Some photos of the Golden Gate Park GC redesign I took today

[David_Tepper]

"Why was the 5th hole shortened?"

Kevin -

I think the 5th hole was shortened to move the green out of the range of the patio that has been built on the east side of the clubhouse. No sense putting the people out there enjoying a beverage or a burger at risk. The site of the old 5th green is now the practice putting green.

DT     

[Matt Schoolfield]

"Why was the 5th hole shortened?"

Kevin -

I think the 5th hole was shortened to move the green out of the range of the patio that has been built on the east side of the clubhouse. No sense putting the people out there enjoying a beverage or a burger at risk. The site of the old 5th green is now the practice putting green.

DT   

I might add, that as an architecture nut, I never liked the 5th as the “long” par 3. Because it is downhill, the massive contours are completely wasted on a shot that must fly over them to reach the green.


The shorter version adds optionality in playing off the contour short-right, and the position of the green on the downslope bring the waste area into play beyond the green.


I will obviously reserve judgement until I’ve played, but on paper, the shorter version makes much more sense to me beyond just safety concerns.

[Joel_Stewart]

To my earlier post, get some sand mix out there on the tees (the one picture with a big un-fixed divot).

The divot was fixed! 

I play a couple of public par 3 courses regularly and the tees are always a mess, in fact they're mostly hard pan.


Which leads to the question, is the San Francisco park and rec department going to maintain this in the manner of Lincoln or Sharp Park?

[MCirba]

Most par 3 courses, including Peter Hay at Pebble, have moved to mandatory artificial mats and tees, because in the words I heard explaining the decision, "Both good and bad golfers take divots."

[Kevin_Reilly]

Which leads to the question, is the San Francisco park and rec department going to maintain this in the manner of Lincoln or Sharp Park?

Guy (me) who grew up in SF and lived there for many years...answer is YES (it will be like Lincoln, Sharp and Fleming). 


Play there the first year or so...inevitably due to Poa and the SF Park & Rec maintenance crews, the conditions in 18 months after opening will be terrible.  But that is OK since it will be on par or better than what GGP has been for the last 50 years. [size=78%] [/size]

[David_Tepper]

Joel & Kevin -

Since the First Tee of SF raised the money privately to fund this project, it is my understanding (and hope) they will have some control over how the course is operated and maintained. I expect the course will be presented to a higher standard than Lincoln or Sharp.

I also recall Jay Blasi saying that mats would be installed in a small area of all the tee boxes. When and how often they will be used remains to be seen.

But I could be mistaken about all of this!

DT

p.s. The maintenance standard at the Fleming 9 is pretty good these days, almost as good as Harding itself.

       

[Matt Schoolfield]

Which leads to the question, is the San Francisco park and rec department going to maintain this in the manner of Lincoln or Sharp Park?

We shouldn’t categorize Sharp and Lincoln as the same, as Sharp has serious ecological restrictions on what maintenance options are available.

Also, I constantly joke that the Mac holes at Sharp are likely the most realistic conditions to playing a MacKenzie course at the time he built them… nobody ever restoration’s the greens.

[Joel_Stewart]

p.s. The maintenance standard at the Fleming 9 is pretty good these days, almost as good as Harding itself.
     

That's because its maintained by the TPC Network and they have modern equipment and know something about agronomy.  The park and rec employees know nothing except their retirement date and the amount of their pensions.

[David_Tepper]

Joel -

Thank you for that valuable information. We shall see how the maintenance crew at GG Park is staffed.

DT

[David_Tepper]

Video on the project from the Firepit Collective:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ySSe5oNRtU

[David_Tepper]

A hole-by-hole video tour:

https://firepitcollective.com/golden-gate-park-golf-course-hole-by-hole-tour-in-the-dirt-special-addition/?_kx=Mcl-Da5JNjawx5efRjqgsAX8qP29KbX2kvwMseS9028%3D.TCCK3s

[PCCraig]

Looks super fun. Congrats to all involved!

[Matt Schoolfield]

Link in email just goes here: https://sfrecpark.org/1445/Golden-Gate-Park---Golf-Clubhouse-Projec