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USA Today
10 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
How many 'pews' are in Oakmont's famed bunker for 2025 U.S. Open? You won't believe it
How many 'pews' are in Oakmont's famed bunker for 2025 U.S. Open? You won't believe it Pray for U.S. Open golfers who miss fairways at Oakmont Country Club, especially those whose ball comes to rest in the Church Pew bunker. Ranked No. 6 on Golfweek's Best Classic Courses list and hosting a record 10th U.S. Open this week, Oakmont features 168 bunkers in all from 'Big Mouth' in front of the 17th green to the famed Church Pew bunker situated between the third and fourth fairway, and is hazardous to your health on the left side of both holes. This beast of a bunker spans 26,000 feet, 109-yards long and 42- yards wide, three-feet tall and 550 tons of sand. And for the 125th U.S. Open, there will be 13 pews. When the course first opened in 1903, players faced six individual bunkers on the left side of the third but between the 1927 and 1935 U.S. Open those bunkers were converted to six pews. Ahead of the 1962 Open, the club added another one. Between the 1994 and 2007 Opens, the club added four more. This year the magic number is unlucky 13 after Gil Hanse renovated Oakmont's bunkers and inserted two more pews to the infamous bunker. 'We wanted to make sure the Pews were still in position to challenge the landing area of the longest players,' explained Hanse to Links Magazine. 'The Pews were also rebuilt to be less consistent from pew to pew, much like the ones originally constructed by the Fowneses.' To do so, Hanse added nearly 40 yards to the par-4 third, stretching it to 462 yards. There are also five bunkers on the right side demanding precision. Oakmont founder Henry Fownes and his son W.C. Fownes instituted the club's hard is good philosophy. 'A shot poorly played is a shot irrevocably lost,' argued W.C. Fownes. 'Let the clumsy, the spineless, the alibi artist stand aside.' For the first 60 years, Oakmont used a rake that cut two-inch deep grooves to furrow the sand. Not everyone was fond of them. Bobby Jones wrote, 'The Oakmont furrows seem to say, 'Well, here you are in a bunker, and it doesn't matter how good you are, or how much nerve you have, the only thing you can do now is blast,' he wrote. 'Yet a furrowed bunker, supposedly to reward the skillful player, absolutely precludes the use of a recovery shot requiring more than the application of a strong back and a willing heart!' Jimmy Demaret famously said of these implements, 'You could have combed North Africa with it and Rommel wouldn't have gotten past Casablanca.' Ahead of the 1953 U.S. Open, players hinted at a boycott and the USGA felt compelled to say enough is enough. But the club refused to change. Ultimately, they reached a compromise, so the fairway bunkers remained smooth while the greenside bunkers were moderately furrowed. That deal held for the Open when it returned in 1962 too. The rakes were eliminated when the coarse river sand was replaced by finer white sand, which failed to retain the furrows. The only furrows this week at Oakmont? The brows of the disgruntled golfers when they realize their ball is in the Church Pews. Pray for them!
USA Today
28-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
New club in Florida offers fascinating example of great strategic golf on flat ground
New club in Florida offers fascinating example of great strategic golf on flat ground Show Caption Hide Caption Kinsale Club in Naples focuses on strategic genius of Hanse and Wagner The Kinsale Club in Naples proves that great architects can turn a flat piece of land into a great challenge and opportunity for the thinking golfer. Kinsale Club's new private golf course, designed by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, prioritizes strategy and shot-making. The course features a classic design inspired by Golden Age architects with strategically placed bunkers and firm, fast playing surfaces. Hanse and Wagner, known for their restoration work on famous courses, find creative freedom in building a new course from scratch. NAPLES, Fla. – Kinsale Club, with its new private course designed by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, showcases what a great team of architects can do with a flat piece of land. Given 174 acres to accommodate the entire club – including parking and all amenities – Hanse and Wagner had to construct all the intrigue from the course with hard boundary edges, a preserved area of wetland at the center and no distinguished landforms rising from the site just a few hundred yards from the Gulf of Mexico. To make it all work, they relied on classic architectural templates for inspiration, making golfers consider strategy and proper lines for every swing. That strategy is dictated mostly by sand – lots of sand. Wherever you might want to land a tee ball, there's often a steep-faced, relatively flat-bottomed bunker in the way. Players must steer their balls around all the hazards, often playing toward the edges of wide fairways to set up the best line for an approach shot. Heading into the greens, plenty more bunkers await. Players who take the proper lines off the tee are rewarded with a much more welcoming approach through all the sand and past the frequent run-offs. It's old-school strategy at it's finest. No reward is granted without a fair bit of risk. It's the best type of golf, and it makes Kinsale stand out in a state where, on too many courses, strategy is dictated as a game of avoiding water. Such design is especially effective when married to firm and fast playing surfaces, as director of agronomy Rusty Mercer has provided at Kinsale. Hanse and Wagner told members they were inspired by Golden Age architects C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, and Kinsale certainly calls to mind their work. It all adds up to a private course where members should never get bored with playing the same shots again and again. Strategy shifts as holes locations change, and there are multiple ways to play almost every approach shot. Hanse and Wagner have gained fame as the restorers of many classic layouts, jobs for which they put aside their own ideas and try to recreate what original architects had in mind. Los Angeles Country Club, Oakland Hills, The Country Club, Winged Foot, Southern Hills, Merion, Oakmont, on and on – Hanse and Wagner have restored many major championship sites, and many casual golf fans know them best for their work on such Golden Age stalwarts. But building a new course scratches a different kind of itch for the design duo. Their work at Ohoopee Match Club in Georgia and CapRock Ranch in Nebraska, in particular, rank among the top 20 modern courses in the U.S. 'From a creativity standpoint, new construction is so much more liberating because of the way we've chosen to do restoration, being beholden to the original architects,' Hanse said during a preview showing of plans for SkyFall, their new project at Forest Dunes in Michigan. 'So there's not a lot of creativity and not a lot of original ideas. It's more restoration research and then trying to create in the same style and what we see there. Whereas with the new stuff, we can do kind of whatever we want.' Clearly, what they wanted at Kinsale was to challenge golfers on every shot. To create interest on a site that didn't start as much. And to thrill the club's members for every round with a wide variety of interesting shots and incredible greens inspired by templates that have stood the test of time. It will take time to see where Kinsale Club is eventually ranked by Golfweek's Best course-rating program. Below, this author shares his thoughts on how Kinsale Club's layout stacks up in our 10 rating criteria. Our hundreds of raters assign a score of 1 to 10 for each criterion, then offer an overall rating. In non-definitive terms, any course that averages above 6 out of 10 might be the best course in many areas and certainly worth a drive across town, a course averaging 7 out of 10 is a seriously solid layout, and anything above an 8 is one of the best courses in the country. There are only a handful of courses rated above 9 in the world. 1. Routing of Kinsale Club How well the holes individually and collectively adhere to the land and to each other. This site for Kinsale Club was a flat piece of ground with squared-off boundaries, and Hanse and Wagner had no prominent features to play into and away from. They fashioned a first seven holes that play out to a far point at the northwest corner and back before spinning into the separate back nine that plays mostly into the northwest corner. The course was built with walking in mind and is an easy stroll. One unusual choice: The par-5 12th plays to the south next to the range and toward the clubhouse, then players shift to the side for the par-3 13th, which tees off across the line of No. 12 headed west. It calls to mind the far end of the Old Course at St. Andrews, where No. 11 crosses No. 7 fairway. My rating: 7 2. Quality of shaping The extent to which course construction creates design elements that fit in well and provides a consistent look or sensibility. Everything on the course was created by Hanse, Wagner and their team of shapers. Many of the features are quite sharp instead of curving naturally into slopes. Most of the taller shaping helps create breaks in what would otherwise be a flat plain. Many of the greens lie quite flat on the ground at their entrances, but they typically are guarded by bunkers with steep faces to at least one side. My rating: 8 3. Overall land plan Ease of integration of all built-out elements with native land, including course, clubhouse, real estate, roads, native topography and landforms. The extent to which land plan facilitates long views of surroundings and/or interior views of property. It was a relatively tight parcel at 174 acres to accommodate the clubhouse, parking, expansive range, practice greens and course. But it never feels squeezed. Especially on the course, Hanse and Wagner had enough room to make each hole feel distinct and connected to the greater routing. The clubhouse is still under construction, but when opened, players will be able to tumble out to No. 1 tee and pop right in from the adjacent 18th green. My rating: 7 4. Greens and surrounds Interest, variety and playability of putting surfaces, collars, chipping areas and greenside bunkers. The greens are varied and always interesting. The ground game is frequently an option going into the greens if a player has taken the proper line, but steep-walled bunkers that feature relatively flat bottoms tend to block any wayward lines. The putting surfaces feature multiple tiers, humps, bumps and hollows, and putting is never an afterthought. Most greens roll off to one side or another, either onto tightly mowed runoffs or bunkers. Many of the greens have been shaped with modern twists to classic template holes, inspired by the courses of Golden Age architects C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor. My rating: 9 5. Variety and memorability of par 3s Differentiation of holes by length, club required, topography, look and angle of approach. Ranging in length from 135 yards up to 250, the four par 3s play in all directions and feature the most immediately recognizable modern twists on template variations. No. 4 is a take on the classic Redan hole, No. 8 is a Biarritz, No. 13 (which crosses No. 12 fairway) is a classic Postage Stamp, and the short 16th plays into a punchbowl. These holes offer a fascinating mix of shots. My rating: 8 6. Variety and memorability of par 4s Range of right-to-left and left-to-right drives and second shots required, as well as spread of length, topography and look of the holes. There is not a thoughtless par 4 on the property. Each of them grabs your attention from the tee box, with strategically placed bunkers forcing players to think before they swing. Firm ground helps, as balls will roll and roll and until they are within reach of the green for a second shot, or roll and roll until they settle into a bunker. The par 4s are often lined with sandy waste areas. The fairways are typically generous in width, except for those always-encroaching bunkers. A favorite was the short third, 310 yards off the back tees but laced with sand almost everywhere you might want to land a tee ball – it's a brilliant little par 4 offering many options. My rating: 7 7. Variety and memorability of par 5s Variety of risk/reward opportunities on tee shot; how interesting the second shots are; variety of third shots required. The course opens with back-to-back par 5s, starting with the 583-yard first before offering a more reasonable scoring opportunity with the 500-yard second. Each of Kinsale's par 5s offers opportunities for better golfers to play boldly, but with plenty of obstacles that must be narrowly skirted for players trying to reach the greens in two shots. Each offers hope but can easily dash it. My rating: 7 8. Tree and landscape management Extent to which ornamentals, hardwoods, conifers and other flora enhance the design and playability of a course without overburdening it or compromising strategic flexibility and agronomy. Except for a wetlands preserve at the north-center section that divides much of the front nine and the back nine, and at the western boundary along a road, there are almost no trees in play at Kinsale. Most of the trees that are on the course grow out of the sandy waste areas to the sides of holes. It's a wide-open plateau with long views of other holes from almost every vantage point. My rating: 7 9. Conditioning and ecology Overall quality of maintenance, discounting for short-term issues (weather or top dressing); extent of native areas; diversity of plant life and wildlife. Rusty Mercer, the director of agronomy, came to Kinsale from Streamsong Resort, and he knows a few things about firm ground. He has the Bermuda grass playing surfaces dialed in, with bouncy conditions that promote the ground game. It's a stark and welcome contrast to play Kinsale in winter after playing many other Florida courses, where rye overseed and soggy conditions frequently make a ball land and stop like a dart. One word for these TifEagle Bermuda putting surfaces: pure. My rating: 9 10. 'Walk in the park' test The sense of the place as worthy of spending four hours on it. Kinsale isn't dramatic, and it doesn't feature very interesting terrain or ocean views, even though it is so close to the Gulf of Mexico. But the property is all about golf in the best ways. With easy strolls from green to tee and frequent views of upcoming holes, Kinsale creates a sense of excitement to be playing something different than the usual Florida fare. It's a prime example of how great architects can put the focus on the golf, and even on a flat piece of land create an environment that beckons golfers. My rating: 7.1 Overall rating This is not a cumulative score. As soon as you finish a hole at Kinsale, you want to play it again to see if a different line might work better. With classic strategy so much in play, this course would never become boring or repetitive. There's no greater compliment. My rating: 7.1
USA Today
31-01-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Popular Michigan resort climbs into the trees with planned new course
Forest Dunes has shown a flair for creativity. From its original and eponymous first course designed by Tom Weiskopf to its ingenious 18-hole reversible The Loop layout by Tom Doak, from its par-3 Bootlegger course to its focus on delivering an indelible post-round vibe, the folks behind Forest Dunes have attacked staid expectations in search of constant improvement over the past decade. Up next for the Michigan resort: SkyFall. If that name sounds a little James Bondsy, know that in this case it refers to Michigan's luminescent night sky. And with it come sky-high expectations, as it will be the name of the resort's third full-size course to be designed by the celebrated team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner. Construction on the project near the town of Roscommon is expected to begin in late 2025 or early 2026. A completion date has not been announced. Driving many of the expectations are the high rankings of the already existing courses. The Loop is ranked by Golfweek's Best as the No. 3 public-access course in Michigan, and the namesake Forest Dunes Course is No. 4 on that list in the very golf-gifted state. Both courses also rank among the top 100 resort courses in the U.S. Casual golf fans should be forgiven if they hear the names Hanse and Wagner, then think first of the duo's restoration work of many of the greatest classic courses in the U.S. that have been or will be major championship sites. Los Angeles Country Club, Oakland Hills, The Country Club, Winged Foot, Southern Hills, Merion, Oakmont, on and on – Hanse and Wagner have restored many of the Golden Age stalwarts. But their original designs scratch a different itch. Hanse and Wagner focus their restorations of existing courses on recreating the intent of the original architects instead of inserting their own creativity. New course designs such as SkyFall allow them to focus on their own ideas. 'From a creativity standpoint, new construction is so much more liberating because of the way we've chosen to do restoration, being beholden to the original architects,' Hanse said during a preview showing of plans for SkyFall. 'So there's not a lot of creativity and not a lot of original ideas. It's more restoration research and then trying to create in the same style and what we see there. Whereas with the new stuff, we can do kind of whatever we want.' What they want has proved extremely popular. Several of the design team's original layouts rank among the top 200 modern courses in the United States. Hanse and Wagner's Ohoopee Match Club in Georgia and CapRock Ranch in Nebraska are within the top 20 courses built since 1960, both situated on amazing sites that feature plenty of sandy soil and rolling terrain. SkyFall has similar characteristics. While Forest Dunes' first two courses lie across relatively flat ground, SkyFall will be situated in a much hillier setting, starting and ending just north of the resort's Bootlegger par-3 course. It's a long, skinny parcel in the woods that Hanse said features some 90 feet of elevation change. 'It really is perfectly situated for golf,' Hanse said. 'It's all sand – sand and gravel.' Such a site is akin to golf architects striking gold, as the sand provides the possibility of fast and firm golf ground with inherently better drainage. It's yet to be decided if SkyFall will be grassed with fescue as at the Loop, bent as at the original Forest Dunes Course or a combination of the two. Unlike some modern courses that feature treeless or well-cleared sites, SkyFall will embrace a naturally woodsy scene, playing through corridors that remind players they are in rural Michigan. SkyFall is planned to begin with a front nine looping first to the west of the linear site. It will traverse a feature that Hanse described as a knuckle before returning to the course's center point with a dramatic uphill par-4 ninth playing over cross bunkers – an homage, Hanse said, to the second hole at famed Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey. The back nine will then start its loop to the east before returning with several twists and turns to the center point. At a planned maximum yardage of 7,495 and a par of 72, SkyFall potentially could host top-tier competitions, but Hanse said he is focused on matching the course to the terrain for an unforgettable experience. 'This design is focused on the key landforms on the property,' Hanse said. 'When you look at some of the great old courses by (A.W.) Tillinghast or (Donald) Ross, there tends to be a landform they go away from and return to. That's also the case at SkyFall, and it is those features that are the key to creating a truly compelling design.' SkyFall also will be a reunion of sorts, with Hanse and Wagner rejoining forces with Forest Dunes owners and operators Rich Mack and Tom Sunnarborg. Hanse and Wagner laid out the Black course that opened in 2017 at the highly ranked Streamsong Resort in Florida, which was then owned by Mosaic Company. Mack was chief financial officer of Mosaic and the driving force behind the creation of what has grown to be a golf destination with three full-size courses and another on the way – an unexpected project for the giant potash and phosphate mining company. Sunnarborg was Mosaic's vice president of land development and management, and also Mack's righthand man in the introduction of Streamsong. Mack and Sunnarborg were bitten hard by the golf bug, and after leaving employment at Mosaic they purchased Forest Dunes in 2021 following a nationwide search of potential golf acquisitions. They have updated Forest Dunes in many ways, everything from accommodations to residential offerings, dining to laundry facilities. 'We're getting the band back together,' Mack said of partnering again with Hanse and Wagner. '... The opportunity to have Gil and Jim craft their first original design in Michigan on what is the most compelling property at Forest Dunes is really exciting.' SkyFall will be an experiment of sorts as a modern take on an American semi-private club. Mack described it as a private club that allows some resort play, similar to the Lido at Sand Valley in Wisconsin, Pasatiempo Golf Club in California and many great courses around the rest of the world that welcome limited guest play. Mack said they are still deciding how many resort guests gain access to SkyFall most days, but expect it to be in the low dozens. Initial members of SkyFall will receive an annual distribution of the proceeds from resort-generated green fees, helping to offset annual dues. Mack intends this model to protect the feel of a private club, complete with private facilities and clubhouse, while allowing resort guests to get a peek. 'Our goals are very high,' Mack said. 'We want this course to be exceptional in all respects. ... The opportunity to have Gil and Jim craft their first original design in Michigan on what is the most compelling property at Forest Dunes is really exciting.' Sunnarborg echoed that sentiment. 'Gil and Jim are two of the most influential golf course architects of our era, and are entrusted to advance projects of golf significance across the globe,' said Sunnarborg, who is president and chief operating officer at Destination Forest Dunes. 'We know they will find the best of the land to work with and turn it into something unforgettable that members and guests are going to thoroughly enjoy, hopefully many times.'
