The Presidio Golf Course Renovation

Suny, Zokol Golf Design has been working as the consulting architect for The Presidio. Dick and I are honored to have been selected to take on this important assignment. We have been delighted to be working with Superintendent, Brian Nettz, CGCS and General Manager Don Chelemedos from Century Golf.

The Presidio is just so interesting to us since it is one of the oldest golf courses west of the Mississippi and has been touched by so many architects. And it's the fact that it was touched by so many that really created our opportunity. Our opportunity, our vision of the project was to create an era appropriate renovation with a sense or feeling of an old golf course. This allowed us a certain amount of creative flexibility in determining the flavor of the golf course. 

The work on most of the holes has been done in house by Brian Nettz and his staff. Brian has turned out to be a wonderful shaper and has shaped all of the features. He brought in Kaminski Golf to assist with the shaping and construction of #4.

Below are a series of pictures- before, concept, and after. The 4th is a drop shot Par 3 that plays 130 yards from the back tee, 118 yards from the middle tee and 85 yards from the forward tee.

Presidio #4 Before

The Concept

After 

Dick and I originally thought that there should also be a bunker on the left side of the green. But when Don and Brian explained that they needed to insure that there was an eco-buffer down to the native area to the left, we threw our version of convention out the window and you can see the results.

Golf's Ground Game versus Minimalist Aesthetics

Ground Attack Encouraged

A Suny Zokol Golf Design Master Plan Rendering

Faux links playability has taken over pop golf design culture. When you see some wild looking golf course with fescue waving in the air, you just believe that you will be getting a links experience. A true links experience is one that not only accepts the ground game but often calls for or even demands it to gain an advantage, while penalizing the air attack with some degree of regularity.

A Suny Zokol Golf Design Master Plan calling for the Aerial Attack

And it's always been interesting to me that a minimalist and or links looking golf course is generally assumed to be firm and fast and receptive to the ground game, purely on how it looks. Minimalist golf and the ground game are not necessarily mutually inclusive. There are many examples of great looking rugged golf courses that show all of the signs of being links like in playability but the design has greens perched up in the air and running approach shots simply cannot be played...these greens still require an aerial or conventional approach. Mind you, these course may be great but are they as receptive to the ground game as they could be or should be if they are purported to be links?

Every time you raise another green up to that dramatic site as you route the course you become less accommodating to the ground game. I don't think that we should avoid all elevated or "up" green sites but we shouldn't default to the easy drama every time either.

So the next time you play a purported links course, think about the courses receptiveness to running ground shots. Is it links golf or is it faux links?

Renderings by Maren Suny

Italian Grape Hoes

Quite a few people have asked me the significance of using Italian Grape Hoes to finish bunkers. It's a little bit like the old adage: if you have to ask how much something costs you can't afford it. With the Italian Grape Hoe, if you have to ask why its a better tool to finish bunkers with, then you have never used one.

The Italian Grape Hoe (IGH) has a heavy sharp blade 7-8 inches wide, depending on the manufacturer, and 10 inches high. It typically comes with a handle that is 5 feet long.

With the IGH, when finishing, renovating or edging bunkers, one always works from within the bunker. One simply chops down and pulls back a chunk of what ever material is being worked. It is at least twice as fast as using a shovel. As you can tell by the photo above, the IGH has a curved head, so it allows you to easily create the "right" angle on the edges of the bunkers, even when working on steep faces.

The first time that I saw or used an Italian Grape Hoe was at Merion Golf Club in 1980 when we did a lot of renovation/restoration work on the bunkers prior to the Open. Apparently, they had been using them since Flynn was the Head Greenkeeper and Joe Valentine was the Construction Foreman. When Flynn left, Joe Valentine took over as Head Greenkeeper and then Richie Valentine took over as Superintendent. I was Richie's Assistant in 1980 and 81.

In a future post, I'll describe "chunking" to make repairs and create features in bunkers, another original technique from the early days that was handed down to Valentine and from him to me.