Great News. I'll start saving up for the $500 green fees I'll be paying.

"It's anything but straightforward", Ben Crenshaw.

Translation: "Target golf sucks".

Thanks for posting, Geoff. I could listen to these guys talk theory for hours...

Geoff - I'm curious as to your take on Coore/Crenshaw and how their work will be viewed 50 years from now. Who would you compare them to from 50+ years prior to today? I think their legacy will be felt if golf course architecture makes a full turn away from the Fazio-esque neighborhood layouts. If things continue on that path, will their genius be lost amidst the houses and cart paths?

This "restoration" is in very safe hands. I agree with Spence, I couldn't get tired of listening to those two talking golf and golf architecture.

I like architecture stories.

Especially a story that has C&C involved with a classic.

Sort of comforting, unlike, say . . . where F is eyeballing Cypress.

As a person fortunate enough to play on Donald Ross gem, the comments warmed my heart. Sadly, many of them have been brutalized by well meaning uninformed changes, coupled with the ignorance of the club greens committee. Thankfully it doesn't happen as often due of the work of the Donald Ross Society and individuals like Coore & Crenshaw.

Too bad, there goes Rees Jones best restoration to date

They are simply the best. BAR NONE, simply the best. They approach everything with great restraint and they don't wear their pride or ego on their shirt sleeve.

I really appreciate how the guarded spoken language of C&C matches their body language. Nice clip.

Totally cool stuff. Thanks for posting that Geoff...it was educational on many, many levels.

I'm guessing we'll see a fair amount of turfgrass removed in favor of sand which is exciting in and of itself. This may prove to be the most significant restoration of an iconic American course ever. And one could not ask for a more thoughtful pair of architects for the job. Very promising, indeed.

Ludell, are you telling me that Fazio has designs (heh, couldn't resist) on Cypress Point? Two immediate thoughts: What the hell are they thinking? There is no God. Not that it really matters to me, since I'm as likely to play Cypress Point as win a Nobel Prize, but I'd like to think the work of MacKenzie and Hollins is safe. At least until the Greenland Ice Sheet melts.

Ky,
While the keepers of classic architecture were diverted by the Thanksgiving Circus, an anti-classicyst quietly made his move.
Apparently it needs buffing up for competition.
Why not C&C instead of . . . never mind, BP just went to 180 over 180.

Hollins is rarely mentioned, you must be a scholar.

$ 222 in December--nice room/ full breakfast. And a caddie that shot 65 at Tobacco Road. Best deal in golf!

As someone who has been playing at Pinehurst for the last 20 years (my parents became members when I was 15) and has played #2 hundreds if not thousands of times I can't tell you how much this excites me. My only hope is that the club truly gives them free reign to do what they think is right (based on this video it seems clear they won't do anything that isn't respectful to the tradition of Ross) and that the club creates the proper maintenance meld to enhance the architecture (for years the course has been too soft and the overseeding has played a role in this).

Naccarato, put a sock in it. You've never set foot on Pinehurst #2, the BEST WHAT??

If there were a best, you know it would be me.

Ross didn't design the course these guys are talking about. Are they really going to put it back to the way it was? Sand, pine cones, rock hard greens, and as little green grass as nature would allow? Probably not.

With the fear of revealing truth and silencing controversy, which we all know makes for good blogging, I must ease everyones fears. C&C have detailed aerial photographs from which they are crafting their work. Their specific goal is not to reinvent a course but to uncover one. The transition will not be rapid. Contrary to everyones beliefs, naturalization of a golf course is not cutting off the water and parking the mowers. As for the top dressing creating the turtlebacks, look at the picture Mandell has posted on one of his on-line interviews from behind the 2nd green during a north & south during the 30's and go park on Muster Branch road and take a look for yourself today. Enjoy the view.