Evolution of Wolf Point Club Routing

[Mike Nuzzo]

I was fortunate enough to have Paul include my pictorial essay on the evolution of the routing at Wolf Point Club.  If you pick up the book you can see for yourself.  The rest of the book is just as good too!

I've also been detailing each of the versions on my blog - http://nuzzogolfcoursedesign.blogspot.com/
With several more to go.

Is this as interesting to others as it is to me?

Please ask any questions.
Cheers

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Thanks for the update Mike.  I'll be sure to pick up a copy of the book for my collection.  There is definitely an interest here so keep the progress updates coming!

[Alan Gard]

Hi Mike,

I too appreciate all the updates on this project.  In talking to you and Don at last year's Dixie Cup, one could easily tell how passionate you are about this project.  And I for one find that a passionate person can make just about anything seem interesting.

I seem to remember you saying how your instructions were to design the course so lost balls were unlikely, but that the course should be hard.  My question(s) would be how much the routing changed over time to meet these goals versus other logistical goals (drainage, irrigation, etc.) and did you ever have instances where you had to compromise between either of those goals and the hole that you really wanted to build?

Thanks!

[Michael Blake]

I too find it very interesting to read about the designers thought process during the evolution, of what it the most important part of the process, the routing.

I like how you continued to 'condense' the routing to make the walk to the next tee as short as possible.

Also refreshing to read that you visited Seminole for potential inspiration/ideas, as it is a course you deemed to have similar shape and terrain as Wolf Point.

Lasty, you gotta love a client who basically says, " I wan't it very private, no lost balls in high grass, fun, very winds, lots of sand."

Please keep sharing with us.

[Paul_Daley]

NUZ:

Goodness ... what a tonic to log in, surf around, and then discover this almost life size cover image of "Golf Archie" Vol. Four. 

I'm always slightly hesitant to mention individual essays, be they regular or modified PIC ESSAYS, such as the Wolf Point Club piece. The trap is to do so, then risk alienating all the other essayists who helped to make the publication appealing to a small, somewhat eccentric group of people. 
I'm as mad as a hatter, myself, so there's no offence meant.

That said, it would be a straight-faced lie not to acknowledge the enjoyment that the Wolf Point evolutionary routing case study provided, seeing Mike's palace, literally, growing as IT and the BOOK progressed. There's no coincidence in this statement, for producing a golf book and designing a golf course is, I imagine, not too dissimilar in regards to
calling on process-driven methodologies. Nuz's informative routings (1-10, plus the GPS "As-Built" overlaying a current aerial at 14 months) mirrors, to some degree, the steps in publication: selection and sourcing of material, compilation, drafting, managing an ever-increasing manuscript, reworking throughout, last-minute tweaking, sign-off, and so forth. A publication, routing wise, takes the readership on a journey from the 1st tee (Intro/Foreword/Contents) all along the watchtower (Jimi H) to the 18th green (Index/Glossary/Endnotes/Picture Credits/Contributors' Bios). Ensuring that a healthy variety of holes exist for the enjoyment of players is akin to presenting a mixed bag of essays. Just on that point, the cost of publishing has sky-rocketed, so Vol. 5 will contain many more byte-sized 800 to 1,300-word accounts.

While one discipline considers soils and grass types, length of holes, inter-hole variety, playability, engineering, framing/landscaping, designing for a particular player-type/course profile (private or public), routing ... the other pours over font/point size, leading, paper stock grammage (gsm) and its presentation (matt, gloss, semi-gloss, etc). Golf courses, too, are presented with similar specs --- browned-off, lush as the latest toupee outside the Men's Gallery, or something in between these two extremes! Then there's the overall extent of publication (not 6,500 metres … but 384 pps), individual length of essays (not 350 metres ... but 1,500 words), style of essays (not laid out upon linksland, heathland, parkland, downland, moorland or in the desert  ... but engineering-based, course reviews, philosophical, problem-solving,  esoteric), invisible page “gutters” (unlike the visible ones when playing doubles at tennis), captions/images/adornments. A myriad of design issues to consider, is the book, for instance, destined to be presented in a landscape or portrait orientation? How the information is presented, internally, may be similar to utilising the inherant lanfdorm features in any given property. As golf courses are flanked by roughs, images can be "bled" off the page endings, or cropped like a golf course that doesn't wish to be a US Open venue. And just as golf-course architects utilise numerous contractors throughout their projects (agronomists, shapers, engineers, construction team(s), surveyors, other), publishers enlist the aid of photographers, scanners, writers, editors, proofreaders, calligraphers, graphic designers, painters, freight-forwarders, warehouse crew, printers, and other.         

Michael Clayton, Geoffrey Cornish, Neil Crafter, Tom Doak, Michael Hurdzan, Brad Klein, Scott Macpherson, Jeff Mingay, Ross Perrett, Forrest Richardson, Phil Ryan, Geoff Shackelford, Donald Steel, Peter Thomson, Greg Turner and Ron Whitten easily have the jump on me, having actively participated in both publishing and golf design. My mind's a blur ... sorry for forgetting others who can point to this duality.

But just to save this post from slipping into a complete sleep-deprived ramble, it’s worth considering the literary/publishing output of A.W Tillinghast. A. Mackenzie, H. S. Colt, T. Simpson, G. C. Thomas Jr. Could those boys route their way around the pages of a golf book, or what! Freddie Hawtree and Sir Guy Campbell were also brilliant at their “other” pursuit.

Good luck with Wolf Point Club, Nuz.

[George Pazin]

Is this as interesting to others as it is to me?

Yes. And thanks for reminding me I have to order Paul's latest.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Paul,
I can also imagine that when editing your volumes, sometimes you get better land to work with.
Congratulations on a GAV4.
Cheers

Thanks guys.

Alan,
I don't remember any compromises - I'll be thinking of your question as I write about the rest of the versions.
If anything we removed a few compromises as we progressed.
The routing changes were to make the golf course better.
More fun to play, sometimes more challenging.
Making better use of the site as we became more familiar with how the site worked - draining naturally.
Construction and maintenance didn't have much of an impact as they were forefront during the design process -- design, construction and maint all have to work together to be as good as it can.
Cheers

[Eric Pevoto]

Making better use of the site as we became more familiar with how the site worked - draining naturally.
Cheers

Draining naturally?  In S Texas?  I can't wait to see this place. 

Thanks for the reminder to order Vol. 4.

[Tom_Doak]

   " ... design, construction and maint all have to work together to be as good as it can."

Mike, that is the best thing you've said here so far, and one of the things that most people here still don't really understand ... that just having an idea for how you want a hole to play, doesn't mean it will work well on the ground, even if you move dirt around. 

If you can explain it more by some examples you will be doing everyone a great service.