"Wolf Point is a jewel"

Pictured above is our 7th green taken just a few days ago.  2010 has been a challenging year for the blog as well as business.   I've been working on leads from around the world, and that has slowed down my ability to post and limited what I can comfortably post. In January I will share some near misses, projects in the works and hopefully tales of one course ready for some improvements.

It is still the rare bird that gets to see Wolf Point... and this is what the last visitor/potential client had to say:

"I love your design work. The course is a jewel."

Don on #7

Don and I had a match recently. I had a 3 up lead until we got to #12. There is definitely a home field advantage. I haven't beaten Don or our client in too long!

I have to settle for good pictures of Don hitting out of our bunkers. At least this was a cool new angle on #7. This is the last hole we built, and it went through several changes - the end result is that it turned out very well - it gets high marks from both of us.

Course Set Up

"I just set a really great pin on the 15th green" Don said enthusiastically on the phone. "Front left of the green. I also put the 14th tee up a little as it is planing downwind -- give 'em a chance to go for the green in two." Don told me he always enjoyed setting up his courses, but never as much as at Wolf Point. There are so many more variables - the tees can almost be anywhere and the greens are so irregular just a few feet can change the optimum strategy.

Above is the 7th green - with a very front pin.

You can learn a lot about a course if you follow a skilled individual set one up -- better yet -- ask Don.

The 7th - An Update

My 2nd favorite picture from earlier this week is above. It is of the 7th green looking back towards the tee. Here were the previous posts on the "once bottle hole" here and here. I've also updated the hole description link to the right, and will be doing so eventually with all the holes.

Why do I love this picture? The green shaping looks very unusual to me. There is a hump in front with a trough through the middle that drains water to the players left - which makes if far more receptive from the far left side of the fairway. It is a shortish par 4 down wind so the long player can challenge the bunker to try and get very close too - but it would be all carry over native grasses.

The grass being as dense as it is looks beautiful too. One can see the walk mower lines. In this image I see a huge milestone to the project and our efforts.

Another little slice of 7

To share one additional insight with the 7th hole – During the redesign to its current form (see here), I had sketched a small 200 square foot bunker in the middle of the fairway. As it was built the hole plays down wind and the tiger can try to carry the ball to the approach inbetween the left fairway bunkers and the green side bunker. The right side of the fairway is protected by native grasses and the greedy player will find their ball in a tough spot frequently. The current play, without the centerline bunker, is to try to hit to the neck and not through the fairway into the left fairway bunkers – which are quite severe.

One can also play safe anywhere in the big left portion of the fairway –- a hint: the green is far more receptive the closer one hits their tee shot to the left fairway bunkers. The center line bunker was an attempt to create a lay up option – with a long iron or utility club – or lay up left. Don felt that instead of creating options that it would reduce options as the lay up left would not be used -- unless accidently. We discussed it for a few days and together decided to leave it out.

I’m looking forward to seeing it tomorrow with mature grass…

A Bottle Hole No More - The 7th

As the course routing was evolving the 7th hole always hovered around the same open cleared area - it didn't move much. My original idea was to create a short version of a bottle hole – the ground had a slight rise away from the tee and it would be fairly easy to accentuate the ground to make a line of cross bunkers. As the other holes were being developed I had a sense that I was overusing the diagonal feature. So I overlaid all the holes in the same orientation from tee to green and it was a lot easier to see the similarities.

It was some time later when we were getting ready to start on 7 and I said to Don I’m thinking about not making a diagonal cross bunker complex here… That was by far the shortest meeting we’ve had on site – he was in full agreement. I came back with a new sketch, Don was fully supportive from a construction perspective and encouraged us to make the greenside bunker larger.

The surrounding area was subdued and the new holes movement is too.
*For reference - I used an 800’ turning point in the above image.

Also while it looks like it is just a sketch - those features are all GPS'd data as are most of the trees.


The 7th previously when it was a Bottle Hole. You can see the natural tee landform in the contours too - it is the teeiest tee we have on the course. I also had a hell of a name for this version of the bottle...

Earlier Holes Featured: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 11.


An addendum on the definition of a Bottle Hole:
Here is the most famous bottle hole - click for aerial.
From George Bahato's great book: The Evangelist of Golf
Bottle Hole Origin: C.B. Macdonald modification of original 12th hole at Sunningdale's Old Course, Berkshire, England - No Longer Exists
Bunkering: Features a dramatic set of fairway bunkers placed on a diagonal to the line of play, separating a two-level fairway. Green site well bunkered with Principal's Nose complex beyond fairway bunkers.
Approach: The narrowere fairway segment (set on the upperfairway segment) offeres a less hazardous approach shot.
Final comments: Though many were built, most have been lost as club committees eliminated one of the optional fairways.