Any thoughts on Bel Air?
I've played there four times in the last 2 years and consider what Tom and Eric have done one of the great restorations in American golf. You have to see the before and after photos on nearly every hole.
I've spoken with a member a few times this week and he had some interesting comments.
1. They have slowed down the greens for the tournament. Bel Air on a normal day plays super fast and its amplified by the hills and mounding.
2. The new clubhouse still is not open. Its cost overrun is over $10 million. It may go down as one of the most expensive clubhouses ever.
3. The tees have been moved up except for a few holes.
4. Crowds are thin. Parking is available at UCLA but its kinda a pain to get there.
Joel:
Thanks for your comments. It's a true restoration; you don't see many of those, and you don't ever see them on a piece of property as spectacular as Bel Air.
To your comments:
1. There is a LOT of elevation change going up those canyons, but it's hard to get a sense of it when you are down in a canyon. The 18th hole alone is 70 feet uphill, which is one reason the green is so severe. The 4th, 6th, 10th, 13th, and 16th greens are also pretty spicy from back to front, and the 3rd, 8th, 14th, 15th, and 17th are really tough because they are falling away from the line of play even though they look like they're built up in back.
2. I'm sad to hear that the clubhouse is not done yet, but the delays and overruns were fairly predictable. The pandemic started the scheduling problems.
3. It's the Women's Amateur. What distance are they playing? [I would think they were playing the normal white tees except for a handful of holes.]
4. Getting in and out of Bel Air into L.A. traffic is a major pain. It's one reason the club is so well utilized by the members . . . they'll have breakfast or dinner there instead of venturing out onto Sunset Blvd. Plus, there is nowhere for the spectators to be except following a group around through the tunnels and all the rest . . . that will work better in the final than it does for the round of 64.
My favorite Bel Air story: since we had the course closed, they decided they would re-pour the concrete in the tunnel from #5 to #6. The next morning: coyote footprints in the tunnel !