It would seem that unlike a new course, to properly evaluate a renovation you would have to have moderate knowledge of what was there before. If not, it would be easy to miss-judge where the renovation made improvement, where the work was limited by previous infrastructure, and where the renovation was less successful.
I recently played Atlantic Dunes, Davis Love’s renovation of George Cobbs original Ocean Course on Hilton Head. Having never seen the previous course my ability to evaluate Love’s work is based solely on old pictures, aerials, and commentary from the longtime Sea Pines member who which I played with. Which isn’t enough for me to generate a solid critique.
In counter to that is the renovation at the Country Club of Asheville. This is a course that I have played countless times both before and after the renovation and as such, is much easier for me to effectively evaluate the changes. While the renovation may not be the worst renovation of all time, it does fall well short of what was there prior. It feels like an example of subtraction by addition. It’s the first renovation I can think of where the course was made easier for the good player, much harder for the average and below average player, and increased the time to play a round by 30 minutes.
Where the renovation could be viewed as successful is in the increase of the courses’s aesthetic presentation. There is a striking difference in the before and after pictures. So for those who have little to no history of the course, seeing the pictures and then playing the renovated property their perspective could easily be swayed more by the new presentation than it would be by the reduction in playability.
Which is why my evaluation of Atlantic Dunes is compromised, The course is certainty more flashy than what was there before, The greens contours would presumably be grander and more elaborate, the course is more visually interesting than what I’ve seen in pictures, but I’m unable to say if the playability of the course was actually made better be the renovation. When I asked my host what he thought about the work, he summed it up by saying “some holes are better, some holes are worse.”