The foot in my mouth post Lederach thread

[Mike_Sweeney]

Thanks to Steve Schaffer for organizing and Kelly Moran for hooking us up at Lederach. I think I heard Mike Cirba say "Lederach is the antithesis of public golf courses being built." I agree. I might blow up my friend Kelly's #11, but the course was really fun to play both tee to green and then around the greens.

I think Kelly said there were 22 bunkers or so on the course. It has Yale-like terrain where bunkers are not necessary. The terrain is much much gentler than Morgan Hill. A couple of walks green to tee, but it is walkable for the hard core on a slightly cooler day.

I really like Kelly's use of grass mounds on the course to act as centerline bunkers and creating semi-blind shots into a number of greens.

It will be interesting to see what the public thinks of the greens which are wild in spots and intersting in all. Kelly thought they should be a touch faster, but I thought they were perfect speed.

Thanks again, it was a very fun day.

[TEPaul]

"I really like Kelly's use of grass mounds on the course to act as centerline bunkers and creating semi-blind shots into a number of greens."

That is something I definitely want to see. I think, on paper anyway, that's a most interesting idea for the future for certain courses of various types and uses.

The thing I really like about Kelly as an architect (from his posts anyway) is his inclination to always keep thinking---to always keep searching. I can't imagine how you could ask for more than that from a golf course architect.

Did Kelly Blake Moran decide to leave GOLFCLUBATLAS.com for some reason I'm not aware of? If so, let's get him back on here. We need Kelly Blake Moran on here bigtime. This site can't afford to lose people like him over some petty dispute with some of our half-wit contributors.    (If that's what happened)

[Adam Clayman]

Mike,

Did his two guests show?


If not, rule 35 the lot.

[TEPaul]

Hey, lay off of Matt Ward. The guy has an awful lot to do and think about. It's not easy trying to figure out what REALLY is the 17th best golf course in the state of New Jersey.

[wsmorrison]

Adam,

The entire group was a no-show.  Very bad form.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

The humidity was so oppressive yesterday that my Adidas "Clima-Cool" shirt was soaked even though I chose not to walk the course.

The 11th hole is one that needs a few plays to learn. I aim to the right of the center bunker and take my chances in the light rough. Once, but not yesterday, I birdied the hole. I have also learned that sometimes being on the short side of the hole isn't a bad thing as the chipping areas are very playable and sometimes very puttable. One must bring their "A" short game to Lederach.

It was a good to see everyone and connect names and pics will be posted soon.

[Craig_Rokke]

I enjoyed the outing & I think Matt really missed out!

Lederach is refreshing. I  chuckled on several occasions at Kelly's willingness to think outside of the typical public course box, starting with the green on #1. An approach that does not reach the rear, upper level( and I mean upper)  is pretty much a guaranteed 3 putt. I'd like to juxtapose the greens at Lederach against, say, Tattersall, for a modern course comparison! I'd recommend the course
to anyone on GCA.

I love Kelly's use of hazards, knobs, and blindness. On a couple holes, though, I was surprised at how easily decent shots trickled off the canted fairways into the woods. For the guys that played, what
did you think about the death march uphill par 5 (#12?), and the
300 yd par 4 (#9?).

My guess is that the site wasn't the easiest, but I think that a lot of the
earth moving was very well done.

I'd be curious to hear Kelly's comments on working within residential
and environmental boundaries. How did they affect his work?

Many thanks to Steve S and to Kelly B Moran!

[SPDB]

Who were his 2 guests - Joe Sixpack and Mary Wineglass?

Where is that famous and difficult "heavy lifting" he does?

[Ted Kramer]

What if something happened to Matt?
What if something important needed to be taken care of?
Why don't you guys give him a break until he explains his absence?

Beat him up after you hear his reasons if necessary.
But my first reaction is to hope that everything is ok on his end . . .

Regarding the course/event .  . .
It has been my intention to get out and see Lederach and the fact that I could have done so and finally met a bunch of you guys really makes me feel like I missed out on a great day. My wife and I are having a great time with our first son, we celebrated his 1 month birthday on July 20th, but being a new dad has certainly put golf on the back burner for a little while.

Again, sorry I missed out and I miss having Kelly on the site too!!

-Ted

[Bill_McBride]

Matt was probably somewhere on his laptop telling every one how mediocre the middle six holes are at Bandon Trails!  

[Matt_Ward]

For those who want to know what happened please refer to my response on the other thread already posted.

I would think people would hold their critical fire until they heard what really happened.

Unless, of course, the health of a friend's loved one is not that important and a golf game is.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Apparently the GM left before we finished and didn't pass along Matt's email to anyone in the pro shop. I asked the guys there after we finished if there was any message from Matt and they said there was none.

[Mike_Sweeney]

Matt,

Sorry for the above. I knew you were okay as I read your post from yesterday afternoon. I apologize for jumping the gun.

Mike Sweeney

[Mike_Sweeney]

For the guys that played, what
did you think about the death march uphill par 5 (#12?), and the
300 yd par 4 (#9?).

Craig,

In reference to #9, I was riding the coat tails of Sean Remington's front nine and I was at even par on the 9th tee. Thus I played a safe shot short of the bunker and then plunked one in the waater on the second for a double 6. I like the hole alot, similar to many short 4's of C&C. (Please, this does not mean that Kelly copied)

The 12th is a real par 5. I hit two decent shots and still had 235 uphill for my third. We played the Blues with Kelly. It seems that those who played The Blacks had a longer day.