On Topic - Congaree hosting Palmetto Championship

[Jeff Schley]

Let's take a break from the Covid talks. Congaree is on TV for all to enjoy.  I have never been.
Some impressions:

• Bunkers are MacKenzie like cut cleanly cut into the greens and fairways. Love the look, but that has got to be expensive to maintain.
• There is a TON of sand on this course. Do they play them as waste areas off the fairway?
• I appreciate they cut back the trees back quite a bit and feels open.
• More water than I thought.
• Very flat and an easy walk it appears.
• Nice balance of dogleg holes
• The greens don't look severe at all, but some runoffs.
• You can run your ball up on most holes.
• I really like hole 3 a shot par 4.

EDIT:  When did Justin Johnson start using a 7 wood?  Makes me feel better when I put mine in the bag.

[Tommy Williamsen]

The course does not look as good on TV as it does in person. The waste areas are edged everywhere. They don't care how much it costs to edge them, but you're right it is a bunch. Fortunately, it is all Bermuda so it doesn't grow real tall. They did take trees down but they also moved some of the big Live Oaks around the course. I would have liked to have seen that happen. When I played I never saw a rake in the sandy waste areas. There were no real traps just waste area. The teeing areas are huge and long with no tee markers just discs. I played with the pro who would ask what distance we wanted to play the next hole at.


I loved the course but the practice area is all world. I spent four hours playing around before I went to bed.
It is a great spot to spend a couple of days.

[ward peyronnin]

Bunker are all pretty cleanly edged so maybe shaped but not maintained like Mckenzie bunkers
There are some rakes but most all sand is waste and even cart paths are integral parts of course. I saw a somewhat dodgy relief exercise involving aforementioned and a TIO condition so I think it is a different set up than usual TPC venues
Greens are snake and egg and are subtly very severe; balls roll out far more than expected because of the pronounced internal movement

Water supplied the fill for the contours ; no surprise water hazards result
Imported large $10-40K live oaks dot places not even in play
Too bad it is not close to as firm and fast as typical; lotsa rail early in week

[Thomas Dai]

Watching from afar on TV wondering how different a course on this piece of land would be if it had been designed/built by say C&C, Hanse, DMK, Renaissance etc and also how different the cost would have been (both to build and to longterm maintain). No slights intended, just curious.
Atb

[Kalen Braley]

I was watching on Friday and the announcers were all agreeing it was reminiscent of the Sand Belt courses in Australia.  I haven't seen any of them in person, only in pictures, but how accurate would you say this is on a scale of 1 to 10?

Overall the only surprise was seeing how much bounce and run they were getting on the green and lush looking grass which otherwise wouldn't seem to play like that.

[Jeff Schley]

I was watching on Friday and the announcers were all agreeing it was reminiscent of the Sand Belt courses in Australia.  I haven't seen any of them in person, only in pictures, but how accurate would you say this is on a scale of 1 to 10?

Overall the only surprise was seeing how much bounce and run they were getting on the green and lush looking grass which otherwise wouldn't seem to play like that.

While I believe it is built on sand and the way they cut the bunker edges reminded me of Metro or RMGC, the sand bunkers themselves are different. The OZ sand is heavier and they rake them different where the ball hits the face and rolls back to the bottom of the bunker. It seemed like there was hardly any sand at Metro btw, but I guess this is how they are maintained. Much more fluffy sand at Congaree, but I do see they don't rake the faces either, which is nice IMO. I haven't played Congaree but hear it can play hard.

[MKrohn]

Not exactly GCA related so hope I don't get scolded.


If you haven't seen him (and probably won't on the useless coverage), Garrick Higgo is putting in a strong performance at Congaree, young Saffa left hander. Has won twice recently on the Euro Tour, bombs it and has a great short game to go with it.

[Jason Thurman]

I would guess most of us take mimed practice swings on the regular. I definitely do it when golf is on. But the shot shapes I mime when watching Congaree have a lot of variety and spunk.


It looks like a really fun place to try to hit some golf shots. I've only been able to catch bits and pieces. But every time I look up, Dustin Johnson is about to attempt to get back into a hole from a place where he just might be able to pull it off. Which is usually a recipe for really fun and memorable courses.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Watching from afar on TV wondering how different a course on this piece of land would be if it had been designed/built by say C&C, Hanse, DMK, Renaissance etc and also how different the cost would have been (both to build and to longterm maintain). No slights intended, just curious.
Atb

I wondered the same thing when I played it. I thought that the edges of the bunkers might be a bit more ragged and natural looking and the drop offs not as dramatic, while the greens might have more undulation. I'm not sure they would have moved the number of Live Oaks as Fazio did. It doesn't seem like something they do very often. I think the routing as is, is really good. Fazio did a masterful job routing the course.

[Tommy Williamsen]

As I think about it more Bill Coore might not have used the water as much as Fazio.

[Carl Rogers]

As a guess, the course seems very playable for the membership from let's say 6400 yards.


At the time  of this post, Sunday, the leaders are -13 after 13 meaning the course is no push over for the tour players.

[Tommy Williamsen]

As a guess, the course seems very playable for the membership from let's say 6400 yards.


At the time  of this post, Sunday, the leaders are -13 after 13 meaning the course is no push over for the tour players.

It is very playable but I think the scores are indicative of the quality of the field rather than the difficulty of the course.

[Carl Rogers]

As a guess, the course seems very playable for the membership from let's say 6400 yards.


At the time  of this post, Sunday, the leaders are -13 after 13 meaning the course is no push over for the tour players.

It is very playable but I think the scores are indicative of the quality of the field rather than the difficulty of the course.

At 5:55  PM, you are correct.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Think this is Fazio’s best course? I’ve watched a lot of this tournament and upon reflection of my one play here, I’m trying to think of a better one I’ve played.


Reminds me a little of World Woods if WW was in better shape and had an unlimited maintenance budget

[Daryl David]

The tv announcers continue to make the point that Congaree is like the Sand Belt courses in Melbourne. I don’t see that at all other than the sharp edges on some bunkers. I do like the looks of the course, but it’s definitely not in the same league with Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath or Victoria.

[Randy Thompson]

PGA tour and Korn Ferry are playing Fazio courses this week. I would never had guessed Congaree was a Fazio course. Thorneblade looked on TV far more interesting and a better piece of land for golf.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Think this is Fazio’s best course? I’ve watched a lot of this tournament and upon reflection of my one play here, I’m trying to think of a better one I’ve played.


Reminds me a little of World Woods if WW was in better shape and had an unlimited maintenance budget

Ryan, I think the only thing that is similar between the two is the sandy waste area. WW is much hillier and the greens have more undulation. Both have wide playing corridors but WW is more difficult, at least for me.

[mike_beene]

Well your Higgo kid did just fine!

[Jason Thurman]

The tv announcers continue to make the point that Congaree is like the Sand Belt courses in Melbourne. I don’t see that at all other than the sharp edges on some bunkers. I do like the looks of the course, but it’s definitely not in the same league with Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath or Victoria.

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[/size]This is like saying you can't see how Ana Gasteyer and Kathryn Hahn look alike. I don't hear anybody trying to anoint Congaree the new Royal Melbourne, but it definitely bears a more than passing resemblance.
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[/size]It rained a ton and the ball still bounced and ran and approach angles still definitely mattered. That's exceedingly rare in professional competition.
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[/size]Ryan, have you been to Gozzer to opine? I'm just a dude who's played neither but both look very sexy to me.

[Randy Thompson]

Well your Higgo kid did just fine!

Wow, won in his first pga tour event! Gonna have to watch this youngster! How bout the Chileano, two week in a row in the Korn Ferry, third win of the year, goes directly to pga tour.

[Peter Sayegh]

Jeff,my usual playing partner-a decidedly "non-GCA type" who has played his fair share of ranked east coast courses offered these comments (strictly from TV):
"seems kinda flat."
"looks like you can play a lot of different shots to the green."
"how much do they spend on getting those sandy edges so pristine?"

[Jason Thurman]

Broadcast kept discussing how the "design incorporated sand for drainage." It wasn't clear to me whether the site was naturally sandy, or whether Fazio did his "total site manipulation" thing and trucked a bunch of it in to create a sandy site. Does anyone know the answer?

[Tommy Williamsen]

Jason, I didn’t ask that question when I played there but there was plenty of sand in the environs.

[Wayne_Kozun]

If you haven't seen him (and probably won't on the useless coverage), Garrick Higgo is putting in a strong performance at Congaree, young Saffa left hander. Has won twice recently on the Euro Tour, bombs it and has a great short game to go with it.

Nice call! Hopefully you had a bet on him.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

The tv announcers continue to make the point that Congaree is like the Sand Belt courses in Melbourne. I don’t see that at all other than the sharp edges on some bunkers. I do like the looks of the course, but it’s definitely not in the same league with Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath or Victoria.

This is like saying you can't see how Ana Gasteyer and Kathryn Hahn look alike. I don't hear anybody trying to anoint Congaree the new Royal Melbourne, but it definitely bears a more than passing resemblance.

It rained a ton and the ball still bounced and ran and approach angles still definitely mattered. That's exceedingly rare in professional competition.

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Ryan, have you been to Gozzer to opine? I'm just a dude who's played neither but both look very sexy to me.

Jason,


Have never played Gozzer but based on pictures the courses look like polar opposites. I get what you're asking though as I've heard people say that Gozzer is their favorite Fazio


The soil seemed sandy to me in your typical Florida/low country coastal way, but it must get awfully soggy as I believe they said it used to be a rice plantation?