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
Ignore the Todd’s, Terry’s and Chip’s at the start of this video, eventually Olympia Fields provides a fine drone tour of their North Course. It was last seen at the 2003 U.S. Open won by Jim Furyk, site of four majors overall and host of this week’s BMW Championship. The Willie Park Jr. design is among many things to know heading into the BMW, as listed here by PGATour.com’s Mike McAllister.
Those of a certain vintage have seen the restoration movement’s amazing rise. Only a handful of classics are in questionable hands, though they are biggies (Augusta National, Pine Valley, Riviera).
The list of classics undergoing successful restorations is much longer and is adding four once-unthinkables to the repaired, restored, rejuvenated division: Inverness, Oak Hill, Congressional and Oakland Hills.
All mangled for tournament golf by unsympathetic mid-century salesmen, the most prominent of all finally takes the Jones monster off its back: Oakland Hills is wrapping up a Hanse Design restoration and wants back on the major rota.
Tony Paul provides this detail-rich update on the cost, assessment approach for members and the club’s desire to not waste its time with regular PGA Tour golf.
That system cost more than a third of the $12.1-million budget for the project, funded by the membership. Members had the option of paying $10,000 up front or $100 a month for 12 years, or $12,000. It was a major financial and logistical commitment from the membership, which has booked the North Course solid for months this year. There will be more sacrifice next year, with carts not allowed until 2022.
The USGA has sites booked for the U.S. Open through 2027, and the PGA Championship is accounted for through 2031. Oakland Hills clearly hopes it gets one or both, possibly a U.S. Open before the end of the decade. A regular PGA Tour event isn't the goal, and never has been.
"We're here to host a major championship," said Steve Brady, the head pro, adding that even if Oakland Hills doesn't get another major, the membership will find the renovation well worth the commitment. "We're not just about making Tour players rich."
If you aren’t familiar with the National Links Trust and their efforts to resurrect rundown muni’s of architectural merit, you can read about them here. They are currently auctioning off some sensational golf for those with the means to overpay to play a classic or with an influencer.
You can see the full list of rounds donated for the latest auction here.
For those with the opportunity, three that still looked like good deals to me: Ridgewood, Somerset and Wannamoisett.
Collin Morikawa’s second round par on Harding Park’s 16th
Words I never thought I’d type: the 16th at Harding Park for one of the more fascinating studies in day-to-day variety outside something we’d see at The Old Course. The credit goes to the PGA of America’s Kerry Haigh, Mother Nature and the players.
With regulatory malfeasance all but rendering the risk-reward par-5 extinct, the short par-4 is all we strategy-lovers have as evidence of what we’re missing. Haigh's decision to move the tees up twice, working in conjunction with the conditions and player comfort levels as they got to know the 16th, led to a fascinating four-day dispersion of plays. None moreso than Morikawa’s, whose final round eagle will go down as one of the great shots in modern major history.
As I wrote here for The Athletic, the shot got even better when we learned after the round that (A) he originally had no intention of driving the green at any point (B) he caved and drove it Friday and (C) he had to get up and down off the fringe for par in round two.
Morikawa’s memory of going for it was not a positive one. Yet in the final round moment with a chance to win a major, the carrot dangled before Morikawa was just too appealing. To witness a player succumbing to temptation and pulling off the shot, just makes his decision even more bold. That may be why his caddie double-checked about the final round play:
Memories of that shaky play might be why caddie J.J. Jakovac double-checked when Morikawa came to the 70th hole on Sunday tied for the lead. He had two options: Lay back, or try and squeeze his tee shot 278 yards to the front edge of a green framed by bunkers, rough and overhanging Monterey Cypress.
“I just had to be fully committed,” Morikawa said, “and J.J. asked me, you know, ‘Are you sure? Is this what you want to do?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, this is driver. This is perfect.’”
The tee shot stopped 7 feet 1 inches short of the hole and was the grandest of six final round eagles.
The moment reinforced the beauty of drivable par-4s and the joys of watching a player face a high-risk situation with options.
Runner-up Paul Casey:
“Brilliant shot,” he said. “I love the fact we’ve got drivable par-4s. You know I’m a big fan of the shorter hole. I love the fact that we’re given an opportunity, and then a guy like Collin steps up and shows you what’s possible on a drivable par-4. Nothing I can do except tip my hat. It was a phenomenal shot.”
With distances growing and course architecture not able to keep up, the 16th at Harding episode serves as a reminder of what we’re missing by not retaining a better balance between skill, equipment and architecture. There is nothing more rewarding than relating to the difficulty of the decision and watching a player overcome the mental and physical hurdles in a high-pressure situation. Too bad it doesn’t happen more often.
**One other point about the hole realized since posting this: a cut shot was required to work around the Cypress and to get the ideal bounce toward the flagstick. With Lake Merced on the left, the dreaded double-crosser was still possible for even the world’s best. The danger left, while only visited by a few players, added to the drama and will be why Morikawa’s peers will revere his clutch play.
Check out the 2020 dispersion of plays depending on yardage, weather and maybe player comfort levels as they got used to the unusual dogleg right short par-4. From the PGA Tour’s always magnificent ShotLink with help from volunteers.
Round 1 where no one went for the green:
ound 2 when the tees and flagstick were moved up:
Round 3, when the tees went back but some players still chose to go for the green:
Round 4 with the tees up:
Cumulative for the 2020 PGA shows a great dispersion of shots, suggesting the hole provide a rare risk-reward situation:
Morikawa’s tee shot:
This year's champion, Collin Morikawa, hit the driver incredibly this week. Check out who else hit it well in the final episode of Maximizing Efficiency powered by @ConstellationEG. pic.twitter.com/KwFN7pcpWg
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 10, 2020
Bandon Dunes gets its first nationally televised event with the 2020 U.S. Amateur.
Wilson Furr is your medalist after posting a -11 total over Bandon Trails and Bandon Dunes. Furr posted a 62 at Bandon Trails. And 18-for-3 playoff Wednesday morning will determine the final spots in the 64-player match play and Furr’s first round opponent.
Defending champion Andy Ogletree failed to advance to match-play by just a stroke while 2019’s runner-up, John Augenstein posted a -5 36-hole total and is in match play.
Cohen Trulio, one of last year’s semi-finalists who drove to Oregon from his Mississippi with his dad, tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw before stroke play started, reports GolfChannel.com’s Brentley Romine.
Golf Channel has all the coverage along with NBC’s new Peacock app, featuring a free option and hopefully fewer crashes per hour than NBC Sports Gold. In a clunky play to push downloads, you’ll have to watch for an hour on Peacock and then go to Golf Channel Wednesday to Friday before everything moves to Golf Channel through the conclusion. In the recent past, the U.S. Amateur final would get NBC and Fox network airings, but not this year.
Championship air times:
Wednesday 6-7 p.m. (Live, Round of 64) Peacock
7-9 p.m. (Live, Round of 64) GOLF Channel
Thursday 6-7 p.m. (Live, Round of 16) Peacock
7-9 p.m. (Live, Round of 16) GOLF Channel
Friday 6-7 p.m. (Live, Quarterfinals) Peacock
7-9 p.m. (Live, Quarterfinals) GOLF Channel
Saturday 7-10 p.m. (Live, Semifinals) GOLF Channel
Sunday 7-10 p.m. (Live, Championship) GOLF Channel
The USGA posted this teaser video earlier in the week.
You gotta give the members of @Inverness_Club a huge amount of credit for giving-up their course at short notice during the height of the season for a regular tour event, knowing they’ll do the same next year for #SolheimCup - big gesture of support for womens golf. #DriveOn pic.twitter.com/2iPgfs3BVo
— Tom Abbott (@TomAbbottGC) July 30, 2020
Hardly unexpected but still nice to see: the LPGA’s finest are restarting their season at rejuvenated Inverness. And while the “major championship” conditions presented by veteran ace super John Zimmers could be a tough way to restart after a pandemic-driven break, I couldn’t be happier to see one of America’s great clubs and tournament courses back in fine form.
And let’s be clear: Inverness only fell out of favor because of regulatory malfeasance (as much as I’d love to blame the Fazio’s, it was still great even after their visit.)
The news wasn’t 100% perfect—one player tested positive for COVID-19 on site and another at home—the players sound excited to be back and grateful to be playing Inverness, even if some are going caddieless, as Beth Ann Nichols notes in this Golfweek story.
As for the course, the LPGA.com notes in advance of Friday’s first round include these player remarks about Donald Ross’s design.
“It's super nice. I mean, on 18, it's crazy,” said Rolex Rankings No. 2 Nelly Korda. “I've never seen this. Like even the way they cut their grass here, it gives you such a major championship feel when you're out there. It's crazy. It's super nice though.”
“I do think it's certainly a challenge. We did go out there today and mentioned something along the lines of it being a U.S. Open standard golf course,” added Bronte Law. “Especially after not playing in a while kind of being thrown in at the deep end, per se, is something that I think will definitely be a challenge; but one that I think everyone here is ready for and ready to be back playing.”
Beyond this week’s competition, Inverness Club will return to the women’s golf schedule when it hosts the 2021 Solheim Cup next September. USA Solheim Cup stalwart Lexi Thompson often practices at Inverness Club while in Toledo for the Marathon LPGA Classic and is looking forward to finally seeing the golf course in competition mode.
“To be able to have this as like a tune up to be on this great of a golf course, it's pretty unbelievable,” said Thompson. “And also to have Solheim Cup on it next year, it gives us a little insight and get to know the golf course to hopefully be on that team next year. I was very excited just to hear that we were playing golf again, and even more excited that we're playing a golf course like Inverness.”
Golf Channel coverage begins Friday at 9 am ET.
Inverness’ 18th hole
One of the great places in American golf lore unveils a radically restored layout this Friday when the LPGA kicks off its 2020 season. So thanks to the Fried Egg for helping prep us with this overview of Andrew Green’s Inverness restoration, a welcome tonic from the men managing muggy, mundane Memphis this week. Golf Channel coverage of the LPGA Drive-On Championship starts Friday from 9-11:30 am ET.
Awesome day checking out the refreshed Inverness with @GreenGCA - great new bunkering, gets the Ross feel back at a historic place. Green complexes are phenomenal and it now stretches to over 7800 yards - 6 major championships...should be matter of time before #7 pic.twitter.com/NO6rZwQuwl
— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) June 27, 2018
View this post on InstagramA post shared by The Fried Egg (@fried_egg_golf) on
A putt from 78 yards.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 19, 2020
A full swing from 34 feet.
"Phil the Thrill" makes par. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/jCwFdzGvys
Since the designed hole debuted in 2012, Phil Mickelson has never been a fan of Muirfield Village’s 16th. I’m not sure anyone is.
Two years ago in the Memorial final round, only nine players hit the green in regulation.
It’s time for a change.
Turns out, that time started Sunday as crews were shown digging up greens at Muifield Village while the final round of the Memorial played out.
Liberty National’s 18th hole (left) and desired area for expansion (right), with New York City in the distance (Photo by Geoff Shackelford)
Liberty National owner Paul Fireman, has given up recently rekindled efforts to expand the course into sensitive wetlands just off the current 18th hole, reports NorthJersey.com’s Terence T. McDonald. The plan was
Paul Fireman, the former Reebok executive and owner of Liberty National Golf Course, said in a statement Wednesday morning that he is pulling the plug on the expansion plan so the park’s advocates can address what he called the “social justice problems connected to Liberty State Park.” Fireman allies have alleged recently that the park’s keepers have not done enough to make it accessible to the largely Black neighborhoods that sit just outside of the 1,200-acre urban oasis.
The course recently hosted the 2017 Presidents Cup and 2019 Northern Trust won by Patrick Reed.
Photo by Matthew Harris
One of the world’s greatest golf courses looks improved with a revised 7th. Gorse is gone, contours exposed and a hole that always felt oddly out of place now provides an aesthetic high point.
Golf Architecture’s Richard Humphreys details the work by Mackenzie & Ebert that is still to include new tees for the 8th hole.
The work was first proposed after a course review in 2013 and approved by the club in 2015. “I very nearly did not include this concept because it felt almost inconceivable that the members would agree to alter the hole,” said Tom Mackenzie. “It was resoundingly approved – lesson learnt.”
“The view from the seventh tee is one of the most famous in the world of golf. Is there a first-time visitor to Dornoch who has not taken that photo down over the course? It seemed frustrating that once down off the tee, the sea disappeared until the green on the highest part of the course. There was plenty of room to the right, so logically, it made sense to rotate the hole that way so that the entire hole enjoyed the same view with a new sea vista behind the green.
You can see the location of the new hole corridor in this Google Earth screen capture:
Royal Dornoch’s 7th, old (above) and new (under construction)
And then there is the 8th, needing to be lengthened as more golfers have incorporated intermittent fasting into their lives, picking up 20 yards. MacKenzie (and I having been blessed to visit Dornoch twice nearly 30 years apart).
“The added advantage was that it freed space to restore the eighth, which had been overwhelmed by new clubs and balls. Thirty-seven years ago, when I first moved to Dornoch, even the best players chose whether or not to drive down the scarp. Many opted to stay on the upper level to benefit from a much better view and line to the green. Today, virtually every player drives down to the bottom. The removal of the old seventh green allows the hole to be extended and the tee shot realigned so that the drive is almost parallel to the top of the slope.”
The old seventh green was added to the course in 1946 when the course was extended.
MacKenzie was also primarily behind the upgrade of another hole set atop high ground on a stellar links: Cruden Bay’s 9th.
For those who’ve been or those who dream of getting there someday, Royal Dornoch recently posted a nice reminder of the round the course on the golf world’s radar:
Longtime readers know the plight of Detroit’s Donald Ross-designed muni, Rackham, has been watched since 2006 when there were signs the city might close it. The course was subsequently sold and last year we learned of this amazing woman trying to ensure its future as an important big city, affordable public course.
So it was great to see Golf.com’s Sean Zak using the website’s Muni Monday as an excuse to visit the place and highlight its amazing history with Joe Louis and in Detroit golf.
Well it’s a start, but the (ongoing) sad state of affairs at America’s top collegiate course and most affordable membership option in the area seem likely to be addressed.
Sadly, at Yale Golf Course during the pandemic—one of the few sad stories of neglect—will take time to fix. In such a short season, even the latest news below does not exactly make me optimistic for C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor’s masterful design. But at least the current Athletic Director seems concerned. This is progress.
Thanks to all who forwarded this.
After a short hiatus, Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly discussed a nice array of topics with the 2006 U.S. Open Champion.
The should be available wherever you get your podcasts, or you can listen below.
With purported campus-wide restrictions on work hours and staff leaving several university courses closed, there certainly are greater problems facing America’s institutions of higher learning. That said, as feared last month when word surfaced that arguably the finest university course in the land was not open and losing key staff members, it seemed Yale’s tortured relationship with his C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor gem would not be helped by the pandemic.
Sure enough, things have deteriorated quickly based on these images posted by Daryl Brereton:
The university intends to host students and faculty this fall on campus. The ones who like golf will not have a functioning, maintained course to return to.
I thoroughly enjoyed this fourteen-minute Oak Hill restoration video and narrated by Rich Lerner. It gets downright emotional at a point when almost all of Donald Ross’s original Postage Stamp 15th is restored.
Bradley Klein kindly called the asinine Fazio-addition “ridiculous” in previewing the 2013 PGA, and if you feel confident in your digestion system, you should get one last look at it in that story. It really is one of the great architectural acts of vandalism.
Mericfully, the club and architect Andrew Green have brought back the original, minus the right bunker included in Ross’ original plan. The finished product looks like it’ll (re)join the list of tournament golf’s iconic short par-3s when the club hosts the 2023 PGA Championship and, as announced last week, the 2027 U.S. Amateur.
The video:
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
