LONGER isn't necessarily better.

The golf purists have been saying it for years, their voices largely drowned out by an ever-increasing band of course architects who in an attempt to wrestle the advantage from Tiger Woods and the rest of the big-hitting brigade, believe the only solution is to add yardage off the tee. Unfortunately, the result has been a proliferation of lay-outs measuring 7,400 yards or more, making the game all but impossible for the mere mortal.

Thankfully, when American Algie Pulley and his son Jeff were handed the task of redesigning Belmont, they had no such option.

Measuring in its original form less than 6,000 yards from the championship tees on a tract of land with virtually immovable boundaries, the course had nowhere to go.

If Algie was going to make a significant improvement, he was going to have to do so within the confines of what little land was available.

Imagination was always going to be the key ingredient.

And those members who helped reopen the 'new' Belmont Hills during a two-day tournament last weekend, must still be marvelling at the fruits of that imagination.

Just 18 months after it closed its doors, the Warwick track bears little resemblance to the Belmont of old.

Yes, some of the holes take a similar path to those before them and have similar characteristics.

Yet as a whole, and no disrespect to its original designer, the course has shed its somewhat bland image.

It has been slightly increased in length to just over 6,000 yards, but as one might expect the challenge isn't so much off the tee as around the delightfully contoured and masterfully sculpted greens.

For the most part, the driver and three wood can remain in the bag.

Belmont Hills is for the shotmaker. The golfer with the deadly accurate iron will always have an edge on the long hitter.

And if putting's a problem, then on Belmont's newly-laid carpets, which range from the most expansive double-green in Bermuda - it measures a massive 17,000 square feet and takes some 45 minutes to mow - to the tiniest of postage stamps, then beware - the game suddenly got a lot more difficult.

Opening weekend provided a gentle, accommodating introduction with the pins generally at their most accessible.

But it was clear to see how almost every hole could be turned from mouse to monster by a simple switch of the pin.

As for a signature hole, there probably isn't one of the 18 that might be considered vastly superior to the rest.

But there is a stretch from holes six to eight, meandering around a newly-constructed lake - Belmont Hills' own Amen Corner perhaps - that will make or break any player's round.

As with all of the holes, accuracy is the key. Anything marginally off course is destined for a damp grave.

As owner Kevin Petty and golf director Alex Madeiros pointed out, Belmont Hills is still some months away from fulfilling its potential. Grass on the fairways needs time to grow and thicken, sand in the bunkers needs time to settle and there are numerous areas which will depend heavily on a helping hand from Mother Nature.

But most of those members who completed their first round last weekend appeared mightily impressed.

With the knowledge that it can only get better, Petty, Madeiros, superintendent Joe Benevides and the rest of the crew have reason to feel equally proud.