Ogilvy On Melbourne Bunkers

I think someone asked him why Aussie's are such good bunker players: 

GEOFF OGILVY: I would say anyone who's played a lot of golf on the sand belt, the Royal Melbourne, Metropolitan, that's a real bunker shot. You've got nice lies all the time, but you've got not very much margin for error. It's not just landing it in the right spot, but with the right spin and the right height. It's just a lot narrower margin.

You could hit a great shot, but just not catch it right, it will release past the hole. A very fine line between a good and bad shot. I think if you can hit them close in Melbourne, you can hit them close anywhere. They're very deep bunkers in Melbourne, too, most of the time.

I don't know. I wouldn't have ever looked at or thought Aussies are really good bunker players.

Growing Like Pinnochio's Nose

Steve Elling on the lengthening of Disney World's Magnolia course, host of this week's Tour event. And here's a list of the ten longest courses on Tour.

Tillinghast in Tallahassee

Gerald Ensley in the Tallahassee Democrat on the history and A.W. Tillinghast design involvement in Tallahassee's Capital Club.

Erin Hills...No Signature Hole

Here's a nice story on Erin Hills and its hopes of landing a U.S. Open. Well, the story seemed well-informed until reaching this point:

Designers Dana Fry, Michael Hurdzan and Ron Whitten have done some brilliant bunkering around the greens and fairways. Lang and general manager Steve Trattner also had some input into the overall course design.

Rather interestingly, while the dropoffs, undulations, rough and wetlands come into play on just about every hole, very little earth was moved on the course. On 14 of the 18 holes, not a single shovel of dirt has been turned.

The course has no signature hole. All of the holes qualify for that distinction in their own ways.

Need To Be A Goat To Walk This Course

Thanks to reader Steve for this gem to welcome me back to civilization. Just when I had given up hope that Tour players would ever criticize a lousy venue again. Annika, via Robyn Norwood in the LA Times.

"I think logistically this course does not set up for a competition like this," Annika Sorenstam said after finishing tied for ninth with a final-round 70.

With its tight fairways, multi-tiered layout, narrow cart paths and few shortcuts between holes, the Trump course in Rancho Palos Verdes proved difficult to navigate despite its lavishness.

Players searching for balls in the thick brush or waiting for officials to arrive to make rulings contributed to rounds lasting as long as six hours.

That, plus a 3 1/2 -hour fog delay Saturday, produced the first non-playoff Monday finish on the tour since 1999, though players said ocean views made the waits more bearable.

Sorenstam said not only rules officials, but fans as well, found it difficult to move from hole to hole.

"You pretty much have to be a goat to walk this course," she said.

And after her thanks for the community support:

"Maybe we need to find a flat course in the neighborhood."

Criteria of Greatness

Thanks to reader John for the heads up on this piece by John Steinbreder.  He writes about what he likes at the best clubs in golf.

Trump National Review

Thanks to reader Brian for this review of Trump National Los Angeles, host of the LPGA Tour this week.

“We took an average, nice course on a spectacular location and created a truly special golf course on a spectacular site,” [Donald] Trump says.

Of course, the former could be debated — average yes, but far from nice. Fairways & Greens was never a fan of the original Dye design, with its tight, overly penal landing areas, poor sightlines and hidden hazards. That the Earth tried to swallow the 18th hole seemed only fitting. It was a good walk spoiled.

But the original investors’ nightmare has become an oceanfront dream come true for golfers willing to pony up a few presidents.

And it’s worth every penny, especially if you’re a player who pays similar prices for Las Vegas courses that have neither the sea nor the scenery that swirl around this National treasure.

 

Doak's My Shot

From Tom Doak's "My Shot" interview in the October Golf Digest:

People say that Dr. Mackenzie would roll over in his grave if he saw Augusta National today, but I'm not so sure. Given the advances in equipment, he certainly would have designed something different from the Augusta of the early 1930s. He had tremendous imagination, great mental flexibility. He very well might design something very close to what Augusta National is now. Who can say?

Come on Tom! The seventh stretched to 460 yards, with trees planted down the sides like rows of soldiers? Surely you don't think the Dr. would compromise his masterpiece and his elaborately stated philosophy in The Spirit of St. Andrews, all because a few USGAers and R&Aers have no golfing soul?

Whitten on RTJ Sr.

Ron Whitten pens an exclusive for GolfDigest.com. He remembers Robert Trent Jones Sr. fondly and shares several career anecdotes. This one caught my eye because it was a reminder how quickly Trent's portfolio is starting to wear thing with the Digest panel.

In the 35-year history of Golf Digest's rankings of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses, 44 different Trent Jones layouts have been listed, the most of any architect. The 1999 list contains 14 of his most recognizable names, like Spyglass Hill, Congressional, Mauna Kea, Bellerive and Point O'Woods. 

He has zero in the current top 50 and only five overall.

If there had been no Trent Jones, there would have been no Pete Dye. Without Dye, there would be no Nicklaus, at least not in the field of golf design.

And without Nicklaus, there would be no Fazio, at least not Fazio-sized budgets. In a sense, Robert Trent Jones started it all, the modern business of golf architect-as-celebrity producing real life calendar art. Everyone in the business, and everyone who enjoys modern architecture, ought to remember that every time the sun rises.

 Yes I will! I'll remember how he really made a mess of things.

Will The Tour Start To Listen?

My latest Golfobserver.com column looks at Joe Olgivie's recent comments about TPC design, and provides an exclusive transcript of his first Tour policy board meeting. :)

What Will The Top 100 Look Like in 2025

When I saw the title for Tom Doak's piece, "What Will The Top 100 Look Like in 2025," I wasn't sure what to expect. But it's really a great piece on a number of levels and Golf Magazine deserves kudos for running it. (Now, about the picture of Sand Hills still labeled as Torrey Pines on the homepage...).

Doak writes:

Another trend worth noting is the small but significant number of courses designed to be walked. With the advent of the golf cart in the 1960s, many architects became convinced that walkability was no longer part of the equation of building a great course. Holes were pushed ever farther apart, toward the best bits of land, or to make room for houses. Nevertheless, there still isn't a course ranked among the world's greatest that is very difficult to walk. Augusta is perhaps the toughest hike.

And it was great to see Doak finally come out and use his newfound fame to join the technophobic agenda crowd:

The only thing that can stop this trend is something that will change the list even more significantly -- a continued growth of equipment technology that will make today's elite courses obsolete. We architects shake our heads watching modern professionals, who seem to hit the ball considerably farther every year. It forces us to design for a moving target.

So far, the equipment technology change hasn't had an earth-shaking effect on the Top 100 Courses in the World. Classics like Shoreacres and Maidstone, weighing in at less than 6,500 yards, still stand tall. The past masters of design understood that scoring is controlled at the green end, not the tee end. But the classics are on the defensive. All but one of the top ten courses has been stretched by more than 100 yards since 1985. (Cypress Point is the lone exception.) A lot of them have run out of room to extend, and those that haven't (like Augusta National) are starting to look entirely different. Something has to stop changing -- and soon -- or we'll no longer recognize the courses and the game we love.

Park Junior Book

Hugh MacDonald in the Herald (UK) reviews Walter Stephen's new book, Willie Park Junior: The Man Who Took Golf to the World.

Mystic Makeover

Mike Dudurich details the $7 million spent the last two years to make 84 Lumber Classic host course Mystic Rock better (or harder?). Pete Dye has been called in to make changes to his design, working off of suggestions from Vijay and John Daly. I'm bet he was just thrilled.

Thompson Papers

The University of Guelph has received a donation of papers and other items from Stanley Thompson's collection.

Rubenstein Talks To Ogilvie

In the Globe and Mail, Lorne Rubenstein, focused his column on Joe Ogilvie's thoughts about the state of architecture on the Tour. While Ogilvie wasn't too excited about the " blast flop" shots around the Shaughnessy greens, he did have some positive things to say about architecture and politics.

"First, it’s a novel concept to walk off a green and see a tee," Ogilvie said, comparing Shaughnessy’s walkability to sprawling modern courses that require players to use carts. "The greens are extremely small too, probably smaller than Harbour Town’s (the course in Hilton Head Island, S.C., where the PGA Tour plays every spring). I like that. Why do you need a 50-yard by 50 yard green?

"With new courses these days a developer carries a rope and stretches it 35 yards one way and 35 yards another, and then cuts a swath with no regard for the trees," Ogilvie said.

Asked what else charged him up about the course, Ogilvie had a simple and straightforward response. He’s a thinker, able to distil his ideas into cogent remarks. He’s concerned about matters beyond golf, such as the role of government—he believes the Bush administration should be raising taxes, not lowering them, a view that’s probably not popular among his fellow PGA Tour players--and he’s concerned with the vast amounts of energy we consume. Ogilvie, who referred to himself a "fiscal Republican" and a "social Democrat," drives a Toyota Prius, the hybrid car of the moment.

But back to golf, and Shaughnessy.

"What I’m getting charged up about is wondering why we haven’t been here before. I think you’ll have the highest score relative to par on tour this year, with the exception of the U.S. Open," Ogilvie said.

He also spoke about taking up his position next year on the tour’s policy board. It’s a three-year appointment. He’ll serve with Davis Love III, Scott McCarron and Joe Durant.

"I’m no shrinking violet in the boardroom," he said. "I think we can have an influence on who builds our courses. Tom Doak is talking to the tour about building a course in Milwaukee, and I’d like to see guys like David McKay Kidd (he designed the highly-acclaimed first course at Bandon Dunes in Bend, Oregon), and [Bill] Coore and [Ben] Crenshaw design courses we play. The days of [Tom] Fazio and [Pete] Dye are ending.

"You hear from players every day that they love playing courses like this," Ogilvie continued. "But now the tour is starting to listen."