Interlachen: A Legend Reborn(Mike Fore)
This August, after a 14 month restoration by Andrew Green, Interlachen returned to a design that both Donald Ross and Bobby Jones would look fondly upon.As you enter Interlachen Country Club, one of the first things you come across as you make your way to the stately Tudor-style clubhouse is the Adirondack chairs around the eighteenth green. It was at this location ,of course, that Bobby Jones made a forty-foot putt to win the 1930 U.S. Open by two shots and complete the third leg of the grand slam.
Interlachen, with its rolling hills and challenging layout, was one of those rare courses that demanded precision, patience, and the kind of quiet confidence that Jones possessed in spades. Even on a week with extreme heat in which Jones lost 17 pounds, he persevered to victory and in doing so, put Interlachen Country Club on the map as one of the great golf courses in the United States.Willie Watson was the original Interlachen architect, but the golf course Bobby Jones played that week was the vision of Donald Ross who was hired in 1920 and a significant renovation began. Ross ended up changing every hole from the original plan and Interlachen became a true Donald Ross gem.
Fast forward 94 years from that U.S. Open and enter Andrew Green, who could be called the modern day “Donald Ross Whisperer” after his work at Oak Hill, Scioto, Wannamoisett and East Lake. After a fourteen-month renovation, Green has Interlachen ready to take its place back in the spotlight as one of the great courses in the United States.