Brian Phillips,
Some people have misunderstood my praise of the genius of the design and architecture at NLGA, choosing to call it ranting and raving, but, as more people are exposed to NGLA they too will begin to see its absolute beauty and genius.
One of the things that I find interesting about NGLA is the discovery process one goes through with each subsequent visit. Each visit reveals new aspects of the design and play of the holes. This in turn creates a desire to return and discover more.
Lost in George Bahto's photos are the dramatic elevation changes, air density and the WIND, important elements in the play of the golf course.
In addition to the genius of the architecture, the golf course is PURE FUN to play.
I've been very fortunate in that many, many of my rounds have been with members of the McBride family, who have been playing NGLA for close to 50 years. All are superb, highly competitive golfers, and they have shown me shots that wouldn't immediately come to a visitors mind, shots that cope and take advantage of the architecture requiring more simple execution, but greater thought in discovering them.
Shots that have been passed down from their dad to the boys, and in turn to their kids.
As I've said, on # 7, from 5 to 120 yards, depending on pin location, you could probably use every club in your bag.
Approaches to other holes provide a myriad of options as well.
And, the options aren't just of the aerial vs ground variety.
If you opt for the ground, there are dozens of options available, and if you opt for aerial, there are also numerous options.
If I could just play one golf course for the rest of my life, it would be NGLA, and if I could just play one set of holes from the same golf course, a par 3, a par 4 and a par 5, my choice would be # 6, # 8, and # 18 at NGLA.
Bill and Matt are a superlative team, and are improving the golf course dramatically, just as I predicted they would some time ago
George Bahto,
Thanks for the photos, they're great.
I often wonder, did CBM knowingly design NGLA with its brilliant features, its genius, or was some of that an accidental byproduct of what was intended to be a very good design ?
It's almost unfathomable, that he knew and understood the totallity of the genius he put into that ground, and the reason that I say that, is that his subsequent designs tended to be repetitious, rather then examples of creativity.
Or, was he so certain of the genius of his designs that he wanted to duplicate them at every opportunity, spreading the gospel, so to speak ?
Tommy Naccarato,
You have to understand that a college education, especially from one of those west coast institutions, doesn't provide one with the inate sense of architecture necessary to discover, differentiate and appreciate brilliant design.
This inherent awareness can't be acquired, it can't be learned, you either have it, or you don't.
It's like having ND in your blood.
Remember, even St Jude gave up on some of these people.