Golfbaan de Swinkelsche - post Buda photos and discussion

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 16    Par 4, 352/379
Ode to the bottleneck 10th hole at De Pan. Trees around the green are being thinned out this winter (same for 17)












I played Swinkelsche before De Pan, but appreciate Frank's selection of holes to pay tribute to.  Though the scale of the hills forming the saddle are a lot smaller at Swinkelsche, there is enough to hide the view of the green, and you also share some of the discomfort with the distance of the tee shot.  Really memorable hole.

[ward peyronnin]

I really like this hole and thought it was a striking way to start the return to the clubhouse.

The depression put me in mind of some sort of bronze age fortification or tribal amphitheater. very neat way to provide character to a flat site

[Mark Pearce]

A good short par 4.  Sadly, I failed both the test off the tee and the test set by the approach shot.  The tee shot is quite clever in that it seems (at least to me) that you should be able to hit driver even though it really isn't necessary or wise.

[Frank Pont]

As stated the inspiration for this hole was hole 10 at De pan. Of course there are differences. De Pan 10 is narrower and the hills surrounding the "bottleneck" are larger. Also there is a little valley that leads through the hills to the green. Finally there are three bunkers in the bottleneck before the green.

At Swinkelsche the original design also had a valley and bunkers. Unfortunately we discovered during the build that the electric mains, water and sewage pipes of a number of adjacent houses ran right through the area where I would have liked a valley. Ergo, no valley would be possible in the design, and we improvised by making it more of a blind threshold. This also meant that I did not use bunkers, since I did not see the merit in having blind bunkers behind a ridge.

The "amphitheatre" was an idea of Conor Walsh, and I thought it worked well as a hazard and as a visual marker.

The green was not shaped but used the existing contours of the site, we did amplify some of the hollows around the green.

The fairway is very very wide, almost 80 meters at its widest. Ironically I have only hit the fairway 5 out of the 10 times I have played it, which shows the lack of focus you get on such a wide target (or just tells what a dudd I am  )

[Frank Pont]

Two more close up pics of the green, from the front and looking back towards the bottleneck

[John Mayhugh]

Frank,
On such a flat piece of property where you had to shape so much, I really like how you took advantage of the places where you didn't have to shape. 

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 17     Par 3, 178/190
Last par 3, again cut from the forest. Very large green complex, great for match play











The combination of the bunker positions and the trees makes you question the yardage on the card.  Huge variety of hole locations on this green.  

I thought the par 3s were really good.  Even though three of them had forest for a backdrop, they played and looked different from each other.  I might like the open field 5th the best of them all.

[Mark Pearce]

The last of a really good set of par 3s.  Another hole that will be brilliant when the green  plays as fast as it is firm.

[Frank Pont]

Hole 17 is another hole where we did very little shaping to the green; except for a little bit of fill in the back right side the surface is as we found it after tree clearance. The hole has a couple of classic hazards. First is the cross bunker some 25 yards in front of the green, which gives the player the illusion that its just in front of the green. Second left behind this bunker lies a valley of sin, catching balls that have been hit too soft. And finally the left bunker catches balls that are fed there by the slope of the green.









The green itself is maybe one of the most interesting of the course, and is great for matchplay in that a two put isn't a given from any position.



Here you can clearly see the valley of sin behind the first bunker





The up and down from the left side is significantly harder that from the front of the green

[Frank Pont]

I might like the open field 5th the best of them all.

Very interesting.

Funny enough hole 5 was the hole I had my biggest doubt about. The hole would go in a flat field, with poorer soils, a high water table and no visual backdrop.

Maybe that made me try harder than at the other three par 3 holes, where I had much better environments to work with.....

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 18     Par 5, 551/574 yards
A long par 5 with a number of ways to play the hole. Lots of opportunity for smart, heroic and dumb plays









Not really sure what to make of this hole.  It felt less strategic to me and more about survival and bunker avoidance. I don't hit the ball far enough to carry the center bunker, and wasn't quite foolish enough to try to skirt it.  Laying up short of the bunker left me about 300 yards from the green.  Due to the lay-up, the length of carry combined with the bunkers made the left fairway of little interest.  

Not sure how it works for better players, but I wonder if the hole might be better w/o the center bunker in play from the tee.  This brings temptation more into play for everyone.  


Sorry for being so slow to finish the tour. Hopefully the pace has at least given more people the opportunity to look at the course.  It was easily the biggest surprise of the year for me. Loads of fun and interest from a site that started out mostly flat is not all that easy to accomplish.  The owners should be very pleased with the results.

[David Davis]

This hole was bar far my least favorite hole as I told Frank. I just have a feeling far too much was going on here. Hazards everywhere which way and a very unclear strategy. There was some still some rather unrefined shaping which I'm almost sure would of been removed by now. I questioned a couple thing on this hole. One was the very high and large bunker hiding an inlet of water from the water hazard. To me that didn't make any sense. The route over the water to the left made me wonder who would be going for that and what the actual advantage of it would be, I didn't see the green being reachable in two realistically so I see this as a 3 shot plot your way around the water hole. To me it doesn't do the rest of the course justice. If I were a betting man I might wager changes would be made here in the future.

Thanks for the tour John and Frank as well. We had a really good day out there. I look forward to going back once it's grown in another year and seeing what's happened.

[Frank Pont]

Some more pics of the 18th hole:


From the yellow tees


From the blue tees


Just in front of the two left bunkers


The view of the green once over the bunker


The view of the green from the right side


Looking back over the hole from behind the green



Hole 18 is probably the hardest hole for people playing the course for the first time, especially when they get stuck in a piece of unfinished sand after hitting a perfect drive (poor David, but you got a free drop ).

Funny enough I have scored very well on this hole the 10 times I have played the course. The other funny thing is that I ALLWAYS play left with my second shot. That is the smartest way to play unless you goof up your drive. The choice you have is then to go directly for the green (a driver and 3 wood for me if no wind), play over the left bunkers and let the ball release towards the green (the slope behind the bunkers helps a lot) or if your drive is short lay up before the left bunkers. The visual decption is that there is a lot more space on the left than you think.

Most players do play over the right, and then do not play right enough and then end up in the water. Again there is ton of space on the right, its just a longer route to be safe.

Jur vd Vaart, who plays on the secondary US Tour, made easy birdie from the blacks (driver, 3 iron, chip, put) when we played the course together.

The critical part on this hole is the center line bunker on the drive. To go for the green in two you really need to be left of it. If your drivers length is shorter the choice to make is do you go left or right.

I thought long and hard about putting in the first bunker, my worry being that wihout it, it would lack the challenge on the tee shot. Still not sure that is the issue that makes the hole so difficult with players. I rather think the second bunker on the right is the bunker too much, it confuses the hell out of people playing their second shot right.

Maybe also the stroke saver should tell people that going left is a lot better option (and easier) than they think....

[Adam Lawrence]

I felt the two bunkers in the second landing zone on the left of the water were a little unkind.

[Mark Pearce]

I thought there was too much going on here.  After much earnest study of the stroke saver I laid up short of the bunker off the tee, decided there was insufficient benefit to make the risk of going left worthwhile, so went down the right, then a short iron to the green.  It would be interesting to return and play it a few more times but I suspect I would still think that with all the water and sand there was a bit too much going on here.  I don't think, however, that I'd lose the tee shot bunker.  More likely I'd lose one or both of the left fairway bunkers.

[John Mayhugh]

Frank,
Thanks for the comments.  How much fairway width is there on each side of the center bunker?  The stroke saver makes it look pretty tight and that's how it felt from the tee, but not sure how much attention I paid to that when I walked down. 

[Frank Pont]

John,

The fairway is 50 m wide, the center bunker 10 m wide, so 40 m is available for a long drive (of which roughly 25 m is left and 15 m right of the bunker).

That makes it one of the narrower fairways of the course