Course Corrections

There's an accumulation of news about places to play that we'll throw together in one post.

Most Anticipated - Per Golf.com, the most anticipated new venue for 2015 is, envelope please, Cabot Cliffs, the Coore-Crenshaw sibling of Cabot Links.  It's in the form of a photo gallery, so take a spin and enjoy the spectacular vistas, such as the 180-yard, Par-3 16th below:

When he finally found the words, Kooch remarked: “I never thought I’d see something that made Cypress Point seem small.”

It's certainly eagerly anticipated by your humble correspondent, though given the cyclical low in golf course construction it's not the most competitive of categories.

Most in Need of Further Corrections - Have you been glued to the Back9 network?  Good luck finding it, and you're on the clock as it isn't likely to be there for long. Thanks to Shack for picking up on this get, a tour of TPC Scottsdale with designer Tom Weiskopf that the younger Shack knows how to embed but that this old guy can't figure out.

Thanks to Geoff for the screen shot of the Mickey Mouse bunker.

I'm sure you read Shack's post while you were there, and I must agree with his comments.  First, he notes the omission of any mention of Jay Morish, with whom Weiskopf initially designed this and many other courses.  Bad on you for abetting such nonsense, Back9, as Jay is a talented guy and deserves his original design credit.

I don't get the white-white bunker sand any more than Geoff does, as it seems quite jarring in contrast to the desert surroundings, and we've previously discussed the artificial looking coffin bunker and church pew bunkers.

Most in Need of an IED - Forgive the excessive number of Shack links in this post, but we're in his sandbox on this subject.  But Geoff deserves a lifetime achievement award for catching this item from The Australian (newspaper, that is) about The Australian (Golf Club).  First, some background from the piece:

The Golden Bear stayed at Packer’s Bellevue Hill home during the 1975 open and they became firm friends. It was on a fishing trip after the ’76 open that the pair discussed Nicklaus redesigning the old Kensington layout – and to have it in play for the ’77 championship.

So they fast-tracked it and Jack won three of his Australian Opens on the course, which recently consulted him about re-doing the greens.  Here's where the plot thickens:

“Jack absolutely jumped at the chance. His designers were on the ground in late 2010 working on what would be best to do. When the course was built in 1977 there were a lot of spectator mounds, now they’ve basically gone and the course looks much more natural.” 

The fairways were redone. Around 12,500 cubic metres of top soil was taken off back to the sand base. And, Jack sent his top green shaper Jerame Miller, one of the highest paid in the business, here for six weeks to supervise work on the greens.

“His work with his big D6 bulldozer was like an artist at work,” Selley says.

Chicks dig a guy who's good with a D6...  But this is the little nugget that screamed my name:

It’s almost four years to the day since the Nicklaus team hit the ground. It has cost $5 million with $1 million of that used on cart paths and it also has Nicklaus’ fee included. 

“Jack made three (inspection) visits during the construction. He doesn’t get on a plane for less than $250,000 to go to most parts of the world, but he threw those visits in at no extra costs,” Selley said.

 Well, if you want Jack Nicklaus Signature Cart Paths, it's gonna cost.  

Most Anticipated, Been-There, Done-That Division - The current edition of Met Golfer, the here.  

magazine of the NYC area MGA, carries a long article on Ferry Point which can be found

It's worth a read if only for the long account of the tortured history of the project, though he stays away from the absurd amount of money (the lowball number is $130 million) that the city has sunk into it.  Jeff Neuman, the writer, had a bit of a different take on how linksy the course will play, but we can agree to disagree for now until it grows in and we see how firm and fast they get it.