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I don't really understand the fascination of the course in Bryan Izatt's pictures, i.e. having square-cornered shapes that you don't even notice in 3-D on the ground.
Granted, in 3-D the square corners are not noticeable until you are quite close to the green. On the other hand, in 3-D on the ground, the geometric shapes of the greens are noticeable from approach shot distance if you bother to try to observe the design and strategy.
Steve Smyers provided a guide to the course with his design philosophy which I won't bore you with. He did provide the rational for the geometric shapes of some of the greens.
Hole 3: "
The triangular shape of the putting surface mimics the space it occupies, where tree lines to the right and behind the green meet at a 90-degree angle and a wetland to the left forms the third side."
Hole 4: "
The area we had for this hole was long and narrow so we created a long, narrow green"
Hole 5: This green is described as a reverse Redan and I suppose that the arc of an annulus was a geometric shape that fit that kind of green in Smyers' mind. His drawing of this green does not show the squared off corners. I suppose that was added in the build and it does provide some consistency to the design, although not all the corners of all the greens are squared.
As for the fascination, I don't know if you mean Smyers' or mine and others who play the course. In the preamble to the course guide there are these following statements.
“Classic architecture – the architecture that we associate with the Golden Age – wasn’t simply plopping down features in random fashion. It was all about fitting a golf course, a golf hole, even each specific golf shot to the existing landscape,” Smyers explains. “That is the very definition of classic architecture – fitting golf to its environment.” “Our primary objective throughout this entire project was to relate the golf course to the landscape, to make it tie into the landscape so that any features we developed would allow you to read the golf course,” Smyers explained. “All of the shapes out here are derived from the landscape. We studied the landscape first and figured out how the strategy of each hole would emanate from that,” he said.No mentions of squared corners anywhere in the piece, or geometric shapes either. Perhaps he felt they were indicative of Golden Age designs.
As a player I find the course interesting and challenging. Part of the interest and the challenge is the shape of the holes and greens and the options provided. Many of the members don't care for the course so much as the green complexes can be very vexing. They tend to gravitate to the more modern championship style Nicklaus course, which surprisingly is less difficult in my view. The course is one that I think requires some analysis and study to enjoy playing.
The LPGA championship came to the Smyers' course for one year and didn't return. The story goes that they found the course too hard.