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Hidden Creek Golf Club, NJ, USA
Many factors go into the creation of a great course, with a 'great' defined as a course that one wishes to play numerous times year after year. The site needs to be special. The driving force behind the project has to understand that golf is about enjoyment and variety. The architect has to deliver a strategic design that is every bit as inspiring to play the 100th time as it is the 1st. In addition, all three factors must come together at the same time. Such is the case at Hidden Creek, though from the time that the owner first contacted the architects to when this dream course opened was 17 years! To start with, the owner of Hidden Creek, Roger Hansen, grew up outside of Atlantic City, New Jersey where he gained an appreciation of classic architecture at Atlantic City Country Club, the two courses at Seaview Country Club and then later at Pine Valley Golf Club. In 1985, having read an article in a golf magazine where Ben Crenshaw expressed an interest in designing courses, Hansen called Crenshaw. At the end of the lengthy telephone conversation, Crenshaw encouraged him to contact a man named Bill Coore. Having done so, Hansen eventually flew down to tour Coore's Rockport Country Club in Corpus Christi with Coore in December, 1986. The two men hit it off and Hansen knew who he would select should he ever get into the golf course business. A few years passed but in 1991, Hansen decided to develop two public access courses in Galloway Township. He contacted the now existing architect firm of Coore & Crenshaw and had Coore come see the site. Ultimately, Coore & Crenshaw politely declined the project as they were tied up in Hawaii with the design of the Plantation Course at Kapalua. Nonetheless, Hansen pursued his vision and the resulting Stephen Kay and Steve Smyers courses were an immediate success with the Smyers course hosting the U.S. Public Links Championship in 2003. A few more years pass and it is now the fall of 1998 when Hansen becomes aware of another large block of property within 10 miles of Atlantic City. This time, he was surprised/delighted to find that the site has up to 50 feet in elevation change with consistent movement thoughout the upland part of the property. Thus, he contacts Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw again. With a little arm twisting, he convinces Coore that this site does indeed hold promise and to return to south New Jersey to see for himself. Once on site, Coore stays, walking and re-walking the property. The clubhouse needed to be located within 1000 feet of the entrance drive to avoid seeking a state permit to improve the roadway, the timing of which would have delayed the project for at least one year. Apart from the location of the clubhouse, Hansen gave Coore carte blanche to go anywhere that he wanted on the expansive 750 acres. After three weeks, and on one occasion having wandered off the property and stumbled onto a shooting range (!), Coore had seen enough and flew back to Texas. Coore and Crenshaw discussed the matter and replied to Hansen that they could build a course that would be reflective of the site's charms. Hansen accepted their terms and work commenced in the summer of 2000. Think about it - Coore spent three weeks on site before Coore & Crenshaw had a signed contract. That is more time than 90% of the big name architects spend on site after they get a signed contract! With only a couple of modifications on the back side, the final routing was the one that Coore visualized during his three week stay with Hansen. He decided that none of the 300 acres of wetlands would feature into the design and that the holes would stay on the upland part of the property which possessed the natural movement and land forms. Coore's routing stands out in excellence because it perfectly exposed the rolls of the property through one engaging hole after another while at the same time minimizing any green to tee walks. The end result is that only 50,000 cubic yards of dirt were moved during the project and that the course is reflective of the ground upon which it sits. As Coore says,
With the routing in place, James Duncan, who has a background in civil engineering and who had joined Coore and Crenshaw in 1998 for the East Hampton Golf Club, was brought in as Project Manager. One of his first tasks was to oversee the tree clearing and with the design team having sensed a chance to build a course similar in feel to the heath courses in England, large playing corridors were created. The concept of building a course with a similar appeal to the heath courses gathered additional steam when it was realized that some of the vegetation underneath the trees that border the playing corridors was actually called false heather. With the tree clearing complete in September 2000, the construction of the holes could commence. Jeff Riggs, the Green Keeper at Hansen's nearby Blue Heron Pines Golf Club, was brought on board full time at this point. With C&C's Jim Craig and Dave Zinkhand on site and Jeff Bradley coming down from Friar's Head on a regular basis, the core team was in place. Dan Proctor and Tom Beck would later play key roles in finishing the course as well. As with any course, integral to the lasting enjoyment by its members would be a series of interesting green complexes. Not wanting to be tied to the USGA green construction method which has limitations in tying in the green with its surrounds, the greens were constructed as follows: the existing sandy, gravelly soil was pulled back from a large area (say 13,000 square feet) from where the green would approximately be located. Clean sand was brought in to fill up the hole to grade level. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw deliberated on site green by green as to what each green's playing chracteristics should be and then Jim Craig worked his magic in creating just such greens. Green mix was then applied. One great advantage to this method is that there isn't a defined break in the types of soils and playing conditions as one approaches the green; there is a gradual transition making the ground game a genuine - and often preferred - way to approach the green.
Much detail work went into the construction of Hidden Creek, in part because Coore & Crenshaw weren't bouncing around the country tending to twelve different projects. Rather, they were adhering to their philosophy of two projects per year with the other being Friar's Head on eastern Long Island. Nothing was rushed at Hidden Creek, allowing every man to take great pride in his own hand work. While the course will evolve over the next three to five years as Riggs works with the fescues and native vegetation and seeks to get the fairways running hot, the course nonetheless enjoyed a sense of instant maturity the day it opened in June 2002. Holes to Note 1st hole, 400 yards; Some 1st holes like the ones at Yale Golf Club, Sand Hills Golf Club, Pinehurst No. 2 and Merion Golf Club inform the player right away if he is going to like the course as the holes are indicative of the joys that lie ahead. Such is the case at Hidden Creek. From the moment that one leaves either the nearby putting green or the practice field and steps onto the 1st tee, all one sees is a pure golf landscape. There are no homes or paved cart paths, the playing corridor and fairway are wide, the green is large at 8,000 square feet but with hole locations best accessed from certain sides of the fairway, and the fescue grasses provide great visual contrast.
2nd hole, 370 yards; Wide fairways in and of themselves aren't strategic. If the bunkers at The Old Course at St. Andrews paralleled the fairways, then The Old Course would be far and away more boring to play. Instead, thanks to the random placement of central hazards throughout the course, The Old Course remains a strategic gem in any wind. Same for Hidden Creek as Coore & Crenshaw were quick to create central hazards and diagonal carries thoughout the course.
3rd hole, 535 yards; Hidden Creek is five miles west of the Atlantic Ocean and as such, the wind is always a factor, though just how much can be tricky to judge as few consecutive holes head in the same direction. For the third hole running, Coore leads the golfer in a completely different direction and he did so in part to take advantage of an abandoned quarry where sand and gravel was once excavated for the use in nearby road construction. This abandoned pit is roughly one hundred and sixty yards long by fifty yards wide and eight feet deep and was the site's most unique feature. Coore & Crenshaw wisely decided to place the green some twenty yards past this formidable pit and thus tempt many golfers to have a go at the green in two, wind permitting.
4th hole, 220 yards; A breathtaking hole, with immediate comparisons seeming to belong with the all-world Long Redan 4th at Riviera and the Long Reverse Redan 11th on The North Course at Los Angeles Country Club.
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