Mimosa Hills CC: Donald Ross (Pics)

[Mark Bourgeois]

Too bad there's no message icon for "thumbs way up," in Siskel & Ebert parlance: this course gets it.  Played here on the strength of postings from Lawrence Largent and Michael J Fay. The people who contribute to this website are invaluable!

The club opened in 1929.  The founders of the club went to Donald Ross and offered him a choice of three properties.  How awesome is that?  Ross selected this site for its views and topography.  Club officials today say Ross spent a decent amount of time on the property.  This was no drive by.

Over the years the course conditions deteriorated to the point where members could putt out of some bunkers, a far cry from "3-foot-six."

Then one day Kris Spence stopped in and asked if he could walk the course.  He was in the process of "restoring" Grove Park Inn over in Asheville, and frustratingly very little documentation of that course could be found at the Inn or the Tufts Library a few counties over in Pinehurst.

Of such coincidences do great conclusions sometimes arise: a practicing architect, in the process of restoring a Ross course, stops at a course that happens to be on his route.  He discovers a true -- no, really, a true -- Ross gem that could be really something if brought back to its earlier state.

The club knows opportunity when it sees it, hires Spence, who discovers unlike GPI there is a record, evidence, of the original course.

And he sets to work.  Sticklers might call it a not-a-true restoration: several new tees were built, including a few that were raised, something I'm not sure counts as "Ross." Michael Fay posted on here a while back (post resto) saying this course is one of the best-preserved Rosses out there. And it's the green complexes you've got to see here, and those I understand are very, very true to Ross.

Some time ago Lawrence Largent posted on here asking whether the bunkers were really Ross; the answer based on old photos in the club's possession is, "absolutely."  Spence calls them "bull noses."  Over the years, maintenance practices literally de-nosed them, transfiguring beautiful sinuous bunkers into unimaginative rectilinear things.

Here we go...

The course starts slowly, the first four holes suffering in comparison to what's to come.  But this stretch does include signature Ross holes of "Straight & and Uphill" and "Up & Over."

The 1st hole is a round-easing opener; it might not pass Ran's test of "makes you want to play golf" but it doesn't get a failing grade, either.  (If somehow we could tack the first four holes of Southern Pines onto Mimosa Hills...)




The 2nd is a short, straight uphill par 4. 



The green complex gives us a foreshadowing of what's to come.



The 3rd, like all par 5s here, is more a par 4.5.  It starts with that wonderful Ross trait of "up and over." Best to start left of the clubhouse roof.




So Ross returns us to the clubhouse after just three holes -- fascinating routing in that the golfer never will be far from the clubhouse.  If he wishes, he can join his companions on the tees of 1, 4, 6, 10, and 13, without walking more than 50-60 yards from the parking lot.  Highly unusual in the world of golf!

The 4th hole...



The 5th is a dogleg left hole with a collection of raised bunkers in the bend.  Prior to Spence's tree removal, these bunkers were not visible from the tee; looking at before and after photos one might think Spence put in the bunkers.  Which, in a way, he did.


The greenside bunkers give the golfer the first real taste of their utility.  Shots hit a hair wide of the green carom in.  Shots hit to the bunkers' far sides either carom in -- or bounce farther away from the hole.  Given the tilt of the greens and the penal depth of the bunkers, this is a difficult shot indeed.

5th green and bunkering:




The 6th is the first par 3 and a challenge.  Well bunkered and raised, the golfer must find a way to hit and hold this green.  In summertime, firm-and-fast conditions that is no small challenge!


The 7th hole is described here.

More later,
Mark

[Greg Krueger]

Mark, thank you for the pictures, my wife played in the North Carolina Women's Am. last summer and loved Mimosa Hills!

[Mark Bourgeois]

The beauty of the routing during the stretch of 7-9 is that 8 as a 469-yard par 4 followed by 9 as a 190-yard uphill par 3 pressure the golfer to take the risk on the risk-reward 493-yard par 5 7th.

My preference for 7 may be unorthodox - the pro at first asked if I meant 8 - but not many would disagree that 8 is a truly great par 4.

8 tee: the ridge propels balls to the left.  A long walk down the fairway leaves the golfer at first thankful at seeing no ball in the penal bunker on the left, but then uneasy anticipation gives way to resignation: his ball has rolled down into a creek bed.  The drought thankfully leaves his ball dry and playable -- assuming he has a 200-yard uphill punch shot.



8 green: another beautifully benched green.  From the fairway, the golfer is called upon to hit a fade from a hook lie with a long iron, hybrid, or wood.  Not easy!



9th hole: the entrance road and parking lot left are unnerving to the visitor



10 is a dogleg left par 4. A strong drive down the center-left leaves just a wedge in, but the golfer's intentions are frustrated by a right-running ridge whose acquaintance we met on 7 and 8.



10 approach: a drive too well-struck will run into this bunker.  False front offers the main challenge.



The 11th hole is another fantastic par 4. The drive is semi blind as the hole is mildly uphill and doglegged -- but especially because the bunker in the crook blocks the view. Left-center, challenging the bunker, is the play.



11 green is enclosed by a magisterial amphitheater of oak trees.  Again, owing to the raised green the shot is mildly blind.



Another look at 11 green shows a common feature: somewhat punchbowl in nature, the greens resemble a Revolutionary War tri-corner hat.  Not so much wings as "points" protrude from the greens, angling slightly up so as to guide well-placed shots away from the bunkers and raised green edges. A very nice feature for the club golfer, they reward the good shot while presenting lots of fun and interesting putts.


Mark

[Lawrence Largent]

I'm a member of Holston Hills and another Ross Ridgefields Country Club where there is no Ross left except the routing.  I've played many of the top courses but the drives you have to hit at Mimosa and the Bunkering make it one of my Top 5 courses that I like to play.  I really can't say enough about this course and the club.  The drive on hole 15 is my favorite by far with the second shot to the skyline green with a view of tablerock Mountain in the background awesome!  I really think the course has one of the best set of Par 3's with great variety something alot of the courses today lack.

Lawrence

[Mark Bourgeois]

The 12th is the club's pride and joy.  A par 5 on the card, it really plays more like a brutal, dogleg-left par 4: no one who booms a drive is going to lay up, despite the challenge of the second shot.

From the tee, there's not much to see.  The play is center-right, over the Hogan walk in the pic below -- plenty of room to the left, and that side still allows a go, but too far right will see the golfer blocked by trees.



The drive plays downhill, so getting the tee ball the 265-300 yards downrange to Position A is feasible.  The key for many is just to get far enough down to see the green.  This is the view from the left side of the fairway:


A huge swale sits between fairway and green; this swale is maintained as fairway and can receive layup shots.  The proper shot into the green actually is short right and sort of "high" to the green; this shot will bound down to the green.  I imagine this bounding, ground-hook is the most replayed shot on the course; proper execution brings that much satisfaction and failure that much dissatisfaction.

Obviously the tree left is in play; however, I would guess its loss will not be felt too acutely, as the bunker left -- and the sharp hill left of left -- provide a penalty.



The 13th presents the first par 3 on the back nine, and what a beauty. 215 yards or so from the back tees, the green is both raised and benched.  The golfer is strongly drawn to the right, but over there lurks a bunker and a closely-mown chipping area.  Par is hard earned from over there to many if not most pin positions, as the green slopes away.


Here it might be worth noting that the back nine, being higher than the front, was exposed to a solid one-club wind during my two days there.  This true in particular in this part of the course (12 green, 13, 14 tee, 15 green, 16 tee, 18 approach).  Not sure if that wind was prevailing in direction or speed, but worth noting the course is at elevation 3,000 feet or so, with mountains North, South, and West.

Mark

[Mark Bourgeois]

After 13 the course turns back to the ridges.

14 is another par 4.5 with a neat curling half pipe of a fairway.  The trick is to get the tee ball out to the right to keep the trees down the left out of play.


The approach shot and green are both fantastic.  From a good drive the golfer must negotiate a cross hazard (not really in play) then a bunker short and left.  That short-left bunker leads the golfer to try to play a shot to the right, but he must hook it in there.  If he hits a straight ball he will find a bunker right of the green.  Just a very ingeniously-bunkered hole!


Just like Ross followed a short par 5 with a long par 4 on the front (8&9), here he does the same.  15 is a brute and plays similarly to 8: the drive must finish left of center for the best angle into a beautiful skyline green that's benched into a left-sloping hill.  And there's the rub, for the tee shot must negotiate a left-sloping ridge -- and as with 8, a (dry) creek bed awaits at the bottom.


Table Rock, seen in the distance behind this green, carried religious significance for the Cherokee.  And indeed the mountain views from this course, so well-chosen by Ross himself, inspire.  Table Rock, and Hawksbill to the right, guard the western rim of Linville Gorge, an astonishingly beautiful place that is known as the "Grand Canyon of the East."


To see Table Rock, to know what's on the other side, to know its history and significance, gives this view a powerful meaning.  It's genius loci.

Mark

[Richard Hetzel]

Great pics. That is a Ross gem I could play every day and be HAPPY!

[Mark Bourgeois]

The biggest annoyance are rather long walks back from green to tee.  This is true to a degree even for the white tees.  To get from 15 green to Black 16 tee the golfer must hike back a good 30-40 yards.  That's the price we pay for a 6,800-yard course that will test the game of the great majority of players.  This is no architectural museum piece!

16th hole is a right-curving par 4 that dips before rising to the green.  A true dogleg, the ideal play is a bending drive along the line of the fairway.  Right is dead. The green slopes significantly from back to front, as shown by the picture below.



The 17th is a 160-yard par 3 from the back tees and a personal favorite.  This is a do-or-die hole that does not resort to the cheap tricks of "volcano" greens, water, OB.  The picture below shows the green from short and right.  The back-right bunker is the head pro's favorite on the entire course.  Ross made the shot from this bunker one of great difficulty: relative to the green it is deep, plus the green runs away.  A well-executed shot must get up immediately and land softly.  This is appropriate; good golfers tend to go long, poorer players come up short.  This bunker is a good-player "special."


The home green is vaguely reminiscent of the par-5 3rd's just a few yards over to the right; however, there the similarities end.  The 18th is a long-on-the-card par 4 which plays downhill.  The tee shot might be the most fun on the course.  Everyone gets to feel like a he-man as they watch their drive bound down and out of sight.  The player seeking a score though needs to position his ball left-center -- avoiding the bunker on the left.  Time and again Ross has asked the better player to work his ball into position and here is no different.



The main challenge of the approach shot is hitting the full club; somehow Ross managed to make this downhill shot play to its yardage.  Perhaps this is down to a little psychology: it takes either a brave or foolhardy man to hit a full-blooded shot with a clubhouse looming!



Spence's masterful job restoring this course presents bunkering that is beautiful and deadly.  Here's one more look -- bunkering right of 18 green:



This being a Ross, it's a course to play every day.  But it's no pushover.  Pars are hard-won -- even as eagle and birdie are legitimate possibilities, and not just for the very strongest players.

This course is a must-play if you pass anywhere through Western North Carolina.  The greens are full of interest and lots of fun to putt.  You will want to rake a lot of putts back for another go, or drop balls in various places.  The tee shots are especially fun: some to be bombed, some to be worked.  The par 3s play to different lengths.  Personally, the par 4.5 holes (long 4s and short 5s) alone might keep me coming back.

It is worth a 100-mile detour.  And yes that includes Charlotte.

Mark

[Ed Oden]

Mark, thanks for a great profile.  I agree that Mimosa Hills is very good.  In particular, the back nine is terrific, more than offsetting a relatively pedestrian start.  For me, the highlight is Kris Spence's restoration work of Ross' green complexes and bunkering, which is exceptional.  However, there are a few holes that I think are sorely in need of further tree removal.  Most notably, the 12th and 14th, which is too bad since they have the potential to be two of the best Ross par 5's around.  Regardless, Mimosa is a real treat to play.

Ed

[Mark Bourgeois]

Ed

Thanks for keeping this alive.  Re the 12th, as you can see by the tee pic they've got turf issues, at least short of the fairway. (Fairway seemed in good shape.)  It would be nice to open up the view to the green down the right side, the better to tempt us cavemen into a foolish shot.

Re the 14th, lose the trees in particular inside 200 yards down the left side, yes?

Another place they could lose the trees is that row of spindly evergreens on the right side of 18. (I think that's where they are; maybe though they're on the right side of 3.)  My reasoning is not for the play on 18 (or 3) but to open the vista to Table Rock from 15 green.

What about the smaller tree short right of 6 green?  It doesn't come into play and looks lost out there. Plus it blocks the green.

Re 12 and 14 as great par 5s, what if they decided to call 12 a par 4?  Stupid is as stupid does and this stupid likes the idea of it as a brutal par 4 since he is going for it every time!

Mark

EDIT: just noticed that little tree short of 6 is a mimosa.  So I guess that'd be like killing a mockingbird to cut it down.

[Mark Bourgeois]

One more thing about the trees: an old, panoramic picture of the course shows it pretty wide open, really with just mimosa trees dotting the landscape.

Huh: I just googled mimosa trees and it turns out they are nonnative, introduced in 1745.  So I guess the tree removal question comes down to whether you want to restore the course or the land. Heh.

[Ed Oden]

Mark, I agree with you on almost all points.  12 is a par 4.5 no matter what.  So I think it is just personal preference whether you like it as a tough par 4 or an easy par 5.  Regardless, many trees need to go in order to open up the corridors for both the tee shot and the approach.  Yes, I would thin the trees on the left of 14 and remove the tree front right on 6.  How about the lone tree front left of 12 green?  And take a look at your picture of the bunkers on 5, which I like by the way.  But there are trees between the bunkers and the path to the green.  Shouldn't the bunkers or the trees, but not both, be the corner of the dogleg?  FYI, my club is also a Ross design being restored by Kris Spence.  We have taken a much more agressive approach to tree removal than Mimosa did.  I can see the dramatic results we will reap from this plan in terms of turf conditions, improved playability and vistas throughout the property.  And we don't have the potential that Mimosa has to create mountain views, which is a bit of a missed opportunity.  So while I like Mimosa a lot, I also don't think it will reach its full potential until further trees are cleared. 

Ed

[Mark Bourgeois]

Ed

I like quirk so I actually didn't mind 12 Tree.  The hole doesn't need it, though, that's for sure.  At some point I figure it will get hit by lightning and voila...

Regarding the trees on 5, I don't like the double-hazard of tree & bunker, so sure they could cut those back.  I think they're stuck with at least some of those to "protect" golfers coming up 1, yes?

I will say I feel the playing corridors are wide enough on 5, 6, and 12 -- tree removal would help but I didn't find those holes claustrophobic.

14 on the other hand did seem to be an issue.

Mark