[jonathan_becker]

I recently had the good fortune to be invited to play Ross's Inverness Club when the weather gets warm.  While using the search engine on GCA, I found that there's no doubting Inverness to be a great course....but how great is debatable my some.  However, there seems to be a consensus that hole #7 is a fantastic hole and is definitely world class.  It's a par 4 that measures 481 from the back tee.  Below is an image from the club's website.



For those of you that care to chime in....what makes this hole great and why is it a world class hole?

Feel free to post other photos if you've got them.  Mac P - you've got a photo of #7, correct?

Thanks,

Jonathan

[Anthony Gray]

  Paging Mac Plumart.....

[Mac Plumart]

OH BABY!!!!  Inverness, Inverness, Inverness, how I love thee Inverness!!!

7, 4, 10, and 18 were my favorite holes.  Put those down in your memory banks so when you play them you take mental notes...they are pretty sweet.

Also, you will notice right away the holes that have been modified (I think by Fazio) as they simply don't seem to fit quite right with the other holes.  The holes are still pretty good, but just a little odd or out of place or something...you will see what I mean.

I am at work and don't have time to post my picture of it...but the tee shot plays a little elevated and a creek winds its way across the fairway.  You have really three options from the tee box on how to begin to approach the hole...left, right or middle.  Beware the creek which ever way you choose.  Unlike the typical Ross hole there are no bunkers and the green has multiple tiers making approaches tricky and putts tricky.

So other than the tee shot, approach shot, and the putts...the hole is fairly mundane!!   

However, what is neat about it is that unless you get wet, you have recovery options.  They will be challenging, but they are available.  So, you've got options concerning how to play the hole, you've a creek to deal with, you've got length to deal with, and a tiered green.  Classic great hole criteria.

Perhaps the intersting thing about the entire course is the greens.  I loved them.  Also the history imbedded in the club, clubhouse, and course is spectacular.

Have fun!!

[Jeff_Mingay]

Inverness is cool.

The 7th is one of the most natural appearing holes anywhere; and, a challenging one as well.

I agree, the new holes - 3, 5, 6 and 8 - stand-out as odd. Playing holes 5 and 6 kinda makes you feel like you've left Inverness, then returned at #7 tee; at least it did last time I was there. I hear they've attempted to remedy this problem.

The scene at the 1st and 10th tees is very unique as well. These fairways are connected with a cluster of bunkers in the middle; but, what's most unique is that these fairways begin at the tees. There's no rough to carry off the tees at 1 and 10. It's a very dramatic intro. to golf at Inverness. Very cool. 

You'll enjoy your visit Jonathan.

[David Whitmer]

Inverness is fantastic. The 7th hole is a really neat hole...natural, as Jeff said. You tee off downhill, and the creek crosses from the left, then goes up the right side of the fairway. You don't want to miss left, however, because there is a hillside with thick rough, and getting to the green from that rough is difficult. The approach to the green is uphill. The green is small and undulating from front to back.

If I'm not mistaken, this was the hole where a very young Bobby Jones was playing in the 1919 US Open with Harry Vardon. Jones thinned a chip shot over the green, then turned to Vardon and asked if he had ever seen a worse shot. Vardon just said, "No."

[Carr Harris]

I have a question for those who have played or seen Inverness: 

Of the 14 or so original holes left there, how true are the current green complexes to Donald Ross's original design? When the Fazio's did all their work in preperation for the 1979 U.S. Open did they substantially change many of the greens, or did they do most of their work tee to green (new bunkering, tees, etc.)? What about Arthur Hills work there in 1999? I know that many of you hold Inverness in lesser regard due to the bastardization of the course, and the not so seamless meshing of the new & old holes. I'm just curious if the course still sports what would be considered authentic "Ross greens".

[Mac Plumart]

Thus far I've played 4 Ross courses...Inverness, Augusta CC, East Lake, and CC of Columbus.  I thought that Inverness, Augusta CC, and CC of C had very similiar greens.  East Lake had similar greens but they seemed to have their undulations "dumbed down" and the speed of the greens were much higher.  I believe this is due to the Tour Championship being played at East Lake and the greens being set up for Tour players and a higher stimp rating.

Based on this, I would say that Inverness has typical Ross greens.  And, in fact, I thought that the greens were the best part of the course.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Prior to the 1931 Open AWT was brought in to "prep" the course for the tournament.
He lengthened holes, renovated and added bunkers and completely rebuilt the 13th green.

Prior to the 1957 Open Dick Wilson was brought in to "prep" the course for the tournament.
He cut down the crowns of hills on several holes to reduce blind approach shots, adjusted a number of tees and either renovated or added twenty-eight bunkers.

Neither AWT or Wilson tinkered with the routing of the course.

Both George and Tom Fazio reworked the golf course, significantly changing the front nine in the 70's.
In 1976 the Fazios returned to modify the 17th green which the USGA felt would be too severely sloped for the 1979 Open.

Tom Fazio felt that there was too much congestion around the 17th green, with the 7th green, 8th tee, 16th tee, 17th green and 18th tee were so close to each other.  He saw similar problems with the 5th green, 6th tee, 6th green and 7th tee, along with problems with the 13th hole.

Fazio recommended consolidating the 6th, 7th and 8th holes into one hole, a par 5.
Also recommended was the elimination of the 13th hole and the building of three new holes on property owned by the club.
Thus, the current 8th hole was crafted and the 18th tee lengthened, and the new 3rd, 5th and 6th holes were born.

It should be noted that the Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the Fazio plan

The 3rd hole, a par 3 with a pond, the 5th, a dogleg par 4, along with the 6th a par 3 were added.

Those three new holes clearly broke with the architectural integrity and continuity of the golf course.

Subsequently, Arthur Hills was retained in an attempt to blend the three new holes in with the rest of the golf course.
To this day, that blend hasn't been achieved.
Hills worked on other holes prior to the 1986 PGA.
He worked on the 10th hole, altering fairway bunkers for the 1993 PGA and on the golf course in preparation for the 2003 US Sr Open.
Hills tinkered with the 17th, 4th and 7th holes.

Inverness can be narrow to very narrow, probably due to the championships hosted, but, the 3rd, 5th and 6th holes, while decent holes, clearly break the architectural flavor found elsewhere on the golf course.

As par 3's, It would seem relatively easy to restore the look/architecture of the 3rd and 6th holes to Ross's style.
#3 and # 12 are par 3's adjacent to and parallel to one another and the architectural disparity between them is striking.
As to # 5, which is a good golf hole, it could use a Rossian veneer.  

[Mac Plumart]

Here is that picture of the 7th...

[jonathan_becker]

Patrick,

Thanks for the history lesson....i loved it.

Mac,

That's the photo I wanted to see. 

[Jay Flemma]

I also have an invite to inverness and look forward to taking it this fall.

Judging from the picture and map, it looks like it plays fade off the tee, draw into the green?  That's a good start there if it is:  alternate shot requirements mean you have to work the ball both ways.  I like how it's uphill on the approach as well, so you'll have to really hit a good secind shot to get close.  Mac does the green have two tiers?

Possible drawbacks - is that tree greenside?  Is that all rough along the left there?

How about some MORE pics of other holes too?!

[Carr Harris]

Mac & Patrick,

Thank you both for the input.


I'm curious was the land that the club fabricated the new hole from always owned by the club, or was it annexed somewhere along the way?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jay Flemma,

# 7 is a long, difficult hole.

# 4 is one of my favorites but it seems to live in the shadow of # 7.

I also liked # 1 and # 10, which resemble each other to a good degree.

The contrast in the bunkering on # 12 and # 3 is dramatic.
How you could build a new hole next to an old one and not replicate the style is beyond me, unless, you wanted your fingerprints, not the original fingerprints on the golf course.  Inverness prides itself on its connection to Ross, hence I'm surprised that the contrast/conflict has been allowed to survive for so long.

Carr,

I think the club owned that property for a long time.
I don't think they bought the property for the purpose of adding the new holes, I think they had that property for quite some time, possibly from inception.

[jonathan_becker]

After seeing the image from the website compared to seeing Mac's photo, now I want to see the yardage book.   It's an interesting looking tee shot to say the least. I like it.

I wonder how far it is until the fw starts to move right? 

I would guess that no matter at what yardage the hole moves towards the creek on the right, at 481 yards, you would still need to smoke a driver off the tee to have a reasonablle chance for GIR. 

[Mac Plumart]

Check this out...

http://picasaweb.google.com/InPursuitof1000/Inverness?feat=directlink#

It is from a site called In Pursuit of 1000...pretty darn cool stuff.

This link is Inverness in detail.  Clubhouse, Yardage book, hole by hole...the only downfall is the green pictures don't capture the feel of them.  For instance, the green on 4 is frickin' terrifying if you are putting back towards the fairway, but you don't get that sense in the picture.

Nevertheless, this is the best I've seen.

FYI...from the tips it looks like it is 260ish to get past that curve on the creek on the right.

[jonathan_becker]

Mac,

YES....yardage book and everything, too!! 

Ask and you shall receive. 

[jonathan_becker]

After seeing the distances on #7 thanks to Mac, even if you play the gold tees from 453, the movement to the right forces you to fly the corner if you're going to hit driver.  Getting to where that movement right starts isn't near as far as I thought.  But, that landing area looks fairly tight.  

Well, if you're playing it from 481, you should be able to fly a driver 260 no problem.  So flying the fw movement is the play. 

Screw it - I'm hitting driver.  You can't hit 3 metal and expect a decent chance to hit the green in 2.

[Mac Plumart]

Check out hole 4...it is really nice as well!

[Carr Harris]

I was thinking the same thing jonathan. Time for the lumber off 7 tee.   I was shocked looking at the yardage book. It sure looks like a longer carry for the creek on the right than 253.

I am suprised looking at those photos at just how tight a driving course inverness is. Either way, my excitement for playing there this summer has just ratcheted up another notch...

[Jay Flemma]

Can we have a pic of 4 please?

[Mac Plumart]

Jay,  check out the link a few posts earlier, it has pictures of all the holes in detail.

[JESII]

For those that think it does/should not matter, would this hole really be viewed as well if it were a par 5? Or would it be another nice, short hole with an awkward lay up area?

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