Balancing Golf Course Design & Condition for All Players
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - When you restore a golf course,
00:04 you have to look at not just the PGA Tour players,
00:07 but the rest of the membership.
00:08 So, I imagine the challenging part in the balance
00:13 of making it modern, but also playable, right?
00:17 - Yeah, and I think everyone,
00:19 a lot of people talk about,
00:21 we all geek out about golf architecture,
00:23 but everybody appreciates good maintenance, right?
00:26 Whenever you ask your friends,
00:27 "How was the golf course?"
00:28 They don't go, "Wow, it was really thoughtful.
00:30 I had to think about every tee shot and go around."
00:32 It's like, "No, the greens were great.
00:34 It was in great condition."
00:36 That's always the first thing everybody talks about.
00:39 And so, I think from a member's perspective,
00:41 having all that infrastructure now
00:43 and having a rich Macintosh and team in charge,
00:45 or the conditioning should be amazing.
00:47 So, whether they, hopefully they like the architecture,
00:50 but even if they don't, the improvement from a standpoint,
00:52 and that's also something that you guys appreciate.
00:55 - When we show up, frequently, or almost always,
00:59 you get the course in the best possible condition
01:01 it's gonna be in all year.
01:02 Well, now, what we're hopeful is the Colonial,
01:05 and its best week, which has always been tournament week,
01:10 will be a lot closer to tournament week
01:12 in their worst week, as opposed to in the past.
01:15 So, I think design-wise, the players that show up
01:19 are gonna see a golf, it's gonna feel familiar.
01:21 It's gonna be different, but they're not gonna be like,
01:23 "Oh, you dropped me into outer space
01:25 "in some place completely new."
01:27 But it'll be interesting, and you know this as well as I do,
01:30 the scoring that first tournament
01:34 is gonna be almost a referendum on the architecture.
01:37 And it couldn't be further from the truth,
01:39 'cause we don't know what kind of weather
01:40 we're gonna get that week.
01:41 I mean, if the wind blows, and it's firm,
01:44 which we know it'll be firm, and it's dry,
01:45 yeah, it's gonna be hard.
01:46 And everybody's gonna say, "Wow, Gil and his team,
01:50 "Jim and Josh McFadden, those guys did an amazing job
01:52 "making it harder."
01:53 If it's soft, and it's wet,
01:55 and those guys are throwing darts everywhere,
01:57 and the winning score's 18, 19 under,
02:00 they're gonna say, "Boy, Gil really screwed that up."
02:02 So, it's one of those things where we know,
02:05 in our heart of hearts, that we believe
02:07 the architecture's better.
02:09 We know the infrastructure's better.
02:12 The members are chomping at the bit
02:13 to get out there and play it.
02:14 They're not gonna be able to play it
02:15 'til after the tournament.
02:16 And as you mentioned at the start,
02:19 that was the one that gave me even more gray hair,
02:22 was just thinking about how are we gonna get this done
02:25 in time.
02:26 And I'm happy to report, after walking around it last week,
02:29 if we get a little bit of heat,
02:32 and the Bermuda gets growing,
02:33 and we get the rough up a little bit, it's ready.
02:36 And that's a testament, again, to Rich,
02:38 and to LeBar Golf, and to Heritage Golf,
02:41 like of the team.
02:41 I mean, we have, and Mother Nature, thank you,
02:44 because it was one of the driest summers we've ever had.
02:47 - And hot, too, right?
02:48 - And hot, yeah.
02:49 Wasn't great for everybody else,
02:50 but it was great for Colonial's project.
02:52 So we got it done.
02:55 We're really proud of what we're gonna show off here
02:57 in a couple weeks, and hopefully the players enjoy it.
03:00 (upbeat music)
03:02 [MUSIC]