Congrats To Jeff Brauer. 2014 Publinks

[Adam Clayman]

Will be played at his Kansas design, Sand Creek Station.

[Peter Pallotta]

Congratulations, Jeff!

Good news, and good publicity for what seemed -- when I first read about it -- a wonderful example of modetly priced quality architecture.

Peter

[Brandon Urban]

Congrats Jeff. Fun course.

Can't wait to see what the players think of the sideways Biarritz green on the par 5 4th (I think).

[Jason Hines]

Well done Jeff.  I am within 2 hours of Firekeeper, Sand Creek Station and Colbert Hills, which one should I play first and what are the differences between the three? 

[Brandon Urban]

Jason,

I'm sure Jeff will have more detail, but I really enjoy all three courses. They are all pretty different, too.

Colbert is a big, brawny beast. They have a tournament every year called the Black and Blue Bruiser (played fom the back tees). A fun course, but pretty unwalkable. Beautiful vistas of the Flint Hills are also included. With a journey to the upper tee box on 7 a must.

Sand Creek is on pretty flat land, but also a bunch of fun. Great greens including a Road Hole green replica. There is also a 600+ yard par 5 nicknamed "The Beast". Just a great example of solid architecture on regular old land.

Firekeeper is a blast. It's brand new so still growing in, but it has been very well received in the area. Everyone I know who has played it loved it. Very walkable and meanders in and out of woods and prairie. The secod shots are great and I really love the par 3s.

I would rank them Firekeeper, Colbert and then Sand Creek.

Just my humble opinion.

[PCCraig]

Congrats Jeff!

[Scott Macpherson]

Well done Jeff on the Pub Links, and I'd also like to acknowledge your articles on the Cybergolf website. I just stumbled across them last night, read a couple, and enjoyed them. I think I learnt something too!


scott

[Howard Riefs]

Super news. Congrats, Jeff.

Here's the USGA press release with the details.

http://www.usga.org/news/2012/February/Sand-Creek-Station-Awarded-2014-APL/

[Jon Wiggett]

Well done Jeff. It must be pretty cool to build a course that plays from pub to pub

Jon

[Evan Fleisher]

Congrats, Jeff!

Is this your first USGA event on one of your designs?  If not, where were the other(s)?

[Scott Stearns]

Pictures look great. Congratulations Jeff.   Well deserved.

Every time i see these courses, i wonder why more towns can't do this--its one of the few benefits that ALL citizens can enjoy, and if run by a private concern, can actually return some funds to the town.

 

[Jay Flemma]

Woo hoo hoo! Go Stars!

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Congratulations Jeff, it could not happen to a better guy.  Someone should post some pictures for us.

[Sam Morrow]

Very happy for Jeff, for those who have never played a Brauer I don't think they know what they are missing.

[Anthony Gray]

  Happy for you also Jeff. Your passion and effort gets noticed and appreciated.

  Anthony

[PThomas]

congrats Jeff

[Bob_Huntley]

Congratulations Jeff on prize well earned.

Bob

[Jeff_Brauer]

Thanks guys.  I knew it was coming as I helped them revise their shortgame area, a requirement for them to get the nod.  Still always nice to be official and get a few atta boys from friends here and around.  This is my first course to net a USGA event.  The Publinx probably best fits my career in public golf course design. 

SC is really the model for public golf.  City and developer  combine interests to get course built affordably, Kemper does a great job on service, etc.  Playable and interesting, not the bear that Colbert Hills is.  Has won a few NGF awards as best muni of the year,and has  been ranked as high as the 9th best muni by GolfWeek,and still in top25 or 50 at least.

SC has hosted many KS am events.  Only negative comments were on the hole pictured in the press release - 10.  600 yard par 5 into wind to start back nine.  Actually reduced the length to enlarge the putting green, so its a bit more manageable.

BTW, someone told me that Firekeeper has bumped CH out as the top public course in KS in the GolfWeek rankings, bumping, I presume, SC to No. 3.  Firekeeper has the advantage of being a core course, with more topo and trees than SC, but less topo than Colbert.  It may be the easiest of the three, by design.  I have started really working on making my courses easier, after years of seeing just how "Golf in America" is really played.......SC is a nice balance, with lots of interesting holes.

[Jason Hines]

Thanks Jeff and Brandon. 

Jeff, did you find anything unique about working with the Kansas topography (if any)?  Also, what are the specific benefits of using zoysia in this area?  That was one of the harder playing aspects to get used to when I moved here.

Jason

[Jeff_Brauer]

No doubt its the best grass, but we used bent fw for cost reasons at both Firekeeper and SCS.  Good thing about bent is the short game options.  Not a lot of bump and run on Zoysia.  On the hilly colbert hills terrain, it did have the advantage of not having to level out the fw, because the ball would hold on probably up to  a 10% cross slope, vs 4-5% for bent.  On the flip side, Zoysia needs nearly 5% just to drain well, so it wouldn"t have worked at SCS without even more extensive grading.

As to unique features, only SCS was as flat as advertised, and I learned that in some flat areas of KS (including Prairie Dunes) the water table is only a few feet down, making construction difficult.  It was the first time I had to use restraints on irrigation pipe for soil movement and heavy catch basins to prevent them from floating up......