Recently renowned Oak Hill East was merely my 4th out of four favourite Ross Courses on a special visit. Oak Hill has transmogrified into an indistinct USGA favoured course with amazingly homogenous rough, trees and all that sort of thing one expects from a US Open. Too demanding to the point of losing architectural character and features, it is a course for a few. It is a wonderful golf course, but not true to Ross's roots with two dropped in Fazio par 3's and little variety - a Ross trademark
An astonishing array of Ross Gems await the Rochester golfer.
Monroe Golf Club
Irondequoit
Country Club of Rochester
It's in the processor and since this is all done by me and for other's education and fun, it's "coming".
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A Donald Ross Feast
Due to a very fortunate turn of events, your redanman has willingly visited six of Donald Ross's fine works this season to date. The breadth and depth of his work is something to behold. By my count of the 399 courses listed by Dr. Bradley Klein in his Excellent work Discovering Donald Ross (2nd Edition release imminent) I am right at sixty courses played. I have played others attributed but not documented in the First Edition but this year has yielded some treasures.
Oak Hill (East)
Black & Blue - How most feel after negotiating Oak Hill East
Sixteen - A brutish and representative long par 4
Part of a 36-hole complex originally by Ross but modified several times by localist Robert Trent Jones and also by the Fazio team more than once, it is the least authentic Ross of the recent treasures. It is a full-blown USGA poster boy of a course set for a major championship on a week's notice. First off, whatever issues I might personally have with the USGA and what their idea of a great golf course is, the Oak Hill Complex has absurdly superior conditioning. This kind of rough must keep the proverbial Blue Coats sound asleep at night. It is what you encounter at Medinah #3, The Olympic Club, Baltusrol Lower and I have seen it recently at Wilmington CC South. Of note, Oak Hill East is relatively tamely bunkered in the fairways and the bunkers are almost entirely out to the sides. The Yardage Book published by the club noted that Oak Hill is known for its Trees, narrow fairways and slick greens. The trees weren't quite flushed out, the rough was and the greens whilst not slick were perfectly true. Jeff Corcoran the Superintendent - who I was unable to meet - is doing a fantastic job. No one less than new Hall of fame inductee Ernie Els is quoted "This is the best, fairest and toughest championship golf course I've ever played in all my years as a tour professional." - on the club's home page. I won;t argue, it's tough. Admittedly it was damp recently cutting the roll, but I needed my 2-iron equivalent rescue many a time to reach the par 4's even from the White (6519 yard) tees. At Par 70, it is still 73.3/139. Fortunately I hit 11 fairways so it was very enjoyable for me.
Par 3 Eleventh showing difference from back to regular tees
As noted, the fairway bunkering is lateral, not jutting into the fairways very often. They are not in paired phalanges as Rees Jones has done to Oakland Hills South Course, but they are in some ways a respite from the lush rough which is beyond the capabilities of average golfers to hit more than an 8 or 9 iron. Several greens are re-built this year and were re-grassed, but all were pristine nearly 100% back from necessary aeration.
Notable Holes
Nine Par 4 454/400/377 (C/M/F)
-A lovely uphill par 4 dog-legging around a mildly-unkempt quarry like area and ascending uphill to a large sloped green was a real favorite of mine. Nice land very well-used
Thirteen Par 5 594/563/488
-Proclaimed Signature Hole in the yardage guide, it crosses a stream (Originally a rare pond in the original design) at 300-330 yards off the tee and then is all uphill from there to an amphitheatre-placed green with four back bunkers added to Ross's design. A tree guards the second third shot on the right side near 100 yards out forcing one more left. Again a very sloped green awaits the player who if above the hole wishes in very strong language that he weren't so located. It would almost be a better 18th due to its setting.
Four Par 5 570/542/466
-Bears a mention as I found it the most difficult drive on the course. Bunkers set into a small hillside of a dog-leg right beg to be carried, but the player who draws the ball might be out of luck as tree growth interferes with the preferred direction and even I a straight-to-fade driver went through on the left side of the fairway. A green with a lovely central spine awaits the player who goes at it in tow and hits the wrong side of the green.
Benching of the 12th Green
Third Par 3 211/176/168
Full carry required to this putting surface.
*
Fourteen Par 4 323/319/310
Everyone remembers Hank Kuehne going at this green in one in the Amateur. Quite the green (And a nice view of Irondequoit this time of year) awaits you on the green.
Seven
Five - Showing some narrowness
Fifteen - A Fazio Par 3, moved 30 yards right from Ross's spot
I certainly have a deep respect for the golfer with the skillset to play this brute of a course near par from the 7145 Tees.
Criteria
Routing
It's really a bit of a mish mash with the added par 3's and the seemingly 18th character to the 13th followed by an awkward crossover to get to the last five holes.
Quality of Hole Types (3,4,5)
Threes - #3 is probably the most exciting, not the courses strong point
Fours - Generally long, longer longest, with few exceptions. Gets old.
Fives - Both are significantly above average in appearance and interest mixing challenge with the oeuvre of the course.
Cohesion
You know you're on a world-class professional-evolved course every step of the way. Very cohesive.
Green complexes
Relatively simple affairs with speed and slope providing difficulty. Greenside Bunkers straightforward.
Bunkering Schema
Relatively bland. Heavy reliance on rough, trees and narrowness.
Conditioning
Absurdly good, among the most homogeneous grows I've ever seen
Appropriate Vegetation
Too many trees for my taste, fits the mold of what a "Classic" is for most rank-and-file golfers. Gets a bonus for "no fru-fru"
Ideality (rare)
Geared for the Pyramid Apex of the most skilled of golfers. Short crooked foozlers need not even show unless wearing peculiar leather clothing under one's golf clothes..
Club
One could be very, very content here. Regal Tudor & Brick clubhouse with seemingly its own ZIP code. Wow.
Milieu
Very easy to fantasize that you are ___________ (Insert your favorite professional golfer's name here) for an entire day. A true sense of place.
LuLu (Temple)
One of Ross's courses at the other end of the spectrum - very quirky - with its square punchbowl eighth green, uphill quarry (Volcano var.?) par 3 fourth maxing out at less than 115 yards and wonderful tree work and restoration done by Ron Forse and Jim Nagle has had its rough times in this recession trying to avoid failure. Last word it is doing OK and is likely to survive. It was hit very hard by the recent economic downturn. Roger Hansen backed out of a deal to aid, apparently building rights were reserved. A new National Organization management deal is on the horizon and not yet in place.
LuLu MUST survive - Home to some of Philadelphia's finest Quirk
Four Par 3
Unique and astonishingly wonderful Volcano or Uphill Quarry Hole
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch Collection
Eight Par 4
Approaching
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch Collection
Square Dell/Punchbowl Über-Cool
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch Collection
Riverton (New Jersey)
A lesson in routing.
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch Collection
Two parcels acquired at different times, routed distinctly differently. The portion with the clubhouse is newer and has triangular bits of routing to vary wind more efficiently. The left-sided parcel is a Ross-modification of an older pre-existing nine holes by.
Routing is a KEY element of design, this one is very, very special and I'll return to this club at another date.
Oak Hill (East)
Black & Blue - How most feel after negotiating Oak Hill East
Sixteen - A brutish and representative long par 4
Part of a 36-hole complex originally by Ross but modified several times by localist Robert Trent Jones and also by the Fazio team more than once, it is the least authentic Ross of the recent treasures. It is a full-blown USGA poster boy of a course set for a major championship on a week's notice. First off, whatever issues I might personally have with the USGA and what their idea of a great golf course is, the Oak Hill Complex has absurdly superior conditioning. This kind of rough must keep the proverbial Blue Coats sound asleep at night. It is what you encounter at Medinah #3, The Olympic Club, Baltusrol Lower and I have seen it recently at Wilmington CC South. Of note, Oak Hill East is relatively tamely bunkered in the fairways and the bunkers are almost entirely out to the sides. The Yardage Book published by the club noted that Oak Hill is known for its Trees, narrow fairways and slick greens. The trees weren't quite flushed out, the rough was and the greens whilst not slick were perfectly true. Jeff Corcoran the Superintendent - who I was unable to meet - is doing a fantastic job. No one less than new Hall of fame inductee Ernie Els is quoted "This is the best, fairest and toughest championship golf course I've ever played in all my years as a tour professional." - on the club's home page. I won;t argue, it's tough. Admittedly it was damp recently cutting the roll, but I needed my 2-iron equivalent rescue many a time to reach the par 4's even from the White (6519 yard) tees. At Par 70, it is still 73.3/139. Fortunately I hit 11 fairways so it was very enjoyable for me.
Par 3 Eleventh showing difference from back to regular tees
As noted, the fairway bunkering is lateral, not jutting into the fairways very often. They are not in paired phalanges as Rees Jones has done to Oakland Hills South Course, but they are in some ways a respite from the lush rough which is beyond the capabilities of average golfers to hit more than an 8 or 9 iron. Several greens are re-built this year and were re-grassed, but all were pristine nearly 100% back from necessary aeration.
Notable Holes
Nine Par 4 454/400/377 (C/M/F)
-A lovely uphill par 4 dog-legging around a mildly-unkempt quarry like area and ascending uphill to a large sloped green was a real favorite of mine. Nice land very well-used
Thirteen Par 5 594/563/488
-Proclaimed Signature Hole in the yardage guide, it crosses a stream (Originally a rare pond in the original design) at 300-330 yards off the tee and then is all uphill from there to an amphitheatre-placed green with four back bunkers added to Ross's design. A tree guards the second third shot on the right side near 100 yards out forcing one more left. Again a very sloped green awaits the player who if above the hole wishes in very strong language that he weren't so located. It would almost be a better 18th due to its setting.
Four Par 5 570/542/466
-Bears a mention as I found it the most difficult drive on the course. Bunkers set into a small hillside of a dog-leg right beg to be carried, but the player who draws the ball might be out of luck as tree growth interferes with the preferred direction and even I a straight-to-fade driver went through on the left side of the fairway. A green with a lovely central spine awaits the player who goes at it in tow and hits the wrong side of the green.
Benching of the 12th Green
Third Par 3 211/176/168
Full carry required to this putting surface.
*
Fourteen Par 4 323/319/310
Everyone remembers Hank Kuehne going at this green in one in the Amateur. Quite the green (And a nice view of Irondequoit this time of year) awaits you on the green.
Seven
Five - Showing some narrowness
Fifteen - A Fazio Par 3, moved 30 yards right from Ross's spot
I certainly have a deep respect for the golfer with the skillset to play this brute of a course near par from the 7145 Tees.
Criteria
Routing
It's really a bit of a mish mash with the added par 3's and the seemingly 18th character to the 13th followed by an awkward crossover to get to the last five holes.
Quality of Hole Types (3,4,5)
Threes - #3 is probably the most exciting, not the courses strong point
Fours - Generally long, longer longest, with few exceptions. Gets old.
Fives - Both are significantly above average in appearance and interest mixing challenge with the oeuvre of the course.
Cohesion
You know you're on a world-class professional-evolved course every step of the way. Very cohesive.
Green complexes
Relatively simple affairs with speed and slope providing difficulty. Greenside Bunkers straightforward.
Bunkering Schema
Relatively bland. Heavy reliance on rough, trees and narrowness.
Conditioning
Absurdly good, among the most homogeneous grows I've ever seen
Appropriate Vegetation
Too many trees for my taste, fits the mold of what a "Classic" is for most rank-and-file golfers. Gets a bonus for "no fru-fru"
Ideality (rare)
Geared for the Pyramid Apex of the most skilled of golfers. Short crooked foozlers need not even show unless wearing peculiar leather clothing under one's golf clothes..
Club
One could be very, very content here. Regal Tudor & Brick clubhouse with seemingly its own ZIP code. Wow.
Milieu
Very easy to fantasize that you are ___________ (Insert your favorite professional golfer's name here) for an entire day. A true sense of place.
LuLu (Temple)
One of Ross's courses at the other end of the spectrum - very quirky - with its square punchbowl eighth green, uphill quarry (Volcano var.?) par 3 fourth maxing out at less than 115 yards and wonderful tree work and restoration done by Ron Forse and Jim Nagle has had its rough times in this recession trying to avoid failure. Last word it is doing OK and is likely to survive. It was hit very hard by the recent economic downturn. Roger Hansen backed out of a deal to aid, apparently building rights were reserved. A new National Organization management deal is on the horizon and not yet in place.
LuLu MUST survive - Home to some of Philadelphia's finest Quirk
Four Par 3
Unique and astonishingly wonderful Volcano or Uphill Quarry Hole
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch Collection
Eight Par 4
Approaching
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch CollectionSquare Dell/Punchbowl Über-Cool
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch Collection
Riverton (New Jersey)
A lesson in routing.
-courtesy Professor Joseph Bausch and The Bausch CollectionTwo parcels acquired at different times, routed distinctly differently. The portion with the clubhouse is newer and has triangular bits of routing to vary wind more efficiently. The left-sided parcel is a Ross-modification of an older pre-existing nine holes by.
Routing is a KEY element of design, this one is very, very special and I'll return to this club at another date.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Rancho Santa Fe Redux
I was fortunate enough to catch a break in the weather for a round at Rancho Santa Fe in California after the AAOS this year. I have to chuckle because my friend (who is also my teacher and a Golf Digest Top 100 fitter with a green grass range was "Apologetic" that the course had not been over-seeded this year and it was not green. REnee and I noted that that mattered not a whit as we are priviliged t play what should be recognized as a Top 100 course but only makes the second 100 for GolfWeek's Classics list. Apparently I like t more than my fellow raters, I don't know about Renee as she won't tell me her votes, but I know her tastes are very high class.
We naturally jumped at the opportunity and got to walk in the southern California sunshine with a LPGA Professional Golfer and One of America's best teachers, our sole instructor of 25 or so years. We were also able to Demo many not-yet-released golf clubs at Carlsbad Golf Center (Check it out if you're nearby) a top fitter and official supplier for redanman.
The Golf Course was as good as remembered so check out the original post a couple of years back. The 18th hole has a wonderful green and is relatively an unbunkered hole from Behr's design, yet it doesn't make it any less challenging. The strength of Rancho Santa Fe remains a great routing, natural well-placed greensites and exceptional variety.
Accept the invitation if one is offered.
We naturally jumped at the opportunity and got to walk in the southern California sunshine with a LPGA Professional Golfer and One of America's best teachers, our sole instructor of 25 or so years. We were also able to Demo many not-yet-released golf clubs at Carlsbad Golf Center (Check it out if you're nearby) a top fitter and official supplier for redanman.
The Golf Course was as good as remembered so check out the original post a couple of years back. The 18th hole has a wonderful green and is relatively an unbunkered hole from Behr's design, yet it doesn't make it any less challenging. The strength of Rancho Santa Fe remains a great routing, natural well-placed greensites and exceptional variety.
Accept the invitation if one is offered.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Congratulations are in order!
A really nice feller, well, a kid actually, almost 25, who is my neighbor (sort of) here and a frequent playing partner ought to be very very happy that I didn't play with him after all today. The weather report has been dicey at best for today all week, the professor had a cheap-O tee time at Lederach for four to play at 13.40 today and the redanboy and I pussied out. I don't know about him, but for me to play at 13.40 and possibly take 5+ hours and perhaps not even finish on a day unlikey to see the north side of 40* F, well, I'd rather go play 4 balls for a few holes at Lehigh and sort out some wedges. Which I did. Back to the story ...
The redanboy was playing at the Linfield National (just 0.5 Doak below Augusta National and 1.0 below NationalGLA (well, not really, more like 7) and 1-hopped a wedge on the 11th for his first ace. (The little bastard has an Albatross already). Had I played with him it would have likely not happened - that's how these things go.
My most sincere congratulations to you, Mark. I am very happy that I didn't play with you today. I'm guessing that it was with the ratty ProV1 (#2) with blue dots that he played with 2 weeks ago.
I'll have a malt, please.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
New Criteria
I've given a bit of thought to the concept of milieu lately. In a way some clubs have a milieu or place away about them that is their own. Pine Valley is perhaps the ultimate natural milieu. In its humble New Jersey pine forest it is the ultimate place away without any unnecessary doo-dads nor egotism about it. It wears as well as the old club blazer with stories to tell that I first referred to in the Mid Ocean review.
Some modern architects create their milieu and this is why they get hired. It is somewhat more than a cache, it is truly a milieu. Many times it is false and does not fit. Certainly Donald Trump's marriage of faux old world luxe with the Fazio design family (Tom, Jim, Tommy, Old Tom's sons Logan and the hanger-on one) is well-known but in the end the epitome of what is wrong with American Golf with its Money On Display and its Exclusionary and Exclusivity clause.
Coore and Crenshaw surely are the masters of the milieu and darlings of raters and writers in most corners of the globe, but it all winds up a little forced and even incomplete at times for me. Tom Doak and Gil Hanse in particular take bigger and more chances to reach higher highs on lesser properties while making world-class (deserved) reputations in the process. This is not to say that I do not like the Coore and Crenshaw golf courses, to the contrary I really do (in fact I nearly joined one club they designed), just not to the jump on the bandwagon with all four paws as is the norm for the self-appointed cognoscenti. To avoid all the darts and daggers, let me expand to say that I feel some well-deserving architects such as Jeff Brauer, Keith Foster, Kelly Blake Moran, Curley & Schmidt as moderately recognizable successful architects get lost in the shuffle having created arguably or actual Top 100 Modern-worthy courses while others such as Ian Andrew, Mike Nuzzo and Jeff Mingay remain at or near the "Who?" status with the average golfer.
Golf needs to grow on a more grass-roots level going forward during and after these very challenging economic times and lauding all the praise on a few or following a model such as Trump's are not for the good of the game. I cringed at the TrWWOG(sp.?) on the Golf Channel from Scotland - embarassing - more profanity that Gordon Ramsey on a cooking show, too boot. I also don't want to feel on the set in Hollywood, either, just a little taken away. Just far enough as to be believable.
Some modern architects create their milieu and this is why they get hired. It is somewhat more than a cache, it is truly a milieu. Many times it is false and does not fit. Certainly Donald Trump's marriage of faux old world luxe with the Fazio design family (Tom, Jim, Tommy, Old Tom's sons Logan and the hanger-on one) is well-known but in the end the epitome of what is wrong with American Golf with its Money On Display and its Exclusionary and Exclusivity clause.
Coore and Crenshaw surely are the masters of the milieu and darlings of raters and writers in most corners of the globe, but it all winds up a little forced and even incomplete at times for me. Tom Doak and Gil Hanse in particular take bigger and more chances to reach higher highs on lesser properties while making world-class (deserved) reputations in the process. This is not to say that I do not like the Coore and Crenshaw golf courses, to the contrary I really do (in fact I nearly joined one club they designed), just not to the jump on the bandwagon with all four paws as is the norm for the self-appointed cognoscenti. To avoid all the darts and daggers, let me expand to say that I feel some well-deserving architects such as Jeff Brauer, Keith Foster, Kelly Blake Moran, Curley & Schmidt as moderately recognizable successful architects get lost in the shuffle having created arguably or actual Top 100 Modern-worthy courses while others such as Ian Andrew, Mike Nuzzo and Jeff Mingay remain at or near the "Who?" status with the average golfer.
Golf needs to grow on a more grass-roots level going forward during and after these very challenging economic times and lauding all the praise on a few or following a model such as Trump's are not for the good of the game. I cringed at the TrWWOG(sp.?) on the Golf Channel from Scotland - embarassing - more profanity that Gordon Ramsey on a cooking show, too boot. I also don't want to feel on the set in Hollywood, either, just a little taken away. Just far enough as to be believable.
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