Designing For Golf Pros, Files: 5th At Kapalua Edition

Cover your eyes kids, but Ron Whitten gives us a window into the coddled mindset that is golf architecture for the modern pro. At least, in the eye of some.

Check out his entire piece on the Kapalua remodel in the face of linebacker strength and core-infused speed, as addressed by the course’s original architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

The par-5 fifth needed strengthening due to its width and easy reachability. With no room to lengthen, Coore and Crenshaw went old school, looked at divots, and placed a bunker Old Course-style. Ish.

“Everybody hit it up the left side,” Coore said. “Nobody challenged the ravine on the right side off the tee. After the tournament, I walked out to the fairway and found almost all the divots were in one big area on the left center of the fairway.”

He marked the spot and the next morning, he went out with Ben, who agreed the tee shot on five had become “mindless.” They discussed placing a bunker in the center of the patch of divots, to force players to position their drives. Crenshaw suggested that some may choose to aim at the bunker and fade it into the right side of the fairway, which would still be some 40 yards wide, but edged by that ravine. They flagged out the proposed bunker.

Soon, Rolfing, Wenzloff and tour officials inspected it. Tour players don’t like bunkers in the center of a fairway, they said. Especially a bunker so deep that they can only pitch out sideways.

So Coore and Crenshaw agreed to make it a shallow bunker, knee deep at its deepest, so players would still have a chance to escape with a five iron and reach the green.

The lack of depth in Kapalua’s bunkering was noticeable during the round one telecast of the 2020 Sentry. I assumed it was to help resort golfers get around faster. Turns out, there was a duel purpose.

This unfortunately raises the question debated for a couple of centuries now: why bunkers are there in the first place? To provide a manicured place of recovery or a penalty of some kind that elicits thought, a change of course and an edge to those who circumvent the trouble with a nice combo platter of brains and brawn.

There is also the more salient question: how often have the desires and needs of golf professionals had a positive impact on architecture? Rarely.

**Here is a screen capture from Sentry round 2 Golf Channel coverage showing the new “bunker” in graphic form.

Pebble's (1929) 7th In Living Color: "Bring it back"

When the photos of Pebble Beach’s 7th were shared via my Golden Age of Golf Design book and initially online, the reaction was typically immediate condemnation of the unmaintainable nature of its original “imitation sand dunes.” Those were created by Chandler Egan, Joe Mayo, Robert Hunter and a team of artisans trying to reverse the Pebble Beach narrative from one of artificial to natural when the course underwent massive change for the 1929 U.S. Amateur (where Egan reached the semi-finals at age 45).

Today, the chorus is nearly unanimous: “bring it back” say the commenters on this fascinating post by the Pebble Beach official account showing what the old hole would have looked like in living color. The post does not credit the source, but whoever it was did a sensational job.

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The color restoration of this previously black and white photo provides a glimpse into what it might have looked like to stand on the 7th tee in the early days of Pebble Beach. Chandler Egan created these extensive man-made bunkers, designed to mimic sand dunes, around many of the course's greens in preparation for the 1929 U.S. Amateur Championship. The artificial dune bunkering proved difficult to maintain, however, and eventually gave way to more defined and manicured bunkers. • • • • #mypebblebeach #attproam #arnoldpalmer #pebblebeach #pebblebeachgolflinks #pebblebeachgolf #pebblebeachgolfcourse #golf #golfaddict #golfcourse #golfheaven #golfisfun #golfisgreat #golfislife #golflife #golflifestyle #golfstagram #ilovegolf #instagolf #top100golf #whyilovethisgame #colorized #colorizedhistory #historic #historical #historicgolf

A post shared by Pebble Beach Resorts (@pebblebeachresorts) on Dec 21, 2019 at 2:51pm PST

We examined the issues with restoring this look earlier in 2019 when Pebble Beach hosted the U.S. Open:

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Tiger Woods Meet Peter Hay: Pebble Beach's Par-3 To Get Overhaul

The addition of a good par-3 has not become essentially at some of the world’s best golf courses, and while this embrace of fun and short shots should have happened ages ago to “grow the game”, it’s still important news when a place like Pebble Beach jumps in.

The Peter Hay Golf Course has been around since 1957, a vision of a longtime professional at Pebble Beach who worked with Jack Neville on the delightful pitch and putt. But time has passed by the course and so the Pebble Beach Company’s decision to enhance the course adjacent-ish to the first hole.

Monterey Peninsula ambassador Alan Shipnuck reports that Woods is still working through the details but will emphasize the amazing views U.S. Open spectators enjoy when entering the event over Peter Hay’s course.

Besides trying to keep up with other big name golf-focused resorts and upgrading what was not very well maintained, it sounds like the vision is not entirely centered around profit, a frequent vibe at Pebble Beach that can be a deterrent to enjoying such a special place.

Peter Hay — named for one of Pebble’s first head pros, who was a champion of junior golf — has always been and shall remain free for kids 12 and under to play. (Teens paid $10 and adults $30.) As the only par-3 on the Monterey Peninsula it is an important portal for beginners and families. Pricing has not yet been announced but Perrochi says, “We know this golf course serves many different constituents. Obviously the goal is to attract more resort guests, but Peter Hay will remain the home of junior golf on the Peninsula.”

Clayton On Royal Melbourne: "Perfection isn't always perfect"

It was a sensational first day at crispy and speedy Royal Melbourne (at least from the approaches in). While much focus has rightfully been on the players, the course really is the star.

The Composite Course’s routing and sequencing is a bit unusual for the Presidents Cup, so Golf Australia’s Mike Clayton looks at that and other minor flaws in what he sees as an otherwise flawless piece of architecture.

He addresses the bland 17th, which is actually a brilliant, Old Course-inspired opener most of the time:

With its hugely wide fairway the opening hole on the West steels from the principle of the shot off the first tee on The Old Course at St Andrews. At both it’s awfully hard to mess the drive up, allowing players the comfort of knowing they are unlikely to ruin their day almost before it has begun. 

The problem is a hole designed to open the course is the 17th this week, making it a bit like reading a book with the chapters out of order. It’s not a bad 17th hole but the 17th on the West Course (9th this week) might be the best par four in the country and the original 17th on the Composite (the 15th) is one of the finest par fives.

The very next hole, the par 5, 2nd West (the 18th) is played off the women’s tee this week as a par four. Whilst the carry bunkers wouldn’t pose a problem off the very back (par 5) tee they are too close to the tournament tee to even look ‘right’ because the scale doesn’t quite work.

A great long two-shotter is thus reduced down to a drive and a short iron and something MacKenzie wouldn’t even recognise if the measure is the clubs he wanted players to be hitting into one of the most beautiful green sites on the course.

"Here’s why Augusta National slipped"

Noel Freeman deserves kudos for taking the job of explaining why Golf magazine’s panel dropped Augusta National out of its top five courses on the planet.

His take was sympathetic with the dreadful plight of trying to keep up with the modern game:

Technological advancements and the rise of the so-called bomb-and-gouge movement are vexing dilemmas not only for Augusta National but also for tournament courses all over the world. But the feeling here is that Augusta has gone too far in its efforts to “modernize.”

The club could and should pay more homage to the design’s original intent by removing trees and rebuilding a firm course that presents players with more angles and therefore more options. The result would be both a more complete and more compelling test for players, and more interesting theater for viewers.

Augusta National, Pebble Beach Take (Not Too Surprising) Hits In Revamped Golf Magazine World Top 100

Ran Morrissett now helms the revamped Golf Magazine World Top 100 ranking, long the most respected listing of the planet’s best architecture. And while it’s a little tough to take a list covering the world seriously when there are only 80 or so voters and five panelists are said to have not voted at all, the overall statement says the list is once again about architecture.

Gone are more than twenty panelists, former head Joe Passov and numerous courses that appeared to have bought their way onto the list. The full 2017 list can be seen here and not surprisingly, the controversial Ayodhya Links and Oitavos Dunes are gone this time around, with Nine Bridges and Trump International Aberdeen both plummeting (53 and 54 spots respectively).

Another sign of the changing times? These five courses were said last time to be destined for the top 100 but none made the list. Only one, Royal Aberdeen, made the magazine’s 2019 list of the 50 next best.

Here is the full ranking.

The print package includes the panel, criteria and some dazzling, slightly over-Photoshopped images.

(Note: accessing the list on a mobile device can be jarring as the outdated Golf.com platform is unable to display images and an ad while scrolling, leading to a terrible viewing experience. The early rollout today featured many other glitches and timeout problems reported on discussion groups.)

Anyway, the headline from the list revamp is the dip of Augusta National and Pebble Beach, as Josh Berhow notes in this item focusing on these two icons taking some hits from the architecture-focused panel dinging both for not keeping up with the times by emphasizing restoration.

Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters, dropped from 5th to 9th in the most recent ranking (its lowest ranking ever), and Pebble Beach Golf Links fell out of the top 10, from 9th to 11th.

This from an unnamed rater probably summed up the views of many sensing the architecture just isn’t dialed in enough to warrant top five status any longer:

The raters acknowledged Augusta National’s drop in the December issue of GOLF, saying “When the trend everywhere is to remove trees, widen playing corridors, increase playing angles and promote strategic and attacking golf, something had to give. We appreciate that Augusta National is in the uniquely difficult position of annually hosting the Masters. Still, the founding vision of Bob Jones and Alister MacKenzie matters, and a sense is starting to develop among panelists that the club is moving too far away from it.”

Love's Sea Island Plantation Course Redo Sports Some Travis, Raynor And Macdonald Charm

Sea Island’s Seaside Course remains the primary venue for the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic, but the first two rounds of play will be split with the newly remodeled Plantation Course.

PGATour.com’s Sean Martin looks at Davis Love, Mark Love and Scot Sherman’s effort to recapture traces of the course’s past, with nods to Walter Travis, original architect, and Seth Raynor/CB Macdonald.

From Martin’s extensive look at the redo:

Plantation’s historic feel had faded after nearly a century of play and a renovation in the late 1990s. This latest renovation draws upon the designs of architects like Travis, Seth Raynor and C.B. MacDonald.

Those men designed some of Love’s favorite courses, including Chicago Golf Club, Mountain Lake in Lake Wales, Florida, and two courses in Charleston, South Carolina: Yeamans Hall and Country Club of Charleston. It was a collaboration between Love, his brother Mark, and Scot Sherman, an architect with Love Golf Design who worked closely with Dye for many years.

They replicated those classic courses by creating sharp angles and straight lines, producing a look that was distinctive from the neighboring Seaside course and its big, bold bunkering.

The Sea Island YouTube page featured construction flyover updates, including this last one from August:

Golfer Expectations For Bunkers: Still Silly After All These Years

The minimalist architecture movement has helped deliver many sustainable elements to golf maintenance, but it still has not made a dent in golfer expectations for perfect bunker lies.

The Fried Egg’s Garrett Morrison considers the importance of groomed hazards for golfers and the cost to the game through the eyes of USGA agronomist George Waters.

To avoid player complaints about bunkers, courses have to increase spending. In turn, green fees go up. This is a vicious circle that sometimes leads to closure.

“What I think would surprise many golfers is that there are definitely courses that spend as much—or even more—per square foot on bunkers as they do on greens,” George Waters told me. Waters is Manager of Green Section Education for the USGA and wrote Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game. “And it’s golfer expectations that drive that spending.”

Just as pressing as financial issues, according to Waters, are opportunity costs. The more time greenkeepers devote to bunker maintenance, the less they have for other tasks.

“The list is basically endless,” Waters said. “For lower- and mid-budget courses, the extra time can make a big difference in improving conditions on greens, approaches, and fairways. That could be more time spent hand watering, more time making irrigation repairs, more time nursing weak areas back to health.”

The story notes that current wokester-darling Sweetens Cove treats all bunkers as waste areas, meaning you can ground your club and maintenance is not as diligent about daily rakings.

The golf course industry generally misses opportunity to make a show of how these things affect cost. Because I’m pretty sure we’d have heard by now of a course knocking 10-20% off their green fees for a week while bunkers go unraked. I’m pretty sure golfers would not mind, but then again, I forget how much people demand perfect lies in hazards.

Boca Blues: City Asks for New Architects Of Proposed Project Over Cost

The day many always thought would come arrived in Boca Raton. Maybe there have been previous examples, but it’s hard not to read about Boca’s kibosh on architects Tom Fazio II and Nick Price over the $13 million budgeted for their creation of 18 holes and a par 3 course.

Despite winning the project bid over many other architects, the city said the price was simply too high and will be asking for new bids. All over price, reports Christina Hristoforidis.

On the Tuesday night joint meeting between the City Council and the Boca Beach and Parks District, the idea for an RFP was approved.

In regards to the current project’s architects, Price/Fazio can submit in the new RFP and have the option to be compared to the resented from the RFP for the best golf course design.

According to WPTV, this decision left the President of Golf Association Greg Galanis, feeling betrayed.

For years the sport has been told the economics of building a new course was spiraling too far out of control. So it should come as little surprise that a city finally said not to the price of a golf course.

A story from February, 2019 broke down why the cost of the project was so high and while USGA greens weren’t mentioned, the overall cost to build a course has become unsustainable when coupled with infrastructure costs.

Building the golf course alone will cost about $15 million, said Wayne Branthwaite, spearheading the project for Price/Fazio Design.

“But there are several other costs from items that have to be done: Landscaping, irrigation pumps ...” Branthwaite said. The district also has to build the clubhouse (about $3.4 million), a maintenance facility (about $2.6 million) and a tunnel to cross Northwest Second Avenue, which cuts through the golf course (about $2.4 million), according to a Price/Fazio report.

Reverse Old Course Gets Two Days In November 2019

Great news for the lucky souls in St. Andrews who have an open mind and an appreciation for golf history, as the Old Course will be set up in the reverse fashion once the original routing and later employed by Old Tom Morris to spread wear-and-tear. Annually, the routing is played in April.

Here is Jeremy Glenn’s deep dive on the setup and reverse routing.

From Graylyn Loomis on Twitter:

For the first time in years the St Andrews Links is allowing golfers to play the Old Course in reverse for two days late this month. Who has always wanted to play the Old backwards? pic.twitter.com/r3oDAHDNAC

— Graylyn Loomis (@grayloomis) November 6, 2019

Video: Memorial Park Re-Opens, Jackie Burke Hits The Opening Tee Shot

Hard to tell what’s better, seeing an important muni revitalized in a major American city, or seeing the great Jackie Burke, former Masters champion, opening the course.

The Houston Business Journal’s Olivia Pusinelli with the full story of the $18.5 million renovation.

Thanks to the renovations, the Houston Open will move to the Memorial Park Golf Course in October 2020. Previously, it had been held at the Golf Club of Houston in Humble since 2003. Additionally, starting with the 2019 event, the Houston Open has moved to the fall after being held in the spring, shortly before the Masters Tournament, for years.

Thanks to reader Tom for these two videos put out by the Astros Golf Foundation to commemorate the reopening. Note one of co-architect Brooks Koepka’s primary request: reasonable length par-3s based on fatigue of playing too many long ones week-toweek in professional golf.

J. Burke Houston Open 2019 - v.5 from Andrea Andrus on Vimeo.

No Shock: Riviera Still A Player Favorite; Only A Few Vote For Pebble And Augusta

Even in it’s mangled state, Riviera remains a player favorite according to players sampled for Golf.com’s annual Anonymous Player poll.

What is surprising: how few gave votes to Pebble Beach or Augusta National.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TOUR COURSE? 

Riviera: 20%

Muirfield Village: 16%

Harbour Town: 8%

TPC Sawgrass: 8%

Pebble Beach: 6%

Quail Hollow: 6%


Whoa…go on…

Augusta National: 4%

Bay Hill: 4%

Torrey Pines South: 4%

TPC San Antonio: 4%

Old White Greenbrier: 4%

And the resounding winner in least favorite also appeared on the favorite list with as many votes as Augusta National. Go figure:

WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE TOUR COURSE? 

TPC San Antonio: 16%

None: 12%

Trinity Forest: 8%

TPC Louisiana: 6%

Bethpage Black: 4%

CC of Jackson: 4%

Coco Beach G&CC (Puerto Rico): 4%

GC of Houston: 4%

Quail Hollow: 4%

Silverado: 4%

TPC Southwind: 4%

Not too many surprises on that list, other than the unfortunate disdain for Trinity Forest, which may be as much about location, environment and eccentricity of features than anything else.

New PGA Tour Event Headlined By Four Players Inside World Top 100

Somehow, 24 world ranking points will be given to the inaugural Bermuda Championship’s winner, even with a strength of field of 27.

The field includes many names you probably did not know still play professional golf and many more that have not earned ranking points in years. Of those ranked—114 according to the OWGR page)—the average is 826.

When do playing opportunities become playing obligations?

To put it another way: players who could not even earn enough points to qualify for the PGA Tour Champions’ Schwab Cup playoffs starting this week at the Invesco QQQ, are playing a PGA Tour event as consolation.

But hey, at least an event in Bermuda let Zac Blair check off another CB Macdonald course and wear pink knee-high socks, so it’s not a total waste of a week. His photo gallery (use the arrows on the image’s right):

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Awesome day out in the Bermuda Triangle! MOC was as cool as advertised. Some amazing movement & fun template holes. It’s always fun to see places firm and fast & be able to use the contours/ground. It has one of the most laid back vibes I’ve ever seen at a club. Whipped around in a 7 Ball in 3.5 hours. Pumped I finally got to check it out & how about that cape hole 😵 ... big shoutout to @dswoodcock for setting it all up. #TBC

A post shared by Zac Blair (@zachary_blair) on Oct 29, 2019 at 2:57pm PDT

Cypress Point Opens Up For College Golf (Again), Check It Out!

And if you’re in the area Tuesday you can get a rare glimpse of Alister MacKenzie’s masterpiece.

Or there’s Instagram!

A sampling from some majestic fall days on the Monterey Peninsula for the occasional Cypress Point Classic with one day to go:

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Swipe left for a quick glimpse of golf heaven. Ready to get after it with @illinimgolf at the Cypress Point Classic!

A post shared by TOMMY - KUHL (@tommy_kuhl10) on Oct 27, 2019 at 8:14pm PDT

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A post shared by Jon Howell (@jonny_golfcoach) on Oct 27, 2019 at 4:42pm PDT

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Couldn’t pick a prettier spot to finish off the fall season #gotrojans #fighton #dubszn

A post shared by Kyle Suppa (@ramsdjsuppa) on Oct 27, 2019 at 8:22pm PDT

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United States Amateur Champion Andy Ogletree. Wanted to chat about California girls and the deer population more than the golf course.

A post shared by Paddy’s Golf Shots (@paddygolfshots) on Oct 28, 2019 at 8:01pm PDT

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This place is unreal🔥 Ready for a team match with my man @elvis_lin666666666

A post shared by K A I T O (@kaito_onishi) on Oct 27, 2019 at 8:22pm PDT

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Old school calligraphy...The Cypress Point Classic.....Open to the public, so if you fancy an incredible day out (Tuesday) get yourself down to 17 Mile Drive.

A post shared by Lawrence Donegan (@lawrencedonegan) on Oct 28, 2019 at 8:33pm PDT

Housing Developer Offers $120 Million For Top Canadian Course

Thanks to reader MJ for this stunning Globe and Mail story about the National Golf Club of Canada considering a $120 million sale to a real estate developer. The No. 3 course in Canada in Golf Digest’s latest ranking and an exclusive all-men’s club, is situated on prime Toronto real estate but has members fleeing due to excessive difficulty and cost.

From Andrew Willis’ story:

When noted golf architects George and Tom Fazio designed the National, which opened in 1974, it was well north of Toronto’s suburbs. Over more than four decades, the city swallowed the club. Large homes now surround the course, while shopping malls, Canada’s Wonderland amusement park and a subway station are minutes away.

In recent years, an increasing number of National members decided to unload their stakes, in part because aging golfers often find the course too challenging to play enjoyably. Not enough new members stepped forward and there are currently more sellers of memberships than buyers, according to Roxborough, who declined to comment on the exact numbers. Several sources at the National, whom The Globe And Mail granted confidentiality to because they were not authorized to speak for the club, said dozens of members are currently trying to sell their stakes, which typically change hands for around $40,000. Annual dues at the club are about $12,000.

Hundreds of course closures have occurred in recent years, but I’m fairly certain this would vie as the most significant