golfclubatlas.com/forum/inde … 054.0.html
Ok I’m starting a new thread on this because now I’m getting reminded just how stupid country club people are. Incidentally the linked thread is probably the best online thread I’ve ever read. From the posts there I’ve got a pretty good idea what they’ve done with the exception of where they took trees out. They redid all the greens AGAIN to get the Poa Annua out but by the time the Open gets there next summer it’ll be back except worse because it’s gonna be all patchy & blossoming & DLIII will withdraw on Tuesday & go home to pout & exactly nobody will even notice. It’s impossible to get rid of Poa anywhere in California, especially the coast. We all just deal with it, yeah its bumpy… who cares. So as long as they were tearing up the greens they just nuked 7&8. For everyone who hasn’t played there one is a downhill reachable 5 par and 2-6 are the 5 hardest consecutive holes in the world. 7 was a funky cool kinda drivable 4 par with an intricate 3 tiered green & 8 was a 9 iron par 3 under a canopy of ancient cypress trees to a blind biarritz green right in front of the clubhouse. Nobody ever pays any attention to this hole, but it’s always been in my top ten in the world maybe my favorite par 3. Now since the changes 7 has from funky cool to funky awkward with the fairway too far to the left and new trees off way right that don’t come into play (except for tour players who hit 100 yd snap slices with 3woods). The green is (back to??? Before my time I guess) two tiered and unremarkable. The membership bitched that it was the only three tiered on the course & didn’t make sense. Typical, I’ll tell you another course with one three tiered green, Pasatiempo #16 & that one really is odd. It’s also an iconic hole of golf like 18 at Riviera or 13 at Augusta, I don’t see bulldozers tearing any of them apart… F’n members, they managed to squeeze 8 whole extra yds out of it, wow congratulations it went from 288 to 296, that’ll make Bubba lay up. 8 is a different story, evidently they went all out, blew this tiny intricate beautiful hole up, took the trees out behind & built up this mammoth back tee on top of a hill that wasn’t there before & stretched it out to 220 from the tips. Have I mentioned how much I hate modern golf? Ok I couldn’t remember. And it’s a 150 yd walk from 7 green to 8 tee all straight up this brand new ‘pile of elephant diarrhea’ as one of the members put it. All this so the shot isn’t blind anymore which was what made it so good in the first place. The USGA will feel right at home.
The feast of the lengthening is just pushing back tees which isn’t going to be far enough by a long shot I guess from what I read but all over the place they were talking about the removal of trees being ‘drastic & necessary’ & how much drier & firmer it plays since the trees were taken out. Huh? The only reason everybody needs 4 pairs of socks for 18 holes is because the sprinklers were ALWAYS on. They watered that thing 25 hrs a day to keep the high spots from browning out so everyday everybody was slopping through a bog & half the tee shots went underground. I bet they find 50 million balls every time they verticut the fairways. This is what they get, cut down 500 yr old trees to dry out the course but don’t turn the sprinklers off. Holy Jumpin Johosefats!!! I know the members that have run the place forever hate the Lake course, always have because it’s so hard, if it wasn’t on the Open rota they’d have removed it ages ago but this is absolute sacrilege. And the kicker is the rank & file members are the ones screaming the loudest but have zero juice in their own club. They own the place & can’t stop it. WTFFFF?!?!?
old 17th
new 17th
old 9th
new 9th, WOW!!
Original ad when Dr Alister Mackenzie was building it, maybe some have heard of him…
7th hole, I cannot believe this is the Cal Club
12th hole