ESPN Golf Online: North: All Hale the PGA Seniors


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North: All Hale the PGA Seniors

By Andy North
Special to ESPN Golf Online
April 14 5:55pm ET

The PGA Seniors Championship and the U.S. Senior Open, in my opinion, are the two biggest majors on the Senior PGA Tour because they're the two oldest and they're tied to the USGA and the PGA.

ASK ANDY

Each week Andy North will answer three user questions. If you have a question, send it to Andy and check back next week to see if he answers it.
I am in the market for a new set of clubs. I have always played steel shaft irons. I was wondering the benefits of playing graphite irons. What are the downfalls?
-- Sammy Wren, Grand Prairie, Texas
North: In the last five years, they've really come up with a lot better graphite than the original graphite. The reason a lot of people have tried graphite is that you can get a club that's a little bit lighter, and because of that, you can put a little more weight in the head and probably hit the ball farther.
Another benefit of graphite is that it reduces some of the shock and wear and tear on your hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders. You'll see guys who have a problem with a hand or a wrist and will try it on tour.
As far as I'm concerned, I've never particularly liked graphite. That's not to say that it's not good for a lot of other people because I've always tried to play with a golf club that's heavier. Graphite is too light for me. But that's the beauty of it for most players. They can get a lighter club and generate more club-head speed.
Why does it seem that a lot of tournaments set up their courses for high-ball hitters? Guys like Paul Azinger don't seem to be able to compete as well now with their low-ball flights. They can't hit their run-up shots because greens are too firm and pins too close to the edges.
-- Tony Myers, Pensacola, Fla.
North: I don't think anybody sets up a golf course for a tournament trying to make it an advantage for the high-ball hitters. If you look at the history of majors, for years, the greens have been firm. If the greens are going to be firm and you can hit the ball higher, it's probably going to be an advantage.
No one is trying to eliminate the low-ball hitter. No one is trying to eliminate players who can't hit the ball really high. But at the same time, these guys are professional golfers, and they have to deal with whatever conditions they play in. That's why professionals are better than the average golfer; they can adapt to anything.
Often I hear announcers stating that the players would rather be in a green-side sand trap than chipping from alongside the green. Why? Most, if not all, weekend golfers would prefer the latter.
-- Charles Weber, Reedsville, Ohio
North: Most of the bunkers we play on tour are manicured very nicely, and you usually get some pretty good lies in them. The players have become so good out of bunkers that they can almost guarantee, if it's just a normal bunker shot, that they can get it within four or five feet of the hole.
Now, if you have a perfect lie on shortly cut fringe, you'd rather chip the ball. But generally, where we play, the grass around the greens gets to be long enough that all of a sudden the ball settles down into the grass. Then you can't get a good clean hit on the ball, and you probably can't be as consistent out of long green-side grass as you can out of a bunker.

But the PGA Seniors Championships has more tradition, dating back to 1937, and such players as Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have won the event. So it's a major everyone would like to win.
The Senior players haven't played since The Tradition was abbreviated by weather two weeks ago in Arizona. A handful of players competed at The Masters, but the PGA Seniors comes at a really good time for a lot of players because they've already played a lot of competitive golf early in the season.
The week off is nice in that it allows them to get geared up for the PGA Seniors. After the event, they being a stretch in which they play quite a bit of golf. They need to come into the PGA Seniors rested and ready because the PGA National is a very difficult course.
There's an awful lot of water at the PGA National. Nicklaus re-designed the course a few years ago. The wind always blows; it's the same brutal Florida combination of wind and water. And the PGA National has stretch of some of the hardest holes you'd play anywhere in any tournament: holes 14-17.
No. 14 is a long par-4 that they can be played, depending on what tee the players use, with a three-iron to maybe a six-iron. No. 15 is a par-3 over water with almost no room to play. The water is short and right of the green, and there's a big bunker on the left where you want to bail out. We've seen players make sixes and sevens on No. 15 coming down the stretch with the lead. Raymond Floyd did that a few years ago and lost the tournament.
No. 16 is a really hard par-4 where you have hit over another lake. The lake is situated in such a position that the shortest shot you have is about 180 yards. If you drive the ball to some other place, you don't gain any distance. No. 17 is another par-3 over water with the water to the front and the right of the green. There's another deep bunker in the area where you'd bail out, so again there's only a small area to work with.
Then, when the players are done with those four holes, No. 18 is a par-5 with water on it the entire way. When the wind blows on those four or five holes, if you can figure out a way to make par, you've beaten the field by a couple of shots.
Which player excels there? Obviously, Hale Irwin. What makes the three-time defending champion play so well at the PGA National is that he's a good wind player and probably the most precise Senior player in terms of distance with his irons. Irwin is the best at placing his shots in the very limited areas on each hole.
The PGA Seniors comes at a great time for Irwin because he hasn't played very well this year, for whatever reason. He's had some decent tournaments, but he hasn't had a chance to win one yet. I would suspect that he's really pointed to this event. Becoming the first to win the event four straight times would be special.
If he doesn't play well, then you have to wonder what's happening with his game. After winning his first PGA Seniors by two strokes, he's won handily the last two years. There's never been a question about who would win. It's the perfect golf course for Irwin when he's playing well.
Who can challenge Irwin? You have to look at the players who have played well this year. Bruce Fleisher is playing exceptionally well. He also lives in the area and has played the PGA National hundreds of times. In addition, Fleisher is a very accurate, precision-type player. He's not a bomber. He puts the ball on the fairway and on the greens, and that's the type of game that does well there.
Dana Quigley should also be a factor because he's a good wind player. Bob Duval, another Florida-based player, is coming off a win three weeks ago in his home state and knows how to play the wind. Then there's Floyd, Gil Morgan and Larry Nelson. Nelson won the PGA Championship at the PGA National in 1987, so it's a good course for him.
You also have to consider one of the "younger" Seniors, like Allen Doyle, a very straight hitter whose game is suited for the course.

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