Rod Trump and his creative team have done a wonderful job documenting and sharing HP's construction process on Instagram. I've found myself returning to their public profile repeatedly to scroll through reels that feature green sites, quick hole by holes, before/after's, etc. to get a better sense of the new course.
One characteristic I wanted to point out, to serve as both question/observation, regards the bunkering. From the images I've seen of Te Arai North, my impression is that there's a prevailing style of deeper, cavernous bunkers at a higher frequency than what may be found on Tom's earlier designs. The bunker walls tend to be in fairway turf, or more native rough, pending their location, and the sand lies more along the bottom than being flashed vertically. Their depth conjures similarities to UK bunkers, where the steepness of a revetted wall often enacts a half or full stroke penalty.
Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the shaping of the dirt and early grow-in images at High Pointe, but I sense a similar continuation of that style. And I think it suits the topography quite well.
Holes like 1, 3A, 4, 6, 7, 12, 17 appear to have deeper bunkers with walls that will be turfed in fairway fescue.
5, 8, 9 will utilize native textures to edge the bunkers. 9 may also have more flashing given how perched up that original green site is.
2 might have the most shallow bunkers?
And a few freer flowing, amoeba-like shapes can be found on 12, 13, and likely elsewhere, but it's used sparingly by the looks of it.
I suppose my question, if you want to chime in, Tom, would be--what what went into your process for deciding on how to bunker High Pointe, particularly with the new original holes and how they'd tie into the preexisting ones?
Other initial takes, based on my visit last summer and subsequent club updates--holes that immediately strike me include the 3rd with its two greens for a variable par 3; 4's approach and green complex seems bold and fascinating; 7 and 8 (original 10) are spectacular and routed over the most dramatic land; the low tee on 14 might be more fun than the back tee because of how blind the fairway is from down low; a big hump in front of 16 green adds nice flavor to the re-imagination of old 18; and 16-18 in general seem to be a stout finish!
I'm personally fond of that part of Michigan, with native textures and flora likely similar to what'll be seen at Sedge Valley in Wisconsin. It's certainly special to get another fescue course in America, notwithstanding all the other great stories attached to High Pointe coming back.
Look forward to more updates come spring and early summer from the club.