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Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Whistling Straits: Straits - some pics from two weeks ago
« Reply #25 on: July 02, 2010, 03:48:38 PM »
Folks:

Kohler's desire to build WStraits formed primarily from two threads -- the success of his Kohler courses (Blackwolf Run and Meadow Valleys) and his frequent travels (sometimes with Pete Dye) to Scotland and esp. Ireland to golf.

No one in Wisconsin thought Kohler's original two courses -- priced as they were well above the usual penny-pinching spending habits of the state's residents -- would succeed the way they did (and those first two courses weren't built so much out of a desire to create a shrine to golfing as they were to fill a business need -- Kohler's guests at the American Club frequently complained about the lack of golf opportunities locally; Kohler actually pursued buying a local club first before building the River course). Once Blackwolf Run established itself as a high-end golfing destination that saw the market bear the price he set, he decided to do another one -- and turned to Ireland in particular for his ideas. Rumor (although I've heard it enough from several people to lead me to conclude it's true) has it that Kohler and Dye played Ballybunion Old, and Kohler turned to Pete and said: "Build me this in Wisconsin." They found a piece of land on the lake, and WStraits was born.

As for Dye's relationship with Kohler, my take is that Kohler -- whose family has run a pretty successful business for years in a fairly autocratic way -- likes a golf designer who runs things they way Kohler runs things. Kohler, an enthusiastic but average golfer, trusts Dye's judgement when it comes to golf design, much in the same way he trusts the guys at Kohler Co. who design all those funky toilets and sinks -- hire someone good who you trust, and stay out of their way. (The well-worn story about WStraits is that Kohler told Dye he had an "unlimited budget, and Pete went out and exceeded it.")

I'm a bit skeptical that the Bandon courses were inspired by WStraits. Keiser and Kohler share a lot in common with their vision of golf -- note the absolute lack of housing at any of the eight courses they've overseen, the emphasis on walking, and what I might call a sense of "naturalism" with their courses (regardless of whether that look and feel is artificially created or not...). Make no mistake -- Kohler saw major golf championship tournaments as a part of his venture in a way that Keiser never has. But my sense in reading about the two men -- and I've read alot less about Keiser than Kohler -- is that both had a vision about golf in this country that they've successfully carried out.

Peter Pallotta

Re: Whistling Straits: Straits - some pics from two weeks ago
« Reply #26 on: July 02, 2010, 03:56:25 PM »
Don't be too hard on yourself, Triple.  For what it's worth, I thought your post #18 was a very good one.  To me the special gift that Pete Dye has is his ability to re-fashion/re-imagine the fundamental principles and styles of the great old GB&I courses into the modern American milieu - whether in the context of a made-for-televised-professional-golf-design (Sawgrass) or in the context of mind-popping resort golf created from scratch on a flat former military base (Straits).  I don't find it a stretch to imagine that Mr. Keiser was influenced by the success in the marketplace of this re-fashioning, even if he prefers a much less drastic re-imagining.

Pete

Tim Pitner

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Whistling Straits: Straits - some pics from two weeks ago
« Reply #27 on: July 02, 2010, 05:57:03 PM »
I know it's an easy target, but I just don't understand what Dye was trying to accomplish with all the bunkering, especially the bunkering well out of play.  If it was to emulate the GB&I links (as I've read), I don't see it. 

Peter Pallotta

Re: Whistling Straits: Straits - some pics from two weeks ago
« Reply #28 on: July 02, 2010, 10:36:22 PM »
Tim - I too prefer something quieter, but I appreciate PD's excess here - as excess goes, he does it very well. I just assume that he was trying to re-create (for the resort/retail American golfer) something of the feeling I imagine one gets standing on some of the tees at TOC, where the first timer might have trouble figuring out where to go, or at least sees bunkers sprinkled around seemingly at random, lurking to gobble even a well struck ball. But, knowing his intended audience, PD made sure that the bunkering at Straits is - for the most part - a lot of sound and fury signifying little, and he made sure too that there'd be nothing 'unfair' or 'random' about about them.

Peter

Matthew Runde

Re: Whistling Straits: Straits - some pics from two weeks ago
« Reply #29 on: July 03, 2010, 06:55:52 AM »
Boy, I hope Tiger and Phil hit it into that bunker on 6!  I would love to see them get out of it.