Rees Jones' Andalusia At Coral Mountain

[Tommy_Naccarato]

David Kelly and I played here yesterday, and while I'm not a fan of containment mounding and repetition, this course has six closing holes that get the job done, as well as some pretty interesting greens that grew on you as continue the round.

Consider this a positive for the Rees Jones camp. I'll post more info later when time permits. Just to let all KPV particpants know, when we teed-off it was 104 degrees. As long as you keep yourself hydrated there shouldn't be a problem.  

By 4:30pm it was around 93  or 94 and quite pleasant for golf. This was only because we drank a LOT OF WATER AND KEPT OUR BODY TEMPERATURES DOWN!!  ****WARNING****If you don't have a bottle of cold water in your hand at all times, then your not drinking enough!!!!

I hope the photos do the course as much justice, and for all that are looking for a place to play this upcoming week, well I say it's a somewhat pleasant alternative. (hard to believe I'm not bagging on a Rees Jones course!)

The 2nd

The 3rd features this really cool reverse tier on it's putting surface. A tad subtle, but it gets the job done.

If you were to compare this hole to the 9th, you'll see two almost identical holes. However the 4th requires a really good drive to avoid the pinched in fairway bunker that's waiting for you to just simply miss.

A VERY GOOD Green.

Typical for any course in the Coachella Valley. He almost lost me there!

Or is #9 really #4?

Not much going on here at the 10th, but after this the course all of a sudden came alive.

The 11th, almost a spitting image of the 16th.

While the firs 11 holes were good, they lacked the hutzpah to really inspire that this was going to be a great golf course. However, at the 12th, that all changed. The course started getting fun! Or was it the heat?



A short but challenging par 5 which David Kelly reached with a driver 6 iron. However, he over-shot the ball!

!3th green


The 15th, A hole that looks more like Dye Light then Rees Jones light.

Some more Dye-like feeatures on this hole. More specifically the green side slopes.
The 16th


The wild & whooly 17thth.

[Joel_Stewart]

That last photo looks interesting.  It looks like a par 4 which has a split fairway (upper and lower) but the lower side looks more like rough and sand???

[Jeff_Brauer]

Joel,

I had the same idea.  Has Rees formalized the idea that its best to aim at the fw bunkers for the best lie?  It is certainly the most tempting line, and I think a few golfers might very well be aiming at that bunker as a strategy.  That is actually kind of a cool deal if he did.

If Tommy was dehydrated enough, he might have aimed for it - he has been known to aim for much smaller bunkers at a more well known course......

[Eric Franzen]

Okay, time to make a fool of myself... on several pictures I see a big metal cylinder next to the green.

What is that?

Preparing to leave town riding backwards on a donkey...

[Voytek Wilczak]

Okay, time to make a fool of myself... on several pictures I see a big metal cylinder next to the green.

What is that?

Preparing to leave town riding backwards on a donkey...

Looks like a blower.

For drying the greens?

Last time I saw one, was in NJ to blow the leaves off the greens.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

The cylinder is a fan for blowing air on to the greens and they had them on all 18 holes.  Given that dry heat, they work excellent on your back while you wait to putt!

Joel & Jeff,
I wish the image to the 17th would have, could have come out better, but unfortunately it was taken directly into the sunlight with the sun already behind the mountain. We didn't tee-off here till almost 3:45pm because we spent the majority of the day handling KPV stuff, but the round played fast and the course was quite enjoyable, given the mass containment which you guys all know how much I really loath.

The 17th is pretty much exactly as you described it, all man-made mind you with nary a natural feature used. Unlike other Rees courses, the symmetrical mounds and incessant use of fairway contours that make little sense--at places like Quintero doesn't really appear at Andalusia. The result of a well-placed drive here is a somewhat interesting downhill shot in a cape-like setting to a green that sort of a small triple plateau number. It works.

There was some weird stone work and another wall of some sorts left of the green, but in all, even the green contours which range from three distinct styles throughout the day, seem to work and add interest. You'll see some mini-Biarritz-type swells, double plateaus, and reversed-tier numbers that really seem to get better as the day goes along. I really do think it's a solid effort and while 1st and 9th holes of the 2nd course are in fact completed and sitting there waiting to play, from the looks of it they to look interesting with maybe even a little bit different style in terms of width.

My favorite hole on the course, the 13th as well as the 15th, had features that would remind you of a touch of some Raynor inspiration, more specifically in the mound work in the fairways and how it was placed.

The negative--really the only negative is the repetition of some holes, and the mass containment. My God! If he could have built a course without that containment just how great and different it could have been for the Coachella Valley! Instead it looks similar to many of the Dye-Palmer-Ted Robinson courses throughout! I really don't think you need that kind of containment when the golf holes are not running parallel to one another and the corridors of housing are so generously wide.

The positive--while the style of bunkering is not my cup of tee, it isn't that ridiculous moundy, deep cape & bay stuff that Rees has been famous for. Maybe he has been listening to "OUR"   critiques and is trying to produce more interesting designs.

[David Kelly]

The cylinder is a fan for blowing air on to the greens and they had them on all 18 holes.  Given that dry heat, they work excellent on your back while you wait to putt!

Those fans are not portables either.  There are permanent electrical boxes built into the back of the greens just for the fans.

There was a ton of containment mounding throughout the course but except for a few places it didn't come into play much.  There was plenty of width so you don't bounce balls off of the mounds all day.

My biggest complaint about the course was that there was very little strategy off of the tee and you had the same look on a lot of the holes from the tee.

[Eric Franzen]

Thanks for the explanation.

Will post about the Coachella Valley Desert Fan in the "Original US Design Concept" thread later on.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Couldn't agree more. Other then #17, well maybe #15, it was pretty much sort of lifeless off of the tee, or just simply too repetitive. With #13's width, the fairway could have been pretty fun if it would have stretched all the way out there to the right.

Also of note, David's second into #15 was a 6 iron long that ende up just off the back of the green. He then preceeded to play 7 iron, 8 iron, 9 iron pitching wedge and sand wedge in there until he hit a ball into the lake.

The pitching wedge put him pin high. (or was it the 9 iron?)

Now of course the wind was at our backs, but the shot was a good one for a variety of clubs, proving that there was some deception going on as far as gauging where the pin was on the green. I mean you could see that the pin was up in front, only to get up there and find that it was in the middle. This was handled pretty well.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

I almost forgot!

There is one other aspect of the course I think that needs to be mentioned: landscaping.

While the landscaping of the course is very well done, not over the top done like you would see on a Fazio course, where everything is expertly put into place but its all created, Andalusia does have some interesting landscaping that will eventually ost a pretty penny to maintain.

However, and this is a question to those of you who've ever been to the south of Spain: what the developmental team was striving fo was this Spanish feel. Do palm trees actually grow in the south of Spain? I thought it was all mostly oak, cork and pepper trees? If so, then I think they used them too much here.

[Eric Franzen]

However, and this is a question to those of you who've ever been to the south of Spain: what the developmental team was striving fo was this Spanish feel. Do palm trees actually grow in the south of Spain? I thought it was all mostly oak, cork and pepper trees? If so, then I think they used them too much here.

You see palm trees everywhere down in Malaga and its Costa Del Sol surroundings. On the Gran Canary Island there is a course called El Cortijo which have used palm trees in a similar fashion. Something I am quite sure that they share with a bunch of courses on the south coast of Spain - haven't played any of them though...

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Thanks Eric and thanks Rees!

Quite obviously you learn something new everyday! (But quite honestly that's why I try to fancy myself more as a student. I will probably never get to experience Spain in my lifetime. At least I got to somewhat feel it here at Andalusia.)

By the way, I like their logo. Yes, it will be confused with the Polo/Ralph Loren logo everytime, but I think if they worked their way around it--by using the name with that great whimsy font, it looks really good and captures the feel of the place.

[Mike_Cirba]

That's it...I'm moving to Montana, buying one of those little tin bungalows, stocking 10 years worth of supplies and hunkering down.

Forget tsunamis, earthquakes, war, famine, pestilence, and plagues...if this isn't a sign of the impending apocalypse, nothing is.    

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mike, I thought of you the entire time! "What's he going to say? What's he going to think?"

 

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike, I thought of you the entire time! "What's he going to say? What's he going to think?"

 

Tommy,

I'm honored that you think of me while obviously hallucinating in 104 degree heat.    

Seriously, from the pics, I do like the look of the fairway movement and also the bunkers are much more creative than what Rees's group normally produces.  In addition, I did see some interesting lines of attack from the tee and it also seems the green complexes have a degree of flair and variety that's thoughtful.

But, if Rees is going to start building interesting golf courses, then that's even MORE a sign that the four horsemen are starting to trot!  

p.s. - Is that logo an omen?  

[David Kelly]

In addition, I did see some interesting lines of attack from the tee...

Then you can see from a few pictures what I couldn't see from playing the course.

[Jay Flemma]

Tommyl, the crisp resolution on those photos is exceptional.  What kind of camera are you using?

As for the logo, doesn't it look more like "Juan Valdez, coffee bean picker?"

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Jay,
I'm using just the old standard, fit in your golfbag-without-the-head-pro-seeing-it Canon A70 with added UV and polarizing filters. I then do some some minor work on all of the images in Photoshop.

My eyes like a more contrasted/full of color look of golf photos, so I use a Velvia-like action in Photoshop to accomplish it.  (it tries to resemble slide film)

[cary lichtenstein]

I've never seen grass so green, did you use a green filter?

[Mike_Cirba]

In addition, I did see some interesting lines of attack from the tee...

Then you can see from a few pictures what I couldn't see from playing the course.

Then perhaps I'm hallucinating from internet osmosis but wouldn't a drive challenging the bunker on 4 result in an advantage and on the 10th, it looks like a drive daring the bunker string down the right side yields a better angle?

I'm not real big on the par threes, but it's nice to at least see some convex features around the course which not only seem to play interestingly but look pretty sharp in the desert sunlight and shadow.

Wait a sec...are Tommy and I both defending a Rees Jones course simultaneously from east and west coasts?

Head to your shelters people....now!  

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mike,
David is correct in commenting on the lack of some really interesting driving alleys on the course. The only thing your going to get is maybe a fairway bunker pinching a landing area once or twice, maybe three times most. Later on in the round it does change a bit, but doesn't quite patch-up the mark left by the other 12 or 13 holes.

Do I hear seven trumpets blowing? Oh, I hope not.....

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike,

Do I hear seven trumpets blowing? Oh, I hope not.....

Tommy,

I have the man, Mr. Cash, playing on my stereo right now....

Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers. One hundred million angels singin'. Multitudes are marching to the big kettle drum. Voices callin', voices cryin'. Some are born an' some are dyin'. It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come.

Oh yes...Mike and Tommy and Rees, oh my...

People most definitely "get ready".  

[David Kelly]

Mike,

The course is not completely devoid of challenge off of the tee but nothing that makes someone stand up and take note. Also thinking back I don't remember a par 4 of less than 350 yards (we played the 7000yd tees). Tommy?

On #4, playing close to the bunker does yield a shorter approach but I hit a really good drive challenging the bunker and I was left with 193 yds on a slice lie with a draw shot needed to get to the green.  Knowing that I would rather play out left and have a flat lie with maybe 200-210yds left.

Driving down the right side of #10 gives you a better angle but it is still a driver-PW into the green from either side.