HBO is producing a new documentary on the dramatic 1960 US Open at Cherry Hills, Colorado. It will be released on the day before the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines.

Considered by some to be the greatest championship since Francis Ouimet defeated Harry Vardon, the 1960 Open was won by Arnold Palmer. Palmer was eight strokes behind midway through the competition. In the third round, the gap closed by one, when leader Mike Souchak hit his tee shot on 18 out of bounds. Then, in the final round, Palmer came out with a charge. He drove the 313 yard par 4 first, and after missing his eagle putt, settled for birdie. That was the first of six birdies in seven holes. By the end of the day, he had shot a 65 to win.

A lot of other legends of golf were in contention that day: Jack Nicklaus, playing as an amateur, finished second. Souchak, E. J. (Dutch) Harrison, Ted Kroll, Dow Finsterwald, Julius Boros and Jack Fleck finished in a tie for third. Ben Hogan had a chance to win, needing pars on the last two holes. He finished with a six and a seven - four over par. Sam Snead tied for 19th.

It’s the Hogan-Nicklaus-Palmer connection that makes the tournament poignant. There was a remarkable moment at that US Open, when golf’s past, present and future stood together on a tee. Ben Hogan was being eclipsed by Arnold Palmer, while the future, Jack Nicklaus waited. Palmer, the present, won the tournament; Nicklaus, the future finished second. And Hogan, the aging legend, slipped behind.

I wish I got HBO so I could see this documentary.

When Bobby Jones had his unparalleled year in 1930, he won the four biggest tournaments of his day: The US Amateur, the US Open, the British Amateur and the British Open Championship. It was a shocking achievement that made Jones a sports hero on a par with Babe Ruth—greater even, for the Babe never got a ticker tape parade in New York.

People struggled for words to describe the event. Atlanta Journal sports writer O.B. Keeler, Jones’ unofficial biographer and publicist, dubbed it the “Grand Slam,” borrowing not from baseball, but from a bridge term.

It must be remembered that, at that time, tournament golf was as much an amateur’s game as a pro’s. Walter Hagen may have been the only man at the time making a full time living playing tournament golf (as opposed to working as a club pro) .

So in 1960, after having won the Masters and US Open, Arnold Palmer was asked about Jones’ achievement by Pittsburgh sports writer Bob Drum on the plane flight to England where Palmer was to play in the Open Championship. Drum apparently lamented the fact that Palmer could not match Jones’ achievement because golf now was a pro’s game and not an amateur’s. No one would ever win the Amateur and Open national championships again.

Palmer then speculated that in the age of the professional, a more realistic Grand Slam would be the Masters, the US Open, the Open Championship (British Open) and the PGA Championship.

Palmer lost on the Old Course by a single stroke to Australia’s Kel Nagle.

But the dream had been indelibly etched into the mind of the golfing public.

Torrey Pines Golf Course
Site of the 2008 US Open and Buick Invitational

As a municipal course for the City of San Diego, Torrey Pines is probably the most accessible US Open venue ever. I was fortunate enough to get to play the course and have put together this Torrey Pines hole by hole photo tour, along with satellite photos showing a birds eye view.

I’ll post a more detailed review later.

Rees Jones, the USGA’s point man for overhauling Torrey Pines to meet USGA specifications, says that the course will play a lot tougher at the Open than it did this past week at the Buick.

Torrey Pines is going to add some teeth this spring and, as if for excruciating emphasis, par will be sliced from 72 strokes to 71. For one week, at least, the world’s greatest golfers should see a clear distinction between overlooking the ocean and a day at the beach.

“This isn’t the same golf course that it’s going to be,” said Rees Jones, the golf architect responsible for reshaping Torrey Pines to meet U.S. Open specifications. “I think if you saw Tiger putt the USGA greens last year (at Oakmont), he putted them a little more defensively than he is this week.”

If Torrey Pines’ greens have measured 11 on golf’s Stimpmeter this week, Open speed is typically 13. To a professional putter, that is a knee-knocking difference. Consequently, Jones said he expects the winning score at the Open to fall in the range between 3 and 5 under par.

Making courses longer, and more difficult: Conventional wisdom says that short of taking Tiger into an alley and breaking his kneecaps, it’s the only hope the other players have.

Or maybe not. I’ve often thought that “Tiger Proofing” plays right into the Great One’s hands. Lengthening the course, narrowing the fairways and growing the rough just eliminates the other players. You could actually reduce the number of wins that Tiger accumulates by making the courses more strategic. If a track offers multiple ways to victory, then others can play their game, instead of always having to play Tiger’s.

Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union Tribune puts it succinctly:

The trouble with toughening a golf course to make it more challenging for Tiger Woods is that adding difficulty effectively subtracts the number of players who can be competitive. The surest way to a dramatic Open might be to make Torrey Pines South less daunting, to dial down the difficulty to make the results more random.

The USGA, however, is not interested in exciting golf. They’re interested in maintaining their reputation as the toughest test in golf. In spite of Sandy Tatum’s famous maxim ("We’re not trying to embarrass the best players in the world; we’re trying to identify them. “), that is indeed what the Open has come to. And in doing so, they’re going to guarantee a runaway Tiger victory.

The membership at the legendary Winged Foot has refused to extend an invitation to the US Golf Association for the 2015 US Open Championship. In addition to some interesting internal politics, it appears that the main problem was that the USGA is cheap. They were offering the club less money than they did in 2006, when the club also was forced to take the money losing US Amateur.

If the USGA is as cheap as the accusations, we may see a lot more municipal courses in the rota and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I like the idea of the US Open being played on courses that the average Joe can access. The USGA is supposed to represent all golfers—not just those at exclusive clubs. It can only help the USGA and the game of golf to have more Opens at places like Bethpage and Torrey Pines. I don’t care a lot about Winged Foot; I’ll never play there. I will, however, watch the Open at Torrey Pines this year with intense interest, since I have played that course.