Ally,
I have no problem whatsoever with your take. You are entitled to it. I just shared my views. Nothing more.
Snap judgements? What are you looking at? While some latitude is expected due to the "newness" of a place, heavy sward transitions on a links golf course, mere yards from the target, THE GREEN, are a joke that SHOULDN'T be present in that form when it opens...UNLESS you are just in a rush.
Brad mentions that the width, as have others, seems adequate. I'm not so sure, and here's why. With the elevation of most of those tee boxes, the wind will start hitting the ball, SIGNIFICANTLY, when it is up, AS SOON AS IT LEAVES THE BOX. It will also affect it for longer periods of it's flight, because there is ALWAYS stronger air influence as you gain height from ground level. It's simple physics. Therefore, I would assert that in the typical stiffer winds encountered in links golf, from ELEVATED TEES, having marram festooned fairway borders, that course will need significantly MORE width than the normal links offering.
I've seen NOT ONE report yet from someone who played the course in a howler, or even STIFF conditions. Have you? So if we are to question snap judgements....we sure as hell better start there when links golf is the topic of discussion. ANY course can become more playable in the wind if you move up to a shorter tee box, but what does that really say about the design? Great tracks just play tougher from where they are set up on the given day. I've never moved up to a forward or ladies tee because the wind was too strong on a great golf course. I'm no single digit player. Can't say I've ever played with anyone who did either, unless they were older or playing back a tee box more than they normally would with players who were significantly better than they were. Which is fine.
As to caddie programs and their relation to the quality of a golf course, let me offer some correlations. EVERY truly great golf course has the experience enhanced when they have a quality caddie program. A VAST majority of the world's greatest courses have caddie golf. The standard may vary, but they are present. Great golfing ground and a quality caddie experience are like: peanut butter and jelly, an ice cold beer and a killer burger, a superb bottle of wine paired with great cheese...they are inextricably linked!
Any destination golf facility, but particularly one offering links golf of quality, better have a quality caddie program...or they will struggle. Need proof? What are the two most financially successful golf destinations created in the last 20 years? Just golf centered; not with the often toxic real estate component. It's Bandon Dunes and Kingsbarns...by MILES more profitable than the rest of the struggling pack!
Caddie golf has been CENTRAL to their success. Short of quality course presentation, the caddie program has been that SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT element CRUCIAL to each's profitability. Many on this site will wince at this irrefutable fact. Quite a few of you don't: take caddies, care for them, respect them, whatever. That is fine. History HAS, AND WILL CONTINUE, to validate their importance to the game, ON SO MANY LEVELS, even to those that would like to believe otherwise.
Quality caddies also are the BEST friend a facility of caiiber ever had, new or existing. They: promote the place to players all day long, are the traffic cops that ensure tender areas aren't abused (especially during the early days), report issues to the greens staff, often help maintain the range/course for golf privileges, fix ball marks and keep tee boxes tidy, seed divots with mix during rounds, etc,etc.
Many caddies also take up the game, EARN WHILE THEY LEARN the sport, and contribute to it, in many ways, throughout their lives. Need more proof? Bill Coore caddied at Pinehurst as a kid. Ben Crenshaw learned the game from Havey Pennick, who found golf how...you guessed it, as a caddie. Tom Doak, and current Olympic course designer Gil Hanse, both point to their brief, but thought-provoking stints caddying at St. Andrew's as significantly influencing their ideas and insights on course design. Brad Klein, who caddied and has championed caddie golf like few other scribes, also must be given major kudos for helping lead a game-changing movement in the U.S., DEMANDING a stronger stance on prudent tree removals and tree management to restore and maintain the prominent playing features of so many of our great parkland-style courses.
Tired of reading? I defy ANYONE to tell me that caddie programs have not, AND don't continue... to impact golf architecture. I could fill this site until I died on all the PROFOUND connections caddie golf has relating to quality course design.
Hope I've answered some questions.
Mac,
ZERO for me! But I doubt Mike would open with the presentation that greeted golfers near Aberdeen.
Cheers,
Kris
