(Potentially) Great Places In The Game: Cobbs Creek

Superb as Merion turned out to be as a modern major venue, when the Grey Goose 19th Hole discussion turned to other classics needing to host a major, I couldn't help but nominate Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia.

Sure, the muni has seen better days despite the best efforts of Billy Casper Golf to hold this potential gem together with little budget, but after the (mostly) successful Bethpage and Torrey Pines experiments I think we've seen how important it is to revitalize run-down public gems.

So first off, here's the discussion, which I thought was pretty compelling:

Why did I mention Cobbs Creek? Because nothing has brought better vibes to golf than the resurgence of run-down munis. And if there is an old public course of architectural significance crying out for attention, it's this one. Cobbs Creek is currently a mess architecturally. But the bones are there: grand-scale property, great golf city, strong architectural lineage and a beautiful setting.

All that is needed? $15 million and a governing body willing to deal with some red-tape. The payoff, however, could be Bethpage-esque.

Joe Bausch, a Villanova professor and lover of the classics, toured me around this gem the Monday after Merion and it was impossible not to see the potential for an East Lake/Bethpage/Torrey Pines type revitalization.

If you want to learn more about Cobbs Creek, the Friends of Cobb blog is here.

Golf Digest's David Owen visited and wrote this piece.

Joe Logan filed a MyPhillyGolf update article in May.

Golf Channel's Matt Ginella visited and filed this report.

And Brendan Prunty filed this look at efforts to get a restoration by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner going.

Just a few midday photos by yours truly:

Videos: Norman, Coore Talk Design On Morning Drive

Look, I had some free time today and try as I might, I just couldn't bring myself to transcribe the various ridiculous statements by full-time vinter and part-time golf architect Greg Norman.

If you must, you can watch him talk signature holes, sustainability and his devotion to nature here, here and here, you too can feel the pain.

Or, if you'd like to hear from someone who practices what he preaches, here are the Bill Coore segments here, here and here.

Tuesday's show includes segments with Jim Urbina and Rees Jones.

Golf Digest Best New: Fast And Firm Has Arrived

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.