Hollywood Golf Club
NJ, USA
12th hole, 445 yards; A spectacle from the tee, this hole once had57 bunkers on it (i.e. this single hole had more bunkers thanthe entire course at Augusta National when it opened!).A majority of the bunkers remain to this day. Travis wasn’t a long hitter but he was accurate and this hole favors such a person. Only the man who hits the fairway can have a go for the green in two by carrying the nest of cross bunkers for his second. Not surprisingly given that this hole heads straighttoward the Ocean, the last fifty yards and the front of the greenare both wide open. Travis clearly is giving the golfer every opportunity to hit a low wind cheater, a shot that he thrived on.
The famous Heinz 57 hole as seen from the 12th tee.
Sand, sand everywhere on the 12th.
13th hole, 330 yards; A clever dogleg left hole where it is imperative that the caddie know where the hole location is for that day. If it is left on the somewhat V shaped green, the golfer wishes to drive long right to the outside of dogleg. Conversely, if it’s right, the golfer ideally will position himself shorter off the tee and closer to the inside of the dogleg. Regardless, the hoped for birdie never seems to materialize as often as one mightwish on a hole of this length.
There is no advantage in hugging the inside of the dogleg when the hole location is left.
Rees Jones added the bunkers to the outside of the dogleg, which the golfer must flirt with for the best angle into back left hole locations.
14th hole, 400 yards; Given that golfer knows that a stream fronts the green, the pressure is on for him to avoid the large bunkers off the tee and find the fairway. This green was one of the biggest beneficaries of Rees Jones’s 1998 restorative work as severalinteresting front left and middle hole locations were recovered.
The 14th green was expanded by 30% and was restored to its original size. Almost all of the green to the left of the golfer in navy shorts had been lost.
The Hollywood of today is one the five finest courses in the golf rich state of New Jersey. However, it could be even better. Tree plantings in the 1960s and 70s have cost the course its open, links feel from its earlier years. Playing angles (a playeris blocked from the 3rd green if he is in the left of the fairway) are reduced and trees also have the unwanted effect of reducing the wind’s impact on play, neither of which was Travis’s intent.
Tree removal remains an issue at Hollywood. As seen here, the golfer can be in this restored bunker on the right of the 8th fairway and be blocked from the green by a row of trees. Double penalizing a golfer was not Travis's intent.
In addition, Travis would lament the fact thatseveraldiagonal and cross bunkers were removed over time. Hopefully, future club boards willallow Rees Jones to restore thecross bunkers that were once 60 yards shy of the 3rd green, the diagonal bunkeringoff the 9th tee and the diagonal bunkering that dictated the strategy for the second shot on the 16th. Such hazards are important on a course where many of the holes run predominately in an east/west directiondue to the elongated nature of the property. Without such central features, the golfer senses that too many of the holes play straightaway.
Regardless of what the club elects to do in the future, they should be applauded for the restorative work carried out in 1998 as this 6,850 yard course has regained much of its appeal. The plethora of uniquely shaped bunkers and bold green contoursretain much of the challenge that Travis intended. Importantly too, this course will remind the golfer of no other course that he has ever seen, a sure sign that it is indeed a special design.
The End