NEW COURSE
Golden Virginia Jack Nicklaus-designed Potomac Shores opens this month in Virginia with a grand plan – to make golf fun and fast again. Even at the age of 74, the world’s greatest golfer shows few signs of slowing down. Nicklaus Design, the world’s most prolific creator of golf courses, has designed 380 courses in 36 countries, with another 45 in production and a dozen set to open in 2014. Nicklaus himself has overseen 290 of them. His newest lies 30 minutes south of America’s capital city and, says Nicklaus, is
among his very finest. Potomac Shores has been cut through a mature hardwood forest overlooking the Potomac River in Virginia. It opens on April 7 as the centerpiece of a new, 1,920-acre master-planned community and will operate on a pay-and-play basis. “The site was very dramatic,” reveals the 18-time major champion. “It had such major elevation changes that it was a challenge to
design the course, but they have added to the aesthetic value of the layout. The course moves nicely through the hills and the ‘ooh factor’ is there.” This is partly due to some spectacular views and partly due to Jack’s design philosophy, which makes the course a strategic test rather than a never-ending chore. “When designing, my main goal is to make a player use their mind instead of their muscles,” he says. “I want them to really think through their options before drawing a club.” At Potomac Shores, Nicklaus achieves this
AGENDA through cleverly-placed tees, impressive use of dog-legs and precisely-positioned bunkers. Add in the odd water hazard, the mature forest and the elevation changes and you have one of the most exciting new courses of 2014 but, starting at just 5,389 yards, it should also be one of the fastest. “It’s fast to play, which is crucial,” he explains. “I say this, because the biggest problem we have in golf today is keeping people in the game. You used to be able to play a round in three-and-a-half hours or less, but as the courses get longer, so does the time it takes to play them. It’s for this reason I don’t so much like 7,700-7,800yard courses, although I do design them. “But if golf took three hours, you could leave the house at 8am and be home by lunchtime. But it doesn’t, so we have lots of people either not playing very much or
not playing at all. Golf is supposed to be a fun game played in a short period of time with your friends.” It is also supposed to be a game played over a variety of different courses in a variety of different conditions. On several occasions during his design career, The Golden Bear has been chastised for producing identikit ‘Nicklaus’ courses. “When I first started, I had one way to do a golf course,” he admits. “People would say: ‘I see Nicklaus was here, everything goes left to right’. That was fair comment. But as I get older, my ability to design gets better because of experience. Now I have probably 25 different ways to design.” The evidence of that is splashed large across these pages and gives us another reason to hope the great man lives forever. www.potomacshores.com
BEAR NECESSITIES Three of Jack’s finest courses in Britain that you can play.
GLENEAGLES PGA CENTENARY
Nicklaus describes this course as, “The finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with.” It might not quite have the charm of the King’s or Queen’s, but the views are stunning and the fact it’s hosting this year’s Ryder Cup makes it a must-play. www.gleneagles.com
ST MELLION
The Golden Bear’s first European course is situated on the Devon/ Cornwall border and was officially opened in 1988. “I knew it was going to be good, but not this good,” he said. “It’s everything I hoped for and more. St Mellion is potentially the finest golf course in Europe”. www.st-mellion.co.uk
MOUNT JULIET
Jack’s newest layout cuts cleverly through a mature hardwood forest in Virginia.
Jack’s first Irish layout has hosted the Irish Open and the 2002 and 2004 WGC American Express Championship. Tiger Woods won in 2002 and Ernie Els triumphed in 2004. It’s a wonderfully picturesque parkland that we placed 24th in our Top 100 Courses in Ireland 2013 ranking. www.mountjuliet.com
Spring 2014 Golf World
SERGIO
FINALLY SEES THE LIGHT Labelled first as a teen prodigy and then a temperamental whiner, the third stage of Sergio’s career promises more maturity, says John Huggan
SERGIO GARCIA
H
e stands out. He always has. And only a glimpse is enough to convince. The sight of Sergio Garcia hitting a golf ball with a club (not a putter) makes it immediately obvious he is possessed of a rare quality, capable of shot-making feats far beyond most. Blessed with the innately educated hands common to every great ball-striker, the six-time Ryder Cup player’s shots begin their flights with a distinctively impressive “crunch” at impact. Listen and learn. “Because the sequence of Sergio’s swing is so good, he can hit all kinds of shots only by modifying the speed at which his body moves through impact,” says respected swing coach Dale Lynch. “He can create all kinds of shots with minimal fuss. He speeds up his turn to hold the face a little open and hit a fade; and slow his turn down to let his hands create a right-to-left draw. He can do that only because his basic action is so efficient.” “Tee-to-green, Sergio is exceptional, even at the highest level,” confirms former US Open champion Graeme McDowell. “He’s a phenomenal driver of the ball and a great iron player. He’s old school in the way he flights the ball so many different ways. He is one of a dying breed.” Around the greens, Garcia may not be quite the equal of his fellow Spaniards, the late Seve Ballesteros and former Masters champion José María Olazábal. But he is close; maybe an 8.5 to that famous pair’s 10s. Put it this way: the flair, touch and imagination Garcia routinely displays is worthy of any spectator’s close attention. Watch and learn.
A top-10 finish in the Honda showed promise.
afflictions that have surely affected his ability to compete consistently at the highest level. There was the extended re-gripping of the club at address that was the object of much ridicule and scorn just over a decade ago. There was the petulant shoe-kicking performance during a now far-off World Match Play Championship at Wentworth. There was the prolonged depression (leading to a self-imposed sabbatical from the game) in the wake of the
“Sergio is a dying breed. He is old school in that he can fly the ball in so many different ways” Graeme McDowell And yet, as has long been apparent, there is more to ‘winning golf’ than the prosaic hitting of fairways and greens, even with the added dimension of excellent short shots. If you can’t putt, you can’t win. “Sergio has an obvious natural flair in most things he does,” contends Lynch. “It is clear in his full swing. But he doesn’t have it with the putter. In fact, he is exactly the opposite – careful and technical. There’s a lot of thinking going on when he is over a putt, which is not what he does when hitting a full shot. Then, he lets his natural talent and flair take over. It’s an easy trap to fall into. When players encounter putting problems, they go to technique in search of answers. And in doing so they get further and further away from what they did as kids and what made them great putters in the first place.” Perhaps even more importantly, calmness and authority under pressure – on and off the course – are not attributes Garcia has always owned. His career is dotted with incidents and
break-up of his relationship with Greg Norman’s daughter. Then there was the public display of self-pity that followed the lipping-out of the eight-foot putt that would have won him the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie. There was the obvious petulance and shocking breaches of basic etiquette over the closing holes at Oakland Hills in the 2008 US PGA Championship. (It is no coincidence that the eventual winner that day, Padraig Harrington, has little good to say about Garcia). There have been a succession of putting grips. Not quite Langer-esque in quantity, but enough to make abundantly clear Garcia’s struggles with the shortest club in his bag. So it is that, for all his many victories, Garcia’s professional life is seen by many as more disappointment than triumph. A decade and a half since he left a glittering amateur career behind, the now 34-year-old has 17 pro victories across the globe in his locker, but, significantly, no major championships.
Spring 2014 Golf World
Sergio’s
POWER MOVES
We highlight the five keys to El Niño’s incredible length off the tee.
SERGIO’S POWER MOVES
A swing of compensations and power
POWE#R1 MOVE
at speed, Garcia allows the momentum and forces in his swing to pull the club back into line from some of the more ‘interesting’ positions he finds himself in during the swing. A great example of that is how he manages to get the club from a cramped and very flat position at the start of the downswing into the perfect delivery position in a fraction of a second. In fact, a theme of Garcia’s swing is that he is constantly re-routing the club to compensate for his lack of wrist hinge and a slightly shut clubface at the top of the backswing. What you will see over the next few pages is a supreme athlete who knows the limitations of his swing and who has found solutions to all the questions asked of his technique.
ATHLETICISM PERSONIFIED The first thing that strikes you about Sergio at address is that he stands quite upright. Most of the world’s top players are much more angled with their upper body. It is also interesting to note how high his hands are. Other than that, Sergio is orthodox in every other way – his shoulders, hips and feet all aiming parallel to the ball/target line.
Sergio has his hands set high at address – a characteristic encouraged by his upright spine angle and posture.
© PICTURES MARK NEWCOMBE
When you watch Sergio Garcia hitting golf balls, it’s impossible not to be impressed by his athleticism despite the fact that he is not the most orthodox of players, nor the most physically powerful. He is, however, an incredibly gifted athlete and it is his natural hand-eye coordination that not only enables him to get by with a strong grip, a rather upright posture and a slightly flat swing plane, but to strike the ball as crisply and solidly as anybody on Tour. Like many players with somewhat idiosyncratic techniques (Dustin Johnson immediately springs to mind), Garcia swings flat out and with full commitment with the longer clubs. Why? Quite simply because he has to. Swinging instinctively and
Spring 2014 Golf World
COUNTDOWN
TO GLENEAGLES
18 ways to win
THE RYDER CUP From dictating the course set-up to motivational team talks to inspired pairings, eight former Ryder Cup captains reveal their secrets for Ryder Cup victory. Interviews Stuart Hood
WINNING THE RYDER CUP
OUR PANEL OF EXPERTS JOHN JACOBS
BILLY CASPER
Lindrick born, Jacobs played in only one Ryder Cup, (1955) but was unbeaten.
A member of the team eight times, Casper won 69 times as a professional.
EUROPE 1979/81
USA 1979
TONY JACKLIN
RAY FLOYD
He won the Open Championship in 1969 at Lytham and the US Open in 1970.
A winner of the Masters in 1976 and the US Open 10 years later.
BERNARD GALLACHER
LANNY WADKINS
Played in the Ryder Cup 8 times; and in 1969, aged 20, was the youngest ever.
Played in eight Ryder Cups and won the 1977 PGA Championship.
EUR 1983 – 1989
EUR 1991 – 1995
USA 1989
USA 1995
SAM TORRANCE
BERNHARD LANGER
As well as winning 42 events as a pro, he played in the Ryder Cup eight times.
Winner of two Green Jackets (1985 and 1993) he has had 90 wins as a pro.
EUR 2002
EUR 2004
1. MAKE YOUR WILDCARDS COUNT
2. CREATE GREAT TEAM SPIRIT
Tony Jacklin: “I asked for an extra
Billy Casper: “A good captain unites
wildcard in 1983 for two reasons. First, the person in 10th place often qualified without winning an event and I wanted a team filled with winners. Secondly, many great matchplay golfers are not so good at strokeplay, which makes it difficult for them to qualify. Manual Pinero was a terrific match player, but only reasonably good at medal play. I wanted the extra pick so I could select someone like Manuel.” Bernhard Langer: “Colin
Montgomerie was a fairly obvious choice for my first wildcard. My second was far more difficult. A few weeks before I made the decision, I sent Anders Forsbrand to spy out Oakland Hills. I wanted to know whether I needed to pick a straight driver or a guy who missed a bunch of fairways but was a good putter and iron player. Anders said it was a tight driving course, so I chose Luke Donald, as I felt he was a little bit better driver than Freddie Jacobson, who was 11th on the points list.” Ray Floyd: “The Ryder Cup is the
toughest, most pressure-filled competition a golfer will ever play, especially when he is a rookie. Since a lot of rookies qualified for my team automatically, I knew I had to pick hardened veterans. I went for Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins. I couldn’t have done anything else.” John Jacobs: “We had two picks in
1981. I say ‘we’ because myself, Neil Coles and Bernhard Langer, who was leading the Order of Merit, chose the wildcards. Our first pick was Peter Oosterhuis, who had just won the Canadian Open. This left one space for Jacklin or James. We couldn’t make up our minds, so we said, ‘If one or the other was playing for your life, who would you rather have?’ We all said Mark James, because Tony Jacklin was past his best. Tony never forgave me.” RIGHT: Paul Azinger is the only American captain to get his hands on the Ryder Cup since 1999.
his 12 men as a team. In 1979, I put on dinner for my players and their wives. When I played in the Ryder Cup we’d been close, because everyone on tour stayed in the same hotels and our wives would watch each other’s children. Then more money came into the game. This is the biggest hurdle Captain Watson has to overcome at Gleneagles.” Sam Torrance: “Team spirit is huge
and it begins with the now traditional motivational video. This is one of the first things all the players ask for when they arrive, because it contains highlights from the best moments of each of their careers. Each montage lasts about three or four minutes. It’s great, it makes everyone feel special.” Ray Floyd: “This is the key to
captaincy. I think my proudest achievement was inviting the wives and caddies into the team room. I was the first captain to do this.” John Jacobs: “I wrote to my players
before the 1979 matches. I told them a happy team was likely to be a winning team and the only thing I asked of them was that they dressed smartly for the plane and turned up on time when I called a team meeting. When we got to the airport Ken Brown and Mark James were dressed like they were going fishing, which wasn’t a good start. The way those two behaved in 1979 made it so difficult for the team and myself. They became two of my greatest friends, but at the time they were heavily fined and banned for a bit.”
3. LEARN FROM WINNING CAPTAINS Ray Floyd: “Paul
Azinger was the most successful American Ryder Cup captain of recent times. He was very into the psychology of the players and getting them paired with someone who
Spring 2014 Golf World
SWING BASIC: POSTURE
How the lie of the club affects your set-up The first lesson in building great fundamentals is understanding how the lie angle and length of the club affect your
set-up. The physical characteristics of the club determine your spinal angle, how far you stand from the ball and how you apply
your hands to the grip. In fact, everything in your set-up takes its lead from the design and build of the golf club itself.
CLUB LENGTH DETERMINES SPINE ANGLE AND DISTANCE YOU STAND FROM THE BALL This image of driver, 6-iron and wedge clearly shows you how the different lengths and lie angles of your clubs will dictate your body angles at address. In each case the club is soled flat, as its maker intended. You can see that the driver has the flattest shaft angle with the butt end of the club in the highest position, while the pitching wedge has the most upright lie angle with the butt of the club in the lowest position. This instinctively means you will stand farther away from the ball with the driver and bend over less with your upper body to place your hands on the club than you will with the shorter, more upright pitching wedge.
Golf World Spring 2014
SWING BASICS PRIMER
SWING BASIC: POSTURE
How your posture affects your swing It's important to realise that there is no 'one size fits all' posture that suits every club. Many golfers mistakenly assume that
each club extends to the same height when placed behind the ball, but that is not the case. Because of the length of the
shaft, the butt of the driver is higher than the 6-iron, which is higher than the wedge. The DNA of your swing is set by the club.
DRIVER
The lie angle of the driver is flatter at address than any other club in the bag, while the shaft is longer than any other club. This means you will instinctively stand further away from the ball. At the same time, the butt of the club is higher, which means you only need to lean slightly forward from your hips to present your hands to the grip of the club. The result is a naturally longer and more rounded swing.
6-IRON
As we move through the bag to the 6-iron, you can see how the shaft angle of the shorter club steepens at address while the height of the butt of the club is lower. This simultaneously means that you will have to stand a little closer to the ball but tilt your upper body forwards more to lower your hands to the grip. As you can see, the result here is a more upright yet shorter backswing.
WEDGE
Finally, as we reach the shortest clubs in the bag, you can see how the shaft angle of the wedge is even steeper and the butt end of the club even lower at address. This means that you will stand much closer to the ball with a wedge than, say, with a driver. You will also have to tilt even further forward with your upper body to lower your hands to the club. The result is an even shorter and more upright swing.
Spring 2014 Golf World
JAVIER BALLESTEROS
LIKE FATHER
LIKE SON
Following in the footsteps of his famous father, Javier Ballesteros is plying his trade on the Challenge Tour and has his eyes set on the Ryder Cup, writes Paul Mahoney.
J
ose Maria Olazabal is in tears. He has just seen the ghost of Seve Ballesteros: the long jet-black hair, the piercing eyes, the white neon teeth and the flashing smile. Seve’s son, Javier, is standing next to him on the 1st tee in the special Champions’ Challenge, during celebrations at the end of January to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Dubai Desert Classic. “When I saw Javier, I saw Seve and I was very emotional at that moment,” Olazabal said, welling up again after their round. “He brought back memories. I could see a lot of Seve on the golf course.” All the previous Dubai winners were there, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, and Miguel Angel Jimenez, who made up the Spanish threeball with Olazabal and the young Ballesteros. This was the first time Javier had been seen playing under such a spotlight. He was invited to compete to help “keep the spirit of Seve alive,” said Mohamed Juna Buamain, the chief
Like his father, Javier knows how to make a birdie, after missing a fairway.
Golf World Spring 2014
RIGHT: Seve in full flight, at the Open at Lytham in 1988.
executive of Golf in Dubai, which runs the event. Seve tragically died on May 7, 2011, of a brain tumour, at the age of 54. Javier smiled nervously on the 1st tee. The announcer didn’t help settle any butterflies by announcing him as representing his father, who won the tournament in 1992. Not surprisingly, Javier hooked his drive into thick rough. All he could do was hack out to 50 yards short of the green. He then zipped a low skidding wedge, which checked to a halt three feet from the pin, and holed the putt. Par saved. Remind you of anyone? Javier marched to the 2nd tee with the unmistakable gait of his father but he is shorter than Seve and much more of a wiry youth. He may yet grow to inherit his father’s athletic frame but for now he is smaller and shorter and more like his mother, Carmen, who walked outside the ropes. “He is nervous but happy to be playing,” she said. “The last time I was here was around 2000. There are so many buildings now,” she said looking up at Dubai’s Gotham City skyline. Javier fixed his cap, emblazoned with the iconic silhouette of his father punching the air after winning the 1984 Open at St Andrews. The logo is on his Boss shirt, too, just like his father used to have. It was a strange but welcome sight to see him play and feel the presence of Seve again. And wonderful for the crowds to
VICTOR DUBUISSON
International
Victor Dubuisson has burst out of nowhere into the Top 25 in the world and the Ryder Cup team, but who is this mysterious Frenchman? Paul Mahoney finds out.
V
ictor Dubuisson is being hailed as the new Seve. This may seem a little premature, until you read this: “It doesn’t matter who wins, Victor Dubuisson is my new hero!” That’s a tweet by Javier Ballesteros, 23-year-old son of Seve. The young Ballesteros was watching his television as Dubuisson, also 23, played miraculous chip-shot escapes from behind bushes and rocks at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona in February. No matter that he lost the final to Australia’s Jason Day, it was Dubuisson’s cavalier style that caught the imagination and won an army of fans. Golfing royalty queued up to pay homage. “We saw Seve pull off some belters but nothing like those,” said Sir Nick Faldo, commentating for American television. “The man is a sensation.” Tom Watson weighed in: “Two of the
greatest up and downs I have ever seen.” Then Gary Player: “I can’t recall anything like that in 60 years as a pro.” Already in his short career, the Frenchman has come out on top of Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson, to win his first professional tournament in November at the Turkish Airlines Open. He then came third to champion Stenson in the Dubai World Championship. Stenson, the hottest player on the planet in 2013 (having won the FedEx Cup on the US PGA Tour and the Race to Dubai money list in Europe) described Dubuisson as, well, “the hottest player on the planet”. Victor has all but sealed his place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team RIGHT: Victor tastes victory last November, his first win as a pro, in the Turkish Open.
for the match against the United States at Gleneagles in September. Dubuisson ought to be a marketing dream. There is something about him. He has charisma and a charming vulnerability. He has likeability, as advertising analysts like to say. He speaks with a chocolaty baritone, and has a winning smile and a twinkle in his deepset dark eyes. The camera loves him and, like Seve, Victor has sex appeal. His flowing locks and designer beard make him look more like a handsome musketeer than a golfer. Victor D’Artagnan, perhaps. He even has a routine of pointing his club towards the target before each shot like he’s rattling his sabre and challenging the course to a duel. “It’s nice that the people like me,” he says. But all is not perfect. The trouble is, this new Seve from Cannes would rather be Greta
“Dubuisson is being described as ‘the new Ballesteros’ . Even Seve’s son, Javier, says ‘He is my new hero’.”
MY GAME MATTEO MANASSERO
A swing growing in maturity You might look at my swing here and think it looks very orthodox and that it must be a result of hitting thousands of balls each month. Of course, I have to spend my fair share of time on the range like every other player out here on Tour, but I do most of my best
practice out on the golf course. I consider myself very much a feel player and I’m definitely at my happiest when I’m on the course trying to work the ball into different pin positions or shaping shots off the tee to hit a certain point in the fairway. Here are my key thoughts.
1
2
3
At address, my main focus is on balance. I like the nice clean angles here – it looks like I have plenty of room and you can just see a glimpse of my left forearm.
My hands are perhaps a little low and inside the line here, but I’m not too worried since this helps me turn my shoulders more easily on the backswing.
My coach Alberto Binaghi always talks about the importance of getting the clubface square to the left wrist and forearm. I have achieved that nicely here.
Golf World Spring 2014
INSTRUCTION My key move
This position has all the hallmarks of a great delivery into the ball. The club is on plane with the shaft pointing down at the ball/target line and my right elbow tucked into my side. This connection through impact is crucial for hitting crisp iron shots.
4
5
6
As I mentioned above, this stage of the swing is very important. The club is nicely in the delivery slot here with my right elbow staying close to my right side coming into the ball.
A lot of people say that it looks like I delay my release through impact but it’s more a case of not trying to ‘jump’ into the ball from the delivery position in the previous frame.
I clear my hips quickly through the hitting area and this enables me to get into a full finish like this with my hips open to the target and my chest aiming slightly left also.
Spring 2014 Golf World
MY GAME MATTEO MANASSERO
Two bunker shots you need to master Around the greens you’ll come up against a wide range of shots from all kinds of distances and lies – and bunker play is no exception. I spend a lot of time hitting practice shots from the sand from different
types of positions. After all, you’re not always going to have a perfectly flat lie and it’s always good to know how to play a tricky shot when you encounter one on the course. Having said that, the bunkers are
beautifully prepared on Tour and so very often, we’re hitting splash shots from a good lie. Here are the two most common shots0 you’ll encounter out of the sand and some tips on how to play them.
CLOSE RANGE SPLASH – OPEN YOUR STANCE AND THE CLUBFACE, THEN FLOP THE BALL OUT
The first step to playing a close-range splash is to open your stance and the clubface. I like to feel that I am very ‘low’ so that I can feel the ground. That will also help me slide the club underneath the ball.
Once I’ve set up a little open (aiming left) I look to flop the ball out of the sand in the same way I would from longer grass. I’m trying to keep the angles I set at address and turn my body through.
Most amateurs leave the ball short of the hole from bunkers because they don’t create enough clubhead speed. I know you might be worried about hitting it thin, but you have to trust your technique.
LONG RANGE SPLASH – SQUARE UP YOUR STANCE AND RESTRICT YOUR FOLLOW-THROUGH
As you can see on this longer-range splash shot, the biggest change I make to my technique is to square up my feet and body to the target more. This will help me create extra power and distance.
Golf World Spring 2014
You have more margin for error with the distance here so you can be more aggressive through impact. This is a tough shot, even for pros, so don’t get too frustrated if you don’t get up and down.
In the follow-through here, I’ve kept the clubhead fairly low and abbreviated. Although I’m still using a lofted club, I want the feeling of the ball travelling forwards rather than upwards.
INSTRUCTION
Outside 15 feet, speed control is everything Like most players, I’m constantly working on my putting – not so much my technique but my feel and my distance control. If you don’t have those in your game, you’re not going to hole many putts outside of 15 feet because when you get into longer range putting, speed control is
everything. If you’re over-hitting or under-hitting approach putts, in addition to not having the correct speed, you won’t have the right line either. That’s a recipe for threeputting all day long. Here are a few pointers to help you improve your putting on those tricky longer putts. I work a lot on the basics of my stroke. In particular, I constantly check the alignment of my shoulders and the positioning of my eyes at address. I’ll often lay a mirror on the ground to help me check the quality of my set-up.
If you struggle to get the ball to the hole consistently, check your grip pressure. I play with a lot of amateurs and many of them grip the club too tightly. That destroys your feel. Lighten your grip a little and feel the weight of the putter.
The biggest mistake I see amateurs make is decelerating through the ball on long putts. To avoid this, focus on making your backswing and through swing approximately the same length – and simply let the ball get in the way.
Spring 2014 Golf World
COURSES BRINGING YOU THE BEST PLACES TO PLAY EACH MONTH
‘It is not much of an exaggeration to suggest someone who played the course prior to 2004 might barely recognise it today’
COURSES TOP 100 SPOTLIGHT
Moortown
TOP 100
RANK 91 AIN GREAT BRITD & IRELAN
Britain’s first Ryder Cup venue has just completed a radical and rewarding facelift, as Chris Bertram discovered.
T
he new Millennium has witnessed a tangible trend in golf course architecture, with evidence of this vogue dotted all over the world – from Oakmont in Pennsylvania to Broadstone in Dorset, and Hardelot in France to Moortown in Yorkshire. It is often described as ‘tree management’, which to the layman basically means taking them out. Nowhere has the process been quite so extensive, or indeed arguably as successful, than at Moortown, the course in north Leeds that hosted the first official Ryder Cup on British soil. Over a period of 10 years, this storied venue has been transformed from one of the finest inland courses in England to one of the finest courses of any type in Britain and Ireland. Such an extensive programme is brave; the host of the 1929 GB&I v USA matches had remained popular with members and visitors, so there may have seemed little reason for change. But a group of strong characters within the club shared a desire to return their course to one more in keeping with that created by LEFT: Looking over the remodelled 9th green
© PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT: JAMES DRAKE PHOTOGRAPHY
bunker to the signature par-3 10th, ‘Gibraltar’. BELOW: The par-3 4th, known as ‘Spinney’.
Dr Alister MacKenzie in 1909. Decades of indifferent husbandry had resulted in silver birches dominating the terrain, creating a course as much woodland as heathland in nature. In 2004, with their centenary fast approaching, they acted. As well as ‘tree management’ – the byproduct of which is the slow but gradual return of heather (which cannot tolerate birch) – there has been a total overhaul of the bunkers and significant alterations to a few weaker holes added in the ’80s. It has been a long and, one suspects, very expensive process, but the results are spectacularly successful. It is not much of an exaggeration to suggest that someone who played the course prior to 2004 might return today and barely recognise it. Indeed, consider the words of a man who knows a good heathland when he sees one, BBC commentator Andrew Murray, who finished atop a field containing Sir Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle at the 1989 Panasonic Open at Walton Heath. “I had played Moortown many many times, including on the European Tour,” he tells Golf World. “I always enjoyed it as it was. So I was very surprised when I played it this spring and saw what had been done – but supportive
Spring 2014 Golf World
72 HOURS AROUND…
Costa Daurada
Until recently a whispered secret for Spanish golfers in the know, Spain’s ‘Gold Coast’ is beginning to gain global recognition. Peter Masters finds out why.
E
veryone knows about the Costas – Del Sol, Blanca and Brava are regular haunts for the English in Spain – but mention the Costa Daurada and you might get a few furrowed brows. For the golfer, the names of Greg Norman, Robert Trent Jones Jnr, Bernhard Langer and José Maria
The challenging but fun par-4 18th at Lumine Hills (Day 3), one of three impeccable courses at the Troon-run Lumine resort.
Olazábal will grab your attention, for each has left an indelible mark in the fabric of fairways and greens that adorn the area. The Costa Daurada, situated on the northern end of Spain’s Mediterranean coast, is just an hour south of Barcelona and destined to become a favourite for those golfers looking for something
new. Golf here has been something of a ‘kept secret’ among Spanish golfers, but the secret is starting to get out. Three years ago, less than 2% of rounds played on the Costa Daurada were by international golfers. Today it’s 30%. And, based on Golf World’s recent three-day visit, it’s easy to see why…
COURSES
DAY ONE Bonmont Terres and Costa Dorada
With 240 kilometres of sandy beaches, quiet villages and stunning countryside, the Costa Daurada had plenty to offer the wine buffs and culture crazed well before golf managed to get a foothold in the hills. The first man on the scene to make a real difference was Robert Trent Jones Jnr, who carved Bonmont Terres out of the arid, rocky landscape that was so impressive that it captured the imagination of the European Tour. The layout was opened for business in 1990 and barely 12 months later, Jose Maria Olazábal was etching his name into the record books there with a victory in the 1991 Catalan Open.
As you’d expect with Trent Jones, the course doesn’t take too many prisoners and the handicap golfer can come to a sticky end with the criss-crossing of treacherous ravines that slice through the route plan. On top of that, 90 bunkers need to be negotiated plus a number of manmade lakes, meaning that to play here to your handicap on a first visit would be quite a feather in the cap. The Tour has paid a couple of visits here, just to add a little more to its credibility, with Paul Lawrie taking the Catalan title in 1996. Bonmont commands some spectacular views of the surrounding Mediterranean coastline and is overshadowed, in the literal sense, by the coastal mountain range. It is undulating and hilly, especially on the back nine, making the hire of a buggy advisable.
The Costa Dorada Golf Club, spelt differently to the region it sits in, was founded seven years before Bonmont and is slightly more forgiving in nature and, therefore, may be a safer bet after your plane ride. That’s not to say it’s easy. You have a nice mix of genres here, with a portion played through the pine trees along with a section that might be described as more links in feel. There are dog-legs and water hazards aplenty, so you need to be strategically aware if you’re going to be successful. Both Bonmont and Costa Dorada are blessed with the sorts of clubhouses that you can happily spend time in. So the drink after the game can be a perfect place to either gloat at your score or just pensively soak up the Mediterranean views.