"One-dimensional style of golf" - Paul McGinley rips apart PGA Championship's poor course choice for 2024

The PGA Championship, like most Major tournaments that aren't the Masters, changes venues. It is not at one place every year, which led the PGA of America to select Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky for last weekend's festivities. Paul McGinley is among those who did not enjoy the particular selection for the PGA.

Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee said that it's good that every single week doesn't involve a fast, firm golf course. He believed that the venue was good and that fans loved watching the tournament.

McGinley disagreed:

"I'll take the other argument. Every single course that I watch on the PGA Tour is played very similarly to this. I mean, we see so much of this type, Brandel... Very rare. I mean, we're talking five percent of golf courses that are firm on the PGA Tour. The rest are set up like this and it just plays into the one-dimensional style of golf. Lights-out shooting."

Augusta National, home to The Masters Tournament every single year, is one of the more difficult courses to play on. As a result, only one single player was -10 or better. Scottie Scheffler shot -11 and won by four strokes.

To McGinley's point about the "lights-out" nature of the PGA Championship, there were 25 players who shot -10 or better this weekend. The T18 score from the PGA would have tied for the lead at the Masters.

The winner, Xander Schauffele, shot an astounding -21. Bryson DeChambeau's -20 was second-best. Those scores are exceptional, and McGinley believes the course is partly responsible for all the impressive play.

---

The PGA Championship venue was historically easy

Paul McGinley claimed that the choice of venue for the PGA Championship was not good since it led to way too much lights-out play. Historically speaking, he is completely correct. No other venue in the history of this tournament has seen such quality play, and it's not particularly close.

The PGA Championship had a lot of excellent performances

The cut for the Major tournament ended up being one under par, and of those who did make the cut, 72 of them were under par after at the conclusion of round four. In total, the score to par was incredibly low for all golfers.

According to X user Justin Ray, Valhalla allowed a -214 combined score for everyone in the field. The next-best tournament score relative to par wasn't even below it, it was 40 over. The 2024 PGA Championship was cumulatively 254 shots better than any other in the 108-year history.

There is something to be said about the talent in golf today. But the disparity in these scores speaks to something else on top of the golfers in the field being great at their craft.