[Kevin Lynch]

Catching up a little:

#7 - Wonderful little hole - really enjoyed the drama of watching an approach and wondering if it would clear the thumbprint or get swallowed up.

#8 - Besides getting a view of the green, the left side provides an advantage in that you're aiming away from the severe fall-off and bunker on the left of the green.

#9 - Ugh (enough said).


#10 - While I thought this was a bit much mandating a cut shot, I was even more amazed when I saw the recent pine tree stumps along the left of the 10th fairway.  I could only imagine the demanding chute before these left side pines were cleared.

But soon that was all forgotten once we reached the 10th green.  I was compelled to drop additional balls after holing out to try putts with 15-20 feet of break or imagine boomerang putts that would wrap around the extreme contours (that's why I'm intruding on Ron's photo of the 10th green).  That practice repeated itself for the first 6 greens we played.  

Someday, technology will allow for an affordable camera that adequately captures green contours for online viewing.  But of all the Ross courses I'd played to date (mostly in Pinehurst and upstate NY), none seemed to match the stretch of greens from 10-15 for sheer wild fun.

#11 - I'm so glad they removed the trees on the left side.  That spot opened up on of my favorite vistas of the course (overlooking 17 hole, 11th green, 12th hole).  And it wasn't necessary at all.  Given the extreme contour of the green, any approach from that side will be difficult to keep from running off the right, have to contend with the greenside bunker and will also be blind.  The tree as an obstacle was redundant.

I still think (and so did Barry Jordan's Master Plan) that the right side trees need to be cut back quite a bit.  The effective width of that fairway is very narrow and the right trees essentially make the 18th tee the perfect aiming spot.  I'd be interested to hear Tom Doak's restoration thoughts for that hole.  

[Ronald Montesano]

Twelve is the first par three of the back nine and a dandy. Whiplash is common while walking down the 11th fairway. Your balance is thrown off by the dropping of your jaw and the spinning of your eyes when you see the approach to that green. Next you swivel rapidly to the left to take in the 17th hole. Finally, you jerk your cranium rightward to look down at the 12th. You are not an owl. You do not rotate your neck like an owl. Don't be an owl.

Twelve is healthy in yardage, because it plays a bit downhill and because it needs to balance 15, a shorter one-shot hole. Weighing in at 212-192-169, it is a memorable play from tee to green. The Barry Jordan master plan (http://www.donaldross.org/Resources/Documents/T_Plan.pdf) and the club web site call it "reminiscent of a classic links hole." For my money, it's more Irish than Scottish. You're not quite sure what's beyond the left hillock, but what you hope is there, is: a kick slope back to green center.

I recall Kevin spending an inordinate time on this green, trying to find feeder slopes and unique plays. I think he left with a smile. I know the group behind us caught up.



Tee ball



A glance from the 11th fairway



Zoomed in from the 11th



From behind yonder putter's green



Teugega Website Twelfth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=12

[Kevin Lynch]

I recall Kevin spending an inordinate time on this green, trying to find feeder slopes and unique plays. I think he left with a smile. I know the group behind us caught up.

I left with a smile, but the inordinate time was spent on the 11th green.  Can't resist the allure of boomerang chips and 10 foot putts which require 60 foot of roll to get close.  The group caught us on 11, so I didn't get to play as much as I liked on 12.  But since we play 13/14 swiftly, we had lots of fun on 15.

[Ronald Montesano]

Thirteen at Teugega heads northward, parallel to the eleventh. At 360-340-328, it doesn't need to be a driver hole. However, with no apparent strategy off the tee (long ball on a straight hole is the chorus of the fool) folks are tempted to bomb away. Much like the second hole, the strategy of green committees over the years seemed to be: plant tall/wide trees; grow them tall and wide; make holes play narrow.

After you traverse the hidden pond just off the tee, you rise up again to a fairway that slopes a wee bit to the left. From the overhead, you can imagine all the possibilities of extending the fairway width on the right. Greenside bunkers on that side would be challenged, being one. There is an ideal spot as things are, up the left side of the fairway, some 100 yards from the green. It is brown in the overhead, partly I would guess due to the number of divots taken there. It offers the proper angle into every hole location from green center to the right-side shoulder hidden behind the front bunkers.

I don't have images of the green and I wish I did. It occurred to me when posting this hole that a number of images are missing, and it was then that I recalled a system crash I had last summer. My Teugega folder was one of the hardest hit, but I guess I'm fortunate to have left what I have. It should be enough to say that this green is tremendous and allow the other denizens (Ed, Kevin, Dan, et al) to have a say in the matter.



Tee ball



A zoom in, farther up the tee deck



Right side of fairway, about 160 out



Closer in, probably 135



Left side, great angle of approach for the right half of the green



Here you begin to see the contours of the run-up and the green



Teugega Website Thirteenth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=13

[Ronald Montesano]

Running parallel to the previous hole in the opposite direction, the 14th is a two-shot affair with a mildly-blind tee ball. The hole runs 420-403-362, making yet another medium-length par four. I don't know if I would call it a weakness, as these mid-length par fours are all so different that they don't feel like the same saw. Although the trees hang over on the right side of the fairway, they do allow for a running play to the green. The better angle to the green is left, but that is precisely where Ross situated two fairway bunkers. Once again, the putting green requires all your mettle and attention.



Tee ball



A zoom in, farther up the tee deck



Some fuzzy scruff up the left side, along with a pair of fairway bunkers



Same view, closer in



High right side of fairway



A good look at the green from fairway center



Teugega Website Fourteenth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=14

[Ronald Montesano]

The balance of the par three holes at Teugega is appropriate. Short (#7), medium-short here, medium-long (#3) and long (#12). The fifteenth uses the break in the land fittingly, carrying an unseen stream to a punch bowl green scalloped into a plateau. Two bunkers guard the green, but the carry and the putting themselves are the challenge. Get the ball on the green and have your licks. There is a surprising number of hole locations on the green, although most are found in the central valley. The coastal zones don't receive much action.



Tee shot



Down in the gully, looking over the Tigris to the green above



A look to the entire bowl, from the right side of the putting surface



This zoom-in shows the ribbon of green that was recently reclaimed. I imagine that some tree trimming would allow the grasses to flourish.




Teugega Website Fifteenth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=15

[Kevin Lynch]

A look to the entire bowl, from the right side of the putting surface

This was one of the more fun par 3s we played this year. 

I love that those two balls were the result of completely different shots.  One was taken directly at the flag while the other flew over the right bunker, disappeared for a second before emerging and then riding the back ridge of the green before tracking tantalizingly towards the hole.

[Ronald Montesano]

The sixteenth is the second hole (eleven being the first) that gives absolutely no indication of its denouement. Hole measures 385-364-326 and the tee ball runs uphill a bit, although there are waves of turf to throw you off a bit. Something about sentinel trees that this crowd likes...american football goal posts? I don't know. More fairway right? Would be cool. No holes to protect on the right, so more tree removal could benefit.

As a tease, I'm working on securing a bit of material from Barry Jordan, the Syracuse-area gca who is the consulting architect on this project. He is happy with the thread, with the attention that Teugega is receiving from this crowd, and hopes to contribute a bit of insight on the restoration.




Tee ball from left of tee decks (no negotiating this pretty tree)



Zoom In from tee deck



Big brother view to the little brother view on eleven



Down in the gully



From behind, looking backward



Teugega Website Sixteenth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=16

[Ronald Montesano]

Seventeen was originally designed as a par five and measures 432-400-330. I've added a tree removal plan from my own, twisted mind at the end, that would allow the course to add 60 yards to the hole and make it a cool par five again (although you'd be driving directly into the hill, leaving a blind second shot.) You could take out all the trees leading up to the 5th green if you chose. Would be nice to open up that corridor.

I really liked this hole, for the reasons I liked all the other holes. I was afraid of the left side, so I bailed to the right and found myself in wispy fescue. Ended up playing into valley of sin fronting green and pitched on with my third. The drive is all about the upslope, but the approach requires you to manage the downslope/trundle zone.



Tee ball



Approach from right side



Approach from left side



Wispy rough where I was



Cut down trees inside dotted red lines. Open up space between 16 green and 17 tee.



Teugega Website Seventeenth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=17

[Ronald Montesano]

I wanted to finish this one by Thanksgiving, so that I could get to work on the next one. We should have some Barry Jordan commentary in the coming days, to enhance what has been contributed to date.

Here we are on the left of the eleventh hole drive zone (the one where the tee sign said "don't hit left onto the 18th tee.") As we play up the hole, we threaten the golfers on the left, in the 10th fairway. The huge stand of trees on the right, just beggin to be trimmed, is opposite the 9th fairway (way far away.)

A trim up the right would open up fairway and eliminate the issue with #10.

This is a friendly farewell. At 450-440-422, a decent drive gives you a run at the green in two. Don't miss to the sides, whatever you do (you'll see why not below.)



Tee ball



Tee ball zoomed in to corner



Fairway center, about 220 off tee, 230 left to hole



Getting closer



Front of green and right-side mounding



From the mounds




Teugega Website Eighteenth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=18

[Mike Hendren]

Ron, thanks for this fantastic tour.

I'm not a big fan of the 15th as not enough of the punchbowl is pinnable and there's little reward for accuracy as just about any approach that finds the punchbowl will migrate closer to the hole. (Then again, what do I know - I chunked my mid-iron right into the pond) Again, very similar hole at Mountain Ridge.  Quirky and fun, but not one of the better holes on site.  

The 16th would be better without the fairway interuption as Doak's drive down the left side found the down-slope (big hitter, The Doak).  Not sure if at least the left side could be maintained as fairway but a turbo-boost opportunity would be ideal (can't recall but it might be a little soggy down there).

As for the 17th, shame on you for recommending any change.  This is an outstanding strong two shot hole.  Like you, I drove it right there - I can't help but wonder if the left-hand fairway bunkers, easily carried, don't steer tee balls in that direction.  I don't recall the tree encroachment on the right side of the fairway so perhaps the handful of single trees have been taken out.  Ross' use of the depression short of the green that also meanders in front of the 11th green is brilliant routing.  This hole has it all and is beautiful as well.

The 18th is a rather pedestrian finisher but not unlike the 18th at Holston Hills it gives the golfer a final shot at redemption, an opportunity to finish strong or a nice decompression before the 19th hole.

While not the "best" of the 21 Ross courses I've played, it makes my top three favorites.  

Bogey

[Ronald Montesano]

(big hitter, The Doak)

Bogey

Favorite line of November, 2014.

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