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Kenny Baer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #75 on: November 19, 2009, 09:33:14 PM »
John,

I didn't mean to say that it didn't have spots that were scary, but from pictures it looks like you might be afraid while just walking down the fairway.

What was your overall impression of the course?  Does it remind you of anything else?  What was your favorite hole?  Being from the states I only know 1 person that has ever played it.

Scott Coan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #76 on: November 19, 2009, 09:48:07 PM »
Kenny,

The left side of 15 is damn scary up on the fence line.  A few years back there was a pretty massive slip along there that did not take any of the fairway/rough line but it did steepen the decline quite a bit.  There is a point where you can look over the wire fence and look STAIGHT down about 500 feet.  Gives me the willies now and I won't go near it!

Kenny Baer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #77 on: November 19, 2009, 10:05:22 PM »
Wow, being scared of heights myself that is terrifying.  Is the bunker that Anthony Kim was in on #15 as close as it looked to the cliff?

Scott Coan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #78 on: November 19, 2009, 10:13:00 PM »
Have not seen the telecast yet here in NZ as I think it airs this weekend here.  Was he at front left or behind the green?

Leo Barber has a picture of the front left bunker on page 2 of this thread.  He is not right on the edge but about 15 feet in front of him it's pretty much straight down.

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #79 on: November 20, 2009, 09:37:23 AM »
I'm curious what contingency is in place for that cliff on 15.  After all we know the cliff is there due to erosion over the years, I guess it really will be a plank walk when a big chunk of it breaks off and the fairway is only 20 yards wide instead of 35-40.  ;D

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #80 on: November 20, 2009, 12:05:55 PM »
Kalen:

That's when we get to back to New Zealand for a while!  :)  But it is hard to plan for such a thing or predict what effect it would have.

Scott:

Anthony was in the right-hand of the two bunkers behind the green.  As you know, it's not a straight-down cliff there ... there's a sharp little drop-off, then a long, steep grassy slope down about another 50 feet before you get to the cliff edge.  So you could hurt yourself there, but you shouldn't die, and for me there is no vertigo there.  The only two places you can get right to a sheer cliff on the golf course are partway along the left of 15 fairway and right behind 16 tee ... which is why they're both fenced.

For a time, we considered putting the 13th hole on a little shelf of ground that was hanging off the cliff to the left of the present hole.  We eventually gave up because of the walk back up, and because of some possible archaeology issues down there.  But I never realized how scary our potential tee location was until we were building the 15th green and I realized where that tee would have been ... we could have easily fallen to our deaths there.

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #81 on: November 20, 2009, 12:49:28 PM »
Tom,

Didn't you previously mention your crew worked with safety lines and harnesses on some of those holes?  The views seem to be terrific and it seems worth the effort you guys took to build those greens/tee boxes.  Can you share if you had a geologist or otherwise look at those locations and give a professional opinion on them?

Kalen

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #82 on: November 20, 2009, 01:01:04 PM »
Kalen:

No safety harnesses required.  It's pretty hard to harness a five-ton trackhoe, anyway.  The only time I had any concern was when Brian Slawnik was digging those bunkers on #15 ... I have a photo of him working from the side, which shows how close to the edge he was to do it.  I think he's going to put it up on our web site when he is finished with the revision ...

Scott Coan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #83 on: November 20, 2009, 03:43:03 PM »
For a time, we considered putting the 13th hole on a little shelf of ground that was hanging off the cliff to the left of the present hole.  We eventually gave up because of the walk back up, and because of some possible archaeology issues down there.  But I never realized how scary our potential tee location was until we were building the 15th green and I realized where that tee would have been ... we could have easily fallen to our deaths there.

Tom,

I heard about that option for the 13th green, which would have been pretty spectacular.  Because of this I initially disliked the 13th because of what "it could have been".  In retrospect those feelings have faded as the 13th has turned out to be a deviilish little hole.  I think it took me more than a half dozen plays until I made my first par there!   

I always assumed the tee for the 13th would have been in the same position if you used the down below cliffside green.  Sounds like it would hve been different?

Scott

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #84 on: November 20, 2009, 03:54:37 PM »
The regular tee would've been where it is now, cutting away some ground so you could see down the hill, but there was a place for a back tee much lower and to the left from the present tee ... just over a small gully right on the cliff edge.  It would have been spectacular, but probably crazy, too.  It sure would have been a lot harder to host that event!

Dane Hawker

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #85 on: September 30, 2012, 09:10:30 PM »
Sorry for the bump but grass cutters may be interested in this awesome opportunity.


Cape Kidnappers Golf Course is conducting a search for its next Golf Course Superintendent.

Full details at www.nzgcsa.org.nz