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Ran Morrissett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Pete Dye's Full Cry at Keswick profiled New
« on: July 27, 2017, 04:54:11 PM »
When I think of the heathland courses around London, the phrase 'good taste' comes to mind. There is good golf in pleasant settings where the holes seem at one with the land. Those courses are far removed from the fussy modern designs that dishevel rather than enhance the landscape. Happily, there is something of similar virtue in the United States, Full Cry at Keswick outside of Charlottesville, Virginia.

This Pete Dye re-design of a 1949 course opened in the fall of 2014 without any of his razzle-dazzle features. Instead, something more understated emerged with the star attraction being the countryside as opposed to manufactured features screaming at you for attention. The focus here - I am thrilled to report - is the golf. Golf balls skittering along the ground, tactically placed bunkers, and intermediate size greens define the challenge. 20 years ago I could not have imagined seeing shots chase like they do at Keswick. Shots kick onto greens here because 1,900 (!) long bed trucks filled with sand transformed the clay playing surfaces into something altogether more conducive to good golf. Like the California Golf Club of San Francisco, it is what is underneath that allows what is above ground to play as good as it looks. Virginia's climate is poorly-suited for fast and firm - Keswick represents a brand of golf rarely on offer in the state.

One neat trick that Dye performed here was to make the bunkers harass the better player more than they intimidate the weaker one. Time and pilot error (!) have proven to me how effective Keswick's small bunkers are. While appearing benign they serve up gummy lies and awkward stances which make them more hazardous than big bunkers that render level lies and broad stances. Too many courses feature huge expanses of sand that bother the duff more than dictate strategy to the tiger. Leave it to Dye to pivot from the mainstream.



The golfer goes on a tour of the handsome Virginia countryside. Some of the expansive views remind me of golf in rural England, especially when you happen to be on the Keswick grounds when the fox hounds are off for their morning excursion!

When I first saw the course two months before it opened in 2014, it was a sea of green. Fortunately for me, a family member for the group I work for owns the resort and repeat visits with customers have allowed me to observe the maturation process and understand the creative process. Too often, I fear 'we' blow in and out too quickly to absorb the subtle stuff. Certainly, building big, splashy features that create obvious talking points for raters, magazine photographers and first time guests was the modus operandi in the 1980s and 1990s until, alas, it wasn't. Those designs are terribly expensive to maintain and their high volume luster wanes with time.

Subtle aspects are more difficult to recognize and take longer to understand than bolder ones. At Keswick, the open greens work in concert with the sand-capped fairways to produce proper, thoughtful golf. The expense to sand cap fairways is far, far greater than to build huge wooly bunkers that are easy to photograph - yet the cost of sand capping is transformational to how the course actually plays. This is surely the case of Pete Dye working with the right owner who a) gave him what he needed for the design to flourish and b) didn't saddle Dye with any superfluous demands like how holes would look on television.

Green Keeper Peter Mcdonough has carried through on Dye's expressed vision for a fast playing course that was fun for all. Conditioning at Keswick starts underground but it allows subtle features to exert influence on the field of play, making Keswick a timely reminder that what appears simple can actually be complex through its nuances. Like still waters, quiet designs can run deep.

Here is the link:

http://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/full-cry-at-keswick-golf-club/

Best,
« Last Edit: August 08, 2017, 03:08:38 PM by Ran Morrissett »

Ira Fishman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pete Dye's Full Cry at Keswick profiled
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2017, 05:24:34 PM »
We always skipped Keswick on our DC to WV, VA, and NC tours because the course seemed so uninteresting.  The profile of the new course will cause us to change that decision.  The course looks straight out of the Golden Age with appropriate modern twists.  What a mind, instinct, and confidence Mr. Dye must possess to create it.


Ira

Bob Brightly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pete Dye's Full Cry at Keswick profiled
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2017, 07:57:07 AM »
Thanks Ran. My wife and I have been to Keswick twice after dropping my son at VT.  It is a great little resort, 45 rooms, infinity pool, spa, good food, patio overlooking the course, etc.  But the course is simply fun to play for all levels, and as challenging as you want with multiple tees.  Also, if I remember, allow trolleys/walking.  And thanks for turning the light on to the 13th.  I just hit iron off the tee and played to the short left side, sort of instinctively, now I know why.

Carl Nichols

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pete Dye's Full Cry at Keswick profiled
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2017, 02:28:20 PM »
According to a google search, "Full Cry" is a fox-hunting term, so perhaps it has some relationship to the area, but I still think it's a stupid name.

Dave Givnish

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pete Dye's Full Cry at Keswick profiled
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2017, 03:41:17 PM »
Excellent review, Ran. Charlottesville has a good complement of courses for a golf trip with Farmington (private) and Keswick (semi-private) and Spring Creek (semi-private) a few miles down the road. A renovated Birdwood and the proposed Trump course on the old Kluge estate could be good additions. Kinloch and Hermitage are less than an hour east toward Richmond as well.


The previous design was friendly to low-handicap players but it was a lot harder for the members. The new design is much more approachable as almost every green has a sizable alley for ground approach. He placed some bunkers on the par 5's that make it pretty challenging to hit and hold greens with a second shot approach.  One has to play from the correct side of the fairway - pretty easy for a short and straight hitter but not so much for a long hitter.


The cart path surface is novel. It's a composite material where the ball bounces off those more or less the same as it would off the fairway. If they could color the material green, the paths would be unobtrusive.


David Lott

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pete Dye's Full Cry at Keswick profiled
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2017, 09:11:59 PM »
When I was at law school at UVA 1967-70 we played some golf at Keswick. It must have been the course that is mentioned in their web site, but all I remember is a wide open grassy indifferently manicured course. It must have been cheap because cheap was all I could afford. I do not recall a single hole. Didn't play much. I had a wife and a kid and was going to law school, but I remember that the weather was very nice. (Not in summer but I was never there in summer.) I have not been back to Charlottesville for a long time and don't (can't) play much any more. This might give me some incentive. Thanks.
David Lott

Anthony_Nysse

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pete Dye's Full Cry at Keswick profiled
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2017, 05:06:06 PM »
When I think of the heathland courses around London, the phrase 'good taste' comes to mind. There is good golf in pleasant settings where the holes seem at one with the land. Those courses are far removed from the fussy modern designs that dishevel rather than enhance the landscape. Happily, there is something of similar virtue in the United States, Full Cry at Keswick outside of Charlottesville, Virginia.

This Pete Dye re-design of a 1949 course opened in the fall of 2014 without any of his razzle-dazzle features. Instead, something more understated emerged with the star attraction being the countryside as opposed to manufactured features screaming at you for attention. The focus here - I am thrilled to report - is the golf. Golf balls skittering along the ground, tactically placed bunkers, and intermediate size greens define the challenge. 20 years ago I could not have imagined seeing shots chase like they do at Keswick. Shots kick onto greens here because 1,900 (!) long bed trucks filled with sand transformed the clay playing surfaces into something altogether more conducive to good golf. Like the California Golf Club of San Francisco, it is what is underneath that allows what is above ground to play as good as it looks. Virginia's climate is poorly-suited for fast and firm - Keswick represents a brand of golf rarely on offer in the state.

One neat trick that Dye performed here was to make the bunkers harass the better player more than they intimidate the weaker one. Time and pilot error (!) have proven to me how effective Keswick's small bunkers are. While appearing benign they serve up gummy lies and awkward stances which make them more hazardous than big bunkers that render level lies and broad stances. Too many courses feature huge expanses of sand that bother the duff more than dictate strategy to the tiger. Leave it to Dye to pivot from the mainstream.



The golfer goes on a tour of the handsome Virginia countryside. Some of the expansive views remind me of golf in rural England, especially when you happen to be on the Keswick grounds when the fox hounds are off for their morning excursion!

When I first saw the course two months before it opened in 2014, it was a sea of green. Fortunately for me, a family member for the group I work for owns the resort and repeat visits with customers have allowed me to observe the maturation process and understand the creative process. Too often, I fear 'we' blow in and out too quickly to absorb the subtle stuff. Certainly, building big, splashy features that create obvious talking points for raters, magazine photographers and first time guests was the modus operandi in the 1980s and 1990s until, alas, it wasn't. Those designs are terribly expensive to maintain and their high volume luster wanes with time.

Subtle aspects are more difficult to recognize and take longer to understand than bolder ones. At Keswick, the open greens work in concert with the sand-capped fairways to produce proper, thoughtful golf. The expense to sand cap fairways is far, far greater than to build huge wooly bunkers that are easy to photograph - yet the cost of sand capping is transformational to how the course actually plays. This is surely the case of Pete Dye working with the right owner who a) gave him what he needed for the design to flourish and b) didn't saddle Dye with any superfluous demands like how holes would look on television.

Green Keeper Peter Mcdonough has carried through on Dye's expressed vision for a fast playing course that was fun for all. Conditioning at Keswick starts underground but it allows subtle features to exert influence on the field of play, making Keswick a timely reminder that what appears simple can actually be complex through its nuances. Like still waters, quiet designs can run deep.

Here is the link:

http://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/full-cry-at-keswick-golf-club/

Best,
  Chris Lutzke, one of Pete's right hand guys and an architect in his own right, was the lead at Keswick. Part of the reason we were comfortable in using Latitude 36 grass is that he supported it and had experience with him. Chris was the day to day guy there and did a large amount of the shaping, also.
  Neat fact- Instead of paying to have concrete hauled off for our project, Chris used it to build a new tee of our 6th hole. The concrete slabs were tapered and upside down creating a really neat feature while reusing materials. This can be found all over Keswick, only red.
 Chris met Matt Simmons there and the 2 of them oversaw our entire renovation. If the sun is up, these guys were working. Hand shoving trenches, getting dirty in and wet drain and working 7 days a week. No job was above them, no small tasks were too much.
  Old Marsh isn't was it is without the both of them, and Id guess the same can be said for Keswick.
Anthony J. Nysse
Director of Golf Courses & Grounds
Apogee Club
Hobe Sound, FL

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