Tiger to Design New Course in Cabo...

[Jud_T]

It won't be as good as Cowley's course.

Mike,

That's a pretty high bar for any course.  Diamante is currently ranked #58 in the World according to Golf Magazine and has the premier site on the ocean among huge dunes.  If it turns out to be a good course that is a nice complement to Paul's course, gets a lot of member play and isn't seen as an afterthought that will be a success IMO.  Gotta think Tiger has a lot riding on it, at least as far as his rep in the GCA world is concerned, so I'd assume they won't be cutting any corners on this project.

[John Kavanaugh]

Worst routing ever.  First hole par 5 second par 3 followed by a driveable par 4 may be the slow play king of all sequences.  Reminds me of the disaster at Cuscowilla.

[Ally Mcintosh]

One person saying the routing looks good, one saying it's the worst ever...

Personally I don't like that 6-8 and 10-14 track back and forward but that isn't enough for me to say it's a bad routing... Neither is the 2nd as par-3...

Amazing that people decide to call good vs bad off a masterplan... It's hard enough when you know the built course really well without knowing the restraints / brief...

[Stuart Goldstein]

Worst routing ever.

Pretty strong comment by just looking at a piece of paper.

[John Kavanaugh]

Worst routing ever.

Pretty strong comment by just looking at a piece of paper.

Stu,

If you know of a worse choice for a start of a course than short par 5, long par 3 please let me know.  If that is not bad enough they choose a water logged driveable par 4 as the third.  Worst routing of all time.

[Tim Gavrich]

Worst routing ever.

Pretty strong comment by just looking at a piece of paper.

Stu,

If you know of a worse choice for a start of a course than short par 5, long par 3 please let me know.  If that is not bad enough they choose a water logged driveable par 4 as the third.  Worst routing of all time.

Certainly makes sense, but will there be enough traffic on the golf course to make this a huge problem?

I played in a qualifier at Treyburn CC in Durham, N.C., whose second hole is a 245 yard par 3 that the setup gurus shortened to about 170 for the reason of pace of play. When I arrived on the tee, there were still three other groups there.

[John Kavanaugh]

For whatever reason a par 5 before a par 3 accentuates the problem.  As it is, Cuscowilla has this situation on the 2nd and 3rd holes.  I've never waited as long in my life as on the third tee at Cusc.

[Josh Tarble]

John,
Won't this be a fairly private members course?  If that's the case, I can't imagine it will be receiving as much play as Cuscowilla which should help alleviate some of those problems.

The back and forth nature does seem a little repetitive but for an overall concept there is certainly a lot to like.

[Mark Saltzman]

How does one judge the quality of a routing by looking at a 2D graphic?

[John Kavanaugh]

What's to like? I've never seen anything like the walk from 17 green to 18 tee.  Who wants to be putting on 10 and have to listen to clicking irons as people walk past the green.  I would guess carts would be rerouted.  It almost looks as if the 10th and 17th greens were transposed.

All I am judging is the sequence of the holes in the routing.

[Jud_T]

I agree that the 17th green to 18th tee is a bit of a headscratcher, but it's hard to really say without seeing it on the ground.

[Jim Colton]

What's to like? I've never seen anything like the walk from 17 green to 18 tee.  Who wants to be putting on 10 and have to listen to clicking irons as people walk past the green.  I would guess carts would be rerouted.  It almost looks as if the 10th and 17th greens were transposed.

All I am judging is the sequence of the holes in the routing.

I do agree with John, it seems like the 10th hole should play to the 17th green and vice versa.

[John Kavanaugh]

I will go on record saying that this is a bogus drawing being used to sell rube investors on the project. No way a course this obtuse gets built. Some apprentice, with poor drafting skills no less, misinterpreted Tiger's field notes. No harm really.

[Mike_Young]

I will go on record saying that this is a bogus drawing being used to sell rube investors on the project. No way a course this obtuse gets built. Some apprentice, with poor drafting skills no less, misinterpreted Tiger's field notes. No harm really.

I think you are close...

[Pete_Pittock]

Looks like the arroyos are the primary feature of the site and this maximizes its use. If you use it in its most stategic sense, I'd be wiling to overlook the walks from 10 to 11 and 17 to 18.

[Greg Tallman]

What's to like? I've never seen anything like the walk from 17 green to 18 tee.  Who wants to be putting on 10 and have to listen to clicking irons as people walk past the green.  I would guess carts would be rerouted.  It almost looks as if the 10th and 17th greens were transposed.

All I am judging is the sequence of the holes in the routing.

I do agree with John, it seems like the 10th hole should play to the 17th green and vice versa.

Says a group of guys in another country with zero knowledge of the topography. Seriously nobody can see why the green sites would be on the respective holes? So a couple of pedestrian approaches with death long on the back nine is preferrable tp a perhaps 70 yard walk from green to tee
?

[Connor Dougherty]

We should not be judging the merits of the entirety of the golf course. What we can do is make some observations. i don't think it's ridiculous for us to make comments about the routing from thousands of miles away so long as we acknowledge that we do not know about the topography and acknowledge that what we don't know if the proposed decisions were feasible.

That being said, from what I can see I like the look of the individual holes, but the "Future Development" zones are suspect, and I wonder if the best land for the golf course is really being used. For example, the walk from 9 to 10 has a "Future Development" zone right in between. It's not much of a walk around the building, but if their first priority was the golf course, would they really put homes in this location? Why not put a path that bypasses the clubhouse and utilizes the natural aspects of the landscape?

[Jud_T]

Connor,

It's a real estate development in one of the few areas in this hemisphere where real estate is still doing ok.  The idea is to sell high end property, and frankly it's fairly tempting.  Don't know if you realize this, but homes that have a golf course or an ocean view demand a premium.  As for prime property going to real estate, on my one drive through the property on my way to Diamante, it seemed like decent land for the purpose with plenty of interesting bits and plenty of room for development.  The really bold features have already been utilized for the Diamante Course, so they clearly aren't afraid to use prime property for golf.  It's one of the main selling points of the place, so to give it short shrift would be shooting yourself in the foot.  While there are a few properties on this course, it doesn't look all that intrusive compared to many real estate developments where houses line each hole corridor and the course is unwalkable.  Remember, this is the SECOND course next to it's big brother.  Diamante is the trophy property, this course just needs to be a nice alternative for member/homeowners.  I was pretty impressed with what I saw in the first phase of development so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until I see the next phase.  And if Kavanaugh made his way down there, there's no way he'd come home without a member's bag tag and a place near the beach...

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Jud...that is the truth Re Kav..
I went and played Diamante without ANY interest in EVER becoming a part of a "time share" property...and well, I am in!!!
Christmas at Diamante this year

[Howard Riefs]

New photos of Tiger's course, which Golf.com says the 7,401-yard course is expected to open this fall.

http://www.golf.com/photos/tiger-woods-el-cardonal-nears-completion/tiger-woods-diamante?xid=trips020514_headline

[Amol Yajnik]

From Tiger's Instagram account today, looks like he's making another visit down there.  I guess he left his back brace out of this picture.

From a GCA standpoint, seems like the course would be close to opening.

[Greg Holland]

That hole an alps/punchbowl?

[Mike Bowen]

Anyone who isn't interested in how this course turns out is lying to themselves.  He's the most well known golf figure in the world right now.  He's obviously not the one running the dozer or putting the finishing touches on greens, but at the end of the day it's his "Team" and he has final say on everything.

I would be interested to know how much he has had an impact on styling and the aesthetics of the course.  He's never built a bunker in his life but he's seen a million of them.  I think for him, placement of a bunker is easier than making the hole visually appealing or tying it all together.

[Jon Wiggett]

Anyone who isn't interested in how this course turns out is lying to themselves.  .

Mike,

there are billions of people on the planet who could not give a t*%s about this project though of the people on this site I dare say the vast majority are interested to see how it pans out.

Jon

[Paul Gray]

I'm honestly not interested in whatever project Jack Nicklaus puts his name to next so why would it be different with Tiger?