Ryder Cup Course Setup: How Low Will They Go?

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Today’s Quadrilateral kicks off Ryder Cup week looking at course setup ploys dating to the 1950s and how in many ways the gamesmanship was taken to strange new places in the last two Cups.

Plus, I wonder not very subtly whether Whistling Straits a different beast for the home team? And round up some random preview reads and Tweets.

Two items I don’t want you to miss just in case reading about course setup ploys in one newsletter is asking a lot on a Monday: Ward Clayton has the stunning tale of Skip Alexander’s place in Ryder Cup lore. This was a totally new one to me and fascinating to learn about.

And The Fried Egg offered this vignette and discussion of the venue:

Golf's Top 100 "Value" Courses, 2021 Edition

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It’s always fun to see Rustic Canyon ranked, but no list matters more than Golf’s Top 100 Value Courses with a green fee of $150 or less. So to place 4th and therefore best in California, is pretty neat.

Also fun to see recognition for some places I’ve been too or have heard great things about, like Wild Horse, Corica Park, Tanglewood, Aiken, Charleston Muni, Palatka and Presidio.

Golf World Top 100: Fun Golf Courses In Great Britain and Ireland

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Pennard

Pennard

Golf World has returned with a second crack at a top 100 “fun” courses of Great Britain and Ireland. As always there are possible omissions and things to quibble about, but overall it looks like another fantastic effort to highlight the fun factor.

Chris Bertram introduces the list and writes:

What constitutes a fun course is a question that could take up several pages. I asked our panel to suggest what made a course fun for them, and by way of a hint as to the sort of courses you’ll see in this list, here are some of their thoughts: “A sense of intrigue and adventure, a little bit of the unknown”. “Clever use of slopes, green positioning and well-placed hazards, rather than heavy rough. Usually shorter than average”. “Short walks from green to tee, quick to play”. “A ‘good shot’ does not always end up in the perfect position”. “Do I want to return there soon?”

The list starts here, with North Berwick still holding off the Old Course for the top spot. I blame the excess of gorse for holding TOC back! Oh, and North Berwick is really, really fun.

Only quibbles: not including Old Moray, Peterhead or maybe even the Eden at St. Andrews. Still, it’s great to see so many super-fun lesser-knowns getting the validation of a ranking.

Links From The Road: Royal Cinque Ports

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Sam Cooper has produced possibly his best film yet and it’s on one of my favorite links and towns: Deal.

It’s long been a mystery why Royal Cinque Ports is not afforded another Open given its quality and proximity to London. It’s closer to a town and rail line while featuring ample farmland space around the property to sell pints and hideous shirts. But I think Cooper hits on the poor luck of its last two scheduled Open Championships as a key to the problem (even with the sea wall now helping and making a great spectator walkway). I wrote about all this prior to the 2011 Open but sadly, Golf World archives have mostly vanished.

Anyway, enjoy the aerials and beauty provided by Cooper and give him a follow on Instagram. This is quite an exciting time in newfound appreciation for the great links thanks to these talented storytellers.

Every Course Needs An Angry Hole

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And if you want a little more sense of what the course once looked like, the PGA Tour’s Instagram did this then/now slide show:

Greg Norman Moves To The Extreme Narcissism Phase Of His Design Career

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Moving back to Sydney, Greg Norman is bringing an inflated sense of self and leaving proof in the ground. Mercifully he’s not going with a Mother Nature-inspired homage to his favorite attributes and instead is designing a course shaped like a shark. Get it. Like a Great White Shark.

From the Daily Mail on the deal inked with developer Dean Lukin Jr.:

With Norman's name attached, Mr Lukin Jr hopes to attract investors to the one-of-a-kind project, estimated to be cost between $600 - $700million.     

'I am very excited to have Greg Norman involved as I am hugely passionate about this beautiful region,' he said.

'There is nobody better than Greg in achieving an aesthetic, well-planned and creative golf course development.

I’d keep an eye on how he shapes the shark. That could go wrong in a lot of ways.

Links Content Golf: North Berwick And Hayling

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Hayling Golf Club (Links fro the Road)

Hayling Golf Club (Links fro the Road)

While golf moves to soft, green, inland Japan I refuse to let the links season go just yet. Thankfully some fantastic “content creators” are giving us fresh, smart and beautiful looking short films to watch. One is on an old, well-known favorite in North Berwick and the other is on a course I knew nothing about, Hayling.

First off, Cookie Jar Golf’s Old Tom Trails series continues with this on North Berwick after David Jones teased us recently with hole-by-hole drone footage. Cookie Jar fleshes out the story of this amazing place and how it’s history and various clubs share the links:

Meanwhile Links From The Road posted this sensational look and commentary on Hayling Golf Club’s links, its design backstory and what it tells us about where golf is headed. Enjoy!

Five Years Later, The Rio Olympic Golf Course Is Very Much Alive And Well

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January, 2020 Google Earth image of Rio’s Olympic course

January, 2020 Google Earth image of Rio’s Olympic course

After much sweating, headache and even a little fear for lives, the Rio Olympic golf course was completed in time for the games. The Gil Hanse-Amy Alcott design was a massive collaboration between multiple parties, including the PGA Tour and International Golf Federation. Yours truly even paid a visit to share ideas, a documentary crew captured the process and the course was kind of a huge hit.

So while most of Rio’s other Olympic venues languish—and lazy stories like this Business Insider claim of its abandonment have circulated, only to then report in 2020 it wasn’t busy, the Rio course is appears to be thriving in ways that seem unimaginable five years since Justin Rose took gold over Henrik Stenson.

Most amazing of all? It may center around how stunning the conditioning looks. To say this course looks lean (in a great way) might be underselling it. Long feared as a place that would be overwatered and too lush for the Sandbelt-style golf envisioned by the design team to show the world a more sustainable game, the Rio course is delivering. Look at this close up from the Google Earth shot 19 months ago:

Now that is a beautiful shade of green!

But if you want proof that the course has become a lively place to be on a daily basis, give their Instagram account a follow. They had a concert in the progressive clubhouse last week! And you can follow along to see what the operators are doing to promote the game. No, the purveyors aren’t growing the game in the favelas, but they are keeping the place public, thriving and conducting outreach programs to juniors.

While some smaller events have been played there it’s a little surprising another big event like the Latin America Amateur Championship hasn’t been played there.

A recent post with video footage:

Links From The Road: Royal St George's And Sandwich Overview

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Sam Cooper’s dispatches from the road have led to more wonderful “content” pieces about links golf. He has a special passion for Royal St George’s and the surrounding area. It comes out in this 10 minute piece. Some of the footage was licensed by NBC for the stunning visuals accented by Stephan Dillane’s voice.

Enjoy!

Oakland Hills Then And Now: 7th Hole Edition

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From Trent Jones back to Ross courtesy of Hanse…

Perry Dye Dies At 68

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Another Dye has left us. The ASGCA’s remembrance of the golf architect and son of Pete and Alice Dye.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Perry O’Neal Dye, ASGCA, died July 8, 2021 in Denver. He was age 68.

A member of one of the most famous families in golf, Dye received his first experience building golf courses at age 12, when he began an apprenticeship under his father, ASGCA Past President Pete Dye. He accompanied his father to work on sites in the Midwest and the Dominican Republic through his youth and college years.

Perry formed Dye Designs in 1984. The company is known for building unique, environmentally sensitive golf courses. In 1986, Dye Designs further expanded internationally as Perry recognized the growing demand and market for world-wide golf services. In Japan alone, Perry designed nearly two dozen golf courses, and Dye-designed facilities can be found in more than 15 countries. 

With more than 80 courses to his credit, Perry’s dedication to golf included promoting growth within the golf course industry by cooperating with and supporting industry and professional groups, civic organizations and the general public. A member of the Golf Course Builders Association of America, in 2004 he received the inaugural award that bears his name – the Perry O. Dye Service Award – which honors “exceptional individuals who have unselfishly contributed their influence to foster positive changes for the association and have continually endeavored to make it better.”

“This is a great loss for golf design, but right now we should all be sending our love and support to the Dye Family,” ASGCA President Forrest Richardson said. “Perry and I shared many good times, and I am so grateful to have spent time with him at the 2020 Golf Industry Show just before the COVID lockdowns began. As usual, he was full of life, smiling and telling stories. We will miss him.”

Courses designed by Perry Dye, ASGCA, include: Pound Ridge Golf Club, Pound Ridge, New York; West One’s Country Club, Kato, Hyogo, Japan; Desert Pines Golf Club, Las Vegas; Auburn Hills, Wichita, Kansas; and Lykia Links, Antalya, Turkey.

Dye became an ASGCA member in 1996 and served on the ASGCA Board of Governors. He was preceded in death by his parents, ASGCA Past Presidents Pete and Alice Dye. He is survived by his brother, P.B. Dye, ASGCA, wife Ann, children and their spouses Lucy (Erik) Bowman and Lilly (Ross) Harmon, and grandchildren Brooks and Margaret Harmon.  

As Perry would say “Keep it in the fairway.” A Celebration of Life will be planned for later this fall.

Part 2: Q&A With Martin Ebert On Royal St George's And The 2021 Open

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5th tee view. Ebert wonders if players will try a 330-yard carry over the dunes (Geoff Shackelford)

5th tee view. Ebert wonders if players will try a 330-yard carry over the dunes (Geoff Shackelford)

The Open Physician for several courses including 2021 host Royal St George’s, Martin Ebert shares more about what took place since the last championship at Sandwich.

He also faces down my hostile questions in defense of the lost Maiden, blind par-3’s and which of the three courses overlooking Sandwich Bay is best.

The Quad will be going behind the paywall for most of the next week so hop along for the ride if you’re looking for influencer and sponsored-content free coverage of the 149th Open!

Royal St George's: Q&A With Martin Ebert, Part I

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Newly restored bunkering at the 7th, Royal St George’s (Mackenzie and Ebert)

Newly restored bunkering at the 7th, Royal St George’s (Mackenzie and Ebert)

I can’t thank golf architect Martin Ebert enough for supplying so much insight and accompanying imagery of Royal St George’s. A wealth of information so vast that it required breaking up our Quadrilateral chat into two parts.

Whether you know the course or not, I think you’ll enjoy learning more about what went into analyzing the historical record, stats from recent Opens and Ebert’s common sense approach to our most treasured venues.

And don’t forget to sign up if you haven’t already! Next week’s going to be a busy one and subscribers will get daily newsletters.

Here is flyover of the 18th referenced in the interview. You can see the pinching bunker filled in down the right that made this one a bit of a crap shoot in firm conditions: