Geoff Shackelford’s latest book, Golf Architecture for Normal People, is a small but worthwhile tome on the almost inexhaustible subject of what makes a good golf course.

The American author, commentator, podcaster and part-time golf course architect poses three questions worth asking of every golf course.

Do you remember all the holes after you play?

Could you play it every day and enjoy it?

Is this a place you’d want to take your dog for a walk?

In his preview of this week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Shackelford, one of game's most astute observers, highlights his view of the course’s weaknesses, some of which serve to highlight the most pressing problem confronting the top level of the modern game.

Opened in 1961, Quail Hollow was worked on in the mid-1980s by Arnold Palmer amid the "golf architecture by famous golf pros" era and later by Tom Fazio in 1997, 2003, 2014, 2016 and then again 2023. Presumably by now, the members have had enough of their course - one of the most heavily used tournament venues in the country – trying to stay relevant.

Of the "can you remember every hole" question, Shackelford notes: “I’ll plead the Fifth if asked to describe the seventh to 12th holes. Thankfully, the memorable mix of big finishing holes from 14 to 18, along with aggressive redesign work early in the round, makes it easier to remember those holes (but not for ideal reasons).”

Could you play it every day and enjoy it?

It’s a hard one to satisfy if you’re having to make 18 holes add up to something near 7000 meters in order to ask the best players in the world to hit middle-irons into par-4s a little more than only occasionally. Presumably the members head to the forward tees.

Shackelford notes the course is “Knocked down in the daily enjoyment factor for a rare reason: constant construction and tournament interference has pursued distance over character” and thus “the course is designed for pro golfers instead of everyday members".

It’s a dilemma the best of Australia’s championship courses constantly wrestle with but fortunately none have resorted to answering the question by stretching their holes to the 7626 yards of Quail Hollow.

Would you want to walk your dog there?

“Parts of the property provide a lovely stroll in a wooded park and you can imagine playing a nice game of fetch with your dog within pockets of the property. But the massive 'Green Mile' has all the charm of strolling through a business park surrounding a lake.”

I’ll leave it to you to make up your own mind, but fair to say Royal Melbourne, The Old Course, Sunningdale or Pebble Beach might be more pleasurable walks.

The finish this week is memorably difficult with water a constant presence befitting so many PGA Tour courses. The 16th, a 530-yard par-4, is followed by a 220-yard par-3 over water and the finisher is the seemingly mandatory long two-shotter highlighted by a creek to catch a hooked drive and running up all the way to the edge of the green.

The course has been drenched by heavy rain, making flying the ball a long way through the air important and Shackelford is reporting the greens are at least firm which always ensures the golf is more interesting.

The madness, of course, is championship golf is now resorting to three of the four short holes being over 200 yards (250, 205 and 225) with the fourth playing the role of the short one at 185. Maybe they will move the tees up, but one wonders why a hole like Kingston Heath’s 140-yard 10th is so out of favour.

Two of the par-4s are 530 yards and the first is the other one over 500 – a number making Royal Melbourne’s par-5 12th at 475 yards look positively quaint. In fairness, Rory McIlroy will play it as a par-4 when he’s here later in the year at the Australian Open, but it's nothing more than a drive and a wedge for him – and most of the rest.

The incongruity of the ball question, and how far is too far, was highlighted by Derek Sprague, the CEO of the PGA of America (not to be confused with the PGA Tour) who said this week: “We’re certainly vehemently against the ball rollback”.

The problem is the debate is now so centred in the United States and their ball manufacturers are at the centre of the lobby against any restriction. The Americans either don’t know (or choose to forget) the "rest of the world" went through an effective ball rollback when it switched from the smaller British ball to the American ball in the early 1980s.

There were no ill-effects, and the change spawned the great generation of "foreign-born" players who came to all but dominate the game in the 1980s.

One wonders "how far is too far?" and surely resorting to 7600-yard courses with three par-3s over 200 yards and three par-4s over 500 yards is some sort of line in the sand?

All four rounds of the 2025 US PGA Championship will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo from 3am-9am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.