[Kevin_Reilly]

Perhaps it’s the fact that the holes, for all their proximity to Lake Merced, barely utilize the water for strategy, or even much of a view.

From Brad Klein's review of Harding.  How might the original architects have utilized the lake better for strategy?  The lake is set very far from play (except for the tee shot on #18) and there is little opportunity to "bring" it into play on 10 and 14-17, unless I'm not seeing something obvious. *

* all hole numbers above are the 51-week hole numbers.

[David_Tepper]

Link to Brad Klein's column on Harding:

http://www.golfweek.com/news/2009/oct/05/historic-harding-park-host-presidents-cup/

He is mistaken calling the trees at Harding eucalyptus when they are cypress, but the rest of his comments are not too far off. I am not sure what more could have been done to bring Lake Merced into play.

The course sits on bluffs well above the lake. Making sure those bluffs would not suffer from erosion was a major concern when routing the drainage of the course during its renovation.

[Kevin_Reilly]

David, I also thought it was odd that the only trees mentioned by BK were eucalyptus, when the area has so much cypress and monterey pine.  I guess there is still a lot of eucalyptus on outskirts of the course (left of #10 and 11, along Lake Merced Blvd left of #12 and 13, and to the left of the lake holes on 14-17) - I can't recall.

[Tim Leahy]

I am willing to bet that they took into consideration the earthquake possiblities and the chance that some of the holes might wind up in Lake Merced if they got too close.

[Anthony Butler]

Link to Brad Klein's column on Harding:

http://www.golfweek.com/news/2009/oct/05/historic-harding-park-host-presidents-cup/

He is mistaken calling the trees at Harding eucalyptus when they are cypress, but the rest of his comments are not too far off. I am not sure what more could have been done to bring Lake Merced into play.

The course sits on bluffs well above the lake. Making sure those bluffs would not suffer from erosion was a major concern when routing the drainage of the course during its renovation.

In terms of integrating Lake Merced in the routing, you could make the same argument with Olympic. You can only see the lake from 2 tees on the Lake Course. I do think some of the contours were taken out of Harding Park's fairways when they renovated to improve the drainage etc.. esp on holes 4, 14, 15 (usual routing) They have mostly taken away the possibility on the 14,15 of playing from a pronounced downhill/side hill lie into an elevated green. These two holes were crushers during the City Championship– there was no fairway roll and they played into the prevailing 15-20 mph wind.

[David_Tepper]

Anthony -

My impression is the contour was actually added to many of the fairways when Harding was renovated. This was done to improve the drainage of the course. For example, the fairway on the (regular) 1st hole used to be dead flat and now it has far more movement.

DT

[Anthony Butler]

Anthony -

My impression is the contour was actually added to many of the fairways when Harding was renovated. This was done to improve the drainage of the course. For example, the fairway on the (regular) 1st hole used to be dead flat and now it has far more movement.

DT

That's true... only the holes mentioned in my post + no 13 had any significant contour or elevation change prior to the renovation. It seems they took some contour out of these holes and introduced some into the flatter holes on the S-E side of the clubhouse... that might explain why Dr. Klein sees a certain sameness in the presentation and routing post renovation.

Probably for the best, though, as holes 1,2,5,6,9,10 quickly turned into a mud patch with any sustained rain. i.e. December through March in San Francisco.

When the resident rate was around $30 in 1995 that was part of the charm, but it would not be acceptable under the new rate structure.

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