...and it centers around his recently published book on nine hole courses entitled To the Nines.
People who ‘kind of’ follow boxing seem to care only about the heavyweight division. However, true boxing fans appreciate the Haglers, Durans, and Leonards of the world as being pound for pound as good or better than the heavyweights. Same for golf with most people who ‘kind of’ play golf only caring about ‘18 hole championship courses’ and sniffing at nine hole courses. True golfers though make the pilgrimage to The Sacred Nine. Having played there, one happily argues that 1) RW&N is as good hole for hole as 99.99% of the 18 hole courses out there and 2) there ought to be more such quality nine holers.
Anthony’s book doesn’t analyze Mildenhall as he stays in the United States, which proves to have plenty of nine hole courses worthy of study, be them in the past (e.g. Macdonald/Raynor’s spectacular Ocean Links) or the present (e.g. MacKenzie’s Northwood, Ross’s Rolling Rock and Whitinsville). Though I haven’t played there, take Pioppi’s description of Rolling Rock and its amazing greens. I wonder if ‘only’ building nine holes emboldened Ross to build such greens (perhaps like Dunn at RW&N)?? Did he feel extra pressure to never permit the golfer’s mind to wander or for the golfer to feel shortchanged by only playing a nine holer? Or was Ross’s team freer to pour more attention/thought into the design as they were only building nine holes? Whatever, the result is of exception and that’s all that matters.
As I noted when posting the Culver Academies nine hole course profile, the ability to whip a round a quality nine hole course is the ideal way to get outdoors and enjoy the game on a regular basis when family/business constraints only allow for a brief getaway. Take this weekend. My wife is away with friends and I am outnumbered two to one with/against
a seven and three year old with no chance of getting babysitting support to spend four plus hours on a course. I could either a) play a quick nine in an hour or hour and a half or b) read a thread with Paul and Moriarty as they subtract from the sum of human knowledge
. The nines don’t return at Southern Pines CC (which is one of the reasons that the routing is so superb) so I’m out of luck.
With everyone so busy, nine hole courses should be enjoying a comeback, especially with the price of land these days. Plus, there are obviously more 50 acre parcels well suited for golf than 100 plus acre parcels. Yet, nine hole courses labor under a stigma in America of being inherently inferior. Indeed, I’m only aware of one man who has seen the benefits in building a first rate nine hole course in recent times. The man who took that chance along the east side of Lake Michigan showed/proved himself to be a free thinker. The pressure was on him and his architect to build nine holes that would be of great interest – nine duds would have been a mess. With a nod in appreciation toward Pine Valley, succeed they did and interest in being invited to become a member was high from the outset. Essentially, the man understood that golfers will seek/be drawn to quality golf. The fact that he later found Bandon speaks volumes but perhaps isn’t so surprising after all.
Anthony’s book educates on the finest virtues that 9 hole courses possess in the States. Nearly all the great master architects built nine hole courses here. It is but one lesson that they taught us that we presently ignore. For architects that struggle to build just one great hole out of eighteen, think of the benefits of building a nine holer: if you build a great hole, the golfer might well play it twice and your batting average doubles
Being as well done as it is, Anthony’s book is a timely reminder of what could be once again and perhaps it can stimulate interest in bringing back the nine hole course onto the American golf landscape.
Cheers,