Golf Digest Best New: Fast And Firm Has Arrived

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Ron Whitten unveils Golf Digest's annual Best New, which thanks to the economy remains more of a celebration of the few quality projects that managed to conclude with a new or revitalized course.

There's a slideshow of all the named courses here, but more interesting is Whitten's take that the changing of the guard is complete: "Old golf-course architects never fade away; they just lose their draw."

Citing Tom Doak as his mythical architect of the year and naming Gil Hanse and Coore and Crenshaw as part of the changing guard, he writes:

How did this New Wave upset the Establishment architects? Mainly because of a fundamental shift in how American golfers play the game. For decades, golf in America was an aerial game. Turf conditions were green, lush and uniform, a concession mostly to housing developers who financed most course projects.

Those conditions demanded long carries and afforded little roll. Subsequently, club manufacturers developed equipment meant to get the ball in the air and keep it there for as long as possible. Instructors taught methodology aimed at the same goal.

Then along came the upstarts, led by Doak, who embraced the Scottish/Irish (and early American) standard of drier turf and bounce-and-roll golf. The ideal, Doak has pointed out, would be to have fairway approaches into greens be firmer than the putting surfaces, but across America, just the opposite had been the norm for decades. The Doak formula was not immediately accepted in America; in many climates, firm and fast seemed impossible to achieve.

Update On The Sheep Ranch And Bandon's Punchbowl Course

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Thanks to reader John for alerting me to Ron Bellamy's story on Bandon's Sheep Ranch course that is now twelve years old and still offers one of the more amusing processes to get on a golf course. But also, it's just a fantastic story of imagination and cleverness by the developers to create something so mysterious and old school.

It's also a story about creating a course where the golfers make the design, something I wish could be done more often.

You have to know about this place to arrange to play it. You phone Bandon Golf Supply, where they put you in touch with the course superintendent, Greg Harless. Scheduling is generally for weekdays, from November through June; there’s no irrigation on the fairways, so the course closes in the hot summer months. At the appointed date and time, Harless meets you at the course, collects a check for $100 per player, gives you a scorecard with a suggested routing for 18 holes, with a daunting par of 71, and shows you where to begin.

And then, literally, you’re on your own, for as long as you can play. Most days, your group, whether just two of you or 20, is the only group. You can follow the suggested routing to the greens that are lettered, not numbered, or create your own holes. You can bring a cooler, even a grill, and stop back at your car for lunch, and play some more; there’s no group pushing you at the turn, because there is no turn.

Bellamy also files a sidebar on the upcoming Punchbowl course at Bandon, which looks really, really neat and opens in May.

Certainly, you can practice your putting on The Punchbowl, the 3.5-acre putting course designed by Tom Doak, with Jim Urbina, the same duo who created Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald.

There are mounds and slants, dips and drops, uphills, sidehills, downhills.

“You will find every kind of putt that you can imagine out there,” Doak has said, “and probably a few that you’ve never dreamed of.”

And the vibe already sounds entirely appropriate. If golf courses only had more of these kinds of fun places to hang out.

That’s evidenced by drink-holders by every “tee box” and hole, to hold your beverage of choice while you putt. Unlike the large putting green at the resort’s driving range, where golfers practice in near-silence before rounds — or stubbornly try to fix their strokes after rounds — golfers on The Punchbowl played in groups of two and more, and certainly not quietly.

And so this recent scene is likely to be repeated during the warm months next summer: A golfer, walking from the nearby restaurant at Pacific Dunes, crossing The Punchbowl to rejoin his buddies there, carrying a pitcher of beer to refill their cups.

Ribbon-Cutting Day At Trump Ferry Point!

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Stephanie Wei files a WSJ preview for Wednesday's sure-to-be lively ribbon-cutting at Ferry Point Park, New York City's pricey public course pushed through by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, designed by Jack Nicklaus and to be managed by Donald Trump.

The three will be on hand to commemorate the completion of construction.

Priceless quote from Nicklaus:

"We had half a golf course out there before Mr. Trump got involved," said Nicklaus in an interview at the Presidents Cup earlier this month. "The problem was finishing it. They kept working at it. We spent this ridiculous amount of money for environmental issues—on a dump!"

The course is not actually opening for a while...

That finish line won't officially arrive until the spring of 2015, when the course is slated to open to the public. (Ferry Point will be used for some public programming, primarily junior golf, in conjunction with the city's Parks Department starting next summer.) Only 14 months ago, the site contained little more than dirt—millions of tons of it.

Same Day: Spieth Plays Pine Valley & Augusta National

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Fine tuning the game for his TBD 2013-14 PGA Tour debut, Jordan Spieth put up a sweet 67 at Pine Valley, then played a late nine at Augusta National according to tweets by his playing partner and Dallas-based performance coach Cameron McCormick.

Pine Valley is in fall color mode...


And confirmation of the incredible same day PVGC/ANGC combo.

University Of Maryland Golf Course Eyed For Development

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We've been through this before with Stanford (threatened redevelopment) and Yale (neglect), so it's not a huge surprise that University of Maryland doesn't appreciate its 1959 George Cobb course so much that they're willing to plow a big chunk of what sounds like a community treasure.

For a new offramp, faculty house and an entrance to the school with a--big oy vey here--terrapin theme.

Luz Lazo of the Washington Post reports.

But the plan has riled neighbors, who say the course is a community treasure that should be preserved. For more than five decades, the 150 acres of rolling green have been a favorite of college students and area golfers attracted by twilight specials. The public course, which recently underwent a $3.5 million upgrade, also attracts neighbors who come to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July and to listen to live bands Thursday evenings.

A website has been set up to help save the Certified Audubon Cooperative course, which is ranked 27th on Golfweek's list of best college courses.

Kennemer To Save The Day!

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I turned on the European Tour Thursday to see a super looking golf course only to realize that those of us trying to come down off the Merion-Muirfield-Country Club-National high of the last few months still have a super H.S. Colt course to watch.

Ran Morrissett has a profile of the design with plenty of photos.

Jimenez opened with a 64, so there's that too.

Golf Channel has KLM Open coverage this weekend, all times ET:

Friday              12:30-2:30 p.m. (Tape Delay)
Sunday            2-6 a.m. (Tape Delay)
Monday           2:30-5 a.m. (Tape Delay)
 
Golf Channel Broadcast Team:
Steve Burkowski (Studio Host)
Warren Humphreys (Play by Play)
Julian Tutt (Analyst)
Jay Townsend (On Course)

Slideshow: "Mid Pines has truly been reborn"

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Bill Fields goes to Mid Pines and photographs Kyle Franz's restoration of the other significant Donald Ross course in the Pinehurst area.

An eGolf Professional Tour event was recently played there as a re-introduction of sorts for the course.

Franz took out rough in many places, replacing it with sandy areas of pine straw and wire grass -- but the transformation isn't wall-to-wall or overdone. Trees were taken out in some areas, creating attractive vistas particularly on the 16th hole and around the second, eighth and 12th tees. The bunkers have been tweaked to give them more natural, less rounded edges. MiniVerde Bermuda grass was installed on the greens, which were enlarged a bit and the interesting contours restored on some. They already roll beautifully.

Quick Video: Looking At NGLA's Sahara, Alps & Punchbowl

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Course creator C.B. Macdonald was pretty high on his Sahara hole, National Golf Links' 2nd.

Here's what he wrote:

The Sahara of the Royal St. George's at Sandwich I found in our second hole. In one sense it is not a replica, but it is a mental picture of that fine hole, embodying the underlying principle--a golfer's reward is granted to him who can negotiate the carry he is capable of accomplishing. The real carry on the line of the hole is over an immense bunker calling for 210 to 220 yards. The ball then can run to the putting green. Less powerful players must satisfy themselves with placing their ball from the tee advantageously to reach the green in two. I am confident that it is a much better hole than the original Sahara.

 Here are three short, very rough videos from the course looking at the Sahara, Alps back tee and the Punchbowl (16).