Wow, the 7th looks fantastic!
Greg, in an earlier reply you noted a revised location of the 5th and 16th greens. Has that work been completed or is still in the planning stages? I was last there in 2007 and both greens seemed in the same spot as my previous trips.
Tim,
Thank you. I really think the new 7th will be among the best holes on the course and certainly a "fan favorite".
16 was relocated to the very edge of the cliff above the beach in 2004. It had previously been about 20-25 yards shorter which, to be honest, boggles the mind at how that was ever allowed to happen. At the time we were introducing a new grass on the putting surfaces and thus closed for 4 months we asked Nicklaus (Jim Lipe) to revisit the location of the 16th green whcih had been moved a few years earlier by those mangaing the property at the time. Their thought process was to create room for another tee for the 17th hole which was rarely used and to be honest the 17th needed no such "improvement" particularly at the expense of another great hole. Very bad decision in my mind.
5 moving back aapprox. 40 yards is still in the approval stage though the plans are complete and would create a triumverate (5-6-7) to rival the famed 16-17-18. We may have to wait until next summer to do this as the phasing would require playing a temp green for about 3 weeks while we rework the current green site/surrounds in creating the new approach. This would be in the heart of the season and thus we may not pull the trigger just yet. When we do the tees will also shift and vastly improve the golf hole.
We are excited about all of the changes and have to give all the credit to the very talented Jim Lipe, who, as previously noted, was the only person with which we would have proceeded with the changes that had been pending for several years. Well... maybe we would have worked with Kurt Bowman but Jim's phone and fax would have been working overtime.
