Ricefields- opening 2008

[J_McKenzie]

One of the great things about the design business is watching a team of designers, shapers, and construction crews turn raw pieces of land into golf courses.  It's a fascinating process that's always different for every course that gets built.  Grow-in is the final phase of the process and the best time for someone like me that has a fairly limited creative vision to finally see all the pieces fall into place.

I spent most of the day a couple of weeks ago walking a new course just south of Savannah, Ga. that is in various stages of grow-in.  The course is called Ricefields and should open in 2008.  Here are a few images:

1st Tee, par-5


2nd Tee, par-3


3rd Tee, par-4


5th Tee, short par-4


9th Tee, par-4


12th Tee, par-4


17th Tee, par-3


18th Tee, par-4

[Greg Krueger]

J- Thanks for the pics, looks interesting. Do you have any
info on Architect, Public or Private?

[Kirk Gill]

It's Fezler Golf Course Design. The name of Davis Love III is associated with the course on the Fezler web site:

http://www.fezlergolfdesign.com

[Michael Dugger]

Fezler's first post-Strantz course.....looks hot, I like it.

[tlavin]

Nice low-country look, but that is one horseshit name for a golf club, even if they grew product for Rice-a-roni on the property before the bulldozers and McMansions arrived.

[Mike Mosely]

It looks nice and low country and with good architecture...insert tweety voice "I dawt I daw a center line bunker...I DID!  I did daw a center line bunker!"

What's so bad about the name?  Ricefields..it beats "The Inspiration at Touchy-feely Creek..."

[TEPaul]

J. Mckenzie:

What is this, architectural musical chairs?

I realize Ricefields has gone through various prinicple and owner iterations and has been a long time in the works but what's going on here?

Who is Frazier design?

I thought the course was a Davis Love Design project. I stopped in there for a bunch of hours, what---I think this spring to see Paul Cowley and we went around and looked at the course and did some stuff on one hole that I think was the last to get to conceptual finalization. I even remember the shaper who everyone said was just excellent.

I sort of know Forrest Fezler from Davis's Newark De or Maryland project but I sure didn't know some say he's the designer of Ricefields.

And again, who is Frazier Design? Or did the guy who said that think Forrest's name is Forrest Frazier?  

By the way, did you see that guy above who said the name Ricefields is a horsehit name!? If he tries to join or even play there would you make sure he gets blackballed and maybe even has the dogs sicked on him?!

By the way, those bunkers are pretty stunning. Somebody basically out-Mackenzied Alister!

[Tim Gavrich]

Nice to see that Strantz left strong impressions...it's reminiscent of his work.  It reminds me of the pictures I've seen of the forested holes at Bulls Bay, which are salivation-worthy, I believe.  The layer-effect in the first picture is especially intriguing.

[TEPaul]

Tim:

Are you serious about that?

I ask because I just can't imagine more dissimilar looking golf courses and architectural styles than what I've seen of Bulls Bay and Ricefields.

I don't know what's going on with some of the contributors on GOLFCLUBATLAS.com in the last few days but if they're serious about some of the things they've been saying, I guess I'll just have to go back to the drawing boards, as it were!

[Jeff Doerr]

Looks great!  The first hole brought to mind Cypress Point #4.  Look forward to digging in a bit more on this course...time for bed now.

[Jamey Bryan]

Tom, Tim made that response with some cutie from Hollins College sitting next to him.  I agree....   I loved Bulls Bay, and I like the look of the pictures from Ricefields, but there's little similarity.  I think Tim has his priorities right in paying attention to the sweetie from Holly Colly, though.

Jamey

[J_McKenzie]

Tom Paul,

It is amazing the directions these threads can go- I guess this is how rumors get started....

Although Forrest has been a major part of the team at Ricefields, the design of the golf course is by Love Golf Design(Davis and Mark Love, Paul Cowley).  Forrest came to the project from the construction side and has done a remarkable job on the golf course.  So good, in fact, that we are doing a second course together just outside of Newark, Delaware (the new Newark CC).  Forrest has kept most, if not all, of the Maverick Golf guys together from his partnership with Mike Strantz and they are indeed a talented and fun group to work with.  

John

[Brad Tufts]

public or private?

[J_McKenzie]

Greg and Brad,

The course is going to be private.  It is being built as part of a new low density, environmentally friendly development called Hampton Island.

Terry,

It is called Ricefields at Hampton Island for a couple of reasons- 1) it is built on land that is surrounded by former rice fields and plantations, which was a huge part of the economy in coastal Georgia prior to the Civil War, and 2) rice fields serve as a major design/aesthetic feature for several holes on the back nine (somewhat evident in the picture from the 12th tee shown above).

[jeffwarne]

Is anyone else glad they're not in charge of raking all those acres of bunkering ?

[Mike Nuzzo]

Is anyone else glad they're not in charge of raking all those acres of bunkering ?

Yes.

John,
It looks very nice.
Every other picture looked really good to me in fact.
The first picture was a big overload -- the lake coupled with too many bunkers.
Cheers

[J_McKenzie]

Mike,

Thanks for your kind remarks and for your feedback.  I agree that the first image does appear somewhat busy, although it honestly doesn't feel that way in person.  The picture was taken from the championship tee, so the water feature really only has to be carried from there, the other tees are more adjacent to it as they move forward.  The carry over the first bunker complex can't be more than 30-40 yards from the "members" tee and less than 100 yards from all the way back.  There is also much more room in the first landing area than it appears and the bunker complex on the right side of the fairway will actually be challenged by the longer hitters.  

This course is a departure from the majority of our other courses, but Davis has always said that he never wanted Love Golf Design to be defined by a single design style.  Ricefields is a high-end private course and the finished product should fit very well with the land we had to work with.  Paul Cowley is on a site visit to Cabo this week with Davis and Mark, but hopefully he will have time to chime in here at some point since he has been on site throughout the process.

John

[Mike Nuzzo]

John,
Thanks.
The first pic looks like a flat area which makes it very deceiving to pick a landing spot and design a hole.
From the pic it looks like I don't have a chance of missing a bunker -- some days I do hit my fair share of fairways.
It would be much easier to see how the hole plays from above.
I am very aware of the difficulties with working on a flattish hole.  There are a couple holes at my project where in my mind it is completely obvious where to play, but when looking from the tee with a fresh pair of eyes, it is very confusing.
I so like that.

Cheers

[Tim Gavrich]

Tim:

Are you serious about that?

I ask because I just can't imagine more dissimilar looking golf courses and architectural styles than what I've seen of Bulls Bay and Ricefields.

I don't know what's going on with some of the contributors on GOLFCLUBATLAS.com in the last few days but if they're serious about some of the things they've been saying, I guess I'll just have to go back to the drawing boards, as it were!

While I'm perfectly willing to accept that I'm off my rocker, here's how I see it: Bunker shape and style is probably the foremost aspect of a golf course that inspires connections to others in me, and the bunkers in the pictures of Ricefields remind me of the bunkers I've seen in pictures of Bulls Bay.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Good point, Tim. I too, thought that it looks to have bits of Bulls Bay in it, which isnt a bad thing at all. The courses are only 2 hours apart and somewhat similar land.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX

[paul cowley]

 "Paul Cowley is on a site visit to Cabo this week with Davis and Mark, but hopefully he will have time to chime in here at some point since he has been on site throughout the process.

John"


.....John, I could...but I think I might instead focus my efforts on many of the suggestions and comments from the above....but thanks for your effort in posting the pictures and sharing them with others here.....and for clearing up the course credit questions.

Monday I think I will get in touch with the finish crew and have them begin to fill in many of the bunkers to decrease any visual confusion that the pictures might have created....and this should also have the double benefit of decreasing the labor time that would have been spent by raking them.

I don't think we should fill in the centerline "tweety bird" bunker, as it got a favorable post....and it really doesn't take that much time to rake.

I'll probably also call the owner and let him know about the displeasure by at least one of the posters with the name, and that maybe we should consider something different.
Maybe someone here could come up with a better one....something that might tie into the history of the site that once was part of an antebellum coastal rice plantation.

Changing the course so that it doesn't look so much like Bulls Bay is going to be tough.
I played Bulls Bay about a month ago with Forrest, and he made the comment that the biggest difference between the two courses was that he and Mike designed most of the green complexes at Bulls Bay to be surrounded by containment....while most of the Ricefield greens complexes were the opposite....low horizon styled with runoffs, chipping swales etc.
He also said that he felt this course was as good as any he and Mike had done.

Obviously we have more work to do thanks to the feedback from the pictures......which is just one of the benefits found by participating in this DG.

[TEPaul]

"Maybe someone here could come up with a better one....something that might tie into the history of the site that once was part of an antebellum coastal rice plantation."


PabloC:

You bet I could come up with a new name that might tie into the history of that site, although I like Ricefields G.C.

But first I need to know what bellum that coastal rice plantation was ante to. I would have to suspect it was ante to the Civil War in which case that coastal rice plantation was ante to Abie's Emancipation Proclamation and so slavery was in force at that antebellum coastal rice plantation.

If that all checks out historically, I suggest you suggest to the owner of Ricefields that he rename that club and course Slavery G.C.

I'll guarantee y'all that will get some attention!