Golf Digest Best New...Last For A Couple Of Years?

Cal Club's 9th (click to enlarge)I finally got around to Golf Digest's Best New Courses feature and soaked it all in since it's hard to see this appearing in its current form the next couple of December's thanks to the complete stoppage of new course construction.

In the Best Remodel category, the only course I had seen was 3rd place finisher Cal Club, which lost out to Charlotte Country Club and Olympia Fields. While I'm sure those are both fine efforts from Ron Pritchard and Steve Smyers, I would have been disappointed if Cal Club won. Since it's the most remarkable transformation of a golf course I've seen, I would have had a tough time surviving knowing the Digest panel had seen the same thing. Had they, I might have started resorting to Ambien and we know how well that can work out.

Cal Club's 16th (click to enlarge)Pick a category--design, maintenance, environmental sensibility, aesthetics, maintenance meld--and Kyle Phillips' restoration with Mark Thawley, George Waters and Josh Smith is as fine a piece of work as you could want to see. Throw in the fact that it's artfully managed by fast-and-firm guru Thomas Bastis and team, and well, we just can't have the Golf Digest panel rewarding that!