Pearl Necklace Template Par 3?

[Bryan Izatt]

A few months ago, I played Royal Cromer and came across a drop shot par 3 that was surrounded by a string of circular pot bunkers (first picture below).  I was thinking that I'd seen this string of bunker that look like pearls on a necklace at a number of other courses in the UK.  The 12th at Wallasey (second picture below) comes to mind, as does the 13th at Royal Dornoch (although it's a bit more sophisticated).


Are there others that are very similar?  Were some/all of them copies? Did the concept get exported to the U.S.?

[David_Tepper]

Bryan -

What makes both those holes a little different from others of that type I have seen is the mounding along the back of the green. It makes you think the dirt that was dug out to create the bunkers was all dumped behind the green to create the mounds.

The 13th hole (now the 4th) at the Presidio in San Francisco is a drop-shot par-3 of 100-120 yards that used to be surrounded by bunkers. At one point they took out the turf separating the bunkers to make one large bunker encircling the green. 

DT

[Jason Thurman]

When did the pearl necklace hole originate at Royal Dornoch? Ross frequently bunkered around the sides and front of greens on his US courses to a point that I would wonder if he drew the inspiration from his old home course. About half his courses that I've played have a similar scheme: 6 and 12 at Beverly, 16 at French Lick, and 15 at Broadmoor to name a few. While the bunkers on these US Ross holes aren't exactly round, they're not any less round than the beads on the pearl necklaces I used to give to girls in college.


You probably should come up with a different name for the template...

[John McCarthy]

Jason:  He is just a fan of ZZ Top I guess.

[Mike_Clayton]

The 7th at Royal Adelaide is South Australia is very similar.

[Mark Bourgeois]

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,33586.msg1427493.html?PHPSESSID=crqbhjn3jmhv34ddj87m7ke2a4#msg1427493

[Martin Lehmann]

The 8th par 3 hole of Royal Ostend, a nice links course at the Belgian coast founded in 1903, looks a bit like it.

[Tom_Doak]

When did the pearl necklace hole originate at Royal Dornoch? Ross frequently bunkered around the sides and front of greens on his US courses to a point that I would wonder if he drew the inspiration from his old home course.

Nope.  The 13th was one of the last holes built at Dornoch.  When they extended the course after World War II, they needed an extra hole so they built the par-3 over there.  On the old course as Ross knew it, you went straight from #12 to #14.

[MCirba]

9th at Royal Lytham

17th at Fairhaven next door

Forget the hole number at Leatherstocking

[Bill_McBride]

When did the pearl necklace hole originate at Royal Dornoch? Ross frequently bunkered around the sides and front of greens on his US courses to a point that I would wonder if he drew the inspiration from his old home course.

Nope.  The 13th was one of the last holes built at Dornoch.  When they extended the course after World War II, they needed an extra hole so they built the par-3 over there.  On the old course as Ross knew it, you went straight from #12 to #14.

I noticed that little quirk in the routing there, very much out of character. 

[James Brown]

When did the pearl necklace hole originate at Royal Dornoch? Ross frequently bunkered around the sides and front of greens on his US courses to a point that I would wonder if he drew the inspiration from his old home course. About half his courses that I've played have a similar scheme: 6 and 12 at Beverly, 16 at French Lick, and 15 at Broadmoor to name a few. While the bunkers on these US Ross holes aren't exactly round, they're not any less round than the beads on the pearl necklaces I used to give to girls in college.


You probably should come up with a different name for the template...

Wasn't the modern 10th at Dornoch created long after Ross left for America.  I think the holes 7-11 were created post WW2, right?

[Bryan Izatt]

A lot of good examples that are more or less similar.  What struck me about the two in the opening post is how symmetrical they were.  A lot of the other examples provided look more sophisticated/architected to my eye.  Any ideas as to which came first?  Or, are these all just random independent holes that happen to look alike?

[Jon Wiggett]

When did the pearl necklace hole originate at Royal Dornoch? Ross frequently bunkered around the sides and front of greens on his US courses to a point that I would wonder if he drew the inspiration from his old home course.

Nope.  The 13th was one of the last holes built at Dornoch.  When they extended the course after World War II, they needed an extra hole so they built the par-3 over there.  On the old course as Ross knew it, you went straight from #12 to #14.

I believe the 13th at Dornoch also has wear and tear issues as it is always closed through the winter. Has been years since I played it.

Jon

[Carl Rogers]

Aren't these examples variations of the "Short"?

[Niall C]

These are quite popular in the UK and I've seen a few on Braid courses. Whether you can call it a unique template that originated somewhere and was copied or whether its just a simple concept that many came up with independently I'm not sure, I suspect the later.

Niall

[BHoover]

This topic obviously was started as a joke, right?

[BCrosby]

Niall writes:

"Whether you can call it a unique template that originated somewhere and was copied or whether its just a simple concept that many came up with independently I'm not sure, I suspect the later."

I suspect Niall suspects the "latter", but whatever, I suspect the same thing. Too often calling a hole a "template" elevates what are fairly simple, even obvious architectural ideas to a status they don't merit.   

Bob   

[Bryan Izatt]

This topic obviously was started as a joke, right?

No.  Why?

[Bryan Izatt]

Niall, Bob,


Could well be the latter.  Are true "template" holes only ones associated with those that were identified by Macdonald? 


The one at Wallasey is credited to Old Tom Morris.  I wondered if that might have inspired following architects. 


I'm not sure I see a design principle in the holes, other than the requirement for an aerial approach.  At least the two pictured in the opening post show a design aesthetic for the bunkers.

[Rich Goodale]

Nope.  The 13th was one of the last holes built at Dornoch.  When they extended the course after World War II, they needed an extra hole so they built the par-3 over there.  On the old course as Ross knew it, you went straight from #12 to #14.

Tom

This is not exactly true.  The current 13th (although it was then the 8th) is situated pretty much in the same place as it is today, except the green was left of the Foxy tee box),  from at least 1892 up to 1904.  It didn't have the "pearl necklace," but Ross would have played that version many times before he flitted to the USA.  The current 13th (with the "necklace" was built in 1941), and the current 6th-11th were built after WWII.

Rich

PS--One of the best "PN" greens is the 8th at Royal Aberdeen.

rfg

[BHoover]

This topic obviously was started as a joke, right?

No.  Why?

Not the template itself but the name...to someone with the maturity level of a teenager, like me, it's funny. I've come up with a good name for the use of mounding too. Sorry, I'm immature.

[James Bennett]

The 7th at Royal Adelaide is South Australia is very similar.

not your normal view (this is from the 8th tee).  Perhaps coming at the green from 4:30 on the clock face from an elevated position.  Play is uphill to this green, and used to be from perhaps 7:30 on the clock face.  I expect this was a Cargie Rymill green, preceding the 1920's work by Mackenzie.

[Carl Johnson]

Interesting.  Never before heard the term in this context.

[John Kirk]

Not a terribly strategic design, is it?  At least the hole shown in the opening post.

Unless you are very accurate, you aim for the center of the green and take your chances.  We have a hole similar to this at Pumpkin Ridge, the 16th hole at Ghost Creek.  It's attractive and fun to play, but there's not a lot of thought involved.

[Sean_A]

To me, par 3s are the best place to get a bit penal with bunkers simply because so many 3s are too short to offer much strategy...the goal is to hit the green in the air in normal conditions.  I can accept there is some strategy in aiming away from trouble, but real strategy in a par 3 can usually only be achieved by length....par 3s over 215ish or so.


The string of pearls, or for the poor man, half string, is a very common theme in 3s.  There is a bit of artistry in disguising the concept with bunker shapes, off-set placement and fewer bunkers (what woman hasn't lost a pearl or tow in her string?), but the main concept remians still the same...hit the green in the air.

That said, I do suspect the concept was taken from somewhere and slowly or quickly spread, just like all templates.  Its just that this concept is dead easy to recognize...most golfers don't recognize the MacD Templates or even think to look for them or even know they exist. 

Ciao