Mostly Cleaned up.... enjoyable read!
------------------------------------
PLEASE FORWARD TO ANG SPORTS. THIS IS A GOLF COLUMN FOR THE SAN MATEO TIMES TUESDAY EDITION.
By Gib Papazian
With the construction phase of Harding Park at near completion, we snuck over for a guided tour of what has been as anticipated a public course renovation as Torrey Pines South and Bethpage Black. In all honesty, nobody on the construction crew was too excited about accommodating your faithful scribe. It is no secret that I have been critical in the past of the amateurish incompetence in which San Francisco has approached this project.
Truth be told, the expected revenue stream still does not strike me as being workable, but the same can be said about most public projects in this area. However, the golf course itself - if nothing else - was well planned and an enormous improvement. Laid bare, after years of neglect and brainless agronomy, Harding Park screamed of potential. Striped of the mud, crabgrass and thatch, the majority of the property is the same as Olympic or San Francisco G.C.; beautiful, rolling, sandy soil.
Just like Scotland, Ireland, Long Island or the Oregon Coast, where Bandon and Pacific Dunes have redefined the term “Links Course” in the west, the property is enough to make any architect drool with the possibilities. What will the “new” Harding Park look like? A bit like the old version with an astounding facelift. Personally, I was disappointed in the front nine, which has undergone many modifications since Ken Venturi stalked the fairways as San Francisco’s best player.
To begin, the most recent 2th and 7th holes have been switched again. Pacing of the golf course was a consideration, but except for some dramatic bunkering at greensite, the holes still follow the same basic routing as dictated by the trees.
The Fleming Nine necessitated some strange routing changes years ago, the result of which was the current 3rd and 4th holes. The 3rd is still a rather mediocre par-3, but the 4th has been straightened out a bit.
It has always been an awkward hole, demanding a hook with a driver just to put the ball in play. The tee has been moved back and to the right, mitigating the problem. I just do not think it was moved far enough over. It is still a little awkward, and the worst mistake in design is to “miss by a little.”
My reaction to the entire front nine is that they did not bother to design some interesting geometry into the strategies of the holes, and to that extent I was quite disappointed. Even the 9th is still just a long, blase par 5.
The bunkering is attractive and well done, but the entire effort screams of a cookie-cutter approach. It is the quirky little touches that separate the simply good from the special. I saw none.
Taken as a whole, the front is good, nothing more. Given the potential, golf course panelists are likely to dismiss it as a wasted opportunity, lost to the generic, corporate approach of the PGA Tour. I guess my primary objection lies in the inescapable fact that the front nine has always been clearly inferior to the back side and needed the most “jazzing up” to stand up with the rest of the golf course.
It strikes me as backward thinking to make something intrinsically excellent even more so, while ignoring the shortcomings of what came before. However, the back nine sets up the player for a sublime finish, which is probably what general public will remember most.
The 10th and 11th have been lengthened, and much more of an appropriate challenge for the modern player from the back tees. This was accomplished because the new clubhouse is located in the old dirt parking lot to the right of the 18th fairway. Both holes present much more of a defined target, particularly the 10th, which will present a tempting risk for long hitters looking to dare the deep greenside bunkers. The major changes begin on the 12th, which may play as a long par-4 in tournament play, forcing the big gunner to squeeze a drive between the treelines. As a par-5 it would have been eaten alive by the Tour players, but the challenge is now credible.
[Thirteen is the first hole that is unrecognizable from its predecessor. Imagine the green moved far back and to the left, clinging to the far edge of the clifftops above Lake Merced. Combined with the 14th tee along the same precipice, you might have the most aesthetically satisfying holes on the golf course. The 15th asks for players to flirt with sand on the right or risk playing the approach on this short par-4 from the bottom of a catch-basin of fairway.
Strategically, the 16th and 17th are similar but a bit longer. The difference being that the bunkering and putting surfaces make sense, bearing no resemblance to the lifeless ovals surrounded by muddy ditches that once passed for sand traps.
The last hole is great. Yes, just long, challenging and sexy. Far back from the original tee, almost across the street from the Boathouse Bar, there was a small cement parking lot that overlooked an inlet of the South Lake. That is now grassed over, standing as a gun turret with the fairway far in the distance.
It is a classic Cape hole, introducing great reward for a risky carry over the corner. Timid tee shots to the right side will find a long road home because the green has moved far up the hill. For those familiar with the facility, the putting surface is now located where the back putting green once stood, with a panorama over the North Lake and the ocean linksland in the distance.
So what is my overall assessment? I must repeat my initial reaction from this space a few weeks back. Harding is going to be a rousing success. Perhaps not all that it could have been in my opinion, but everyone has their own individual prejudices and tastes. We will all enjoy and look forward to playing it. Perhaps that is the only measuring stick that matters on a project like this.
With any luck, Harding Park will spark a renaissance and renewed appreciation for golf in the corridors of power in San Francisco city government. Can you imagine Sharp Park restored as Dr. Mackenzie built it? Lincoln as quaint and charming as an English parkland course? Golden Gate maintained as the Jack Fleming intended it?
Like Harding Park, the mind reels with possibilities.