Hole Locations for the Walker Cup at NGLA

[Michael Ryan]

I recently had my first trip around NGLA this October.  I started to think about the endless options for exciting hole locations for the Walker Cup in the fall of '13.

The Walker Cup and it's two days of competition will present a small window and NGLA probably has more options than most due to the size and personality of its greens. 

What hole locations will best compliment the architecture?  I think two factors specific to the Walker Cup make it even more compelling, the fact that it's match play and the young "tigers" of the amateur game are not know to do anything but put the pedal to the metal.

Would love to hear the thoughts of those with much more insight on NGLA than I.

[Jim Nugent]

What is the wind like in the autumn at NGLA?

[Michael Ryan]

Jim,

I actually had a previous post on that exact subject.  The day I played NGLA we had a steady 25-30 mph wind with gusts of 35+

A tempature of 50 kept the windchill in the high 30's.  I started a post about the day basically saying that the conditions made the architecture a moot point.  The wind from left to right on the 4th hole (redan) was so strong that none of us could hold a shot against and saw our shots thrown into the right bunker.  The mounding that allows a shot to bounce in from the front right and feed to the back left pin meant nothing to a group of amateurs on that day.

Hole locations didn't mean that much either, haha.  I did find myself at least standing in the middle of the greens, winter hat on, gloves in had looking around and thinking about the Walker Cup and all of the fun that is in store. 

Hence my hope to get some NGLA vets discussing.

Mike

[TEPaul]

There are some wonderful pins and don't worry NGLA and Bill Salinetti definitely know them all, and basically so do I.

What I think both NGLA and the USGA should do though is just print up a Walker Cup card calling that golf course at least a par 71 or even a par 70 (last year the club dropped it from 73 to 72 by just calling #5 a par 4 and doing nothing to it). I guarantee just that simple little trick will do the preception of that golf course a world of benefit with the level of player of Walker Cuppers!

[TEPaul]

Just off the top of my head:

#1, the little bowl mid-left
#3, mid/left just under the right tier or mid all the way back next to the berm
#6, back left or the bowl
#7, extreme right
#8, front right
#10, very front
#11, left tier
#12, middle, all the way back
#13, very front pretty much over the Strath bunker
#15, left/middle
#18, all the way back!!

[Michael Ryan]

TE Paul,

Was interested to hear what folks like you thought about the bowl on #1...I think it's a fantastic spot that I hope they use.

Mike

[TEPaul]

"Was interested to hear what folks like you thought about the bowl on #1...I think it's a fantastic spot that I hope they use."


Michael:

Well, when people mention the bowl on #1 some might think it's the back left bowl they used a lot for a tough pin. That back left bowl was apparently done by the previous super, Karl Olsen, and it was in part of a spot that apparently used to be the tee for the second hole. For some reason that back left bowl was sort of contoured out recently even though I can't remember why now (I really liked that particular tough pin because it was really hard to get an approach shot back in there).

The bowl I'm talking about is mid-left and it's actually smaller. I'd think it would be very hard to get an approach into it reliably.

Some other time I'll tell you about an unusual time testing putts into that mid-left bowl (I don't believe they'd ever used it before). For a few reasons it might've been one of the more memorable times in my life in golf.

[Patrick_Mucci]

There are some wonderful pins and don't worry NGLA and Bill Salinetti definitely know them all, and basically so do I.

What I think both NGLA and the USGA should do though is just print up a Walker Cup card calling that golf course at least a par 71 or even a par 70 (last year the club dropped it from 73 to 72 by just calling #5 a par 4 and doing nothing to it). I guarantee just that simple little trick will do the preception of that golf course a world of benefit with the level of player of Walker Cuppers!

TEPaul,

I might as well be the first to tell you this, but the Walker Cup is conducted at MATCH play, thus par is irrelevant.   

And, changing par won't return architectural features to their primary function, that of interfacing with the golfer

[Eric_Terhorst]

What I think both NGLA and the USGA should do though is just print up a Walker Cup card calling that golf course at least a par 71 or even a par 70 (last year the club dropped it from 73 to 72 by just calling #5 a par 4 and doing nothing to it). I guarantee just that simple little trick will do the preception of that golf course a world of benefit with the level of player of Walker Cuppers!

Perhaps Mr. Paul is suggesting that there may be lesser minds on one side or the other that might be lured into taking foolish risks by such a ploy?