From today's San Diego Union Tribune:
Public to hear Torrey proposal
North Course plan a scaled-back version
By Tod Leonard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 16, 2004
On a day late this past summer, San Diego City Councilman and Torrey Pines men's club member Michael Zucchet joined other city officials in a tour of the Torrey Pines North Course. The group joined an associate of architect Rees Jones who was giving a hole-by-hole description of the planned reconstruction of the municipal course.
By the ninth hole, Zucchet was aghast. He was ready to mutiny.
In no uncertain terms, he let it be known that the proposed changes were far more radical than he expected, and far too similar to the massive overhaul and toughening of the South Course. On the spot, he said he would vehemently and publicly oppose such a plan.
Torrey Pines timeline
Projects and key dates between now and the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in 2008:
Tomorrow: Presentation of renovation plan for Torrey Pines North Course to San Diego's Natural Resources and Culture Committee.
Later this month: If approved by Natural Resources Committee, the renovation plan would be put before the City Council for a vote.
January: Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines (20-23)
February: Beginning of renovation work on North Course, if approved by City Council.
July: Renovation of North completed. Junior World tournament held. Renovated course opened for public play.
Spring, 2006: Proposed ground breaking for new clubhouse.
Winter, 2007: New clubhouse completed.
June, 2008: U.S. Open on Torrey Pines South.
"My opinion was that they ruined the South Course, but at least I understood why they did it – to get the U.S. Open," Zucchet said yesterday. "I love a tough golf course, but I miss the old, historic South.
"Now, it's a Rees Jones masterpiece, but the old one was a San Diego masterpiece. We've lost that, and I want to do my best to make sure the same things don't happen again."
One of his first steps comes tomorrow, when Zucchet and fellow Natural Resources and Culture Committee members Jim Madaffer, Donna Frye and Ralph Inzunza meet at 9 a.m. at City Hall in the first detailed, general-public meeting regarding the North Course's renovation.
The plan they will hear is a "very, very, very scaled back" version, according to Zucchet, of the one he was first presented that summer day. The $2.5 million to $3 million project, to be paid for from the city's golf enterprise fund, calls for a rebuilding of all of the North's tees, bunkers and greens, but with an emphasis on making the course playable and enjoyable for most skill levels.
If the committee votes to push the plan forward, the City Council could hear the proposal by the end of November. Once approved, work on the North would begin a few days after the Buick Invitational in mid-January and continue until the Callaway Junior World Championships in July. It has not been decided whether play will be allowed on the course during the construction.
As of yesterday, Zucchet was leaning toward sending the process forward, but he was still torn by his concerns about what will actually happen once the bulldozers arrive.
"I still question why you're tearing up that beautiful course," he said.
Not being a greenskeeper himself, Zucchet is listening to the pleas of golf course managers who say the work is necessary to improve the long-term health of the nearly 50-year-old greens. Mark Marney, the city's project manager at Torrey Pines, said the greens and bunkers suffer from poor drainage, and he has been told by agronomists that the greens will continue to deteriorate over time.
Both Marney and Deputy City Manager Bruce Herring said they shared similar concerns about a more extensive renovation, and once a less ambitious plan was in place, the city attempted to allay fears by doing presentations for the men's and women's clubs at Torrey Pines and the Golf Advisory Council. After seeing the details, all three organizations endorsed the work.
"It was a victory that they went to daily players to ask what they thought about some things," Zucchet said. "That's never happened before."
Said Torrey Pines men's club President Art Stromberg: "There's a certain amount of faith involved with this. What else can you say? I have to take them at their word. There's nothing to make me think they're blowing smoke."
Unlike the privately funded, $3.4 million renovation of the South, where several greens were significantly repositioned, plans call for most of the North greens to hold their current locations. The only big change would come at the 18th green, which would be moved north to accommodate a new clubhouse.
The two ponds on the par-3 17th will become one, and only three new greenside bunkers are proposed – at Nos. 3, 8 and 15. The depth of the bunkers is also said to be moderate, compared to some of the cavernous traps on the South.
"For guys in the 70s – and I mean age, not score – it would be nice to see the green surface while standing in a bunker," Stromberg said. "The pitch of the greens goes toward the traps on the South, too. It's like, 'Good grief.' "
A renowned architect, Jones likens himself to an artist with an open canvas, and it will be Marney's job to make sure the work doesn't become too abstract.
"We've heard from the average golfer, and a lot of folks have decided they like playing the North more than the South because the South's so tough," Marney said. "They don't want to see the North significantly changed. We're trying to balance that and address the maintenance issue."
Zucchet vows to closely watch the work.
"I'm not going to micro-manage it," he said. "But I want to make sure it stays in the context of simply rebuilding the greens and bunkers, because it has the potential to stray away from that."
Included in the proposal also is several pieces of work on the South Course. All of the sprinkler heads would be replaced, as well as a fairway bunker added to the left of the No. 6 fairway, because in the U.S. Open the hole will be converted from a par-5 to par-4. Marney said a future project will entail grading the 18th hole's fairway, because it will also play as a par-4 in the Open.
The North Course renovation isn't the only big project in the pipeline at Torrey Pines. The Natural Resources Committee will hear about preliminary plans to tear down the current clubhouse and build a new one closer to the parking lot in 2006. However, the project has not reached the stage required for approvals.
After months of on-site research, Marney will make a proposal for a clubhouse that would occupy an area now used for the North Course putting green and 18th green. The Century Club also is discussing funding a separate two-story structure that would accommodate its offices and a locker room.
In other Torrey Pines business tomorrow, Zucchet said he will also propose before the committee that it undertake a public accounting of tee-time access at the golf courses.