Sand Hills from Tire Iron Hill, 2005 and 1990

[Neil Regan]

 

[T]he thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself,
though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process.
And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.

Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes, 1890

 

   Tire Iron Hill, near Ben's Porch, is where Dick Y. and Bill C. and Ben C. would stand and look out over the future golf course.
   Below is the view from that hill. On the left is a recent picture, on the right a modified version simulating the look of c1990. Then there is the same view, zoomed in on the 1st hole.

  Even now, knowing what you know, I think you still would not easily find the golf course, despite all we hear about how the holes were just waiting to be revealed.  

[Tom_Doak]

Neil:

I believe that a lot of golf architects would have found some of the same holes which Bill and Ben found.

However, nearly all of them would have moved earth on other holes in order to make their favorites work out, and I think it is highly unlikely that anyone else would have worked out a routing of great holes with better green-to-tee relationships than Sand Hills has today.

But I do like Dr. Watson's quote.  I might use that in the foreword to the Pacific Dunes book!  

[Dan Kelly]

That cloud sure has been hangin' there a long time.

[TEPaul]

If there are a series of photographs of Sand Hills G.C. before anything was done there I think Dick Youngscap and C&C should put those "before" photos in a safe somewhere and hide the key.

I think it's fascinating on most courses to see the way the land was before construction was done so such as us can compare the way it was to the way it is now. But in my opinion, Sand Hills G.C. is not one of them, particularly on the subject of the bunkers.

I say when it comes to Sand Hills G.C (perhaps the most minimalist golf course of the modern age or perhaps ever) let the mystery remain!  

[Mike Nuzzo]

A little less literary, but a little earlier:

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."

Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)

I'm not so sure I agree entirely with "the point" part... it makes it sound so singular, there are lots of points.  Maybe "my goal"

Anyway....
Is it a truth that there was no better routing at Sand Hills.
I find that highly unlikely.  

Cheers

[Pat_Mucci]

Neil,

The attribution of your quote is incorrect.

That's what TEPaul has been saying to me for years  

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