Castle Stuart Photos

Posting will be light the next few days while I'm traveling (I know, I know, who goes out of town during Super Bowl week!?). In the mean time... 

If you enjoyed the YouTube videos on the making of Scotland's Castle Stuart resort (here, here, here and here), below are some grow-in photos courtesy of Gil Hanse, who is co-designing the course with developer Mark Parsinen. You know the deal, just click on the photos to see them.

The 215-yard par-3 17th hole viewed from 16th green. Tee is to the right. 17th plays along clifftop into prevailing wind. Shots can be fed down from the left side while the direct line needs to carry bunkers. (click to enlarge image) 

Manmade sand and heather ridge separating 16h green from 17th tee. (click to enlarge image) 

View from left rough on 16th hole looking towards plateau green. 16th is a driveable 305 yard par 4. Hole plays downwind with slopes feeding balls from the right with a deep tightly mown hollow protecting the front left of the green. (click to enlarge image) 

Short par-3 11th viewed from above on the 18th fairway. Tee is out of view to the left. Hole plays 145 yards. (click to enlarge image) 

Par-5 6th hole, 580 yards, view of the approach taken from second shot area. Green is long and narrow and best approach from in front of or over the deep centerline fairway bunker. (click to enlarge image) 

The driveable par-4 3rd. Plays in the opposite direction as the 16th. Green is on a peninsula jutting into the estuary.  (click to enlarge image)
 

Clifftop par-4 7th hole, photo taken from leftside of the landing area.  (click to enlarge image)

View of the approach to the par-5 second hole with dune bunkering along the coastline. (click to enlarge image)

Deutsche Bank Wrap Up

Paul Kenyon and Kevin McNamara on reaction to the TPC Boston changes and the possibility of more work to come, with this from Deutsche Bank's Seth Waugh:

“Some of the holes, you look at them and half the hole has been changed. That side has, but this side doesn’t have the same look,” Waugh said. “The course plays differently, more strategically because of Gil’s work.”

The fourth hole, which went from a dogleg 435-yarder to a 298-yard par-4, was the hole the players least liked, Waugh reported. The new hole, driveable for virtually all of the players, was much better received.

Among others, Phil Mickelson went 2, 3, 5, 3 on the hole, picking up three strokes on Tiger Woods, who went 6, 2, 4, 4. Because it provides wild swings in scoring, officials are discussing the possibility of setting up new stands behind the green and making it one of the focus holes.

The hope is to continue to modify the course, although now it becomes merely fine-tuning.

“Gil is an artist. Brad is, too. You just let them go paint the picture,” Waugh said.

Jim McCabe has more from a jubiliant Waugh, comments from Waugh that make it quite clear how little schedule tinkering will go on for 2008, and this update on the much talked about fourth hole:

When all was said and done, the much talked-about par-4 fourth - a 298-yarder that had plenty of skeptics - held its own. No doubt, players took aim and plenty drove the green - 134 of them in four days. Five players made eagles as the hole played to a field average of 3.714 to rank 16th. But as a testament to the devilish nature of the hole, of the top eight players on the leaderboard at the start of the day, only Mickelson made birdie in the final round. Crunching some numbers after 374 scores had been recorded over four days:

Woods never did birdie it. He had a three-putt par yesterday, a par in Round 3, an eagle Saturday, and that unforgettable double bogey thanks to three bunker shots Friday.

Tom Pernice was the only player of the 75 who made the cut to play the hole over par. He made the championship's only triple bogey, then followed with three pars.

Mickelson played it in 3 under.

Sergio Garcia had four pars.

Cameron Morfit says the Mickelson issue is simple: he hasn't played well at Cog Hill.

Weighing Options On TPC Boston's 4th

As expected, the Hanse-Faxon-Wagner redesign of TPC Boston's 4th hole is generating the most discussion, fueled in part by the possibility that officials may play the 356-yard tee for two rounds. Since that tee was never intended to be used for Deutsche Bank tournament play, it appears the Tour officials have decided to play it at around 300 yards all four days.

Until we see actual tournament play, we won't know which option players will most often chose to take. Just from observing some play on it, the hole looks like a Redan merged with elements of Riviera's 10th. It seems that a few will lay-up with a four or five iron, most will hit three wood at the front opening or into the front bunker, while some will take driver and err on the long side of the green.

A few images, starting with the view from the tee.

 

And the view from the left center of the fairway...

 

And the view from the right center, which is the ideal layup angle.

 

Finally, the rear view which flattens out some of the neat features over the green (fall off, bumps, etc...) that may make the player driving it long think twice. There are some small mounds meant to look like the old style New England bumps that are often found in this area when crews would bury large rocks instead of trying to cart them off property. 

Greetings From Boston

Posting will be sporadic as I've landed in Boston and will be at the TPC the next few days soaking up playoff fever. WiFi willing I'll be posting some photos and other observations from the media center.

To whet your appetite, TPC Boston's pro Tom Ellis talks about the course changes and other issues surrounding the Deutsche Bank event, while Dave Shedloski previews the week in his Tour Insider column.

And over at Golf Digest a FedEx Cup gang bang broke out while I was flying cross country. Ron Sirak is lukewarm, John Hawkins offers less than encouraging reviews for the Cup and Westchester in his Golf World game story, while Bill Fields is hopeful that the playoffs will get interesting. Of course, he also quotes several prominent players saying that playoffs may have been a poor choice of words. Huh?

No, we like the idea of a playoff. It just has to act like one!

TPC Boston Before/After 4th Hole

This is the one TPC Boston hole that Hanse-Faxon-Wagner reworked most, shortening the 425-yard par-4 by over 100 yards to create a risk-reward, driveable short par-4. The new view facing players is seen in the below "after" photo.

I'll be able to say more about how the options work when I get out there and see it next week.
 

 

TPC Boston Before After 5th Hole

The TPC Boston's 475-yard par-4 5th hole, before and after the Hanse-Faxon-Wagner redo. I'll try to get a better look at that big boosting bank that has been created just to the right of the green to kick shots in. Looks interesting.

 

And after...

 

TPC Boston Before/After 15th Hole

And the 15th hole at TPC Boston before photo courtesy of Caddybytes.com...

 

After... 

 

TPC Boston Before/After 8th Hole

The TPC Boston's 213 yard par-3 8th appears to not have provided the Hanse-Faxon-Wagner team much to work with, but the bunker has less of that lovely Rees quality to it in the after shot (below). I also like the little bumpy ridge cut out short right that eliminates some of the modern shaping look and probably helps the player see into the right bunker better.

 

 

More TPC Boston: 16th Before and After

I believe this is a new green by Hanse/Wagner/Faxon at the TPC Boston, with the par-3 shortened and the green given more of a peninsula effect that should make Sunday hole locations fun.

Before and after, with the old green site sitting where you see the reddish fescue grass:

 

 

Update on 2007-08-25 21:50 by Geoff

Here's one other view of the new 16th...

 

TPC Boston Before/After 1st Hole

On the TPC Boston's first hole it looks Hanse-Faxon-Wagner raised the front bunker (or certainly didn't lower it) to obstruct a clean view of left hole locations. I can already hear the players crying foul! It's not all right in front of you!

 

 

TPC Boston Before/After 10th Hole

More of the Hanse-Faxon-Wagner redo of TPC Boston, this time the 10th hole, which only saw minor changes. More fescue and bunkering with a lot more flair.
 

 And after...

 

TPC Boston Before/After 9th Hole

The TPC Boston's 480-yard par-4 9th, with the view prior to last fall's Hanse-Faxon-Wagner renovation and the after shot below.
 

 

TPC Boston Before/After: 7th Hole

One of the more talked about additions at the revamped TPC Boston will be the "Hell's Half Acre" installed on the 600-yard par-5 7th hole. Above is a view of the hole before and below is the after shot of the Hanse-Faxon-Wagner redo, with photos courtesy of TPC Boston superintendent Tom Brodeur.

 

And the after shot, where you may note the improved left greenside bunker and the elimination of containment mounds around the green complex... 

 

First Look at TPC Boston: 17th Hole Before/After

I will be posting more images in a few days, but thanks to TPC Boston superintendent extraordinaire Tom Brodeur, who managed a a major econstruction and grow in of his course since last year's Deutsche Bank event, we get to see some before/after shots of Gil Hanse and Brad Faxon's redo.

Home to next week's PGA Tour playoff event, TPC Boston was overhauled to reflect more of a New England-style look and feel. Much of the new-meant-to-look-old bunkering was crafted by Jim Wagner, who was recently featured in this YouTube video.

Here's the 17th hole's fairway view, before and after. Note New England style fescue bumps just off the fairway of this 420-yard par 4:

 

 

And the rear view of the 17th where the green has been reduced in size:

 

 

Another Castle Stuart Video From YouTube...