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The 15th hole still looks docile to the new visitor. When Matt played, pictured above, the front pin looked very inviting. I told him to play a little short, and he wound up making one of his best swings of the day. Unfortunately it was a hair strong and the ball found the swale left of the green. No birdie for you.
A comment from recent visitor:
“… it is very, very linksy in play terms. Huge width. Unbelievably firm and bouncy. Lots of small scale contour that dominates your thinking in play. It is without doubt the most ground-oriented course I have seen in the US, and frankly outside the Old Course I doubt you'd find anything more so. Windy too.”
I'm 40 today. So technically a much more experienced architect. Above is the 15th green.
Don curved a nice low shot to the 15th green, unfortunately it ran further than expected - leaving this easy putt - he did make a par!
I love the 15th hole. Above is a new picture from the tee. It has played pretty easy. There is lots of room to bail right on the safe side and then it is a pretty straight forward up and down. Although if you check the last scorecard you'll see I made a mess here too. I'm looking forward to playing soon. The 15th is ranked 15th for handicapping purposes.
I took a new digital camera to the course for the first time yesterday. A lot of experimenting - I thought the effect was pretty good. The picture is from the back of the 15th green towards a front middle pin. There is a large swale between me and the hole.
I'll make a post about the cameras as I learn more about them - every picture I've taken of the course was with an inexpensive pocket digital camera - and my new one is only slightly different.
I'll be back to the routings on Monday.
The par three 15th has been one of my favorite holes from the beginning. During my first round I played conservative shots to the right side of the green. One time it bounced towards the pin - result two pars. My second round it was a little different. I played a little more aggressively, and wound up in the gulley to the left of the green and then playing a little more timidly I wound up short - result two bogeys.
This was my view from within the swale. I love the hole. It plays hard and easy, but more importantly IT PLAYS FUN.
The par three 15th hole has always been one of my favorites - I've never seen a green like it before. It was a natural site protected by a drainage swale that can be seen in the above picture. The following image is to give scale to the contours IN the green. The previous posts on 15 can be found here and here. 
The above picture is of the 15th green - a short hole of 150 - 180 yards. I showed an image approximately 2 months ago of the finished (or polished) surface just prior to planting - see here. The camera is looking back towards the tee. Those ripples are 2-4 feet deep and both surround and bleed into the green. The putting surface is the largest on the course and its final shape won't be exact until we start mowing -- the green grass was planted into the surrounds as well. This should help minimize grassing lines, create tighter chipping areas, eliminate the need for a collar and provide flexibility for mowing. I've never seen a green like this one before. I love it.
We put the finishing touches on the 15th green earlier this month. It has always been my favorite green – I think it is incredibly unique – and the shaping was original to the site. The directive for the course was to make it challenging and not ball hungry – our client didn’t want the player to be looking for their golf balls.
For me, besides short and wide, it also translates to a course that looks easy, but plays hard. The first picture is the 15th green from a forward tee – it is a par 3. It looks easy to me.
This picture is a closer look at the green. A sand pro is “finishing” or polishing the green. It is directly on the extents of the putting surface – the edge of where we will be mowing the green. The margin for error is slight. The green looks even better from other angles with better shading, but I'll be saving those for when this green is green.Earlier Holes Featured: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 7 - 9 - 10 - 11.
