[Tony_Chapman]

On his review of Sand Hills, Ran writes, "When the course opened in June, 1995, the most natural course built in the United States since World War I had opened."

What courses built before World War I were "more natural" than Sand Hills? Also, is his statement correct, or were there other natural courses built after WWI prior to Sand Hills that were more natural?

Prairie Dunes comes to mind.....

[Adam Clayman]

Tony, My guess is that without the heavy earth movers every course built was much more natural looking than those built post world wars until Youngscap's vision/desire.

[TEPaul]

These "natural" course discussions probably need to consider a couple of things.

Most of those old pre WW1 courses were more natural in that not as much earth was moved simply because it wasn't easy to do back then with the equipment available. In almost no case were the so-called "mid-bodies" of most any hole manipulated earth-wise.

However, many of those old courses didn't look that natural simply because what was man-made looked remarkably artificial in many cases compared to the vast majority that wasn't touched.

With a course like Sand Hills not that much was man-made but was made was done in such a way that it's very hard to tell it was man-made. Of course this was very much the intention and concentration of architects like Coore and Crenshaw.

Interestingly, at Hidden Creek they did not stick to that intention so much with some of their bunkers because they intended Hidden Creek to be a tribute to the architecture of a much earlier era when that kind of thing was not such an architectural intention or concentration.

[Willie_Dow]

Yes Tom

Hidden Creek is a natural !  But here at Salters is beyond natural.  It will take time after my time |

Willie

[Jason Hines]

http://www.greatlifegolf.com/ChisholmTrail/

Great Life Golf in Abilene, KS formerly Chisholm Trail Golf was reportedly a goat track, too slick of greens and spotty fairways because of low maintenance.  Sounds like my kind of place.  Tony, have you played this one?

[Peter Pallotta]

Tony -

I've never seen such a course nor ever read about it, and I can barely imagine it in my mind's eye: a golf course that not only uses the natural features (in their natural state) as the structures for a field of play, and then artfully and seamlessly blends the man-made elements of that field of play into both the immediate and far-distant surrounds, but that also forsakes the traditional and conventional manifestations of those man-made elements in favour of a radical re-interpretation and re-visioning of the shot-testing requirements of the game, a vision based primarily and almost entirely on what nature herself has to offer at a given and specific time and place.

I have not much of an idea what I'm envisioning here, but I'd bet that at least one or two of the working architects out there do.

Late night ramble...

Peter     

[TEPaul]

Jason:

I've spent a lot more time in Abilene Kansas than one might suspect for someone like me (it's the home of the greyhound racing Hall of Fame) but unfortunately I never had the pleasure of seeing or playing Great Life GC. Sorry I missed it. Whenever I went to Abilene it had to do with greyhound racing and I just never really thought to bring my sticks along.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()