Hole 15 - "Laich" - Par 4: 421 - 396 - 373 - 362 - 318 - 272
"Low Profile"
This straight par four begins high on a perch with choices to be made as the golfer encounters a pair of fairway bunkers hugging the left side of the centerline of the hole. With more landing area available to the right, the natural inclination is to play to that side. The drawback is the approach shot from that side which will need to negotiate a bunker guarding the front right side of the putting surface.
The play to the left off the tee is more of a gamble as tee shots spraying too far left may just find a small pond. But the hole opens up from that side of the fairway, making an approach a much more comfortable proposition. The green, much like the rest of the hole, is low-profile with a putting surface that subtly extends out of the fairway but drops off steeply into hollows behind. The back left quadrant of the putting surface rolls down to a tier on the front right, guarded by a shallow, yet confining, pot bunker.
The central bunkers on the 15th hole at Braemar“The lowest part of the property is where the fifteenth hole sits. It is prone to flooding regularly so the main focus was to raise the fairway. It was practically dead-flat, maybe 3% from left to right. Raising such a vast area in one broad stroke can easily go in two directions and both are usually bad. Either there is too much artificiality with humps and bumps and awkward mounding or a wholesale fill leading to awkward, steep slopes trying to tie into existing grade along the edges. Both options are what I try to avoid at all costs.
Shaping here was crucial but my man Marc Burger knocked it out of the park with subtle, functional rolls from the foot of the tees all the way to the green complex. The model for most of the contour shaping for Braemar came from my favorite golf course, White Bear Yacht Club, which I discovered while re-doing Keller Golf Course in St. Paul. Although the White Bear site is more dramatic than Braemar, the take-home is a lesson in proper scale of large-scale landforms. Broad brush-strokes of strong slopes and waves where the bottoms are broader than the tops were the result on this fairway, always keeping enough surface flow in mind.
The 12th Hole at White Bear Yacht Club in Dellwood, MinnesotaThe green is one of my favorites on the course and is also a good example of “low-profile.” It is a plateau with subtle mounding in back and shallow bunkers front left and right. I would best characterize the front-right bunker a “splash” bunker, as it is almost a pot bunker with flat sand, requiring a “splash” out of the sand. The green is large enough that it includes a few broad ridges that require putts from either side to rise and then gently fall on the other side.”
The new 15th green at Braemar from aboveHole 16 - "Crossing" - Par 5: 577 - 557 - 494 - 478 - 402 - 349
"Infinite Strategic Variety"
The final one of Braemar’s par-fives is also the grandest in width, whose form is a direct function of the infinite variety of options from tee to green. The hole is a seamless blend between the strategic and heroic schools of design. A lake hugs the entire left side of the fairway, eventually narrowing down to a creek crossing in front of an elevated green. For those bold enough to go for the green in two, a tee shot as close to the water as possible is the play. Yet a few specimen trees may inhibit a route or two along those lines.
The strategic school is open for those who still want to take a shorter route but away from the pond, courtesy of a large mound complex that bisects the first landing area. Those taking the longer route to the right of the mounding will have a better angle along the breadth of the fairway for the next shot. The left route is more direct, but will necessitate an awkward line of flight going straight at a pair of fairway bunkers bisecting the second landing area into lower and upper fairways providing little depth from that angle.
Playing an approach from the right side will have the best angle into a deep, rectangular green that has little room for error from left to right. The right side of the green extends out of a tall hillside. Any approaches leaking to the left may roll into the water fifteen below. The green cascades down from back to a very accessible front, with a lone sand bunker cut into the right hillside.
“I have been waiting a while to see this hole in play. To me, it is the epitome of strategic design. It reminds me of the famous plan of the fourteenth at the Old Course showing four different routes to take from tee to green. Plenty of width allows for strategic and heroic options, though, with water running down the entire left side of the fairway and crossing in front of the green complex so I love the blending of modern and links strategy.
I originally began with a principal’s nose idea with a trio of bunkers cut into a large mound in the middle of the first landing area but decided to move the sand further down the hole I did keep the mound, which is tall enough to obscure the second landing area just a bit. As we started to shape the second landing area and a split fairway emerged, it was clear to me that a pair of bunkers cut into the slope could present even more options for the golfer’s second shot."
View of the fairway bunkering and green on the 16th hole at Braemar"This hole has infinite possibilities thanks to the width of the corridor. Traditionally, it is just like a vast links hole off the tee but also has that heroic option all the way down the left side. Golfers of all abilities can play as close to the edge of the fairway as they want all day long until they find the best carry distance for them. For some, it may be on the second shot. For others, it may be the third or even fourth shot. Nonetheless, this hole is a great example of providing a large playing field and letting the golfers find their way.”
View of the 16th green from the 12th tee at Braemar