Played Bethlehem yesterday for the first time since the work was finished. I grew up on this course and between 1978 and 1984 I was on it around 200 days out of the year. The $185 junior resident season pass was a great deal. Glad to see that they finally put some good money into the course as I always felt that it was a really good layout with a very good set of Gordon greens. I played form where the old white stones were at a little over 6500 yards. I have played the course sporadically over the years since 1984 when I started college and stopped playing there regularly.
General thoughts - the green-side bunkers originally had flashed faces that were cut right to the fringes on most greens (would love to see some photos of that time period). There was significant sand buildup onto the fringes and green surfaces associated with this style. The course rolled down the lips down and made primarily flat bottomed bunkers back in the late 80's or in the 90's. I don't believe that the buildups were addressed at that point. Also, there has been pretty significant green shrinkage over the years based on my memory. Looking at the green surrounds now the high points of sand build up were the edges of the original bunkers and cut to fringe, the greens took off from there. At this point those high points are in rough and at least a few feet from the current green edges. Greens that struck me as very noticeably shrunken over the decades are 1, 4 and 8.
Overall the course doesn't not play very differently than it always has. The amount of movement in the greens is pretty astonishing as I did not remember thinking the greens were anything dramatic. Granted I had a small comparison set at that time. Also, it is very possible that decades of top-dressing accentuated some of the features and made them more dramatic than what was there in the past. The bunker build work is very nicely done to my eye, but I have no knowledge one way or the other to critique it further.
Specific thoughts -
- The tree removal between the first and eighth greens is wonderful. Visually it looks great and really lets the amount of movement on and around the greens come to the fore
- The fairway bunkers between 2 and 3 were always an afterthought and never maintained in any decent way - the rebuild is very nice and given the length that guys hit the ball today the ones on the left side of 2 are definitely in play - the mound at the front right of the green was always the vertex that dictated everything on this hole
- Three is more changed than most holes - The right side of 3's fairway has been cleared out over the years - there were more pines and a couple of big bushes on the right side of the fairway as well as one big bush down the left side - the tee ball is definitely more forgiving in the current iteration - the left green-side bunker was removed and the area is now cut at fairway height - back in the day the two green-side bunkers were steeply flashed up to the collar and this was a very difficult green to hit - the left side is now a bailout but with the sand-splashed knob left in the fringe and bleeding into the green it is not an easy recovery from there - the changes are well done given the clientele
- The right miss on four is significantly more forgiving - Used to be a deep flashed bunker on the right that you would beg to get into because the turf was always very thin with a couple of bushes and some trees over to the right of the bunker that were much worse
- 5 is essentially unchanged other than the inside of the dog-leg becoming more and more grown in - did not remember the green being as dramatic as it is
- 6 is essentially unchanged other than bunker work - the fairway bunker on the left was never maintained and losing it is no loss - the trees that have grown in behind 4's green on the left side 6 hurts the chance to get the angle along the green's long axis - Always was a tough green to hold from the right half of the fairway or right rough - filling in the left-rear bunker doesn't change the hole significantly and makes the recovery easier for average players
- 7 - cutting down the knob on the front of the green was necessary as it had become almost impossible to hold the green for any pin other than the front left placement - back in the day we used to try to blow our drives down to the right of the green if the pin was on that side of the green. As the trees and bushes grew in down there that play was taken out of play - the fairway bunker is a thing of beauty even if it should never come into play for longer players
- 8 - effectively unchanged - bunkers rebuilt, tree removal and green shrinkage not withstanding
- 9 - fairway bunker put right where I would try to land my drives - definitely well placed and changes the hole significantly
- 10-11 no real changes
- 12 - clearing out the right side of the fairway makes this hole significantly more forgiving off of the tee - moving the left green-side bunker forward was an interesting choice - I would like to hear the thinking on that
- 13 - fairway bunker makes an historically difficult hole tougher - With the wall of pines up the left this is now a very demanding driving hole
- 14 - unchanged - the short bunker on the right never served much purpose other than added pain for a bad swing
- 15 - reclaiming the depressions behind the green as run-off areas is a plus from what was there - the original rear bunkers served the purpose but they had not been there for a long time - As the turf on the front right firms up it will be interesting to see how it plays - as on 3 leaving the sand-splash ridge line makes it a demanding chip/putt/pitch choice - moving the front left bunker forward adds risk to the old school method of trying to run the approach down the slope from short left onto the green
- 16 - effectively unchanged - the two short bunkers at the top of the hill were never maintained and nothing other than aesthetic
- 17 - effectively unchanged
- 18 - Seemed more open off the tee than it had become over the years - the shaping on the left side of the green looked good - but I could not remember too clearly what was there - I remembered more of a knob but not sure
All in all it was great to see Bethlehem get some sprucing up. The fact that the cart paths were still kind of crumbling made me believe that the money was well spent on things that mattered. 3, 4, 12 and 15 likely will play easier on average. I don't think anything was made to play more difficult. It is still a very good course that is on the more challenging end of the spectrum. Also, the course always was too hard for the average public golfer, so this is likely for the good of their business.