{"id":15544216,"date":"2024-06-28T15:25:49","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T19:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golf.com\/?post_type=article&p=15544216"},"modified":"2024-06-28T18:16:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T22:16:27","slug":"u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/","title":{"rendered":"No water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If your idea of big-time tournament golf is a competition played on emerald-green terrain, underpinned by SubAir Systems<\/a>, patrolled by moisture-sensing drones and fine-tuned with the assistance of all kinds of space-age advents, we don\u2019t blame you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty of that to go around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, though, something different is afoot as the over-50 set convenes in Rhode Island for the U.S. Senior Open<\/a>, at Newport Country Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A visit to the more century-old club is a trip through time to the birthplace of championship golf in this country; the first U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open were both held here in 1895. It\u2019s also a reminder of a more rustic era in golf-course maintenance, when layouts in the U.S. were kept more like their counterparts in Ireland and the UK. Augusta National<\/a> this is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider, for instance, irrigation. While Newport\u2019s greens and tees have sprinkler heads, its playing corridors don\u2019t. Unique among USGA championship venues, the course has no irrigation system for its fairways and rough because, well, that\u2019s how it\u2019s always been, and the membership likes it that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the implications for this week\u2019s competition? Ben Kimball is senior director of championships for the USGA. We asked him about Newport\u2019s distinctive infrastructure (or lack there of) and its impact on course setup for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ample room off the tee<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tightening fairways for a tournament means growing in the rough, but growing in the rough requires ready access to irrigation. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to water constantly,\u201d Kimball says. Doing so at Newport would mean running hoses for hundreds of yards from the tees or greens, a labor-intensive process that also carries risks. \u201cThe conditioning here is controlled more by mother nature than it is by an individual with a switch box,\u201d Kimball says. That makes it hard to predict how the course will emerge from winter and spring, and how easily it might be managed in the weeks leading up the event. What\u2019s more, because Newport is a windy site, there\u2019s the likelihood that \u201cnot all the water will land where you need it to land.\u201d Rather than run those risks, the USGA opted to leave the corridors as the club keeps them for member play, mostly ranging from 35- to 45-yards wide, five to 10 paces wider on average than more championship venues. \u201cIt\u2019s going to look to the players like there\u2019s some room to hit it,\u201d Kimball says. \u201cAnd when the wind kicks up, they\u2019re going to be happy to have that width.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-uniform rough<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Intermingled with Newport\u2019s native-grass rough are splotches of bentgrass that, Kimball says, were either dragged out by golfers on their shoes or left over from where fairway used to be. Bentgrass performs great on greens. As rough, though, it\u2019s a bear, thick and grabby. \u201cAnd if you cut it down it doesn\u2019t like it, either,\u201d Kimball says. Without irrigation, \u201cit gets yellow and scalped-looking.\u201d And so, where most major championships have uniform rough, Newport will have a mix of wispy native grass that\u2019s easier to hit through, and gnarly, club-snagging bentgrass patches. \u201cYou don\u2019t always know what you\u2019re going to get,\u201d Kimball says. \u201cBut if anything, the farther offline you hit it, the better off you\u2019re likely to be,\u201d because the bentgrass, by virtue of how it got there in the first place, is more likely to be closer to the fairway edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n \"Hiroyuki
\n Newport has no irrigation system for its fairways and rough.<\/span>\n \n Jonathan Ernst\/USGA<\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Minimal mid-tourney tweaking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Modifying the course setup is a common practice in major championships, and the USGA will do that this week on the tees and greens. But it will be a different story in the fairways and rough. \u201cIn a way, you could say it\u2019s actually easier on us, because we just have to let nature take its course.\u201d (The exception is the middle of the 10th fairway, where there is a sprinkler head, which was installed because the soil is particularly thin and rocky in that area.) \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like playing golf in a museum,\u201d Kimball says of Newport. \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful, but you really can\u2019t touch much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A U.S. Open, with a British look<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Like all species, grass adapts. The turf in Newport\u2019s fairways has done just that, growing old, deep-rooted and resilient, beautifully suited to its environment. But not Augusta-green. A mix of grass varietals (bentgrass, poa, rye and fescue), it\u2019s monochromatic, and as the week wears on, it will go in ways that nature takes it, giving rise to brown or tawny patches reminiscent of the turf on links across the pond. \u201cViewers might find that it has more of a British Open look and feel than what they think of an as old-school U.S. Open,\u201d Kimball says. \u201cMore Pinehurst than Winged Foot, if you know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 130 years after it hosted the first U.S. Open Championship, Newport Country Club still has no irrigation in its fairways or rough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15544221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-06-28T19:25:53Z","apple_news_api_id":"c4aee93f-57d4-48db-9619-a32d46cf0f39","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-06-28T22:16:23Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AxK7pP1fUSNuWGaMtRs8POQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[40],"tags":[61987],"class_list":["post-15544216","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-supersecrets"],"acf":{"tee_time_button_status":false,"wsum-gated-content":false,"wsotp_enable_one_time_payment":false,"ad_meta":false,"article_template":"standard","featured_image_caption":"At historic Newport Country Club, some maintenance practices are as old as the club itself.","featured_image_credits":"Kathryn Riley\/USGA","art_author":[{"ID":14045818,"post_author":"235","post_date":"2016-10-09 13:44:40","post_date_gmt":"2016-10-09 17:44:40","post_content":"","post_title":"Josh Sens","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"josh-sens","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-03-01 10:29:29","post_modified_gmt":"2024-03-01 15:29:29","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.golf.com\/?post_type=golf_person&p=14045818","menu_order":0,"post_type":"contributor","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"art_source":"None"},"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nNo water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The birthplace of championship golf in this country, Newport Country Club has for more than a century without irrigation in its fairways.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The birthplace of championship golf in this country, Newport Country Club has for more than a century without irrigation in its fairways.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Golf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/golf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-28T22:16:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/newportlogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1856\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1045\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@golf_com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"No water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly","description":"The birthplace of championship golf in this country, Newport Country Club has for more than a century without irrigation in its fairways.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"No water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly","og_description":"The birthplace of championship golf in this country, Newport Country Club has for more than a century without irrigation in its fairways.","og_url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/","og_site_name":"Golf","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/golf\/","article_modified_time":"2024-06-28T22:16:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1856,"height":1045,"url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/newportlogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@golf_com","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/","url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/","name":"No water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/newportlogo.jpg","datePublished":"2024-06-28T19:25:49+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-28T22:16:27+00:00","description":"The birthplace of championship golf in this country, Newport Country Club has for more than a century without irrigation in its fairways.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/newportlogo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/newportlogo.jpg","width":1856,"height":1045,"caption":"Greens and fairways at Newport Country Club, host of the 2024 U.S. Senior Open."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/lifestyle\/u-s-senior-open-newport-country-club-irrigation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/golf.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"No water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/","name":"Golf","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/golf.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/#organization","name":"golf.com","url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GOLF_logoGREEN.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GOLF_logoGREEN.png","width":2130,"height":628,"caption":"golf.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/golf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/golf\/","https:\/\/x.com\/golf_com","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/golf_com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/golf-magazine\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/golfdotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCzdMqRWzdF0JUJRIVa-dgDw"]}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"is_gated":false,"authors":[{"name":"Josh Sens","url":"https:\/\/golf.com\/writers\/josh-sens\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/15544216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15544221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15544216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15544216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15544216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}