The New Standard in College Golf and some Architecture

[igrowgrass]

http://www.stanfordmensgolf.org/practicecenter_2200.htm

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Very cool Sean.  Looks like a great place to practice the game.  A little less architecturally stimulating, but Illinois recently finished their practice facility in Champaign which should be great for recruiting and keeping the game sharp during the cold winter months.

http://fightingillini.cstv.com/facilities/demirjian.html#

[John Moore II]

Both of those are real cool, the Stanford one is awesome, I wish I could have something like that at my club. North Carolina State just opened one as well, plus the new course opening next year, but its not nearly as nice as that.

[M. Shea Sweeney]

cool, but alitte bit too much going on for me.

[Jeff Doerr]

Thanks Sean.

What a cool concept - to provide varied GCA styles to practice on. It looks like the kind of place every future Tiger would want to practice at. I may be mistaken, but this really seems like "something new under the sun" and a practice that will find imitation at some high end new developments.

[Rich Goodale]

Thanks for that, Sean

It is fantastic, but I must admit, that as an alumnus I can't really see the value to the University of using 30 acres of their most valuable land just to let 20-30 elite golfers buff up their games at their leisure.  Even if developing the land for academic facilities or faculty/student housing was a non-no due to zoning, they could have used part of the land to revitalize the golf course itself, which has been emasculated over the past 40 years due to the encroachment of civilisation.  Looking at the map, they had ample room to build two new holes on the land northeast of 2nd, which would allow them to combine the current 3 and 4 into a strong par 4.  Elimination of the superfluous and out of character 8th would give you a very solid course, probably better even than it was in the mid-60's.

And, you would still have 10-15 acres for a practice facility.  All you'd have to do is eliminate 2-3 of the tribute architects.  Surely Fazio, and maybe both of the Jones'........?

[Steve Kline]

Perhaps the value is in attracting athletes who might be highly likely to donate money back to the school.

I attended Vandy on a golf scholarship. They always said they had current revenue athletes (football and basketball) and future revenue athletes (tennis, golf, and maybe a couple of others). They called them future revenue athletes because they were far more likely than others to donate large sums of money to the school.

[Rich Goodale]

Possible, Steve, but I doubt it.  Stanford gets most of its really big bucks from their entrepreneurial alumni (like Tom Siebel, who funded the practice facility) rather than their ex-jocks.  It would take many Tiger Woods' and Michelle Wie's to even come close to the donation potential of Sergei Brin.

[jeffwarne]

Whatever happened to hitting balls on the range ,practice green(or a field) and playing.
With a little imagination, you can practice similar situations at any decent practice facility.

I would say a Tiger Woods is LESS lkely to emerge from such a pampered situation and more likely to emerge from a local park, muni, or caddie yard where some struggle, sacrifice, and imagination are required.

Nice facility though (who picks up he balls?)

At the PGA Port St. Lucie they have different types of sand to practice from (give me a break)