Forget Restoration - What 10 holes would you redesign ?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jim Michaels,

That would make it a drive and and wedge hole.

How is that an improvement ?

[Gyrogolf]

Mike Golden,

Naccarato and I were discussing #4 at Lake Merced the other night over a snifter of fine Mexican Scotch on my front porch.

Many years ago, Bo Links showed me where a tee might be built to the right of the existing tee. I think it would alleviate some of the problems with the geometry of the hole and give the shorter hitter a fighting chance.

The green complex is putrid. A complete train wreck in every single respect. It is contrived, ugly, awkward and has nothing whatsoever to do with the "strategy" of the tee shot. There is just no logic to the sequence of shots. The front bunker is on the wrong side and the bailout to the right looks like something Ron Freem would do as a joke.

I suggest a Punchbowl green and a more severe kickpoint on the right side of the fairway landing area so players don't have to figure out a way to hit a 5 wood off a downhill hanging lie to an elevated green.

I also might blast the 7th green into oblivion a because for a holeof that length, it give only a tiny gap to run the ball between the bunkers. It is indulgent, thoughtless and arrogant to design something like that for a membership like yours.

While I am at it (and you are welcome to tear into our Ocean Course as well), the par-3 15th needs a shoulder on the right side. It is a great Redan waiting to happen. The flatness of the right front portion of the putting surface is a wasted opportunity to create something special.

Jim Michaels:
Do they drug test where you work???

 

[Patrick_Mucci]

I would add # 6 at Piping Rock, by restoring the bunker complexes that were removed.

[Gyrogolf]

redanman,

Mr. Naccarato is a man of exceptional taste and culture, so it is important not to offend his culinary sensibilities with common drink.  

The answer is Tequila.  Depending on the purity and age, fine Tequila is meant to be sipped like fine Scotch, not mixed with sweet & sour or tossed down the gullet with salt and lime.

Additives of any type are unacceptable. 100% agave or forget it.

The same goes for Mescal, which is not tequila. The finer brands are smokey and delicious. Unfortunately, the American palate not refined enough to discriminate between the various types.

As self-appointed autocrat and dictator of Redan Hills G.C., we will have a selection of at least 25 different types behind the bar. Anyone ordering say, a fine Casadores, and requesting it be poured into a tequila sunrise or margarita, will be given a can of Budweiser, shown the door and asked never to return.

If it is a guest of a member, he or she will be compelled to buy a round of drinks for the entire membership as penance for bringing an idiot into our midst.

My one concession to pedestrian habit will be Tecate on tap -  as an accoutrement to cleanse the palate between tastings.        

[Gyrogolf]

redanman,

Sorry, the mental images that the word "whiskey" conjures up just does not communicate the necessary refinement. Excellent tequila is deserved of a loftier moniker.

"Whiskey" is something that brainless cowboys drink in Lakeside, where every Saturday night the same 12 ranch hands gather at the bar to try and pick up on the same 4 barmaids - two of whom are married while the other two are just plain fat and ugly.

The word "Scotch" says to me aromatic bliss wafting in my nose, seated in a comfortable wooden deck chair above the 14th tee at Newport CC. The Atlantic in the distance . . . . . the ghost of Theodore Havermeyer lurking on the balcony above.

Or at the corner table at St. Andrews Golf Club, with a fine single malt and a pint of bitters. . . . while the wind off the Eden swirls with an approaching storm

Sorry, I'll leave the word *whiskey* to the Hillbillies in Appalachia.

[Mike_Golden]

Gyro,

I agree with you on #4 as you can tell from my assessment-Tommy and I decided a few years ago that #4 could be a terrific Alps-like hole-there's a chance something might happen in the next year or two to change it as a couple of influential green committee members will no longer be involved...

I can fix #7 in about 3 hours-all that needs to be done is remove the front half of the bunker on the left side of the green and allow the natural terrain to bounce the ball left and on the green-I think with that change it becomes a great golf hole with real strategy other than missing way right above the right front bunker when the pin is anywhere beyond the ridge dividing the green.

I'm all for your change to #15 as well-the biggest disappointment is that I recently saw a bunch of photos from the pre-1964 layout and it was truly spectacular-we should have restored the bunkering style in 1996-Bo is supposed to give me a CD with those old photos and if he does I'll post them here.

And Tommy, if that snifter was actually on the porch and not just in Cyberland I'm coming down to LA to kick your butt for not calling me...