When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Famed golf instructor Butch Harmon's comments about Tiger's return revealed a few interesting tidbits as he spoke to Damon Hack on Morning Drive last week.
Matt Ginella and I spoke to Harmon about the new par-3 course he designed for Jim Crane at The Floridian:
Hopefully you enjoy this chat hosted by Gary Williams featuring David McLay Kidd and yours truly talking about getting into design and unique skill sets required to be a golf architect. This is part of Morning Drive's Design Week, in case you haven't noticed from this week's posts!
As the golf industry no longer churns out courses or even sees consistency in the renovation market, Golf and Golf Digest struggle to present their annual year-end "Best New" awards with any consistency. Or logic.
Golf's is an odd list given the international courses few in its U.S.-based readership will play. Then there is the blessing of Streamsong Black as the year's "best new course of the year" and Sand Valley as the year's "best new course you can play." Even though Streamsong is a resort you very much can play, with the Black opening in September.
The Golf categories:
BEST NEW COURSE YOU CAN PLAY
BEST NEW COURSE OF THE YEAR
BEST NEW PRIVATE COURSE/INTERNATIONAL COURSE
RENOVATION OF THE YEAR
BEST NEW COURSE YOU CAN PLAY (HONORABLE MENTION)
SPECIAL CITATION: Spectacular New Short Courses
Congratulations to all who won, even though we don't know why or who picked you under what criteria.
Golf Digest's categories appear to make a little more sense, though what is presented ultimately is pretty confusing.
In 2014Gamble Sands was deemed the best new course in America.
In 2015, Golf Digest acknowledged 10 best new courses, 10 best remodels that somehow couldn’t find space for Winged Foot East, where the restoration work re-opened in 2015 has been lauded for sensitively recapturing an American classic. Given that Golf Digest pays dues for two of its editorial members to be Winged Foot members, a not-enough-votes excuse seems a stretch.
2016 saw three each of a Best New Private, Public and Remodeled categories. Still no luck for Winged Foot East. But the awards featured extensive panelist comments that added some fun reading.
And now in 2017 the marketplace forced another new approach, with this explanation from Golf Digest:
Still not enough new courses to warrant New Public and New Private categories, so the 15 new courses nominated for consideration competed in a single Best New Courses race. But with 85 remodeled courses nominated, we decided to split our Best New Remodel survey into three categories to reflect the wide range of projects in today’s design industry. Major Remodel involves a total redesign with little regard to the original architecture. Renovation improves a design but sticks to the original routing. Restoration strives to honor the original architecture. What about “blow-up” jobs, where an existing course is so drastically altered (“blown up”) that it hardly resembles the original? That was up to each architect and individual club to decide whether to compete as a Best New candidate or Best Major Remodel.
The list produced some pretty strange results, most notably with the once-loved Quail Hollow, now loathed by some tour players who just a few years ago were declaring it one of the PGA Tour's best venues. After last year's PGA Championship, most expect the club to remedy the gruesome 4th hole addition, an absurd mess of a hole. That did not stop the panel for giving high marks and placing Quail Hollow as their second best remodel behind Jackson and Kahn'sFazio's MPCC Dunes remodel.
Even though the project was largely envisioned and carried out by Fazio's former shapers, Golf Digest gave all the credit to Fazio. The club's own first placque acknowledges all of the aforementioned names.
Most inexplicably, Torrey Pines North, which stuck to its original routing except for flipping the nines, finished third in major remodel when it was pretty clearly just an insipid renovation. Did switching nines really become grounds for a major remodel label?
The TPC Sawgrass won for best renovation with its new turf and one redesigned hole. On that basis, it may be eligible annually given its turbulent renovation history.
The Old White TPC won its second best new award, having won the best new remodel in 2007. And even though it won this time under the restoration label, Keith Foster made significant changes to the award winner. He restored around the remodel. Got that?
Something tells me after looking at the Golf Digest selections, the panel would not care for the things Matt Ginella and I presented as our ways of evaluating golf courses. From Morning Drive's Design Week:
On Morning Drive Design Week, Matt Ginella, Gary Williams and I pick the one architect we would play for the rest of their lives. Who is your choice?
For this week's Design Week on Morning Drive, Matt Ginella and I revealed our Ultimate 18’s in golf. I went the route of selecting a course I'd want to play everyday, which meant picking some "stretches" of holes I love (North Berwick and Essex County) at the expense perhaps of a few great holes. And I had great fun putting them in order, ultimately going with all links going out and inland American holes coming in (sorry Australia).
Ginella kept true to holes where they land in the rankings and to courses open to the public.
The segments are below and I hope they'd inspire you to pick your ultimate 18's. I found the process great fun both in reflecting on holes I'd never grow tired of playing, but also in the creative act of placing them in the sequence I'd want to encounter their challenges.
Besides getting to rekindle fond memories and appreciation for the architecture you've experienced, the placing of the puzzle pieces into a routing is quite fun. And if you feel compelled, list your courses below. There are no wrong answers, it's your Ultimate 18!
Our front nine favortes from the Ultimate 18 lists.
Our back nine favorites of the Ultimate 18 lists.
The Pinehurst area's Dormie Club, a Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw design on extraordinary ground but sidetracked by unfinished features, financial woes and an ownership change, has been purchased by a golf course network of the same name. Plans call for Dormie Club to eventually revert to a private model as part of the Dormie Network.
It all sounds promising and, at the very least, gets the course away from the current ownership group best known for extremely high-priced golf course construction that has operated it with favorable-enough reviews.
LINCOLN, Nebraska (November 22, 2017) — Dormie Club in Pinehurst, North Carolina has been purchased by Nebraska-based golf investment company Hainoa, LLC, making it the latest addition to the Dormie Network—a network of destination golf clubs. Under new ownership, the renowned Coore-Crenshaw club will see a number of immediate renovations and upgrades (including the construction of a new clubhouse, halfway house, and on-site lodging accommodations) as it gradually returns to its original status as a private course.
Dormie Club is a short drive from the Village of Pinehurst, an area widely known as the Home of American Golf. Though not far removed from area conveniences, the club’s size and layout seclude its golfers from roadways and residential real estate, providing an unadulterated pure golf experience.
The highly anticipated 2010 opening of Dormie Club was met by rave reviews, including a No. 3 ranking in Golfweek’s list of best new courses. Designed by Bill Coore and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw—who form one of the most renowned golf course architecture teams in the world—the 18-hole course features 110-foot elevation changes, three natural lakes, and an aesthetic that draws inspiration from the Scottish Highlands. “Dormie Club stretches across a massive 1,020-acre expanse of absolutely stunning land,” says Dormie Club’s Membership Director Mike Phillips. “It features a mix of pine trees and hardwoods and the beautiful 55-acre Coles Mill Lake that dates back to the early 1900s.”
Its Old World-design includes a number of reachable par fours, wind tunnels, bunkers positioned to stimulate creative strategy, and a 241-yard reverse Redan par three. The course features Bermuda fairways and tees with bent grass greens; it has five sets of tees and measures up to 6,883 yards with a rating of 73.7 and a slope of 138. It is currently ranked No.3 among the best courses you can play in North Carolina by both Golf Magazine and Golfweek and the 12th best course in North Carolina by Golf Digest.
Straying from its original concept, Dormie Club extended play to non-members almost immediately after opening and today remains a public course. As part of the Dormie Network, it will transition immediately from public to semi-private and eventually to private status with invitation-only membership by 2020.
Now under the management of Landscapes Unlimited, LLC, Dormie Club will see a number of critical course enhancements, as well as several large-scale renovations and improvements. Plans to construct a full-service clubhouse and halfway house are already underway. Landscapes Unlimited will also oversee the addition of lodging accommodations, including on-site cottages and executive suites.
“Dormie Club is a truly exceptional club that was conceptualized as and designed to be a high-end private course,” explains Zach Peed of Dormie Network. “Our vision is to make it one of the finest pure golf destination courses in the region.”
With the acquisition, Dormie Club joins the ranks of Briggs Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas; ArborLinks in Nebraska City, Nebraska; and Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, Virginia as part of the Dormie Network. Corporate and national memberships include access to and full member privileges at all courses within the network—each of which is currently ranked among the top 10 in its respective state.
“Dormie Club is a renowned course,” says Peed. “It’s already a tremendous value to our current and future members, but the club’s incredible potential and the vision we have for what it can be make it an ideal addition to the Dormie Network.”
Joe Juliano reports for The Philadelphia Inquirer that recently-restored Donald Ross-designed Aronimink will host the 2027 PGA, 2020 KPMG Women's PGA in addition to its already planned hosting of the BMW Championship in 2018.
He writes:
Officials said about 85 percent of the project was completed before work stopped in early spring, and that the entire undertaking will be completed early in 2018.
Aronimink last hosted a PGA Championship in 1962 and waited a long time for a second one. The PGA of America named it as host of the 1993 PGA but the club pulled out of the agreement in November 1990 when it determined it could not have minorities as part of its membership by the time of the event.
In August, Juliano previewed the Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner-led restoration of Aronimink, which had been modified many times, most recently by the Fazio firm. The story includes a gallery of all 18 Hanse restoration drawings.
Some recent photos of the course post-restoration:
A post shared by Patrick Koenig (@pjkoenig) on Oct 19, 2017 at 2:26pm PDT
Fall colors on Aronimink #7 🍂🍁⛳️! #donaldross #propergolf
A post shared by Jaeger Kovich (@propergolf) on Nov 6, 2017 at 2:35pm PST
Business Insider’s Tanza Loudenback piggybacks on the recent signs of agri-hood's starting to move forward as a future real estate community approach. Given that so many developments are golf course-based, the shift in philosophy could have profound effects on the future of current real estate communities.
Loudenback says the only people who matter want to grow their own food and demand "clean living,"
But millennials aren't interested in that type of manicured neighborhood. In today's culture, where young people favor farm-to-table fare and wax poetic about "clean living," agrihoods are just what they're searching for.
"Forget about the golf courses. Our buyers want to have a real environment," Theresa Frankiewicz, vice president of community development for Crown Community Development said at the Urban Land Institute's 2016 Food & Real Estate Forum. Frankiewicz is involved in the development of a 6,800-acre agrihood near Tucson, Arizona.
She goes on to reach this conclusion:
If agrihoods continue to attract young homebuyers, millennials may be held responsible for killing yet another formerly prized industry.
In certain areas, including the Coachella Valley where one of these communities is replacing what was intended as a golf community, I could easily see the golf course portions with desert scape or farming. This may not even be a statement about the game, but instead of the viability of so-so design in a world that wants more than just shiny rye grass and waterfalls.
I'm curious if you think this is a fad or a possible trend?
Nice three-parter here from the USGA and Rob Cowen on the restoration of Winged Foot.
For a course wanting to talk restoration, this will be an invaluable piece to share with golfers still not aware of how a high quality project proceeds. Also of note is the blend of bringing back the old while changing everything under the hood to grow turf in the 21st century.
The piece is in three parts, but if you watch Part 1, YouTube will take you to parts 2 and 3.
It's been a few years since Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, myself and a fun cast of characters created the Horse Course at The Prairie Club, so it was nice to see the 10-hole par-3 course finally get the drone treatment its setting deserves. Especially now as the game opens its very closed mind to par-3 courses, the concept of H-O-R-S-E golf will hopefully get a little more attention.
And given the difficulty of maintaining prairie bunkers, it's especially neat to see how well they've evolved. Thanks Patrick Koenig for the great shots.
A post shared by Patrick Koenig (@pjkoenig) on
Excellent work by Andy Johnson at TheFriedEgg.com for shining a light on the potential to restore an affordable A.W. Tillinghast design in Richmond, Virginia that hosted the 1949 PGA Championship.
While it's hard to know all of the particulars of the current plans, existing design bones and operational details, the County of Henrico appears to have money to spend and to do so by a deadline. Architect Jerry Lemons will be supervising this work, and while there are no doubt many improvements that would come from the money spent at a course not getting kind reviews for its bunkers, the success of so many restorations makes it hard not to wonder if a Tillinghast deserves more attention to detail?
The scope accoring to an Request For Proposal that went out in August:
1. Remove and renovate the existing seventy-two (72) sand bunkers on the 18-Hole golf course.
2. Reconstruct fifty-eight (58) of the existing sand bunkers throughout the course including removal of existing materials, reshaping of all bunker cavities, the replacement of all materials and grassing.
3. Add one (1) bunker on hole #16.
4. Remove fourteen (14) existing bunkers including removal of existing materials, filling in existing cavity, grading and shaping, and grassing.
5. Installing sub-surface drain lines in all sand bunker cavities.
6. Supporting construction activities required to complete the Work to include: demolition work, tree removal, earthwork/excess dirt removal, and compliance with the erosion and sediment control requirements.
The County's RFP also contained a specified bunkering lining product even there there are many out there. This is not typically a sign of going into a project with an open mind:
The Contractor may subcontract with a qualified, licensed Better Billy Bunker certified installer who will be responsible for the application of the Better Billy Bunker manufactured Bunker Liner ST410 Polymer.
Again, there are many elements here with cost and timing and red tape we need to learn more about, but as Johnson passionately argues, this is an incredible opportunity to give public golfers access to great architecture and to create a more valuable, important piece of design in the greater Richmond area.
Reader Andy from Richmond shared this view upon seeing Johnson's post:
I play Belmont a few times a year and have dreamt many times about its resurrection. And the history....this golf course is historically important to golf not only in VA but in US.
If you would like to see the County take more time and spending their money to bring back more Tillinghast, you can voice your views here: recandparks@henrico.us
The legendary Annika Sorenstam made some interesting comments about her golf course design career's lack of trajectory to CNN Living's Shane O'Donoghue.
Bunkered Golf Magazine links to the interview and paraphrases, but in essence she senses that as a woman clients just assume she'll build "short and easy". Besides the shame of assuming one gender builds short and easy, it's a reminder how many awful developments were built on the premise of championship and tough. If only golf had more "short and easy."
“Being a female, when they throw my name in the ring as a designer candidate a lot of times they say, ‘Oh, well then this course will be short and easy’.
“I don't know where it comes from. I think they just have that predetermined notion of women designing shorter courses, and that's not really what comes to my mind.
“I consider myself, of course a female, but I'm also a golfer and I feel like I can play any golf course out there and I guess maybe my defensive mechanism is, 'Hey, I'd play you anywhere, anytime and then we can go from there’.”
With the short, risk-reward par-5 almost impossible design, the short par-4 has become the go-to for those still craving strategic holes. But closing fast on the must list of even the most novice design critics is a short par-3. Even better, the tough sell that was recommending a par-3 course to a developer has become an easy sell. 
All of these issues are considered by a par-3 course golfing descendant, Jaime Diaz, who uses Pinehurst's new par-3 to hit a number of short par-3 angles for Golf World.
The Cradle follows a trend of alternative course openings in 2017, with the new Jordan Spieth-backed six-hole course at the University of Texas, Tom Doak’s 12-hole par 3 at Ballyneal, and Dan Hixson nine-hole pitch-and-putt at Silvies Valley Ranch.
You may note a bias toward par 3s in my commentary. Like a lot of guys my age, my first rounds were on scruffy short courses, in my case the Fleming Nine at Harding Park and Golden Gate G.C., both in San Francisco, both enduring jewels from the city’s golfing heyday.
I’ve also seen a big appetite for pitch-and-putts overseas. They can be found in a bunch of little towns in Ireland, usually teeming with an informally dressed crowd whose members tend to nonchalantly pull off very useful bump and runs. And when the Open was held at Muirfield in 2013, the so-called children’s course next to the west course at North Berwick was a big hit with visiting American pros and their families.
To me, a good par-3 course works on many levels besides just the price and the pace. A little funkiness in design and even conditioning is a plus, as the capriciousness invites improvisation. The mood should be informal and promote a hint of relaxed raucousness.
Sure, the American hunger for optimization has started a trend toward par 3s for the golfer who has everything. Such courses can be pricey, too penal to avoid slow play, and over spectacular topography that isn’t ideal for walking. There have been a few such creations.
But done right, a high end par 3 can become destination golf.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
