Renaissance Club

[Gary Slatter]

Neil:

They are on a 3- to 5-year program to revet all the bunkers, so that they can keep on the local program of re-doing a percentage of the course every year.  If we had done them all year one, they might all need re-doing about the same time.

There were some bunkers which I would have been happy to leave without any revetting, but the client prefers them to all get the treatment.

Tom

Thats an interesting comment. The 3 to 5 year rule for redoing revetted bunkers seems to have become law in the last few years, perhaps on the back of the R&A redoing the Old Course bunkers for its five yearly appearance in the Open. I'm fairly certain that most links didn't have that rigid or regular a programme in redoing the bunkers before. Personally I don't mind, indeed prefer a slightly degraded look to the bunkers. I tend to think a links should look a bit scruffy round the edges rather than having a sharp look that you might get on an inland course.

While I can understand the reasoning of staggering the amount of bunkers getting redone annually at the Renaissance Club but I wonder if the bunkers getting the treatment really needed it. Any idea how they were holding up ? I'm assuming that they are no more than 3 years old.

Niall

Niall
As I understand it the original bunkers as built were not revetted. But they have decided to start revetting now on a staged basis. Correct me if I am wrong Tom. At our Glenelg course here in Adelaide that we rebuilt from 1998 - 2004 with revetted bunkers, the earliest revetted ones done in 1998 are still going OK but one or two may need attention soon. In our climate with warm season grass sods used, I guess the revetting lasts better than cool season grasses in a wetter climate.

In St Andrews revetted bunkers last 8 to 12 years.  Our Torrance bunkers were built to last 10 years, of course there may be issues sooner that can be repaired as required.   On the Old Course the replacement bunkers seem to get bigger every five years

[Tom_Doak]

Neil:

Very interesting to hear that revetted bunkers stand up well in the Aussie climate.  The few places I've seen them tried in the warmer portions of the USA, they only lasted a couple of years ... but those were in the hot and humid southeast.  Based on your comment, perhaps they would work in Arizona or Texas or California, if anyone would try them.  [Or, if they ever build any more courses there.]

[Scott Warren]

6th hole - par 5 - 601/561/511

The first par five doglegs right around a stand of tall pines, with a kickpad on the LHS of the fairway, past which a bunker sits on the same side 328/288/238 from the tee.

From there it straightens and the second is a matter of placement. It seemed to me that other than perhaps with a far RHS pin, hard left is the place to hit your second (see approach pics below). There are two bunkers on that side between 70 and 30 yards out, as well as a centreline bunker about 20 yards short.

From the DZ the RHS appears to offer a b etter view of the green than is the case once you get down there.

Possibly the flattest green on the course, but still with significant interest, including the little bowl in the last pic, which is in the back left. The caddie says it is pinned on occasion. Funnily enough, two days later I saw an almost identical dish on the back left of the 1st green at Dornoch.

I loved how the green is framed by the pines either side with a gap behind the green itself.

The drive:


Looking from the DZ (having benefitted from the kickpad):


Third shot from the centre/right:


Third shot from the left:


Back left bowl in green:

[Marty Bonnar]

Loving the golf course. Hating the white coverall affectation.

FBD.

[Niall C]

Loving the golf course. Hating the white coverall affectation.

FBD.

Marty

I was thinking the same

Gary

The reveted bunkers at the Torrance and Devlin, would that have been done with sand sods ?

Niall

[Simon Holt]

I love 4 and 5 but 6 has finally grown on me.

I was talking with Tom not so long ago and mentioned how I always end up in the bunker off the tee.  Its just because of my lack of ability to fade the ball consistantly or hit it high enough to get over the trees with a draw!!

My favourite hole on the front is coming up though!

[Tony_Muldoon]

Enjoying this tour very much.

Sorry to drag the conversation level down. 

Aren’t these the Australian trolleys that they roll across the greens? 
Is that allowed at TRC?
Were the caddies using them? Are they as easy to push as they look?
Nominations for daftest questions on a good thread?

[Scott Warren]

They were really good to use, Tony. As you know, I carry 99% of the time but with 10 rounds in 6 days I elected to give my back a rest at TRC. They roll much easier than traditional trolleys.

We had a forecaddie between the three of us, so he wasn't wheeling them much, but he did take them from a few greens to the next tee. I didn't see any caddies using them as an alternative to carrying their player's bag, or pulling them across the greens.

[Mark Chaplin]

What's with the caddie in a boiler suit, Scottish caddies are about a chap in jeans and trainers who knows the course like the back of his hand.

[Gary Slatter]

Loving the golf course. Hating the white coverall affectation.

FBD.

Marty

I was thinking the same

Gary

The reveted bunkers at the Torrance and Devlin, would that have been done with sand sods ?

Niall

The sod used for the Torrance (60 bunkers) came from our driving range and a few other places on the course.  It was not sand based, more a mixture.  Neal Ballingall,  the super did the work, he had worked at Carnoustie and Muirfield previously and can really make bunkers.  I was hoping Rod and Ben would use him in Cape Breton (he also does great 200 year old walls).
he lurks on this site    neil.ballingall@fairmont.com

[Scott Warren]

7th hole - par 4 - 425/394/349

This was, for me, where the course upped the ante.

A wild greensite that really favours the shortest approach you feel comfortable with, so a real reward for taking on the bunkerers on the inside of the dogleg (256/225/180 to carry).

I'd estimate the front slope is about 8-9ft high, and once you get up onto the ridge there is a false front front left that melds into a ridge running through the middle of the green to the centre right. Behind the green were grass hollows.

Again, oodles of space if you are willing to bail out to the left off the tee and accept a mid-iron approach shot. Nothing is forced on you off the tee at TRC. Going for it is always a conscious decision that you have to be brave enough to make.

The drive:


Approach from out on the LHS of the fairway (bunker in the fairway is 70yards from the green):


Approach from having flown the bunkers:

[Scott Warren]

8th hole - par 4 - 335/325/323

A fantastic short par four.

180/170/168 to carry a centeline fairway bunker.

A stone wall runs down the RHS of the green, then crosses the fairway about 50 yards out, but the section in the fairway has been removed, so it only stands to get in your way if you miss the amazingly wide fairway and find the rough.

The fairway had some really wild movement, which would surely make for some awkward stances.

The green, our caddie said (he was a St Andrews lad born and bred who plays off scratch with a best round on TOC of 67!) was based on the 12th at TOC. Centrainly it had a massive false front making way to a central flattish plateau and then a drop off at the back that would send anything remotely long off the green.

A super green, and one that definitely suits a hole where almost everyone has the ability to get to within wedge distance. Also a good example for the point I made earlier that you're generally faced with reasonably straightforward putts at TRC if you play your approach to the right part of the green.

Drive:


Approach:


Green:

[JNC Lyon]

Scott, I totally agree: the 7th is where the course really picks up.  The first six holes are all cool, but the 7th seems to have that little something extra.  First, the hole is a classic dogleg, where hugging the inside of the dogleg is imperative for having a good angle into most pin positions.  Second, the specimen tree on the second shot is very cool and certainly unusual for a Scottish seaside course.  Most importantly, the green site is phenomenal.  Unlike the first few low-profile greens, this one is elevated above the fairway.  This change in look can make the golfer a little uneasy because he feels he must hit a solid, perfectly-controlled shot into this green to make a four.  Of course, once the golfer reaches the green, he sees that there is plenty of dance floor up there to work with.  The internal contours are brilliant, with one simple swale slashing from left to right across the green and creating a multitude of interesting putts.

Scott, do have any pictures of the 7th green?  It was one of my favorites on the course.

The course just gets better at the 8th.  Scott's pictures really show it all.  It is an exercise in simplicity, but the dramatic green makes the hole what it is--an awesome short four playable for anyone.

My only regret about the 8th is that it is the only short four on the course.  I wish Doak had built another short four or two on the back nine to break up the march of good-but-tough long par fours.

[Ally Mcintosh]

My only regret about the 8th is that it is the only short four on the course.  I wish Doak had built another short four or two on the back nine to break up the march of good-but-tough long par fours.

Well if he gets his new 3 holes built, you'll have this hole on the front (the new 5th) and another drive and pitch hole on the back (the new 12th) which will be 350 yards from the tips...

[Tom_Doak]

Ally:

Actually, the plan we've submitted might be different than the one you just described, but we won't know the final routing for sure (or even if we can do anything different than what we've got) until the permit is approved or denied.  I'd prefer not to go into the details of the proposed changes since everything is still in negotiation, but suffice to say it is likely another short 4 will become part of the mix.  At present, sixteen is a reasonable short 4 with the wind behind, as long as you don't hike back to the rear tee (which I never do).

[Simon Holt]

As stated I love 7 but 8 I think encapsulates everything good about a short par 4 in Scotland.  Only Tom will know but I like to think some of our favourite links courses meld into one on this hole.

Short at around 340 of the back, one solitary bunker in the fairway which doesnt really trouble many off the tee but optically it does get in you head.

The walls being an East Lothian (Muirfield, North Berwick) influence and then the green site which is indeed very much like the 12th at TOC.  I also think the little depressions at the back of the green are like those on the 3rd at TOC.

Its a real birdie or double bogey hole.  The bunker front left will hopefully be revetted next winter as I think it would really add something to the look and effectiveness of that bunker.  It is a bit of a sand pit at the moment. (lots of sand- big bowl)

The bunkers that have been revetted on 9 look great.  Its really developing into one of the better par 3s I have played.

[Scott Warren]

9th hole - par 3 - 148/137/128 yards

A really neat little hole, which plays straight at the Firth of Forth.

The green falls hard from the left with a solitary bunker short left and three flanking the RHS.

The back half also runs steeply away from the tee, making distance control massively important. However, through the green seemed not a bad miss when the other options were considered.

[Scott Warren]

10th - par 5 - 593/555/464

Just a flat out brilliant par five across amazing land that meant bunkers could be kept to a minimum. Great undulation makes for a lot of uneven stances, a healthy dose of visual deception, a simple lay-up spot short left of the green that doesn't reveal itself on the first look/play and an all-world bunkerless green complex.

The Drive: The second bunker you see, which is 384/346/255 to reach, is the last bunker you'll encounter on the hole. The closer fairway bunker is 234/196/105 to carry.


We're looking at about 230 yards to the green from here and it looks to the naked eye that the hill is more or less horizontal across the fairway, making the green blind, but if you scroll down...


... you are now roughly 130 yards from the green and able to see just how much shorter the LHS mound is than the one fronting the green on the RHS.


From about 70 yards out, the peril of going to hard at the green and running through is revealed. It's a good 4-5ft drop off the back and slightly less off the left.


Moving slightly closer, we can see just how much of the green has been hidden from us even 20 yards firther back, as well as how hard the ball will run off on every side except for short.


Greenfront slope viewed from pin-high right:

[Scott Warren]

Tom D: You mentioned walking the property before TRC was conceived and remembering the 10th greensite as being fantastic. Is that to say the general characteristics were already present before a sod was turned?

One thing I really liked was where the group of us looked at a feature (say the kickpad on the drive at #6) was that even when we thought it looked like a fair bit of land had been moved to create it, it had a sufficiently natural look that if you said such-and-such was more or less natural, I would have no trouble believing it.

[JNC Lyon]

The 9th is very unusual for a short par three.  Most short par threes follow in the footsteps of either NGLA's 6th or Troon's 8th.  That is, they either have large greens with multiple hole locations surrounded by trouble or small greens surrounded by trouble.  Renaissance's 9th, however, has a ton of short grass around the green.  Furthermore, the green is unusual for a short par three because it slopes away from the golfer.

After playing the 9th, I wondered why more short threes are not built like it.  Why don't more short par threes have greens that slope away from you?  The golfer is coming in with a shorter club, meaning that a front-to-back pitch is eminently fair.  This green slope also forces the golfer to think more about distance control and where he might want to leave the ball off the tee.

I also wonder there aren't more par threes with diabolical short grass.  A misplayed shot at Renaissance's 9th will chase away from the hole and leave a difficult recovery.  Short par threes that are ringed with bunkers tend to gather shots in towards the green and leave easier up-and-downs for poorly played tee shots.

The 9th at Renaissance is another subtle classic that beats a lot of short threes that are more one-dimensional.

I will post a response on the 10th, my favorite on the course, a bit later.

[JNC Lyon]

Tom D: You mentioned walking the property before TRC was conceived and remembering the 10th greensite as being fantastic. Is that to say the general characteristics were already present before a sod was turned?

One thing I really liked was where the group of us looked at a feature (say the kickpad on the drive at #6) was that even when we thought it looked like a fair bit of land had been moved to create it, it had a sufficiently natural look that if you said such-and-such was more or less natural, I would have no trouble believing it.

Tom Doak can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe those features you mention were there prior to construction.  My understanding was that the land leading up to 10 green is entirely natural.

[Michael Whitaker]

I'd have to say the 10th is my favorite green on the course.

[James Boon]

Scott,

Thanks for posting these great photos. I wasn't sure what to expect from the Renaissance Club? I think I was expecting something more open with fewer trees, but looking at your photos, I actually like what I see!

Cheers,

James

[Tom_Doak]

The green for #10 was certainly not all there, but the rolls in front and leading up to the green certainly were.  We might have shaved them down a little bit so you could see better.  There was one additional big roll earlier in the fairway, which was melted away to lift up the whole fairway area ... it was really low-lying and wet for the first half of that hole.

[Scott Warren]

11th hole - par 4 - 514/429/406

A long two-shotter that sweeps uphill and gently right over extremely undulating ground.

The temptation is to try to hug the inside of the dogleg for the best angle in, but not only does a tree stand guard 328/243/220 from the tee to block anything fanned right, the ground will likely kick your drive to the right, so it pays to start well left, a hard thing to force yourself to do with 400+ yards of uphill terrain between you and the hole.

The green is a cracker.

The story as told to me - and I trust Simon H or Tom D will set me straight if I get any of this wrong - is that a different site had been looked at for the 11th, with what would become the green covered in buckthorn.

The buckthorn was removed and this brilliant site at the foot of the dune was revealed, with an ancient wall to the right and a fantastically quirky, crooked tree right behind (a favourite of Tony Muldoon, after whom, if Mike Whitaker's campaign gathers enough steam, the hole is to be named ).

As it was put to me, this all occurred between Tom's visits and when he walked out to find this land uncovered, he decided that would be the greensite.

The green allows a running approach, but the golfer has to first carry a bunker 30 yards short of the green or use the slopes to run the ball past and onto the green.

Anything missing right leads to a recovery in which you can use the steep back left to run a ball back towards the centre of the green.

All-in-all, a brilliant hole, and after the wonders of 7-10, then this, it's here that I felt like we were really getting going.

Promising, then, that it's at this point in the round that the new firthside holes will come, perhaps ramping that feeling up even more.

The drive:


Approach:


At the green: