Daly's Latest Signature Design

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Highlights from a press release on John Daly's latest:

Daly's first PGA TOUR win took place at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind. "Beginning with John's victory at Crooked Stick, he has thrilled golf crowds worldwide with his prodigious drives and daring style of play," added Mayor Claar. John Daly's first signature course, Wicked Stick, is located in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The new Bolingbrook layout has been tentatively named Big Stick in recognition of Daly's first TOUR victory and first course design.

Big Stick will stretch more than 8,200 yards from the tips, bringing John's "grip-it-and-rip-it" style of golf to Illinois. The par-5 holes will exceed 600 yards, the par 4s will measure more than 450 yards, and each par 3 will feature a tee that makes that particular hole difficult and memorable. Daly's vision for the links-style course also encompasses long, open fairways with a challenging approach and undulating greens. His spirit and enthusiasm for the game will positively complement the vision of golf course architect John Robinson who will collaborate with him on the project.

"I have a passion for building golf courses and look forward to making Big Stick one of the longest tracks in the country with a number of tee boxes to allow for maximum playability," said Daly. 

 

Okay, who read that without laughing? 

 

Maxwell Gem Uncovered?

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Ron Whitten on a rediscovered Maxwell course in Kansas. Or maybe it's not.

One of the major Maxwell finds occurred a dozen years ago, at Hillcrest Golf Course in Coffeyville, hard against the Oklahoma border in the southeast corner of Kansas. It pains me to say that I had a hand in delaying its discovery, and it pains me even more to now report that it's not quite the major find that many think it is.


 

Ogilvy On Melbourne Bunkers

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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.

 

Erin Hills...No Signature Hole

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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

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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."

Trump National Review

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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

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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.

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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.