GolfClubAtlas.com > Golf Course Architecture
RESTORE THE YALE BIARRITZ!
Geoffrey Childs:
--- Quote from: Anthony Pioppi on November 19, 2007, 11:02:02 AM ---I just thought of something, seriously, shouldn't we get the opinion of Roger Rulewich on this since he has done such stellar (and expensive) restoration work up until this point? Dr. Childs, could you make contact with him, please.
Anthony
--- End quote ---
Tony - I'll leave a note for Roger with my annual Christmas Card that we normally exchange. ::)
One of my favorite experiences at Yale was during the Women's Club Championship and watching our better women players on #9. They played the forward/lower tees Mr Pioppi and with mostly Drivers hit shots that landed in the front, disappeared into the swale and reappeared on the back level. It was fun to watch. I think their current play and even from the forward tees best mirrors what it was like to play the hole back in the days of Macdonald. Keep that front section FIRM but as green.
TEPaul:
Members be damned??
That's a pretty interesting take on things and another good way for restoration, certainly really purist restoration, to make itself unpopular.
If Yale's Biarritz has been front green space for many decades I really don't see the point of returning it to fairway space just because some now question about what Raynor might've originally done there has been raised.
Furthermore, this kind of thing seems to be as much maintenance and agronomics as architectural.
But if front green space seems to make those holes play more interesting and more enjoyable for a membership that should take priority, in my book.
Should we recommend that all those classic courses be shortened to what they once were too? ;)
ANTHONYPIOPPI:
Tom:
You can still play Yale, and many others, from the original yardages if you so choose.
So are you saying members opinions in restoration matters? So if the Merion members are happy with the work does that make it acceptable?
Anthony
TEPaul:
"So are you saying members opinions in restoration matters? So if the Merion members are happy with the work does that make it acceptable?"
Anthony:
Of course it does. It makes it acceptable to those who matter most at any golf course--eg the club's members. To me that is sort of "Common Sense 101".
Is there really anyone on this website who is not a member of Merion who is deluded enough to think his opinion about Merion is more important than the opinion of someone who belongs to the club?
Noel Freeman:
--- Quote from: Anthony Pioppi on November 19, 2007, 10:59:33 AM ---Bill:
I was working under the assumption that the front portion would be kept firm so balls bounced to the back.
I have no problem with holes being difficult for certain groups of players. I'm a shortish hitter who fades the ball. I'm out of luck on supposedly reachable par-5s or on holes where a draw is called for (although I do have a world-class pull.) Besides, the front pin is a much more difficult shot for the short hitter. It really brings the water into play where the back pin does not.
Anthony
--- End quote ---
Front pin positions are much harder on the Biarritz than the back.. In fact when I get on the tee and see the pin back it takes the water out of play for me and I grab a hybrid or 5-wood.. I'm actually relieved. The pins in the front bring into play a lot. There is obviously the water and the wind is very difficult to read over Greist Pond.. When the pins are in front, the effective green you are working with is very WIDE from a width perspective and very narrow from length. You often end up in the swale which then has a vicious right to left swing coming out of it and three putts are common.
I hope the hole continues as fairway because I think the front has enormous interest as a pinable location. Downwind this year, front pins were near impossible to get close to.
But I did see two people this year play the Biarritz the way it was intended. Mike Policano hit a lefty cut that landed full of chase in the front and went all the way back to 4 feet. Dr. Childs did the same with a 5-wood into the wind that he hit thin and just made the green and then to 10 feet. Watching the ball come thru the swale the way it was intended was delicious.
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