Early Christmas present from The Golf Course as Art

Even if you think Christmas shopping is what December 24th is for, it's never too early to get your festive golfing wallpaper sorted out.

Marty Ilagan has this offering from over at Flickr.com, courtesy of Manila Southwoods GC in the Philippines. And yes, I hold my hands up: I thought it was snow...

If white Christmases (and foggy Halloweens) leave you cold in every sense of the word, on the other hand, here's some golf porn from Myrtle Beach. Send your kids out of the room...

Now this is how you Tiger-proof a course...

"WITH an average distance of about 80km between each of its 18 golf holes, the brutal Nullarbor Links will allow the everyday hacker plenty of time to rue their wayward slices and hooks."

Yup, loads of scope for hole extension there. And I shudder to think how far back Stevie will want the photographers to stand.

Absent Friends in 'World Atlas of Golf'

A veritable result on the shopping front at the weekend.

I spot the latest (2006) edition of the World Atlas of Golf on sale for £25 at my local book store, make a mental note to add it to my wish list for less impecunious times and then find the same book available in a discount book shop across the road for £4.

The saving sounds even better when you write in US dollars: $43.24 at current rates.

That's 463.49 pesos, incidentally.

It's not often you hear angels sing in the ugly world of commerce but this was one of them.

So here I am, proud owner of the latest version of any golf course devotee's starting point and it wasn't just the financial killing that made it an emotional moment.

I still remember the day I bought the first edition, way back in 1979. I remember the girl sitting opposite me in Nottingham University's law library, as I pushed the All England Law Reports to one side and savoured my new acquisition from the campus bookshop.

She glanced at the Atlas, presumably noticed the joy on my face as I skimmed it and briefly smiled before returning to her notes; not a condescending, boys-and-their-toys smile, more a motherly sort of smile that suggested she vaguely understood.

Why does stuff like this stay lodged in the memory?

Twenty-eight years... With frayed corners and a semi-detached spine, the book is holding together about as well as its owner, yet I can offer it only semi-retirement, for with a typical journalist's eye for the negative, it's not so much the courses that have been added to the new edition that have caught my eye, as those which have been taken away.

Featured in the original version, the following tracks are all absent from the latest roster, with not even a consolatory mention in the 'B-list' Gazeteer at the back of the book

Europe

Killarney
Olgiata
Nueva Andalucia (now Real Club Las Brisas)
Sotogrande


Americas

Firestone
Champions
Dorado Beach
Cajuiles
Club de Golf Mexico


Asia

Singapore Island
Royal Selangor


Australasia

Royal Sydney

It's sadly ironic that I can't find a proper website for Cajuiles, or Teeth of the Dog, as it seems to be known now. I remember Pete Dye's Caribbean masterpiece leaping off the page at me all those years ago - totally different to anything I'd seen before. The photo above gives you just a taste.

I've played precisely none of these courses other than via PC (Firestone and Dorado Beach) so I'm throwing this open to the floor as to why any of these courses may have fallen from grace in the last three decades. Certainly, I've heard Champions bad-mouthed once or twice and Firestone has always struck me as a tad monotonous.

There again, The K Club makes the up-to-date Atlas and there are those who feel the place is vastly over-rated.

Over to you, folks. What do you think?

Old-school golf architect Banks one in - Forsgate honoured

Congratulations to Forsgate Country Club for collecting the New Jersey Golf Course Owners Association Course of the Year award for 2007.

"According to the NJGCOA, the following criteria were used to evaluate and select the New Jersey Golf Course of the Year: exceptional quality of the course; outstanding contribution to the community; significant contribution to the game; and the exceptional quality of the ownership and management."

It's good to see one of the old school architects still getting recognition, in the shape of Charles 'Steamshovel' Banks.

If all that I knew of Banks was that his nickname referred to the amount of earth he liked to see shifted in his numerous course designs and that his brief for Forsgate involved replicating famous holes from elsewhere, in the New Jersey terrain, I would have feared the worst.

I see nothing noble in recreating the Road Hole in Rhode Island or Amen Corner in Arkansas. I like my designers to be their own men with their own ideas, for better or worse.

Bank's work at Forsgate, however, has apparently produced a minor gem, although with his trademarks being complex green structures and cratered bunkers, it's said by some that the course only comes into its own once you crouch over your approach shot.

Some who have played the course, indeed, find certain tee shots rather samey and I must admit that a perusal of the Banks Course on-line hole tour revealed little that grabbed my imagination, although no website can hope to recreate the undulations that play so prominent a part in courses such as this one.

I can't help wonder, also, if there's something of a double-standard at work with regard to the course's trademark hole at the 12th - one of a fine collection of par 3s.

Maybe the photograph above makes the 'thumbprint' green look more severe than it is but when so many modern architects take flak for 'unnatural' undulations in their fairways, part of me wonders if Banks gets off a little lightly here because of his era. That looks part-green, part-freakshow to me but I'm open to counter-arguments from any readers who've actually played it.

That it's a handsome course overall, however, is clear. As is testified to by the reviews here.

You'll find a useful article here, explaining the derivation of certain holes. As I've just subscribed to Global Traveler USA and am plugging them into the bargain, I hope they won't mind me quoting from the remainder of the article below:

"Hole 16 (404 yards, par 4)
North Berwick
Continuing the theme of borrowing names from legendary golf holes around the world, this multi-tiered hole is named for the 16th at North Berwick, Scotland. It was designed to resemble C.B. MacDonald’s version, which he created as the 11th hole at the National. The greenskeeper wreaks havoc with his nasty pin placements. The tee shot is relatively easy, and scoring well is a direct result of your second shot into the challenging multi-mounded green.

Hole 17 (239 yards, par 3)
Biarritz
This long par 3 is patterned after a par three at the Biarritz in Aquitaine, France, with a long, narrow green divided into two levels by a deep swale. It was designed by Willie Dunn of Scotland, who also designed the original course at Shinnecock, Long Island. Most golfers are going to need a fairway wood to reach this green, which has two large bunkers right and left, with a depression in front of the green composed of rough. It is believed that this depression was once part of the green, as the bunkers extend its entire length. In Scottish tradition this makes sense, as shots would then be able to roll onto the green. Now they are hung up in the depression.

Hole 18 (450 yards, par 4)
Purgatory
Say your prayers on the tee box. That’s your only hope of getting out of Purgatory. This is a devilish par four with a steeply pitched green and a trap at the right front of the green, the deepest on the Banks course. The tee shot is to an uphill fairway. Unless you are a long-ball hitter, you are again left with a long iron or fairway wood for your second shot. There is a huge fairway bunker on the right, which you may need to avoid. The green slopes from back to front, so a ball landing toward the rear will make for a very difficult putt to the pin, if placed toward the front."

You'll find some background on Banks and other 'second-tier' designers of the Golden Age here.

Keeping up with Jones - Exhibit 7 for the defence

In my ongoing quest to defend Robert Trent Jones Snr against charges of being unstrategic, I have unearthed another hole in rebuttal: the 18th at Adare Golf Club in Co. Limerick, Rep. of Ireland.

"Our Signature hole is described as one of the finest finishing pars 5's in golf with the majestic river Maigue flowing alongside the fairway. A long straight drive down the left side offers the best opportunity to get home in two. For a more conservative approach, a lay up short of the bunkers will leave you with a mid to short iron, to a green overlooked by the historic Ceder of Lebanon."

The subtle touches, I think, are the right-side trees and the bunkering at the far end of the fairway. Even if you decide to play away from the water with a lay-up, it's no cop-out shot - you still have to avoid the timber and stealing too much ground.

Just wish I could find a few par 4s, now...
........................................................................

What's this? On Golf-Course Urination Protocol? Please tell me this isn't Sergio Garcia pushing the envelope...

South African golf by accident

Complete serendipidity today. I was actually searching for fishing information in Johannesburg's Jukskei River when I stumble across two sites with extensive links to South African courses:

1. Top 50 South African Golf Courses Shown on Interactive Map Using Google Earth: Now you can find any of the top 50 golf courses (actually 54) in South Africa AND do a “flyover” tour of each one on-line using the amazing power of Google Earth.

2. In the sweet zone - Residential golf estates:
We took a selection of golf estates, ranging from the well-established...to those where the course is built but the residential component is still in the planning stages.

Talk about saving the best 'til last. In the second link, for both website quality and visual appeal, Pinnacle Point steals the show.

Diva off the tee - Celine's favourite ready to roll at Ben Eoin

News of the new course at Canada's Ben Eoin (course map and details here) got me looking at the works of architect Graham Cooke, a highly-accomplished amateur player (although whether this means a damn in architecture terms is something of a hot topic).

Fellow-blogger Robert Thompson has his reservations about some of Cooke's work (see also here) and as he's actually walked the end-product, I wouldn't presume to contradict him.

Three things I will say for Mr Cooke, however:

• As I look at hole-by-hole guides on golf course websites, "why put a bunker there?" is a question rarely far from my lips. I looked at a few of those designed by Cooke's company, on the other hand and the question didn't arise once.
• Any man happy to list a pitch-and-putt course among his completed works is clearly devoid of conceit
• A certain Celine Dion apparently loves his work at Le Mirage (aerial map here). Almost as much as she loves her driver...

...and the judgment of any woman who can make the Big Bertha sound like a sex toy just has to be respected.

Robert Trent Jones and freedom of choice

Still smarting a little from Dean Barnett's dismissal of Robert Trent Jones' contribution to golf, I've been hitting the textbooks to try and find out if it really was a case of my-way-or-the-highway whenever Jones visualised the route by which a hole should be negotiated.

I've mentioned before that it was his book Golf's Magnificent Challenge that really brought it home to me how much of a golf architecture nut I'd become, so I feel duty bound to at least try and put 18 holes together which show that Jones, too, believed in giving the golfer options as to how a hole should be played.

I won't lie, there are indeed plenty of Jones classics that appear to be mapped out purely in black and white but for now, I offer the following six that buck the trend:

1. 4th at Spyglass Hill - safe play is to the right but this brings more of the hole's hazards into play, whereas braving the left side can result in a less risky approach to the green

2. 4th at Valderrama - right-hand side of the fairway looks safer but takes away the chance of making the green in two because of the greenside pond. Take on the left-hand bunker with your drive, however, and you still have the option of trundling your second onto the putting surface.

3. 4th at Dorado Beach East Course - formerly the 13th. Not one but two shots where the choice as to how much water you take on is entirely yours.

4. 13th at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club - sharp dogleg right around water, with two or three routes to the green.

5. 16th at Sperone Golf Club - A French par 5 that asks you to flirt twice with coastal cliffs if you are to set up an eagle putt, or else lets you stick to the countryside and make it a three-shotter.

6. 18th at Los Naranjos Golf Club - Another par 5, this time in Spain, with the option to cut the corner of this left-hand dogleg with your tee shot, flirting with a lake if you do so. Then comes the option of going for the green in two or laying up to avoid water in front.

Six down, 12 to go. Suggestions, you won't be surprised to hear, will be most gratefully received.

First Weir beats Tiger, now Nicklaus gets a kicking

I'm not the only blogger to have picked up on this but Dean Barnett has written a thought-provoking piece on golf architecture in The Weekly Standard.

While I can't believe that the works of Messrs Jones and Nicklaus are as universally gross as Barnett makes out, the article is a neat summary of the battle-lines of golf course design through the years - what we started with, where we took it and what the 'minimalists' are now trying to get it back to (here are the links for the courses referred to - Sand Hills, Bandon Dunes and Ballyneal Golf & Hunt Club).

Find a little audio background on the same theme here

Inwardly digest it, along with a Ron Whitten aide-memoire I previously recommended, and while the myriad details of golf architecture may remain, you will at least be able to see the bigger picture.

Golfing miscellany to start the week

First and foremost, and especially because I can't seem to log onto his site to tell him in person, a big thank you to Jay Flemma, who saw fit to extol this blog in his own - A Walk in the Park - last week.

Modesty forbids that I publish an extract of his post here but if it's not inappropriate, I would like to heartily endorse everything he says...

.......................................................................

Secondly, thanks for this post on the latest European Ryder Cup spat, which reminds me why I blog golf courses and not golf in general.

Bunkers, ponds and cape greens, you see, don't talk. Which means they don't degenerate into whining, rent-a-quote malcontents who seem hell-bent on destroying in their dotage the fine reputations they built in their prime.

For this relief, much thanks.
.......................................................................

Thirdly, it was good to make contact with another fellow-blogger, Chris Henry, although just a shame it could not be in happier circumstances. After my lament for Mount Oswald Golf Club in north-east England last week, it was sad to read Chris's report of a similar fate befalling Edmonton's Golden West Golf Course.

"Golden West Golf Course has seen its municipal property taxes double in one year to 120 thousand dollars and, according to owner Paul McCracken, they can and likely will go higher.

"The problem comes with how the land is zoned. It was classified as 'agricultural land' for many years, thereby earning a low tax levy. But it was re-classified based on its market value.

"Of course, surrounded by the oil-rich city of Edmonton, that 'market value' is enormous."

The argument, alas, sounds a darn sight more compelling than that currently threatening Mount Oswald's existence. Yet how many industrial parks do you know that produce tales to match this one:

"...the Golden West Golf Course witnessed a true rarity yesterday. Two staff members must have set some sort of record after one banged home a 326-yard hole-in-one albatross at the same time his buddy was helping save a woman's life on another fairway." - Edmonton Sun, July 6 , 2007

Now that's what I call a day's golf. RIP Golden West.
.......................................................................

We finish on a lighter and definitely more tenuous note. Three to be precise:

• Put that golf agronomy wisdom to use on your own patch of green, with this secret lawn tonic recipe
• Feel infinitely better about your own game, with a daily dose of futility from BadGolfer.com
• And finally, this link just has to be publicised, whatever your sport...

The Irish Augusta? Nah. But it will pop your cork

When I read the headline Cork Golf Club: The Irish Augusta, I bristled the way I used to at the phrase The Next Nicklaus. Yeah, right.

Even after looking at Cork GC's elegant website, I'm far from convinced. Disregard the large, undulating greens, look at some of those awkward tee-shot carries and it becomes apparent that 'The Irish Augusta' line was more a reference to Alister Mackenzie's hand in both courses than to his 1927 redesign on the shores of Cork Harbour.

But then who cares? This stylish gem stands tall enough on its own merits:

"Lough Mahon, on the estuary of the River Lee, forms a pleasant background for much of the course. Built on free-draining limestone, the course presents a crisp heath-like playing surface akin to links. The course is particularly renowned for its many long carries from the tees and its superbly manicured greens."

"Possessing arguably the finest set of greens in Ireland, it is parkland in nature rather than links but nevertheless a cult classic for MacKenzie fans."

"The 7th is a picturesque par three over rocky wasteland, and the eighth a spectacularly expansive par 4 played into an enormous depression in the earth. These are the first of the quarry holes, laid out on the remains of the original limestone pit."

"...if you had to pick one hole at Cork that stands above the rest, it would probably be the par 4, fourth. Rated the most difficult hole and measuring some 450 yards in length, your drive must carry 180 yards of shoreline to find the fairway. Depending on the wind, your approach can be anything from a wedge to a wood, directed at a narrow and elusive target some 28 yards in length."

And perhaps the most eye-catching first impression? How modern the course still looks. Some classic designs have a venerable, slightly staid look to them. They need to be played for true appreciation to develop. Cork, however, is just flat-out stunning from the outset.

Rejoice at Augusta changes: no talk of waist-high rough

After last year, I was braced for news of Augusta National changes, like I am when the Chancellor's Budget speech gets to income tax and the price of beer.

For 2008, however, the horticulture appears to be more tinkering than makeover. The announcement can be found here and the reaction here:

"...Masters officials have made four minor changes to Augusta National Golf Club that should aid players and spectators..." - Palm Beach Post

"...the biggest difference in the 2008 Masters will be for the spectators, not the players." - USA Today

"Four holes were changed, although none of the alterations will affect the length of the course." - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"...subtle course changes..." - ESPN

"...grass was replaced by pine straw between the 15th and 17th holes. The pine straw figures to put a slightly greater premium on driving, as hitting off grass is more consistent than straw." - Fan Nation

"There have been more changes...though none will have a dramatic impact on the course." - The Charlotte Observer

"number 7 green was redone 2 years ago. the main thing done was to reduce the slope from back to front on the right side of the green. at that time...they also added pin placements back right and right in front of the back left bunker. there were basically only 2 back shelf pin placements previously on 9." - comment posted on GeoffShackelford.com

"...I remember a friend's Dad always said, 'Make your mistakes quickly'. ANGC, put any spin on it you like, but let the undoing begin..."- ibid.

[photo courtesy of Fred Jala]

Mount Oswald Golf Club - barbarians at the gate

Mount Oswald was where I learnt my golf.

A public course with a private course feel, it sits just outside Durham, an ancient cathedral city in the industrial north-east of England. The fact that anyone could play there sat rather well in what is a university town, where learning is similarly open to anyone who's smart enough.

It's no Augusta: an interesting enough tree-lined front nine gives way to a back nine that for the most part occupies an open field. But it's where I first hit a golf ball in anger, you know? The sentimentality glosses over the architectural shortcomings. I registered my first birdie there; broke a hundred for the first time there and still have the scorecards to prove it.

I watched my friends live out the craziness of youth there. Tony N, so keen he used to run down the fairway to play his next shot; David B, reaching the par-5 13th in two, only to three-putt, calmly pick his ball from the hole and hurl it into a nearby copse as if it were standard golfing etiquette.

It was the start of everything golf for me. And now Durham City Council is considering plans to turn Mount Oswald into a business park: 750,000sq ft of office space, 88 houses and parking for 2,000 cars.

If they fall for the kind of flannel businessmen come up with when they're moving in for the kill, the thing's a done deal already:

• "This is a fantastic opportunity to create a world class business and research community in Durham..."
• "The designs...are firmly based around sustainability principles, as well as being sensitive to the development's historic surroundings..."
• "...economic, social, recreational, landscape and ecological benefits..."
• "...we will be undertaking a full programme of community engagement to find out what local residents and businesses think..."
• "... we have an in-depth knowledge of and great respect for what makes Durham City special..."

Now here's my view, offered with as much objectivity as I can muster (having the playgrounds of one's youth turned into smoked-glass hives for middle-management drones doesn't quite cut it as a formal objection, I appreciate):

• Like most people in Britain, I've seen business parks of all shapes and sizes spring up in the last 20 years. They have several in Peterborough where I work. I have stayed in a very nice hotel in the midst of one in Rotterdam. I even walked the business park on a beautiful Dutch summer morning to give it the benefit of the doubt. My verdict? Even the best of them look like East Germany on a good day.
• The proposal is to replace a public facility with one that will be largely confined to businesses and executive housing, the latter being rumoured to have a £1m price tag. Hmmm...
  
• What is the big deal with bringing 4,000 jobs (and I'll eat my 7-iron if that figure turns out to be accurate) to a place like this? This isn't the recession of the late '70s any more, when a region shedding its industrial heritage was desperate for any jobs that were going. Now it can pick its time and its place. Mount Oswald is neither.
  
• Durham is a glorious, charming antique: a place to draw breath between the north-east's urban triumvirate of Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. It needs a dirty great business park like Vienna needs a Kwik Save.

Over to you, Durham City Council.