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The Evolution of a Par-5: Rustic Canyon's 13th Hole By Geoff Shackelford Warning: This method of design is not for everyone. Nor is it necessarily representative of the design process employed for the other 17 holes at Rustic Canyon. The 'Canvas' Before reaching what was to become the par-5 thirteenth, the Rustic Canyon golfer will have faced four par-5's, including back-to-back three shotters at the turn. The thirteenth will also be the fourth par-5 playing 'up' the canyon. However, the 13th will play in a northeasterly direction, with the canyon sides directing winds from the players back. Prior to clearing, the land didn't call out for anything in particular. The roughly 700-yard long, 160-yard wide 'canvas' featured several gentle, wide ripples set on a subtle uphill slope. A few coastal sage bushes and a clump of small, cropped eucalyptus trees growing along a dirt road provided the only vegetation. The canvas was attractively surrounded by rolling hills covered in coastal sage scrub, yuccas, cactus, and canyon sunflowers. Reddish clay eroded cliff tops hover on the right while in the distance, softer hills are decorated by coastal live oaks. Down the entire right side of this 'canvas' ran a dirt road that serves as the only access path to the 4,000 acre Happy Camp recreational area. It would remain and precluded the possibility of a teeing area set into the hillside immediately above the old road. However, the road would make for an interesting boundary line, meaning out-of-bounds would play an integral role in any strategic possibilities. These were the parameters for Rustic Canyon's thirteenth. The consensus among those trying to develop interesting golfing possibilities (Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford), was that the canvas presented opportunities to present a St. Andrews design concept: wide fairway and multiple-options, with the days hole location dictating different avenues to the hole. There were differences of opinion as to how best to achieve this idea, right up to the commencement of construction. However, no hole was discussed and debated more than the thirteenth prior to construction, which hopefully translated to an interesting playing par-5.
Uncovering the 'Canvas' To most, the ground looked uninspiring other than the beautiful surrounds. Since it was covered in prairie grasses made especially dense by back-to-back wet winters, attaining a feel for how best to use the contours was difficult in the routing process. No topographic map could explain the subtle movements in the ground, nor could one walk-through detect any 'must-use' features. Not until the grasses were cut down prior to construction did the thirteenth start to come to life. The planned yardage originally fell in the 600-yard range with the original green site selected. We'll call this site 'A.' Putting surface 'A' was planned for a flattish area just beyond one of the 13th's more pronounced features, a substantial slope that crept up to the dirt road on the right (we'll call this the 'Long Slope'). This feature was initially seen as a slope for golfers to land shots onto, allowing them run down onto green 'A' sitting in the flat. As for the shape and style of the green, discussions started with the idea of a boomerang or horseshoe shaped green in the vein of George Thomas's first green at Riviera or a slightly subdued version of an Alister MacKenzie's boomerangs found at many of his originals (Augusta National, Crystal Downs, University of Michigan, Pasatiempo, etc…). The boomerang concept proved interesting because it would place great emphasis on the lay-up shot, all dependent on the day's hole location. However, as nice as the concept seemed, the green site was not providing the inspiration for such a green to work. There was also concern about the boomerang on a daily fee course. A 'reverse boomerang,' ala Pasatiempo's thirteenth where Gil and Jim had just visited, was the concept considered for green site 'A.' During February of 2001, Gil, Jim and Geoff spent a few hours walking the hole using Walmart's finest white linens to look at locations for bunkers from the tee site. The fairway had been cleared and revealed many interesting contours not previously evident. The current back tee was easy to visualize. A natural dirt outcropping was already there, calling out to for a back tee. The sheets were located and yardages determined using Bushnell 'Yardage Pro' binoculars. The idea of a small pot bunker about 245 yards off the back tee was agreed upon. That yardage was chosen because even in the face of technology, it seemed to still be an interesting distance to interfere with golfers of various playing abilities (since the course has opened, it's been shocking to see how easily some golfers carry the pot bunker). Jim spotted a subtle ridge down the left side, some 340 yards from the tee, as an ideal place to build bunkers. Their strategic merits were not evident yet. Linens were placed to see how they appeared from the tee, and all agreed that these bunkers would prove interesting because they seemed much closer to the tee than 340 yards away. About 400 yards off the tee down the right side, Gil insisted on building a large bunker cut into a nice slope. Again, strategically its purpose was still up in the air with green site 'A,' but we forged ahead. As a group there wasn't overwhelming excitement about the concept of a 'reverse boomerang' at green site 'A.' Sketches were drawn in the field. Also, would the fairway bunker locations prove interesting? Would they create strategic problems? Gil returned home while Jim and Geoff remained to kick around ideas for this hole and the short par-4 twelfth. In March, there was a visit by Tom Paul, a friend from Philadelphia who Gil has worked with while putting together a master plan at Tom's home course, Gulph Mills. Tom is fascinated by the strategic possibilities of golf, and like Geoff, was not short on 'conceptual' ideas. But neither was able to visualize what would work and not work from a construction point of view, which Jim was able to provide as ideas were kicked around. During a long afternoon of discussion, conceptualizing and drawing green shapes in the dirt, Tom helped Jim and Geoff realize that everyone was envisioning a similar concept: a green that dictated precise placement on the lay-up shot, justifying over 100 yards of fairway at the primary lay-up area. During this visit with Tom Paul, Jim spotted the small depression in the ground around 40 yards short of the proposed green site 'A.' This little dip sat within the 'Long Slope' previously thought of as an approach area. Jim felt this small depression would be enough to 'cut' a greenside bunker out of, which excited Geoff and Tom because it also became evident that this would be a great place to wrap a 'horseshoe' shaped green around the fronting bunker. It would mean the putting surface would slope steeply from right to left. How that would be built would be up to Gil.
The strategic importance of the fairway bunkers also fell into place with the new green site. Drives 'bailing out' left of the 245-yard center fairway pot bunker would be looking directly at the two different bunker complexes, with little feel for how large the lay-up area was. While drives hit down the right, flirting with the out-of-bounds, would be looking through the wide opening between the bunkers. Drives hit left would have an obstructed view of the the left side, which is critical because players really would want to lay up left for left pins. Gil's large bunker some 400 yards down the right now would be in an ideal location to cause great trouble for drives bailing out left, because it would require a well-struck second shot from those hoping to lay-up on the right side for hole locations set on the upper right of the boomerang.
Construction After much discussion, the project ran into a minor delay, and the prairie grass grew back after a couple of significant March and April rains. The mowing process was repeated in May, and finally, Gil returned with construction ready to go. The thirteenth was the first hole to be built at Rustic Canyon. The new ideas discussed with Tom Paul were presented to Gil. In one day, Gil had created the rough shape of the green with the green floor design shaped 18 inches below the fairway/approach level. That 6,500 square feet of contours below is virtually identical to today's final putting surface. The fairway bunkers were roughed out over the course of a few days, with Gil crafting the larger bunkers. Jim undertook the reshaping of the fairway to better situate the 245-yard pot bunker and to ensure that the right side of the fairway drained properly. Also, the group agreed that lowering the left side as much as possible would reward the players driving right of the pot bunker (and flirting with OB), with a better view. The rough shaping work by Jim was also designed to help break up the wide, somewhat flat tee-shot landing area. Jim supervised the removal of several sage bushes in the fairway by 'Serge,' a member of the irrigation installation crew who proved instrumental in many aspects of the construction, particularly dirt hauling and transplanting work. The sage was transplanted to the back side of the left side bunkers to add to the visual distractions for players bailing left off of the tee. A few existingcoastal sage bushes were worked kept near the large rightside bunker that Gil was constructing, and a few more sage, yucca and stipa grass clumps were added to fill out the native area. This was designed to help tie the coastal sage scrub look found on the hillside. So after many months of theory, conceptualizing, disagreement, placing bed sheets on the ground, trips to Pasatiempo and Riviera for inspiration, Gil built what became the final look of the green complex in one day (as if the plan had been the same all along). Hopefully all of the talk, analysis, questioning and changes would create an interesting, thought-provoking hole to play.
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