Pine Tree GC - Florida

[Dean Stokes]

I had the opportunity to play Pine Tree again yesterday in a charity event.....awesome! Big congrats to Anthony Nysse on the condition and the work he did last summer.
The course, for those of you who seem to despise Florida golf, is excellent. The green complexes, angles and different hole directions are just brilliant. I spent most of the day admiring the run offs, huge slopes and then more subtle falls in the greens and the use of bunker lips/faces to play with the golfers mind on approach shots where the bottom of the pin is not visible.
I have not always been as worried about the angle of attack into greens at any courses, generally due to the distance and height the golf balls flies these days but at Pine Tree you NEED to get the tee shot/lay up shot in the right place due to the offset angle of the greens and the narrowness in certain areas.
The entire day was a pleasure....we played from tees that easily had another 50 yards to go back....I can only iimagine with a stiff breeze what a challenging day that could be! (I only wish I had taken some photos and knew how to post on here).

[Mark Saltzman]

**WARNING** External Link:

Pine Tree photo tour: http://onegolferstravels.blogspot.ca/2012/11/pine-tree-golf-club-delray-beach.html

[Dean Stokes]

Thank you Mark. However I can honestly add that as good as those photos are they don't come close to doing Pine Tree justice.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Wow! Quite flattering! Thank you both! We have a busy  summer planned ahead as we will be removing the contaminated tifeagle approaches and tees and sodding the surfaces with Celebration to match the fairways. We also look forward to maturing our new Celebration fairways. And there is one more project being discussed that Ill chime in with if approved! They will certainly make the interesting approach and runs off most important. Thanks again!

[Steve Lapper]

Anthony,

   My wife and myself played there last month and loved it as always. What was different this time was just how perfectly it presented itself, from conditioning through to strategic design. The new grasses made play a dream and the bunker sand was meticulous. Congrats on getting it perfect !

  My next round there will surely be with hickories against the club's vaunted "old-school" hickory master himself. In anticipation of that future match, please know that when he comes to you to tuck the pins and water the sand, I will pay more to have you raise the mowing height of the openings and speed the greens up!!

Cheers!

[Tim_Cronin]

Pine Tree is a gem. Stunning it isn't more highly rated.

[Dean Stokes]

Pine Tree is a gem. Stunning it isn't more highly rated.

I agree. I am no 'expert' but I have to believe some people just dont understand the strategy involved in getting to different sections of those greens. That and the predjudice against Florida golf 
Number 10 from the back left tee has to be one of the best holes I've played in some time!

[Tim_Cronin]

Part of it is Dick Wilson being gone for so long, part of it is the course being dead flat – though Ben Hogan called it "The best flat course in the country" when he played it soon after it opened – and part of it is so many fine new courses opening and having the wow factor, sometimes because of novelty, sometimes not.

All I know is, it was in Golf Digest's original top 10 in 1966, when the magazine first charted the hardest courses in the country. Play it all the way back and it's all you want in a challenge.

[Mike Policano]

Steve,

While you, as Golf's Most Misunderstood, may have nipped his Majesty, I have been sharpening my fire sticks at Pine Tree. Birdied two on the front Thursday much to the dismay of my opponents. Shall I pencil you in next?

[Terry Lavin]

It's a plenty good course but an awesome club.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Dean,

All too often, "angles" are ignored or discounted, but, at Pine Tree, you'd better pay attention or they'll extract a severe toll.

# 1 is a perfect example.
Challenge the left side bunker complex and you're rewarded with a far more ideal angle of attack into a green that's on a diagonal that disfavors approaches from the right side.

Likewise # 3, challenge the right side bunkers and your approach is more benign..

# 5 is an interesting par 5 where the second shot has to be given careful consideration.

7, 8 and 9 have risk/reward written all over them.  Again, preferred angles reward the golfer, but, they're not without risk.

The back nine has it's share of preferred angles of attack, like on # 14 and # 15.

What's also neat about the course is that presence of a good wind.

It's fun to play, but, supremely challenging.
It tends to be very aerial and doesn't tolerate marginal shots very well.

# 4 with a far left hole location is one of my favorites.

[Dean Stokes]

Pat, I said to my partner yesterday that every half hit shot was punished! The breeze (1-2 club) and good pins took no prisoners. I felt that it is very similar to Seminole in that respect in that non solid shots get very little reward where you can get away with it at so many courses. I agree about the second shot on #5. I had 3 wood and pulled it a touch in the left bunker which left me 105 into the wind to a back pin. I think more often than not I would lay up short of that bunker.
There is almost always a 'bailout' off the tee but it does lead to a much tougher approach. Very clever. I think the Palm Beach County Amateur stroke play is there this summer....if the tees are back that will be all the course one can handle! How about #6 from the back!!!!!!

[Steve Lapper]

Steve,

While you, as Golf's Most Misunderstood, may have nipped his Majesty, I have been sharpening my fire sticks at Pine Tree. Birdied two on the front Thursday much to the dismay of my opponents. Shall I pencil you in next?

Mike,

  That slot shall belong to me, for though a recent thrashing of the ancient King is on record, no title can be claimed without going through His Highness of Hickories!!

 Will Don King or Bob Arum be arranging for the undercard?

 


PS...Graeme's wife's knee surgery went well yesterday. RMW eagerly awaits a visit from America's golfing Royalty!!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Dean,

I'd agree, both Pine Tree and Seminole tend to punish the marginal shot.

Other than # 12, every green is protected in front by bunkers, and # 12 has unique features protecting the frontal approach.

Interestingly, almost every green has little if any trouble long.

I think the play at Pine Tree is to take an extra half a club to a full club if you want to avoid a big number

[Dean Stokes]

Pat, I don't disagree with your theory to play for the backedge....however putting downhill all day when they are slick could also become tiresome! I just think the greens are extremely well thought out and clever....you may well have to play away from the pin many times a round in order to score well if you are not totally confident in where you are hitting it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Dean,

It's a bit of a trade off, but, I'd rather have a slightly downhill putt than be in one of those deep fronting/flanking bunkers, facing a bunker shot that may also leave me with a downhill putt.

# 17 can get a little scarey as it's downhill, downgrain and down wind.

[David_Madison]

I played Pine Tree last week and agree with all of the positive comments here. What I came away with was a sense that the playing conditions/surfaces were not just superb, but were especially well suited for the architecture. Everything just kinda' worked together wonderfully.

I agree with Patrick about being past the trouble works better, especially when having a downwind approach. With the wind being so heavy, it had a tendency to knock shots down out of the air. I'd much rather be working back down to the cup going into the wind than be in a bunker short and still hitting downwind to the cup. And having a cross-wind to work with makes it easier to hit a soft recovery back to the hole.

One odd note - - the name of the club is not evident on the scorecard. The logo eats up a full panel, but you don't see the name of the club in print. There's a small note indicating that Pine Tree practices water conservation, but that's about it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

David,

I'll mention it to the club, it's a good point.

[Anthony_Nysse]

David,

I'll mention it to the club, it's a good point.

Its intentional. The club removed "Pine Tree" from the logo and went to just the tree itself about 4 years ago. You won't find a hat, shirt or bag with the words "Pine Tree," just the logo. I thinks it's classy and simple.

[David_Madison]

Tony - I liked it, the fact that "Pine Tree" wasn't splattered all over. Kinda' neat, a little bit "insider" and definitely classy. I was remarking as it was unique in a good way.