[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

Why the lack of love for his courses?  Is it a lack of unfamiliarity or simple bias?  In the Naples area his club the Hideout is an absolute blast to play.  It happens to be the club where the best players call home and is known for a happening skins game.  The course has architectural merit and that is why players enjoy the place.
Hawk Point may not be Blatusrol, but it is considered a fun and challenging place to play.  Perhaps the housing takes away from the aesthetics, but that has nothing to do with the interest an d challenge. The greens would score very highly on the memorability scale.
Laurel Links, Stonewall, and Rustic Canyon are biggest misses on the latest ratings list by Golfweek.  There is no way that any Fazio course is capable of being rated ahead of Laurel Links.  I understand how it is often an afterthought among the Hamptons greats and Friars Head.  However, this is an absolute modern masterpiece.  I have posted photos in the past to pretty solid praise, so why. The lack of recognition?

[Jason Topp]

I haven't played any of them.

The Hideout looks fantastic.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Robert please post the link to the photos - I don't remember seeing them
I'd suggest you start a thread about what you like instead of bashing the group for not thinking like you

Comparing Fazio's courses with Laurel Links isn't a good way to compare the architects.
Has Kelly had similar sites?
Has he been able to choose the budgets?

cheers

[Patrick_Mucci]

RMD,

I like Laurel Links, it's fun to play, challenging with some very interesting putting surfaces.

Unfortunately, I haven't played Hawk's Point and some of the others.

I suspect that limited exposure is the biggest impediment to them being well regarded

[Joe Bausch]

I've only played about three of them and there is no lack of love from me at all.  I say "about" three b/c I played the six holes on the ground at Heritage Creek as well as a fun little 9-hole course called Moorestown Field Club where he has done some work.

My 2009 thread on Heritage Creek w/ some photos is here:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,39043.0.html

I really look forward to this layout being completed.

[George Pazin]

There's a good bit of discussion a few years back. Search Morgan Hill and Lederach.

Unfortunately, one of KBM's biggest supporters is currently on the banned list, and another is a bit distracted with other vitriolic threads.

[JNC Lyon]

Robert,

I think it is very difficult to compare Tom Fazio, who has built hundreds of courses, with Kelly Blake Moran, who has built only a dozen.  There is likely to be a greater quantity of appreciation for Fazio courses simply because he is built many more layouts.  Furthermore, many of KBM's layouts (Laurel Links, The Hideout) are private layouts that get low exposure.

I am very excited to play my first KBM layout, Lederach, in a few weeks.  I anticipate some very cool architecture.

[Joe Bausch]

Here is my photo tour from the summer of 2008 on Morgan Hill (these photos taken before I learned to better align and tweak pics):

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35181.0.html

[Sean_A]

I have only seen one KBM course, Lederach, and it was my favourite of the Philly trip I took.  Such a well bunkered course with imaginative greens and fairway contours/angles.  Sure, a few holes bewildered me, but thats the risk an archie takes in being imaginative; the positive far outweighs the negative (which in the main is cart routing).  I wouldn't be in the least hesitant to see another KBM course if a good opportunity presented itself.  

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,31747.0.html

Ciao

[Matt_Ward]

Robert MD:

Ahead of "any" TF course ?

Slightly exaggerated right ?

"Modern masterpiece." Compared to what ? Maybe you must have missed a few of the other more noteworthy courses that have opened in the last 10 year.

I like Laurel Links but the overall green speeds need to be kept at a reasonable pace otherwise you can have an over-the-top situation on a few holes there. Not a great idea to have the housing plunked down right in the center of the layout.

I really love Morgan Hill and Lederach -- KBM really helped elevate the morbid Pennsy public golf market.

Hawk Pointe is also quite good in Jersey.

[Joe Bausch]

Here is my photo tour of Lederach in 2008:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,31747.0.html

The complete photo album can be viewed here:

http://myphillygolf.com/uploads/bausch/Lederach/index.html

[Joe Bausch]

I never did a photo tour thread of the Moorestown Field Club, but my photo album is here:

http://myphillygolf.com/uploads/bausch/Moorestown/index.html

It really displays nicely what can be done with one of the flattest pieces of ground I've seen since I lived back in the midwest. 

[Jeff_Mingay]

Thanks for the Moorestown Field Club photos, Joe.

I really like the low-profile, old-fashion, Raynor-esque look about the place. Very neat.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Kelly,

Looking at Joe's 74th photo of Lederach... they're not actually driving a sand pro in and out of that bunker, up and down that steep bank, are they?! Stupid question. Clearly they are. My goodness 

[Terry Lavin]

This is Kelly’s wife checking in on his account. I am sure Kelly appreciates the interest in his courses, but unfortunately he will not be able to participate for some time. He is currently being held on manslaughter charges in Oklahoma. Apparently a gentleman pedestrian crossing the street had 5 seconds according to the crosswalk clock to make it to the other end of the street. For some reason Kelly, driving an automobile, sped up as he approached the intersection and hit the gentlemen at 4.5 seconds. Coincidently, the deceased man was a referee in the Texas-Arizona NCAA basketball tournament played last night; he made a call on a controversial in bound play near the end of the game. Again, thanks for your interest.

I saw that game and I saw that play.  Whether the refs got it right is beside the point.  The most interesting thing on the replays was the reaction shot of Rick Barnes, who slithered his tongue out in four different directions, kicked up his left leg at a Rockettes angle and in general looked like a complete loon.

Back to the thread, a friend is a member of the Hideout and he says it's nothing but fun.

Go Wildcats.

[Carl Nichols]

This is Kelly’s wife checking in on his account. I am sure Kelly appreciates the interest in his courses, but unfortunately he will not be able to participate for some time. He is currently being held on manslaughter charges in Oklahoma. Apparently a gentleman pedestrian crossing the street had 5 seconds according to the crosswalk clock to make it to the other end of the street. For some reason Kelly, driving an automobile, sped up as he approached the intersection and hit the gentlemen at 4.5 seconds. Coincidently, the deceased man was a referee in the Texas-Arizona NCAA basketball tournament played last night; he made a call on a controversial in bound play near the end of the game. Again, thanks for your interest.

I saw that game and I saw that play.  Whether the refs got it right is beside the point.  The most interesting thing on the replays was the reaction shot of Rick Barnes, who slithered his tongue out in four different directions, kicked up his left leg at a Rockettes angle and in general looked like a complete loon.

Back to the thread, a friend is a member of the Hideout and he says it's nothing but fun.

Go Wildcats.

Is Rick Barnes sentient?

[Phil McDade]

This is Kelly’s wife checking in on his account. I am sure Kelly appreciates the interest in his courses, but unfortunately he will not be able to participate for some time. He is currently being held on manslaughter charges in Oklahoma. Apparently a gentleman pedestrian crossing the street had 5 seconds according to the crosswalk clock to make it to the other end of the street. For some reason Kelly, driving an automobile, sped up as he approached the intersection and hit the gentlemen at 4.5 seconds. Coincidently, the deceased man was a referee in the Texas-Arizona NCAA basketball tournament played last night; he made a call on a controversial in bound play near the end of the game. Again, thanks for your interest.

http://www.sbnation.com/2011-ncaa-tournament/2011/3/21/2063256/texas-longhorns-vs-arizona-five-second-call-video

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

Not sure how to pull the thread up, but it is May 25, 2007.  If pictures fail to come up, I have them posted in photobucket under rsfpar. Matt, your criticism of the greens speeds has nothing to do with the great greens quality, but rather that is a criticism of the club's maintenence meld.  It is true that the greens run very fast--Sebonic, Friars Head, Bridge, Altantic, and NGLA all seem to run in the 12 stip range consistently.  )ast time at Sebonic, Garrett had them running slightly north of 14. As for the housing in the middle, no housing would have meant no golf--that is a fair tradeoff,plus the course is not routed in a condo canyon like many modern courses.

[mike_malone]

 I wonder if a better way to think about Kelly's work is to compare it to a course done at the same time for the same market. I believe Makefield Highlands and Lederach can be compared. MH was to me a typical public course that looks and plays very conventionally. After one play I would never return. But Lederach creates an unconventional look and playability that brings one back for more. If I could convince my conventional golfing buddies to go back there I would gladly return. That's the rub!

[Tommy Williamsen]

There are many reasons some clubs are not ranked. I played Laurel Links a few years
ago. I thought it was good enough to make GD's best in state list.
The course, however was not on the "to play" list.   At that time I indicated to both the club
and Kelly that the course belonged on the list. Neither the club nor Kelly were
interested in being ranked. 

[Sean Leary]

That 5 second call was bs. Clearly he had just extended his arm for the 4th time. Don't understand refs making themselves too much a part of the results of games...

[Joe Bausch]

That 5 second call was bs. Clearly he had just extended his arm for the 4th time. Don't understand refs making themselves too much a part of the results of games...

How close to 5 seconds would you be satisfied?

[Sean Leary]

Joe,

Right after he extends his arm for the fifth time. The Texas player called for it RIGHT after the 4th.

[John Shimony]

Does anyone know much about the Morristown Field Club?

KBM's website says his firm, "focused on improving the strategic design particularly for the tee shots, expanding the fairway area around the greens, expanding the greens out to their original size, and removing less desirable trees to focus attention on the magnificent hardwoods that are on the course."  

A schematic on the his site shows the expansion of the fifth fairway area around the green.  Joe or anyone else that has played there, is that a feature that already existed and had either disappeared or lessened over time, or is that something that KBM and the club came up with to add interest to a flat and somewhat straight course?  The look of the course really peaks my interest.  

[Peter Pallotta]

It's nice to see that Kelly's wife appreciates him and seems fond of his work -- but she's a tad naïve to share the news of his manslaughter charge on a public site.

I've never had the fortune to play a KBM course, but a couple of posters I know who have played everything there is to play and who have very good taste -- ie, like mine -- say he's the cat's meow.

Peter

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