Inverness Question

[Matt Bradley]

I had the chance to play Inverness recently and played the 3 new Andrew Green holes. These did not take up the same piece of property as the holes that Fazio had built which were removed. Does anyone know where the original 3 Ross holes were? I'd love to know where on the property they were and what they looked like.

[Greg Smith]

The Ross holes replaced were his original 6th, 7th and 8th, plus a back nine par-3 (I think the original 13th).

The original 6th tee was about where the current 8th tee is and it was a mid-length par-4 following the first part of the 8th corridor.

The original 7th was a short dogleg left of 320 yards which was drivable, and it was famous for Ted Ray going for it four times in the 1920 US Open.

The original 8th was a long par-3 going back north, to a green site near the present 8th green.

The erasure of these three holes in 1979, with replacement by one hole (the Hinkle tree par-5 8th) opened up a lot more ground near the 18th hole for tournament logistical purposes.

The original par-3 13th (or was it the 12th?) was also near the clubhouse I think, and maybe it was erased for the same reasons.

Anyhow, all that left three holes to be accounted for, which were the three "outlying" Fazio holes added in 1979 (3, 5, 6 I think?).  The original all-world 5th hole then became the 7th.

[Matthew Rose]

The original plan is kinda small but you might be able to get the idea from this. You can see the two eliminated par threes at the top left of the plan and in the area to the right of #18.

[Matt Bradley]

Thank you both!


Very helpful and interesting. The original 7th looks interesting in the photos.

[Chris_Blakely]

I was told the 13th was eliminated in the early 70's.  But will double check to see what I have when I get home .   The 13th was one of the original holes from the 9 hole course that existed prior to Ross' involvement and this was discussed in the club history.


Chris

[JWinick]

I played it a couple weeks ago - it was amazing.    As I've thought about the one issue I had with the routing (12-17 are all parallel to each other), I realized that this is the best possible routing due to the fact that the best land is closest to the clubhouse.    I am still a little confused as to what was there now and what was there before (I played the course before the renovation), so if anyone has any pictures of the old holes and the new holes that would be a big help.   


One of the most remarkable changes was how the moved the 2nd hole green back 30-40 yards and I've been told that you can't even tell the difference.   

[Matthew Rose]

I found a bigger image of Ross' routing.