"Some snob bloggers annoy me with their contempt for the work of certain architects when we all know that the worst design is still a beautiful place to play."

Several have emailed or even brought the June Golf Digest to my face to point to the above words and ask if Golf Digest editor Jerry Tarde was calling me out in his Golf Snob Index column.

I can confirm that Jerry admitted that he was targeting just one blogger, yours truly.

And he's correct that there is no such thing as a bad course when every links provides enjoyment, employment, a place for wildlife and a much better alternative to a parking lot.

However, there is a difference in my criticism, and before we head to Congressional and you feel the need to complain about my highlighting of the mediocre renovation work there, this is a good time to clarify.

When I'm critical of certain architects who like to bend Jerry's ear about criticism directed their way, it's certainly not personal but driven by the constant labels of "greatness" bequeathed to them. With lavish budgets and the "genius" word thrown about, I naturally take a closer look at their work and when I see tell-tale signs of mediocrity--rushed construction, strategy-free holes, more attention paid to cart path placement than bunker locations, excessive use of catch basins to substitute for creative drainage, etc.--I'm going to point it out. Is that elitist? I don't believe so when the topic is the work of "genius" and the label of "greatness" is thrown about.

Jerry said it best himself in the column:

"A bit of elitism is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, Pebble Beach is better than Dyker Beach. Elitism is about high standards, but the application gets us in trouble."

Here's a screen capture of the column if you are interested in computing your Golf Snob Index.

Phil On New Muirfield 16th: "It's certainly more difficult."

Phil Mickelson didn't sound particularly excited about Jack's redesigned 16th at Muirfield Village.

Q. The new 16th out there, what was your experience like on that?

PHIL MICKELSON: It's certainly more difficult. You know, you're hitting over the water. I thought that you were going to hit more up the green, kind of like 16 at Augusta, but really, you're coming at it from a whole different angle where you're having to fly over the water. I had to change the way I look at that hole.
I thought if we shot up the green I might think about 2 a few times, but really, I'll just try to make it 3 there.

Meanwhile, Dave Shedloski explains Phil's enthusiasm for a 2-iron that is part of his tee shot package heading into Congressional. It is NOT a supplement for his driver. At least for now.

Muirfield Village's New 16th To Debut

According to the GCSAA's preview, the hole is opening this week so I don't know if that means it actually has not seen any play yet, adding to the intrigue. In the photos I've seen it looks like a knock off of Augusta's 16th hole, but with more than one decent hole location.

Here's a YouTube video showing the destruction of the old hole, no great loss for golf architecture.



In this second video is it me or does it look like they added a back left bunker at the last minute?



Update on 2011-05-31 17:13 by Geoff

**Jack on the new hole during today's press gathering at Muirfield Village:

Obviously we have one change, major change, on the golf course, which is the 16th hole, and the 16th hole which used to play to about 214, plays about 200, 201, whatever they put down for the yardage on it. It's a little bit shorter. We took drainage that was coming through in the green that was piped, took that out and put a lake in that area. They ended up at the base at the top of the hill there, those of you that know the area there, the left of 16 was an area we had a little sort of drainage that went down into the creek that goes along 15.

And we used that area to -- we took where the drainage came from and we took the drainage and took it the other direction. In other words, instead of having it come down through the golf course, we stopped it there and took it back towards -- to the street out on Muirfield Drive.

And then they built a lake in that area, put a green alongside it. It's a kind of hole that I think will probably play easier with a good shot under the prevailing wind. The prevailing wind is a westerly wind, southwesterly wind, that usually when we hit the ball before the green was sitting sort of this way, and I think a lot of shots hit in there went through the green very easily or into the back bunker, and I never really cared for the way the ball went into that green.

So what I did is I took the green and put it more this way, which sort of lines up with the prevailing wind. And with the prevailing wind you have the ability to feed the ball back into the green so you don't have to worry about having to stop the ball as easily if you play a smart shot.

And if the wind turns the other way, if there's no wind, then stopping the ball on the green is not an issue.

I think that works out very well. The water is all along the left side of it. I think there's going to be a lot more 2s, there's going to be a lot more excitement. There's more gallery area. There's some hospitality tents there -- I don't know if you call them tents, what do we call them, skyboxes type things -- they're not skyboxes, either, but I don't know what they call them.

Q. Chalets.

JACK NICKLAUS: Whatever they are. (Laughter.)

I think you're going to find a lot more birdies. I think you'll find a lot of fairly conservative 3s, and I think you'll also find a few double-bogeys that will come in there, which an errant shot will not be rewarded and a good shot will be rewarded, which is what a good hole should be anyway.

“I’ve noticed more and more people I used to count on for 36 holes saying, ‘Uh, I don’t think I’ll play another 18."

Far be it for me to question Mike Keiser's business acumen, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept of a $100, 13-hole par-3 course to compliment the full-length courses at Bandon Dunes. Thanks to reader Bob for Mike Stahlberg's story about the latest Coore-Crenshaw-The Boys addition to the resort

Featuring holes ranging from 65 to 180 yards in length, Bandon Preserve sits atop a swath of sand dunes that tumble toward the Pacific just west of the first tee at Bandon Trails.

The site is bounded by the beach on the west, Cut Creek on the north and McKee Preserve on the south.

The land affords some spectacular ocean views and contains “a lot of great golf terrain,” Keiser said.

That inviting terrain is the second reason, Keiser said, that he decided to build a par-3 for those “aging Boomers to have a golf experience in the afternoon.”

The Preserve course has already been roughed out and shaped.

After irrigation and drainage systems are installed, the goal is to have it seeded by June.
Public play is expected to begin in mid-2012.

“Now that we see how good it will be — because I think it’ll really be super, and much more popular than I ever thought — we’re going to charge a lot and give profits to the south coast conservation effort,” Keiser said.

“We think we’ll charge $100.”