JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- One by one, yet in virtual 124-part harmony, they have sought to pen the perfect lyrics.
If there's anything that's music to my ears, it's hearing PGA Tour players grousing and groaning in veritable unanimity about golf courses they deem unworthy.
This week, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, they have tried, mostly in vain, to say something positive about the reclaimed former industrial wasteland called Liberty National, the host site of the FedEx Series opener, The Barclays.
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"We are PGA pros, it's part of our job description -- you have to be able to bitch a little bit," said Tom Kite, who co-designed the course. "If you can't do it, you can't get your tour card. That's part of the prerequisite. We expect a little bit of that, but that's A-OK."
That said, he'd better find his earplugs.
If you haven't heard about Liberty National, it's the world's most expensive grassy view lot -- a former oil tank farm that had all the visual appeal of a collapsing tenement building, even the rats avoided it. But it was located just across the water from the southern tip of Manhattan, roughly 1,000 yards from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
So a rich guy bought it and built a private golf course that has generated more conversation, commentary and criticism than a penal U.S. Open track. As one player sarcastically pointed out, it's probably no accident Lady Liberty faces the other direction.
Inscribed on the statue itself are some of the most famous, and fitting, words in American history:
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| You can't help but wonder what's buried beneath that bunker. (AP) |
"Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
"The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
That third line hits the parallels right on the head. There was no place in the New York metro area that was more of a wretched dump, a gag-inducing, seashore eyesore -- and that's really saying something. Some $250 million later, here we are.
I believe it was Patrick Henry who famously said, "Give me Liberty or give me death." Well, this week, the players get a bit of both.
Said one prominent player: "I guess $250 million doesn't buy what it used to."
Said a caddie to another scribe: "They ruined a perfectly good landfill."
Said a Presidents Cup player, fighting to hold back a smirk: "Tom Kite designed it, right? Was it his first?"
To most, the back story of Liberty National is more interesting than the final product. For decades, it was an industrial site, which eventually rusted and decayed and turned the property a toxic stew. Before the site was converted into a golf course, thick layers of plastic and clay were laid across the property to seal in the glow-in-the-dark soil. Acres of topsoil was imported and molded by bulldozers to provide topography on a previously featureless piece of land.
Lord only knows what's buried down there. The Gambino family owned a warehouse on the property that has since been removed, and though all vestiges of industrial activity are long gone, the greens are suspiciously lumpy. Any famous wise guys turn up missing lately?
Liberty National is testament to what can be done with an unlimited budget and a thousand earthmovers, sort of like Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, next year's PGA Championship site, which is also built on a reclaimed water-view dump. All it took Kite and fellow designer Bob Cupp was 14 years of labor, sorting through mountains of red tape and 100 different course routings, before the course with some of the most spectacular vistas in the game was born.
None of which makes it a great design, per se. Clearly, blimp shots trump golf shots this week.
This is about Big Apple proximity and pimping the product. If that means taking it on the chin with a course that isn't up to tour norms, well, so be it. This is, quite likely, a one-off visit.
"I think what we are looking for this week is a great presentation," commissioner Tim Finchem said. "I think that's our No. 1 thing."
Style over substance is a New York hallmark, after all.
Even the kindest players have struggled mightily to say something positive. Said Zach Johnson, who ranks third in FedEx Cup points, when asked for a comment on the track: "I am not your guy."
Said a player in the top five in FedEx points: "It's unique. Best course I'll play this week."
Veteran Robert Allenby tried mightily to toe the company line and offer something positive, gave up and reeled off perhaps the biggest string of cliches I have ever heard.
"It's the finest course of its kind," the Aussie said. "It is what it is. Everybody's got to play it. Whether it's a good course or a bad course, we're playing for a lot of money."
The latter is the regrettable portion, really. With all the stellar tracks in the greater metropolitan area, including a half-dozen U.S. Open venues, the tour picked a course for its FedEx opener that required more foundation and makeup than a New York street 'ho. Donald Trump's hair isn't this over-coiffed (that's not a gratuitous line -- he actually played in the Wednesday pro-am).
"There is nothing out there that is natural," Kite said. "The big thing in golf course design right now is minimalist design, finding a great piece of property and touching it as little as possible. This is light years on the other side of the spectrum from that."
Yep, it's carved and contrived because it had to be. But the wallets on Wall Street, located a 15-minute ferry ride across the water, have lined up to pay the reported $500,000 initiation fee. A broker could play nine holes at lunch and report back to work in time to wreck what's left of our mutual-funds accounts.
For the sake of balance, we should point out that the property hasn't been universally condemned. Phil Mickelson is a member, but he is also a Barclays pitchman, so his comments warrant an asterisk. He has sung the praises of the property all week.
"Unlike any course in the world," Lefty said.
There's a phrase that's open to interpretation. Mickelson conceded that he had played the course only five or six times before this week, so it's not exactly Pebble Beach East. Tiger Woods played diplomatic dodgeball, too, terming it "interesting."
Interesting in a good way?
"Interesting," Woods repeated.
Like, Elephant Man interesting? Woods reportedly told one of his pro-am partners Wednesday, "Maybe Tom Kite designed this before he got his eyes fixed."
From a design standpoint, it's a strange mix of seaside links and a TPC on steroids. The course has fescue along the border edges, though it's not really in play, very few trees and it meanders around like a wannabe seaside Scottish track. But the green complexes are so wild and unpredictable, some look as if they were designed by a Manhattan cabbie. Fairways are cramped in driving areas, especially for such a long course.
The defending champion, Vijay Singh, did the most notable job of damning the course with faint praise when he was asked if it favored any particular type of player.
"One who doesn't worry about what the golf course is, and just plays one shot at a time," Singh said. "You go out there and start criticizing the golf course, then you might as well not show up."
Like many historic links courses overseas, the ninth and 10th holes are situated on the farthest reaches of the property. For players starting their rounds on the No. 10 tee, that meant a shuttle ride down a public street with a police motorcycle escort, and a jaunt across a set of train tracks amid civilian traffic. On the outer reaches of the property, there's heavy construction still under way, with earthmovers, super scoopers and the like. It underscores the amazing before-and-after picture.
"Look over the edge and there's a freeway there, train tracks, dump trucks," Davis Love said.
Kite was prepared for the feedback, which has been more like blowback. It will be interesting to track the comments as the week progresses, especially if the onshore winds kick up and turn the greens into skate parks.
"You know, you can like blondes and redheads," Kite laughed. "You don't have to be so exclusive that you only like blondes. Brunettes are pretty good, too."
Liberty National is golf's redheaded stepchild. But hey, what about that view?
"I talked to Ernie [Els] a little bit today, and this is going to be a spectacular tournament on television," Paul Goydos said after an opening 65. "They are going to have a lot of shots of New York, the Statue of Liberty, and it really is going to be a great spectacle and I think it's going to be great for the city of New York and New Jersey and probably Barclays and the FedEx Cup and the PGA Tour playing here.
"It's undeniably going to be as gorgeous as hell."
