I wonder why that is? To keep people from discussing them? He doesn’t want anybody to steal his ideas?

There are a few places where we get to see some idea of what the routing looks like for some of these golf courses. Here is the routing for the Cliffs course in High, North Carolina. (Click for larger.)

I’ll be the first to admit that judging any golf course by a routing is unfair – we can’t see the topography, although Tiger said that he wanted the course to be walkable, which means that the topography can’t be too severe, even if the course is in the mountains.. The fairways and greens won’t look exactly like what is shown and bunkers won’t be in the same place. There may even be more or fewer bunkers on each hole.

Now, that being said, we can still get a feel for what the design intent will be. We have returning nines that are segregated from one another – the front nine is on the west side and the back nine is on the east side. The good news is that the course is a “core course” – there is very little housing on the course. It is mostly along holes 5-8, which you can sort of see in this picture. It looks like there might be housing along 16-18 at some point in the future, but it’s difficult to tell with any certainty. Having looked at the routing for a little while, I don’t see anything of particular note. Holes 9 and 17 look somewhat interesting, but the rest look like copies of one another. I’ll be curious to see how the greens and their surrounds turn out – will there be bold green contours in the mold of Augusta or the sand hills of Australia that Tiger has praised in the past? Will more strategic elements be included?

We found out that, even in the current economy, that property sales weren’t too shabby. They sold $40 million worth of real estate in November. With property prices starting at $500,000 and going to over $3 million, that’s a decent haul. Probably enough to cover the cost of construction, land costs and Tiger’s design fee for the course. Maybe even a road or two in the subdivision.

The golf course at Punta Brava is quite different since it’s along the Pacific Ocean. The best I could come up with for a routing is below (that Tiger’s hand in the picture…). (Click for larger version.)

This is a different animal than the Cliffs. We see some pretty dramatic holes in 4, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18. I’m sure the view on every hole will be spectacular. The internal holes also have some interesting features, like the shared bunkers on holes 3 and 4 and again on holes 14 and 15. The biggest downside I see to this design are all of the parallel holes, but that’s a minor quibble. This is actually a course that should be pretty interesting.

I’m looking forward to seeing some of the actual construction photos from the golf courses as well as how it’s played as a finished product. Hopefully his courses will live up to his playing ability.

“It’s the mental aspect — we’re trying to make them think,” he said. “That’s the whole idea. You want to be able to test the players and make them come up with a game plan.”

On the 15th hole, there’s a bunker on the left, but if a player steers clear of it off the tee, he has a clear shot at the green, but one he cannot see as he makes it. Blind shots, chocolate drop mounds and strategically placed fescue grass, the long stuff that just hides balls, is prominent on the remodeled TPC.

“I like the changes,” said Tiger Woods, who will defend his title against the top competitors including, for the first time, Phil Mickelson. “Being a playoff event, we knew the caliber of the course would need to be improved and I think they’ve done that two-fold.”

Woods had input on every hole, but he did not dictate changes. The world No. 1 made suggestions, and the spirit in which they were intended spawned some of the changes.

“We took his suggestions to heart,” said Hanse. “If he suggested a bunker on the first hole on the left — there’s no bunker, but we did put a chocolate drop mound there.”

One thing Woods agrees on, based on a film he viewed showing the revised layout, is the TPC poses a challenge now befitting a mini-major.

“Before (the changes), that really wasn’t the case,” he said. “If you got it going, you could take it pretty low.”

Vijay Singh took it very low in the third round last year, shooting a 61 and taking over the lead. Woods came back to win, but had to shoot a 63 on the final day to do it. Those low numbers won’t be likely this year.

“People get fixated on difficulty as quality, and I think that’s all wrong,” said Hanse, whose primary objective wasn’t to make the course tougher — that was included — but to make it more New England-esque.

I think the best quote of the bunch is Hanse’s last – difficulty absolutely does not equal quality. Despite what the USGA or Augusta National may want us to believe.

Here are the three holes, and a link to Tiger’s website discussing the design.

What would happen if I accidentally rear-ended him? Would Stevie Williams pop out of the back like “The Trunk Monkey” and bury a sand wedge square in the middle of my windshield?

The source said that Woods might even be interested in taking an existing military course, either at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland or Fort Belvoir in Virginia, and do the sort of makeover that transformed Bethpage Black on Long Island, a public course in general disrepair, before the 2002 U.S. Open.

First, an aside. Was Bethpage Black really in “general disrepair” before Rees Jones redo prior to the US Open? Or was it in USGA “general disrepair” like Merion currently is and will require “improvements”?

[UPDATE 7/11]: I found an article that describes what Bethpage Black was prior to the redo. Sounds like it was actually in pretty rough shape.

A redo of a public, military facility would be an interesting project. It would be much more appealing than the $20 million redo of TPC Avenel because of Woods apparent commitment to making this an event for persons of the armed services.

In other news, Tiger Woods Dubai is opening three preview holes.

Hole 12, par 3, 181 yards
“Visually it’s very dramatic due to the elevations and vegetation, but it’s also very strategic. It plays over a 30-foot depression of native grasslands and shrubbery to a somewhat crowned green. Pin position will dictate strategy off the tee and club selection will be very important. You are really going to have to think on the tee about your shot, especially if the wind is up.” – Tiger Woods

Hole 17, par 4, 341 yards
“This hole will have a big impact on the finish of the round. It plays slightly uphill but downwind, and presents several strategic choices off the tee. This is a great drivable risk/reward hole that provides an opportunity for birdie or eagle heading into 18. Smart decisions and proper execution will be rewarded, but it will be hard to save par if you make an error.” – Tiger Woods

Hole 18, par 4, 507 yards
“I wanted the finish of the round to be a real test both mentally and physically. It all starts with the tee shot. One option is to challenge the right side of the fairway for a shorter approach to the green, but doing so requires contending with the water and playing over it on the approach. The green is well guarded by the water so golfers will have to decide whether to challenge right side pin positions or play away to the left. Overall, I think if you walk off 18 with a par, you will feel like you made some smart decisions and executed properly.” – Tiger Woods

A lot of mentions of strategery (oops – still in D.C. mode there) – which is good. Looks like Tiger has taken a page from the Pete Dye book – a brutal finishing par 4 with water in play from tee to green.

“It was hard. It was really hard. I’ve never played a golf course as hard as that was set up – and as unfair as it was set up as well.”

He added: “I remember number six, stepping off the fairway nine yards wide in a lay-up area. That’s not a real big lay-up area when you have to hit a four iron.

“I think it’s a great golf course. I played two Scottish Opens there (1995 and 1996) and I thought it was one of the best golf courses I’ve ever played.

“Lo and behold, we come back in 1999 and it was not that way any more.”

Woods said Bryon Bell, whom he hired as president of Tiger Woods Design, found Welling after looking at the philosophies of various design companies.

“Beau fit what we wanted to have happen,” Woods said.

Tiger also made this statement in Golf Digest regarding design.

Admittedly, Woods, who is designing his first course in Dubai, sees golf courses differently these days.

“Definitely,” Woods said. “I’ve probably started doing that the last five or six years, trying to understand why they would do this, why they would do that and try to get an understanding of it. And then obviously talking to some of the architects over the years and even some of the players who have become architects to get an understanding of how a golf course should be played.”

There’s a lot of depth lacking here. So many questions that are left unanswered. What is the philosophy? What are the “this and that” that he’s been trying to understand? Understanding how a golf course should be played – or a golf course should be designed?

Tiger has said in the past that the Australian sand belt courses are the ones he likes.

“I will not be hiring some guy to design a golf course. I’ll be hands on and involved in it.” He was more forthcoming about his design philosophy. “My tastes are toward the old and traditional. I’m a big fan of the Aussie-built courses in Melbourne, the sand-belt courses. I’m also a tremendous fan of some of the courses in our Northeast.”
…
“I’m not one who thoroughly enjoys playing point B to point C to point D golf,” he continued. “The courses I like are the ones where you have the option to play different shots. I enjoy working the ball on the ground and using different avenues.”

Those are fantastic answers – and a design philosophy that I certainly admire and appreciate. I’m curious what Welling could have done at Fazio that would remotely be like this, though. Fazio’s design philosophy doesn’t translate to this type golf course. Look at the changes at Augusta and that’s readily apparent – tree planting is the antithesis of Tiger’s “options” design philosophy. How the course at Dubai turns out will be interesting on many levels – hopefully we’ll get to know more about Tiger the designer through this process and hopefully we’ll see that he holds to his philosophy.

Abdulla Al Gurg, Project Director of The Tiger Woods Dubai said: ‘While partnering with IMG creates numerous synergies, we selected IMG because we believe that their highly tailored and ’boutique’ management approach is the best fit for the management of golf operations and associated activities at The Tiger Woods Dubai.

‘IMG’s experience has involved them in pre-operative consulting work for other golf courses in the region, but The Tiger Woods Dubai is the only development with which they have chosen to enter a long-term management relationship.
…
IMG will be responsible for managing all club operations which include resort guest programming, establishment and implementation of world class service levels and course conditioning, provision of state of the art academy and instructional programming, offering a unique golf retail experience and integrating the golf club into the daily lifestyle of the residents of the gated community.

I get warm fuzzy feelings about this first foray from Tiger Woods Design – don’t you?

“It’s a great test, but has a lot of blind tee and second shots,” world number one Woods said in his monthly newsletter Tuesday. “Overall, I’d say it’s a lot harder than Augusta National.

“It’s an old-style course and I kept trying to figure out where the USGA (United States Golf Association) was going to put the pin placements for the U.S. Open in June. I’m still not sure.”

Not to be outdone by Augusta’s 240-yard par 3 fourth hole, Oakmont has stretched their par 3 eighth hole to 288-yards and begun the predictable bragging of “the longest par 3 in US Open history”.