[Jay Flemma]

I have an assignment coming up down at Quail Ridge, which is a Joe Lee course.  I'll be writing about the Society of Seniors, but I wanted to see if any of you knew about or played either of the Quail Ridge courses, had some detailed knowledge of Joe Lee's design strategies and tenets, or play in any Society of Seniors events.  Thanks for all your help in advance.

[SL_Solow]

Ron Whitten did a small book with limited copies called Gentleman Joe Lee.  While it is a little fluffy, there is some good analysis of Lee's strategies and a history of his courses.  If you can find one it may help.  I don't have it in my library.

[Jay Kirkpatrick]

Jay -- a bunch of folks from my part of NC (piedmont) spend their winter months down at quail ridge.  in fact some of the best senior amateur golfers in NC play there.  apparently there is an abundance of good players at the club which makes for some interesting gangsomes.  from everyone i've spoken to about the place, the courses are supposed to be good and fairly difficult.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jay, I have a copy of the Joe Lee book. Give me a call if you want it.

[John_Conley]

I live in Oviedo, which is where Joe Lee was raised.  He's designed a ton of Orlando-area courses, including some of those at Disney.  He's known for shutting off the landing area on the second shot of par 5s.  Some extremes are #3 at Palisades, #17 at Twin Rivers (once known as Ekana), and #s 3, 6, 10 at Interlachen.

[John Kavanaugh]

Jay,

Contact Joe Jemsek.  I had never heard of Joe Lee until we met in Cleveland last year and the guy was ga ga over this Lee fellow.  You might note that Joe is just coming off the Joe Lee Challenge this weekend.  http://www.jemsekgolfdesign.com/about.html

[Tim_Cronin]

Joe Lee finished what Dick Wilson started on Cog Hill's Dubsdread course, which explains why Joe J., Frank's son, is so high on Lee. And rightfully so.

[Ben Kodadek]

I live in Oviedo, which is where Joe Lee was raised.  He's designed a ton of Orlando-area courses, including some of those at Disney.  He's known for shutting off the landing area on the second shot of par 5s.  Some extremes are #3 at Palisades, #17 at Twin Rivers (once known as Ekana), and #s 3, 6, 10 at Interlachen.

John,

That is correct.  I'm a member Feather Sound, a Joe Lee design.  Some of the most challenging shots are the lay ups on the 5's.  Plenty of room at about 150 yards, but reallly pinching in at 125-75.   He also liked to implement deep, narrow greens on a couple of holes.  This makes for very challenging approaches with pretty steep falloffs on one or both sides. 

The other element that I have seen on a number of his courses is the "extreme" fronting bulkhead.  Often creating a peninsula green.  Some love it, some hate it.  One thing to note on such appraoches is that there is often a small bailout area opposite of the water or a narrow run up area if the lay up is correctly positioned. 

He used quite a bit of containment mounding but none of as egregiuos as some current designers.  I've alway found it rather pleasing to the eye vs. contrived and out of place. 

[PCCraig]

I know Joe Lee's work mainly from Cog Hill & Pine Meadow (which I believe he built with Rocky R?) here in Chicago as well as a couple of his designs in Florida for the retirement set.

He's also partially responsible for the Woodlands Course at Lawsonia, which has a couple fun holes but for the most part is overrun with trees and is unwalkable.

[Mike Policano]

The Quail courses are fun to play and usually in very good shape. I believe one of the courses was recently closed to regrass. The North is the better of the two courses with some very strategic holes. Joe Lee's two designs there strike me as steps from the Dick Wilson heroic layouts toward the strategic school.

There are a lot of good players at Quail and it is a very friendly welcoming club. I just recommended it to some friends looking for a place down there.

While you are there, The Country Club of Florida recently redone by Lester George, is across the street and Dick Wilson's Pine Tree is 1/2 mile away.   

[Ben Kodadek]

Mike,

Can you (or Tony Nysse) speak to just how much involvement Joe Lee had at Pine Tree?

[Phil_the_Author]

Jay,

If it is the group that I am thinking of, take a serious look at where the Society of Seniors play their monthly tournaments. They are a dedicated bunch who have a passion for the game. For them it is far more than the match as they also set up luncheons and have presentations at each course. They played at the San Francisco Golf Club earlier this year.

They are a serious group with a serious passion...

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Good article on the Society of Seniors:


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/golf/society-of-seniors-sometimes-feels-like-a-secret-1025427.html

[Jay Flemma]

Thanks for that Steve.  I'm looking forward to going down and writing up the course and the tournament.  I'm really excited to meet a lot of the greats that I've read so much about.

[Jay Flemma]

Here's the preview piece I wrote about the tournament.

http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com/?p=3257

For those of you that follow the boys, Joe Sommers and Tom Knapp are among a group of 5 after 4-under 68s.  Chris Lange, who won the 2009 Travis and Rick Wolff are one back.  Pat Tallent and Vinny Giles had a rough finish to the day.  Pat bogeyed 16 and double 18 to fall from 3-under to Even.  Vinny had a dismal 40 in the easy nine (the front) to ifnish with a 73.  He gave me some hilarious quotes, though.  "The guy who played the back looked like me, but whoeber he is, he's on my bad list."   Great fun to watch him and chat with him.

Kinloch gets the Senior Am next year!

I'll have a write up on today's action for y'all soon.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Bobby Weed to redesign South course

https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/quail-ridge-selects-bobby-weed-to-redesign-south-course


Bobby Weed unveils Quail Ridge redesign


http://www.golfincmagazine.com/content/bobby-weed-unveils-quail-ridge-redesign




Anyone want to join the Society of Seniors?




https://www.societyofseniors.com/membership

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