In my Erie County Amateur Preview, I felt pretty confident that Clyde Webber’s decades-old course record would hold up well against the area’s best this weekend. After watching the opening tee shots from several groups, my conviction waned a little bit. I was seeing approach shots on the 1st hole from areas rarely seen. Sean Mahon was left inside 50 yards, and this was with the soft conditions, and promptly pitched to inside 5 feet. Perhaps I had underestimated just how good these guys were.
But then Elma Meadows reminded me that #1 is not meant to be a punishing start. Rather, the downhill opener is Elma’s way of saying “Welcome to our beautiful park. Enjoy your day!” The subtext to that sentiment is “enjoy it while it lasts, because you’d better be ready for #2.”
It turns out that Elma Meadows had plenty of punch for the area’s best amateurs. While the rough didn’t prohibit players from reaching greens in regulation, it definitely wore on the players. Under normal conditions, the rough at Elma can provide the gift of flyer lies on a regular basis, but that wasn’t the case yesterday. Even if the lie wasn’t bad, the extra water weight provided more uncertainty.
Yet, it wasn’t just a more difficult set-up that kept the scores in check. Elma’s angled landing areas and doglegs provided uncertainty and punishment to those that were unfamiliar with the layout or were too bold in club selection off the tee. As previewed in my “Holes to Watch” post, the right area through the dogleg on #2 forced a number of pitch-outs or severely shaped approach shots. The left trees on #5 also had its share of visitors.
However, the most demanding tee shot of the day was clearly the 14th hole (old #5). From a back tee, the players were forced to exercise some humility with a straight layup or navigate a tight space to draw their ball into the aggressive line. The Scrambler wandered into one trio’s conversation as they sized up the demands of the 14th tee shot. One of the most brilliant and colorful one-liners was delivered to summarize the shot’s tightness, but I assumed (and confirmed) that said statement was best left “off the record.”
One of the 14th’s most notable victims was Patrick Sheedy. Entering the 14th at only +1, Sheedy grabbed Driver off the tee and ended up with a lost ball penalty after bounding through the fairway into the far side hayfield.
The Western New York PGA also deserves some kudos for their set-up on Day 1. Many players commented on some of the tucked pins on Day 1, with several holes a mere 3 paces from the green edges. In my opinion, such pins were placed well to keep players from getting too greedy on Elma’s relatively benign contours. Many of the greens are fairly small, so a smart approach to the middle still leaves a fairly good look at birdie. Combined with the wide swath of fringe, the “edgy” pin placements seemed perfectly fair.
Also, I was pleased to see that the WNY PGA used the back right tee deck on #13 (old #4). Besides bringing some “left-to-right” balance to the course’s tee shot challenges, the deck jangled the nerves of several players with out-of-bounds looming right. Many of those favoring the big right-to-left swinger could be seen bailing out and missing into the left trees.
It was a pleasure watching the high-caliber players challenge my formative layout yesterday. I’m heading out in just a few minutes to follow the final round action and hope others will be excited to watch the conclusion. We could still have a “Hanes Family Sweep” as Billy Hanes is in the final men’s pairing, while Michelle Hanes is certainly in striking range on the women’s side. In addition, younger brother David Hanes is only 5 off the pace. If last year’s thrilling conclusion(s) are any indicator, you won’t want to miss today’s action.
