Augusta National Changes

Masters time in a couple of weeks. I was fortunate enough to attend the Masters in 1996 as a guest of Mr Hall Thompson, the late owner of Shoal Creek GC in Alabama, and member of Augusta. Mr Thompson used to fly his employees over to Augusta for the tournament each year which was a great thrill. Golf Digest have put together a link showing the changes to the golf course over the years and what to expect this year.

Golf Digest Article

Unfortunately it is also the time of year where some Clubs go through the 'Augusta Syndrome' and expect their courses to look like what is on TV which places alot of pressure on their Superintendent. However it is possible to get that Augusta look. All you need is 100 staff and a $6 million budget. Simple!

Design Influences at Sea Temple - No. 1 'Punchbowl'

The 1st green at Sea Temple would have to rate as one of the great greens in Australia with its size and contouring. Any misplaced second, or third, shot can result in quite a difficult putt depending on where the pin location is for the day. The golf course architect, Mr Micheal Wolveridge, has kindly penned a few words about the design process behind the 1st, 'Punchbowl'.

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Opening holes have their own special place in the golfing pantheon. Always considered ideal, the 1^st hole on the Old Course at St.Andrews offers a wide open tee shot down a fairway 150 yards across. There are no bunkers yet immediately before the green, there runs across a small stream, Alas! too wide to bounce across, the Swilcan Burn formerly acting as a town sewer is now a babbling brook. This was most certainly the first water hazard in golf. The putting green is a large affair, simple and inviting just beyond the burn, it becomes devilishly difficult towards the rear as it disappears into a series of small humps reminding the unwary of the importance of clearing the burn by the very least amount. The real pressure for the visitor however is the very act of teeing off to the booming voice of the Starter from his little hut, “Play Away Sorr”. There you are, no practice, excited, tired and immediately in front of the imposing windows of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse, with God knows who staring out at you! Your caddie calls across..."Ye’ll be needin’ a ba’ to hit". Oh, where to hide!

A classic beginning hole in Australia is the 1^st at Sorrento Golf Club...quite my favourite! Most revered opening holes allow room for manoeuvre off the tee and often save the ‘shock treatment’ for the vicinity of the green....it’s the very best way to clear one’s head, or so thought I at the Links when due to the necessity of the clubhouse siting near to the road, the links aspect of the golf does not occur until players have reached the corner of the dog-leg at the first. At that point the essence of links golf takes over - open ground, a fresh southerly breeze at your face and that splendid sight of the hills and Black Mountain beyond. I wanted to make a huge green that might be easy to hit but somehow, it needed ‘livening up’ in the centre, a little hollow perhaps? Thus we settled upon a delightful punchbowl to split it in two portions with room for one pin spot only in the bowl, offering some old fashioned golfing entertainment and a positive announcement that says: “Wake up, we have arrived at the Links”.

Design Influences at Sea Temple - No. 4 'Tribulation'

The 4th hole at Sea Temple which we know is a strong Par 4 usually played into the south-easterly breeze where a par is a very good score. Following his writings on the 15th, Mr Michael Wolveridge has kindly provided the background into the creation of the 4th 'Tribulation'.

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Links golf is such an ancient game that those of us who dabble in the art are rarely lost for inspiration. Take our 4^th hole for instance. I had planned for a long Par 4 to be played into the prevailing winter Trade Winds, which with a Par 5 to follow, would comfortably cover the eastern boundary of the property. There is a famous hole of similar length at Royal Dornoch, “Foxy” the 14^th at that splendid old Scottish links, a par 4 headed down the coastline some 450 yards long, with no bunkers but a brute of a hole. “Foxy” is a slight double dog-leg, a little bit to the left and a little to the right, created by a series of intervening mounds too high and too rugged to see beyond, finally ending at a large plateau green, very, very hard to hit in two shots be a drive slightly off the proper line, whereupon the target becomes blind and probably unattainable. It is a hole many pundits include in their ‘Best 18 Holes’ – a famous hole from a famous links.

At our Links, there was available heaps of material suitable for mound making and of course, the underlying sand was ever present for gently contouring into typical seaside fairway links land. With this material I managed to create a series of mounds at a realistic height, interposing them to confuse and mask the green for any who would stray from the designed line of approach. Originally we made them rugged also!

The main deviation in principle from the original are the two ponds near the green, two elements I was unable to avoid as in our case they were necessary for drainage and as nutrient stripping ponds for displacement of fertilizer with respect to the significant rains we can expect during our Wet Season, when we receive a great deal more rain than the east coast of Scotland. Trying it out into a strong Southerly, we agreed entirely with the unfortunate Captain Cook and named it “Tribulation”.

Design Influences at Sea Temple - No. 15 'Eden'

The main hole to watch this weekend during the Sea Temple Open is the 15th, one of my favourite holes out here. The main prize for an 'ace' during the tournament is a $70,000 HSV. While the 15th provides a great challenge to all levels of golfers, you may have noticed the name of the hole being 'Eden' which draws its influence from the original Eden, the 11th at The Old Course, St. Andrews. The course architect, Mr Michael Wolveridge, has been kind enough to pen a few words on the background of the 15th at Sea Temple.

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The Par 3 15^th hole at the Links which we call The Eden, is a copy in principle of perhaps the most famous hole in all golf, the 11^th hole at St. Andrews. In the process of making both the 10^th and 15^th holes, the 10^th hole was rather too short and I decided that the best answer was to create a double green and thus maximize the length of the 10^th hole. The juxtaposition of the walk-offs was ideal for creating a double green in this instance and it quickly occurred to me that here was a mirror of the 7^th and 11^th at St. Andrews. Our 15^th was already the perfect length for an Eden Hole, there was water beyond the green at a similar distance to the Eden River and I had brought in a great deal of fill material to elevate the green in any event.

The original green has a fierce slope from the back, ending in a steep slope at the very front which can take a ball which doesn’t quite make the plateau where the flagstick awaits, down into the nearest bunker which lies at the foot of the slope, namely Strath Bunker or Shell Bunker. It is a diabolical arrangement causing grief to most of the games’ distinguished players at some time or another….most famous being Bobby Jones in pursuit of an Open Championship in 1921 at age 19, who upon taking far too many, picked up his ball and stormed off the course! In maturity he did return to St. Andrews over the years to come and win the great championships in brilliant manner more than once. He fell in love with the Old Course, 11^th hole et al, moving on towards the end of his life in 1958 to receive the Freedom of the City of St.Andrews, declaring at a most moving ceremony in his famous acceptance speech: “I could take out of my life everything but my experiences at St. Andrews and I would still have had a rich and full life”. The Eden is indeed a most famous hole.