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Terry Lavin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #25 on: June 08, 2010, 02:38:28 PM »
I haven't played this course yet, but I was lucky to play Foster's newly renovated Knollwood in Lake Forest.  Knollwood is a Colt & Alison design that desperately needed bunker and tee work, not to mention tree removal.  They're doing the work in stages and the first stage involved redoing the bunkers and expanding the greens to their original sizes.  The results so far are extremely encouraging.  The bunkers look amazing and they put in the synthetic Best sand that is in place at Medinah and Butler and Point O'Woods.  The green expansion work is absolutely seamless and I'm excited to see what they do with the tee reconstruction, because there are some tees in some wacky locations now.  This is a must play golf course that nobody talks about.  When the work is complete next year, that should change.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2010, 03:30:43 PM by Terry Lavin »
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #26 on: June 08, 2010, 02:49:07 PM »
Very Interesting Terry,

I know a bunch of guys out there and have played the course a number of times.  I wasn't aware that Foster was the guy doing the work or that they had approved any more than the bunker redo, which was desperately needed due to poor drainage.  I agree that this is a very good Colt/Allison course which flies under the radar but will get it's due if in the proper hands, which it appears to be.  I know they had a proposal at one point to lower tee boxes and do an extensive renovation to return the course to the original C/A layout, but I thought the membership voted it down due to cost...Interested to hear what work is actually getting done....
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Chris Flamion

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #27 on: June 08, 2010, 03:19:38 PM »
I would be down to make the trip up to SC again.  It has been a while since I played it and I remember next to none of it.

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #28 on: June 08, 2010, 04:17:51 PM »
I haven't played this course yet, but I was lucky to play Foster's newly renovated Knollwood in Lake Forest.  Knollwood is a Colt & Alison design that desperately needed bunker and tee work, not to mention tree removal.  They're doing the work in stages and the first stage involved redoing the bunkers and expanding the greens to their original sizes.  The results so far are extremely encouraging.  The bunkers look amazing and they put in the synthetic Best sand that is in place at Medinah and Butler and Point O'Woods.  The green expansion work is absolutely seamless and I'm excited to see what they do with the tee reconstruction, because there are some tees in some wacky locations now.  This is a must play golf course that nobody talks about.  When the work is complete next year, that should change.

Terry-

I actually just read about the work at Knollwood last night in the CDGA magazine and the couple pictures looked great...looks as if they went for the big rounded / flash faced bunker look. Was also interested that Foster received the job...cool stuff.

Foster did do a nice job up at SC, as well as a similar project close to St. Louis (Gateway National). Seems he is a nice option when faced with a low budget and a less than desirable property as he builds some simple but interesting features.

Maybe we can figure something out for later in the month, reserve a few tee times, and get a bunch of GCA guys together.
H.P.S.

Sven Nilsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #29 on: June 08, 2010, 05:45:01 PM »
Count me in for a SC outing. 
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Wayne Wiggins, Jr.

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #30 on: June 08, 2010, 06:57:59 PM »
It's been mentioned here before... Foster's work at Omaha CC is outstanding.  And, I'm planning to play Mission Hills in KC area in July, which I've also heard good things about in terms of Foster's restorative work.

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #31 on: June 08, 2010, 07:19:28 PM »
Pat,

The only weak holes are 16 & 17 in my opinion, anticlimactic at that point in the round...
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Andrew Lewis

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #32 on: June 08, 2010, 07:33:56 PM »
I played SC today and would definitely second the above comments about the course playing firm and fast.  Despite the considerable recent rain, neither my playing partner nor I had a tee ball plug -- many actually bounced and ran out -- and we were able to play at least a few running shots onto greens.

The course was very playable given the conditions, with generally wide corridors to accommodate a two-to-three-club wind.  Definitely on the high end of strategic interest for a muni --- a good mix of blind / semi-blind and straightforward tee shots; several holes with center-line bunkers to navigate; some off-set greens that clearly favored approaches from one side of the fairway and/or a specific shot shape; and good variety on the one-shotters in terms of length and look.

I found the greens contours particularly worth note  No massive undulations a la the recently discussed 4th at Lost Dunes.  But definite internal movement that dictated some approaches and made recoveries more cerebral.  Also, I noticed at least a few that canted away at the rear, with fall-offs into short-grass chipping areas...a feature I particularly like.

All in all, a fun and very walkable course that I'd like to see again in dryer conditions...so count me in if a GCA outing comes through!

Tom Yost

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #33 on: June 08, 2010, 07:41:10 PM »
I happen to LOVE playing golf courses sited next to active garbage dumps. 


Sven Nilsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #34 on: June 08, 2010, 07:57:22 PM »
I happen to LOVE playing golf courses sited next to active garbage dumps. 



Tom:

The jerk store called, they're out of you.
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Terry Lavin

  • Karma: +0/-0
~-
« Reply #35 on: June 08, 2010, 09:47:01 PM »
I happen to LOVE playing golf courses sited next to active garbage dumps. 



Tom,

I haven't played Shepherd's Crook, but if it's next to a dump and it's a neat looking golf course, I'm all for it.  One of the nice golf experiences in Chicago is at Harborside, which was built next to the city dump and in the shadow of a paint factory, an expressway and a power plant!  If the land is cheap because of its proximity to a "brown site" and it can be utilized as a golf course, I say give it a shot.

You may have been kidding a little bit or you may have been serious, doesn't matter to me.  I just think it's neat that people develop courses like this on land that is affordable for the municipality.  That makes it cheap for the taxpayers and cheap for the golfers.  Nothing wrong with that, even if it might get malodorous from time to time!
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Tom Yost

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #36 on: June 09, 2010, 09:16:56 AM »
Geez, didn't mean to offend. I guess it wasn't as funny as I thought.

I borrowed the line from Evan Fleisher who, when informed of the less-than-scenic surroundings of the ASU Karsten course he had chosen to visit, replied; "I happen to LOVE courses with power stations and transmission towers close-by." I thought it was funny but now I see that he did use the smiley face so maybe that was the missing element of my post.

I regularly play a 9-hole muni in Mesa AZ named Riverview that is located next to a waste water treatment plant. We affectionately call it "RiverPhew."  :) ;) :D ;D ::) :-*

FWIW - I'm a fan of Foster's work at SunRidge Canyon in Fountain Hills AZ.





Bradley Anderson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #37 on: June 09, 2010, 11:15:47 AM »
The dump is south of the course, and it doesn't very often blow south to north in Chicago. Its almost always directly out of the west.

There is a Jelly Bean factory north of the course. You got a better chance of smelling that than you do the dump.

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #38 on: June 09, 2010, 12:05:44 PM »
You can catch a whiff of the dump on holes 4 and 5.  But for the course and the price it's not that bad...
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Keith Foster's Shepherd's Crook in Zion IL
« Reply #39 on: June 09, 2010, 02:27:47 PM »
FYI:

I started a new thread in order to gauge interest in a potential GCA outing at Shepherd's Crook later this month:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,44599.0/
H.P.S.

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