The Renovation Trend

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bp56011.jpgBrad Klein writes about the renovation/restoration trend.

If, as hoped, Morrish also gets to redo Las Colinas, he'll get a little meaner with tighter bunker patterns and longer tee shots. He'll do so admitting a little bit of confusion in dealing with distance these days – a problem that confronts all architects.

"I don't even know where to put bunkers anymore," said Morrish. In looking back at his four decades in the business, he sees a continual evolution of distance, and wishes it would come to an end. Forty years ago, when he supervised construction of Spyglass Hill Golf Club, everything in the industry was calculated on the basis of 750 feet (250 yards). When Morrish worked on Muirfield Village in 1972-73, Jack Nicklaus broke new ground by relying on 800 feet as a turn point for doglegs and for bunker placement, and less than a decade later at Castle Pines, a mile high in Colorado, they went to 850 feet. Now, 900 feet is commonplace.

When Pete Dye was redoing his original design at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass – Dye calls it "the fifth time he's gotten to rework it" – he settled on 330 yards, which also happens to be the distance Fazio relied upon at Augusta National for the carries required to clear fairway bunkers.
Klein also writes about the wonderful trend of big name architects getting to redo their own work because it was so bad the first time around (wait, wouldn't that be the case with Morrish redoing Las Colinas!?). Anyway, in this story he focuses on Doonbeg and this anecdote gave me a chuckle:
When it opened four years ago, the stunning links-style setting on 377 acres of rugged dunes overlooking Doughmore Bay in southwest Ireland was unrelenting to play and nearly impossible to enjoy. Evidence for that was clear enough in the inaugural match that saw course designer Greg Norman lose seven golf balls while playing against homeland favorite Padraig Harrington.

 

"Players need to bring the spirit back"

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Greg Norman continues to pass on the Kool-Aid by daringly pointing out that the pro game is not in the best shape.

"Players need to bring the spirit back," Norman said. "There has always been great players to bring people to the game to lighten it up so that it's not so serious.

"Look at what (Rafael) Nadal has done for tennis because of the way he is, like a boxer. You never hear anyone coming out and saying I want to beat Tiger Woods - I haven't heard that," Norman added. "Nadal comes out and says he wants to beat Roger Federer because he's No 1 and that's great for tennis."

Norman, who has played little golf - and watched even less - since making his senior's tour debut last year, also said the technology used in making golf clubs should be reserved for amateurs only.

"I have a problem with someone winning a golf tournament without using a driver," Norman said. "The game has always been dominated by power-hitter players, but today you can't tell the difference between the players because of the technology."

 

Silverman on Yardage Books

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If you enjoyed my column on scorecards, then check out Jeff Silverman's WSJ take on yardage books.

But yardage books have personality, and every one is different. While they're all designed to fit in a back pocket, some open like novels, while others flip like a steno pad. Some have fancy covers with alluring photos and computer-enhanced 3-D depictions of each hole; others employ line drawings that are a short step up from finger paints.

Dis Be DLIII

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During his post third round press conference at Greensboro, Davis Love tried to share some interesting thoughts on design. Unfortunately, the ASAP person handling the transcript had trouble finding their comma key (amongst other transcription issues):

And, you know, I think we knew what the golf course looked like, we knew the old style and, you know, we liked the kind of the Chicago golf club, that kind of style green and we thought it would fit very well here and give the members a chance to get the ball to run up on to the greens.

You can kind of tell the downhill balls the ball runs on to the green, uphill holes little bit of false fronts. Very, very traditional.

Somebody like Lee Jantzen who is studying old golf courses comes up and talks to me about them all the time. If you appreciate some of the old Master kind of things, there's like that goofy No. 2 green, there's some designers that put a green like that on every course they built and, you know, we didn't do a punch bowl and didn't do a "Rhodan" but we did really old style greens and I think the members like it especially if the rough is a little bit lower than it is right now, they have a lot of fun playing it.

Reading his words after they've been run through the Ali G translator (when do we get a Borat version!?), I think you'll find that he actually makes a little more sense.

and, yous know, i think we knew wot da golf course looked dig, we knew da batty style and, yous know, we liked da kind of da chicago golf cukabilly, dat kind of style greun and we thought it would fit well well in da house and borrow da members a chance to get da ball to run up on to da greens.you can kind of tell da downhill mr biggies da ball runs on to da greun, uphill battys little bit of false fronts. well, well traditional.
somebody dig lee jantzun who is angin batty golf courses comes up and natters to me about them all da time. if yous appreciate some of da batty masta kind of fings, there's dig dat goofy no. 2 greun, there's some designers dat put a greun dig dat on every course dey built and, yous know, we didn't do a punch bowl and didn't do a "rhodan" but we did for real batty style greens and i think da members dig it for real if da rough is a little bit lowa than it is right now, dey ave a lot of wicked playin it.

 

"There's a reason why you never see a TV shot of the clubhouse on Sundays"

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Robert Bell reports that Forest Oaks may be losing some of its luster with the Greensboro folks, but not necessarily for reasons you might expect. Says tournament director Robert Long:
"We have a fiduciary responsibility to look at all of our options -- whether they relate to Forest Oaks or somewhere else," Long said. "Nobody's questioning that Forest Oaks is a great golf course. But any good steward of the tournament would want to know their options. What we need to determine is if (Forest Oaks) is the best fit for where we want to take this tournament."
What these guys will do for their charities!

No, actually this may be about the most vital attribute of a PGA Tour site, the clubhouse amenities.
Publicly, tournament officials say Forest Oaks, which has played host to the championship since 1977, has the best golf course in the Triad for a PGA Tour event -- for now.

Privately, they wonder if they can do better. Forest Oaks' clubhouse and locker rooms are beginning to show their age, officials said. Neither has had significant renovations since the clubhouse opened in 1967.

"There's a reason why you never see a TV shot of the clubhouse on Sundays," said one tournament board member, who asked not to be named. "The physical amenities are outdated or are close to being so."
Or, maybe we never see the clubhouse because we are watching a golf tournament?
Even the course is being called into question. After opening to rave reviews three years ago, Davis Love's redesign has lost some of its luster with golfers.

"They made a great course good," PGA Tour regular Robert Gamez said after playing the course last year.

Sergio Garcia, who recently helped lead Europe to another Ryder Cup victory, said the new course was "a bit too gimmicky," a common lament among the pros.

Reviewing The Grove

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Joe Passov reviews WGC AmExpress host The Grove and loves it. Peter Dixon sounds a little less excited in The Times:
In almost every respect, the event at The Grove, just outside Watford, has the look of a fully-fledged PGA tournament. More specifically, the course, designed by Kyle Phillips, an American, has been set up in just the same way — a touch of Americana plonked right in the middle of the Home Counties.
Jim Furyk had some interesting things to say in his news conference:
You know, not the golf course I think you would expect coming to England or coming to London. It had a very new style of architecture to it with the green complexes, falloffs, collection areas off the edge of the greens, not something I was anticipating before I got here.

But it's definitely a golf course that looks like it's been built in the last 10 to 15 years. I'm not sure when it was built, but it has a very new feel to it.

I came over here a couple weeks ago, playing Wentworth. Even though it had undergone a facelift with Ernie it has a very traditional feel to it, old style, and I didn't know what to expect coming to The Grove. But when we all think of coming to London, we don't think of anything really all that new, because they're kind of old and classic, at least I do.

So it has a little different feel to it than I expected. But the golf course is in very good shape. The turf is fantastic on the greens. The fairway and rough in areas is extremely thick and penal. It's got some very difficult holes on it, 8 and 9 come to mind right off the bat, long par 4s with pretty tight fairways, difficult green complexes on both of those. So it'll be I think it'll be a decent test.

Yesterday the greens were quite soft and rolling very well, which always yields pretty good scores.

The course I think could play pretty tough right now. It seems like the setup is going to field some decent scores.

Q. Do you actually prefer when you come to London, do you feel almost cheated if you don't get the classic?

JIM FURYK: No, I don't feel cheated. I think I prefer a classic golf courses in the States or whatever. It's not a secret I'm not a real big fan of modern architecture for the most part, but the golf course is fine. A lot of the golf courses that we play on in the States are of a modern architecture, and I tend to pick the ones we play on our Tour. Most of the courses that I really like were probably built pre 1960 and are a little bit more traditional, and I grew up on courses built in the early 1900s at home when I grew up playing the game. It might not be old for here, but it's old for home. Stuff that I enjoy playing.

I think had I grown up in Florida or had I grown up in an area where modern architecture was a little bit more popular, that probably would be the way I would be swayed because it looks good to your eye what you grew up on.

O'Grady: Euro Tour Developing Courses To Ensure Mundane Ryder Cup Venues Through End Of Century

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Bloomberg news reports that:

"European Tour will buy or build golf courses to stage the Ryder Cup from 2018 to increase income from its most profitable event, chief executive George O'Grady has said."
The Tour has guaranteed that the matches, played alternately in the US and Europe every two years, will take place on mainland Europe from 2018 through 2030.

Here's your money quote...literally:

"In future, we'll either build courses ourselves or own them," the 57-year-old Englishman said. "We get cash from the Ryder Cup but we don't get a capital asset gain. In 2018 we'll own at least part of the venue."

Take that Tim Finchem!

Owning and operating the courses would allow the Tour to build and profit from onsite hotels, spas and other leisure facilities.

It could also develop and sell or rent private housing, while retaining income from club membership fees, conferences, exhibitions, retail and catering.

The owner of the K Club, which hosts this year's event, Michael Smurfit, said there's "no question or doubt" that the Ryder Cup has boosted the value of those assets.

The Tour doesn't own any of the K Club, the 2010 host the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales, or Scotland's Gleneagles, which will stage the 2014 contest.

Profit at this year's event may not reach the €14.8m it made four years ago because of extra security and other costs, Mr O'Grady said.

Tissue, anyone?

Revenue may rise to as much as €74m from €52m at the 2002 edition at the Belfry, Mr O'Grady said, declining to give his organisation's annual revenue.

The Tour retains 60pc of the profit, with the remainder split between the UK and European Professional Golfers' Associations.

The 2018 venue may be chosen by the last day of the 2010 edition, O'Grady said, giving the Tour enough time to build a new course if necessary.

"By then we reckon courses will need to be built in a certain way to take the number of spectators that will want to come," he said.

As opposed to now?

Whitten On Dismal and Ballyneal

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dismalriver18.jpgGolfDigest.com's Ron Whitten takes us around Dismal River and Ballyneal, offering this final assessment:
There is much to admire about both Ballyneal and Dismal River. I cannot and will not favor one over the other. I want them both to succeed, but I do have concerns. I am concerned that Ballyneal may suffer by its refusal to allow golf carts. (It gets hot there in the summer, and golfers need shade and breeze, both of which could be provided by carts.)

I am concerned that both clubs could suffer because of their remote locations. Ballyneal, within driving distance of Denver, is far better situated in that regard, but therein has a lot stiffer competition for members. The folks at Dismal River don't feel they're in competition with Sand Hills, because the latter's membership is reportedly full.

I'm not keen on the idea of Dismal members someday parking their Gulfstreams right at the front door. Part of the experience of a golfing retreat is the gradual decompression from airport to first tee, in the case of Sand Hills, that one hour drive through desolate sand dunes from North Platte. If Dismal River members can jet in, play a quick 18 and jet out again, a crucial element of the experience will have evaporated. Jack "got it" with his design. I hope Dismal River's owners "get it" in their operation. Keep the carts, but lose the runway.

It's All Right There In Front...

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Ah, you know how it ends.

That's right, Chris Johnston writes about Canadian Open host Hamilton, which the players just love because there are no railroad ties and it's all right in front of them, no thought required.

Isn't this the Colt course with the cool greens? And which, just as Harry would demand, is soaked in rough and trees to make up for the fact it's too short?

"I think it's just a nice break," said Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., who is once again the country's best hope in this event. "I'm speaking for the other guys, but I think they like to play courses that if you hit one off line, you're in trouble in the rough. You're not making eight because it one-hopped off a railroad tie into the water.

"I think guys like that change - it's all there in front of you."
Sigh. 
Janzen thinks more PGA Tour events would be held at traditional courses like Hamilton if they could handle the infrastructure.

"The problem is that the old courses don't have the space to house a tournament anymore," he said. "There's no room to expand to have enough length and there's not enough room for all the corporate stuff.

"Unfortunately the modern courses are all about looking great now. They don't want to plant trees and have it mature. They create all kinds of crazy things now."

USA Today Story On Course Redevelopment

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I'm not sure why it took me so long to put this Dennis Cauchon story from the USA Today up. Perhaps because it's somewhat depressing.

Here's the subtitle: "Golf courses are being plowed under in record numbers to make way for residential and commercial developments."

Golf course openings fell from a peak of 398.5 in 2000 to 124.5 last year when measured in 18-hole equivalents, the National Golf Foundation reports. During that time, course closings soared from 23 to a record 93.5 last year.

When courses temporarily closed for renovation are included, the USA had fewer golf courses open at the end of 2005 than a year earlier — the first year-to-year decline since 1945.

Golfers still have plenty of places to play: 16,052 courses nationwide.

"Golf courses aren't generating the returns people like to see," says Mike Hughes, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association. "The land has appreciated so much in value that it makes abundant economic sense to turn the property over to other uses."
Even more ominous for the future of the game:
Shorter golf courses and par-3 courses are being redeveloped especially rapidly, the National Golf Foundation says.

Some homeowners who bought houses on golf courses have been surprised to see their views disappear. "The golf holes go away and suddenly you have people living in your backyard," says Mike Waldron, executive director of the Georgia State Golf Association.

Golf courses are being built where land is cheaper and more rural. Golfers still have many choices but may have to drive farther to play.

"It's like when your favorite grocery store down the street closes," says Jack Nance, executive director of the Carolinas Golf Association. "You're sad, but you deal with it."