R.I.P. Renton Laidlaw

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One of the game’s great voices and gentlemen has left us, with the R&A first to share the sad news of Renton Laidlaw’s passing. The voice off the European Tour until 2014, Laidlaw began his career as a writer for the Edinburgh Evening News before moving into radio and television. For American viewers he became synonymous as soundtrack to weekend mornings of European Tour events.

Brendan James has more in this remembrance for Golf Australia. I’ll post more as they appear.

Five Years Later, The Rio Olympic Golf Course Is Very Much Alive And Well

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January, 2020 Google Earth image of Rio’s Olympic course

January, 2020 Google Earth image of Rio’s Olympic course

After much sweating, headache and even a little fear for lives, the Rio Olympic golf course was completed in time for the games. The Gil Hanse-Amy Alcott design was a massive collaboration between multiple parties, including the PGA Tour and International Golf Federation. Yours truly even paid a visit to share ideas, a documentary crew captured the process and the course was kind of a huge hit.

So while most of Rio’s other Olympic venues languish—and lazy stories like this Business Insider claim of its abandonment have circulated, only to then report in 2020 it wasn’t busy, the Rio course is appears to be thriving in ways that seem unimaginable five years since Justin Rose took gold over Henrik Stenson.

Most amazing of all? It may center around how stunning the conditioning looks. To say this course looks lean (in a great way) might be underselling it. Long feared as a place that would be overwatered and too lush for the Sandbelt-style golf envisioned by the design team to show the world a more sustainable game, the Rio course is delivering. Look at this close up from the Google Earth shot 19 months ago:

Now that is a beautiful shade of green!

But if you want proof that the course has become a lively place to be on a daily basis, give their Instagram account a follow. They had a concert in the progressive clubhouse last week! And you can follow along to see what the operators are doing to promote the game. No, the purveyors aren’t growing the game in the favelas, but they are keeping the place public, thriving and conducting outreach programs to juniors.

While some smaller events have been played there it’s a little surprising another big event like the Latin America Amateur Championship hasn’t been played there.

A recent post with video footage:

"The Monster is back."

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Oh My! The 10th and 11th holes at Oakland Hills South. Look at that land! (Larry Lambrecht)

Oh My! The 10th and 11th holes at Oakland Hills South. Look at that land! (Larry Lambrecht)

That’s what the Detroit Pree-Press’ Carlos Monarrez says about one of America’s most storied championship venues sidelined while undergoing reconstructive surgery to repair damage done by the Jones family.

Oakland Hills South has seen Hanse Design attempt to bring back more Donald Ross and prepare it for 21st century tournaments. The course reopened Thursday but has no events locked in right now.

Last week the USGA announced more future sites for the U.S. Open. The next open date is 2028, a year after Pebble Beach hosts the tournament. That could bode well for Oakland Hills’ chances since the USGA likes to alternate eastern and western sites every year for the Open.

“Restoring the South Course at Oakland Hills was a master class in scale from architect Donald Ross,” Hanse said in a statement Thursday. “By returning the proportions of the features to the large scale of the property, we learned so much about how to create interest, strategy and beauty. This was a truly thrilling project for us to be involved in and we are excited about the transformation that has occurred.”

Quadrilateral readers know 2028 is out barring some sort of last minute change, while 2024 and 2029 are already locked in at Pinehurst #2. So the likely next option is 2030 but there is a certain anniversary that makes Merion a possibility that year. Time will tell!

Timetable Offered For Resurrection Of West Palm Beach Muni

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Tony Doris reports good news from West Palm Beach where a community trust will restore the shuttered muni. (Thanks to reader John for this.)

PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh is the primary figure helping bring together all sides and donations for the project hoping to start this summer with a fall 2022 reopening planned. The site will return 18 holes designed by Gil Hanse along with a short course, full range and modest clubhouse.

Doris writes:

To date, $22 million has been committed by donors, he said. The founding group is prepared to contribute about $3 million and is looking for like-minded Palm Beach County golfers to join them, he said.

The total of $35 million required to build and sustain the project will include no money from city coffers. It will come from individual donors and a limited number of corporate partners, Waugh said.

The entrance will be off Georgia Avenue, no longer off Forest Hill Boulevard and Parker Avenue. Assistant City Administrator Armando Fana said that Georgia Avenue might require landscaping or other beautification but what form that would take and who would pay has not been decided.

The Cradle By The (Incredible) Numbers

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Pre-pandemic the explosion of interest and respect for the role of par-3 courses was incredible and there is little reason to think that’ll be changing. Designed properly, pitch and putts are fun for all, a great option for kids or older golfers no longer up for a full round and essential to the facilities that have done it right.

While not the first, Pinehurst’s The Cradle was arguably the most ambitious given the prime real estate devoted to the Hanse Design creation. The numbers are in after three years and they are staggering.

Check out this post for all of them, but from a pure news and business perspective the primary number is the rounds played total: over 115,000 rounds in three years means over 100 players a day, depending on whether replays are counted. That’s with a $50 green fee—kids under 17 are free with a paying adult—and many other golf options in the region. Incredibly eye-opening, one would hope, particularly given how little acreage and cost such a course requires compared to a full course.

Sneak Preview, Early Photos Emerge Of The Likely 2041 Ryder Cup Venue

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I get that they’re excited down in greater Frisco about the forthcoming PGA of America golf complex, but I’m not sure we needed an early look at the 2041 Ryder Cup possibilities given that we’d like to just get 2020’s Ryder Cup under our belt in…2021.

Anyway, Gil Hanse’s design at the PGA complex in Frisco is starting to look like a golf course, and while I wouldn’t let anyone see it looking like this, Art Stricklin gives a Golf.com update on a course slated to host 20 professional and amateur events over the next two decades.

Never before has a U.S. course had more than 20 professional and amateur golf events — including two PGA Championships (the first in 2027) and two Senior PGA Championships (the first in 2023) — destined for its fairways while it’s still under construction. All course work will be done later this fall, giving the site a year and a half to grow in and mature.

The property also will feature a second course, the West Course, designed by Beau Welling; a practice area and a 10-hole short course; an Omni resort; and PGA headquarters buildings.

One event presumed to be headed to PGA Frisco but which has not yet been officially announced is the most anticipated: a future Ryder Cup. It would represent the first-ever Ryder Cup in North Texas and only the second in the Lone Star State. The next available date is 2041, but that hasn’t stopped the planning or dreaming.

Yes 2041, when Rory McIlroy will be too old and out of touch to Captain a second time and Larry Nelson will still be wondering why he was passed over.

Again, let’s just get 2020’s under our belt and talk later but in the meantime, at least see how the Hanse team is turning a cow pasture into something.

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Eighteenth At Winged Foot, The Putt That Changed Golf History And The Restoration

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If you’ve watched early week coverage from Winged Foot, you know the 18th green just has something special going on. I don’t recall that sense the last time the West hosted in 2006. So we’ll chalk up that eye-catching quality to the restoration work reclaiming both shape, size and artistic flair to this historic location.

John Fischer takes us back to the putt that changed golf history and forced a 1929 U.S. Open playoff. Carve out a few minutes to go back to his moment, which now is easier to visuale in 2020 thanks to the green reclaiming its identical look.

The 12-foot putt that Jones faced on the 72nd hole was downhill on a fast green, with a left-to-right break. Jones took a few extra seconds to look over the putt. The gallery had swelled to 7,000, some standing back as far as the knoll in the 18th fairway to get a good view of the green.

Jones decided on his line and aimed 1½ feet above the cup. He stroked the ball amid dead silence from the huge crowd. The ball slowly rolled down the slope and seemed to hesitate at the edge of the cup. The gallery let out a collective gasp. Then, after seeming to hang on the lip, the ball fell into the cup. Thunderous cheering and applause followed. Jones had done it. He had tied Espinosa.

If you want to keep going back, why not get a little Grantland Rice in your life. His dispatch well after that day and one of the last things he authored.

The USGA also posted this nice recap of 1929 with club historian Neil Regan prominently featured.

The last flyover provided by the USGA and Deloitte to whet our 2020 U.S. Open appetite shows the 469 yarder seemingly discouraging driver off the tee due to the sharp bend left. Then again who knows in this wacky world of totally natural physique overhauls.

A good tee shot sets up a short-iron second to the masterful green, with its false front, roles, swales and difficulty. The 18th presents elements we’re not used to seeing: fairway bunker on the outside of the dogleg, and a seemingly left-to-right second where the greenside bunkering is on the outside left. A grass wall guards the right where you’d normally expect sand.

Hit pause on the flyover to soak up the green and imagined where the holes might be cut. There are some new beauties since the last time the tournament visited Winged Foot.

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Fifth Hole At Winged Foot

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Having had wedges and short irons into the first few par-4’s, 2020 U.S. Open invitees now confront a dilemma at the fifth: bomb it over the trees and try to carry is 320, or hit a right-to-left tee shot to a semi-blind fairway skirting Tillinghast bunkers?

Yes, we know how that movie turns out.

Another simple and beautiful holes with the cross bunker short of the Hanse Design-restored green providing just another example of Winged Foot’s artistry and distinctiveness. The USGA’s flyover for this year’s tournament, brought to us by Deloitte:

The Shack Show With Guest Gil Hanse

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Gil Hanse

Gil Hanse

While the Colonial focus for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge is rightfully on the “challenge” of putting on the first major COVID-19 era golf tournament, the course is always an integral part of Colonial week.

So I called up Gil Hanse, recently commissioned to do a master plan for the oft-changed classic (you won’t believe the list!). We also chatted about a few other topics I hope you’ll enjoy, plus me questioning his world top 10 published this week on Golf.com.

The Apple podcast option for listening and subscribing, or you can listen here on iHeartRadio:

**Here is one of the lost Colonial golf holes discussed in the show by Gil, courtesy of Mr. Maxwell! ;)

GroundBreaking: A First Look At PGA Of America's New 36-Hole Frisco Facility

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The Dallas Morning News’ Scott Bell attended the Governor William J. Le Petomane Thruway, err, I mean, Silicon Valley of Golf groundbreaking on some of Frisco’s finest farmland.

The usual groundbreaking speeches and demos were presented, though refreshing in the videos below with Gil Hanse and Beau Welling discussing their works, the “fun” word was mentioned as the priority. Imagine that ten or fifteen years ago.

The golf portion includes two 18-hole championship courses -- the East Course and the West Course -- as well as a short course and practice areas. Organizers expect the new PGA of America headquarters to become the home of national player development and coaching programs.

In total, the city of Frisco expects more than $2.5 billion in economic development over the next two decades, according to an economic impact study it commissioned.

Preparation for major golf events is already underway

There will be no shortage of big events taking place at PGA Frisco.

The site has been promised 23 championship events over a 13-year span, including six majors across the PGA, LPGA and Champions Tours: PGA Championship (2027, 2034), Women’s PGA Championship (2025, 2031) and Senior PGA Championship (2023, 2029).

Ticket sign-ups for those events coming soon, get them if they ever have the chance to last!

A couple of preview videos, first with Hanse and Welling, and a second with a look at the land plan that includes a par-3 course and Himalayas “interactive” putting green.

Former Cal Golfer Opens Rustic Canyon Round With 10 Straight Birdies

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As co-architect I should be horrified but any course that rewards such incredible play must be a masterpiece, no?

Anyway, enough about me.

The Forecaddie reports on Brandon Beck’s 10-birdie start at Rustic Canyon in August and suggests that it’s a record given how few documented 10-straight moments have been recorded.

Oh, and he lipped out on the 11th.

Video And Podcast: The Fried Egg On Rustic Canyon

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It’s a treat to see the continued interest in Rustic Canyon 17 years after it opened, but as we knew at the time, the opportunity to work on a sandy site not far from a major U.S. city was something special.

So it’s an honor to have contributed to Andy Johnson’s Fried Egg podcast to discuss the design and his stunning drone photography of the place this winter.

Garrett Morrison looks at the design, what it meant to the region at the time and more, in this review with some fantastic still images.

Andy clipped out some of my comments on behalf of the design team—Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner as well—to provide these views:

Drone Flyover Of The Horse Course At The Prairie Club

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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.

Week After Anti-Bombing Gripes, TPC's Anti-Bombing Change Causes Gripes

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Last week some players were mad that Glen Oaks' 18th favored Dustin Johnson's ability to hit a super-human length drive under pressure and be rewarded. This week at TPC Boston, the newly updated 12th is causing consternation because it's forcing players to consider possible routes interrupted by bunkering, some a play down the 13th hole possible according to AP's Doug Ferguson who predicts many players will go all Lon Hinkle on us.

Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com has some of the player reaction, including Paul Casey calling the hole awful. That's an eye-opener given his general astuteness, appreciation of centerline hazards and understanding that you can't judge a hole by one practice round.

However, architect Gil Hanse, who oversaw the changes along with Jim Wagner, is preaching patience and is not shy in suggesting that hazards were placed to prevent the bombs away approach found to be so upsetting last week.

Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com allows Hanse to explain the thinking behind the hole and need to consider it after more than just one impression.

“The expectation was it would take several rounds for these guys to learn how to play it and how they wanted to tackle it,” he said. “Unfortunately, some of the early reaction came after one practice round.

“The conversation we’ve had with three or four players is, 'Listen, just give it three or four rounds. Try to figure it out.' If we build a golf hole that the players can figure out after one round, then we probably haven’t done our job challenging them.”

And on preventing the new 12th from giving long hitters a distinct advantage:

“This golf course, rightfully or wrongly, has always been characterized as a bomber’s golf course,” said Hanse, who lengthened the 12th by 50 yards. “So when you’re making alterations, you have that in the back of your mind, and you don’t want to be seen increasing that advantage. We felt like the positioning of these hazards gives the average guy room to hit the ball. But as you want to push around 330, it gets more narrow.”