Whistling Rock CC (Cocoon/Temple), Korea course profile is posted

[Ran Morrissett]

 After my mom passed on April 16th, I was a zombie. Golf, as ever, was there when I needed it most. A quick call to Joe and a decision was made to head to Asia. A genuine 'surprise' was the affection that Whistling Rock CC stirred. I say surprise because it isn't on sandy soil by a large body of water nor was it designed by moving teaspoons of dirt.

Going in, globetrotting Paul Rudovsky had told me about the massive earthmoving and that the build was akin to Shadow Creek in that virtually all the land was disturbed. Shadow Creek has long been held as the best of that ilk but no more, at least by me. Out of ten rounds, I would play WR 7 and SC 3.

There are important differences. Located in the choppy hills northeast of Seoul, great care was taken to embrace the surrounds as opposed to making the course a self-contained oasis. The views in every direction inspire - including the scintillating interior ones I so admire. Though I like much of Shadow Creek, it seems counterintuitive to partition interior views to the extent that they elect. Whistling Rock has nothing to hide and I much prefer seeing three or four (and sometimes more) holes from various vantage points across the venue. Also, such views invariably translate to more wind/sunlight/airflow and thus firmer conditions. And that becomes super important after Eric's work.

Try naming a bunch of mountain courses with long views of other holes - it is a short list and it helps Whistling Rock stand out in my mind. Also, Paul neglected to mention the profound serenity that envelops the place. Wind on the hill tops, sounds of rushing water and chirping birds augment the visual delights. Plus, the clubhouse, a design marvel, lends the golf the kind of majesty that one feels gazing at the Banff hotel.


 

Removed from Seoul, Whistling Rock is a pure golf club with no other offerings. It is run by golfers for golfers and you know that by their prudent employ of Eric Iverson for some brush up work to Ted Robinson's 2012 design. Eric has a colossal reputation among shapers and golf architects, more so than in the mainstream media. The club hired talent rather than a name. That's how it should be - but rarely is.

We review a lot that is going on at Whistling Rock including its panoply of art, which makes this profile truly different from all the other ones in the GCA Courses by Country section. Mention is made of life and after-life themes which may or may not resonate with you BUT I ATE IT UP.
 
Our first of several rounds took close to five hours. Were we waiting on shots? Not at all. Play is artfully managed by the club and seeing someone else on your hole is a rarity. No, it took that long because of the mandatory stop in the tea house on each nine. These respites are so inspirational that a protracted conversation on the merits of Katherine Ross  broke out in the Temple tea house. This was important stuff and not to be rushed in my humble opinion! Guys chit-chatting, enjoying the company and the setting. Golf in Asia moves at its own pace - and that's swell. This aging body found the flow and pacing to be quite relaxing, which is the whole point of the sport. I no longer rush from course to course and I have never been happier about taking time to get to know a place than here. Honestly, why travel to other countries if you aren't open to soaking up the culture?
 
On our last day there, Golf Director Oh came out to give our group lessons on the last two holes. By the grace of God, I had been playing well and the caddie showed her my scorecard with sparkly stars on the holes I had birdied. After watching me hit to the 8th, Ms. Oh announced my swing was perfect. Well - talk about a friend for life!  Ms. Oh is a phenomenal golfing talent with a swing to die for. As Vice President of Whistling Rock, she is the highest ranking female at a Korean club. Always a genuine treat to discover a place that does things at such a high standard on so many levels, such as having her, such as fostering the long vistas via shrewd landscaping, such as giving Ted Robinson Jr. the resources to create something graceful on a rugged site, such as hiring Eric, such as selecting folks from the Netherlands who could envisage today's clubhouse, tea houses, etc.

When I started this web site, I never thought I would be scampering ('scampering' might be a bit optimistic, Joe says 'making an ungainly effort to move forward' is more apt) up hills in Korea to take pictures of colored balls. Yet, as I did so, I was smiling ear to ear. Life is grand, something that I appreciate now more than ever.

Hope you enjoy this profile as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here is its link:

http://golfclubatlas.com/whistling-rock-country-club/

Should your travels take you to Asia, I would make every effort to play - there are world class, one-of-a-kind shots here you will long remember + you are guaranteed an uncommonly warm welcome.

Best,

[Michael Moore]

I have never seen anything remotely like this. The Cocoon teahouse photo looks like something straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I am not a science fiction guy, but did you get that vibe (that you were in the future) looking at the mirrored balls and wandering around the 167,000(!) square foot clubhouse?

[Tom_Doak]

Michael:


I didn't get the sci-fi vibe from the rest of the course, except for maybe the bunkers on the 2nd hole of the Cocoon nine.  But the Cocoon was the most interesting piece of architecture I've seen on a golf course for some time ... you could not help but giggle to go in there.  I posted a similar picture of it on Instagram the day after I was there.  It was one of the highlights of the property -- that and Eric's 7th green on the Cocoon nine.


The mirrored balls are actually mostly set back away from the golf.  You would probably only notice them occasionally if you weren't looking for them, but once you notice them, you start looking for them!

[Tom_Doak]

Ran:


Did you play any of the Cloud nine?  [Yes, it's also a pun.]


Clyde and I played that one because the new holes on the Temple nine were not yet open for play.  If one assumes that the greens of the other two nines were like those on the Cloud, which has yet to be touched, one gains a better appreciation of how the changes have affected the overall enjoyment of the course.  It was WAY different.

[Peter Pallotta]

Fascinating read, Ran - thanks. (And it's nice to see you 'stretch out' as a writer. You have gotten very, very good at the golf-travel-course-analysis model - for my tastes, you do it just right. You ever think of starting a new golf magazine?)


The 'experience' you describe is what got me. (Frankly, the course looks -- and looks to play - like many others.) How differing cultures/attitudes/values become manifest in a golf club is striking. Here, the 27 holes and the tea houses point to the expectation/desire that a 'day of golf' should, now in the 21st century, still be exactly that - a *full day* at the golf course....with time standing still, and troubles left behind.   

[Adam Lawrence]

It is a remarkable place, one that goes against so much of what GCA stands for. Completely unwalkable, a huge earthmove, a vastly expensive corporate folly (except that, given the outrageous price of membership, it actually seems to be doing quite well). And yet, I found Whistling Rock a lot of fun.


It has the most remarkable set of artificial water features I have ever seen, quite amazing work by Pinnacle Design, led by Ken Alperstein and his former partner, now WR's VP of overseas development, David Fisher (a thoroughly splendid guy. There is world-class patisserie, courtesy of David's Korean wife Seungmin (I told the two of them before I left that the next time I came to Korea I expected there to be a chain of Seungmin-branded high end pastry shops competing with the likes of Pierre Herme and Laduree). Brilliant hospitality, albeit that I was there on a very spendy media trip (on our way back to the airport at the end of the trip, one of the other reporters and I tried to calculate what they had spent on getting us all there -- suffice to say it was enough to make us feel decidedly uncomfortable).


The course was divisive. For example, I really loved the second on the Temple nine, a very dramatic uphill par five, with lots and lots of capacity for disaster but equally plenty of room to play. Others on the trip hated it.

[Tom_Doak]

(On our way back to the airport at the end of the trip, one of the other reporters and I tried to calculate what they had spent on getting us all there -- suffice to say it was enough to make us feel decidedly uncomfortable).

I had one of my interns pick me up from a small hotel near her college and drive me up there.  But I don't have to feel decidedly uncomfortable about it.

[Peter Pallotta]

Interesting too how the tea ceremony and the clubhouse design (integrated with the natural surrounds) reflect a fairly recent revival of ancient Korean cultural and spiritual practices (reflective of Buddhism or Sindo-ism instead of the later-arriving Christianity).  It makes me wonder what the grand clubhouses in America (especially the new ones) are meant to harken back to/reflect.   

[Joel_Stewart]

It has the most remarkable set of artificial water features I have ever seen, quite amazing work by Pinnacle Design, led by Ken Alperstein and his former partner, now WR's VP of overseas development, David Fisher (a thoroughly splendid guy.

Nice shout out to Ken who has worked behind the scenes on many golf courses. Ran should do an interview with him so he can tell some of his great stories.


Ken sent me some photos of Whistling Rock before construction. It was a former quarry that was about as bad as you can imagine. 


 Kudos to all involved.

[David Fisher]

Joel,
David Fisher of WR here. 
We were never a quarry.  You have mentioned this more than once in other social posts.  In the middle of construction, pictures may have made us appear like a quarry, but we were never a quarry.  We were a mountain foothills property full of small plot farms, streams, and pristine woods.

Doesn't mean kudos are still not due to the entire team to put the place back together after construction.  I just don't want us represented inaccurately. 

[Joel_Stewart]

That would be the 2ND time I've been wrong on GCA. I must have misunderstood. Ted Robinsons site has some photos, I'll try to show.


[Img]https://robinsongolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Whistling-Rock-Blasting-2.jpg

[Scott Warren]

Joel,


You just need /img inside square brackets after the link and the pic should appear.

[Buck Wolter]

That would be the 2ND time I've been wrong on GCA. I must have misunderstood. Ted Robinsons site has some photos, I'll try to show.

[Ran Morrissett]

Tom,

We played the Cloud Nine once over three days - I look forward to seeing what Eric does there too. I am hoping/pulling for some diagonal/central bunkers at the uphill 7th! Passing through those gigantic wood gates on the way to the 2nd tee had very real, special significance.


Peter,

Thanks for the very kind words. This profile more than any other made me think about GCA.com and the next 20 years. I know what we have done/covered in the first twenty years and I for one am not up for just repeating. Not fun to write and so I am sure it would be even less fun to read.

Like some of the courses in the original The World Atlas of Golf, I hope this profile makes people think - to your exact point - of different cultures and neat places to go that are NOT in golf clusters. Similar to what I have sensed from your writing over the past decade +, I like one-off experiences. Other people can go to golf cluster places (as I do too) but you are going to see things of similar ilk. Not here - this is a standalone experience.


Joel,

I have seen the before pics (it wasn't a quarry), the construction pics (lots happening!), and below are two pics from my friend Joann Dost who was there with her drone just two weeks after me (Joann actually gave me a swing tip in New Zealand the year prior that helped me play well here!). I spent a lot of time with David Fisher when I was there and he praises and praises Ken and his work and I hope a Feature Interview will be forthcoming.


 
Looking west down Cocoon Two.


Taken from the right of Temple Nine.
 
I don't know if the expression Shangri-La has any negative connotations in Korea (I just don't know) but that's what the place felt like.


Adam,

I am with you on Temple Two. At first I wasn't sure, then I saw a guy in our group have a go for the green in two, get tangled up on the hillside left and settle for par. It is one of the more 'fun daunting' holes that I have seen. Even a plodder like me can get after the lower hole locations with a decent wedge.

You more than anyone knows how easy it would be to only write about sustainable golf but if a Korean conglomerate wants to flex its muscle in such a tasteful, well thought-out manner, I am in. Plus, I hate it when people try and box the sport into some narrow definition based on their bias. If something is well done, it is well done! Bad news for you though - I will be in Oxford in a few months - I will send you an email.


Best,

[Ulrich Mayring]

Anyone else hate the striped mowing lines? For me they completely destroy the aesthetics of the fantastic natural terrain.

Ulrich

[David Stewart]

For those that enjoy looking at the aerial as you read the course profiles, find the course on Bing maps which is a more updated version than Google (which appears to only have playing corridors cleared before seeding). However, it is still not updated with the changes Iverson has made, which allows you to really visualize the work he did.

[David Fisher]

For those that enjoy looking at the aerial as you read the course profiles, find the course on Bing maps which is a more updated version than Google (which appears to only have playing corridors cleared before seeding). However, it is still not updated with the changes Iverson has made, which allows you to really visualize the work he did.

Google earth has the most up to date satellite imagery of Whistling Rock after all changes by Eric. Imagery is from 2017, must have been May. 
Bing maps shows 2015 imagery before his changes. 

[David Stewart]

For those that enjoy looking at the aerial as you read the course profiles, find the course on Bing maps which is a more updated version than Google (which appears to only have playing corridors cleared before seeding). However, it is still not updated with the changes Iverson has made, which allows you to really visualize the work he did.

Google earth has the most up to date satellite imagery of Whistling Rock after all changes by Eric. Imagery is from 2017, must have been May. 
Bing maps shows 2015 imagery before his changes.

Ahh I just looked at Google maps, not earth. Thanks for the info. Cool to compare the before and after.

[Richard Choi]

I don't know if the expression Shangri-La has any negative connotations in Korea (I just don't know) but that's what the place felt like.

Ran, thanks for the article, really interesting place. Almost makes me want to bring my clubs to Korea when I head over there in a few weeks.

Just wanted to assure you that there are no negative connotations regarding Shangri-La (Do Won-Gyung in Korean).

Korea is probably one of the few places on earth where golf's popularity is still growing. Good economy (Samsung is doing particularly well) and success in LPGA and PGA goes a long way. But I wonder how many more of these projects are possible as land is at absolute premium.

[Josh Tarble]

This is one of the more fascinating Course Profiles I have read in a long while.  Your review makes it seem like a truly magical place.  Well done!