“I believe that if you define a hole, then you as the golfer can get your mind in gear.”
Rees Jones’ newest course will open August 1st in Riverside, Iowa. Called Blue Top Ridge, the course is part of a casino resort. Beyond the obligatory marketing golf course quotes he gave, he did say one thing that really got my attention.
Jones tried to create 18 unique holes with definition off the tee. He pulled it off with masterful use of fairway bunkering.
“I believe that if you define a hole, then you as the golfer can get your mind in gear,” Jones said. “If it’s wide-open spaces, you can go on autopilot and hit a lousy shot.”
This says, to me, that Jones thinks a golf course architect’s job is to dictate to the golfer the only way a golfer can successfully play a hole. That strategic elements should not be part of the design, and that rough and trees are necessary in order to keep a player from playing a loose shot.
With this thinking, it’s no wonder Jones gets the label of US Open doctor. A more applicable title would be Boredom doctor. Rough and trees are the tools of a lazy designer - somebody who doesn’t have the ability to place hazards and design greens in the mold of St. Andrews. The ability for a golf hole to be played in more than one way is what makes a golf course interesting. A defined route is nothing more than connect the dots, hardly the cerebral game that golf deserves to be.
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