[Ben Stephens]

Dear GCA,




What is the latest at East Lake with the Andrew Green changes as the Tour Championship is almost two weeks away.

https://tourchampionship.com/news/2024/07/29/east-lake-golf-club-prepares-for-championship-debut-following-historic-restoration-by-designer-andrew-green

Has the course changes bedded in and would be interesting to see the pros reaction to them.




Cheers
Ben

[Edward Glidewell]

I'm looking forward to getting out there to play one day this fall and see what the changes look like in person.

[Ben Hollerbach]

1st


4th


6th


7th


10th


16th


17th

[Will Lozier]

Ben,


I think the 5th pic is the 10th.


Cheers

[Ben Hollerbach]

you're correct, must have fumbled the keys when I was posting.

[Wayne_Kozun]

How do the greens play when they are less than a year old?  Doesn't it often take a few years for them to settle in properly?  Or is that just an issue with bent or fescue greens up here in cold Canada.

[Mark Kiely]

Here's a Golf Digest article that takes a look at some of the changes.

[Peter Sayegh]

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/41015673/revamped-course-wows-viktor-hovland-ahead-tour-championship

I was glad Hovland noted the (extreme?) changes without passing judgment before he played it competitively. I'll check in based solely on his comments.

Otherwise, it would have been a weekend of only football-collegiate and Premier League.

[Rick Sides]

Watching a YouTube Content tournament now live at East Lake and looks like Andrew Green has done it again. The course looks amazing !

[Kalen Braley]

The pursuit of additional yardage and/or difficulty, seems to be leading to this kind of stuff more and more...

"The tour announced Wednesday morning that it is instituting internal out-of-bounds on the 10th fairway for those playing the 18th, as well as the seventh fairway for players on the sixth hole."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/golf/pga-tour-adds-internal-ob-at-east-lake-after-scottie-scheffler-discussed-shortcut/ar-AA1pANqf?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=791e2071369d4359a2e85005939d9f58&ei=14

[cary lichtenstein]

The course is brand new, greens will not hold, could be a circus out there

[Rob Marshall]

What I find interesting is the fairway running directly into the bunkers. It was my understanding that the fairway grass couldn’t meet the bunker because the edges would die. Southern grass make a difference?

[Mark_Fine]

Ugh about the internal OB.  Never been a fan of that at all.  It will be interesting to see in particular how they play #18 now. 


$30MM - wow!  How golf renovations at the top clubs is sooooo different from the average ones. Good for Andrew Green but I can’t imagine what I could/would do with some of my projects with just 10% of that budget!  We could make a dramatic difference for sure. 

[Matt_Cohn]

18 seems to have a couple of issues. Best played down another fairway that’s now internal OB, and if you can’t reach the green in two (especially from the rough), the layup is brutal and you might have to just pitch out short of the lake.

[Ben Stephens]

It makes me wonder if the architect had taken into account the possibilities of playing onto another part of the course OR it was the client that insisted that the green is where it is that the architect warned them.


'No design is perfect' - it is hard to be a golf course architect or architect as you can't please everyone!



One course I play on regularly extended one hole into a par 5 which led to creating an internal out of bounds because there was large opening to the other fairway which the forward tee (old back tee) was blocked by trees.


I once played a international deaf golf event - and deliberately played onto another fairway on a par 5 so that I had a mid iron to the green rather than a wood to lay up or go for the green.


looking at East Lake 18 there is a missed opportunity of moving the green towards the right by the lake where the chipping green is - which may compromise with the driving range however moving the green to the right surely would prevent playing onto the other fairway which would make the hole longer

[jeffwarne]

18 seems to have a couple of issues. Best played down another fairway that’s now internal OB, and if you can’t reach the green in two (especially from the rough), the layup is brutal and you might have to just pitch out short of the lake.

Youtubers making mockery of tee shot.


An awkward hole is still awkward

[Kalen Braley]

18 sort of begs the question....if the best players in the world are struggling with this hard, what chance do the members have?

Or presumably 10 fairway is not OB for regular play?

[Tim Gavrich]

For what it's worth, when I played the 18th hole with three members the week before last, One of them missed the fairway off the tee, deliberated as to what to do, and then played a courageous shot from the rough up onto the second fairway. That aspect of the hole worked as intended, IMO.


It's certainly possible for the rough along that fairway to be so dastardly that attempting to advance the ball to the next fairway becomes a no-go, but is that a matter of design or maintenance?


Re: the in-course OB, it's largely yet another consequence of the club & ball issue.

[Matthew Rose]

Maybe they just need to go find a spruce tree.

[Mark_Fine]

If the internal OB comes into play in the tournament that is when things will get silly.  But if you want to talk about really silly, at the one course I am working at they have a local rule of internal “aerial” OB    If a ball crosses the area in the air, even if it returns back in play it is deemed OB!  It is done for safety purposes but makes for silly golf and probably much debate/argument.  We are redesigning the hole to eliminate this by altering the greensite locations for two of the culpable holes.

[Jim Sherma]

If the internal OB comes into play in the tournament that is when things will get silly.  But if you want to talk about really silly, at the one course I am working at they have a local rule of internal “aerial” OB    If a ball crosses the area in the air, even if it returns back in play it is deemed OB!  It is done for safety purposes but makes for silly golf and probably much debate/argument.  We are redesigning the hole to eliminate this by altering the greensite locations for two of the culpable holes.

Sounds like Hanover. I really like the original part of the course. If this is the course a nice fix of the four newer holes would be great.

[Gary Daughters]

I like the bunker and green shapes, although on some of the overhead camera shots certain bunkers look like worms. Definite Golden Age feel. The run-out on some of the greens is Old Country worthy and I hope they are able to sustain as greens mature.


I'm five miles from the course and thunder is clapping 2:25 ET

[jeffwarne]

Maybe they just need to go find a spruce tree.

Bingo

[Craig Sweet]

I've never played it, and I remember very little of how it looked before restoration. Watching it now my reaction is meh.  I don't like the green shapes, I don't like the bunkering, and it has one pond too many.

[Ira Fishman]

Is the manufacturer of Prizm Zoysia a sponsor of the tournament? Just kidding, but boy are they getting a ton of free publicity. Is it really a better grass?

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