High praise from our recent visitor

The following is a message from our recent visitor and includes a message he forwarded on to a past partner:

G’day Adam & Paul, many thanks to you both for stimulating me to make it down to Wolf Point. WOW! It is kind of cruel that Mike’s first work, can’t be seen by enough people to catapult his career, but hopefully our project will do that for him!

I visited the most fabulous golf course in the middle of nowhere 90 mins from Houston, to meet with and review the architect’s work. It is called Wolf Point. It’s a non-descript, very plain property, where a aerospace engineer named Mike Nuzzo threw in his career to pursue his passion for golf course architecture and has, in my opinion, massaged enough movement in the landscape and tilts around the greens, to create a rival to Riviera, Kingston Heath and the Old Course as lessons in golfing greatness on flat, small properties.  And it was built for less than our last project and made very effective use of a wandering ravine and some nice stands of Oaks to create a must-play.

It is a golfing masterpiece. The course is magnificently & reasonably maintained for its clientele -- genius!


Many thanks to you Mike for reinspiring me towards great golf architecture!


Below is our visitor hitting a green side recovery to the 9th hole.  Be careful to keep it on the green from that angle towards the hole.

A bunker and its surrounds

Pictured above are the two bunkers on the 9th hole. Don and crew have been letting the native vegetation creep towards the bunker. It is less detail maintenance work, and from time to time it needs to be cut back. It helps create an irregular (not man made) look and transition back to the native areas. I like it, and it is easier said than done.

There are a few more bunkers around the course that I hope continue to have the surrounds grow towards the outside edges - especially #7. I'll show some examples on other courses that I like, and don't like, next.

Resolution - See Wolf Point more in 2010

I love playing Wolf Point.
I didn't get down to play enough in 2009.
I hope to change that in 2010.
Prospective clients are welcome to join me.

We had a record drought in 2009 followed by extensive fall rains.
Don Mahaffey continues to do a great job.
I'm excited to think that the course will only get better as it matures past it's first season.

Above I'm escaping the 9th fairway bunker. I hit a great shot to the green, unfortunately it wasn't my first - the bunker is about 7 feet deep from the bottom.

Good luck for a prosperous 2010.
Cheers

#9 almost ready

The above picture is taken from on the 9th green towards the main clubhouse - the tee is just in front. The green is growning in well. The fairway wraps around the lake. It is one of the first pictures I've taken of the hole. I have a good idea on how I'm going to photograph it when it's ready. Taking as many pictures as I do - I'm often planning out future shots. Next time I shoot this image I'm going to make sure the whole fairway is in view.

9 -- Inward

The 1st and 9th holes play from the same teeing area -- away from the clubhouse. The 9th is the longest hole on the course – it can play quite long from a back teeing area. It plays around a 12 acre lake and on paper it seemed a bit formulaic – in its strategy and how well it worked from a clubhouse view. After shaping I was no longer concerned – the fairways and green turned out very well. During my concern phase I really pushed the 2nd shot landing area with two very meaty bunkers to spice up the hole.

The visual intent for the hole was to see the green and first set of bunkers from the clubhouse and teeing area. What I didn’t expect was that there would be a perfect window between some great live oaks that highlighted the 2nd bunker complex. Note the picture above. The regular tee is sighted to be exactly where the view is best - where I was standing for the picture. *The container by the right tree is temporary.

Earlier Holes Featured: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 7 - 11.