PGA Tour event at The Institute, San Jose

[Matt_Cohn]

Morning Everyone,

Maybe someone has posted this already but I just read on Golf.com that two new PGA Tour events could be created in California in Fall 2007. One of them is supposed to be at The Institute, the superprivate course near San Jose.

Golf.com Article

7,900 yards?!

~Matt

[Tom Huckaby]

Matt - whoa!  That is big news, and nope, I sure haven't seen any postings about it to date.

The Insititute has been discussed several times in here, but without much substance as no one has played it, and the designer Neal Meagher has a confidentiality agreement!

It doesn't surprise me they'd host a tour event though - that always was said to to be the intent of the place.

And yes, what little is known about the course is that it can be stretched out VERY long.

Methinks this is nothing but good news for us in San Jose.

 

[John_Cullum]

Methinks this is nothing but good news for us in San Jose.

 

Why is that TH? I thought the PGA Tour was ruining the game.

[Tom Huckaby]

JC, you know me, I don't think that broadly or with that type of concern.  I just know this is gonna mean that I - and many people I know who are very curious about it - are gonna get to see the course!

 

[Tim Leahy]

I read about the Institute a couple of years ago on the Cybergolf web site. It is somewhere in Morgan Hill area and was not allowed to be open to the public because permits were not kosher. I figured once the check cleared it would open, but have heard nothing til now. Can anyone post a picture using that satellite web site? If it is going to be open to the public for a tournament then maybe it will open for play also.

[Tom Huckaby]

Tim - your wish is my command:



It is in Morgan Hill.  Though it certainly has had well-publicized permitting issues, that's not the reason no one can play it... To date it has been Mr. Fry's personal golf course (which for tax and permitting issues he has seemed to want to call his "backyard" and not a "golf course"), that's why.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out though - it's kinda tough to hold a Tour event in one's back yard.  

[John Keenan]

This topic was raised on KNBR (Bay Area sports radio) during the Hooked on Golf show with John and Mitch from PB. The golf writer for the Modesto Bee noted it. He also stated that the PGA was looking at Fresno for a tournament. Course is a new Jack N. I think the name was Running Horse or something like that.

[Mike Benham]

I think we should wait for Neal to log on and tell us that he can't tell us anything about The Institute ...

If we recall (or find in the Search), Mr. Fry and The Institute got into hot water with the local authorities over the reconstruction of the existing course on the site, The Flying Lady ...


From the Gilroy Dispatch:


Thursday, April 22, 2004

MORGAN HILL -˙John Fry and his Institute of Mathematics golf course will be allowed to water, mow and fertilize their 110 acres of greens but will have to satisfy the city, state and federal agencies before they can tee it up.

David Bischoff, city director of community development, said Wednesday he decided to issue the temporary use permit requested by The Institute so it can keep the greens from deteriorating while it works to meet the environmental requirements of four agencies.

But Bischoff wants all "i"s dotted and "t"s crossed before allowing anyone to play on the course located in the eastern foothills of Morgan Hill.

Two conservation groups, the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Committee for Green Foothills, are reviewing legal options.

The Audubon Society's Craig Breon said Wednesday they would consult with their attorneys in San Francisco to decide their next step. In the past, the environmentalists have cited court action as a possibility to shut down the course until questions are resolved.

The permit will be valid through April 19, 2005, Bischoff said.

Once conditions are met, play not to exceed 16 rounds of golf a day during daylight hours, will be allowed until Sept. 30, 2004.

"The TUP and the city's actions are thoroughly illegal," Breon said, "and we have more than one legal avenue."

The Institute has 10 days to appeal the city's requirements. Bischoff said he did not know whether The Institute would agree to the stipulations of the permit.

"There are six items they must satisfy before we can allow play," Bischoff said.

The Institute must reach agreement with the Santa Clara Valley Water District over the riparian restoration plan (returning the area bordering Corralitos Creek to its natural state), and they must have a plan for monitoring wells.

Two other agencies, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Department of Fish and Game also are regulating the course's development.

Bischoff said, in his opinion, The Institute can better meet these requirements if allowed to continue maintaining the course than if it was not. He cited removal of predatory bullfrogs - which prey on the protected red-legged frogs, as an example.

Before play on the course will be approved, the city and The Institute must receive a letter from each regulatory agency involved, stating that agency's satisfaction with The Institute's actions.

The tussle between the city and The Institute began six years ago after Fry bought the old Hill Country property from Irv Perlich, including his Flying Lady restaurant and an 18-hole golf course. Fry, and his partners in an investment group, graded large chunks of the course and planted turf close to Corralitos Creek, which runs through the property and is home to several listed and endangered plants and animals.

They began watering and fertilizing, mowing and planting trees and dug new ponds. The work took place without obtaining all but a few basic and early permits from the city. Nor did they commission an environmental impact report necessary in such a massive project with implications for plants and animals on site, not to mention neighbors downstream.

Once the city noticed, it began to work with the four agencies to protect the species, the water and, ultimately, to allow The Institute to use the course.[/i]

[Dave Bourgeois]

I don't know about the course, but i absolutely love the name!

[A.G._Crockett]

There is an item in a recent Golfweek about the Institute that implied that a Tour event might be there in the near future.  It mentioned that the employees are not to talk about the course to the public, and that 6 rounds a day is a big turnout.

I thought that the article referred to Damian Pacuzzo as the architect.

[Tim Leahy]

Great picture Tom, let's see, six rounds a day, sounds like just enough for a NoCal GCA outing to me. Any Math Institute grads out there? It sounds like they could use some good buzz on a limited basis. This is the place. With a thumbs up from the GCA how could the PGA refuse.

[Steve Pieracci]

I think we should wait for Neal to log on and tell us that he can't tell us anything about The Institute ...

If we recall (or find in the Search), Mr. Fry and The Institute got into hot water with the local authorities over the reconstruction of the existing course on the site, The Flying Lady ...

b][/i]

I know I played the Flying Lady course with my dad 30+ years ago.  Darned if I can remember any of it.  

Does that count as playing there?

[Neal_Meagher]

Mr. Huckaby,

That's a pretty good aerial, fairly recent.  I would guess it was taken in the fall of 2004 as the course was shutting down for the winter.  That is why you can't see more than a handful of the bunkers as they are covered up for protection.

A.G. Crockett,

I was the senior golf course architect for Graves & Pascuzzo for a dozen years.  Technically, any course I worked on while with them bears their name, not mine.

[Tom Huckaby]

Hi Neal:

It was the best I could get from that neat but oh so out of date service provided by the stock-plummeting company with which mine competes at oh so many things.

 

I was gonna ask about the lack of bunkers though - thanks!

[A.G._Crockett]

Neal Meagher,
Thanks for clarifying that; I have learned something, as always on GCA.  The course sounds like a special place.  In the Golfweek article, one of the Tour guys (whose name escapes me right now) said the greens were the best he had ever seen.  I'll look forward to seeing your work on TV.

[Joel_Stewart]

It doesn't make sense to hold a tour event there but money always wins out.   I can't understand why the PGA would risk bad publicity from a very private course who has made very big mistakes in zoning law violations.  Also the tour is trying to cut back on events not add them.   If Harding Park can't get another events for 5 years, how does Fry get an event?

[Evan_Green]

In the article it said there was a little outing around the AMEX tourney. I find it hilarious that short hitting Fred Funk shot the lowest score (75) on this monster 7,900 yard course!

[Mike Benham]

It doesn't make sense to hold a tour event there but money always wins out.   I can't understand why the PGA would risk bad publicity from a very private course who has made very big mistakes in zoning law violations.  Also the tour is trying to cut back on events not add them.   If Harding Park can't get another events for 5 years, how does Fry get an event?

Joel -

Very good points and in addition, I assume the tournament comittee will have to get some sort of use permit from the local authorities, and if there was conflict before, there will be conflict again.

Maybe they should just go to the other side of the valley and play at Cordavalle ....

Mike

[Evan_Green]

Yes and wasnt part of the whole reason behind doing Harding Park over again was to have tour events there? It would be a shame if it was only a one time event.

[Kevin_Reilly]

This topic was raised on KNBR (Bay Area sports radio) during the Hooked on Golf show with John and Mitch from PB. The golf writer for the Modesto Bee noted it. He also stated that the PGA was looking at Fresno for a tournament. Course is a new Jack N. I think the name was Running Horse or something like that.

I think that was the same segment where they talked about the guy playing in the AT&T who had set the course record at Stevenson Ranch...a 59 (!!!) from the black (!!!) tees.

[Jeff_Stettner]

Kevin,
I was at Stevenson a couple days after the round you mentioned (maybe two years ago) and hit balls next to the kid on the range (at the time he was playing off the Canadian tour). The ball sounded different coming off his club. He had the purest trajectory that I have ever seen. How'd he do at the AT&T?

[Kevin_Reilly]

Kevin,
I was at Stevenson a couple days after the round you mentioned (maybe two years ago) and hit balls next to the kid on the range (at the time he was playing off the Canadian tour). The ball sounded different coming off his club. He had the purest trajectory that I have ever seen. How'd he do at the AT&T?

Matt Hansen...T127 (missed cut).

[John Keenan]

OK who is Matt Hansen as that is quite a score.

[Tim Gavrich]

Well I'm very upset about this, no offense to Mr. Huckaby and the fine people of the Bay Area, but this is yet another knife in the back of the Greater Hartford Open, albeit indirectly.  Though the GHO, when placed at a proper time in the season, attracted one of the highest amounts of fans on Tour, Mr. Finchem doesn't care.  So now, the GHO has been moved to the "Fall Series" starting in 2007, and it looks like one of these CA tournaments will beforcing a previously-good tournament out.  And surprise surprise, the new courses are longer.

Typical.

[jg7236]

The Institute is owned by the Fry's Electronic guys, right?  I don't understand the Institute of Mathematics part.....