Klein on Design: No. 16 at Augusta
Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek’s architecture editor, offers his opinion on one memorable hole:
Yards: 170, par 3
Architects: Robert Tyre (“Bobby”) Jones and Robert Trent Jones Sr. (1947)
Where: Augusta, Ga., The Masters, April 8-11, 2010
Ranked: No. 9 on Golfweek’s Best Classic List
It’s great because . . . the last of the five water holes on Augusta National – all on the back nine – provides a theatrical setting for championship golf. The hole, established in its current form in 1947, embodies a distinctly modern sensibility of power, aerial shotmaking and all-or-nothing drama. In many ways, it’s a precursor of the stadium-like setting found at TPC Scottsdale’s par-3 16th hole. The genius here lies in a pond running down the left side and a concave green shaped like Africa and bunkered at 2, 5 and 10 o’clock. The traditional Sunday hole location is readily accessible by feeding the ball in from right to left down the slope. Tug it a little and water comes into play. A bold shot easily can run long and leave the delicate kind of banked chip shot that Tiger Woods famously negotiated when he last won in 2005.
It would be even ...
Hole to watch at Augusta: No. 13
No. 13: 510 yards, par 5
What’s distinctive: The course that championed the “par 41⁄2” still has the most exciting and risky par 5s in all of championship golf. The most graceful is the relentless dogleg-left 13th hole, the culminating point of Amen Corner. The hole is protected on the lower inside left by a stream that laces across the front of the green and is decidedly in play on second shots. The creek especially is a factor for second shots from the right rough – a common landing spot for drives that don’t quite make it around the bend.
What to look for: OK, so Augusta’s par 5s are not quite as scary as they used to be, but with the 2010 Masters, the first major to played under the new grooves rules, it’ll be fascinating to see how ball flight and player decision-making are affected when it comes to play from Augusta National’s 11⁄2-inch “first cut” of rough. A flyer from the rough will leave an extremely difficult recovery from a swale behind the green or from one of those four big, white, puffy-cloud bunkers. Smart players know how to use a ...
Revamped Bay Hill ready to test Tour players
ORLANDO, Fla. – Never have there been so many changes in one year at Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Palmer had the crew of his design company revamp all the greens, changing the strain of grass and altering the contours to allow for more hole locations.
The scorecard certainly will be different on Thursday. After experimenting as a par 70 the last three years, Palmer thought it was better for Bay Hill to return as a par 72. The fourth and 16th holes have been restored to par 5s.
And the defending champion, Tiger Woods, won’t be there. He won the Orlando event by making a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Sean O’Hair by a stroke.
Instead, Woods has decided he’ll return from a sex-scandal induced hiatus from golf at the Masters next month.
Klein on Design: No. 15, Bay Hill Club
Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek’s architecture editor, offers his opinion on one memorable hole:
Yards: 429 yards, par 4
Architect: Dick Wilson, 1961; Arnold Palmer, 2009
Where: Orlando, Fla.
Event: PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, March 25-28
It’s great because . . . Bay Hill is a big, broad-shouldered layout, with Dick Wilson’s trademark diagonal greens and compelling carries across water so that tee shots and approaches have real drama despite the relatively undistinguished natural terrain. The course also has just emerged from a dramatic renovation, especially of putting surfaces. The green expansion and regrassing creates more hole locations and more intriguing run-outs into low areas for short-game recovery. The back nine is especially strong, with the last three holes involving lakes, risk/reward and excitement.
It would be even better if . . . the dogleg-right 15th hole were more demanding. Managing the turn point on the hole used to be tough in an era when 250-plus-yard carries from the back tee were impressive. Today, from the tournament tee, it’s easy for players to blow it over the last fairway bunker (and adjoining magnolia trees) on the inside right of the dogleg and have a short iron into the green. During ...
The latest from a road warrior
This annual design awards feature now is in its 21st year, each one more arbitrary than its predecessor. As usual, it’s drawn from my latest year of travels, which usually amounts to 150 days on the road and visits to 125 or more courses. – Bradley S. Klein
Booked on Golf Award
With traditional golf publishers having bailed on the niche market of architecture, a trend has emerged of micropublishing club histories. Three recent arrivals stood out in terms of layout, research and significance. “Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History,” by Neal Hotelling, photography by Joann Dost, is indispensable as a research guide to the site of this year’s U.S. Open. “The History of Mountain Lake” by Cynthia Zaref goes behind the scenes into a 1917 Seth Raynor gem in Lake Wales, Fla., south of Orlando, that despite ranking No. 67 on the Golfweek’s Best Classic list, still is unknown in Florida. “Crooked Stick Golf Club,” by Chris Wirthwein, explores the genesis and evolution of the seminal mid-1960s course that launched Pete Dye’s reputation.
Taxpayer Revolt Award
The wealthy Coachella Valley town of Indian Wells, Calif. ($148,000 median family income), spent $70 million on its ...
Public statement
2010 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play
State-by-State 2010
Public-access courses
The number of courses per state varies based on course supply, population and level of play; includes daily-fee and resort courses
(m) – modern course; (c) – classic course; * – new to list
Alabama
- Limestone Springs, Oneonta (m)
- Capstone Club, Brookwood (m)
- Kiva Dunes, Gulf Shores (m)
- Farm Links at Pursell Farms, Sylacagua (m)
- Ross Bridge, Hoover (m)
- The Shoals (Fighting Joe), Muscle Shoals (m)*
- Grand National (Lake), Opelika (m)
- Grand National (Links), Opelika (m)*
- Timberline, Calera (m)*
- Oxmoor Valley (Ridge), Birmingham (m)*
Alaska
- Anchorage GC, Anchorage (m)
- Moose Run (Creek), Fort Richardson (m)
- Chena Bend GC, Fort Wainwright (m)
- Eagleglen GC, Elmendorf Air Force Base (m)
- Settlers Bay, Wasilla (m)
Arizona
- We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro), Fort McDowell (No. 75 m)
- Ritz-Carlton GC at Dove Mountain (Saguaro/Tortolita), Marana (m)*
- Troon North (Monument), Scottsdale (m)
- We-Ko-Pa (Cholla), Fort McDowell (m)
- TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), Scottsdale (m)
- Ventana Canyon (Mountain), Tucson (m)
- Talking Stick (North), Scottsdale (m)
- Troon North (Pinnacle), Scottsdale (m)
- Southern Dunes GC, Maricopa (m)
- Superstition Mountain (Prospector), Superstition Mountain (m)*
- Boulders Resort (North), Carefree (m)
- La Paloma GC (Ridge/Canyon), Tucson (m)
- Laughlin Ranch, Bullhead City (m)
- Superstition Mountain (Lost Gold), Superstition ...
Chart toppers
For anyone who thinks that great golf course architecture is found only at old, stuffy private clubs, the 2010 Golfweek’s Best lists should be an eye-opener.
We’re not just celebrating our annual lists of the top 100 Classic (pre-1960) and top 100 Modern (1960 and after) courses. We’re also highlighting the fact that 38 of them are in the public domain as readily accessible resort or daily-fee layouts that also sit atop our state-by-state public-access courses list.
This is, after all, an unprecedented year for public golf, with three of the four men’s professional majors to be played on such courses: the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links (No. 8 Classic); the British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland; and the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits’ Straits Course in Wisconsin (No. 3 Modern). It’s also the culmination of an extraordinary three-year run of U.S. Opens on public layouts, including a pair of municipal tracks: Torrey Pines’ South Course in San Diego (ranked No. 9 in California) in 2008 and Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y. (No. 19 Classic) in 2009.
Our national panel of 550 raters has voted Pine ...
What a sight
ORO VALLEY, Ariz. – The sun is just making its way over the Santa Catalina Mountains to the east. From Mount Lemon on the north side to Push Ridge at the other end, the entire range rises out of the Sonoran Desert and provides a dramatic backdrop to all of Oro Valley community.
Having arrived the night before at a nearby casita, I hardly could wait to come over early enough to watch the golf course at Stone Canyon wake up. So here I am, making my way by foot down the 18th fairway and up the path to the back tees so that I can see a rock garden in the desert come to life.
The teeing grounds are small. Good thing, I realize.
Otherwise, they’d look out of place. They’ve been fitted snugly and modestly into the rocky hillsides, making them seem like natural viewing platforms – which, in effect, they are. As the light breaks over the Catalina Range and reaches across the floor of the desert foothills and underbrush, I’m privy to a theatrical production of plant life, rock forms and animals.
What is happening before me is a kind of condensed journey through a ...
Klein on Design
Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek’s architecture editor, offers his opinion on one memorable hole:
Yards: 208, par 3
Architect: Jack Nicklaus, 2009
Where: Marana, Ariz.
Event: PGA Tour’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Feb. 17-21
It’s great because . . . this downhill par 3 offers a wide range of hole locations, all of them readily visible from the tee, and yet they bring into play subtle green slopes. After the course debuted last year as home to the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Nicklaus revamped 17 of the 18 greens. At the third, the most demanding hole location is on the front portion because the surface, just above a little false front, is at its narrowest – pinched between a deep bunker on the high side left and water low right.
It would be even better if . . . as odd as it might be to say, the folks showcasing the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Dove Mountain didn’t use this hole to promote the course. Brand marketers might like to talk about “signature holes,” but usually, such a heavily featured hole is the least characteristic on the course. That’s exactly the case here, because this third hole on the Saguaro nine brings into play ...
Klein on Design: No. 13, Torrey Pines (South)
Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek’s architecture editor, offers his opinion on one memorable hole:
Yards: 540-614 yards, par 5
Architect: William F. Bell, 1957; Rees Jones, 2001
Where: San Diego
Event: PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open, Jan. 28-31
It’s great because . . . the spirit of municipal golf is alive and well at a site that’s been home to a PGA Tour event since 1968. The South Course ambles along bluffs and canyons that look out onto the Pacific Ocean. When the tee is backed up on the 13th hole, the drive must carry 260 yards across a gaping chasm, leaving a long uphill second shot, with the green perched atop bunkers that flank both sides of the approach line.
It would be even better if . . . there were some strategic variety in what are collectively, by far, the most unimaginative second-shot par 5s on the PGA Tour schedule. Rees Jones’ bunkering simply calls for accuracy – no big deal for most good players. Besides, given the upslope here, every shot coming up short down the middle winds up in the same spot anyway. Yawn. How about dispensing with all of the extraneous sand here and relying on just one midfairway ...
Klein on Design: No. 18 at Mayakoba – El ...
Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek’s architecture editor, offers his opinion on one memorable hole:
Yards: 458, par 4
Architect: Greg Norman, 2005
Where: Riviera Maya, Mexico
Ranked: No. 7 on the Golfweek’s Best Caribbean & Mexico Courses List, 2010
Event: PGA Tour’s Mayakoba Golf Classic Feb. 18-21
It’s great because . . . this graceful par 4 brings to a conclusion a boldly shaped course that takes golfers along mangrove swamps, natural caverns, man-made canals and limestone basins. At the 18th, the ideal line into the green is close to the tightly bunkered left side. From there, with a helpful prevailing cross wind, it’s a middle-iron to a putting surface that, halfway back, tips subtly away from the line of play, making a controlled approach essential.
It would be even better if . . . the bunkering weren’t suddenly so flouncy and overdone, in marked contrast to the back nine. Those curly-cue fingers and capes and bays in the bunkers look entirely out of place. And then there’s the position of the clubhouse. On its own, the 16,000-square-foot building designed by Mario Lazo is an impressive post-modern evocation of a classic Mayan temple – especially its split, double-vaulted roof. But the ...
Course architect Wogan dies at 91
Blessed with rich golf bloodlines that included a connection to the legendary Donald Ross, Philip A. Wogan surprised no one by making the game his career.
In 1957, Wogan succeeded his father, Eugene “Skip” Wogan, as superintendent and tournament director at Essex County Club in Manchester, Mass., site of this year’s Curtis Cup. Phil Wogan left in 1985 to pursue another passion: golf-course architecture.
When he died Jan. 15 at age 91 at a hospice in Danvers, Mass., Wogan had designed some 40 courses throughout New England.
Wogan’s father, credited with having founded the New England PGA, had succeeded Ross at Essex, and the son talked often of his meetings with the legendary architect. Wogan was widely praised in golf for designing “player-friendly” courses, the majority of which are daily-fee.
An Army veteran of World War II, Wogan received the Bronze Star for service at the Battle of the Bulge.
Brilliance abroad
• Click here for Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses of Great Britain and Ireland •
• Click here for Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses of Great Britain and Ireland •
The Home of Golf is well-represented on our inaugural Golfweek’s Best lists of the top Classic and Modern golf courses of Great Britain and Ireland. However, Scotland’s most recognizable course – St. Andrews’ Old Course – isn’t at the top. It’s No. 2.
Top honors for our debut lists go to Royal County Down in Northern Ireland on the Classic (pre-1960) and Kingsbarns in Scotland for the Modern era (1960 and later). The roster includes the top-40 Classic and top-40 Modern layouts in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The distinctive feature of the Classic list is the vintage of so many courses.
The oldest, St. Andrews’ Old Course, dates to the 15th century. England’s oldest course, Royal North Devon’s Westward Ho!, which opened in 1864, is ranked No. 34. Twenty of the top 21 courses on the list predate 1900. The only post-World War II layout is western Scotland’s Turnberry Ailsa, ranked No. 6 thanks to a sparkling routing by Mackenzie Ross that assumed its present form ...
Recent Golf Architecture Galleries
Renovations enhance Bay Hill Club
Before-and-after photos of the changes made to Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla.
