will definitely thicken it up if they need to. pre-NYS Open was much thicker than it is right now (although, i played 2 weeks ago, so i'm sure it's getting there).

perfect description...rough not so bad...bunkers soft as hell. out of the 4 bunkers i was in, i had 3 buried lies

oh boy...i usually beg to be in the bunkers on black vs the green side rough....gotta shallow it out and be aggressive i guess.

The Bunkers are always soft at the Black. If you are hitting a short iron you will get a fried egg 80% of the time. The bunker in front of 17 is Brutal!!!

they're not usually this soft. its definitely new sand or something they've done for the open. fluffiest sand ive ever seen...on the 16th i was plugged under the lip about 30 yards from the green and it was one of those where you could barely see any of the ball at all...i had to dust away a little sand to identify it and then put it back over to basically completely submerge it. ive had a sore right wrist and when i tried to hack out of that it did't help the matter...luckily i did get it out which was miraculous in itself and moved it about 3 feet away on top of the trap. AVOID THE BUNKERS AT ALL COSTS...especially greenside because they will plug

all i can say is WOW...winds were so bad...3 club at times...after the graduate cut any ball is dead....like zero chance assuming you can find it LOL.

Thanks for the tip! I'm heading up Saturday to play Sunday (weather permitting) and will make sure to use my high bounce wedge out of the bunkers (although obviously will try to avoid them).

I'm guessing you played yesterday (thursday)

Wind didn't start off too bad, it was manageable in the morning, but by the afternoon it was howling. Absolutely killed me on holes 11 thru 13.


As for the course, it is very plush. I was in a few bunkers yesterday with some plugged lies and some not so plugged lies. Its very soft stuff, so always make sure you accelerate through the sand and not decelerate. Fairway bunkers are good, just make sure you give yourself a solid stance, dig your feet in, and hit the shot like any fairway bunker shot back home.

The greens were very plush. They were fairly quick yesterday...not US Open speed but I'd estimate they were in the 10-11 range on the stimp based on what my home course runs at. SMOOTH though, very smooth. Remember, don't take as much break as you think you need. I did this on many putts on the front 9 and every single time the ball would just roll over right where I was aimed even when I accounted for as little as half a cup of break.

Graduated rough is awesome. Like the USGA says, the lie you get on your second shot is going to be dependent on the quality of tee shot you hit. Straight tee shots that hit the fairway are sitting very good in very plush fairways. If you hit the fairway and the ball runs through a bit, you'll be in the first or second cut, which is kindof sticky but you can still get a solid long iron out of it. If you hit a decent shot but not perfect you'll probably land in the second cut and stay there. Bad tee shots will get terrible lies in the 3rd cut and you'll have to wedge out.

Yeah we tee'd off 930 - wind wasn't bad until #6 where it blowin right in our face. 11 and 16 were really bad...i absolutely busted one on 16 and had 195 in...then hit a bullet 3 wood just over the back...where i would normally hit 5I. Greens were very nice and medium speed for black...i totally agree with the 'don't over play break'..usually it's less than you see. After the 1st cut man it was bad...i was praying to be in any fairway bunker on a miss hit. Overall very rough day though 14-17 i had a nice run of par,par,bogey, birdie.