Tom English: 'Things have gone too far when the galleries complain about the course'

THERE IS a particular form of golfing hypochondria that afflicts many on tour. It takes the form of persistent grumbling about pretty much everything to do with the way courses are set up in major championships, about length of rough, about speed of greens, about positioning of flags, about lots of things.

Most of the time it's best to ignore the belly-aching but there are occasions when the complaints cannot be dismissed so easily. And the PGA championship, winding its way to a low-key conclusion, is one of them.

This has been an ugly major, the runt of the season. It's a tournament that's been hard to engage with, partly because of the sorry absence of the one man who can be relied on to electrify things (Kenny Perry. Oops, sorry, Tiger Woods), partly because of the morose faces on the put-upon golfers in the locker-room – you felt like giving Padraig Harrington a slap on Friday when he spoke about his lack of focus and his wandering mind and his all-round weariness post-Birkdale – and partly because of the deathly silence all around Oakland Hills, a by-product of a golf course that has been presented by the PGA of America clearly with some help from the horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Some of their work has been bonkers. The rough has been insane. Miss the fairway by three or four yards and you're hacking out. Skill doesn't come into it. The journeyman and the genius have but one option in the long stuff at Oakland Hills. It's the great leveller of talent and the great blunder of the PGA. One of the many.

Much has been made of the three closing holes and sure enough after two rounds they stood out as 1-2-3 in difficulty. Chances are they will determine who lifts the Wanamaker Trophy today. The 16th is the signature hole, a par-4 that doglegs around a lake leading to a green that is protected by bunkers and a ridge running from back to front. The speed of the putting surface is outrageous. Andres Romero took eight here in his second round. So, too, did Nick Dougherty and the American Heath Slocum. They got wet and then got sandy and they putted their brains out before departing to the horror show that is the 17th.

This hole has been the talk of Michigan, a par-3 from the dark side. At its longest it measures 238 yards, the green lying some 30ft above the tee, its par protected by severe slopes on the putting surface and six bunkers all around. The hole location on Friday was back left. When the PGA picked their spot they may as well have stuck a clown's mouth guarding the cup for this one has all the hallmarks of funfair golf, only it's not fun and it sure ain't fair.

In the second round, play started a little before 8am. Do you know how long it took for someone to birdie 17? More than 10 hours. The press people put out a statement to mark the event. "At 6.21pm Eastern Time, Anthony Kim made the first birdie of the day on the daunting par-3 17th when he chipped in from just over the green." Kim's was the only birdie there all Friday. So not one player made a two with the putter.

None of this was surprising, though. "On 17, the pin was inaccessible," said Aaron Baddeley on Friday. "You just can't get close to it. If you're 40ft away you've done well." Ian Poulter had an alternative strategy. "It's just frustrating when you stand on par threes and you are hitting a five iron and aiming for a greenside bunker because you know that is the only way you can make par. That's pretty sad. I am very disappointed we are having to do that on such a great golf course just because of the infatuation of having to put 30 yards on par threes when they think we are hitting irons 30 yards past where we used to. We might hit our drives 30 yards further but certainly not our irons so why should we be aiming for bunkers to try and make par? That, personally, is not right, is not on, it's unacceptable."

There is no respite on the 18th which is statistically the hardest hole of all. Not just this week but in nearly every major championship played here over the years. Seven bunkers line the fairway which dog-legs away to the right. Four more bunkers guard the green which also has a large mound through the middle that can cause mayhem. There was another 10-hour wait for a birdie here on Friday, Jim Furyk claiming it. Only one more followed. The 18th plays a lot closer to a par-5 than a par-4. For many, even five is a forlorn hope. Seventeen players recorded double bogey or worse in their second round. Darren Clarke took seven, Bart Bryant had a nine.

Watching it all unfold in a fairly joyless grind you have to start wondering what the PGA stands for these days, what sets it apart from the other majors, what is its unique selling point. The Masters has Augusta, the US Open has its brutality, the Open has its links. What has the PGA had this week? Lots more US Open, tricked-up with heavy rough and ridiculous pin placements. A brutish version of Oakmont 2007, a badly thought-out imitation of Torrey Pines 2008. We don't need another bloodbath.

You know things have gone way too far when you hear the galleries complaining that the course is too hard. The paying public want to see the players suffer, they want to see them chopping out of rough and scrambling for par. But if that is all they are doing then it gets tiresome. Another sign of the tournament getting out of hand came in the shape of Phil Mickelson, the world's most positive man trying desperately to stop himself from slaughtering the set-up on Friday. "Yeah, if you want me to go into it… look, I've got two more rounds to go… I've got to play this thing two more times... I don't really want to go into whether or not it's fair."

Quote of the week, if not the year, came from Poulter. "It's just like the PGA to slice your throat on the first tee and you have to try and make it round to the 18th without dying." Gold medal for that one. Runner-up to Poulter is Robert Allenby: "They have taken an okay golf course and turned it into a lot of crap." Since it's Olympics month we'll give a bronze to Steve Flesch: "I heard virtually no noise from the crowd. I heard a roar once when a guy got hit by a ball. He grunted."

He wasn't the only one. Whoever wins is going to remember this championship forever but it won't live all that long in the memory otherwise. The silence is the thing that will stick out. That's the sound the PGA should listen out for and learn from.

• Read Tom English's final day reports from the PGA championship at scotsman.com/golf