The greens look very fine and exacting - a needed antidote for what look to be many flat lies. I also like how many of the greens are grade level in front and padded out in the rear (a sign of hills I expect). Yes, more trees need to go, but the course looks very playable as is. Thanks Joe!
Does anybody know what of Park is left?
Ciao
Sean- You'd love this place. The golf course itself is very similar in feel to Mid Pines, where we played 5 years ago (already!). Same type of Ross feeling, as opposed to Pine Needles. The terrain is not similar-it is hillier, but plays well.
I think Kyle had a thread from a few years ago with a listing of the original Park work vs. the Ross work. I may be mistaken, but I seem to recall it was Frank James or Meehan who built it for Park. Check around, I am sure the original thread is still up. Probably from the 2005-2006 period.
What should be noted is that the transitions on the holes are not abrupt-e.g. the player is rarely going straight up and down a hill. This is evident in Joe's excellent pictures. "Transition" holes, to move the golfer from the upland part of the property to the lower part, are found on holes 3 and 11. The third is a sweeping par 5. The player then works gradually down the hill, eventually arriving at the bottom of the hill on 8 green. Although 9 is pretty much straight uphill, it is not done in an abrupt manner. 11, a drop-shot par 3, accomplishes this on the second nine.
What I also like is a feature within the par threes-they're all different yardages and shot requirements, in contrast to, say, the par threes at Bethpage Red which are all relatively similar in distance, meaning, they are within the 170-190 range. Schuylkill's par threes are (in rough estimates of yardage) #4 at 190 on relatively level terrain, #6 at roughly 220 slightly downhill, #11 at roughly 185 sharply downhill, and #16 at roughly 140 uphill.