Fazio's Renovation of Butler National

[tlavin]

I just played the newly redone Butler.  I think it's something like 7500, par 71, from the back tees.  Butler has never been known as a particularly beautiful golf course, given its relatively flat topography and its proximity to a number of ugly office buildings, but it certainly has a reputation as one of the more challenging golf courses in the country.

Who else has played it recently?  What do you think of the re-do, particularly the design of the bunkers and the new, white sand?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Terry,

I was recently at the National Golf Club of Canada with Gerry B, which is also a late 1970s Geo./Tom Fazio effort. Fazio's been doing some renovation work there, at the National as well. Much like Pete Dye, Tom Fazio seems to be revisiting a few of his earliest designs.  

[A_Clay_Man]

Terry, Can you attempt to describe the differences?

[tlavin]

The bunkers are deeper and steeper, with bulbous, tongue-like protrusions that extend laterally in most of the fairway bunkers.  There are a few holes where the bunker placement has dramatically affected the strategy of the hole (16 comes immediately to mind), but it is mostly just a new look with tougher bunkers.  The sand is white in color and very firm and playable.  Personally, I think it looks out of place and more like sand that one would see in Florida, but the consensus seems to be that one "gets used to it" over time and that it makes the bunkers "stand out" more.  I'm not sold, but I've only played the new version once.  The golf course is absolute murder from any set of tees because the line of attack into virtually any green is very difficult.  Unless an average player has an 8-iron or less in his hands it is hard to get your ball onto virtually any green on this golf course.

[PThomas]

what's their reason for re-doing it, if not to get an Open as a certain lawyer insists will never happen there...

[tlavin]

I think Butler is one of those places that doesn't want to fall off the radar screen.  I think that they did the work just to make sure that the course maintains its position on the various Top 100 lists.  If you stand still, you fall behind is the operative motto.

And there's no doubt they made it much tougher.  It would be a formidable major championship venue, provided they cut down some key trees that Fazio was unable to persuade them to cut down.