Even PGA National Is Getting Into The Fun Game

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Before we settle in for the Bear’s Trap references as an uninspired Honda Classic field gets around PGA National, very close by avictory for the “f word” effort is underway.

Len Ziehm explains how PGA National Resort and Spa “is undergoing a major change” by letting architect Andy Staples redo the 1983 George and Tom Fazio “Squire” course into something…fun!

One of Staples’ works will be a nine-hole par-3 course that utilizes the space that was The Squire’s first and 18th holes. The remaining 16 holes are being transformed into a shorter 5,744-yard 18-hole course. Staples calls the dual project a “reimagining” rather than a renovation.

Yes, in the name of fun. The word that used to be so scary not long ago.

Staples:

“I had said, ‘You’ve got the difficult golf.’ You can get your brains beat out in playing The Champion, then come out here (to the nearby new courses) and actually like golf,” Staples said. “The greens (on the new courses) will be challenging, but they’ll be a completely different offering than the tough golf you get on the other courses.”

The par-3 course will have no set tee markers. One hole is designed to be played with a putter or with a rescue club chip. The real eye-catcher, though, will be the designated No. 5 hole. Players will be encouraged to tee off out of a bunker, and their 50-yard shot to the green is partially over water.

Ok that’s bold, but we’ll keep an open mind. Maybe more impressive than getting a place like PGA National to embrace the fun word? The transformation is taking place on a classic real estate development.

Great for the PGA of America to have this nearby as an example of how to re-imagine something for a modern game more receptive to fun.

Wait, you said what? They’re moving the headquarters? To Frisco? Ok, scratch that last PGA National though.

Belmont Redo Update: "Trying to offer a bit of something for everyone.”

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Josh Sens checks in with Belmont in near Richmond and the reimagination of the old Tillinghast course and home to the 1949 PGA Championship is almost complete, with a First Tee facility, 12 holes, a par-3 course and a bright future as a community centerpiece just three years after facing extinction.

Putting their heads together with Scot Sherman of Love Golf Design, Schneider and his First Tee colleagues pitched the county with this proposal: they would transform Belmont into a multi-faceted facility, turning the 18-hole course into a 12-hole routing while converting the remaining ground into a community-focused hybrid, composed of a driving range and short-game area, an 18-hole putting course and a six-hole par-3 course. Inspiration for this blueprint came, in part, from other unconventional success stories around the country, including Sweetens Cove, in Tennessee, a nine-hole underdog-cum-architectural darling; Goat Hill Park, a come-one, come-all muni in Southern California; and Bobby Jones Golf Course, in Atlanta, where an 18-hole layout had been modified into a wildly entertaining, reversible nine-hole track.

What those courses had in common was respect for golf tradition, married with a hearty sense of welcome and a keen attentiveness to the tenor of the times. They paid homage to the past even as they pointed toward where the game was headed.

The plan for Belmont sprang from those same ideas.

“If you look at our culture today and all the folks that golf is trying to reach, there are so many different interests,” Sherman says. “You’ve got the serious golfer, the golfer who’s just getting started, the golfer who maybe only has an hour-and-half after work to play—we were trying to offer a bit of something for everyone.”

As Sens and Sherman highlight, Belmont’s just the kind of project golf needs as a model with so many muni’s facing similar needs to be reinvented or face redevelopment.

One note not mentioned in the story: the fine work by Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson three years in highlighting the course and dreadful direction it was headed, including a less-than-subtle inside job by an architect to capitalize on bunker liner construction covered here as well.

You can follow Belmont’s progress here on Instagram.

Scatter Chart Horror: Riviera's 10th Hole, Round One Genesis

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The silliness above is on the governing bodies for not doing anything. Riviera for allowing the green to evolve as it has, and on someone else for not at least getting a tee extension ordered up.

Players now regularly say they aim for the trees left and hope. Is this how golf treats its elders? Oh right, yes it is.

Jordan Spieth’s description is just more forthright than most. But to think a whole ingeniously masterminded no longer gets to present the best players the intended options on a grand stage like the Genesis Invitational, is a stain on the game.

Yeah, so the idea was to hit a 3-wood over the left bunker into those trees. I mean, for real. You can get stymied and not have a shot and if that's the case you just have to kind of punch it forward. And then--but that angle's the best angle to be chipping into the green from. It was blowing pretty hard so I knew I needed to kind of hook it in order to get it over that bunker. So I went a little left of where I wanted, ended up in one of those spots that was not ideal because the palm tree happened to be right in the line I wanted to go. Ended up choosing to go to the left side of it and actually kind of almost cut it out of the rough from about 60yards. That shot was the shot of the day for me. That could have easily been a 5 and it turned out to be a 3.

Pains Me: There Is No Good Reason To Lay-Up At Riviera's 10th

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I fought the good fight. I wanted so badly to believe laying up could still matter. I even argued with a few players who were good sports in at least listening to my case.

They were right. These athletes today are just too much for Riviera’s 10th. The yoga, the Pilates, the organic foods, the fiber, it’s too much for Riviera’s tenth at 315 yards. With some Santa Ana winds likely making it downwind, the one condition Jack Nicklaus would consider driving the green in, driving irons may be enough to get there Thursday.

The tenth at Riviera is just a long par-3. Still a compelling and weird one, but with its bizarre design evolution and the extra squats by today’s players, it is not the best short par-4 on the PGA Tour. That’s because it’s a par-3.

Now, don’t let me dampen your Genesis Invitational plans because we have a stellar week on hand despite the lack of fans. Perfect weather, elite field, great course and expanded television coverage. All swell as long as your electricity is working.

That painful admission made, the comments and numbers do not lie.

Collin Morikawa:

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Most likely I'll be hitting driver every single day or whatever gets me to that front edge, kind of just rolls over. I keep looking at the wedge shot. I keep saying yes, we can hit a 70-yard wedge shot, we can hit a 100-yard wedge shot, but when you look at the green and how narrow and shallow it is, it just doesn't make sense in my head. Like especially how firm the greens are, that first bounce is going to bounce so far, so you're working with two yards, two, three yards. When you're on, you're going to hit that shot, but if you're off a little bit and there's wind or it's cold or whatever, that can cost you being in the short bunker, that can cost you being over. You hit driver, hit it down there, most likely you'll hopefully have a chip shot. If you don't have it at the pin, you'll have a chip shot at the middle of the green, two-putt, you know. If I'm even par, I'm not going to be sad, I'm not going to be happy, I'm going to be just okay with even par because I don't think I'm really losing any shots to the field if I'm even par through four rounds on that hole.

Q. So it's basically saying the wedge shot's no guarantee so there's no real advantage?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Absolutely.

Xander Schauffele:

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Statistically, I am--as my dad made aware to me today thatI'm not very good from 50 to 125 yards, I would not be laying up on that hole. That would leave me about 50 to 125 yards in. So I will be going for it like I have every other year and kind of rely on getting up and down and a couple good bounces here and there. The 10th is a special hole here, it's a key hole for the tournament and it can kind of either make or break your week.

Q. So no matter what the pin, you're going for it?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I will be pulling some sort of furniture out on the tee.

Less risk-reward and more hit-and-hope.

There are solutions of course, The hole needs extra length until the USGA/R&A local rules come into play, and the green desperately needs to be restored size-wise.

Anyway, I’m procrastinating. The numbers from the always stout Shotlink team:

Par 4 10th Hole - Riviera Country Club

According to ShotLink

2nd Second toughest par 4 under 350 yards on TOUR since start of 2013-14 season (3.94)

197th The drivable par-4 10th hole at Riviera Country Club was the 197th easiest hole on the PGA TOUR last season (-0.12).

4 The 10th hole at Riviera Country Club has played under par in four of the last five seasons

-222 Field combined score to par on the par-4 10th hole in the last five seasons

12 total players six under or better on this hole in the last five seasons

-10 Byron DeChambeau’s cumulative score to par on the par-4 10th hole in the last five seasons (best of any player)

61.81% Green in Regulation percentage from inside 75 yards on the 10th hole in last 10 seasons, toughest green to hit in regulation from within this distance on TOUR (min 300 attempts)

3,289 Since 2011, there have been 3,289 shots played on the 10th hole from inside 75 yards and the field has hit the green in regulation on 61.81% of those approach shots (2,033 of 3,289).

87.20% Last season the average TOUR player from inside 75 yards hit the green 87.20% of the time from this distance and players hit the green in regulation from inside 75 yards 63.29% of the time on this hole in 2020 (7th highest GIR percentage since 2003).

96.0% Last season, James Hahn has the best Greens in Regulation percentage from this distance of any player, hitting the green 96.00% of the time.

79.52% of the field went for the green and were a combined 63-under par. The remaining 20.48% of the field choose to layup were a combined 18-over par. This marked the highest Going for the Green percentage on this hole in the ShotLink era.

Well and that’s why it’s a par-3 now.

376 In 2020, there were 376 tee shots on the par-4 10th hole at Riviera Country Club

7,629 Since 2003, there have been 7,629 tee shots on the 10th hole. Players going for the green are a combined 789-under par compared to just 117-over par combined for players laying up.

Alright you made your point already.

-20 Aaron Baddeley has the best cumulative score to par on the par-4 10th hole of any player in the ShotLink Era (-20)

3 The most times a player has hit the green off the tee on the par-4 10th hole in the ShotLink Era (Scott Verplank, Scott Brown, Matt Kuchar, Aaron Baddeley & Sung Kang)

16 Total rounds played by Patrick Cantlay on the 10th hole at Riviera CC since 2012 without making a bogey or worse (most of any player)

51.6% Since 2012, players only manage to salvage par 51.6% of the time when the flagstick is on the back-right side of the green.

72% / 31% Since 2003, 148 tee shots hit the green and 107 made birdie or better (72%). Keeping your tee shot left on the 10th hole is key. Historically, 1 out of every 3 players to hit their tee shot in the right rough come away with bogey or worse (31%).

And Yet More Magnificent Images Of Snow-Covered Scottish Links

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Roundup: The Great Links On A Heavy Snow Day

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Saudi Arabia Prepares To Welcome Patrick Reed, New Jack Nicklaus Design

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Banner times in the Kingdom as a strong field is set to turn up at glorious Royal Greens for appearance fees, maybe some grumbling about the state of oil and presumably a safe week outside Riyadh. They’re having a little COVID uptick there, though nothing like Arizona where the PGA Tour is teeing it up this week.

Patrick Reed, fresh off his totally-perfect, by-the-book ball drop will be joined by Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and last week’s winner Paul Casey in the Saudi Invitational.

Meanwhile the country will also be welcoming Jack Nicklaus and his design team who announced their first-ever Middle East effort. From Brian Keogh at the Irish Golf Desk:

Nicklaus, the most decorated player in the game’s history, commented: “I am excited by this project and my first golf course design in the Middle East.  To be selected as one of the first international designers to work in the Kingdom is a great honour. I’ve already spent time looking at the topography of the land, images of the backdrop and terrain, and discussing with our design team a strategy for the course.  The design will fully integrate the natural environment and the beautiful Qiddiya landscape, bringing together green spaces and mountainous terrain to form a picturesque canvas for both a beautiful and challenging golf course.” 

Oh yeah he totally said that.

The full press release is here.

Cleeve Hill Saved! New 125-Year Lease Awarded

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Robin Hiseman calls Cleeve Hill “the links in the clouds”, and as one of the historic courses biggest advocates ,the golf architect is one of many who deserves credit for highlighting the importance of Old Tom Morris’s design.

And now its uncertain future has been resolved.

MASHIE golf managing director Nick Hovey and local businessman Sam Foyle have agreed to a 125-year lease at Cleeve Hill after winning a bid conducted by the Tewkesbury Borough Council.

Cookie Jar Golf’s Sam Williams broke the news and recorded a podcast with the new lessees.

A podcast snippet is below followed by the original Cookie Jar video that highlighted the importance of Cleeve Hill, prompting calls from all of the world and the likes of Nick Faldo to save this gem.

Southern Hills Lands The 2022 PGA Championship And Why That's A Tremendous "Get"

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The more I looked back at all of the wacky things that have gone on at Southern Hills the more I got excited by two things: this time around the course will have more refined architecture and fewer trees, meaning we might even see some of those cool features.

And it won’t be 100 degrees. Every PGA at Southern Hills I attended or read about has seen temps in the mid-90s to topping the century mark. That’s not conducive to anything but butt sweats, dehydration and dead bent.

My Quadrilateral assessment of the PGA of America scoring the best possible outcome for 2022 with so little time to find a Trump Bedminster replacement. And as reader Kevin noted in the comments, the decision to avoid a quick return to Bethpage protects their golfers and protects the 2025 Ryder Cup there. A similar thing could be said for Valhalla, which remains in 2024 and the time away will be good for fans and players.

I wrote a past letter about the need to find a course that can stand with other elite 2022 venues. Mission accomplished.

The PGA of America did not issue a press release as of this post but did send this announcement to their members:

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Besides the May date and the club’s history of hosting, the restoration will be of great interest this spring and next. The Fried Egg’s excellent coverage of the Hanse Design “resto-vation” and featuring Garrett Morrison’s write up.

There is also this fantastic overview of drone footage that should get the 2022 juices flowing.

Marvel: The Lido To Be Resurrected In Rural Wisconsin

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The obsession with recreating Lido Golf Club will finally come full circle near Sand Valley resort. In a world that craves Marvel’s latest Avengers remake, this might be a fitting course for the times and already under construction according to The Fried Egg’s Garrett Morrison. It’s a full CGI special based on Peter Flory’s interpretation after learning The Golf Club game. He was inspired Daniel Wexler’s Missing Links that detailed the Lido’s rise and fall best.

This is all a long winded way of saying all your favorite template holes will be meticulously recreated by Doak, from Captain America, I mean, the Punchbowl to the Channel, with cameos from all the rest of CB Macdonald’s favorites. Morrison on the novelty of the project:

Michael and Chris Keiser plan to resurrect the Lido Golf Club, the legendary Long Island course that disappeared 80 years ago. The Keiser brothers have hired Tom Doak to carry out the reconstruction of Charles Blair Macdonald’s original design.

With funding and zoning approval in place, the Wisconsin Lido is quickly becoming a reality. Pre-construction began several months ago, and in an interview with The Fried Egg, Michael Keiser—the developer behind Sand Valley and the eldest son of Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser—said Doak’s team has already rough-graded two famous holes from the Lido, No. 4 (“Channel”) and No. 12 (“Punchbowl”). “Two pretty good holes to start with,” Keiser quipped.

While a private course, Sand Valley resort guests may have an opportunity to play.

The par-68, 6,100-yard fun course Doak was to create for Sand Valley and called Sedge Valley, has been put on pause**.

For a full set of images Golfweek has posted pretty much the entire digital recreation of the course.

And if you are headed to Thailand any time soon, Gil Hanse’s team has already recreated the Lido, set for opening later this year.

**Updated after clarification from Kemper Sports that the course is on pause, not abandoned, which is sensational news given the potential to break barriers with a non-72/7000 course.

Links: A Preview Of 12 New Courses Likely To Open In 2021

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The Shark Club In Hollywood, Florida

The Shark Club In Hollywood, Florida

After very few course openings in 2020, this year appears to have some intriguing projects likely to welcome golfers in some form. Erik Matuszewski surveys the globe and it’s very much an international list, including Tom Doak’s St. Patrick’s Links (County Donegal, Ireland), Gil Hanse’s Ballyshear Links (Bangkok, Thailand), Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s Brambles (Middletown, Calif.) and Greg Norman’s The Shark Club (Hollywood, Fla.) featuring a Seth Raynor influence…if you put one of his designs in a hot shirt press.

Another complete re-do, this real estate conversion project took the 180-acre footprint of the former course at the Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club and shrunk it to 120 acres for a “throwback design” that has a Seth Raynor influence with straight lines, geometric angles, and a host of raised greens. While there’s a lot of water, Greg Norman’s design team says this par-70 layout that’s just under 6,500 yards will be like nothing else in the South Florida market.

I can’t disagree based on that photo.

Trump Turnberry, Aberdeen Report Another Year Of Losses

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The Scotsman’s Martyn McLaughlin reports that 2019 was another year of reported losses for Trump Golf’s two Scottish golf properties, with increased revenues at Turnberry but £4.86m in depreciation and amortization write offs, marking the sixth year in a row in the red.

The new filings, posted at Companies House, cover the 12 months to 31 December 2019, and do not reflect the widespread disruption to Turnberry’s business brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

But they show that since the outgoing US president took over the historic property in 2014, its losses now total nearly £45m.

It comes just days after accounts for Mr Trump’s inaugural Scottish resort in Aberdeenshire posted losses of £1.1m, the eighth consecutive year it has been in the red.

Castle Stuart Gets The Cookie Jar Golf Treatment

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I’ve recently posted short films Cookie Jar Golf’s wonderful storytelling on Scottish golf, including their important work to help save Cleeve Hill and on historic Brora’s fight for survival this year.

This week they launched a new piece on the magnificent Castle Stuart by Hanse Design and the late Mark Parsinen. It was great to see the former Scottish Open host and think of better days when folks can return to the incredible golf destination of greater Inverness:

In the early 2000s the American visionary, Mark Parsinen, began planning the design of a golf course on the Moray Firth. Parsinen had been closely involved w...

McKellar Journal Issue 4 Available And Now All Four Issues Get The Boxed Set Treatment

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Longtime readers know I tend to advocate the post-Christmas, what-can-we-buy-that-no-one-got-us guy. And in 2020 I plan no shortage of efforts to highlight the many nice holiday treats from big and small operations who make the sport just that much better.

But before I hopefully send you to those deals, my McKellar issue 4 arrived today and it’s another beauty from Tom Dunne and Lawrence Donegan.

You can see just some of the stories here.

I contributed a short piece on the importance of a golf course name and what they tell you about the architecture.

Even more exciting? The first four issues can now be purchased in a boxed set for just $60, a magnificent holiday gift for anyone with a shred of golfing taste. Check it out here. It’s beautifully done. Not to mention housing a rich presentation of writers, views and places in golf.

Rustic Carnage Caught On Tape: 60 MPH Gusting Santa Ana Winds For SGCA Championship

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I’m not sensing a good time was had by all at Monday’s SCGA Tournament of Club Champions.

The event was held this year at Rustic Canyon where I spent over 200 days on site and never experienced the Santa Ana’s that in recent years prompt course closures on days like this. But I digress.

Christopher Powers at GolfDigest.com wraps up the Tweets and video postings by some, including the postings by 100-shooter Andy Ho, the club champion at The Vineyard who enjoyed the course during Sunday’s low 70s, wind-free practice round (just saying).

Powers writes:

The wind was so bad that it caused 24 players to withdraw, in addition to one DNF (did not finish) and one NS (no start). It's hard to blame them after hearing what it was like from someone who played in the event. Andy Ho, who won his club championship at The Vineyard GC and shot 100 on Monday, tweeted out some inside info:

The full, agonizing video of the antics at 16 green were posted here by Ho.

And there was this:

Incredibly, Ho's 100 was not the high score of the event. Six players shot higher scores, including a 51-over 123. Just two players broke 80, the winning score a six-over 78 from Silver Lakes CC's Ricky Montanez. In another tweet, Ho claimed that there was just one birdie carded in his foursome the entire day, and it came from a player who also made a 10, 12 and an 18. That player is Grant Beachley, who shot the 123:

But a huge tip of the cap to Beachley for finishing the round and posting. You have my full admiration and the Golf Gods must some day reward your persistence.

Sound on: