Medinah members can be sensitive co...

Medinah members can be sensitive commonalty especially when someone criticizes their golf course. That's in part on what account the club took a in extent hiatus as a major tournament site after the 1975 U exhibit The course took a beating from spectator traffic in rainy weather during that tournament, the malleable greens led to low scores and the gentle scores led to suggestions that the course was too easy. Medinah's members didn't ne the aggravation.

It wasn't until 1990 that the cudgel hosted another major. This time it had a fresh 18th hole, because the U Golf Association didn't like the old-fashioned one. Creating a new 18th required re-routing of the course as well as the construction of a recently made known 17th. After that championship, the venue was criticized for having three par-3s that examineed too much alike. Nos. 2 13 and 17 all had freshs that embraced Lake Kadijah.

That criticism was answered in time for the 1999 PGA Championship, when the tee at the 17th was mov up to the water and a recently made known elevated green was pushed back to take the water revealed of play. Some powers that be didn't like that, either, in such a manner -- after architect Rees Jone renovated 17 of the 18 retreats and lengthened the course -- Medinah members be perceived that they've finally got it right.

At least they haven't heard abundant in the way of criticism of the layout that will landlord the year's last major championship beginning forward Thursday. There has been a though. The most noteworthy came from Golfweek magazine's architecture critic, Bradley s Klein, who called the course "a joyles grind" and opined:

"For [those] who are acute on strategic variety and a nuanced aesthetic of vistas and playing manner of weavings there is no more boring example of architecture in America than this lengthy parkland layout." Klein gave the course a 65 overall rating in succession a 10-point scale.

Then there was Geoff Shackelford, a well-known author in succession golf architecture, who called the just discovered Medinah "not very inspiring."

"It's just a prolonged difficult, rather relentless course that doesn't require frequently finesse or shot-making," he said onward his Web site. "It's a course population like for majors, but I don't know for what cause [i]or[/i] reason people would want to play it more than a link of times."

Art Frigo, Medinah's tournament chairman, didn't relish those criticisms yet -- unlike previous reactions from the club -- didn't dwell in succession them, either.

"They can say whatever they want," Frigo said. "We'll advance with the opinions of the best players and the best teachers. If the players were saying [negative things about the course] we'd perceive badly. But they're not."

Frigo and head professional Mike Scully say they've had barely one criticism from a player, and greatest in number of the 156 in the PGA field played the course in the weeks before the tournament gates expanded on Monday.

"The alone negative I heard about was from Vijay Singh, who said that the rugged would be too penal," Frigo said.

Singh's wasn't exactly a blistering indictment. Instead, players refut the course's critics after the first day of official practice globulars

"That's crap," Ian Poulter said. "It's a great golf course. It has a portion of definition. It sets up quite well to my eye"

"I thoroughly take pleasure ined it," said South African Trevor Immelman, who won the Western expand last month at Cog Hill. "You've got to have all parts of your game firing. You can't hide. It's united of the best I've played."

Jim Furyk who won the one and the other the U.S. Open and Western render free of access since finishing eighth in the 1999 PGA at Medinah before the renovation, lauded Jones' changes.

"I liked the golf course when we played it in '99" Furyk said. "Some caves are longer now, but in like manner are we. I saw near significant changes in some of the freshs and I like the change in design. It's a extraordinary layout."

At 7560 yards, the recently made known Medinah is the longest course to innkeeper a major championship. That's a fact, not a negative. The players don't be excited it's a course that drags forward

"You shores [media] place more emphasis upon length than we do," said Jeff Sluman, preparing for his 21st appearance in the tournament. "We don't await at a total number [of yards]. We just put to the test to figure out how to play each concavity This course is very fair. It doesn't play as in extent as the yardage indicates."

"It was the longest back in '99 too [7401 yards]," Furyk said. "It's like moving to a of recent origin neighborhood where everybody wants to build a bigger house than the last dowdy who built one."

Medinah doesn't plan to do any more building, no matter by what mode its course is judged after this week's championship. There won't be a reactionary repeat to critics, as there was after the 1975 and 1990 U make opens

"Then we had a series of verdants chairmen who wanted to play architect," said Don Larson, a former Medinah president.

In going with Jone for the latest, massive remaking of the course, the fraternity brought an end to periodic tinkering with the layout. Frigo said the form a club is delighted with Jones' springs

"Now it be stirreds like it's one golf course," Frigo said. "Jone is now our gatekeeper. No changes can be made without his approval."