Putting skill separates players most on mid-range putts, roughly 10-30 feet. Inside five feet, almost everyone converts, and beyond 30, almost nobody does. According to Data Golf, per tournament, Augusta produces 3.6 more putts from inside five feet and 2.4 more from beyond 30 feet than the average Tour stop. This is due to the sloping greens and the large number of funnel pins. Hit your spot with the iron, and you’re inside 10 feet. Miss it, and you’re looking at a long-range putt. There is less mid-range putting, meaning less room for skill to show up.

Originally published in Top 100 Golf Courses.

At Elie, we don't know what Old Tom was thinking. There's no overarching technical pattern, no documented philosophy to guide our interpretation. That lack of explanation is what gives the course its purity. You're forced to experience it on your own terms, to figure out what works and why without being told what the design is supposed to mean. That might be the most valuable thing courses like Elie offer: the chance to encounter golf before it had to answer to anything but the ground itself.

It’s been years since we’ve seen a grizzled veteran steal a tournament, but Stewart Cink proved it’s possible a few years ago at Harbour Town, capturing the title at 47. Kuchar is the same age now. If the stars align anywhere for a late-career win, it’s on this narrow, tree-lined layout.

Golf is the ultimate individual sport, but for one week every two years, it becomes about suppressing individual identity for team success. The Ryder Cup forces 12 elite competitors who’ve built careers on individual decision-making to suddenly function in partnerships and put team success ahead of personal glory. No other sporting event asks athletes to completely reverse their fundamental identity.