When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
I just saw this Diamante-supplied image on the golf.com homepage leading us to Eamon Lynch's exclusive on Tiger's new Cabo design.
Have to say, I don't see Jack or Arnie climbing walls to stare at blueprints!
Eamon Lynch reports Tiger Woods Design is back in business! (Thanks reader Chris.)
The long rumored and denied second course at Cabo's Diamante is apparently under construction and will not be a Phil Mickelson design, but instead, a $12 million Tiger effort. Most interesting of all is that it began without a press release, golden shovel event, painfully staged photos and flashy video production. Someone has learned how this design business works!
Woods confirmed via email:
"I want to make it an enjoyable and memorable experience for all players, regardless of skill level," Woods wrote. "I've played in enough pro-ams to know that not every golfer is a scratch player. Creating wide landing areas and avoiding forced carries whenever possible allow all golfers, even beginners, to keep the ball in play and have more fun."
The team at Tiger Woods Design recently made a scouting trip to some courses in Southern California, including Riviera and Los Angeles Country Club. Woods, who is expected to return to the El Cardonal site in a few weeks, has said those classics will influence his work at Diamante.
"I want to be sure that my designs make individuals think their way around the course," Woods explained. "To me, that's an important part of golf and it's what I like to do when I play. I think players like risk-reward opportunities and to feel like they've been challenged in all aspects of the game."
**The routing plan is also available to look at courtesy of golf.com.
Speaking to the unique business and artistic relationship Coore and Crenshaw have to their shapers, Cabot Links architect Rod Whitman will be working on the second course, Cabot Cliffs, which the normally understated Coore has set a high bar for.
Coore and Whitman met in the mid-1970s, when the building of new courses had slowed as drastically as it has now; Coore was the superintendent of a course in Huntsville, Texas, and Whitman was a student at Sam Houston State University. Whitman would mow greens in exchange for green fees at Waterwood National and Coore helped the struggling student by buying him dinner at the local Pizza Hut. “We used to talk about how one day both of us would be in the design business,” says Coore, who has since become one of golf’s elite modern architects.
“I used to just want to play golf,” says Whitman. “It was after spending so much time talking to Bill that I got interested in course strategy and design.”
Now Coore and Whitman will be working together on what might be Coore and Crenshaw’s best yet. “I’ll put it this way, and it’s a little like I felt about Sand Hills: If we don’t build something outstanding, we will have failed,” says Coore, the white-haired, soft-spoken, humble minimalist who confirmed Crenshaw has agreed to be a part of this project, even though he doesn't usually like to travel for work outside of the United States.
We knew from previous reports that there were only a handful of golf courses under construction and now Laredo's new public course by Robert Trent Jones Jr. is opening this week. Thanks reader Scott for the reminder.
PGA.com's John Holmes has the news of the first noteworthy course opening in a while, which even PGA.com noted is a bit of a stop-the-press moment.
The Max A. Mandel Municipal Golf Course – already nicknamed "the Max" -- is the first city-owned golf facility in Laredo, as well as one of only a handful of new courses to open in the United States this year.
Designed by Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects, the par-72 layout is routed along bluffs overlooking the Rio Grande and winds through 270 acres of sandy terrain. Encompassing almost a mile of riverfront property, the course presents four holes that play adjacent to and high above the water as it traverses deep arroyos and navigates through 30-foot tall mesquite woodlands and open farmland.
With five sets of tees and wide, inviting fairways throughout, the course can be configured as a tournament test of more than 7,200 yards, yet is still a perfect fit for golfers who desire a more manageable challenge of less than 5,000 yards.
Yada, yada, yada... more importantly:
Green fees for Laredo residents range from $33.50 to $46, while non-residents – including the flocks of snowbirds who winter in south Texas – will pay between $46 and $56. There are also discount rates for seniors and juniors.
GolfDigest.com posted more of Stan Badz and Chris Condon's PGA Tour shots from the Fowler/Watson vs. Love/Watney match for First Tee fatcats last week and it's always fun to look at different views of Cypress Point. But in particular I loved this rear-view of the 9th hole for totally wonky reasons.
Superintendent Jeff Markow has been gradually removing non-native invasive grasses and other junky stuff like iceplant to reveal the dunes again. That's not only better for the environment but also returns a temptation to drive the green lost when the overgrown dunes became an automatic lost ball.
The New York Daily News's Greg Smith reports that Ferry Point, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course to be managed by Donald Trump, has been put on notice by New York city controller John Liu due to staggering cost overruns.
On Thursday, Liu informed Parks that the audit “will determine whether the Parks Department carried out or implemented recommendations” from that prior audit.
The recommendations included tracking progress of the project against its start and completion dates, preparing an “itemized breakdown of all required activities” at the project and carefully monitoring all “invoices, canceled checks and other related documentation.”
Parks spokeswoman Vickie Carr did not respond to requests for comment about whether the agency had implemented the 2007 recommendations.
The Parks Department says the project is expected to cost the taxpayers $97 million, although The News found contracts assigned to the Ferry Point golf course totaling $120 million.
As a result, commentaries (here and here) are questioning the wisdom of spending so much while other city services are falling apart.
In a speech last week endorsing Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Nicklaus bemoaned the number of Americans on government funded food stamps and lamented excessive government spending.
Brad Klein reports that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are completing the routing for a second course at the Cabot Links development to be constructed by 2014. From what I've seen in photos making the rounds the site is stunning. Of course, the first course looks pretty great in these trailers, too.
Anyone been this summer?
Dan McFeely talks to Pete Dye about Crooked Stick's backstory as the PGA Tour visits for the BMW Championship.
Both story and accompanying video include Mr. Dye talking about how the course was created and stories about negotiations with Mrs. Kerns over purchasing her farm for the course.
Fun stuff as only Pete can tell it both in McFeely's written version and in the video.
Bill Fields files a Golf World Monday item (with great photo) on the Himalayas-style putting green that opened at Pinehurst resort, paying homage to a 1919 miniature built in the area.
The resort has also posted this YouTube video of the green's opening. It is free to play for resort guests.
Now if we could just build about 1000 of these around the country...
Bob Young captures the highlights of a Brandel Chamblee ad campaign for Scottsdale Golf. He touches on a variety of topics in his usual way, including Tiger and the state of the game.
"There is a lot wrong with where golf has gone. The game has become too expensive, in my opinion. And golf-course architecture is responsible for a lot of that. Courses are too ornate and difficult.
"People fell in love with golf architecture that makes the game no fun. Courses should be interesting, not hard. They should be for enjoyment and competition.
"We should be building courses with three- to six-hole loops so people can come out and pay to play three holes or six or nine or 12."
"And there needs to be a more aggressive campaign to get more women and juniors involved in golf. I think larger holes cut on the opposite side of the green from the other hole is a way to do that, and building junior tees 150 yards from the green would do that.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
