Q&A With Gil Hanse

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The 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open returns to Castle Stuart minus sponsor Barclays and hopefully minus freak thunderstorms that turned the crispy links into a mess that included a bizarre mudslide. Though the Gil Hanse-Mark Parsinen course will be much greener thanks to the UK's non-stop rains, Mother Nature will hopefully allow the Inverness, Scotland layout to be at its best.

The return provides an opportunity to make Hanse answer a few questions about the course and get a Rio Olympic course update (and full disclosure: I've worked on a number of design projects with Gil and hope to again in the future).

GS: Since being selected for the Rio 2016 Olympic commission, you've been back to Rio to walk the site and make modifications. How did that go and did it yield any significant deviations from your original plan?

GH: The site visits have gone very well. We are excited about the land, and the more time we get to spend on it, the more interesting the natural features we are finding appear to be. We shifted a few greens and tees around to take advantage of some natural features that we found, and also to reduce the amount of water that was green side on several of the opening holes. However, the routing stays much the same and the holes are roughly in the same configuration, the natural terrain for the "upper" holes is better than first imagined and those holes should be shaped right out of the existing landscape.


GS: You will be visiting Australia soon for the first time for inspiration in the Rio design. What are you looking to learn there and why did seeing Sandbelt golf become a priority?

GH: We have been very fortunate to have seen so many of the great courses in the world and to study their designs. However, neither Jim or I have been to Australia to study the great sandbelt courses. Having seen photos, and talked to people such as yourself about these courses, it seemed that we could draw a parallel to our site in Rio from a vegetation, sand, and topographical context to these courses. As a result, we feel it is imperative for us to travel down there and spend time on these great courses. Our good friends at Clayton/Ogilvy design have agreed to be our tour guides, so I am certain we will see some great architecture on the visit. We are hopeful that the configuration of their green complexes and the bunkering of the courses will be a fit for Rio, as will the reliance on short grass surrounds for the green complexes.


GS: Castle Stuart hosts the Scottish Open for the second time, how big of an influence do you think it's success had on getting the Olympic commission?

GH: I believe that it had a significant influence on our selection for the Rio course. The selection committee made it clear that they were looking for a resume that included courses that have hosted significant tournaments. All of our other tournament course experience has been of a restorative or renovated nature, so to have an original design also be part of that submission was critical. The fact that the course was well received by the players, prior to the storm events, I believe had an impact on our selection.


GS: Last year's freak weather made it hard to fully judge the course, though players widely praised it and the use of a links style design prior to the Open. Yet there were many modifications made, can you enlighten us on those and whether you were consulted?

GH: Not sure if the modifications were in the "many" category but we did add some items to the course. As our co-designer on the course, Mark Parsinen, who is also the owner, was primarily in charge of coordinating these changes with the European Tour, based on their analysis and feedback.

The primary feedback was that a couple of holes could use some tightening of the landing areas, so bunkers were added on the 5th and 14th holes, and several holes were lengthened. Interestingly enough, many of these additional tees were already constructed during the original design of the course. We built landforms for them, but grassed them in rough grasses, but we knew that we might need to add some flexibility to the length of the course if we were given the opportunity to host a championship. These new tees will be used if the wind conditions are appropriate for their use. We were consulted by Mark on these changes, and I think that they will have a minor influence on the outcome, we are just hoping for some good weather this year!


GS: As part of your studies as well as your time on site at Castle Stuart, you've spent a great deal of time in the UK and in particular in Northern Scotland. If someone were to plan a trip to see Castle Stuart and perhaps the new Trump course, could you give us a few lesser known links that are worth playing?

GH: Some of my favorites include Cruden Bay, Lossiemouth, Brora, and Fortrose and Rosemarkie, and Boat of Garten is a fun inland course. Of course any trip to this part of Scotland should include stops at Royal Aberdeen and Royal Dornoch, which is a masterpiece in my opinion.

Greetings From The Home Of Golf And Little Internet Access!

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Now, before you Scots start writing to complain that I'm picking on your technological, uh, issues, I can say that the Internet access in the newest, most beautiful and most important terminal at Heathrow is working just as well. Which is to say, not at all.

But no worries, they've still got 16 days until London 2012 to get it up and running or to figure out how to have more than one non-EU customs agent so that the athletes can make it to their competition in time.

I still hope to upload some photos and videos along the way leading up to the Open, but right now it's looking bleak when the online access is so tough.

Sheesh, Downton Abbey had faster download speeds.

State Of The Game Podcast 10: "The Open won't be going to Portrush..."

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That's the sunny take of John Huggan, who also wrote in Golf World about the dynamics of trying to return the Open Championship to Royal Portrush.

That sticky subject is one of many topics we cover, including the U.S. Open at Olympic Club, this week's Scottish Open and the Open Championship at Lytham.

You can access the show, hosted by Rod Morri and including Huggan and myself this week, via a direct link, via iTunes, via iTunes subscription, or the player below:

The Open Is Coming! Which Means This Site Will Fly Into Full Open Championship Mode

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I'm off to work on some stories for next year's Open Championship, to review Trump International Scotland for Golf World, and to take in the Scottish Open this weekend. This will be followed by next week's coverage of the Open Championship from Royal Lytham for Golf World and GolfDigest.com.

After the Open, I have a dream round of golf in the greater Edinburgh area on tap (details, photos and video likely at some point). This will be followed by a few days of vacation.

So bear with me the next three weeks as posting frequency, times and content will vary depending on WiFi access, the news, media regulations, moods, the weather or the need to withhold certain observations for magazine stories.

But as always, your submissions for blog worthy stories will be greatly appreciated. And a special thanks to the art department for the "stamp" mastheads.

"With designer glasses for goggles and haute couture as a wetsuit, Foley has been swimming upstream ever since."

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Jim Moriarty files the kind of profile that makes a Golf World contributor proud and is a must read. But since you all subscribe and received your issue last week, you know this.

Just in case you don't, here's a link to the digital edition where you'll learn the story of Sean Foley's rise both as an instructor to star players and simply the progression of a career devoted to the game. No matter how you feel about his philosophy, I'll be shocked if you aren't in admiration of his devotion to golf.

The story is also supported by interesting shots from Darren Carroll's camera.

Good Times In Cleveland: IMG Taking Former Agents To Court, Tracking Them With Private Investigators

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Alex Miceli with a wildly entertaining story of ten-percenter sharks feasting on each other, with a legal battle breaking out between IMG and two former agents, Jon Wagner and Jon Heaston.

A pre-trial conference is scheduled for July 10 in Cleveland regarding a contempt-of-court allegation by IMG against Wagner, possibly stemming from what IMG contends was inappropriate contact between Wagner and Immelman. During a sponsor day at CordeValle resort in San Martin, Calif., on the Monday after the U.S. Open, Wagner, Immelman and David Fry attended and were videotaped together by a private investigator whom sources say was hired by IMG.

Still pictures from the video were submitted to the court as evidence of Wagner’s violation of the temporary restraining order.

Wagner would not comment about the pre-trial conference, but Immelman was not pleased by the allegation and what he sees as a violation of his privacy.

“I was caught totally off guard when I heard about the pictures,” Immelman said via phone. “I’m trying to do my best efforts for one of my long-standing partners, Old Mutual and its guests, and pictures were being taken. I understand there are legal issues outstanding, but I felt like it was crossing the line.”

 All for a measly ten percent!

Westwood Injures Himself In On-Course Slip

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From an unbylined wire report, and just twelve days before the Open for the top title contender.

He was walking to the first tee in the third round of the Alstom French Open at Paris' Le Golf National.

"I was talking to Richard Sterne's caddie and not looking where I was going," Westwood told Sky Sports. "I slipped on wooden sleepers down the side of the cart path. My left foot went forward about two feet and my right foot stayed where it was.

"It left like I strained something at the top of my right leg and tweaked my right knee as well. I didn't really have much confidence in it and as the round went on I just kept stretching my groin out. It seems to have eased off but I am still a little bit wary of it. I felt if I stopped it might make it worse by seizing up, so I thought it was better to keep it moving.