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Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re:"The Single Best Green Built in America in the Past 60 Years"
« Reply #50 on: January 31, 2008, 11:04:09 PM »
It's funny how many people have reacted to that green.  Ron Whitten wrote somewhere a long time ago that when he saw that green, he knew my work was going to be something different.

The odd thing about it is that it's the first green we built at High Pointe.  I guess it's been all downhill from there  :-\

Brett Hochstein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:"The Single Best Green Built in America in the Past 60 Years"
« Reply #51 on: February 01, 2008, 01:24:00 AM »
Perhaps current management practices may change Ran's mind today.  It can't take away from the genius of 13's conception, though, no matter how much water and fertilizer is applied.
To me, the most striking thing about that green is the way it looks from the tee and the fairway from over 150 yards out.  It looks as if there is no way a ball could stay on it period, but it is not quite as frightening once you get there. The short game options are there, and the green is great placement overall for creating such shot-making variety on macrocontours so simple.  A blast to play, and making me miss summer up north!

That green, along with 2 and 7, are my favorite on the course
"From now on, ask yourself, after every round, if you have more energy than before you began.  'Tis much more important than the score, Michael, much more important than the score."     --John Stark - 'To the Linksland'

http://www.hochsteindesign.com

Patrick_Mucci

Re:"The Single Best Green Built in America in the Past 60 Years"
« Reply #52 on: February 01, 2008, 03:55:13 PM »
It's funny how many people have reacted to that green.  Ron Whitten wrote somewhere a long time ago that when he saw that green, he knew my work was going to be something different.

The odd thing about it is that it's the first green we built at High Pointe.  I guess it's been all downhill from there  :-\

Tom Doak,

I haven't played the golf course yet, but, what was your vision for the green, what were you trying to accomplish, from the perspective of the approach, recovery and on the putting surface ?

Can someone post a photo ?

Brett Hochstein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:"The Single Best Green Built in America in the Past 60 Years"
« Reply #53 on: February 01, 2008, 04:53:59 PM »
I finally figured out photos!

From the tee:


From the approach:


with the lead-up slope and the way the green looks i could not believe my ball stopped where it did in this shot, especially considering i am weak and hit a 4-iron into the green. play a draw into the slope and get lucky i guess
"From now on, ask yourself, after every round, if you have more energy than before you began.  'Tis much more important than the score, Michael, much more important than the score."     --John Stark - 'To the Linksland'

http://www.hochsteindesign.com

Chuck Brown

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:"The Single Best Green Built in America in the Past 60 Years"
« Reply #54 on: February 01, 2008, 08:19:51 PM »
For the sake of contoversy I submit #9 at Kingsley
In order to restore the balance in the universe, and for the good of all mankind, I submit #9 at Kingsley as the worst green built in the last 60 years. >:(

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re:"The Single Best Green Built in America in the Past 60 Years"
« Reply #55 on: February 02, 2008, 12:35:36 AM »
Patrick:

The green site is on a natural saddle in the ground, and the green itself is shaped much like a saddle -- it's high at the left front and highest at right rear, low at the right front and lowest at left rear.

The right-hand hole locations are relatively straightforward, although the pronounced slope from back to front is broken up by a couple of small ridges at the edge of the green, instead of just tiers.  These make for VERY interesting recovery shots from the right.

The front left location is fairly hard to get to ... you can either play pin high right, or if you drive it right, you may be able to aim to the left front edge and bounce one in close.

The back left location is the crazy one.  If you go straight at it, a lot of shots will go straight on through into a back left bunker, and others will stop short of going down to the back.  The idea for the green came while I was trying to figure out how to prevent a right-handed player from having an unplayable lie if he wound up in the edge of that back bunker, where you couldn't take a stance to play out toward the back left pin.  It dawned on me that if we flared up the very back of the green, you could play a shot out that way and then have it gravity-feed back down the slope to the left rear pin.  As it turns out, that's also the way to putt or chip from high-right to low-back-left ... play up to the back of the green and watch the ball make a U-turn and feed down to the hole on a gentler fall line.

I think that Bill Coore tried to do something similar with part of the seventh green at Friars Head that Tom Paul was talking about earlier; if so, that's the only green I know of that would be anything like it.


Pat Howard

Re:"The Single Best Green Built in America in the Past 60 Years"
« Reply #56 on: February 02, 2008, 12:48:07 AM »
Not having played the course, all I can comment on is how visually intimidating that green (High Pointe) appears.

« Last Edit: February 02, 2008, 10:56:33 AM by Pat Howard »