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Howard Riefs

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Sawgrass & Whistling Straits changes
« on: January 18, 2012, 02:30:51 PM »
Whitten redeemed himself from the Bandon blog piece with a solid interview with Pete Dye.  He discusses his recent work at TPC Sawgrass and Whistling Stratis, among other topics.  

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/blogs/wheres-matty-g/2012/01/a-conversation-with-pete-dye.html#entry-more


A few highlights...

Sawgrass
-- Reworked six greens to "make more docile": 4th, 11th, 13th, 16th, 17th and 18th  
-- Portions of the six bulkheaded greens were stripped of sod, then he scraped away some layers of sand and replaced the sod. The sand buildup on some parts of those greens was two inches."

[Glad to see the changes at 13 green; balls that landed on the front-center ridge would often roll left and into the water.]


Whistling Straits
-- Whitten concludes that Dye has "become infatuated with infinity greens."
-- "Blew out hillsides behind the fourth, eighth and 13th greens to remove all backdrops but Lake Michigan."
-- "Dropped the elevation of the tee boxes behind the 15th green so that, from portions of its fairway, it too looks like it’s floating right above the water."
-- Added some chipping areas and bunkers. Yes, because 960+ bunkers weren't enough. "We just needed some in some areas," said Dye.


Oh, and Dye is still shooting his age at 86. He recently shot a 77. Impressive.

"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Sawgrass & Whistling Straits changes
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2012, 02:47:56 PM »
Makes perfect sense
The stoppers at Kohler are top notch
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Sawgrass & Whistling Straits changes
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2012, 03:00:57 PM »
Good stuff, re: Whistling Straits. Even though on a couple holes (4/13) I figured they built up behind the green to block out the typical Wisconsin shoreline. But I'm guessing it'll be a big improvement once completed.

Thanks for posting Howard.
H.P.S.

Brett Morris

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Sawgrass & Whistling Straits changes
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2012, 07:08:57 PM »
The Sawgrass agronomy page showed photos of the work as they occurred last year:

http://www.tpcsawgrassagronomy.com

Matt Kardash

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Sawgrass & Whistling Straits changes
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2012, 07:09:38 PM »
The story of Pete falling down the cliff is pretty crazy! How a man who was 80 years old at the time survived that with no injuries I will never know! How an 86 year old man can shoot 77 I will never know either!

those changes at Whistling Straits sound major. I wonder what it will all look like. I admit that it does sound promising. However, as far as I can tell the 4th,8th and 13th don't have hillsides blocking the water. I guess we shall see though.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2012, 07:13:30 PM by matt kardash »
the interviewer asked beck how he felt "being the bob dylan of the 90's" and beck quitely responded "i actually feel more like the bon jovi of the 60's"

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