Pound Ridge, hows it going?

[Justin Broderson]

Anyone here anything on pound ridge recently? Anyone play it?  Wondering how its playing and if it worth the cost.  Are they doing well?

[Jay Flemma]

I played it twice...mezza-mezza and NOT worth the astronomical price.  Go play beechtree and bulle rock back to back instead.

old thread here:  http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35452.35.html

[Matt_Ward]

Justin:

Pound Ridge will not be everyone's cup of tea as Brad Klein mentioned in his critique in Golfweek a few weeks back.

The course puts tremendous pressure on the tee game and heaven help anyone who fails to understand their limitations by playing the wrong tees.

The course will likely need a few additional tweaks -- I mentioned previously how silly the fronting tree is which blocks the fairway area from nearly all the mid to rear tee placements. The same be said for cutting rough grass areas that frame holes with mounding. The course right now is simply too tough for many people and it would work best for many people to play one tee box ahead of where they would normally play. If you don't you will donate plenty of balls.

[Ajay Yadav]

Pound Ridge is underwhelming........ Don't really buy that it puts pressure on the tee game... I think the trend to design golf courses on perhaps not enough land results in golf courses that are not compelling.... pound ridge is just another example of that

[Brad Klein]

Luckily they don't ban cellphones. Came in handy when I had to call in from No. 12 for more ammo.

[Mike_Cirba]

Luckily they don't ban cellphones. Came in handy when I had to call in from No. 12 for more ammo.

Brad,

I was resorting to X-out TopFlites by that point.   I lost 4 balls on the first six holes and I was just getting started.   

[Matt Varney]

This is an interesting thread about Pound Ridge and how difficult it is to play.  We are building a Pete & P.B. Dye mountain course in Tennessee and we made it clear we wanted a great golf course but not a bunch of trickery. 

Our golf course starts off with a nice par 4 about 425 from the tips and as you make your way around the course from hole-to-hole you have room to hammer the driver.  You need to hit the driver well to make birdies but, the holes are more natural allowing the higher handicap player to play the course and have fun.  I can remember on multiple occassions Pete Dye saying let that guy play iduring the design phase when discussing shot strategy and landing areas along with approaches into green complexes.

Pete & P.B. Dye like to challenge a golfer but, they don't aim to kill you and beat you down you always have options and they use angles very well creating nice golf holes.  I don't know how most people play but, I shoot around 80-82 and when I play a course and lose 2 sleeves of balls in 9 holes that is just crazy.  The golf course should be fun not a nightmare to play and that is exactly what we are doing building The Dye Course at Rarity Mountain.

It sounds to me like Pound Ridge somehow got out of control and the owner(s) should have made an executive decision on what the long term identity and overall playability of the golf course was going to be for the people that would pay money to play the course.  I understand the Kohler and Bandon business models but, that is not exactly the business model for Pound Ridge it is more local around NYC that could pull in wealthy players that wanted to play the course multiple times at high end daily fee price point of $250.

At Rarity Mountain we are planning to offer a Dye designed golf course set in the mountains located just off a major interstate with a price point that will not exceed $100 so that anyone who wants to play can come and play and have a great time without losing a dozen golf balls and spending a grand for a foursome.

[Brad Klein]

Matt, the owner of Pound Ridge did make an executive decision -- to make it hard.

[Matt_Ward]

Matt V:

Hate to bust your bubble -- but Pound Ridge is not about "trickery." The course is right in front of you throughout the round. So are a range of obstacles that really put tremendous pressure on one's tee game.

For what it's worth -- the actual site for construction of a course at Pound Ridge was complicated because of its small overall size and the actual configuration of the property itself. With that has come especially tight turning points and some excessively narrow fairways -- the par-5 13th being a good example that comes quickly to mind.

I don't doubt having lost balls at Pound Ridge can certainly happen. However, it's crucial for people to understand that the layout will uncover even the slightest of flaws and magnify them -- the tee game for Pound Ridge has to be air tight in so many ways. Most people would be advised to play one tee box further up from the ones they normally play.

As an FYI -- the biggest issue for Pound Ridge is to get rid of the silly infant pine trees that border a few of the fairways -- they are nothing more than instant unplayable lies should your ball get near them -- the closing hole is a good example of that condition. If these are not attended to they will simply cause narrow fairways now to becomes effectively even more narrower.

In addition, it would help Pound Ridge to cut the containment mounding to fairway height or to a rough cut that is not so deep or dense. Having to play balls now with either the ball way above or below your feet is simply overdosing the penalty for a missed fairway.

You then have the silly tree that blocks the 18th fairway from the middle to the tips. It needs to be removed because it's simply overkill for the sake of overkill.

Pound Ridge does provide a number of quality holes but the course needs a bit more width and less of the "throw everything at them save for the kitchen sink" mentality.

Having the course located in the greater Greenwich, CT and northern Westchester County area is geared to those who would enjoy a CCFAD experience and have the considerable wherewithal to pay for it. Can Pound Ridge be successful? That's hard to say but unless certain tweaks are done to improve what is there -- the net result will be a course that provides too much demand / difficulty for most to handle.

[Matt Varney]

Brad & Matt,

I am not saying the golf course is not good I have seen some really nice pictures of the place and I agree the superintendent did a hell of job conditioning that course.  When I say trickery I mean the little shit that just makes a course stupid and your remember it after the round like little pine trees.

I think the owner used way too much rock and if a person is used to playing from lets say 6800 yards and they have to play from 6200 yards what is the point?  The owner wanted to make the course so hard that the common man would play it once and say the hell with this course I am never coming back?  If the goal was a CCFAD clientele from CT / NY area I think they missed the mark badly. If the site is challenging and not very big they can't land a big tournament and corporate type events would avoid this place because they guys that work for living and can pay these types of greens fees would feel like they are getting kicked in the balls playing this course with their colleagues or clients.

Matt W. - I think you sent me an e-mail that you might be coming down this fall to Tennessee come on down and I will take you to our course and show you a really nice Dye course that you can't wait to play.  Bring your clubs and we will play the front 9 while all the bent grass is still growing in really nicely.

[Jay Flemma]

The super did do an excellent job.  I've chatted with him on a number of occasions and seen him out there on the site working.

With respect, I don't agree with the sentiments that the course was made hard for hard's sake, I think they were trying to force 18 holes where there's room for less.  Too much of the course runs in a mundane north-south routing separated by berms or terracing.  They had to make significant portions narrow because of the land they were dealt.

Matt V - Rarity Mtn looks good in the pix.  You obviously have a lot more room than they had in PR.