[TEPaul]

LuLu held it's annual Donald Ross Invitational yesterday. Under a restoration plan by Pittsburgh architect Ron Forse the tree volume has been thinned out some, some tee length has been added, some greens have been expanded back (#15 basically restored to original) and a number of holes have had  particularly their fairway bunkering restored or reworked and some Ross "mounds" added on various holes.

The course is far better for all this and the membership and others appears to be very happy with the work and the project.

LuLu is a wonderful little very early Ross course with real character, sportiness and particularly uniqueness in a number of its holes. Such uniqueness, in fact, that it's my feeling any golf architect should analyze it. If they did I think they'd find a dozen or more little concepts, features and playable wrinkles to be copied elsewhere, even if loosely or just in concept.

There're probably a good dozen holes that have something about them, even if very subtle that's worth remarking about on here.

[michael j fay]

I've seen a lot of Ron Forse's work over the years and it appears that he, Jim Nagle and the rest of the troop only get better.
If there is a group with less ego than Forse Designs, I have not yet encountered them. They did the work at Salem and sat back and allowed Donald Ross take all the credit during the 2001 Senior Open. They had improved the course immeasurably. Granted what they did was to uncover the Ross design at Salem, but they did it with painstaking care. The same is true at the other sites that they have restored.
I am going to get to Lulu soon I hope.

[JakaB]

Michael,

Why didn't you offer an opinion of the work Arthur Hills did at Columbus C.C......without some balance this sure looks like an endorsement of a favorite architect.  

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Tom

I played Lulu last fall before the restoration was complete and while some work was in progress. I was very impressed with Forse's work and the new look of the course. How did the 17th hole come out?

For some pictures, here is the club's website:

www.lulucountryclub.org


Steve

[TEPaul]

John:

Why don't you offer an opinion of the work of Arthur Hills at Columbia C.C? Why don't you supply what you think may be needed balance to what Michael Fay said about another golf course and another architect?

[michael j fay]

I've never seen the Country Club of Georgia before or after Arthur Hills. I really am not in a position to comment.

I have trudged all over the US reviewing restoration work on Ross courses. I've seen marvelous work and I have seen tragic work. There are some architects that have done both good and bad work IMO. There are some Architects that have done much better than average restoration work every time. Ron Forse would fall into the latter category. There are quite a few others that fit in this group. They seem to me to be those that have done their homework and have made superior effort in preserving and restoring the work of the original Architect.

I am a fan of the Forse design work because of the WORK IN THE GROUND, not because I like Ron or Jim Nagle. If the work he had done in the past was pedestian I would not be on this thread. Consistent restorative work is what gets my notice.

By the way my favorite Arhitects are dead a very long time, those that honor their work by staying in the lines today are among those that I most admire.

[TEPaul]

Steve:

I think the 17th hole came out very well. Forse added a stagger of bunkering on each side eating way into the fairway lines that comes into play for most on the second shots.

My partner, Steve Sayers who had by far the most to do with coming up with all the historic and evolutionary research on the course and from which Forse design must have worked seems to feel the last bunker on the right isn't really necessary as it's right up against the OB fence in that area. He apparently feels the OB fence does all the necessary strategic and risk/reward work in that area and in that way perhaps this last bunker is just redundant. He may be right about that.

But I think this hole plays much better with its bunker arrangement than it used to. It just makes the hole far more itneresting particularly for that level of golfer who isn't all that long.

For the very long player, of which there're a well known few at LuLu it seems they may be thinking about adding tee length to this hole, perhaps up to 30 or so yards of it. It looks like there's room although it may not be ideal room.

But this is something I wouldn't recommend they do. It seems to me even from the present tips this hole plays just about perfectly and in that gray area that can tempt the very long player to take a very aggressive second shot at that green (or its right side) for a real reward or perhaps a real mistake! I don't think they should stretch this hole past that point where this type of thing is in the mind of a good player off a good drive.

But on the other hand if they did add that tee length here the essence might be if a good player missed his drive somehow then all that mid-hole bunkering stagger starts to come into play regarding what he needs to do on his second shot---and that second shot sure does have a lot to do with his third shot as the green is very well designed for right and left approach ramifications. The right side is open but the left side of the green is closely guarded by a bunker and the green's left side also slopes both back to front and right to left which is a brilliant architectural and strategic balance against the green's open right side!

This is an uphillish, in-line par 5 of medium length on the club's boundary where a little architectural enhancement and ratcheting up has gone a long way!

[TEPaul]

The hole at LuLu that seems to have always been a bit of an enigma is the 10th, and it still is. For the shorter hitter it's always been a three shot hole with a dangerous drive for all (OB all the way along the left and somewhat blind to the tee shot).

They've added tee length on this hole of maybe 20 or so yards. That's not something I would've recommended for the long player but I wouldn't recommend they remove it either.

What I would recommend for this hole is that the club play this hole for the long player most of the time where his good drive is right in that area where decision making of whether to go for that green or the fairway area over the creek is almost always a green light!

There's a lot of good stuff going on down at the green-end of this hole---eg a really good diagonal creek which starts way back left on the green-end fairway and continues on a really beautiful diagonal all the way past the green's right side. Because of all that at the green-end I think the good long player should be tempted to take a second shot at that green or left of it with anything other than a missed drive.

This is a great situation to create a much wider scoring spectrum on this hole over time. Sure, there'll be some eagles and a ton more birdies but the everyday temptation of it will create a ton of "others" too!

What you don't want to do on this hole and what has generally been true over the years with even the good long player is even off a fairly decent drive he may choose to lay up on his second shot with something like a very lofted iron to come up short of the long diagaonal creek.

Ron and the club should do everything possible on this hole to get away from that strategy (for which this hole has always been criticized) and to encourage aggression on the second shot. Some player may then make lower scores more often but they shouldn't criticize the hole for that because it's inevitable that they'll also make their fair share of "others" with the hole's added second shot temptation!!

This is probably that rare example, dispite the increased distance the ball goes, where a hole could be made to play much better if it was played at a shorter distance!! I probably wouldn't say this if this hole had a great big wide open first half but it doesn't have that and it never can!

[Jeff_Mingay]

Wow! Lulu appears to be a wonderful golf course, with a neat "Old World" look. Next time I'm in the Phila. area, I'm going to make a point to stop by.

Thanks for the link to the photos, Steve.  

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