Okay, I’m not exactly an Arthur Hills fan, but after walking most of the Westhaven property, I have to admit I came away impressed enough to think “I could enjoy playing this course on a regular basis….I would like to join”.
Westhaven is a very good piece of property for golf, certainly a course one could walk without difficulty but having enough elevation change to keep things interesting. I’m curious what the property was like before construction began, because it seemed that many of the little undulations were preserved. From a design point of view, I was impressed by the bold nature of many of the greens. Nothing is over the top, but there seemed to be many examples where shot making both into the green and recovery shots around the green will be very interesting and challenging. Arthur Hills isn’t known for “strategy” but on this golf course there will be lots of decisions to be made, especially into the greens if not from the tee.
Westhaven appears like it will be a fun hard course. There is plenty of width, enough that one gets the impression not too many balls will be lost off the tee. Around most of the greens plenty of room exists for the player without the skills or the nerve to attack the more difficult pin placements. I could envision many shots I’d look forward to playing over and over again.
One quality I especially enjoy in a golf course is “mood change”, a combination of holes and settings that produces a different feeling throughout the round yet somehow also holds together. Westhaven has it as much as anything I’ve seen in a while. One feature which is a bit odd, but also contributes to the mood change thing is a corner of the property where Hill routed three par threes in a triangle. The holes play as #4, #15, and #16. Normally, I wouldn’t be thrilled with back to back par threes as #15 and #16, but #16 is a bit of a monster that I’m guessing will instill enough fear to make one forget design theories.
A couple other observations: not surprisingly I didn’t come away thrilled with the bunker work. Maybe it’s just a style preference thing, but none of the bunker work was pleasing aesthetically. That said, I’ll credit Hill’s team for making the artificial features feel like they belonged.
Nashville is hardly Mecca when it comes to golf, but Westhaven Golf Club is going to be a very nice addition to the area, especially sitting about three miles from my house in Franklin. I hope the club will be as much fun as the golf course will likely be.