I can absolutely see Phil's point, and others.
30 years ago, my home course in Boston hosted the US Open. The amount of work involved to get the course ready was just incredible. It was amazing to see the course basically transform, with the long rough, narrow fairways, smaller target landing areas, some extensive bunker changes.....and of course the greens. The greens were insanely fast, and the pin placements were all brutal. We volunteered for the whole event, which was actually a lot of fun, but it was really eye-opening to see the field struggle with the course. The club and the USGA/PGA made it as difficult to play as possible, and my understanding is that that effort is even more so today for the Open. I'm sure that
@Started at 53 could fill us in.
After that event ended, members were allowed to play the course before it was returned to "normal". At that time I played quite a bit, and was about an 8 handicap. I was, by far, the worst player in the foursome that I played with that day. One guy was plus one on our course, another a two. I can't begin to tell you how many balls we lost in the rough. I recall sinking a very fast forty foot putt.....for a NINE. Three of us also quit keeping score after a while. It was absolutely brutal. I guess we all admired the pros even more.....particularly Curtis Strange, who won that year, but it sure as hell was not much fun. That was the year that Strange beat Faldo in a playoff {18 holes}, the first of his two consecutive Opens. Wow, was there some serious course management going on there.
We joke that it's a good thing we were and still are friends after that round. My buddies joke that it forced me to give up the game, which is not entirely true! It was probably another 10 or so years before my hiatus. I plan to resume my golf career when I turn 70......years to get ready. Went on hiatus when our kids were growing up, family time was more important, and when I wasn't playing three-four days mid-week with clients in the summer anymore. Moving on up in corporate life took that away! When I do start to play it's going to be on short, easy courses that I can get around in a reasonable time, and have some fun.
I also like to watch the pros having fun, BTW.