EarthGolf

Course Review: Tobacco Road

Taylor Anderson — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:34:22 +0000

I recently completed mapping all the golf courses that I’ve played in my life. I found that I’ve played approximately 100 different courses. At first blush, I thought, wow - that’s a lot of courses. Then I realized that there are over 17,000 golf courses in the United States - so I’ve played less than one percent of all of the golf courses in the US. My pedigree of golf courses played is not overly impressive either. I’ve played a few really good courses, but none in the top 50 in the US. Now, I’ve walked a few of the top 50 courses - including Augusta, Pinehurst, Oakland Hills and Whistling Straits.

This past weekend I got the chance to play Tobacco Road in Sanford, North Carolina. I was blown away by the course - the strategic elements were everywhere. Having only played it once, I can’t even begin to fathom what I missed, which is scary. The course is better and far more interesting than Pinehurst and Oakland Hills.

The day started out finding the place, which is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, which adds to the adventure. Driving between the asphalt mixing plant and other industrial businesses, it’s a sign of the rough and ragged course that’s about to unfold. Arriving at the clubhouse, it’s minimalist - like everything at Tobacco Road. You get a free yardage book in exchange for your address and e-mail. Take them up on the offer - or pay the $4 for it if you’re one of those overly sensitive people handing over some personal information (Or simply lie about your address…) . It’s, to make an understatement, absolutely necessary.

The first hole is among the best - it’s a purely psychological game that architect Mike Stranz is playing. The best thing to do is to take the driver and pound it since the fairway is incredibly wide beyond the mounds. It’s an incredible par 5 - tons of strategic elements. A good drive leaves even more decisions - layup or go for it? Layup isn’t simple because there’s another set of mounds that pinch the fairway at 100 yards. Miss the green right and the up and down is really difficult. And that’s just the first hole.

It’s tempting to write about every single hole - and perhaps that would be a good set of blog entries in the future. Let me speak a little “generically” about the course. The par fives are all really good - incredible risk/reward elements on each one. Heroic elements and strategic elements. The par threes are shortish, but the greens on all of them are either 75 yards (or more…) wide or 50 yards deep. Meaning that they’ll be completely different holes for each of the three pin positions that they use.

Stranz’s mix of strategic elements and routing ability reminds me a lot of Pete Dye. The most obvious are “the shoves” - where a fairway starts out in one direction for a stretch, then is shoved between 20 and 40 yards over. His greens are huge and undulating, but totally fair.

There are no sand traps on the course, which when the starter tells you this, just suppress a laugh. There is LOTS of sand - but it’s all played as a waste area. They play a local rule that you can lift and improve your lie in them. The reason they allow you to do this is because there are no rakes - you walk and even drive through a lot of them.

The course does have some weaknesses, however. It is mostly an aerial game a Tobacco Road - it’s strategic, but it’s also a lot of target golf. You need to be able to carry a lot of hazards - the ground game opens up a little around some of the greens, but most of the greens do not allow for a shot to land short. Many of the greens play uphill too, which is somewhat repetitive. The day I played, it was soggy - really soggy. It had rained the day prior, but around the greens, it was ridiculous. I could (and probably should) have played casual water on five shots around the green. It appears they may have some drainage problems in some areas that keep these places wet. There are a lot of low area where balls tend to collect, leading to some pretty worn out areas. The tees on several holes are too small for the amount of play this course get. It takes at least 5 hours to play because of the difficulty - it can take a decent amount of time to find a golf ball even struck slightly offline because of the number of blind shots and waste areas with love grass. There are a lot of places for a golf ball to hide on this course.

Those are really minor quibbles in the grand scheme of it. The cliche is that this is a love/hate golf course - and it appears that a lot of people love it. I really feel sorry for those who hate this golf course. They are really missing some truly brilliant golf because they think the course is unfair. Yes, there are a number of blind shots, but so what? No, the course isn’t “all right in front of you”. You actually have to use your brain, and anybody with half a brain and even a small funny bone will find this course to be not only fun, but a great mental test.

I debate how to compliment Mike Stranz because he died at such a young age and left too few courses for us to enjoy. Obviously, the loss to his family is immeasurable. I think that the best way to compliment him, though, is to say that his loss to golf, while on a totally different level, is immeasurable. I can’t wait to play his other courses because he was quite clearly a genius of golf course architecture.

(Image credit - skeevo)

The “second cut’s” 10th anniversary

Taylor Anderson — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:01:53 +0000

The Wall Street Journal’s John Paul Newport writes an article discussing the second cut’s influence at the Masters after 10 years. John, obviously somebody who knows his stuff, goes to the guy with the most “street cred” to discuss the issue - Ben Crenshaw.

“My sense is that they’ve widened the fairways a little bit this year,” Mr. Crenshaw said. “But that sight” — he motioned toward the first and ninth fairways below us, both lined by the darker-green second cut — “is still a little unpalatable to my eyes.”

To Mr. Crenshaw, the second cut is unnecessary given the other many strategic challenges that Augusta poses, and given that the founding designers, Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie, chose not to grow deeper grass near the fairways. They took their design philosophy in part from the strategic but roughless St. Andrews links in Scotland.

“There’s no question that Augusta National and the other courses in the world need to do something because the equipment has got away from us,” he said, referring to the increased distance that the top players in the world are hitting the ball these days. But the second cut takes away some of the angles into the greens that strategically inclined players like to play. “There are many ways around this course. It was designed to make you think,” he said.

Ben’s being very kind and sticking to just the topic at hand with regards to what has taken away some of the angles into the greens. The club claims that the rough imposes a one-half stroke penalty. Apparently, they think that the rough is imposing that penalty and that were the rough not there, the penalty would be less.

Could they be more wrong? First, the penalty is not because of the rough - it’s because of an improper angle to the green. Second, the rough actually prevents a number of balls from finding a far more imposing penalty - having to hit from pine straw between trees.

Ah - but the club has realized this to a point and has added MORE trees because the rough isn’t, apparently, penalty enough. So the corridors are getting tighter and the rough is coming in further (from zero). And that means that founder Bobby Jones’ and architect Alister MacKenzie’s philosophy of having the course be in “the spirit of St. Andrews” gets more and more bastardized each year.

Each year we hear more and more about how dull and boring the Masters is - how the roars are gone. How the course has gone from anticipation of a charge to anticipation of a train wreck. That more trees were added or bunkers widened. That the rough is a little tighter or a little longer. With each tweak, Augusta loses a little more of itself and, by their symbiotic relationship, golf loses a little more of itself.

TPC Four Seaons at Las Colinas gets PGA Tour approval

Taylor Anderson — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:46:35 +0000

The PGA Tour approved the redesign of the TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas to host the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

Below are some details on the changes.

Every hole was redesigned with new tees, fairways and greens. Square tee boxes created a more traditional look. Much of the mounding was softened, creating better sight lines for players and improved views for fans. White-faced bunkers added definition to fairways and greens. And about 200 yards were added.

Weibring turned one of the least favorite holes, No. 11, into what could be an exciting, drivable par-4. He enhanced No. 17, the popular par-3, by clearing viewing areas on both sides and around the green. A stadium feel was created with grandstands and luxury boxes framing the hole. The 18th hole is highlighted by a series of four ponds with waterfalls.

The 11th sounds intriguing - the 18th sounds boring. White faced bunkers sounds typical and not at all Texan.

Looking at player/architect D.A. Weibring’s website where he discusses the changes, we find more detail.

Every tee box, green and bunker has been redone. About 165 trees have been moved.

Other parts of the landscape have been altered for shot value and to improve views. Mounds have been softened. A new irrigation system is in place. It’s a clean, less-is-more look that should intrigue pros, members and resort guests. When fans arrive at the April 24-27 tournament, they will find open viewing areas that will bring them much closer to the action.

Removal of trees sounds great. It would be nice to know what “softening” means to mounds. I have no idea what the cliche “clean, less-is-more” has in the context of golf course design.

“You hear competitive and you hear challenging, but the word you have to hear is fun,” Weibring said. “It’s got to provide all levels of player the visual opportunities to play a shot. Do they have a bailout? Can they bounce the ball on the green? Will they remember the holes?”

I think Weibring meant bounce the ball on TO the green. Weibring was very critical of Pete Dye’s design at Whistling Straits with regards to the ground game, so it will be interesting to see if the TPC actually does allow for the ability to play a ground attack.

Site redesign

Taylor Anderson — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:28:05 +0000

Welcome to the redesigned EarthGolf.com. This new version adds a few features and gives it a more modern, look. The colors are also more golf like - taken directly from the photo of St. Andrews Beach (thanks to Philip Gawith for the photo) that appears in the header.

I’ve got a couple more tweaks to make on the site and please feel free to give any feedback either positive or, even more helpful, negative. (I know the colors aren’t right on the tables for the architects and photo gallery - those will be fixed shortly.)

I’ll also be making a return to blogging much more often - spring is in the air and I’m ready to wade back in.

As always - thanks for visiting.

India becoming golf hot bed?

Taylor Anderson — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:22:52 +0000

India seems to be becoming a hotbed of golf course activity - and PGA Tour pros are getting in on the designs.

Colin Montgomerie and Vijay Singh are two big stars to cash in on the trend, adding their names to a who’s who of golfers with course interests in the booming country.

“There’s certain meetings this week while I’m here and we hope to do that,” Montgomerie said, when asked if he planned to design courses in India.

“We look forward to it.”

Singh, a Fijian of Indian heritage, said he already had plans to design a signature course in the tourist state of Goa.

“Hopefully I can get a lot more opportunities to design golf courses here,” he said.

“I’m doing a few more in the Asian region but here in India, that’s the first one and probably after that we’ll see if we can get some more.”

The Classic was held on the Arnold Palmer-designed DLF Golf and Country Club here, while Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman have also charted courses and Nick Faldo and Ernie Els have layouts in the works.

Well, nobody can blame these guys for taking a paycheck. The question, as is always the case, is what level of involvement will they have? There aren’t any regular tour stops in India - and for Els and Singh, tournament golf is still a high priority. How they will balance family, tournament golf and golf courses in India would seem fairly tricky. Especially with the difficulty of putting together a piece of property large enough for a golf course.

According to Narain, one of the main difficulties in establishing courses is buying land, which is usually held in small parcels by various families.

“If you want to put together 200 acres, you might have to negotiate with 200 owners,” he said. “It can take up to five or 10 years sometimes.”

Negotiations can turn ugly, as in 2002 when thousands of homes in Chandigarh were knocked down to make way for a golf course. One man died after setting fire to himself in protest, reports said.

More courses closed in 2007 than opened

Taylor Anderson — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:03:11 +0000

The National Golf Foundation reported that more golf courses closed in 2007 than opened, a copy of what happened in 2006. Below is their press release.

CLOSURES OUTPACE OPENINGS IN 2007

NGF has identified 113 golf courses, in 18-hole equivalents, that opened for business in the U.S. in 2007. During the same period, there were 121.5 golf course closures, resulting in a net negative of 8.5 courses. This year’s story is much the same as 2006 when the number of closures outnumbered openings by 26.5.

“The development business has run full circle,” says NGF vice president Greg Nathan. “Developers are now being more prudent about the decision to build, and are doing more due diligence on where to build, and at what price point.”

Closures
Many courses close because of higher and better economic use of land, rather than business failure. Courses may be sold to developers when the underlying land has greater commercial real estate value than cash flow value as a golf course. In these cases, the land may have been unwittingly warehoused by the original owner, then sold by the owner’s heirs as a favorable exit strategy.

A disproportionate number of closures were “non-traditional” facilities – either stand-alone 9-holers or short courses (executive or par-3). In 2007, they accounted for 43% of total closures but only 20% of total U.S. supply.

Five-year trend
Looking at the past five years combined, there have been 678.5 openings vs. 491.5 closures for a net positive of 187 courses, or a modest 37.4 per year. That equates to less than three-tenths of a percent of total supply being added per year. In other words, the overall number of golf courses is virtually unchanged from five years ago.

Looking Ahead
While it’s too early to forecast 2008 openings, given the number of courses currently under construction, we expect the number of new courses built in 2008 to be similar to 2007.

This is not shocking given the over supply of golf courses in most areas of the country. It’s also not surprising given the current real estate market. I would predict this trend continuing for another 2 or 3 years at least. I would also expect the number of course closings to decline and the number of new courses openings to steeply decline.

The reason for the number of closings declining is that land development is slowing tremendously. Many courses that close end up as re-development projects. Those won’t happen as often, taking pressure off courses to sell.

The reason for the steep decline in new courses is similar to the decline in course closings, only at a much larger scale. The majority of new golf courses are associated with a residential development. With residential development at extreme lows, that translates to less demand for golf courses - a lot less.

Sedgefield closer to becoming host for Wyndham Championship

Taylor Anderson — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:46:23 +0000

As discussed last year, the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship (formerly the Greater Greensboro Open) is about to make a move from longtime host course Forest Oaks Country Club and the likely relocation will take place at Sedgefield Country Club.

Sources familiar with the negotiations said an agreement between the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation, the nonprofit group that runs the Wyndham, and the Nisshin Corp., which owns Forest Oaks, is expected to be announced in February.

The sources, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations, said time is rapidly becoming an issue in the deal with this year’s tournament eight months away (Aug. 14-17). The sources say that, because of Sedgefield’s image and proximity to Greensboro and Winston-Salem, tournament officials think they can sell significantly more corporate sponsorships to companies than they have at Forest Oaks.

While it’s not set in stone, the story did mention that an outside contender for the tournament is the remodeled Pete Dye course called The Cardinal.

Either location will make for an interesting venue, although Forest Oaks was certainly not a bad course.

Architects page updated

Taylor Anderson — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:37:25 +0000

I’ve done an extensive update of the Architects page to list a good number of the architects currently designing golf courses. This includes all of the ASGCA folks, and many, many more who are not members of the ASGCA. This list differs from that on the ASGCA site in that it includes an architect’s website, many of which are either absent on the ASGCA website or have incorrect links.

As I state on the page, this list is not intended to be complete, but represents my best effort to date of identifying the architects working today. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not consistent in my listing of professional golfers. While I’ve included golfers like Brad Faxon, Johnny Miller and Davis Love III, I’ve omitted many others like Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Fred Couples who have courses credited to them, but I feel aren’t really a part of the golf design. I’m willing to be wrong and have them included in the list, but it’ll take some convincing. I’ve included the guy that does the majority (all) of their designs anyway in Brit Stenson.

Finally, a word on Tiger Woods presently being omitted from the page. I have included the person mostly likely responsible for his design projects in Beau Welling. I’ll include Tiger once two things are in place: A course is open and it is shown that he is involved heavily in the design of the course.

If you know of architects missing, or websites that I’ve been unable to locate (i.e. no link associated with their name) please comment or drop me an e-mail. Many of those who don’t have a website associated with their name is because, inexplicably, Tom Fazio does not have a website. To those architects who don’t have a website - for shame!

The library is open

Taylor Anderson — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:07:38 +0000

I’ve completed the first edition of the library (link is also at the top of the page) that includes 40 books relating to golf course design and maintenance. While this isn’t the seminal list of books on these topics, it does provide what many consider to be the best books in the field. I’ll update the list from time to time and please feel free to comment or e-mail on titles you feel should be there.

Orchard Hills Golf Course will become soccer complex

Taylor Anderson — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:21:00 +0000

Orchard Hills Golf Course in Waukegan, Illinois will soon trade its flying golf balls for flying soccer balls after the Park District’s board voted 4-1 to close the course and redevelop it as a sports complex.

District officials spent nearly $1 million studying whether the soccer, baseball and softball fields could be built on a lakefront Superfund site. About a month ago, the deal fell through because of cost and environmental obstacles, Petry said.

“We moved back to Plan A,” Petry said, adding that 75 percent of patrons at the golf course are not Waukegan residents.

“Things change. We need to have these fields built. The fields we have are in neighborhoods and the impact has been in the neighborhoods.”

Some interesting statements there without a lot of detail - like the very last by Petry. That statement by itself doesn’t make any sense. What impact? Is the impact bad? Why is it bad? I think the most confusing was this statement by Board President Terry Duffy.

Board President Terry Duffy replied that the decision to close Orchard Hills was not easy and that providing a place for children to play soccer was paramount.

“It’s not about golf, money or anything else,” Duffy said. “It’s about providing soccer fields in our area. That’s the bottom line.”

That’s such a strange statement to make. What was so overriding that soccer fields needed to be provided? That statement doesn’t sound like very good judgment is being used here. Doesn’t exactly follow the mission statement of the Waukegan Park District.

The Waukegan Park District is committed to providing parks, facilities and leisure opportunities to our culturally diverse population through the resources of community involvement, dedicated staff and sound management.

(As a side note, I found it a bit ironic that the District’s website has a graphic pronouncing “The Golf Courses are OPEN!”)

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