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Gary Koch: My look At Inverness
By Gary Koch
For The USGA
NBC Analyst Gary Koch is returning to Inverness to play
in his first U.S. Senior Open. Koch played at Inverness in
the 1973 Amateur, 1979 U.S. Open and the PGA Championship
in 1986. Having the unique perspective of playing as well
as broadcasting for NBC Sports, Koch provides his insight.
Inverness is an interesting golf course with an interesting
mix of holes. Some very long par 4s like the 460-yard, par-4
fourth, 456-yard, par-4 seventh and the 441-yard, par-4 15th.
There are some very short par 4s like the 354-yard 18th, the
380-yard second hole and the 363- and 373-yard 10th and 11th
holes and kind of everything in between.
It is an interesting back nine with just one par 3 and the
one par 5, and the last five holes all par-4s.
With the current set-up, accuracy is going to be very important
to shooting a good round. The rough is long and tough, but
not impossible. The greens are so small, pretty firm and very
fast, so to control the ball well enough to hit good shots
into the greens you need to be in the fairway.
I think starting off both nines if you put the ball in the
fairway you are going to have a short iron into the green.
I would say that's a nice way to get started on both nines
with possibly a 1- or 2-under par score.
Both nines get progressively more difficult as they go on,
with the possible exception of the 18th hole on the back nine
and the shorter par 4 at 354 yards. But it is also one of
the most difficult greens on the golf course. Just because
you have wedge in your hand doesn't guarantee you're going
to hit it and have a good putt left for birdie.
So it's really a golf course to me that you're going to have
to get off to a good start on either nine. After the first
three or four holes, you're going to have to hold on to what
you have.
There will not be a lot of birdie opportunities after that.
Especially the front nine – holes four through seven -- are
a pretty tough stretch of holes. On the back nine, once you
get past 13, holes 14 through 17 are the same thing: you have
a difficult stretch of holes.
Even though Donald Ross originally designed the course, it
has been tinkered with so much that it is no longer a typical
Donald Ross course that most of us would think of. The greens
are by far the smallest I've ever played. The overall square
footage of Pebble Beach's greens are similar to these at Inverness
and have a totally different character than most - if any
- other Ross courses.
If the greens get soft and are receptive there will be some
good scores, but under the current conditions a player needs
to account for 5 to 8 yards of bounce/release.
There will be a lot of very defensive golf played this week,
which will keep the scoring around par and one stroke different
either way.
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