TPC Boston Update

Jim McCabe checks in with Gil Hanse and the gang at TPC Boston for a construction update, and the Globe's golf writer sounds excited.

"If it feels older and looks more rustic, then we've done our job. That would be a great compliment," said Hanse, whose work at TPC Boston is a convenient starting point to a local golf season ready to blossom. After a brief blast of snow, slush, and ice, brown grass and soft, mushy turf is at our feet, and golf courses are slowly, but surely coming out of winter hibernation.

TPC Boston isn't quite ready for play, but soon it will be. In the meantime, Hanse and his colleagues have the place virtually to themselves.

His star in the world of course architecture was considered bright by those within the sport's inner circles years ago, but thanks to his exquisite work at The Boston Golf Club in Hingham, Hanse is no longer a secret. He and Wagner -- a vice president and design partner in Hanse Golf Course Design, Inc. -- are involved in projects in California and Nebraska, and just returned from Scotland. Still, their commitment to TPC Boston has been nothing short of consuming, given that they jumped into the project within two weeks of Tiger Woods's victory last Labor Day and are still there, almost on a daily basis.

"When people ask what we're doing, it's been said that we're trying to New Englandize it, if that's even a word," said Hanse, who was busy Tuesday shaping a bunker at the 11th hole. Somewhere on site, Wagner was busy with another bunker, because if this project is about anything, it's bunkers.

This ought to catch and infuriate some dumb unprepared Tour player:

Hanse did that by combining a series of small bunkers in some spots, such as to the left of the first hole, which is now a large, rugged-looking hazard. But in some cases, a bunker was added, which brings us to the hole story in the 18th fairway.

"One of the really cool things they've done with the bunkers is to bring back some places where you really have to think before you swing," said Baldwin, acknowledging what has been a critique of the course, that it was more of a blast-away course and less of a shot-maker's dream.

Wagner gets credit for putting more strategy into the 18th with the shaping of a steep, links-like pot bunker in the middle of what would be the layup area at the long, par-5 18th. Long hitters will still rip for the green in two, but those playing it as a three-shot hole must take caution because that 20-by-25 feet of sandy real estate will put a bite into your score.

"It's just a cool pot bunker," said Brodeur. He concedes that he's overwhelmed by some of the changes, one of his favorites being the par-4 17th. It was a hard dogleg left that benefited long hitters who could cut the corner, but it now puts a premium on the approach shot, with a new green that is a mere 3,300-square feet.

And...

Hanse also has overseen a handful of sweeping changes, such as the cross-bunker at the par-5 seventh, a large expanse that begins roughly 140 yards from the green and runs 40 yards deep toward the green. And the stonewall work done at the par-3 16th and behind the green at the par-3 third? Baldwin and Brodeur think they add a mature, distinctive look that courses as young as TPC Boston (it opened in June 2002) rarely have.

The Donald: "Golf Digest is a disgrace to their profession."

Trump in today's New York Post, talking about Trump International's not-so-stunning departure from the Top 100:

"Golf Digest is a disgrace to their profession. They should be ashamed of themselves," Trump told Page Six. On its last list, Golf Digest, published by Conde Nast, placed the 27-hole West Palm Beach course on 200-plus acres at No. 84. This year it was banished, he said, as a result of a tense Nov. 28 meeting he had at Trump Tower with the magazine's publisher, Thomas Bair.

"Bair came to my office and told me the only way I'll get the ratings I deserve was if I advertised. I said, 'No thanks' and sent him on his way," Trump recalled. "Can you believe it? The magazine had already told me that I have built the best new courses in this country in years - but then they say I have to advertise to make it in? It's unbelievable." Trump said Golf Digest honchos have also been down on him because he featured the editors of rival Golf Magazine in episodes of "The Apprentice."

Yes, that's something to envy.

Bair refused to comment, but Golf Digest editor Jerry Tarde said of Trump, "I think he's kidding. He knows it never happened. Nobody can buy their way on the list."

Shoot, no one understands the list either! Nice Post typo here:

Gold Digest flack Andrew Katcher said the ratings were tabulated from the opinions of 800 players, and insisted, "It just came down to the numbers and nothing that Trump International did wrong. In fact, Trump International missed by just a few hundredths of a point."

And this is interesting:

Trump was further infuriated when he learned that Golf Digest had gloated about his course's demise in a story pitch it made to Page Six. In that e-mail, Katcher crowed: "I suspect Mr. Trump will be extremely displeased when he learns of this . . . Depending on what he says, we thought this could be a fun - and potentially biting - piece."

Trump responded to that: "They are using my name to try to get publicity for themselves. It's despicable they send out a release to announce Trump is not on their list. For shame!" The club, where memberships go for $350,000 and up, was rated by Florida Golf Magazine as "the best course in Florida."

Oops. Almost makes you feel sorry for The Donald that they're sending out releases to Page Six. Almost. 

Ron Whitten Has The Best Job In Golf Now That He Doesn't Have To Deal With Panelists

Ryan Young of the Kansas City Star profiles Golf Digest Architecture Editor Ron Whitten. Highlights:

The last time the U.S. Open came through Oakmont in 1994, the story was Ernie Els winning his first major championship and Arnold Palmer playing in his final U.S. Open. But Whitten’s story was about an overgrowth of trees that had sapped the once mostly barren course of its character.

“The membership was so (angry) at me that they wanted to jerk my U.S. Open media credentials,” Whitten said. “But after the tournament there was a group that took that article and slowly, quietly persuaded members that there needed something to be done. So they had a midnight chainsaw massacre where they’d go out, literally at 4 in the morning, and cut down three trees and clean them up. … They’ve now taken 5,000 trees out, and the place is back to looking where you can stand there and look at this sweeping, gnarly landscape.”

If he’s not scouring the site of the next major, he’s just as likely to be paying his way onto a public course. One week Carnoustie, Scotland, the next the local sand greens course.

“I get really tired of playing with the pro, the superintendent and the club president, who are just lobbying the hell out of me,” he said. “I’d just as soon play with real people … who don’t know squat about me. It’s fun to interact and find out what real paying customers are looking at.”

And what has he learned?

Not everybody is counting the number of trees. Not everybody appreciates golf from his perspective.

“The average golfer doesn’t give squat about architecture,” Whitten said. “Condition, that’s everything. … Now everything is climate-controlled. Now everything has life-support systems, and we all expect our golf course on the opening day in March to be in the same condition that it will be in July, August and October. And that’s not realistic.

“I’ve written about it for 30 years. It’s a losing battle. We’re used to air conditioning. We’re used to cushy seats, and we’re used to having our golf carts with our ice chests and ball washers on them. … It’s crazy. So I’m sounding like an old man, ‘Back in the good old days …’ ”

Have Agency, Need Architect

I guess you really aren't a sports agency without an in-house architect to serve your clients need$.

And now we have agencies stealing other agency architects! Isn't this fun.

Terry Baller Joins Gaylord Sports as In-house Course Architect

Spent last nine years in the field worldwide with IMG

SCOTTSDALE, AZ. (March 26, 2007) -- Terry Baller, who for the past nine years worked as a staff golf course architect at IMG, has joined Gaylord Sports Management as the Director of Golf Course Design. Gaylord Sports currently represents Hale Irwin, Phil Mickelson, Dave Pelz, Rick Smith and David Toms in the area of course design and real estate development.

“As we continue to broaden Gaylord Sports’ services, Terry gives us the opportunity to extend our reach in the golf course design segment and provide outstanding service for our clients,” said Gaylord President David Yates. “His worldwide experience with a company the stature of IMG will be a huge help in growing our clients’ course design and real estate business.”

Baller, 34, has a wide range of experience. He led the team that developed the IMG Golf Academy practice facility at Bradenton, Fla. He worked with Mark O’Meara on the Talisker Club’s Tuhaye Course in Deer Valley, Utah, currently on Golf Digest’s list of the top 10 new private courses in the country. Baller collaborated with designer Bernhard Langer on Le Toussrok, a spectacular course on an island off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean that debuted at No. 10 on Golfworld International’s list of the world’s best courses. And with designer Colin Montgomerie, Baller executed Zhuhai Golden Golf Club in China, ranked as that country’s best new course of 2003.

“I’m really looking forward to bringing my experience to Gaylord Sports and helping take our business into a new dimension,” said Baller, who has earned a degree in civil engineering at Cleveland State University and certification in turfgrass management at Penn State University. “We have ambitious plans in this area and I’m absolutely delighted to be a part of the team.”

Part of Baller’s responsibility will be to coordinate projects for the clients and the development partners. He will report to Tim Ummel, Gaylord Sports’ Vice President of Business Development.

“We now have an internationally accomplished in-house architect who can provide a range of services to our clients, developers and real estate partners,” said Ummel. “That opens a world of possibilities for us and we think it separates us from other groups in our industry.”

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Augusta National Tree Planting Looks Just As Bad From The Air As It Does From The Fairway

The April Golf Digest features several aerial overviews of Augusta National, and while the "second cut" continues to make the once wall-to-wall tight grass layout look like a thousand other inland American courses, it's the tree planting that says, this could be any country club you see flying into O'Hare.

Most shameful of all is the 15th/17th corridor, which I had to look at twice to convince myself that it wasn't the super narrow 7th hole, but in fact the 17th on the left. Look how narrow those landing corridors are.

It's Poppy Hills Meets Mount Rushmore Set In The Holy Land

April Fool's Day came early this year?

Here I thought reader Tuco was playing an elaborate hoax until I found the link. And no, it's not from The Onion.

Craig Copetas writing for Bloomberg News:

March 22 (Bloomberg) -- It's a soft 3-iron shot between miracles along the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus of Nazareth walked on water and New York-based Americas Partners LLP General Partner Joseph Bernstein is spending $46 million to build the first 36-hole championship golf course in Israel.

``This is God's proving ground and the most exciting deal I've done in my life,'' Bernstein says of the Galilee Golf Club seaside course atop Mount Arbel. Construction begins after the holy days of Passover and Easter, with celebrated golf architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. sculpting fairways from the ``green pastures'' that inspired the Jewish King David to compose the 23rd Psalm and where the multitudes gathered beneath myrtle trees to hear the Christian savior deliver his Sermon on the Mount.

``It took 10 years to get the Israeli government to approve the deal,'' says Bernstein, whose past real-estate developments include the Crown Building and Americas Tower in Manhattan. ``The project is unique,'' the 58-year-old attorney adds. ``It's like building a golf course on Mount Rushmore, and that doesn't get close to the historical significance of Mount Arbel.''

For Israel, the significance of a championship course with the cachet to lure marquee players such as Tiger Woods, stage professional tour events and host affluent corporate golf outings flows even deeper.

``Mount Arbel is the symbol for the booming Israeli economy,'' Bernstein says. ``The Galilee Golf Club is a leitmotif for a country that has rid itself of isolation to become part of the global economy.''

Leitmotif? Like coterminous and indices, I had to look that one up.

Although Hebrew University Professor Robert Aumann, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics, politely suggests the God of Abraham might prefer a less secular tour guide for the Jewish state, Bernstein is right. International investors in 2006 pumped a record $23 billion into Israel, fueling economic growth by 5.1 percent and pushing unemployment down to a 10- year low in the fourth quarter.

Israel's central bank says foreigners purchased $1.4 billion of property last year and $262 million in the first two months of 2007, and that consumer spending rose 4.8 percent in 2006.

``Our economy certainly works best when everybody is looking out for themselves, but there are two big dangers,'' Aumann says while playing with his grandson in Jerusalem. ``Israel simply being physically wiped out is the first.

Such a minor detail. Why quibble?

The second is the lost character of the Jewish state. Idealism created the state, it's what we strive for, what makes us unique in the Western world. Yet the survival of Israel is paramount.''

Therefore, build a golf course!? 

On July 4, 1187, near the site of the Galilee Golf Club pro shop, Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, crushed the Crusader army dispatched to recapture the Holy Land. Today, Saladin's decisive victory at the Battle of Hattin arouses al-Qaeda, Fatah al-Islam and other jihad groups such as the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades to adulate his name and venerate Mount Arbel's soil.

Bathed in the angst and delirium of fanatics, the ancient battleground is a main terrorist target for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his satraps in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. During Israel's 33-day war against Lebanon last summer, Iranian-funded Hezbollah terrorists to the north pocked what the Galilee Golf Club prospectus describes as ``a cozy citadel in the Promised Land'' with 20 Katyusha rockets.

``We'll convert their craters into bunkers,'' says Moshe Shapira, Bernstein's partner in the venture and general manager of Israel by the Sea Resort & Club, a sprawling estate of luxury golf villas and spa residences coordinated by Ritz- Carlton hotel chain co-founder Horst Schulze and scheduled to open in early 2009 alongside the first 18 holes.

Where can I book this now?

The club will accommodate 1,500 full-time and 100 founding members, including former New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Memberships range from $37,500 to $150,000, and Shapira says he isn't having trouble finding takers.

``I'm more concerned about what the government intends to do about a peace agreement with the Palestinians and continue Israel's economic growth into the future,'' Shapira says after whistling past the graveyard that doglegs left off a wheat field earmarked to become the 18th fairway.

``Israel must be a country that welcomes everybody's business -- Jews, Muslims, Christians -- and I want all of them to come to Mount Arbel for golf before visiting the holy sites in Jerusalem.''

Remember, 9 days until April Fool's.

``Jews now don't any longer know why they are here in Israel,'' the 76-year-old Aumann frets. ``What people want is a golf course. They pursue this and don't want to join the army and be bothered with all the conflicts. This is not a good thing.''

Says Bernstein: ``Nowadays, all young Israelis want to be Bill Gates. They have a mad sense of needing to achieve. It's not about money and the old stereotypes.''

"I'm having a tough time getting started on that one."

Brad Faxon, talking to Doug Ferguson about his post Bay Hill activities:

Brad Faxon was busy Monday morning, but he wasn't working on his swing.

"I'm writing notes to my pro-am partners," Faxon said. "And then I'm going to write Arnold and thank him for the invitation and tell him how much I liked the course. Although I'm having a tough time getting started on that one."

Sharp Park In Different Hands?

Thanks to reader Mike for this latest story in the San Francisco city golf course saga. This time it's Alister MacKenzie's Sharp Park and Pacifica's interest in operating the facility.

What Tree Management Can Do For You...

Bradley Klein on Augusta National's drop in the Golfweek Top 100 Classic Course ranking :

 The biggest news this year is that the country's most prominent championship venue has lost valuable ground. After years of renovation and modernization designed to keep Augusta National a fresh test for the Masters, the storied 1933 co-design by Alister MacKenzie and Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones today clings to a spot among the very elite, having fallen seven spots in the last year to No. 10.

It's a rating that folks at most courses would die for. But for students of architecture (including our team of 410 raters), the slide is what happens when a prominent course stretches and narrows itself contrary to its original design intent. In an era when virtually every other championship course is removing trees to recapture interesting angles of play, Augusta National in Augusta, Ga., (joined only by Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club, which dropped from No. 48 to No. 52) is that rare classic layout that's still planting them.

The two newcomers to the Classic list, No. 82 Eastward Ho! Country Club in Chatham, Mass. and No. 83 Engineers Club in Roslyn, N.Y., both got there through sustained restoration programs that included greens recapture, putting back lost bunkers and sustained tree management.

"Mr. Brand commissioned architect Robert Trent Jones to plant more than 3,500 trees..."

Thanks to reader Edward for sending the link to Gerry Dulac's definitive piece on the Oakmont tree removal program, which appeared around Nissan Open time and when I was preoccupied with that.

This is one you'll want to print out, assuming you are a member of a club debating tree removal. I know, a longshot, but just thought I'd put it out there.

The decision to remove trees, sometimes without the consent of the membership, led to one of the most contentious periods in club history, pitting members who liked shaded fairways against those who sought to restore Oakmont to its original design and, by doing so, improve the health of its turf.

But, with the U.S. Open looming four months away, most Oakmont members appear to have embraced the new look. Trees have been replaced with high fescue grasses that sway in the wind, creating a Scottish look.

"If it's not 100 percent, I don't know who is on the other side," said Oakmont golf professional Bob Ford. "There is no grumbling at all. Everybody is very upbeat about it."

And... 

But that look began to change in the 1960s when Mr. Brand took umbrage with a comment made by writer Herbert Warren Wind in The New Yorker magazine. Mr. Wind wrote that the U.S. Open was returning to Oakmont, and referred to the course as "that ugly, old brute."

"Well, I got to thinking, why can't it be a beautiful old brute," Mr. Brand was quoted as saying in "Oakmont 100 Years," a book detailing the club's history.

And so began a makeover in which Mr. Brand commissioned architect Robert Trent Jones to plant more than 3,500 trees -- pin oak, crab apple, flowering cherry, blue spruce -- around the property. It was known as the beautification of Oakmont, a program designed to enhance the appearance of the course but one that would ultimately lead to an unsettling era in the club's rich history.

It changed Oakmont from the links-style course that Mr. Fownes had embraced to a parkland-style course like New York's Winged Foot, site of last year's Open, and Merion, a legendary course near Philadelphia. It was a look that likely would have had Mr. Fownes spinning in his grave.

"They were beautiful trees," said Mr. Smith, who started the tree removals. "It went from a links-type course to a very pretty, shaded Western Pennsylvania-type of course. But it wasn't unique."

The Nicklaus Golf Digest Article, Vol. 5

Finally, there were Jack's comments on Augusta National which I found interesting because last year he appeared to back off of his original assertions made during the Golf Digest Panelist Summit (and subsequently published in the April 2006 Digest).

No grey area here:

I miss the old Augusta National. Is the radically redesigned golf course a good one? Yes. Is it the golf course with the design principles that Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie intended? Absolutely not.

Augusta was generous off the tee, which made it great for everyday member play. But to score—to really play golf—you had to position the drive to get a good angle at the green. It was a second-shot golf course.

Now the tee shot is more restricted. Trees and new bunkering have narrowed the landing areas, making Augusta a tight course with few angles or options. I know the changes were made to provide an increased challenge for modern pros and keep them from overpowering the course, but it has taken the charm out of the Jones/Mackenzie design.

So much for any possible misinterpretation that Nicklaus thinks they are upholding the integrity of the original design.

I was disappointed that in doing the redesign, Augusta didn’t consult the five oldest multiple Masters champions who also are course designers [Palmer, Player, Nicklaus, Watson, Crenshaw]. We would have had a lot of good ideas, and we wouldn’t have clashed. We would have come to an agreement because we all have so much respect for what’s there.

Well, I don't know about the part about not clashing...but those five would be a lot better than what they've been doing! 

TPC Sale To Fund Avenel Facelift?

Golfweek's Scott Hamilton reports that the PGA Tour's new strategic alignment with sale of courses to Heritage is actually a capital-generating move to pay for the $20 million redo of TPC Avenel.

Now That's A Waterfall!

Thanks to reader Rob for this epic course entrance...

 

Golf's Best Interview

Jaime Diaz in this week's Golf World says Geoff Ogilvy is the best interview in golf:

Ogilvy's figuratively old head, perhaps made wiser by growing up next to Royal Melbourne, startled me the first time I asked him a question. "Golf was better before," he said in October 2005. "There was more art. It doesn't create a really rounded golfer." At a time when the shortcomings of the emerging twentysomethings were still well below the radar, Ogilvy captured the issue in three quick sentences.

"The complicated thing is making it simple, if that makes any sense," he said, offering as good a definition of a first-class mind as any. Indeed, in quotes over the last year including an upcoming interview with John Huggan in Golf Digest, Ogilvy produces one pearl after another.

Of Woods: "I mean, Tiger is the angriest player on tour. He's also the best at controlling it."

Of Sergio Garcia: "When he starts making putts again -- which he is going to do -- he's going to win 10 times in a year. He is the best ball-striker in the world, probably. … But he is so analytical about his putting and not about anything else. … He's like Seve, only in reverse."

On golf architecture: "I like there to be a relationship between the quality of your drive and ease of your second shot."

"If the course is good, it’ll attract players"

Steve Elling, writing about the new look Florida swing, offers this from Luke Donald:

 “If the course is good, it’ll attract players, and that’s the bottom line,” said 10th-ranked Luke Donald, who won the Honda last year at nearby Country Club at Mirasol.