Mike Davis
Mike Davis, Executive Director of the United States Golf Association, has been a friend for over 25 years. I first met Mike in 1991 as a newly hired staff person assigned to the USGA Mid Amateur Championship, of which I was a committeeman. Moving through various positions within the USGA, he was the Senior Director of Rules and Competitions by the time I worked with him on the set up for the 2008 USGA Women’s Open at Interlachen. He was then elevated to the top position at the USGA in 2011.
It has been ten years since Mike took over course set up for the US Open, following the retirement of Tom Meeks. In that time he has made a paradigm shift in the course set up for the event. No small decision for the golden goose that lays the financial eggs for the USGA. The changes have carried over to State and Regional Association events, club events and even on a daily basis at courses across the country. Mike has changed how we play golf courses.
In short, Mike has enhanced the game because holes are more interesting and more fun. For USGA championships he has put variety into every hole, added an intermediate cut of rough, guarded against disasters on the greens and listened to the players.
In preparation for the 2008 Women’s US Open I worked with Mike on course set up as the Chairman of the Interlachen Grounds Committee. It was early summer of 2006 when Mike came to visit us. It was determined that the front and back nine would be reversed in order to build large bleacher seating around the final hole of the tournament (Interlachen’s #9). However, for ease of understanding, hole references in this story are the course's regular routing, not the reversed as used in the tournament.
We spent an entire day walking and discussing each hole. The plan for fairway width, height of cut on the fairways, rough and green speed was put together. Several weeks later a written report came in from Mike outlining everything we discussed.
Mike has a keen eye for golf course architecture. Before our 2006 meeting his job for the previous 10 years had been working with Tom Meeks on the set up of virtually every USGA championship.
“Cut those trees down and you will have a great hole,” Mike said to me as we stood in the fairway of the 11th hole. It took a few years but the trees came down unwrapping the best hole on an already great course.
“You know I like this tee about ten feet further left,” he said to me as we stood looking at the 8th hole. And he was right. After moving the tee that short distance it gave the hole a better look.
Now, ten years after taking complete control of the set up at the U S Open, Mike’s ideas touch every part of the championship site. A set up formula once cast in concrete has been jackhammered free, much to the enjoyment of tournament players and everyday players alike.
Using all of the available tee boxes to create various yardages for a hole, Mike adds great variety to the course. For instance, ICC’s #16 is a 330 yard par four, with a forward tee at 265, while the 17th plays 250 yards to a back hole location. On Saturday of the Women’s Open he put the par four #16 at 285 and the par three #17 at 250. He set up a short, drivable par four followed by a par three of similar distance.
“I think we got set in our ways,” Mike said to me as we walked. “Formerly we did not want a player to come to a hole and be surprised. We wanted them to have seen the set up. That’s not the way the game is played. Every time you walk to a hole you should see something you have not seen before.”
Formerly there were two stages to the rough, a three foot wide intermediate cut followed by the primary rough of four to five inches in length. At Interlachen, Mike added an additional stage that was 15’ wide and three inches in length, between stage one and two.
“We no longer want players hacking out of the rough from just off the fairway,” said Jim Hyler, former President of the USGA.
“It tends to be a less penal set up,” Reed MacKenzie, another former President of the USGA told me. “The player feels they always have a chance, even though they may not be able to do much coming out of the rough to a hard and fast green.”
The set up for the par five, 9th hole at Interlachen, had the tee moved forward to 460 yards on Sunday. “Wouldn’t it be exciting to see someone make an eagle and win the tournament?” Mike said to me as we walked the final day, setting tee and hole locations.
“Mike likes to see the players have an opportunity to make eagles,” Reed Mackenzie commented. Throughout the Women’s Open he moved each of the par five tees forward and back making some holes change in length by nearly 100 yards.
“I think we can move the tee markers around and give the course different looks,” Matt Rostal, superintendent at Interlachen, told me following the event. “This is good, it gets us out of the routine.”
As we walked one morning Mike recalled a set up that brought a smile to his face. “At Oakmont in 2007, Tiger walked to the 17th tee with a plan, he was always going to hit an iron. However, he got to the tee and found it so short that he had to hit driver.” Tiger handled it but it cost Jim Furyk the championship when he got tangled up in the long rough around the green.
Throughout a tournament Mike is concerned about greens becoming too firm, too dried out or even unplayable. “Mike was concerned about our severely sloping greens becoming unreceptive,” said Matt Rostal, course superintendant. “Mike wants a course firm but manageable. He wants the greens to accept high lofted irons but not lower flighted shots.”
It’s a fine balance between firm and fast but not losing the greens. At the 2010 Women’s US Open at Oakmont the greens were very stressed. The decision was made not to water. Sometimes decisions don’t work out for the best. Unfortunately, Oakmont lost their greens and the course was shut for three months following the tournament.
Mike learned from this and several other famous problems. At Shinnecock Hills in 2004 the wind made the seventh green unplayable. Play was halted and they had to bring out the hoses to water it. In 1998 on the 18th green at Olympic Club, a ball coming from the right side of the hole would not stop as it turned and rolled down the green. Or the 1992 Open at Pebble Beach where the greens became unplayable because of wind.
Mike had this in his memory as he looked at the severity of the Interlachen greens in determining hole locations. The set up for the 7th hole, was to have the hole locations concentrated in the back left portion all four rounds. This is the only flat area on a severely sloped green. By the time Sunday rolled around statistics showed that the 7th hole was playing the easiest hole to par, by nearly 1/2 shot. Should the hole location be toughened up a bit?
Nope, too big a chance for another Olympic Club experience. Then guess what happened? It was a hot windy day with the wind blowing straight down the severe green. It could have been a disaster had Mike not stuck with the plan.
Mike has learned from watching other problems that developed from his predecessor’s set ups. In the 2000 Open at Bethpage the carry to the 10th fairway was 250 yards. And that was just fine until the wind changed and many of the players could not carry the long gnarly rough. Left with over 200 yards uphill, you can imagine what the players said that day. When the event moved back to Bethpage in 2009 the carry to the fairway was 40 yards shorter.
Doug Hoffman, Tournament Director of the Minnesota Golf Association, worked the Women’s Open for the USGA and saw how Mike set the course up. A few years later Doug set up the final hole of the State Amateur at Windsong Farms by moving the tee box forward about 50 yards. Trent Peterson came to the final hole one back of the lead, made an eagle and won the tournament. Exciting, fun, and not possible without having been “given permission” by the premier course set up person in the country, Mike Davis.
Another interesting wrinkle Mike has added is uniformity in hole locations from the first practice round to the finals on Sunday. Gone are the days with Monday of championship week finding hole locations all in the center of the greens, then becoming more and more difficult each day until the famous ”Sunday locations” are seen.
Remember how the players always complained about the set up the USGA made? Not any more. In the press tent the term heard now is, “it’s fair”. As a result the players, the press and the public no longer criticize the USGA for course set up. The entire discourse has changed. There is a reason, Mike Davis.
Jobs at the USGA are very difficult. Say the wrong thing to the wrong person and your career could change course. I have never seen a situation that Mike did not handle in a friendly, informative, truthful manner. He is always looking to put volunteers and other staff in a good light. When I watch him in front of the press he is himself, answering questions in a straight forward manner. Nothing phony about Mike Davis.
Following the 2008 Women’s Open, many Interlachen members were interested in having a USGA Senior Open. I chatted with Mike about that possibility.
“So, what do you think, should we invite the USGA to hold a USGA Senior Open at Interlachen,” I said.
Knowing full well that Mike has warm feelings for Interlachen, he said, “Interlachen is a wonderful golf course, but there would be 10 or 12 seniors, some coming off the regular PGA Tour, that would play the course in a manner not envisioned by the architect.”
A brilliant statement. What he was saying was that because of the way the course goes together, with five par four holes under about 350 yards, the right guy on the right day could drive or nearly drive each one. In fact, not one player but maybe 10 or 12. Nobody wants that. Donald Ross, architect of Interlachen, did not envision that happening and Mike did not want it to happen.
It was accurate, polite, truthful and direct. I asked the question and he gave me his answer and the position that the USGA would probably take if the invitation came.
“We would love to come back to Interlachen, sooner than later,” continued Mike. “Let’s see if we can find another event that would work for both of us.”
From our many years working together on the USGA Mid Amateur Committee, 1993 Walker Cup and the 2008 Women’s US Open, Mike has always been a solid, unwavering friend.
Mike Davis has changed the way the players, the press and the public look at the US Open. He has influenced course set up across the country by making golf courses more fun for tournament competitors and the golfing public. This week as the US Open returns to Oakmont, I will be watching to see if he has added any wrinkles to make the game more fun for all. Mike Davis has enriched a Life In Golf.
