The Front Page Photo - California Golf Club

[Kyle Harris]

I am quite keen on the current photo on the front page, which is of some hole at the California Golf Club. I've not been there, yet. I have no idea which hole that is or if the view/angle depicted is how that particularly feature is played. I don't particularly care if it is or isn't, because there is so much good here architecturally, captured in one photo, that it does not matter.

With that being said, I'd like to conduct a little sociological experiment:

What do you guys see in this photo?

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

Kyle

Quite sure that's the 10th hole from the far left side of the tee box.  IMO this photo does not truly represent what one sees standing on the tee (this photo has definitely "flattened" the perspective).  Good hole.  Fun tee shot and really good green.

I see yellowish-green grass vs. lush green.  Cal Club has always played firm when I've played it, and the ground game is definitely in play there, and I think the grass has a lot to do with that.

W

[JESII]

Interesting question Kyle...I've been looking at that picture and wondering what exactly I'm looking at.

First thing I see is the severe right to left slope pulling balls down into what looks like pretty nasty rough. If this is true, is the rough generally nasty? Can people that drive it here get over the cross bunker from that rough?

Now that Wayne says the picture is from the tee I wonder if we wouldn't drive it over the cross bunker...

The green looks cool with no bunkers guarding/saving balls on the low side. Huntingdon Valley is an opportunity to do this as well...let balls that miss the green low just go. Don't 'save' them with a bunker.

[Phil McDade]

Some cool topography, so I assume there are holes of interest based on land forms, not just green sites and routing and placement of traps and such.

To me, the most interesting thing is the abrupt transition from fairway to what appears to be deep, penal (thick? given the climate there, I'm guessing probably) rough. I like that in a course, given (this is a big one for me) proper mowing width of fairways. I am growing fond of very wide fairways with severe, penal rough/hay immediately bordering the fairway.

[Peter Pallotta]

K -

I see trees that you can hit out from under, and not forests where you lose balls or strokes almost automatically. I see a course where said trees do a decent job of framing vistas instead of golf holes, and of serving to delineate one golf hole from another and not isolate them.

Peter

[Matt_Cohn]

Yeah, this doesn't evidence the playing characteristics of the hole at all. The bunkers shown are carry bunkers, 150 yards or so off the tee. The high grass left is out of play. The flag for #10 appears over the middle of the right bunker, barely visible. The flat spot in the distance is the 11th tee, between #10 green and #13 green; that's also the line on which a good tee shot from #10 would finish. The bunker visible upper-left is the short-right bunker for #13 green.

[Kyle Harris]

I am amazed by the photo because the lack of a clear view of the "playable aspects" does not matter.

The top lines of the bunkers do not draw the eye.

The trees are not corridors.

My eye cannot focus on one aspect, instead, I scan and view and review the property, looking for minute details as my mind wishes, not as something tells me to do. There is no frame. No one feature frames or defines the other, and the important golfing features are things unto themselves. This area would pass off as pleasing to a non-golfer in a non-golf context as much as it should a golfer. However, I fear that a good many golfers would cry because of the lack of a clearly delineated path or idea.

The photo looks like hunting grounds and not a target range.

Aside:

Jim,

I'm with you on Huntingdon Valley, especially #6!

[Eric Smith]

For ease of reference:

[Rees Milikin]

A hidden landing area leaves you wondering what type of line to take off of the tee.  The decision of whether to aim at the left side of the bunkers (shorter) or the right side of the bunkers (longer) is main thing I notice, and leaves me wondering what angle and lie I would be working with on my second shot.  The land appears to slope to the left before the bunkers and then slopes to the right after the bunkers, which again factors into the tee shot decision.

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

At the end of the day, this picture does this hole no justice.  it's a beautiful photo and captures the "spirit" of the course, but in no way would you be able to determine how to play this hole by viewing this photo alone.

[Grant Saunders]

To me, the most interesting thing is the abrupt transition from fairway to what appears to be deep, penal (thick? given the climate there, I'm guessing probably) rough. I like that in a course, given (this is a big one for me) proper mowing width of fairways. I am growing fond of very wide fairways with severe, penal rough/hay immediately bordering the fairway.

Phil

Im pretty sure if you look at the photo you can see the fairway edge up near the bunker and that is semi rough in most of the foreground.

[Sean_A]

What do you guys see in this photo?

Perhaps most interestingly, the photo makes me think about what is out of shot as much as what is within shot.

Kyle, I too see trees used as means to enhance the view rather than define a hole corridor.  Its also intruiging that the houses are not quite blocked out...makes me want to look at the houses to see what is what...which also draws my eye to other parts of the course not part of hole in question. 

I also see the big centre line bunker and it makes me wonder if the fairway beyond matches the right side of the green.  Tantalizingly is what appears to be another bunker further down the hill, but in line with the big cross bunker...makes me wonder if that is the drive line or an illusion.

Its an interesting looking hole which looks like it is playing on the edge of a ridge or possibly on top of a ridge...looking left I am forced to wonder what is further left...out of shot?

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

Like Grant says, the fairway is out of shot to the right. Hence the bunker is not centre line. It is on the left side.

[Joe Hancock]

Kyle,

Thanks for an interesting question.

I see several convex shapes in the bunker sand. Unusual and interesting to the eye.

Joe