Great win by Dutchman Joost Luiten yesterday on Kennemer before large home crowds, will be a boost for golf in Holland.
Ulrich, in my view the A holes are 1-2 notches below the BC holes for two reasons, first the routing does not use the terrain as smartly as it could, second the detailing of the greens, greensurrounds and bunkers does not match that of the Colt BC holes.
In the past I have studied the A holes in great detail and walked it with Tom Doak, Mike Clayton, Brian Schneider, Tony Ristola and many others. It is a tough design question how to create the best routing, but two years ago I did have a crack at it and feel I came up with what I think would solve all of the routing issues and at the same time create some very interesting holes on the same terrain:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10772736/GolfClubAtlas/Kennemer%20A%20rerouting%201.jpgIn this routing holes 1,2,8 and 9 stay the same, and hole 7 only has a slight change to its tee positions.
The big change is with holes 3-6. Here we play the new 3rd hole through the corridor that in the last few years has been cleared, and through which Colt had routed his 4th and 5th holes. We play the new 3rd hole to the existing green of the 5th. From there the new 4th hole plays reverse over the fairway of the current 5th hole up to a new green to be built where the current tees of the 5th hole are. Then follows a short postage stamp par 3 on top of the ridge, playing with the wind in most situations, probably the most exciting and maybe hardest par 3 on the course even though its short length. Then the new sixth hole plays as a dog leg left from the ridge through the valley to the new raised green to be built on the wide dune top behind the current 6th green. Given that the hole is 275 m (250 m carry) with the prevailing wind will make this a very exciting short par 4.
The advantage of this routing is that the holes follow the existing landforms much better, and rather than crossing the ridge in a direct fashion it weaves its way sideways over it. Also it introduces a par 3 in a direction no other par 3 on Kennemer yet plays, and a drievable short par 4.
Will this ever be considered by the club? Probably not, the change is too big, they do not perceive there to be a real problem and the costs might be to high (3 new greens, several new tees and 3 new fairways).