Someone Appreciates The Plantation Course!

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Larry Dorman of the New York Times, writing about Daniel Chopra and his play through two rounds at Kapalua:

The winds on Maui’s northwest shore alternately howl and halt, testing a golfer’s ability to work the ball and control its trajectory. The imagination required to solve the nuances of the course created by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore is something Chopra possesses.

“I don’t think I hit a single shot all day long that was, except for maybe with a driver, that was a normal up-in-the-air shot,” Chopra said Thursday. “Every iron shot I hit I knocked down, took loft off of it, cut or drew it in there. I manufactured pretty much every single shot I had to hit today, other than my normal, standard stock which you just hit on the driving range.”

That comes as sweet music in an era of bomb and gouge, where many golfers simply blast the ball with their driver as far as possible without regard to rough or bunkers, then gouge it from the rough on to the green with square-grooved wedges. Young Daniel Chopra, who is working with the old-school instructor Butch Harmon, is attuned to the importance of creating shots.
 

“There would be no Bandon Dunes if it weren’t for Howard McKee"

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John Gunther reports on the passing of Howard McKee, probably best known to readers of Steve Goodwin's book on Bandon Dunes.

“There would be no Bandon Dunes if it weren’t for Howard McKee,” Keiser told me in a phone interview this week.

The two met nearly two decades ago, when Howard was the land planner for the proposed 1992 World’s Fair in Chicago, home of Keiser’s Recycle Paper Greetings business.

They became fast friends, and when Howard learned Keiser was looking for property on the East Coast to build an Irish-style links golf course, he suggested Keiser also look at the West Coast.

“I had never considered Oregon,” Keiser said.

They looked at various properties, and after choosing the site near Bandon, Howard took on the entire burden of the challenging land permit process that led to approval of the site for the resort.

A GolfClubAtlas.com thread includes remarks from Tom Doak. 

"The extent of most golfers knowledge in this country is limited to those pretty pictures from the US Tour"

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Thanks to reader Mark for noting that New Zealand's Greg Turner kindly chimed in on the debate over John Darby's The Hills and as always his thoughts make for enjoyable reading.

I think much is to do with the fact that your average kiwi has done so little golf related travel that they haven't seen what great golf can look like. The extent of most golfers knowledge in this country is limited to those pretty pictures from the US Tour and the advertorial reactions to them lamely proffered by your compliant professional golfer.
I, for one, spent much time arguing with the establishment on the European Tour that by their legislated requirement for nothing other than positive remarks about any given venue they cut off important debate at its most visible point. Pro golf - like it or not - is the shop window of the sport. If proper and reasoned debate was allowed at this level, then it would result in much more reasoned debate in general (it might also result in your average pro developing a better knowledge of design when he/she had to fight their corner).

Instead we have the unhealthy cycle of renowned designer (or in NZ's case property developer) being awarded big budget job, event being used to promote, pros being suitably deferential, designer emerging with reputation enhanced and continuing to make the same mistakes over and over again. And in a small and until recently isolated place like NZ no real forum exists to break that cycle!
Fortunately the worm is slowly starting to turn, and there is therefore some hope.

"Huggan called The Hills picturesque but ultimately desperate. Precisely what he means, I don't know."

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Peter Williams protects the home turf and gets a free column courtesy of John Huggan, who penned a column last week that essentially wrote off the New Zealand Open host site and questioned the wisdom of real estate communities built on sensitive land.

Huggan called The Hills picturesque but ultimately desperate. Precisely what he means, I don't know. I'm not saying The Hills is a classic but the players I spoke with seemed genuinely complimentary and looked forward to some fine tuning as the course matures.

I think Williams essentially answers part of the issue that Huggan had in that last sentence (the players loved it and they can't wait to see what happens after the bulldozers fix it!). Darby's comments were also less than inspiring.  

“A branded golf course will boost the value and income of a resort.”

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The San Diego Union Tribune's Diane Lindquist covered a gathering of real estate minds to talk about the future of projects in Baja California. Jack Nicklaus was a guest speaker.

The most popular and lucrative projects now are those that are branded, such as golf courses designed by champion golfer Jack Nicklaus, who spoke yesterday about his role as the top golf course architect in Mexico.

“As soon as golf became part of the equation, prices went up,” he said. “A branded golf course will boost the value and income of a resort.”

 

 

"When the market goes south, you can't support a golf course that costs who knows what - maybe $1.5 million to $2 million a year - to water and seed"

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Regarding the status of Escena, the new Nicklaus course in Palm Springs, this Desert Sun story suggests that the shutdown is all Lennar's doing and a result of the sub-prime meltdown.

During an inspection of sprinklers by The Desert Sun on Tuesday, the fairways, roughs, tees and greens appeared not to be watered. Only the outlying landscaping appeared to have drip irrigation.

"When the market goes south, you can't support a golf course that costs who knows what - maybe $1.5 million to $2 million a year - to water and seed," said McCulloch, an avid golfer.

Marshall Ames, a vice president in investor relations with Lennar, said Tuesday his company is "very challenged to answer questions about individual communities."

I was in the desert Monday and drove around. I've never seen a nearly complete development essentially abandoned, so I pulled out my video camera... 

Golf Digest Best New 2007

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bestnewcourses_470.jpgNow posted at GolfDigest.com, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak's Sebonack takes the private category.

The Best New Public With Hot Beverage Cart Girls Over $75 goes to Virginia's Highland Course at Primland by Donald Steel and Martin Ebert.

Best New Public Where You Might Have To Change Shoes In The Parking Lot Under $75 goes to another Virginia course, Ed Carton's Spring Creek.

The Best New Public Remodel, Lester George's restoration of The Greenbrier, beats out in stunning fifth place position, the horrid Industry Hills, aka Misery Hills, oh, wait, it's been rebranded as Industry HIlls GC at Pacific Palms Resort. I think the rebranding put it in the top 5.

Best New Private Remodel, goes to Gil Hanse, Brad Faxon and Jim Wagner for their revitalization of TPC Boston, edging out Rees Jones remodels of Bellerive and Atlanta Athletic Club as well as Jack Nicklaus's work at Ohio State.

And Best New Canadian goes to Muskoka Bay by Doug Carrick.

Stephen Szurlej's exclusive photos of the winners are posted, but other than the aerials of Sebonack I wouldn't waste your time unless you want to see a bunch of TPC Boston ground views from behind greens guarded by lakes. Not as horrific as his photo of Rustic Canyon when it won, which actually was taken by a blind ground squirrel. However, considering how easy the two courses are to photograph (I know, I'm biased) and considering the landscape photography work of folks like Lambrecht, Dost, Brown, the Henebry's, Cuban, Furore and Scalletti, Golf Digest should farm this assignment out.

While not award winning, at least some of these images give you a sense of why TPC Boston edged out some tough competition. 

"From the 1997 Open to the 2005 Booz Allen Classic, when you used the Shot Link, the players hit it 49 yards longer over that period."

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Larry Bohannan talks to Rees Jones about all things Rees. On Torrey Pines:

Not everyone is going to like the course. The ones who don't play as well won't like it as much," Jones said. "I think in the case of Torrey Pines, the players are going to be enthralled by it."

Specifically, Jones said the players should like the Open greens at Torrey Pines far more than the Opens in recent years.

"(Torrey Pines) doesn't have the pitch to the greens like Oakmont did (this year)," Jones said. "So if you get above the hole you really get a chance to make the putt a little bit more."
This next part really speaks to why we need drug testing since we know this is all thanks to the extra lifting:
Jones said in his research and work on renovating the courses for Opens and PGA Championships, his understanding grows of how good top professional players have become.

"We did Congressional over for 1997 (the Open), and now we are having to add a lot of tees for 2011," Jones said. "Atlanta Athletic Club, we did for the 2001 PGA. For 2011 we had to push the bunkers out, re-bunker the course and add length."

Jones says statistics back up the need for stretching golf courses out for major championships.

"From the 1997 Open (at Congressional) to the 2005 Booz Allen Classic, when you used the Shot Link (measuring system), the players hit it 49 yards longer over that period," Jones said. "In championship golf, we had to upgrade the golf course. We just took Oakland Hills back 350 yards. And now it is a challenge for these guys."
I found this odd: 
Scores are almost guaranteed to be more under par at Torrey Pines than at other recent Open courses, but for a reason Jones himself discounts.

"They are going to play it a par-71 at Torrey. The last couple of years it has been a par-70," Jones said.

Now, according to my PGA Tour media guide, they've always played Torrey at par-72. Eh, minor details!

"So it will be a chance to be more under par, which doesn't mean much.

Much.

"Still, the greens at Torrey are challenging. There can be this little terrace in the back that can be hard to access because they spin the ball so much."

Having the high-profile nickname of the Open Doctor and having his work critiqued and criticized by the game's best players isn't a burden, Jones believes.

"It's very beneficial. I've got three of the next four Opens, I've got three of the next four PGAs," Jones said. "The scrutiny of the golfing world is intense. If you do a good job, you get a lot of credit."

Escena On Hold?

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7197671_BG3.jpgThanks to reader Scott for noticing this Palm Springs TV station story and Escena web site notice that would seem to indicate a very strange turn of events for a much anticipated desert course with some huge names in the golf course and home development business apparently backing out just weeks before a scheduled opening.
David Young, a subcontractor with MK Development, said he worked on the Escena clubhouse. "Three weeks away from finishing the job and the general contractor told me that Lennar had told them to shutdown," he said. Young said he was never paid for the work. "They owe me $72,000 dollars and they're not talking to me. I'm following up with an actual lien."

Meanwhile, golf course operations are closed. Troon Management oversees the golf course. They would not confirm if the closure is for temporary reseeding or if it's indefinite.

Frank Winsor, a potential homebuyer, is currently in escrow. Winsor said he had remained optimistic until he heard the news about the golf course. "[I heard] the management company running the golf course turned off the water. They're turning off the power tomorrow," he said. "[I'm] still confident someone is going to pull it together," he added.

One Escena prospect said it's not Lennar that is planning on pulling out of the project. He was told that it was the community's master planner who was pulling out.