Videos: Our Ultimate 18's, What's Yours?

/

For this week's Design Week on Morning Drive, Matt Ginella and I revealed our Ultimate 18’s in golf. I went the route of selecting a course I'd want to play everyday, which meant picking some "stretches" of holes I love (North Berwick and Essex County) at the expense perhaps of a few great holes. And I had great fun putting them in order, ultimately going with all links going out and inland American holes coming in (sorry Australia).

Ginella kept true to holes where they land in the rankings and to courses open to the public.

The segments are below and I hope they'd inspire you to pick your ultimate 18's. I found the process great fun both in reflecting on holes I'd never grow tired of playing, but also in the creative act of placing them in the sequence I'd want to encounter their challenges.

Besides getting to rekindle fond memories and appreciation for the architecture you've experienced, the placing of the puzzle pieces into a routing is quite fun. And if you feel compelled, list your courses below. There are no wrong answers, it's your Ultimate 18!

Our front nine favortes from the Ultimate 18 lists.


Our back nine favorites of the Ultimate 18 lists.

Pinehurst's Dormie Club Bought, Faces Upgrades

/

The Pinehurst area's Dormie Club, a Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw design on extraordinary ground but sidetracked by unfinished features, financial woes and an ownership change, has been purchased by a golf course network of the same name. Plans call for Dormie Club to eventually revert to a private model as part of the Dormie Network.

It all sounds promising and, at the very least, gets the course away from the current ownership group best known for extremely high-priced golf course construction that has operated it with favorable-enough reviews.

For Immediate Release:

LINCOLN, Nebraska (November 22, 2017) — Dormie Club in Pinehurst, North Carolina has been purchased by Nebraska-based golf investment company Hainoa, LLC, making it the latest addition to the Dormie Network—a network of destination golf clubs. Under new ownership, the renowned Coore-Crenshaw club will see a number of immediate renovations and upgrades (including the construction of a new clubhouse, halfway house, and on-site lodging accommodations) as it gradually returns to its original status as a private course.

Dormie Club is a short drive from the Village of Pinehurst, an area widely known as the Home of American Golf. Though not far removed from area conveniences, the club’s size and layout seclude its golfers from roadways and residential real estate, providing an unadulterated pure golf experience.

 

The highly anticipated 2010 opening of Dormie Club was met by rave reviews, including a No. 3 ranking in Golfweek’s list of best new courses. Designed by Bill Coore and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw—who form one of the most renowned golf course architecture teams in the world—the 18-hole course features 110-foot elevation changes, three natural lakes, and an aesthetic that draws inspiration from the Scottish Highlands. “Dormie Club stretches across a massive 1,020-acre expanse of absolutely stunning land,” says Dormie Club’s Membership Director Mike Phillips. “It features a mix of pine trees and hardwoods and the beautiful 55-acre Coles Mill Lake that dates back to the early 1900s.”

Its Old World-design includes a number of reachable par fours, wind tunnels, bunkers positioned to stimulate creative strategy, and a 241-yard reverse Redan par three. The course features Bermuda fairways and tees with bent grass greens; it has five sets of tees and measures up to 6,883 yards with a rating of 73.7 and a slope of 138. It is currently ranked No.3 among the best courses you can play in North Carolina by both Golf Magazine and Golfweek and the 12th best course in North Carolina by Golf Digest. 

Straying from its original concept, Dormie Club extended play to non-members almost immediately after opening and today remains a public course. As part of the Dormie Network, it will transition immediately from public to semi-private and eventually to private status with invitation-only membership by 2020. 

Now under the management of Landscapes Unlimited, LLC, Dormie Club will see a number of critical course enhancements, as well as several large-scale renovations and improvements. Plans to construct a full-service clubhouse and halfway house are already underway. Landscapes Unlimited will also oversee the addition of lodging accommodations, including on-site cottages and executive suites. 

“Dormie Club is a truly exceptional club that was conceptualized as and designed to be a high-end private course,” explains Zach Peed of Dormie Network. “Our vision is to make it one of the finest pure golf destination courses in the region.” 

With the acquisition, Dormie Club joins the ranks of Briggs Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas; ArborLinks in Nebraska City, Nebraska; and Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, Virginia as part of the Dormie Network. Corporate and national memberships include access to and full member privileges at all courses within the network—each of which is currently ranked among the top 10 in its respective state.

“Dormie Club is a renowned course,” says Peed. “It’s already a tremendous value to our current and future members, but the club’s incredible potential and the vision we have for what it can be make it an ideal addition to the Dormie Network.” 

Report: Aronimink To Get 2027 PGA, 2020 KPMG Women's PGA

/

Joe Juliano reports for The Philadelphia Inquirer that recently-restored Donald Ross-designed Aronimink will host the 2027 PGA, 2020 KPMG Women's PGA in addition to its already planned hosting of the BMW Championship in 2018.

He writes:

Officials said about 85 percent of the project was completed before work stopped in early spring, and that the entire undertaking will be completed early in 2018.

Aronimink last hosted a PGA Championship in 1962 and waited a long time for a second one. The PGA of America named it as host of the 1993 PGA but the club pulled out of the agreement in November 1990 when it determined it could not have minorities as part of its membership by the time of the event.

In August, Juliano previewed the Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner-led restoration of Aronimink, which had been modified many times, most recently by the Fazio firm. The story includes a gallery of all 18 Hanse restoration drawings.

Some recent photos of the course post-restoration:

Fall colors on Aronimink #7 🍂🍁⛳️! #donaldross #propergolf

A post shared by Jaeger Kovich (@propergolf) on Nov 6, 2017 at 2:35pm PST

"Rich millennials are ditching the golf communities of their parents for a new kind of neighborhood"

/

Business Insider’s Tanza Loudenback piggybacks on the recent signs of agri-hood's starting to move forward as a future real estate community approach. Given that so many developments are golf course-based, the shift in philosophy could have profound effects on the future of current real estate communities.

Loudenback says the only people who matter want to grow their own food and demand "clean living,"

But millennials aren't interested in that type of manicured neighborhood. In today's culture, where young people favor farm-to-table fare and wax poetic about "clean living," agrihoods are just what they're searching for.

"Forget about the golf courses. Our buyers want to have a real environment," Theresa Frankiewicz, vice president of community development for Crown Community Development said at the Urban Land Institute's 2016 Food & Real Estate Forum. Frankiewicz is involved in the development of a 6,800-acre agrihood near Tucson, Arizona.

She goes on to reach this conclusion:

If agrihoods continue to attract young homebuyers, millennials may be held responsible for killing yet another formerly prized industry.

In certain areas, including the Coachella Valley where one of these communities is replacing what was intended as a golf community, I could easily see the golf course portions with desert scape or farming. This may not even be a statement about the game, but instead of the viability of so-so design in a world that wants more than just shiny rye grass and waterfalls.

I'm curious if you think this is a fad or a possible trend?

Video: Restoring Winged Foot's Greens

/

Nice three-parter here from the USGA and Rob Cowen on the restoration of Winged Foot.

For a course wanting to talk restoration, this will be an invaluable piece to share with golfers still not aware of how a high quality project proceeds. Also of note is the blend of bringing back the old while changing everything under the hood to grow turf in the 21st century.

The piece is in three parts, but if you watch Part 1, YouTube will take you to parts 2 and 3.

Drone Flyover Of The Horse Course At The Prairie Club

/

It's been a few years since Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, myself and a fun cast of characters created the Horse Course at The Prairie Club, so it was nice to see the 10-hole par-3 course finally get the drone treatment its setting deserves. Especially now as the game opens its very closed mind to par-3 courses, the concept of H-O-R-S-E golf will hopefully get a little more attention.

And given the difficulty of maintaining prairie bunkers, it's especially neat to see how well they've evolved. Thanks Patrick Koenig for the great shots.

Tillie's Belmont Design Could Be A Gem, Quick-Fix Renovation Needs To Be Reconsidered

/

Excellent work by Andy Johnson at TheFriedEgg.com for shining a light on the potential to restore an affordable A.W. Tillinghast design in Richmond, Virginia that hosted the 1949 PGA Championship.

While it's hard to know all of the particulars of the current plans, existing design bones and operational details, the County of Henrico appears to have money to spend and to do so by a deadline. Architect Jerry Lemons will be supervising this work, and while there are no doubt many improvements that would come from the money spent at a course not getting kind reviews for its bunkers, the success of so many restorations makes it hard not to wonder if a Tillinghast deserves more attention to detail?

The scope accoring to an Request For Proposal that went out in August:

1. Remove and renovate the existing seventy-two (72) sand bunkers on the 18-Hole golf course.
2. Reconstruct fifty-eight (58) of the existing sand bunkers throughout the course including removal of existing materials, reshaping of all bunker cavities, the replacement of all materials and grassing.
3. Add one (1) bunker on hole #16.
4. Remove fourteen (14) existing bunkers including removal of existing materials, filling in existing cavity, grading and shaping, and grassing.
5. Installing sub-surface drain lines in all sand bunker cavities.
6. Supporting construction activities required to complete the Work to include: demolition work, tree removal, earthwork/excess dirt removal, and compliance with the erosion and sediment control requirements.

The County's RFP also contained a specified bunkering lining product even there there are many out there. This is not typically a sign of going into a project with an open mind:

The Contractor may subcontract with a qualified, licensed Better Billy Bunker certified installer who will be responsible for the application of the Better Billy Bunker manufactured Bunker Liner ST410 Polymer.

Again, there are many elements here with cost and timing and red tape we need to learn more about, but as Johnson passionately argues, this is an incredible opportunity to give public golfers access to great architecture and to create a more valuable, important piece of design in the greater Richmond area.

Reader Andy from Richmond shared this view upon seeing Johnson's post:

I play Belmont a few times a year and have dreamt many times about its resurrection. And the history....this golf course is historically important to golf not only in VA but in US.

If you would like to see the County take more time and spending their money to bring back more Tillinghast, you can voice your views here: recandparks@henrico.us

Annika On Design Career: "Tougher than I thought."

/

The legendary Annika Sorenstam made some interesting comments about her golf course design career's lack of trajectory to CNN Living's Shane O'Donoghue.

Bunkered Golf Magazine links to the interview and paraphrases, but in essence she senses that as a woman clients just assume she'll build "short and easy". Besides the shame of assuming one gender builds short and easy, it's a reminder how many awful developments were built on the premise of championship and tough. If only golf had more "short and easy."

“Being a female, when they throw my name in the ring as a designer candidate a lot of times they say, ‘Oh, well then this course will be short and easy’.

“I don't know where it comes from. I think they just have that predetermined notion of women designing shorter courses, and that's not really what comes to my mind.

“I consider myself, of course a female, but I'm also a golfer and I feel like I can play any golf course out there and I guess maybe my defensive mechanism is, 'Hey, I'd play you anywhere, anytime and then we can go from there’.”

Diaz On The Lure Of Short One-Shotter And Par-3 Courses

/

With the short, risk-reward par-5 almost impossible design, the short par-4 has become the go-to for those still craving strategic holes. But closing fast on the must list of even the most novice design critics is a short par-3. Even better, the tough sell that was recommending a par-3 course to a developer has become an easy sell.

All of these issues are considered by a par-3 course golfing descendant, Jaime Diaz, who uses Pinehurst's new par-3 to hit a number of short par-3 angles for Golf World.

The Cradle follows a trend of alternative course openings in 2017, with the new Jordan Spieth-backed six-hole course at the University of Texas, Tom Doak’s 12-hole par 3 at Ballyneal, and Dan Hixson nine-hole pitch-and-putt at Silvies Valley Ranch.

You may note a bias toward par 3s in my commentary. Like a lot of guys my age, my first rounds were on scruffy short courses, in my case the Fleming Nine at Harding Park and Golden Gate G.C., both in San Francisco, both enduring jewels from the city’s golfing heyday.

I’ve also seen a big appetite for pitch-and-putts overseas. They can be found in a bunch of little towns in Ireland, usually teeming with an informally dressed crowd whose members tend to nonchalantly pull off very useful bump and runs. And when the Open was held at Muirfield in 2013, the so-called children’s course next to the west course at North Berwick was a big hit with visiting American pros and their families.

To me, a good par-3 course works on many levels besides just the price and the pace. A little funkiness in design and even conditioning is a plus, as the capriciousness invites improvisation. The mood should be informal and promote a hint of relaxed raucousness.

Sure, the American hunger for optimization has started a trend toward par 3s for the golfer who has everything. Such courses can be pricey, too penal to avoid slow play, and over spectacular topography that isn’t ideal for walking. There have been a few such creations.

But done right, a high end par 3 can become destination golf.

Video: Eye On Design, The Genius Of LACC's Short Par-3 15th

/

One of my favorite short threes on the planet gets a chance to shine. It could play as short as 85 yards and long as 140 in the 2017 Walker Cup.

As I explain in this Eye On Design, the hole was a 1927-28 creation when LACC was remodeled and may have have briefly featured sand in the middle, but if it was there, the bunker was short-lived and replaced by a large pimple.

Golf Top 100 Panel Confidential: Most Underrated Course, Favorite Golden Age Architect And Course They'd Play Every Day

/

There is some fun follow-up content from the Golf Magazine Top 100 U.S. and World lists here. They tackle most underrated great course (North Berwick edges LACC North!), greatest Golden Age architect (Good Doc), best modern day architect (Coore), most overrated design element (Conditioning), and course they’d chose to play every day (Cypress Point).