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The main clubhouse construction has begun. Late last year the foundation was poured, see above. It will take a little over a year to complete and it will look super on it's site. It will have great vistas of much of the course. 1, 9, 8, 18, 4 & 5 will surround the clubhouse and almost every other hole will be visible from one of the many views. It will be perched adjacent to the large lake - pictured yesterday. The basement should be finished this month, which will enable us to complete all the earthwork just of to the edge - backfilling, and grass up to the structure, and start establishing our non-grass plantings.
The first structure, view here, is almost finished. It is very nice inside, and almost all the fixtures are installed. It will be plenty ready for a first meeting before the opening round - and after too.
I had a golf industry visitor to Wolf Point last week - Will - who has seen many great golf courses. He was very impressed with the site, its setting and the design of the course. We spoke today and he said he could easily remember all of the holes and thought he could probably describe the greens too. The course left a very strong impression.
I have always thought Wolf Point would be very memorable, it is very nice to see just how memorable.
Over time bunkers clog up. There are many new products and methods that were designed to help. It seems as if everyone does their best, and mostly that means accepting the eventual clogging.
One additional maintenance expence is returning the washed sand after a significant rain event. Sometimes it only takes a little rain to wash out a bunker depending on how it was shaped and what area drains into the bunker.
The above pictures are not from Wolf Point. We have made significant efforts to manage the design, construction and maintenance of our bunkers so they will last a long time with modest upkeep. We have finalized our process and will begin the final steps at the course this month. I hope to chronicle a little of what we will do. Don has done considerable research.
Wolf Point started on the ranch, transitioned to the creek, transitioned back to the ranch and now is finishing on the creek. The environments are not as discreet however - our goal was to blend the areas to have a similar feel. For this final stretch we did the least amount of work to this area. The natural drainage made for 3 excellent holes.
The 16th hole is a short par 4 (driver + wedge) that is highlighted by the natural contouring around the green. As can be seen from the above sketch the creek wraps around the green. And it isn't a coincidence that the green is far more receptive when the tee shot is hit closer to the creek. I also really like the natural tree clearing line we developed to the right of the fairway. Don did a fantastic job of continuing the clearing and thinning outside the fairway lines to create better airflow and aesthetics. It is very rare to have the opportunity to enhance the areas outside the area of play.
This green is a little smaller than most of the others and helps build the challenge as one plays to the end of the round.
I had sighted one very unique tee down in the creek area - essentially blind - I called it the ShoreAcres tee - reminiscent of the 13th tee shot that is played from within the ravine. This year it rained too much to build, maybe one year. Earlier Holes Featured:
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Since the course opened in 1927 the bunkers and course has been evolving and changing. Restorative bunker work was completed in the early 1990's. Since then the course has been undergoing additional changes. The above picture was taken from satellite imagery after (left) and before (right) the most recent work to #10.
The tenth hole is one of the most famous and architecturally significant holes in the US. When I first saw the new version - on the left - I thought someone had photoshopped the bunker as a joke. Turns out it wasn't. Were there reasons to change the bunker? Probably several. When I last saw the course it was hand raked - maybe it was too much raking when hitting it in the middle of a bunker - thus the added fingers. Maybe it fits in better with all the other changes that have occurred - why was this one done near the end? It looks like a lot more maintenance work now.
What I like least about the new bunker is that is clutters up the view of a beautiful hole. The bunker is now distracting and is screaming "LOOK AT ME!!". It draws my eye all around the shapes and doesn't give enough importance to the green and overall strategy. In my opinion it was also historically significant and worthy of preservation - not modernization.
This is my last dislike - here are the others: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.
I thought it would be fun to continue what Ian Andrew had started on his blog, it turns out it wasn't as enjoyable as I'd thought.
I spent the day at the course on Friday to meet with Don and check out the course. Everything was looking really good, the infrastructure is taking final shape and the big clubhouse is moving along. On my way out I couldn't resist one last peak of the course in the setting sun. The above picture is the 11th green at dusk. The grass is mostly dormant and looking good for the coming season.
The line of play is from the right of the picture. It is a long par 4. The right (far) side of the green is steep, but to play to the safe side of the green, there is a bunker short left of the green - as can be seen here.
I want to call it the stingray green because the ripples looks like a stingray swimming upside down - we'll see what name sticks when it starts playing.
Hell bunker is one very memorable bunker from The Old Course in St. Andrews. Being on the border of Mexico it seemed only fitting to name our mammoth bunker complex Infierno - Spanish for Hell. It also helps to have Diablo and Demonio protecting the bunker. The above image is just a fraction of Infierno. It protects the inside corner of the 5th hole, and the green complex sets up in a way that you really want to be near Infierno for your approach.
2008 is the year Wolf Point Club will officially open. I've been really looking forward to the day. The last detail for the course will be the finishing of the bunkers. I post this picture, of the 3rd hole, as a last experiment in what the bunkers may look like.
It came out a little fancy, but it will be hard to predict where the bermuda will "crawl". I followed the existing runners and natural grass lines while makeing this sketch. The other item that sticks out is how the bunkers completely take over the picture. The green is equally important to the strategy of the hole, but very hard to tell. The 2nd bunker is also far more menacing, and hard to tell by the picture also - see the aerial view.I'm going to do my best this year to photograph the greens - they are way more beautiful than the bunkers.
