Columnist Dean Juipe: Say so long to the debate on golf clubs

CLEVER BOYS, very clever.

Was it a conspiracy? Perhaps.

A coincidence? No, it was more than that.

How about this: It was calculated, with the United States Golf Association manipulating the conditions at its U.S. Open to not only identify the finest shot maker on the PGA Tour but to completely diffuse the issue of high-tech golf clubs and their impact on the game.

It was subtle and it worked to perfection. The debate between the sport's purists and those on the leading edge of club development was at its height a week ago and now -- after four treacherous days at the Olympic in San Francisco -- it's gone, kaput, a mere asterisk to the week's activities.

On Wednesday of last week the USGA ruled it would not interfere with the technological advances being made in golf equipment and by Sunday it rested contentedly, having diabolically turned the U.S. Open course into one so difficult only a single player could handle it in even par.

Graphite? Titanium? Tungsten? Use whatever space-age metal you want, the scores in the 1998 Open were no better than they were in 1987, 1966 and 1955 when Olympic was also selected to host the national championship.

Lee Janzen won Sunday at even; Scott Simpson won in '87 at 3 under; Billy Casper won in '66 at 2 under; and Jack Fleck won in '55 at seven over. The common thread: It took exquisite ability and touch to win, and being able to blast the ball 350 yards or spin it on a dime had nothing to do with determining a champion.

No way the USGA decision -- which surprised many a golf-club manufacturer that was bracing for litigation -- and the difficulties every player had at Olympic was simply a matter of chance. The USGA could have announced its hands-off decision any day of the year but it waited until the eve of its most prestigious tournament, knowing what was in store once the tournament played itself out.

The end result: By Sunday night the golf-club debate was over, at least for the remainder of this century. If none of these fantastic players could break par at Olympic, then, by all means, the sanctity of the sport is still secure.

While duffers everywhere whooped with glee as one Payne Stewart after another was reduced to mortality by the complexities of the golf course, few of them grasped the USGA's conniving ways. But within five days the USGA went from having a hot-button issue on its hands (that it wasn't sure how to resolve) to feeling the game has never been in better shape.

All thanks to Olympic, a relatively short course with no water and only a single, harmless, fairway bunker. But what Olympic has are landing areas that slant at offbeat angles and frequently away from the bend of the hole, and greens with multiple contours that the USGA tweaked for good measure.

Olympic was an ace up the USGA's sleeve. It's an old-fashioned course that the USGA employed to achieve an old-fashioned goal: Reduce even the world's finest players to tears.

Consider the message sent and delivered. For all the concerns about golf clubs outmoding courses, the bottom line is that even par was good enough to win the U.S. Open.

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