Pasatiempo Photos

[David Stamm]

Here's some more photo's from my trip up the coast.....

The Par 3 5th


The Good Doctor's final home....

The par 3 8th. One of the toughest, fastest greens I've ever seen....

Looking up the 9th...

From the right side of the FW at the 10th...

Looking up the 11th...

From the tee on 12...

...and from a little over 100yds....

From the right side of the 13 FW...

...and a closer look of the green complex....

The "trench" looking back at the tee on 14...

...and another view...

The par 3 15th...

from below the teeing ground.....

And fianlly, the par 3 18th. Who says you can't finish w/ a great par 3?

[Jon Spaulding]

You did it!

[ed_getka]

David,
   Nice photo of #5. It looks so easy in that shot.

[Nick Church]

Wow.  I really wish I had taken the time to play there over Labor Day.

Just another excuse to go back, right?

Thanks for sharing --- especially the trench.  How does the staff keep that area from staying soggy & drenched?

[Nick Pozaric]

Im playing there in a little more than a week.  Those pics really got me excited.  Great photos!

[Andrew Thomson]

wow.

[David Stamm]

Sean, I've played there before, so there weren't any surprises. However, it's the first time I've played since Tom Doak had performed his work there and as you can see from the photo's, it's outstanding. The bunkers obviously have alot more eye appeal. The new tees at 6 and 13 are interesting and toughen those holes considerably. I think it's just amazing that that course plays as tough as it does w/ as little of yardage as it has. As Doak has mentioned before, Mack. had such a talent for pulling that off, to make the course play longer than what's indicated on the scorecard. And the greens, oh the greens!! So fast and so tough throughout alot of the course. The course is very special and is a favorite of mine.

[David Stamm]

Sean, there are some tight holes. 7 is the first that springs to mind, but I don't think Mack. originally planned it play that way. I think trees were added later for safety's sake in regards to 6 and 8. I seem to recall reading something about that. Doak would know better than I. Overall, I wouldn't say it's really tight, but there are some spots where it can feel that way. This is especially true since alot of trees have been removed. 1 used to feel really tight before the trees were cut back.

In regards to bunkers, I really don't know if it's "necessary" because of the greens, but now that you bring it up, it could be because, as you mentioned, the hilly terrain. I don't know, I would have to play a few more times to make an observation that has any credibility. I just need to keep spryaing my shots all over the place to see if this is the case!

[Tom Huckaby]

Sean:

If links golf is one's be all and end all, Pasa won't be one's cup of tea.  There are trees - lots of them - and though many have been thinned and some removed recently, well... it's still a tree-lined course, and would feel absurdly tight to one used to playing on treeless links.

In Mackenzie's day it wasn't that way... but sadly trees do get planted, and do grow.    In any case, David is correct that 6-7-8 were at one time pretty much one big open field... the story goes that someone was killed on 8 green by a shot from 7 tee, and thus blocking trees started to get planted.  

As for the bunkering, well... that's just Mackenzie's "thing", you know?  One either likes those or doesn't, again. That being said, there are none at Pasa that are superfluous - even the short ones on 3 and 4 give great meaning to the hole for the lesser players.  And keep in mind it's a pretty short golf course, even with the hills.  Take away too many bunkers and a lot of the challenge is gone, if not the thrill.

TH

[Jay Flemma]

Beautiful day to shoot...great pix.  How'd you do on 16?  Where did your approach end up?

[David Stamm]

Jay,pin was all the way back, and I mean all the way back. The hole was cut about 6 or 7 paces off the back edge of the top tier. My approach was on the fringe of the tier below that ledge and I misjudged my chip and passed the hole. Then 2 putted from there. Here's photo from that day, but I'm afraid it's not very good. You can't even see the flag because of the shadows in the back.

[Jay Flemma]

yeah, I hit 8-iron right at a back right pin..it rolled close...then all the way down and around to the very front left...amazing!

[Tom Huckaby]

David - be thankful and whistful that you got that back pin.

Thankful, because it's the easiest position - all putts are uphill, it's flat up there.

Whistful because a pin on the middle tier is one of the great challenges in this game... although bordering on absurd now given the speed at which they keep that green.

16 is a perfect example of what Pasa can be... what it is.. and what it's not.

[David Stamm]

So true, Tom, so true. The first time I was there I didn't know where to hit my tee shot. I played w/ a member there and he told me where to hit it, but stubborn me, I didn't trust the line because the left side of the hole didn't look too inviting. Anyway, as you know, if you go to the right the hole becomes ALOT longer and the angle is much more difficult. I also made it longer by hitting a fw wood. So then I had to hit a 4 iron and struck it the best I could. Landed on the tier and I 2 putted and made par. If you gave 100 chances to me to repeat that shot I'd never pull it off. One of the best shots of my life (there's so few of them that I can remeber this one in great detail!). That hole is truly great.  Sorry for boring everyone with my playing details.

[Steve Pieracci]

This photo taken last April shows the contours of 16 a little better.  It's tough to see, but the pin was middle right that day.  The guys in front of us had a miserable time with this pin placement.  The group waits for the fourth man playing from between the road and left hand bunker.  



Mr. Huckaby is correct, middle is the toughest.  I three jacked as my 2nd didn't quite make it to the middle tier and rolled back off the front.    

[Jon Spaulding]

Sean, when you get there, make a point to do a couple of things:

1) walk up the hill to the Hollins House, and look at some of the original photos of the course. The 1 & 9 photo you won't believe. Look at it, then walk out and look at #1, repeating a few times.

2) find the original tee for #1.....

3) try to picture a tree smack dab in the middle of 16 fairway.

Tom H, do you know when they took the tee on #1 out of play for the masses? I heard the last time they played it was in a women's tournament in the mid-80's, but never investigated this.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

The pictures illustrate the course really well and highlight the finer moulding around the greens and bunkers. One can see that Jim Urbina the artist was at work.

Looking at the pictures generally I could imagine that the course would look much more interesting if the grass outside the areas of play weren't so green.
If between the tee and fairway and outside the fairways the grass was a golden brown then it would highlight the perfection of the Ali M. greens and bunkers as well as the moulding in the fairways.

Shouldn't the restoration project have also considered removing "overkill" wall-to-wall irrigation to bring back the diversity of colour and texture?

Or is green the religion of Pasatiempo?

[Marty Bonnar]

Everyone knows I believe MacKenzie can do no wrong, and I think we're all agreed that Mr Doak is a damn fine Golf Course Architect and has rebuilt as near as possible to the original design where possible, but there's something about the bunkering at #15 that just doesn't agree with my eye.

I found the view from the tee to be just, well, wrong. There's something about the shapes of the bunkers and, maybe more importantly, how they interact that I find - for want of a better word - 'Yucky'.

Now you could argue that maybe a spot of visual 'unsettlement' from the tee of a par 3 is a good thing (and I often would!), but in this case, I would say, 'less is more' and might have argued for a more restrained bunker complex design.

How it hurts to be a Blasphemer...

FBD.

[Jon Spaulding]

The pictures illustrate the course really well and highlight the finer moulding around the greens and bunkers. One can see that Jim Urbina the artist was at work.

Looking at the pictures generally I could imagine that the course would look much more interesting if the grass outside the areas of play weren't so green.
If between the tee and fairway and outside the fairways the grass was a golden brown then it would highlight the perfection of the Ali M. greens and bunkers as well as the moulding in the fairways.

Shouldn't the restoration project have also considered removing "overkill" wall-to-wall irrigation to bring back the diversity of colour and texture?

Or is green the religion of Pasatiempo?

The original version had very few trees with areas that were grassed in and played as "community" areas, (1/9, 2/3, 6-8). Much in the spirit of AM's favorite course. The trees were added en masse after a stray from #7 killed a person on 8 tee.

[Tom Huckaby]

Re the bunkers and the look, well... if you're going to blaspheme, you've done it well - because the look on 15 now is an incredible replication of what Mackenzie originally created.. as is 10.  People have complained about that hole also.  So at least you are complaining against Mackenzie!

And well... to me, bunkering like that is just his thing.  He did it seemingly on all his US courses.  One either likes it or one doesn't.  In each case, the PLAY of the hole is accented by the bunkers I think.. that is, I don't find any to be superfluous... and given I don't mind the look (or really care one way or the other), it's all fine by me.  But if you don't like that look, well... you've identifed the worst culprits.

Sean - oh, would that we could revert to the 30s and play this course as it was.  But sadly trees were planted, and oh my did they grow.  So it is what it is...  And I can absolutely understand if it wouldn't be your particular cup of tea the way it is now.

TH

[Mike Benham]

Sean - oh, would that we could revert to the 30s and play this course as it was.  But sadly trees were planted, and oh my did they grow.  So it is what it is...  And I can absolutely understand if it wouldn't be your particular cup of tea the way it is now.

The historical photos show an original course without trees and houses.  

Jon - the natural rainfall will keep the course overly green, fairways and not, between November and May, so the brownish turf in the non-fairway areas would come to life during the summer months.  I do agree that this maintenance meld would also produce less hearty rough, firmer and faster conditions and allow the ball to roll offline more often.

[Aaron Katz]

Funny to hear some people call the middle tier on 16 the most difficult one.  I played Pasatiempo on a day when the greens were pretty firm and very fast.  I hit a six iron from the right side of the fairway to about five feet, and the pin was in the middle of the middle tier.  It is true, however, that the putt was outrageously hard.  My ball was pin high and the putt probably broke three feet left to right.  Luckily it found the hole, because it very well could have gone off the green had I missed!

[Tom Huckaby]

Aaron:

Yes indeedy your putt could have gone off the green if you missed it...

Think about a putt also from the top tier down to a middle tier pin... it's damn near impossible at current speeds - it won't stay on the middle tier no matter what you do.

I love that middle tier.  But the green as a whole does also illustrate the common problem with Pasa - they generally don't use the middle tier except on slow and/or wet days.  At the speeds they normally keep the greens, it gets to be absurd... thus the only pin you see is the top level one.

That green would work best at about 7-8 stimp max.  With that, a bottom level pin becomes doable... oh my the possibilities that gives.....

TH

[James Bennett]

The 16th at Pasa.  I saw 4 tiers - back, middle right and middle left.  Plus an unpoinnable front (FALSE FRONT).  The downpour from the day I visited in April shows the slope on the greens.  Tee shot, then greenshot of #16 at Pasa.





James B

[Tom Huckaby]

James  - methinks you're correct to divide it into four tiers - cool pics, also!

I have seen a pin placed on the very front tounge - once.  It was rather absurd, not sure why they did it.

I also saw Tiger Woods take five shots to get down from just before the creek, after a monter perfect 3wood around the corner.  Pin was middle left.  He was not pleased.