A few years ago I joined the Rees-bashers on this site after a walking tour of what I still consider to be an uninspired remodel of Torrey Pines South.
In the past few weeks though, I've played tournaments at two Rees Jones remodels that I thought were brilliant, and which I consider among my favorite courses.
First was the Dunes Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. After playing Mike Strantz's Shore Course, I couldn't imagine why so many members would actually prefer a different course in a much more "standard" architectural style. But sure enough I left MPCC with tremendous respect for the Dunes Course.
Second was Lake Merced Golf Club just outside of San Francisco. Under tournament conditions it's a very strong test of golf and there are no weak holes.
The two courses share a number of characteristics, most notably complicated, imaginative greens and very deep bunkering. The greens in particular surprised me as I'd always thought of Rees as building a lot of boring tiered greens (as he did at Torrey Pines South). At both MPCC and LMGC however, the greens are fascinating, with a variety of interesting features both internally and at the edges. You'd almost think Pete Dye were involved (in a good way).
Both courses featured a number of bunkers head-high or deeper. I don't know how they function for member play, but for tournament play it was great to see. Generally speaking, they were scary and influenced my play very much.
Between the greens and the bunkers, both courses demand a great deal of precision all the way back to the tee. LMGC in particular also poses a number of very challenging tee shots, although I think this is a reflection of the original hole corridors more than Rees' efforts.
Both courses were a bit quirkier than I expected (5, 6, 9 at MPCC; 4, 9, 13 at LMGC). They're not quirky courses; but neither is anything like Torrey Pines, where practice rounds hardly even seem necessary. And, they're both short: neither course is 7,000 from the tips, both at par 72. After the fourth hole at LMGC, only one more par-4 is over 400 yards.
So many of today's headliner courses have "that look" - flowing lines, ragged fescue, and artsy bunkers everywhere. MPCC Dunes and LMGC have a much more traditional, basic look to them. Just grass mowed in relatively straight lines, and trees, and sand placed in very normal looking bunkers. I almost felt bad for liking the Dunes Course so much; it seemed that I really "should" appreciate the wild, flowing Shore Course a lot more.
In the end, though, I felt very comfortable on a more traditional golf landscape.
So, although I've bashed Rees' Torrey Pines effort throughout this post, I no longer consider myself a Rees-basher. I know that not all of his courses are as likable as the two I've talked about here. But at the moment Lake Merced and MPCC Dunes are the first two entries on my list of Rees Jones courses I heart.