43. Shanqin Bay/Abu Dhabi Next Stops April 28-30, 2016

Shanqin Bay/Abu Dhabi Next Stops April 28-30, 2016

Shanqin Bay GC, April 28, 2016:  Had breakfast at the hotel and Lisa came by to bring me to SB.  I hit a few balls, wanting to make sure we finished with enough time for a shower, a nice lunch and the drive to Haikou airport for my flight to Hong Kong.  Those of you with trips to SB planned will be pleased to hear that the new airport is completed and will be open for commercial flights some time this summer…which should reduce the time driving to the airport to about 15 minutes from today’s 90 minutes to Haikou.

The range was in superb shape, and I must be moving up in the world as I was set up to hit off of the grass rather than mats.  Did see several filled divots on the range that were probably the result of a member-member event the previous weekend…during which the club must have been virtually overrun given the field was full with 32 members participating J.

Joey then drove me over to the clubhouse and first tee and on the way pointed out that the open field to the left of the range would be used to build some cabins for use by members and guests.  He seemed very pleased by this decision made after he had brought a group of members to Pine Valley where they experienced PVGC’s cabins and unanimously agreed to go ahead with cabins at SB.

I had forgotten that SB collects all phones before people go out on the course, so no pictures here, folks.  Yes I know I could have taken pics at Mission Hills and did not, but frankly there really wasn’t a hole worthy of such memorialization.

When I arrived at the first tee, I received a round of applause from the line up of staff.  I remembered receiving the same applause two years ago and then pulling my drive and mulligan into the plant life left…clearly there has been 100% turnover of the staff as no one who witnessed my start in 2014 would have applauded me today.

This year I improved considerably with just a so-so opening drive (hit right) but a perfectly hit mulligan.  I then hit #1 in regulation but proceeded to three putt from about 25 feet.  That proved to be the start of some fairly poor golf for holes 1-5 (I was 8 over at that point and getting very frustrated).  Finished the front nine with a 10 over 45 but started playing somewhat better on the back with a 4 over 40 helped considerably by an eagle two on drivable downhill par 4 16^th.  Hit a good drive leaving me with about 74 yards to the pin, which was front right on the green’s lower tier.  Choked down on a sand wedge and hit it great…right on the backstop slope behind the pin and it spun back and went dead in.  Joey saw it drop but I did not.  That was fun.  Last eagle for me was on the par 5 18^th at Mayacama in Napa, CA in late August 2013 (please do not ask when my last eagle before Mayacama was).

After finishing the round, had a quick shower and superb lunch, with Joey, Lisa, and the new greenskeeper at Shanqin Bay, Roger Goettsch, who previously has been at GC of Houston (venue for the Shell Houston Open on the PGA Tour), then packed up my belongings and said goodbye to the staff.  It was very special to return ot Shanqin Bay.  It is a great golf course but more importantly, it is staffed by a wonderful group of people whose goal is simply to ensure that you have the best time possible during your visit. 

In terms of the golf course, it remains my #1 course in Asia, and I still consider it the second best Coore Crenshaw design in the world (behind Sandhills in NE).  Its rating positions are as follows:

            --Golf Magazine…moved up to #47 in 2015 (from #78 in 2013);

            --Golf Digest…debuted at #37 in 2016;

            --Top100.co.uk…moved up to #60 from #94;

            --Planet Golf…stayed unchanged at #46.

The course was simply in perfect condition and was firm despite a good amount of rain over the previous 5-7 days.

The best part of the visit was still to come.  Joey and Lisa accompanied me on the drive up to Haikou airport and shortly after we arrived we were met there by Summer Chen.  The readers of this blog who have been to SB will certainly remember Summer, who was a “shadow” at SB (shadows would accompany you around the property, to and from the airport, etc. to translate for you when necessary, answer questions you might have, etc. etc.).  Several months after my first visit two years ago, Summer announced that she was leaving SB to get married to a young man she had recently met.  Five months ago they had their first child.  Attached is a photo of their family and me at the airport.  It was simply wonderful to see Summer so very happy.  Her husband clearly is madly in love with her (and vice versa), and their son is adorable.  It was great to catch up! In talking to Summer, she told me she had met her husband at a wedding a few weeks before my visit in 2014 but at that point she was not really interested in him.  Turns out that she ran into him at the airport shortly after dropping me off at the airport…and that “chemistry” happened. 

Lisa, Joey, moi, Summer with son and husband

Additionally, Joey advised that my visit in 2014 was almost cancelled at the last minute.  China Chairman Xi’s office called a few days before I was scheduled to arrive and advised that President Putin of Russia would be visiting China to confer with Chairman Xi and Chairman Xi wanted to hold the meeting at Shanqin Bay, and that would have meant closing the club to everyone during the meeting.  However, shortly after that call, Xi decided he did not want the image of setting up a meeting at a golf course and the venue was changed (Xi has been very anti-golf).  Fascinating stuff!  Looked this one up on the web.  Xi and Putin did meet (in Shanghai) on May 20, 2014…and my round was May 16, 2014…could certainly have been!!

My flight back to Hong Kong went smoothly and then I had an eight-hour layover before flying to Dubai…finally arriving in Dubai at around 7am on Friday April 29.

Abu Dhabi Golf Club, April 29, 2016: I still had one more course added by the eighth World Top 200 source (Golf Week UK) to play and ADGC was virtually right on the way back from Hainan Island, so that became my next stop.  Flight schedules made it easier to arrive in Dubai, and Abu Dhabi is only about 90 minutes south of the Dubai airport.  ADGC had a driver meet my flight and take me directly to the course.  We arrived by 9:15am and I met the Director of Golf Collum Nicoll, originally from Troon, Scotland.  Collum had paired me with two members at 10:20, which worked well.

 I had started to check the weather reports online over the prior two days and it was clear that it would be hot for this round.  Our threesome whipped around the front nine in about 1:40 but caught up with the groups in front of us around #9, resulting in a 2:20 back nine in 95° degree heat.  By the 15^th hole I began to wilt, and my game fell apart, flubbing one chip and three putting twice over the final four holes.  I ended up shooting 39-41=80 but it could have been much better. 

ADGC hosts the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Tour Championship each January and from the tips plays to over 7600 yards (note…this is at sea level).  They apparently grow the rough to ridiculous heights, and Ricky Fowler, the winner this year shot 16 under par.  Quite frankly, how this track ever made a World 100 list is simply astounding.  Zero charm, subtlety, or design attributes.  Just a long slog as we say.  Anyhow, Golf Week UK had it as #100 in 2010, and I am most pleased to say that it is now in my rear view mirror.

I found Collum and thanked him for the round and headed for my hotel some 15 minutes away.  I was exhausted and quickly showered, had something to eat (first food since breakfast on the plane at 6am) and was back in the room asleep by 4:30pm.  I awoke from my extended nap at 8:30, and immediately went to work on the blog for a couple of hours and then returned to bed…such a faithful correspondent!!

YAS Links, April 30, 2016:  When I played YAS links in January of this year, I loved the course.  It is a Kyle Phillips links style course in the middle of the desert, and is a brilliant design.  Unfortunately, I got held up by foursomes big time on the back nine, and was faced with running too late to catch my next flight.  On the par 3 17^th, I played it in about 3 minutes after the group ahead putted out (just about “hockey sticking” the ball to the hole near and on the green) and then explained my situation and they allowed me to play in, alternately hitting a shot when there was room and playing hockey when there was not.  I did finish 18 and I did catch my plane…but since then have wanted to really play these last 2-3 holes.  Additionally, I wanted to talk with the managers or owners of the club to tell them how much I loved this creation (I think it is the best desert course I have played) and get a sense of how it came about.

I emailed the club a month ago and very quickly heard back from Martyn Hamer, Head Pro.  After noting each others’ schedule we quickly agree that I would play #16-18 at 6:45am on Saturday and then join him for breakfast to discuss the course and its plans.

Martyn picked me up at my hotel (about a mile from YAS Links) and we proceeded with that plan, including breakfast with Martyn.   I bogeyed all three holes (which was fine, I really did want to play them at least “semi-normally”), showered and had a delightful breakfast with Martyn and his chief groundkeeper, Michael ??, originally from New Zealand).  Then Martyn drove me up to the Dubai airport and here I am on a flight to Heathrow, for connections to arrive in Edinburgh late tonight, and drive to Gleneagles for a round Sunday morning.  I shall hopefully post this during my layover at Heathrow, or worst case on Sunday.

OK, so where do I stand?  Major progress made these past three weeks…left with:

Top 100 Ever: 5 of 286 left to play (Canada-2, Barbados-1, France-1, England-1)

MacWood Spoof: 7 left to play (England-6, Canada-1)

US Open Venues: 2 left to play (IL-1, MA-1)

Total: 13 (one course on both Top 100 Ever and MacWood):

            England: 6

            Canada: 3 (Quebec and Nova Scotia)

            Barbados: 1

            France: 1

            USA: 2

Other possible bucket list?  How about “Cup Ever”, playing all venues of Walker Cup, Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, Curtis Cup, and Solheim Cup.  You might have noticed me sneaking some of these in over the past year or so, for example:

            National, Paris, April 2015 (Ryder Cup 2018)

            Marco Simone GC, Rome, April 2016 (Ryder Cup 2022)

            K Club, Ireland, May 2015 (Ryder Cup 2006)

            Jack W. Nicklaus Golf Club, S Korea, October 2015 (Presidents Cup 2015)

            St Leon-Rot, Germany, April 2016 (Solheim Cup 2015)

More about what’s left and next plans on my next post.

42. Next Trip---Starting in Cabo, and Continuing on to…

Next Trip---Starting in Cabo, and Continuing on to…

In my last posting I left out one picture from the 4^th tee at Quivira looking down at holes 1-4 and 18 (as well as the beach)…take a look below and realize that the rise from the 4^th green is from those holes shown in the photo.

That afternoon (Saturday 4/23) I flew to LAX in order to catch a flight to Sydney.  Yes, Pat and I were just in Australia last month, but remember my lamenting about not being able to play Ellerston?  Well, a game has been in the works at Ellerston for the past several weeks and I built a round-the-world 10-day trip around it. 

Arrived LAX around 5:30pm and had dinner with Henry Lichstein an old fraternity brother and friend for the last 53+ years.  Henry’s wife Janine was down with a cold so it was just the two of us and always good to catch up with Henry.  Then it was back to LAX for a flight departing around 11pm for Sydney…and this will be one of three nights sleeping on a plane on this trip…just think how much $$ I am saving on hotel bills!!!! J

The flight was a good one and we arrived about 15 minutes early at SYD.  After getting my luggage thru customs (and passing the foreign dirt inspection including earning a gold star on my forehead), went over to the domestic terminal to meet my friend who set this up thru a friend of his (in order to protect their identities and keep them from getting all sorts of requests for help at Ellerston, my friend will be referred to as RL and his friend, who has done business with the Packer family for many years, will be referred to as RM).  RL’s flight was on time and we took a taxi to his sister’s house…she lives in a Sydney suburb and was out of town.  Was able to take a good shower and have a two hour nap…both of which were seriously needed.  Then we had lunch and drove to a local airport where we were meeting a charter 2-engine prop that was to take us to the town of Scone (about an hour from Ellerston).  Also meeting us there was John Cornish, a friend of mine from Melbourne who was our 4^th.  RM has a vacation house near Scone and was meeting us at the Scone airport that evening.  After a brief scare when we got to the suburban Sydney airport (no plane there…and call to charter company got an initial reaction of “that charter is scheduled for tomorrow”) they quickly double checked and said the plane would be there in 5 minutes.  The flight north went very well…smooth as can be.

I was surprised at the terrain we flew over (heading north from Sydney).  First half of flight it was heavily forested and then we were over small mountain ranges (more like foothills).  So much for my sense that the Outback encompassed essentially all of Australia’s interior.  John Cornish, RL, and I arrived just before 5pm and RM arrived about 3 minutes later in his car.  Scone is in the middle of horse country.  Being that it was almost sunset, we had to pass on playing a quick 9 at Scone Golf Club…saving it for next trip.

Drive into town took about 5 minutes and our rooms turned out to be much nicer than expected.  We went out for dinner at a local bar, then back to our rooms for the night.

Ellerston Golf, April 26, 2016:  We left Scone at 7:30am and arrived about 8:45.  GPS had taken us on one wrong turn but RM realized the problem (even though he had never been to Ellerston) shortly thereafter and we got back on track.  The final 10 miles of the drive is on a dirt road, and while there is a town called Ellerston, it consists mainly of support staff for the Packer estate.  The estate is simply enormous.  I have heard from other sources that it is about 100 square miles (640,000 acres).  It includes several world-class polo fields and a large set of stables that (from a distance) look as nice as a Four Seasons.  And, of course, we only saw a small portion of the estate. 

The rumor mill in the golf world is filled with all sorts of stories about Ellerston…some true and many apparently false, for example:

·      we had heard that visitors are often rushed in and out of the estate as quickly as possible…NOT TRUE…we were treated to a light breakfast, talked at length with general manager of the estate, and after playing were served a wonderful lunch with the GM, who sincerely solicited our opinions; on the other hand, as had been rumored, we were not asked if we wanted to hit some balls on the driving range;

·      many had said the course gets very little play…well, that one is definitely true; we were the only people on the course all day (in fact I don’t even remember seeing any maintenance staff…they must get their work in the wee small hours); that made it 4 rounds on April 27 and that made it a very busy day, since last year there were total of about 630 rounds played (averaging about 12 rounds/week or 1.7 rounds/day);

·      the course was rumored to have only two sets of tees, is brutal long with difficult carries on many holes; this one is partially true…there are four sets of tees shown on the scorecard (Championship/Back/Middle/Forward) ranging from 7310 yards to 6550 yards; only one tee is set up on each hole, and today the setup was from the Middle tees which are officially about 7120 yards…but we seemed to be a little up on a number of holes so probably played from about 6900-7000 yards…for sure the longest course I have played since Pikewood National (WV) in September 2013; the  longest carry off the tee was about 185 yards from the Middle tees on #7, and that was playing with the wind.

·      the estate was rumored to be very secretive, again partially true;  we had a forecaddie who was fairly open but seemed to be there in part to make sure (in as very very quiet and nice way) we obeyed certain rules; we were allowed to take as many pictures as we wished, but were firmly asked not to post them on social media (hence none included here…but private slide shows seem to be allowed and the line for those forms to the left);  it is important to remember that this is not a “golf club”, there are no “members”…this is the private home/estate of a family, so to my mind, all of the rules and requests seemed very reasonable.

The course is very big and bold, and is the best Greg Norman design I have ever played.  Its “size” (I do not mean length) reminded me in a way of Bethpage Black…as a player you feel small on the course.  It “felt” like a course Greg Norman would design.  The greens are generous in size, very subtle, and filles with well-designed slopes and breaks; they are in no way outrageous.  The bunkers are massive and often very deep.  The fairways are wide are generally strategic in design.  The par 3’s offer superb variety.  Some of the holes are strikingly similar to others I have played elsewhere (non-golfers: this is not unusual at all in great courses)…in particular #10, a 549 yard par 5 with  second and third shots very similar in feel to #13 at ANGC (creek running in front of a green set at an angle best approached from the right…with lots of space available on the right, and a backstop on the left back side of the green).  On the other hand, #16 was the first hole I have played in a very long time that I sense I have never “seen” before.  It is 456 yards from the tips and 436 from Forward tees.  Relatively flat off the tee, it turns sharply left about 250 yards from the tees and has a creek along the left side.  At the corner of the dogleg is a large tree that can affect almost any approach shot.  Finally, about 80 yards short of the green the fairway rises about 25 feet and then drops down about 30 feet just before the green.  From the fairway the rise before the green seems somewhat disconcerting at first, but no question the hole “worked” well, with well played draws (not from me) being rewarded by feeding down to slope into the green.

The countryside surrounding the estate is rugged and breathtaking.  Even without a large body of water or large mountains, Ellerston is one of the most beautiful golf courses I have ever seen.  I would have preferred it to be a little firmer and faster, but it is not overwatered.  It is in superb condition. 

The golf course was built seemingly (and by rumor admittedly) without regard to space limitations and distances between greens and tees.  This allowed architects Greg Norman and Bob Harrison to create 18 magnificent holes in close to ideal individual locations. However, that brings in a real trade-off, by potentially detracting from the overall “flow” of the course and by creating longer than usual distances between green and next tee.  My guess is that almost all rounds are played with carts…it is too long and difficult a walk for almost all golfers.  We all road carts, which were surprisingly gas powered as opposed to electric (I would guess 18 holes with these distances and vertical movements might be too close to the running capacity of electric carts).

Ellerston was completed in 2000 and recently has appeared on the following World 100 lists:

            Golf Magazine 2015 (#73)

            Golf Digest 2016 (#29)

            www.top100golfcourses.co.uk 2016 (#99)

            Planet Golf 2009 (#58), 2014 (#80), and 2015 (#80)

For what it is worth, I think it is the 5^th best course in Australia, and would place it about 60-80 on a World Top 100…basically in line with the above ratings

Several months ago, it was publically announced that the Packer family was selling the golf assets of the Ellerston estate to Crown Casino, the largest casino company in Australia (and majority owned by the Packer family).  It is generally presumed that Crown plans to offer rounds at Ellerston to “high rollers” a la Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.  The GM of Ellerston made it clear that the golf operations would be changing but that the planning stage was not completed.  I believe they will have to add some shorter tees, but that these changes should have almost no impact on the integrity of the course and its design.

I played well and had a 43 – 43 = 86; not too bad considering it played like a par 77 or so for this old man!  Birdied 17 (524 yard par 5) by sticking a nine iron to 2 feet. 

Overall, this was a great way to complete the Golf Magazine World Top 100 Ever list.  There have been 19 GM World Top 100 lists and I have now competed all 19 by playing all the 194 courses that have appeared on one or more of these lists.  It was good to get this done at such a magnificent place.

We could have showered but wanted to get to the plane so that we could fly (and RM could drive as much as possible) prior to darkness.  The drive back to Scone airport took one hour (including a wasted 5 minutes when your truly mistakenly thought he had left his laptop behind).  The flight back was as smooth as the flight the previous day and we all left Ellerston with a wonderful feeling.  We landed just before darkness set in…perfect timing.  John Cornish dropped me off at SYD airport…it was time to move on to Hainan Island, China.  A great day!!

Mission Hills Haikou—Lava Fields, April 27, 2016:  Must say that I was a tired (but happy) puppy when I boarded the plane for the overnight flight to Hong Kong.  The flight arrived early and I had a layover of about 5-6 hours.  At 11:30am I boarded a Hainan Airlines flight to Haikou which arrived just before its scheduled time of 12:45pm.

Hainan Island lies off China’s southern coast in the South China Sea and is just east of Vietnam.  I first visited Hainan Island in mid May 2014 during my final trip to finish the 2013 Golf Magazine World 100 to play Shanqin Bay, the outstanding Coore-Crenshaw design completed in 2013.  I loved SB and have wanted to return to play it again, but over the past 18 months, two scheduled visits were cancelled.  First, my planned early 2015 trip was cancelled when I had two coronary stents inserted in November 2014.  The second time, in October 2015, I cancelled my visit to allow me to play some other new courses in Asia that had appeared on updated World Top 100 lists.

As I mentioned in a previous post, and unnamed source provided me with an 8^th source for World 100 Lists (Golf Week UK) earlier this year.  Those two lists published in 2010 and 2011 added four courses to my task: County Loth (Ireland), Abu Dhabi National UAE), Alwoodley (England), and Mission Hills-Lava Fields (China).  I played County Louth several weeks ago, was already scheduled to play Alwoodley in late May (it is also on the MacWood list), and when the chance to play Ellerston arose, I scheduled a round the world trip to allow me to play Lava Fields , Abu Dhabi National, the courses in Cabo, and certain others.

Lava Fields was designed by Brian Curley and opened several years ago at the second Mission Hills facility in China.  The first is close to Hong Kong and opened about 15 years ago.  It now has 12 courses.  The Haikou facility was launched subsequently and has 10 courses. Haikou is at the north tip of Hainan Island which is a “designated” major resort/vacation area of China (ahh, the marvels of central planning).

I was met at Haikou airport by a representative of Mission Hills and shortly thereafter boarded a shuttle bus for a 20-25 minute ride to the resort.  I was met by Wendy Chen, Asst Director of Clubhouse Services who then introduced me to Michael Qin, GM of the Golf Club.  Michael and I had exchanged many emails over the past 18 months due to my prior attempts to get to Lava Fields and it was good to meet him in person.

I teed off around 3:20pm.  Lava Fields is a very good course filled with seemingly hundreds of bunkers (I did not count them but would guess there are around 170-200).  It is a classic tour quality course with good length (7475 yards) and lots of difficult pin positions available on greens with some fairly severe slopes.  However, somewhat as I expected, it lacks the charms and subtleties of the great designs.  The course was fairly empty (I played through one foursome) and finished in about 2:40).  I hit the ball very well and had a 38 – 41 = 79. 

After the round, had a good shower and met Joey Garon, the GM of Shanqin Bay and his assistant Lisa for a wonderful Chinese dinner at Mission Hills.  We talked mostly about what has been going on at Shanqin Bay and the golf world over the past two years.  After dinner they dropped me off at my hotel and it was great to sleep in a real bed!

Looking forward to returning to Shanqin Bay tomorrow!!

41. Next Trip---Starting in Cabo, Mexico April 22, 2016

Next Trip---Starting in Cabo, Mexico April 22, 2016

With the light getting brighter at the end of the tunnel, I figured it was time to knock off a few more.  So here I am, the morning of April 22 on a flight to Cabo, Mexico (actually two flights to get there, Raleigh-Durham à Dallas and Dallas à Cabo.  I have been to Cabo once before, in November 2014.  That trip started my final push to finish the Golf Magazine 2013 World 100.  Pat and I had been to Cabot Links two months before and we had the opportunity to have breakfast with Ben Cowan-Dewar the visionary behind the Cabot courses in Nova Scotia.  Playing Cabot Links brought my “unplayed” from the GM 2013 list to 9, and Ben asked me when I hoped to finish the list.  I told him that my missing nine were all over the place (Cabo-2, Japan-6, S Korea, S Africa, and Ireland) and I wasn’t sure if I would get all that traveling done.  He responded with “you’ve gotten this far and are now saying you might not finish it?  That is crazy!”  Pat (perhaps to her later regret) agreed whole-heartedly, and I was off to the races.

My November 2014 plan was to arrive and play Querencia (which was not on any World list at the time) that afternoon, then Davis Love’s brilliant Diamante course the next morning and Jack Nicklaus’ Ocean course the following morning, and catch flights back to NC…spending some 49 hours on the ground in Cabo playing these 3 tracks (two of which were on the GM World list).  However, due to bad weather around Houston, my first flight was late getting to Houston and I missed the connection…and there was no way to get to Cabo till the next morning.  A flurry of phone calls ensued and I stayed in Houston with old friends that night.  I notified Querencia and explained why I could not be there, and moved Diamante to the following afternoon.  I ended up on the ground for all of 25 hours and got in both of the World 100 courses (Diamante and Ocean), thinking it would have been nice to have played Querencia, but not important.  That changed when I decided to create and go after the World 100 Ever—Eight Sources bucket list and then Querencia appeared on Golf Digest’s 2016 list published 3 months ago (at spot #98), necessitating another visit.  Since a 24-28 hour visit (given flight schedules from the USA it is essentially impossible to get in and out the same day) allows for two rounds, my choices were (1) Quivira…a controversial Nicklaus course that opened about 18 months ago, (2) replay Davis Love’s course at Diamante, or (3) play Tiger Woods’ first design, also located at Diamante which opened late in 2015.  I chose the first alternative and having heard some stories about it since, I was wondering if I made the right choice.

I was leaving RDU at 5:53am and Pat suggested I get a hotel room for the night before, which was a good idea.  Also, her brother Henry (who lives in Chapel Hill) was coming over for dinner that night and to see Hunter, Kinston, and Duggan, so he was able to drive me up to the hotel.

Querencia Golf Club April 22, 2016:  My flights were on time Friday morning and everything went very smoothly.  Querencia is only about 20 minutes from the airport and is built on a huge plot of land.  Tom Fazio designed this course and it opened around 2000.  The club is now planning to break ground shortly on a second course, to be designed by Gil Hanse. 

It plays to 7050 yards (par 72) and was built on very rugged terrain…similar to the northern portions of Scottsdale, AZ.  The views are superb and flat lies and holes are difficult to find.  The greens are very large and can be difficult to read because of the overall influence of the slope down to the sea..  Best holes to my mind are #4 (a 552 yard par 5, relatively flat, and turning left all the way with an infinity green that can be difficult to read (I can testify to that, having had one of my three 3-putt holes there), #14 (a 164 yard downhill par 3 to another infinity green sloping sharply back to front…playing into a mild wind I nuked a 6 iron carrying it about 160 to the back edge), and #16 (an uphill from the tee and then downhill to green 466 yard par 4 to a wide but shallow green open on the left and protected on the right…this was the only one of these three that I parred).  Course was in excellent condition and is very fair.  I liked it but would not even consider it in a World 100 category.  Hard to describe why but I guess it somehow lacks subtlety and mystery…it just didn’t seem to play with my mind the way great course do.

Hit the ball fairly well and had a 41 -39 = 80.  Not bad right off the plane.  Played with a wonderful member who moved down here 15 years ago from NW Ohio.  He had fired a 69 (to shot his age) the day before and had the 77 this day.  After the round talked for a while with the pro, Erik Evans, who had been at Diamante previously and LACC before that.  Then pushed on to my hotel which was within the Cabo del Sol resort.  As usual got lost trying to find it but finally made it to my room, very very tired.  Was in bed by 9:30.

Quivira Golf Club, April 23, 2016:  Am not quite sure how to react to this Jack Nicklaus design which opened in late 2014.  It lies along the beach and on a mountain along the Pacific coast and must occupy well over 500 acres.  It plays to a par 72 and totals 7139 yards.  Sometimes in this blog I describe courses as being unwalkable…and generally this has meant that they would be very difficult to walk.  In the case of Quivera…this one is truly unwalkable.  The cart ride from the 4^th green to the 5^th tee must be at least ¾ of a mile and must encompass a vertical rise of about 500’.  Over the past few weeks since I planned this trip, several people have questioned why I chose to play Quivira, and as I stated above, I was having my doubts…but the truth is that there are aspects of this course that I have not seen in JWN designs before…very very positive aspects.   First…most of the par 4 and 5 holes have great width and angles become critically important...design aspects usually found on older classics and Coore-Crenshaw and Tom Doak designs from today’s crop of architects.  Additionally, the fronts of most of the green were open and on many holes, the fairway “bleed “ into the greens at prescribed angles, thereby encouraging use a the ground game.  And in a few cases, adjoining fairways “bleed” into each other with no rough in between (a technique used superbly by Coore-Crenshaw in their renovation of Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, NC as well as by Mackensie at Augusta National before it was lengthened, and probably first employed so well at the Old Course in St. Andrews).  There were a whole bunch of holes that I thought were superb…in particular #3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13…that is a goodly number.  I thought the best were #8, 11, and 14:

·      #8 plays 399 yards, and rises sharply uphill especially on the approach to a wide green (interestingly, I thought there were a lot of very narrow, deep greens…I counted 5 on the front nine);

Approach on #8...do NOT be short or it may come back to your feet!

·      #11 is 375 yards with a blind tee shot to a split fairway; the right fairway is wider but is lower than the left and presents a blind approach to the green;

·      #13 is a short 148 yard par 3 over an ocean chasm to a two tired green…in some ways the hole reminded me of #15 at Cypress Point (see pic below).

Remind you of #14 at Cypress Point?

      And the views are quite simply too great to describe.

On the other hand, there are things to criticize:

·      long distances from green to tee often break up the “flow” of the course, as well as making it impossible to really “feel” the course by walking it;

·      the 5^th hole is a disaster measuring 310 from the tips with almost no place to hit your tee shot and a severely downhill 2^nd that is often blind; to be fair, JWN clearly had a transition issue getting over a mountain; but maybe Jack just tries to build course where they were not meant to be; 

·      a little bit of Jack’s traditional design style seems to have crept in on 16 and 17 (and too a small extent on 18)…which are too narrow (IMHO) and don’t seem to fit with the rest of the course (16 and 17 are sharply downhill and were heavily influenced by the mountain that created #5).

#17...much narrower than most of the holes

One other aspect was very surprising…the course was in good shape but not the excellent shape one usually seeing at Jack’s creations. The greens were relatively slow (I am guessing 9.5-10.0 on a stimp) and too soft.  Finally the fairways were also too “thick” and slow.

In summary though, I was very pleasantly surprised.  I would not include this in a World 100 (it has not appeared in any to date), but it is worth playing for the views and perhaps a transition on JWN’s architectural style.

Ended the day with another 80, this time 39 - 41 (but then again the par split is 34 -38 = 72).

After the round showered and had lunch, then was off to the airport…to places I promise to reveal in my next posting...in the meantime, some other pics:

#6...180 yards downhill on side of mountain.  Had no timer to move the sun or my cart.

#3...316 yards...be careful laying up to right of that bunker in center of fairway...it slopes right there big time

#12 635 yards down hill winding thru bunkers left and right to green in distance.