2023 in Review: Exciting New Trends / December 28, 2023 by Brett Hochstein

It probably seemed pretty quiet for Hochstein Design in 2023. Our social media sharing was very limited, and we didn’t really contribute much elsewhere in the way of articles or interviews. The truth is though, it was a particularly exciting year for us, and there are reasons for things being quieter. For one, our two main shaping projects—Jay Blasi’s renovation at Golden Gate Park and Jim Urbina’s (further) restoration of Pasatiempo—had, for various understandable reasons, tight orders not to share anything going on with the projects during construction. Secondly, we were busy behind the scenes prospecting for potential new clients as well as working on master plans for William Land Golf Course (Land Park) and the Alister MacKenzie Course at Haggin Oaks in Sacramento, and it is too soon to share anything about either (except that we are very excited about the potential at both courses!).

With word and imagery now getting out about Pasatiempo and Golden Gate Park, having conceptual approval for our plan at Land Park, and it being the end of the year, now seems like a good time to share a bit of what we have been up to lately and what is coming down the pipeline in 2024.

Design Highlights

William Land Golf Course Master Plan

The nine-hole William Land GC, or “Land Park” as it is more commonly known for the historic city park in which it sits, is the oldest course in Sacramento. The setting is urban, leafy, and as charming as the surrounding neighborhood of whimsical history homes. There’s really nothing else like it that I know of in California and feels much more like something you might find in the Northeast U.S. or at another urban nine-holer, Winter Park in Florida. The course itself though, coming up on its 100 year anniversary in 2024, simultaneous feels its age with major irrigation and drainage issues and also does not feel its age with regards to feature work at the greens and bunkers, which have been altered at various times over the years. Both of those “age-feelings” are the opposite of what you want; you’d prefer your infrastructure up to date and functioning and your golf course features to have the look and strategy of the Golden Age of Golf Design 100 years ago. And those are the big things we look to tackle with this Master Plan—fixing the infrastructure to start and looking at ways to introduce visual and strategic charm to the design that matches that of the Land Park neighborhood itself. Drawing inspiration from Walter Travis, Donald Ross, Devereux Emmet, and A.W. Tillinghast, we are looking to create a golf course that looks distinctly Golden Age but also like nothing else in the American West.

This golf course is special and what we love about golf—accessible, affordable, and inclusive to all skill levels. Furthermore, it blends seamlessly with the surrounding park, visually and functionally. It’s not uncommon for picnickers to lounge out in the roughs or for someone to be walking their dog along or sometimes across the fairway. The sense of community is stronger here than at most places, and for that we hope the moves we propose set up William Land GC to thrive for the next 100 years.

The final master plan should be complete by early February, and we plan to share our ideas with the local community at the 100 Year festivities over Memorial Day Weekend.

Haggin Oaks (Alister MacKenzie Course) Master Plan

MacKenzie courses are rare treasures. MacKenzie municipal courses are even rarer. To have one of them be one of my first solo commissions is beyond exciting. What’s also exciting is that—while the current course has evolved a long way from his original design—Mackenzie also left concepts that were as inspired as any of his other work. In what is his only known full set of greens sketches, the Doctor drew up greens with more variety and creative ideas than those at Pasatiempo, Augusta, or Crystal Downs. Could you build many of them today at those specs? Probably not, but neither were they likely built at those specs then either, which called for 6 foot rises and falls across short distances, bunkers eating deeply into greens, and “molar” fingers that reach out in ways you could neither putt around nor mow. Such features were drawn up at other courses like Pasatiempo but not exactly built that. At the core of theses drawings though are concepts and broad ideas that are really cool, strategic, varied, beautiful, and possible to achieve if finding the proper way to translate them to the real world of golf in the 2020s. That is a good starting point as we deeply explore the property’s past, develop a timeline of changes, analyze MacKenzie’s designs and movements of that later period of his career, and compare all of that to the modern day course and its needs and potential. We are taking our time with the process, which is what the property and any MacKenzie design deserves, and we hope to have more concrete direction to share by late 2024.

(Above: some of MacKenzie’s wildly creative greens concepts at Haggin Oaks)

Shaping Highlights

A lot of water views competed for “work spot of the year,” but popping down and back up in the bulldozer on the on this edge of the punchbowl 4th green at Golden Gate Park was the winner of that title.

Golden Gate Park San Francisco, CA—Jay Blasi renovation

This project was one of the quickest and most enthusiastically I had signed up for, basically committing to architect Jay Blasi on his first call to me about it the previous December. Not only was it the kind of project I was most fond of—public, affordable, and geared toward beginners and fun—it was also on a site that I knew was just loaded with potential. The Golden Gate Park Golf Course is a cleverly-routed Jack Fleming par-3 course sitting at the Western edge of the Park itself, in the shadows of the famous Dutch windmills and a par four’s length from Ocean Beach. When I had first played the course in December of 2018, the conditions were soft, muddy, and shaggy, and during the round I had forgotten about the nearby Pacific Ocean due to dense tree overgrowth. Even with that, I knew the potential of the course was enormous. My sense of the area’s history and geology led me to believe that this perfectly hilly site was actually capped-over sand dunes, and if you could just remove that layer of heavy soil and expose the sand, you could also create links conditions thanks to the cool microclimate, all while also making some dramatic visuals and eliminating the need to install any drainage. Then, if you could manage the tree overgrowth to highlight the whimsical specimen cypresses and re-capture the amazing ocean vistas—including those out to Land’s End and the Cliff House—you’d have something that’s not just an asset to the local community but also a course that people from around the world would want to see and play.

Thankfully, these are the moves that Jay Blasi, Dan Burke of the First Tee of San Francisco, and Josh Lewis (project manager and grow-in superintendent) all made. The early returns and reviews of the project seem to be a great success, and I am excited for the rest of the community and golf world to enjoy it as it fully opens a bit later this winter.

As far as the work goes, I didn’t get to shape as much as initially hoped due to heavy March rains squeezing me into my prior commitments to get down to Pasatiempo by April 20th. What I did work on though was a lot of fun, including the double green at the 1st and 4th, the Fern Gully-like 3rd hole, the 7th green and surrounds, odd areas here and there, and touching up all of the sandy areas this Fall with both excavator and shovel. The greens were some of the most fun I’ve ever gotten to work on, particularly the 7th, which I spent most of my time on and was the only location I had a chance to do any finish work with the sand pro and rake. My obsessive nature with that part of the work led me into working deep into Bay-to-Breakers Sunday, a cross-city race that serves mostly as a massive party. It was one of the few times I didn’t need music on my headphones, where a bunch of nearby hippie drummers’ rhythmic beats kept me hopping and bouncing along with every stroke of the rake. Between that and all the quiet sunsets over the Ocean in the Fall, I never minded the long or weird Sunday hours on this job. That’s how special this site and this project are and were.

*Contours hand-raked to the beat of the hippie drums*

*Unintentionally this kind of ended up looking like a Cypress Point bunker. Perhaps the subconscious doing work after having walked it a few weeks prior?*

*Instant “age” and gratification are possible when working with sand and varied vegetative texture*

Pasatiempo Santa Cruz, CA—Jim Urbina restoration/renovation

An opportunity to work at Pasatiempo is both exciting and special. It also comes with pressure and trepidation. When a place is as loved and revered as Pasatiempo is, especially after their highly-successful restoration efforts to Alister MacKenzie’s original design, done by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina between 2002-2007, you have to wonder about the upside vs. downside of tearing into such sacred ground. I certainly did myself, especially after learning about the plans to re-build the famous greens (the bunkers, on the other hand, were much more obvious to me with massive amounts of grass overgrowth and sand buildup in the past 10-15 years). The question immediately is, what is the process for that, and how do you preserve what is good and historic? In speaking very early on with both architect Jim Urbina and superintendent Justin Mandon, that process would utilize incredible caution, historic imagery, and the best in modern laser scanning and construction technology. It’s a process that has become reliable and used at many other high-end historic courses, such as Winged Foot and Oakland Hills, two other Golden Agers notable for their creative greens contours. Furthermore, a closer examination of the greens and their outside edges revealed pretty clearly some of the issues that Mandon had pointed out—agronomic challenges, “settling” spots leaving gimmicky hole-in-one pins, and the most obvious—incredible buildup on the outsides from both bunker sand splash and aggressive topdressing over the years in attempt to counter the aforementioned agronomic challenges, some of which also compromised outside hole locations. It’s not that anyone really wanted this project to happen, it’s more that the project needed to happen.

*Precision was the name of the game at Pasatiempo*

The process was very deliberate and a complete change of pace from the freedom of tossing around the open sand at Golden Gate Park. Every slope at Pasatiempo was measured, protective boards used any time a machine track would touch a green, old black and white photos heavily analyzed, and cuts made only fractions of an inch at a time. I probably spent most of my time tinkering with greenside bunkers, splitting that responsibility about 50/50 with Earth Sculptures (they went back and did all the fairway bunkers after the greens were completed). That bunker work was challenging for a number of reasons—sand splash, buried sand from many renovations ago, heavy clay soils, bedrock, and the overall pressure of trying to get them to look just like they did in the old photos. It was a challenge worth taking on though, and no spot more notable than on the 3rd, where we all spent over a month peeling back layers over the gigantic bunker scheme and discovering ways in which the hole could be further restored.

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It was truly special to spend this time at one of the best designs and final residence of one of my foremost golf design heroes, Alister MacKenzie. I look forward to going back and helping on the outstanding back nine holes this Fall.

*Hole 3 new bunkers from the perspective of an early-years photo*

Other Highlights from the Field

(In no particular order)

The kids coming out to visit Daddy at work at Golden Gate Park

Walking around Land Park taking hole notes and having a moment to realize this was the Real Deal, not just hope/prep for a future job

Peaceful evening work at Pasatiempo after the rest of the crew goes home, especially when in view of the Monterey Bay or MacKenzie’s house

Doing finish work to the beat of hippie drummers during Bay to Breakers Sunday

Getting to see the UCR turfgrass research operation in action during their Field Day in September

The Blue Angels run practice multiple times one afternoon out at Golden Gate Park

Eating lunch on the beach 3 days in a row during Hot October at Golden Gate Park. As a former Midwestern kid, I still can’t believe I live in this place sometimes.

New Courses Seen

Listed in chronological order and lighter than most years. Should be a much bigger 2024, though!

Llanerch (Southern 9; already had seen northern 9) Havertown, PA. Alex Findlay, renovation by Brian Schneider. More highly-inspiring shaping and feature work by Schneider and Blake Conant here. I particularly like the way they tie it across multiple holes. A great example of a total course transformation without even touching the centers of the greens.

Carmel Valley Ranch Carmel Valley, CA. Pete Dye. Not very “Dye”-like over extreme terrain in parts, but the scenery is great and course very well looked-after with fun, firm conditions.

DeLaveaga Santa Cruz, CA. Bert Stamps. Add this to the pile of “Municipal Courses with Unreal Potential.” A lot of it could be realized just by thinning the dense eucalyptus forest blocking the 360 degree views from its lofty perch above Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay.

Paris Hill Paris, ME. Architect unknown; course early Golden Age/Late Victorian. A great museum piece of what 1908 golf design looked like, with a few pretty interesting (if small) greens.

Wilson Lake Wilton, ME. Wayne Stiles. Super well-preserved Stiles design in a nice Western Maine setting. Well worth seeing if you are a fan of his.

Mountain View Grand GC Whitefield, NH. Unsure of architect; course undoubtedly early Golden Age. Only walked around a few holes with a stroller here, but the Banks-like 1st green and split-plateau 2nd green will both catch your eye from distance.

(Above from left to right: Paris Hill, Wilson Lake, Mountain View Grand)

Pacific Grove Pacific Grove, CA. H. Chandler Egan 1932 front nine and Jack Neville 1960 back nine. The back nine in the evening is as scenic as advertised, but the front nine was more interesting than I had thought, with occasional views over the neighborhood to the Monterey Bay itself.

Morro Bay Morro Bay, CA. Quintin Miller and E.W. Murphy. Very simple (for 1920s, especially) design on land with some of the most stunning views you will find anywhere (that could be even better with some tree management). This place was the surprise of the year for me.

Dairy Creek San Luis Obispo, CA. John Harbottle. Another course in SLO County with beautiful scenery, this course is especially peaceful in the evening. There are some flaws with the routing over tough slopes, but it’s a nice place to spend a round and one I hope survives its well-documented water challenges.

Pismo Beach Grover Beach, CA. Architect unknown; 1966 vintage. Between sitting right next to incredible sand dunes and reading that the course was built with “some of the best top soil money could buy,” it feels like this little par 3 course was SO close to being all-world. Still seems like it has some potential, but the current version looked flat and soggy enough that I spent my time wandering the adjacent dunes instead and wondering “what-if.”

Sandpiper Goleta, CA. Billy Bell, Jr. A setting best described as “surreal” not just because of the ocean views but because of the way its vast scale makes you feel small. The course and features are highly simplistic and representative of its era, and many are aged and in need of renovating. I’m VERY curious to see what happens if the Doak plans get the go-ahead.

*Somehow, this setting flies under the radar.*

Other Highlights in Golf

(Also in no particular order)

Testing out the new work at Golden Gate Park with Brian Zager, Mitch Leiber, and Grant Raffel (Image above)

Early morning Cypress Point walk

Back nine twilight post-work rounds at Pasatiempo

Playing the work at Lake Merced and appreciating the greens more than I realized (would bump my “Doak” rating of a 6 last year to a 7 because of it; I was on the fence between the two anyway)

*Golf at Land Park in November adds another point in favor of it being California’s best month*

November round at Land Park following a Master Plan concept review

Playing a few holes at Valley Club with Jim Benzian and Josh Pettit

Watching my 18 month old son mess around on the putting green at Golf Galaxy after months of him wandering around the house with a plastic club in hand and looking for a ball to hit

Who I listened to…

(Once again, no order to any of these)

Bands

Alvvays, The Beths, The Last Dinner Party (Songs of the year!), Nation of Language, Mitski, The New Pornographers, Generationals, The Besnard Lakes, Waxahatchee, Rilo Kiley

Some fun Songs on their own

“Eugene” —Crazy Joe and the Variable Speed Band (Ace Frehley). Hilarious tune, but also pretty darn musically cool too.

“Lazy Line Painter Jane” —Belle and Sebastian. Extra points for the pipe organ

“Eye on the Bat” —Palehound. I really like the mix of slow, drawn-out and sped-up, bunched vocals sung back to back to the same basic beat.

“Ivory Coast” —Pure Bathing Culture

“Black Earth, WI” —Ratboys

“November Rain”—Guns N’ Roses. For whatever reason, I never noticed how much this song rocks until now, both halves of it.

“The River” —Dennis Wilson

“Fiesta Cumbiabera” —Aniceto Molina. Shazaam’d this at Los Pericos while waiting for a lengua burrito and noticing I had been bopping along to the beat for over a minute

A word of thanks, and what to look forward to in 2024…

As always, it takes a lot of people to execute a golf project, and it takes a lot of surrounding support to get to do this in the first place.

Thank you to the Mortons in Sacramento for entrusting me to create a vision for two of your most special golf courses. Thank you to Jay Blasi for letting me play in the sand at Golden Gate Park. Thank you to Jim Urbina for the chance to help further restore MacKenzie. Thank you to Josh Lewis for your infinite wisdom on all variety of things and always making sure we had fuel at GGP (even if it meant hand-filling!). Thank you to Justin Mandon at Pasatiempo for caring as much as one should about such an historic and important project. Thank you to Earth Sculptures for your help and support at Pasatiempo and for taking a higher interest in historic imagery than any other contractor I’ve come across. Thank you to Armando for making my bunker shaping look good and working way harder than anyone your age should be. And as always, thank you most of all to my family who deal with this weird life and passion of mine, even if a bit less weird this year in getting to stay within California.

We are looking forward to what could and should be a great 2024, with master plans developed, more shaping at Pasatiempo and a few other interesting spots, some exciting course visits for real work inspiration, and hopefully adding a couple new clients. Can’t wait to share it all and work on making some fun golf.

Cheers!

-Brett

*As the sun sets on Ocean Beach and 2023, we look forward to a great 2024*

2022: In Photos / January 5, 2023 by Brett Hochstein

Around this time, I usually do a long-winded year-in-review covering all sorts of topics both on and off the course. This isn’t really that, nor can it be. With two little kids and business picking up, that’s just too hard to do anymore. Still, as we head into a potentially exciting 2023, I wanted to share some of the highlights from the previous year 2022, especially work done and new courses seen, and what better way to do that than a bunch of photos. Scroll along for these highlights, the first of which is a career highlight, not just a year highlight.

Projects

Lake Merced (Gil Hanse Renovation/Restoration to as much as Alister MacKenzie version as possible) – Daly City, CA

One of the great opportunities of my career, if not the greatest, has been to work on this special Gil Hanse project and help put back together some of MacKenzie’s incredible bunkering and edits to the original Willie Locke layout. Ever since I moved out to the Bay Area 12 years ago and started to get to know the local golf architecture junkies, they had been talking and dreaming about what Lake Merced once was and had long lost. Most were skeptical a restoration was ever possible or would happen. But thanks to Gil Hanse and the weight of his successful restoration work elsewhere, it happened. Somehow, I was also fortunate enough to help out the Cavemen with it, especially on the 13th (historic 17), 12th(historic 16), and 16th (brand new Hanse par 3 down in that same corner). It was very fun both trying to meticulously match up the fine details to the many old photographs of the MacKenzie work but also to free-form on the new stuff and make an interpretation of his style that could hold up to the great “existing” stuff nearby. Very special to be a part of it all.

Hole 16 at Lake Merced is an all-new Gil Hanse addition to the course. These scab bunkers chasing up the hill were truly fun to build, even if working on a way-too-small open-cab excavator with 50 degree misty rain pummeling me all day.

*The 12th (historic 16th), one of the greens with the most photographic evidence for it. MacKenzie added intricate flanking bunkers to the simple saucer Locke green.*

*Looking back over the 13th green and out to the 16th at Lake Merced. This was the first day I had ever seen the flagsticks in the greens.*

*8 Green at Lake Merced, with Olympic Club looming in the distance.*

*Machine shaping almost finished on the bunkers surrounding the 13th green at Lake Merced.*

Teton Pines (Thad Layton/Arnold Palmer Design Co. Renovation) – Wilson, WY

This was phase 2 of the project we started last spring, this time doing the back nine. The inward half of holes has a bit fewer of the big mountain vistas of the front, but the tradeoff is a more natural and intimate feel through the woods and streams. Thad shaped out the three new greens while I stuck back on the bunkers, which, like last year, are some of my favorites I’ve gotten to do for their rugged faces and top lines meant to cast shadows and mimic the adjacent Teton Range.

*Mornings were special at Teton Pines. Shaping is almost complete here on the bunkers and short-grass expansion on the 16th hole.*

*The first bunker we worked on this year was maybe the largest (and most time consuming) on the course—the tee shot fairway bunker on the 14th.*

Front right and back greenside bunkers on the 13th at Teton Pines. Hat tip to Thad Layton for starting the the front pair and splitting them in a way I had not envisioned but liked enough to roll with it and expand upon.

*The back wrapping bunker on the 14th green almost finished.*

*The other candidate for largest bunker on the course is this beast on the 11th fairway.*

*A grassed version of last year’s work on the 5th hole*

*Greenside close-up of the 5th hole, where the green was also expanded in the front left corner just behind this bunker*

The Tree Farm (Kye Goalby, Tom Doak, and Zac Blair New Build) – New Holland, SC

With Kye and his team closing in on the finish line for seeding, I was just here for a few weeks mostly doing whatever to help them get closer to achieving that goal. A lot of that was dozer sweeping fairways and working greens tie-ins, but there was also some more fun stuff too like native chunking and touching up or adding to some of the really cool and funky old-school heathland-like features that they have introduced to this awesome rugged property. Great place to hang out and work for a bit, and can’t wait to someday play what they’ve created.

Touching up and adding some lumpy irregularity to a crossing feature on the 11th hole at the Tree Farm. I loved these spoils-like heathland type features that Kye and crew interspersed throughout this rugged layout. Very creative stuff that also really fits the landscape.

*Chunking in progress on the right side of the 4th green*

*Mound-making on the 8th hole. These should mess with a longer player playing too safely through the fairway*

Cedarbrook (Jaeger Kovich 4-hole phase 1 Renovation) —

Similar to the Tree Farm, I was here to help out my friend Jaeger Kovich as he introduced a real Tillinghast flair to 4 of the back nine holes at this beautiful 1960s property that relocated from an original Tilly/Ross site nearby. It was fun here to try and push out of my comfort zone, building humps in the middle of the 15th hole fairway bunker and making the landforms on the back of the 12th greenside bunker extra pointy. Jaeger’s done some very cool stuff here while also making the greens more contoured yet also more playable.

*I’ve built islands in dry-washes and arroyos, but this was my first time putting islands in a bunker. Hope Tilly would like it!*

The inspiration for the bunker was taken from an old aerial showing a Tillinghast bunker as a sort of long, skinny, triangle with zig-zags and a slight curve. What I like most about it though is the funky “pointy-ness” of the landforms.

*Mounds! Hopefully more to come as Jaeger moves through the phases of his work here*

Best New Courses Seen

As always I sought out some new courses in my travels. There were no total knockouts this year (i.e. Doak scale 9s or 10s) but a very solid sampling of a high number of good courses, many of which were located in the Northeast and most of which were designed by Albert Tillinghast, whose work I had not seen nearly enough of in person to-date. My “Doak rating” is in [brackets] and only to be interpreted as a loose guide of what interests me in golf design, as is the general order of these. Feel free to debate me!

*Varied texture and unusual elevated sand features are just some of the charms at Walter Travis’s Hollywood.*

1. Hollywood - Deal, NJ (Walter Travis, with restoration by Brian Schneider) [8]

2. Palmetto - Aiken, SC (Thomas Hitchcock 4 holes, expanded to 18 by Herbert Leeds and James Mackrell, renovation by Alister MacKenzie and construction associate Wendell Miller) [8]

3. Manufacturers’ - Fort Washington, PA (William Flynn) [8]

4. Fenway - Scarsdale, NY (A.W. Tillinghast) [7]

5. Hidden Creek - Egg Harbor Twp., NJ (Coore & Crenshaw (James Duncan Lead)) [7]

6. Quaker Ridge - Scarsdale, NY (A.W. Tillinghast) [7]

7. Ridgewood - Paramus, NJ (A.W. Tillinghast) [7]

8. Lake Merced - Daly City, CA (Willie Locke, with revisions by Alister MacKenzie, near-restoration to that version by Gil Hanse) [6]

9. Forsgate - Monroe Twp., NJ (Charles Banks) [6]

10. Shooting Star - Wilson, WY (Tom Fazio) [7]

*The Augusta-like greens at historic Palmetto create an enticing challenge that makes you want to get back out and try again after you (most likely) fail the first time.*

The quarry at Manufacturers’ not only dominates social media, it dominates the view from all over this surprisingly big broad valley of a property. Flynn’s routing is brilliant as is the strategy he creates with minimal moves against the land.

*The rollicking greens at Fenway give it the slight nod for me over the other Tilly courses I saw.*

The bunkers and textured grass obviously make for a splendid landscape at Hidden Creek, but so too do the random berms and spoils piles scattered about the property, evoking thoughts of the London Heathland in the South Jersey woods.

*The “Reef” hole is one of many outstanding one-shot holes at Quaker Ridge. The back nine here is outstanding.*

*A cool bunker arrangement at Ridgewood (West hole 2) sneakily extends well back down the fairway.*

*Super deep bunkers and template greens with many subtle tweaks and contours make Forsgate special and challenging.*

*There is no doubt that Shooting Star’s primary asset is the scenery as well as superior landscape creation, such as the man-made stream in this photograph.*

Other courses that caught our interest for different reasons:

Lulu - Glenside, PA (Donald Ross)

Aiken - Aiken, SC (John Inglis with major revisions by Jim McNair)

Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon Course) - Flourtown, PA (A.W. Tillinghast with renovations by Keith Foster)

Peninsula - San Mateo, CA (Donald Ross)

Yahnundasis - New Hartford, NY (Walter Travis)

Jumping Brook - Neptune, NJ (Willard Wilkinson with influence from A.W. Tillinghast)

Cedarbrook - Blue Bell, PA (Bill Mitchell)

Sandy Run - Oreland, PA (J. Franklin Meehan)

Links at Teton Peaks - Driggs, ID (David Druzisky)

Corica Park North (Front 9 only) - Alameda, CA (Rees Jones and Marc Logan)

La Rinconada - Los Gatos, CA (William Jefferson)

Montclair Pitch and Putt - Oakland, CA (Unknown)

*Eccentric features, especially for Ross, at Lulu: a punchbowl green, an obscuring bunker ridge, and sharp alpinisation mounds between holes*

*Aiken is a real treat for the golfing public, especially during a droughty summer stretch that allows the fairways to run out.*

*Two different views over the “Great Hazard” show what a special golf landscape exists on the Wissahickon Course at Philly Cricket Club. It really takes you back in time.*

*Funky greenside mounding at Yahnundasis in Upstate New York.*

*The front nine at Corica Park’s North Course includes lots of ground undulations, tight firm conditions, and the occasional deep revetted bunker.*

*A true “dive-bar” type of little course, the Montclair pitch and putt is a great place to practice your long wedge game*

Other Highlights of the Year

Some of which also loosely relate to golf

My son was born healthily during the middle of the Lake Merced project (thankfully waiting until after we wrapped up holes 12 and 13, though he sure threatened to come sooner!)

*Was very fortunate this year to make a quick stopover in Michigan to watch the Wolverines down the Spartans in the Big House with my two favorite fellow fans, my dad and brother.*

Having the family in Wyoming meant having my daughter often coming out to visit and get her hands dirty at the end of the day. She might just have a future working with Daddy!

*I don’t care if this is mid-April—Jackson Hole is a truly special place.*

*The oaks of South Boundary Ave in Aiken, SC*

*Pit stop at Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve on my way back from Wyoming. What a wonderfully bizarre landscape.*

Watching the 150th Open at St Andrews often felt surreal (especially as much of my viewing was out of the corner of my eye looking at my phone screen while shaping at the Tree Farm). The course, especially with its dry conditions, presents so many shot types and situations, and the aura and scene just looked unreal. If only Rory could’ve made a putt on the final day…

We finally got back to Cornell this year, which was also the first time with kids. Pretty special to go back to the place where our family dreams all started with that family now realized. Also, my daughter couldn’t seem to get enough of it, always running enthusiastically to the next thing. So fun.

*On football Saturdays, many of the holes at The University of Michigan Course turn into something like the 1st/18th at St Andrews on a Sunday. Michigan Football and MacKenzie/Maxwell—what a combo!*

This year’s LPGA Mediheal Championship allowed me the first chance to see any of my work on live TV. Here’s Celine Boutier playing out of the greenside bunker on the canyonside 14th hole at Saticoy.

One of the highlights of the year was my final day in Jackson Hole, where I watched the sun rise on the Wyoming side of Grand Teton and the sun set that same day on the Idaho side while playing golf at the Links at Teton Peaks.

#AnimalContent

Inspired by our friends at The Shotgun Start…

*Deer playing “King of the Mountain” on the Principal’s Nose bunker at Hollywood.*

*Wouldn't be the first day back to work at Teton Pines without an elk herd encounter right where you are to begin work*

*This is cheating a bit since it wasn’t on a golf course, but seeing a badger in person in the daylight is rare enough to make an exception. Seen at the Wildlife Art Museum in Jackson, WY.*

*Part of the maintenance crew at Brambles*

*A lot more foxes on the back nine at Teton Pines; this is one of many sightings throughout the spring*

*A bald eagle flying high over—appropriately enough—Philadelphia at Cedarbrook*

*A golf hawk at Lake Merced (not THAT* Golf Hawk)

*Moose encounter on my walk into work at Teton Pines*

And last but not least, #BucketShots

*A beautiful fall morning wrapping up the back bunker on 12 at Cedarbrook*

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Building the upper tee on the par three 13th at Lake Merced required some (occasionally hilarious) ice plant stripping but also afforded incredible views

*I’ll miss almost always having a view of Grand Teton from the excavator seat*

*Finishing off Josh McFadden’s left fairway cross bunker on the 8th at Lake Merced*

*Chunking on the 4th at Tree Farm. Loved the views from up here!*

*Undoubtedly the biggest stumps I’ve pulled out to date, dug up along the Wissahickon at Cedarbrook*

*It was a true joy to get back and enjoy proper Fall color at Cedarbrook*

*8th hole greenside bunker in progress at Lake Merced, with a tiny peek of Lake Merced itself in the distance.*

*Totally normal May weather at Teton Pines*

A Final Word…

Thank you to all who have made it down this far, and thank you as always to all those who surround me and support me to make this crazy life possible, especially my wife and kids. It’s not easy, and I appreciate it more than you can know.

What was probably the best part of 2022 doesn’t show up in these images, as it was more the behind-the-scenes type of groundwork to set up what should be a more exciting 2023. Stay tuned for some potentially exciting announcements from us soon!

Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year

-Brett

The Best Of: 2021 / December 28, 2021 by Brett Hochstein

“It’s been a long, long time since I’d known the taste of freedom; And those clinging vines that had me bound, well I don’t need ‘em; I’d been like a captured eagle; You know, eagles are born to fly; Now that I have won my freedom, like an eagle, I am eager for the sky”
—from the song “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” by Waxahatchee (Dolly Parton cover)

Up. Forward. Fresh. New. Free.

There was only one way to go, right?

2020 was dark. A low. A halting of habits, hobbies, routines, and commerce. This was certainly true for both myself and Hochstein Design, as I did the lowest amount of golf-related work since floundering about in 2008-09 as a new college graduate with nowhere to go in an industry frozen by the Great Recession.

As the longest year of our lives finally came to a close and 2021 appeared, some of those negative feelings and limitations on life undoubtedly still lingered. And that was to be expected. Changing a number on a calendar can’t just automatically cure all ills and change all fortunes. But the underlying trends at that time pointed toward hope and progress. So, improvement was also to be expected.

Slowly, it began to return. A work and golf-related trip to SoCal in February. Prospective client calls. Deposits to reserve future work dates. New and exciting shaping opportunities. Road-tripping with the family to Jackson Hole for a 2 month project. More shaping projects with new people. Playing golf in amazing, distant places. Completing my first little solo project. Getting hired for bigger and more exciting solo projects. Helping work on a local dream restoration opportunity.

To say this is an improvement upon last year’s almost non-existence is an understatement. It’s also a bit unfair though just to highlight these events and opportunities as a contrast to the non-events, or really, to call last year non-existent. Because while there may have been a dearth of jobs and income, that year certainly existed. The mental weight and anxiety of the unknown existed. The stress of increased responsibilities at home outside of my comfort zone existed. The lack of healthy emotional outlets existed. Huge personal loss existed. Declining mental health existed. I know I’m not alone in this, and you—the one reading this—probably have felt at least some of these things as well.

So, 2021 was not just about the return of work but more about all that comes with that—security, excitement, and a general feeling of self worth. Maybe most of all though, that return came with the opportunity to create—to create something beautiful, something fun, something humorous. There is nothing more satisfying and fulfilling to me than the creativity offered by this odd and wonderful career based on this odd and wonderful game we play. Building golf is a healthy mental outlet, one that I have discovered to be highly important to my overall wellbeing and one that I will not ever be taking for granted, not after losing it a year ago.

2020 and the early parts of this year just about broke me. But, as the cliches and platitudes go, it also made me stronger and that much more appreciative of what I have and what I get to do. I can honestly say this year is the most fun I’ve had in a very long time, both on the machine and off. Everything has been better, sweeter, brighter, clearer. From the feeling of once being trapped, I have now found new freedom and fulfillment. Like an eagle, I am eager for the sky.

The Work

This has been my favorite year of work, and in many ways it has also been the most successful. The types of projects I have gotten to work on have been diverse in all good ways—different locations (Wyoming, Florida, Minnesota, local CA), different people (Thad Layton, Ben Warren, Gil Hanse), and different geologies (gritty riverbed, glacial clay, my home East Bay clay, sand(!!!) ). It’s also come with long awaited solo work, including completing a small project out at Wente Vineyards and getting hired by a new and exciting client with some very cool historical ties. Highlights of this year’s work are listed below.

Favorite Features of the Field

*Taking inspiration from the local features at Teton Pines. Photo courtesy of Thad Layton.*

1. Greens shaping, The Loop at Chaska - I love shaping greens and their surrounds more than anything else we do. The mental exercise of considering the myriad types of shots that can come into a green or the putts played upon them is both exciting and rewarding. Envisioning the ways in which the ball will bounce, roll, and change direction is nearly as thrilling as playing those actual shots. So, when Ben Warren asked me if I’d be interested in helping him build greens that would have only short grass and contours around them and be played at a non-lightning speed, bringing about a desire for more contours, it was easy to reply “definitely!” To add on top of that the course being for a great cause—accessible golf for those with disabilities—and this is not only one of the most fun stints where I’ve been involved but also one of the most rewarding.

2. Helping on a dream restoration at Lake Merced - Ever since first seeing the old pictures of Lake Merced, I’ve been daydreaming about the possibility of putting it back together. Thankfully, Gil Hanse has been tasked with this and has come up with a great plan to do so. Thankfully even more, Gil has let me come on to his team to help put it back together. It’s very exciting and rewarding work that we have just been getting started on right now.

3. Practice Green and Bunker, The Golf Course at Wente Vineyards - We worked alone on this design from start to finish—from an initial concept to shaping it with the excavator to finishing it off with a rake and shovel. Obviously, we had great help in doing so from superintendent Cody Price and his staff, but this was a very satisfying process and one we hope increases soon in the future.

4. Mini-mountain bunkers, Teton Pines - Any time I start a new project, whether on my own or with another designer (Thad Layton of Arnold Palmer Design Co. in this case), I always like to identify the course’s primary asset and see if that is something to be enhanced or inspired by. At Teton Pines, that asset was of the latter variety. The Teton Mountain Range, in my opinion the coolest looking set of mountains on this continent, are visually present throughout most of the round and especially the front nine where we were working. Wanting to do something a bit stylistically different from recent projects, we decided to play off that mountain aesthetic, emphasizing sharp backing landforms with a lower but still jagged and broken sand line. Three dimensional detail and strong shadowing were more the emphasis. It was a lot of fun to create, and they might be my favorite set of bunkers built yet.

Above: Fun with forms at Teton Pines. Third picture (grassed) courtesy of Thad Layton.

5. Bunkers bleeding into natives, West Palm Golf Park - It had been awhile since working in sand. Six years, to be exact. So, getting back into it at a place with nothing but it was a thrill. Not only is sand easier to work with and better for fast/firm turf, it offers great creative opportunities and instances of instant gratification in making things look natural and 100 years old. It also makes it really easy to blend sand bunkers right into their sandy surrounds. Gil Hanse and the Cavemen happen to emphasize this sort of thing, and it was a ton of fun getting to play around with those transitions and blending.

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Above: images of rough-shaped and growing-in bunkers at West Palm Golf Park

H.M. Tweaks and additions at Orinda CC—reworking parts of the 18th green and adding a new bunker on 16/17

**Favorite Features off the Field**

*Part of a series that includes every section of the course, I drew this Old Course plan 11 years ago while studying over there.*

1. Getting hired to consult on and lead future projects at the City of Sacramento’s City Courses. I can’t wait to get deeper into this opportunity, especially at Haggin Oaks, the ground upon which originally sat an Alister MacKenzie course with greens arguably wilder than those at Pasatiempo.

2. Being inspired by a round at Ballyneal and the return of The Open Championship and deciding to pen a links-inspired piece about the joy of golf’s puzzles for The Fried Egg.

3. Seeing an old plan-view sketch of mine of the Old Course printed in the first edition of The Links Diary

4. Continuing to set up and add to the new home office

Best Work “Experiences”

1. Seeing grass immediately go down on solo work at Wente It’s always like going from black and white to color, and because I maxed out the finish work time all the way to the last minute, I was able to see this transformation literally as I was raking out the final tie-ins.

2. Raging out to punk rock while carving out some wild greens at The Loop at Chaska Something about the wetlands, oaks, and nearby Initech-like office building brought me back mentally to the early high school summer days in Oakland County, MI and led me to want to nostalgically rock out to the fast-paced riffs of 90s/early 00s punk rock while shoving big piles of clay and sipping coffee.

*A beautiful winter’s day…in late April*

3. Battling the snow at Teton Pines, also while raging out to punk rock. Ridgetop has an open cab dozer, so when I wanted to use it to quickly edit a bunker fill-in during a blustery and flurry-filled Saturday afternoon in May (yes, May), there was no choice but to throw on a hat, jacket, and gloves and crank up the volume. There were many more instances of the snow coming down hard while instead sheltered in the heated comfort of the excavator. For those, I “mellowed” out and reverted to early 90s grunge that was the staple of my childhood winters.

4. Pre/Post storm skies at West Palm Moody gray skies were a welcome change from the relentless California sun. Also the Florida sun, which is only a bit less relentless.

5. Wildlife. Moose, mule deer, bald eagles, and an entire herd of Elk at Teton Pines. A heron stealthily stalking fish right next to me at Chaska. A friendly snake in the dirt at Wente. Coyotes hunting the plentiful giant lime-green iguanas at West Palm Golf Park. Also coyotes at Lake Merced.

*Plentiful wildlife at Teton Pines. The cover image of the eagle at the top of this article is also from The Pines.*

The Golf

*A spiritual experience for many reasons. Rock Creek in Montana.*

Safe to say this was also a big rebound from the previous year. While travel was generally limited across all fronts last year, so too were the opportunities to see new golf that comes with travel both for work and otherwise. This year was more than a reversion to the mean, as shaping opportunities in new states afforded the opportunity to see even more golf, including some of those tough-to-get-to locations in the middle of the country. Minnesota had the most to see of all my stints, and the Twin Cities’ offerings impressed me more than I expected. The real highlights though came from some of those remote destinations as my car got as far as seeing the cold waters of Lake Superior, the long plains of Nebraska, and the mountain peaks of Big Sky Montana.

Best New-to-me Golf Courses Seen in 2021

Yearly Disclaimer: Note that this list is just a casual indicator of how good I feel a course is. It is a combination of how I think it holds up for a range of players as well as how much I personally like it.

The brackets [ ] indicate a "Doak Scale" rating. It should be understood that I didn't spend the same amount of time on every place and that they were all first time visits. These rankings and ratings are somewhat arbitrary and based on what I saw, understood, and felt about each course. I also get admittedly swayed by firm conditions and links golf in particular; a true links course generally gets boosted by 1 or even 2 "Doak points" whenever I rate it.

Really, this should just be fun and give a general idea of what I like in a golf course.

1. Cypress Point - Pebble Beach, CA; Alister MacKenzie [10] I finally did it. Eleven years after moving to NorCal and figuring, “I will get out there (Cypress) eventually,” and that not happening for different reasons, it was time to force the issue and seek out a walkabout. After all, it felt like required study prep before working at Lake Merced. So, with much gratitude, I was able to make this happen. To be honest, I expected to be a little bit underwhelmed by Cypress. Before you start yelling at your screen, know that this thought was relative. The hype is just so high and the writing about it so voluminous, and I had seen parts of it from distance while ambling along 17 Mile Drive. But having partial glances of the course from the movement of a car or looking at a picture on Instagram is not at the same as being out there, cool air on the face and fresh dew on the shoes. No, that is a completely different experience entirely. The magic is real. No course combines such beautiful and distinct settings like Cypress, with the coastal cliffs over waters with every shade of blue, Cypress forest with the coolest trees known to mankind, and dunes with more color and textural variety than perhaps any other system in the world. Of course, MacKenzie finds a way with the routing to beautifully mingle back and forth between the dunes and forest, all while leaving the clifftop crescendo for the end. And it isn’t just the scenery nor what is surely the best version of all MacKenzie bunkering—the golf is also extremely compelling, strategic, and fun. On the front 9’s par fives, ball placement and trajectory over clever slopes and contours is critical to the player’s success, especially as Jeff Markow has the ryegrass fairways playing much firmer and faster than I had expected. The back-to-back short par fours at 8 and 9 demand careful play with soft touch. A simple appearing, wide-open fairway at 13 can lull you into complacency instead of trying to hug the scrub on the right for the better angle into the green. Narrower holes through Cypress tunnels like 14 and 18 require not just accuracy but distance control to get a shot at the green. Greens contours throughout the round sweep balls madly and caution approaches and recovery shots. And do I need to even say anything about 15, 16, and 17? Cypress Point is one of the best golf courses and most special experiences in the world. Next time, I hope to do it with clubs in hand.

*The undulating, shallow green on the par 3 12th at Rock Creek.*

2. Rock Creek Cattle Company - Deer Lodge, MT; Tom Doak [9] Simply put, this was a spiritual experience. Following a very busy project at Teton Pines and not seeing much over the previous year and a half, I made the trek north from Wyoming to Montana to see a course that Tom Doak seems to talk about as much as any of his but is also perhaps more isolated golf-wise than anything else of its stature. It was an opportunity and reward that could not be passed up. It was also one that did not disappoint.

Delayed by a storm, I teed off late the first evening there, determined to get around to at least the 15th hole near the clubhouse before total darkness kicked in. The reward for doing so was this utterly beautiful and dramatic course in utterly beautiful and dramatic evening light all to myself. The sun came out, and its low angle helped cast shadows and illuminate all the amazing ground contours present, both (very) big and small. I chose to walk as I always do, even if risking getting stranded in the dark, and doing so made me get a better sense for what a brilliant routing this was, especially given the thousands of acres that were available for Doak’s choosing. There is a large amount of elevation change throughout the course, but its effect on the legs is not badly felt. A lot of the gain comes early in the first 6 holes, and because those are mostly uphill in a gradual sort of manner, you don’t really notice the climb as much, especially because so much comes while playing golf (during a hole) as opposed to not playing golf (between holes). Through the first 3 holes, which appear pretty open and flatter, you have gained 100 feet. Hole 4 then gains 100 alone. By the 6th green, you have gained a total of 300. And then, the rollercoaster begins with the 7th and it’s thrilling downhill tee shot to a massively wide fairway in the woods. 8 is a picturesque little par 3 playing over the Rock Creek, and then holes 9-13 play over a series of big plateaus and gullies on open high ground loaded with distant views before diving downhill on 14 and 15 toward a 3 hole finish low along Rock Creek. It’s beautifully sequenced.

There is a very real advantage to finding the left side of the fairway on hole 11. Many architects would just have the low be out-of-play trouble. Doak’s genius is instead making that fairway and adding a whole new dynamic to the hole.

To add to that genius routing, the holes themselves are both brilliant and fun. On the obviously visual side, widths are varied and bunkers staggered throughout, constantly asking you where to play shots both in length and angle. On the less obvious side, the contours also play big role in where you want to be and advantages that can be gained or lost from them. Some of these were big and obvious (such as avoiding the left drop-off on the 7th tee shot to keep from having a blind shot over a rocky hill, or staying left off the tee on 11 to avoid having a big uphill second shot), but it felt like there were a lot more out there that not even my trained eye could pick up from a first two go-rounds. That is great for a members course and adds an extra layer of depth to an experience that is no doubt spectacular on the surface and enjoyable even just from a single play.

It was back up on the 10th tee that first evening that I had my moment. I knew that to be the famous one that garnered Josh Smith’s oil painting for Volume 3 of The Confidential Guide, and I wisely ran up to it to the tee prematurely to be able to capture it in two different settings of the rapidly changing light. It really is an incredible spot up there, and to have that moment, in that context, in that space, was something I won’t ever forget. Those moments are what make golf truly special among all other games and what make several hundred mile detours worth it. I’d highly recommend making the effort.

3. Oakland Hills (South) - Bloomfield Twp., MI; Donald Ross, recently restored by Gil Hanse [9] I’ve said it before, but it was a long time dream of mine to someday restore Oakland Hills to the Donald Ross version. With that, I had always expected it would take the amount of time for me to make it big enough to do so for it to ever happen. With the success of many restorations though across the country and those done by Gil Hanse in particular, we didn’t have to wait that long, and it has become a dream I’m more than happy not to live myself, for just seeing it come to life the right way sooner is better. The work done is awesome. The brilliant glacial landscape has been fully revealed, and the appropriately large-scale Rossian “scooped out pit” bunkering has returned. Ross writes about them in Golf Has Never Failed Me, but I do not know of any other sites where he actually employed them, which made doing it at Oakland Hills that much more important. They are now back, along with new additions in that style, and it makes for not only a strong and distinguished look but also for more interesting golf for the regular playing members. Whereas the Jones version monotonously punished drives of a longer length, the Ross/Hanse bunkering is more varied and staggered, challenging different players at different times, including those who cannot reach greens in “regulation.” The course is now much more interesting, strategic, beautiful, and classic, and there can be no more debate once again about who is king in Southeast Michigan.

*Ross’s simple but elegant “scooped-out pits” are back at Oakland Hills.*

4. Seminole - Juno Beach, FL; Donald Ross, with revisions by Dick Wilson and others [8] I really didn’t get to see Seminole at its best since it was a dreary day at the tail of their offseason, which makes it hard to get a true feel for its regular aesthetic and, more importantly, how fearsome it regularly plays. Still though, it is obvious to see the brilliant routing by Ross that maximized the few natural features available, namely the two dune ridges at the west and coastal east boundaries of the property, the former of which is experienced on both the front and the back nines. The greens are obviously scary too even if not seeing them at full speeds. Their history and reputation is well earned, but I also found myself wondering they might have been like in Ross’s time just after the course was first built. The current set seems to be very difficult indeed, but the way to approach them defensively didn't seem obvious or at times possible. I’d have to spend some more time looking at them, especially at full speed, to make more proper judgment, which in itself is often a mark of a good set of greens.

5 (t). Dismal River (Red) - Mullen, NE; Tom Doak [8] I hadn’t seen the course since we sprayed the last bits of hydroseed in the fall of 2012. Nearly ten years after first breaking ground and my first days working for Tom Doak, I had some emotions both going into this and during it. There was excitement and warm nostalgia, but there was also a bit of trepidation based on things I had heard about the course and its care in recent years. Those worries did have a bit of truth to them, as the shaggy, soft presentation made for a playing experience far from the fast and firm one that was intended. What I found though while quietly traversing those hills alone in the twilight of day was a course even better than the one I had remembered helping build. That setting on the back nine down below the bluffs and near the Dismal River is unlike any other golf in the Sand Hills, having this sense of intimacy in one of the most vast stretches of land in this country. It was special to work here, but it is also special to play here.

5 (t). CapRock Ranch - Valentine, NE; Gil Hanse [8] In my drive back from Minnesota to California, I had to not only take advantage of the opportunity to get back to places like Dismal River but also see some new ones like CapRock. Valentine was one direction I had not ventured while working at Dismal, so it was a new experience to see a landscape that blended a bit more with those of the Dakotas to the north. And that is largely what CapRock is: a Sand Hills course with a craggier, pine-laden side to it. A majority of the course plays through more typical dunes land, but over a third of it plays up to, along, and over a rocky bluff overlooking the rocky, piney Snake River canyon. Gil Hanse’s routing beautifully manages to encounter this distinctive feature on both nines, including the dramatic 4-hole stretch to finish. What also stands out about the course are the greens, which have more contour than any others in the Nebraska Sand Hills (note I have not seen Prairie Club) but never seem to cross that line into feeling forced or gimmicky. They, along with the tightly mowed approaches, are still very young and firm too, which makes for a lot of fun approach shots and pitches.

7. White Bear Yacht Club - Dellwood, MN; William Watson, Donald Ross [8] An up and down thrill ride of a course through some of the choppiest glacial terrain that is so common in the upper Midwest and so great for interesting golf. With regards to its features the course isn’t really like any Ross or Watson course I have seen, and there is nothing wrong with that. Rather, it’s more just its own thing with elements of funk more common to the 1910s era in which it was built. Geometric bunkers, blind shots, and wildly pitched greens are charming and scattered all throughout the round. The first hole is a great example of things to come, with a big knob in the middle of the fairway that you try to drive to for a good look at the green, a comically deep (35 feet?) grass faced greenside bunker, and a green tucked behind a short grass knob. Game on!

White Bear Yacht Club’s wild land and funky features kick you right in the teeth to start here at the 1st. Note the tiny flag just behind the hump on the green to get a proper sense of the scale here. Don’t miss left!

8. Minikahda - Minneapolis, MN; Robert Foulis, redesigned by Donald Ross, with recent restoration work by Kyle Franz [7] Great land, great Ross restoration work by Kyle Franz, and a cool club location on a lake looking across to the Minneapolis skyline all swayed my opinions of this place. That, and Jeff Johnson’s perfectly manicured fast and firm bentgrass turf. On the front nine, the land and tight greenside bunkering are the stars of the show. Once you get to the back though, the greens start to take over, particularly the 11th and 13th with little internal wrinkles that break 3 ways within 10 feet. Crossing the street to play the 15th-17th isn’t as big an issue to me as that triangle of holes has a cool feel and have gotten really good with Franz’s working of them. Finishing 18 next to the old ornate clubhouse with views of the lake and skyline is very unusual and cool. I can’t think of anything else quite like it.

9. Ballyneal (Mulligan) - Holyoke, CO; Tom Doak [7] This is the trouble with rating and ranking par 3 courses, especially those attached to other courses, and especially when those other courses are outstanding. If I had to base it straight on how much fun I had and the types of shots I was able to try out, it would probably be top 5. The greens on the Mulligan are, both appropriately and surprisingly, bolder and wilder than those on the main course. It should come as no surprise then that they are a blast to hit shots into, but they might be even more fun when your tee shot doesn’t quite find your target and you have to find a way to negotiate something like a 15 foot tall tier in the middle of the green. The theme of “solving the puzzle” undoubtedly continues out on the Mulligan.

*Solving the puzzle on The Mulligan—counterintuitively, the yellow line played left of the green from that angle is the better route to get close. Sometimes it’s more fun to miss the green!*

10. Northland - Duluth, MN; Donald Ross [7] This place has always had my curiosity ever since Zach Varty first mentioned it while we were raking grass roots in the heat at Dismal River. Donald Ross on bluffs overlooking Lake Superior? Yes, please! And that is much what you get. The routing snakes its way up the hill and through the woods in a big sort of S-shaped out-and-back. Kyle Franz has slowly started to restore bunkering, and where he has, the effect is very strong and feels old. Combined with the leaner, firmer, scruffy presentation that is an absolute blast to play, the overall feeling is that of a throwback, which is perfect in my book. Our host and liaison for the Chaska project, Tim Anderson, is a good player with a low ball flight, and it was a joy to watch him judge the ground game on long approach shots. My only knock on the course is that the greens were a bit simple in nature, even if tilting in scary ways (also need to keep going with the bunker work). With all else going on, though, perhaps you don’t need much more than that.

11. Soule Park - Ojai, CA; with recent renovation work by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner [7] I had seen the pictures of the cosmetic improvements at Soule Park, namely the bunkers in the style of George Thomas and Billy Bell, but I didn’t realize just how much Wagner and Hanse had done here with regards to the strategy and interest of the course. Soule Park has a really interesting set of greens, and they are on a bigger scale than you might expect, especially for a local muni. This place and Rustic Canyon really make for quite the public duo at the northern bounds of the SoCal region.

12. Midland Hills - St. Paul, MN; Seth Raynor, with recent restoration work by Jim Urbina [6] Joe Hancock kept insisting that I get over to see Midland Hills and meet its history-minded superintendent Mike Manthey. I did get over to play a final, farewell-to-Minnesota round, but unfortunately didn’t get to meet Mike. Joe was right that the course was worth the trip, as the work that he and Jim Urbina did over there turned out really great. The property is pretty good too, and what I’m sure was a pretty heavy amount of tree clearing helped reveal it and give it an appropriate, classic pastoral feel. Highlights to me were the sweeping 2nd, the reveal over the hill on 3, the teasing 8th tee shot, the tumbling 10th and its angled green, and the unsuspecting Punchbowl 14th. I didn’t think the Redan hole quite worked as it should, but overall the course is very solid, well looked after and presented.

13. Victoria - Riverside, CA; Max Behr [6] While not at the top end of the list, this is on the top end of courses seen this year that I find myself most thinking about. There was a brilliant article posted earlier this year on The Fried Egg about “Big Golf” vs. “Small Golf” in which “Big Golf” is more grandly scaled, more highly constructed, more “thought-out” strategically, and more refined compared to “Small Golf,” which is smaller-scaled, more randomly strategic, and less refined. Most Scottish links courses fall into the “Small Golf” category; so too does Victoria. With few visual frills (outside of odd trees, man-made ponds, and landscape additions over the years) and an odd but largely simple piece of land, Victoria is super fun with sporty golf shots and strategic decisions—both obvious and subtle—throughout. It showed to me how, with careful routing moves and shrewd use of features (bunkers, barrancas, green shapes and tilts), a maximum effect can be had on the interest of the golf with minimal physical efforts in the design. Couple that with super fast dormant bermuda turf, and it feels just like battling against a quirky links back across the pond. It’s brilliant. A low-key, Behr-emphasized restoration would be perfect here.

14. Interlachen - Minneapolis, MN (back nine only); Donald Ross [6, but a 7 and ranking next to Minikahda if front 9 is as good as the back. I am admittedly unfairly judging the front from a long distance view.] Interlachen sits on some great glacial ground that reminds me of some of the great courses back in Detroit, including Ross’s outstanding Oakland Hills and Franklin Hills. I only got to see the back nine on this day, but what I did see was very good, including the opening and finishing holes. The 10th reminded me a lot of a slightly longer version of the awesome Volcano 13th at Franklin Hills but with a larger and more varied green. The 18th is a very cool funneling green that is sadly not as functional at modern green speeds. A newer version that is still fearsome could probably be had if very carefully done. I would only ever approach that task with an excavator, and I wouldn’t even think about touching the 10th in an attempt to lengthen it. In between these holes are a series of strong holes that play up, down, and through more good natural land. I’d love to get back and revisit this course at a slower pace to take more of it in.

15. Town & Country Club- St. Paul, MN; [6] If you want to take a trip back in time to see what golf was like even before the Golden Age, head out to Town & Country in the Twin Cities. Situated on a bluff over the Mississippi, the land is a series of high plateaus divided by deep, broad, ancient tributary troughs to the river—much different from the typical glacial land found over the rest of the region. The holes play through and along them with no major earthworks to alleviate the blindness or severity that is sometimes encountered. The greens have that very old sort of charm to them—squared and utilitarian but often contained a lot of tilt and some interesting random subtle interior contours. The bunkering is just starting to be restored to that same simple aesthetic by Jeff Mingay and will be great to see when complete. He has currently already done the 3rd with it’s horseshoe bunker ringing the green and the 9th, which is a funky little thing with the higher part of its landform on the approaching side instead of the back, done as a means to divert water around it from the cascading slope above. Town & Country also has my new favorite teeing grounds—a flat spot on short grass right in between the 6th and 12th greens—that is also a great example of very old golf.

*Old school funk and charm at Town and Country*

H.M. Royal Golf Club - Lake Elmo, MN Arnold Palmer Design Co. and Annika Sorenstam [6]; Tributary (Formerly Huntsman Springs) - Driggs, ID David Kidd [6 (back nine only)] Chaska Town Course - Chaska, MN Arthur Hills [6 (front nine only)]; Old Works - Anaconda, MT Jack Nicklaus [5]; Hazeltine National - Chaska, MN Robert Trent Jones, with revisions by Rees Jones [5]; Braemar - Edina, MN Richard Mandell [5] Teton Pines - Wilson, WY Arnold Palmer [5]; Richmond CC - Richmond, CA Pat Markovich [4]; Cinnabar Hills - San Jose, CA John Harbottle [4]; Palm Beach Par 3 - Palm Beach, FL Ray Floyd [4]

Best Playing/Walking Experiences

*What a cool experience to revisit the scene of many rake strokes and sand-filled boots from my start with Doak 10 years ago. Dismal River (Red), hole 13.*

Really, too many to list this year, but I listed them anyway. A perfect round of 20 it is…

1. Rock Creek sundown. See above “spiritual experience.”

2. Seeing Dismal again, sundown. A setting for golf even more special than I remembered, and seeing all the little things and micro contours I helped make with a sand pro all those years ago was very cool.

3. Cypress Point crack of dawn walk with Riley Johns. Perfect light and temperature with some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen. The golf course itself was even more magical than that.

4. Ballyneal with turf interns Matt Rouches and Jax Hoefling. What is so fun about Ballyneal are not the shots taken during your actual round but trying those other ones out after and trying to figure out which big contour is the right one to play off of. There was no one behind myself and the two interns I played with, so we took our time trying out all sorts of crazy routes to get to the hole, some of which surprised us. What a joy.

5. Round with my dad and brother at UofM. It doesn’t get much better than playing with your family, especially on an old Alister MacKenzie/Perry Maxwell design. The greens were better and more interesting than I remembered and got me even more excited for the course’s potential. As always when there, our thoughts, eyes, and conversation would occasionally drift to that big old stadium across the street, and we all agreed we (nor anyone) knew anything about what the upcoming football season would be like. Little did we know, indeed…

6. Streamsong weekend with the Caveman crew. Nothing like a weekend break to play some inspiring golf. Still can’t believe Josh McFadden and I let our match slip away to 2-handicap Neil Cameron and Mid-Am champ Lukas Michel on the 18th hole of the Blue. But really, I can since it seems at this point an impossibility to keep myself from blocking the tee shot to the right on that hole. The tie would have left some bit of satisfaction, but of course Streamsong has a bye hole that Lukas managed to stick a 3 footer and close us out after I missed yet another 7 footer.

7. Pasatiempo with Riley Johns and Jim Urbina. Always fun to see Riley again, and cool to go around with someone who knows the course and its restoration so well in Jim Urbina.

*Northland: Donald Ross with ridiculous views*

8. Starting off Minnesota right with Ben Warren and Tim Anderson at Northland. Unusually warm temps for Duluth in the 90s added something extra to the experience of blufftop Lake Superior-view Donald Ross golf.

9. A “Pink Moment” at Soule Park with Micah Peuschel and Parker Anderson. I had never heard of this phrase for the period just after sundown in the Ojai Valley, but yeah, it applies. Those mountains turn pink. Great group to play with too on one of America’s great munis.

10. CapRock with superintendent Mike McCauley and assistant Brady Pike. Fun golf with a fun couple of young superintendents set to do great work there.

*CapRock’s dramatic finish on the bluffs. The 18th is here with the 17th to the distant left. Also, squint hard to see the 16th flag on the right side distant horizon.*

11. Slowly taking in the Oakland Hills restoration on an empty maintenance Monday. Always wonderful and more educational to take in all the improvements at a measured pace.

12. White Bear Yacht Club with Tom Helgeson. Cool enough playing the course as it is, but cooler yet playing it with someone who knows it and its history well.

*Mouth-watering conditions and contours for links-lovers at Victoria*

13. A linksy and sporty knock-about Victoria with David Ober. David is not only a skilled golfer, he is also one who does it with a lower ball flight and shorter distance. That made it a real joy to see him hit it around Victoria, which was playing almost like a summer UK links on this dry SoCal winter day.

14. Browned out Meadow Club. It’s incredibly difficult what Sean Tully has had to deal with for the drought and irrigation at Meadow Club, and they face some seriously tough questions going forward. That said though, the course was really fun to play in that state, the ball rolling forever and making for some memorably long tee shots but also bringing much more trouble into play. Maybe there is some sort of silver lining where the club can embrace a future with a more drought-tolerant turf regime and the course eventually plays something a bit more like this (which is a direction they have been moving anyway with topdressing and other firm-friendly practices).

15. Wrap up round in Minnesota at Midland Hills with Ben Warren, Jonathan Reisetter, and member/Raynor fan Ross Walkowiak. The dreary weather couldn't dim our spirits, and maybe it even lifted them a bit as we got the course to ourselves on a late Saturday afternoon.

16. Sundown walks at Minikahda, Town & Country, and Hazeltine. Pretty special to get to walk over these great pieces of ground in solitude at the most beautiful time of day.

17. Late night 9 at Teton Pines after the Valley had re-awakened from Spring. Complete with moose encounter. I had not been on the back nine before, but it was a nice change of pace from the open, pond-laden front. The trees and marshy vegetation made for a nice setting, and the golf was more interesting and solid than I had expected. And then there was a moose in the woods, which I had also not expected.

*Finishing by faintest of light with the Cavemen. From left: Brad Gehl, Tanner Guyer, Josh McFadden, and Neil Cameron.*

18. After work twilight on the Palm Beach Par 3. The golf could certainly be better, but its still pretty nice to wind down at a spot with the sun setting over the inter-coastal on one side and the Atlantic Ocean crashing at the other.

19. Seeing the evening sun hit the Tetons from the opposite angle at Tributary. Extra satisfying knowing I had finished up at Teton Pines earlier that day.

20. Striking some Miura blades at Carl’s Golfland in Michigan with my old friend Don Ambrose. “Uncle Donny Slams” is my old high school English teacher who is a big fan of course design, which is a part of the reason we’ve stayed in touch all these years later. This was probably the first time I’d been to Carl’s since high school too. Trying out his Miura blades though was a revelatory experience that I did not expect. I have not paid much attention to equipment design over the years, but I’ve started to, gravitating toward craftsmanship just as I do architecture. I’ve never been as giddy hitting range balls as I was his set of “samurai swords.” Just need to finally get around to getting fitted for a set now.

Best Conditions (AKA Champions of Firm and Fast)

*Fine fescue fairways, in addition to the abandoned mine setting, are the other main attraction at Old Works.*

This list isn’t about uniformity, color, or a common notion of perfection. It’s just about how the ball reacts and rolls (namely, bouncy and fast). SoCal gets a boost this year from the combination of drought and dormant winter Bermuda. Superintendent, if known, listed in italics.

1. Ballyneal (Mulligan and main course) Jared Kalina

2. Old Works

3. Victoria

4. Soule Park

5. Northland

H.M. Minikahda Jeff Johnson, Town & Country Bill Larsen, Midland Hills Mike Manthey, Chaska Town Course, Braemar, Oakland Hills Phil Cafare, CapRock (will be in the top 5 after a year or two of tightening the young fairways) Mike McCauley, Cypress Point Jeff Markow

The Everything Else

As I said before, this was also one of the most fun years I’ve had off the machine. Between long, peaceful drives across this great land, visits with family, watching my daughter grow up way too fast, the return of exploration, exciting family news, and the most fun college football season since 1997, it’s been a wonderful time.

Favorite Cities

*Jackson, WY, like Santa Barbara the year before, is also “stupid beautiful.”*

1. Jackson, WY

2. San Francisco/Daly City, CA

3. Twin Cities, MN

4. Lake Worth, FL

5. Home!

Best Commutes

I really only add this section this year to make note of…

*This will lift your spirits every morning*

1. Jackson Hole, WY …The most spectacular daily commute I’ve yet to have. Rounding the corner of West Gros Ventre Butte and seeing Grand Teton glowing in the early morning light over a broad field of horses and the occasional elk is a drive one can’t tire of, no matter what the thermometer says.

2. Lake Worth, FL Having just a ten minute drive to work is a real luxury, especially when you can take a not too busy road loaded with charming old Florida houses and palm trees glowing in the first light of day.

3. Bay Area, CA (“low” traffic version) It may not be the shortest time wise, but getting to go from your house to working on Alister MacKenzie features among sandy hills and Cypress trees (then getting to go back to your house and family after) is a pretty cool thing. Seeing the Bay in the first light of day along with the San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate Bridge are things that I do not take for granted, either.

4. Twin City suburbs, MN Much of the drive and Chaska itself made me nostalgic for where I grew up in Metro Detroit, where suburbia slowly bled out into pastoral fields, woods, and wetlands.

[large gap]

5. Bay Area, CA (“high” traffic version) Still, taking almost 2 hours to go somewhere that can be 30 minutes isn’t much fun, especially after a long day. I’ve somehow found a way to be more zen-like during these drives though, which has helped both energy and morale.

Favorite food by Place

Jackson: Elk Burger - Jackson Drug. HM to grilling elk steaks, bison ribeyes, and 21 day dry-aged local beef

Minnesota: Crusted Walleye - Hazeltine Clubhouse

Florida: Cuban crocquetas

MUSIC

Music was interesting this year. With the return of so many good things and new experiences, I thought there would be more strong standouts that I would latch onto as the mental playlist for 2021. Perhaps it’s the Spotify phenomenon, where it’s easy to let it curate a series of inter-related songs instead of forced repeat listens to whole albums, but I found myself listening to a lot of different stuff and enjoying it but not having it stick in ways it used to, especially when it came to albums. As such, a lot of the albums in the list weren’t as far apart to me in quality as they usually were, and none were an obvious number 1. It was more like one big “solid” group where 9 is almost as good as 1. Some certain songs tended to stand out though in more meaningful ways for different reasons.

Best Albums

1. Long Lost - Lord Huron

2. Today We’re The Greatest - Middle Kids

3. The Ghosts That Haunt Me - Crash Test Dummies

4. Saint Cloud +3 - Waxahatchee

5. Making a Door Less Open - Car Seat Headrest

6. Glowing in the Dark (Deluxe Edition) - Django Django

7. Absolute Loser - Fruit Bats

8. Loaded - The Velvet Underground

9. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA’s Desert Origins - Pavement

10. Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon

11. Shore - Fleet Foxes

12. Holy Smokes Future Jokes - Blitzen Trapper

13. V. - Wooden Shjips

14. Diamonds and Pearls* - Prince and the New Power Generation

15. Sun and Shade - Woods

H.M. Feel Flows - The Beach Boys; Pythons (Deluxe Edition)- Surfer Blood; Get a Grip* - Aerosmith; It’s a Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads; Revisiting every Punk-o-Rama Vol. 7 and earlier

Best Songs

1. “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” - Waxahatchee (Dolly Parton Cover) See opening remarks at top of article.

2. "Hug of Thunder" - Broken Social Scene. Almost skipped this song while driving south through the Central Valley but had this sense it was building toward something. Good sense, as it became one of my favorite songs of the last couple years.

3. “Desperadoes Under the Eaves” - Warren Zevon. The lyrics of despair in the first half compared to the sounds of hope in the second half were really on theme. Also just a damn good song.

4. “Long Lost” - Lord Huron

5. "Cellophane" - Middle Kids

6. “The Ghosts That Haunt Me” - Crash Test Dummies

7. "Requiem" - Blitzen Trapper

8. “Can’t Cool Me Down” - Car Seat Headrest

9. “Feel Flows—Track and Backing Vocals” (full track also, but this stripped down version really caught my attention in a haunting way) - The Beach Boys

10. The first 3 songs of Django Django’s album. I couldn't pick just one, especially when the first, “Spirals,” starts with an auditory version of a Fibonacci Sequence.

11. "Thunder" - Prince and the New Power Generation.* This rediscovery took me back to the backseat of my mom’s car driving to my Grandpa’s bowling center in western Wayne County.

12. “Can I Believe You” - Fleet Foxes

13. “The Obvious Child” - Paul Simon. Those drums…

14. “Good for You” - Porridge Radio and Lala Lala. Lala Lala seriously needs to make a new album.

15. “American Dream” - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. A cheesy but delightful late-version of CSNY

16. “Trouble Me” - 10,000 Maniacs

17. “This Whole World” - The Beach Boys

18. “Shane” - Fruit Bats

19. “Confetti to the Hurricane” - The Deer

20. “Pump It Up” - Endor. Don’t you know? Pump it up. You’ve got to pump it up.

H.M. “‘74-’75” - The Connells; “Winter Song” - Crash Test Dummies; “My Drug Buddy” - The Lemonheads; “Pass It On” - Billy Bragg; “On Fire” - Bigott; “Heavy Days” - Still Corners; “Money” - D/R Period (I finally started watching Breaking Bad while in Florida); “Anything Could Happen” - The Clean; “1880 or So” - Television; “We Are The Youth” - Jack River; “I Feel Alive” - TOPS; “From a Soon To Be Ghost Town” - Fruit Bats; “Superman’s Song” - Crash Test Dummies

*Song/album not new to me, but it meant a lot to the fabric of this year in revisiting it.

Non-Golf Experiences of the Year

1. 42-27. Sports fandom, when stripped down, is a silly thing. Why allow the efforts and results of a separate group of people competing in a separate event of competition affect your own emotions? It’s a bit ridiculous. If there is another thing learned from COVID and 2020 though, it’s the reason why we love sports—community and togetherness. Without fans, the games were just not the same. Nowhere was that more true than in college football, where the crowds are the biggest, traditions run deepest, and gameday rituals and gatherings last from dawn until dusk. Programs also tend to reflect the character of their university and regional culture more than with any other sport, creating a stronger bond not just between athlete and fan but also with your fellow supporters. As Michigan fans, we are united in many ways, one of which leading into this season was a bit of an existential malaise of negativity that this Harbaugh thing would not work, and therefore, nothing might ever work. What saddened me more was that perhaps the “right” way of doing things—highlighted in John U. Bacon’s 2019 book Overtime as building character, being responsible for your actions, actually going to class, and generally being good citizens (actions which were also demonstrated on this years team with Blake Corum and JJ McCarthy recently giving back some of their NIL earnings in that form of athlete payment’s first year of existence)—was no longer tenable in 2021 if you also wanted to win games.

I did not attend the University of Michigan, but my love for it and its teams was passed down to me at a young age from my father, who did. More critically, it became a positive component of many childhood memories, watching games with my brother, friends, and dad on the big projector screen at our family’s bowling lanes bar immediately following our Saturday morning leagues. Keith Jackson would often be on the call, and the weight of the game and its moments always seemed palpable, both because of his majestic ability to convey its importance and the waxing and waning amount of casual bowlers who would pop in and out to see what was going on, especially in the 4th quarter. Ohio State games always felt big, and I remember moments such as running up and down the concourse when Marcus Ray’s interception sealed the upset in 1996, going nuts for Woodson’s big plays in 97, or not realizing I had the first 8 strikes in my last game of league en route to an almost-perfect 299 because I was too busy nervously running back into the bar to see if the Wolverines could get themselves out of their early 9-0 deficit in the 2000 version of The Game (they eventually did). As big as all that felt though and the fond memories fostered, I neither realized at the time how unusual it was for Michigan to win that much nor just how big the rivalry and how intense the opposing fanbase was. This was before the internet, before I started living out of state, and before Jim Tressel somehow made good on his ridiculous promise in 2001. There was very little in the way of interaction with the fans in the state to the south. As soon I started to get a grasp on what Ohio State fans really thought of Michigan and really being able to feel what the rivalry meant, it was too late to get to savor a win that would somehow be even bigger and more satisfying with that added layer of schadenfreude. As the years went on and the losses piled up—one win since 2003—that longed-for win became simultaneously more monumental, more desirable, and more distant. Certainly, in 2021, it would be waiting for at least another year and likely several beyond.

As this season approached, I didn’t know what to expect. No one did, as the team exposed nothing from spring and fall practices, 6 assistant coaches were swapped out for younger and less experienced guys, and the previous year’s disastrous 2-4 team provided little data as well as little hope. They could be anywhere from 4-8 to 10-2 by seasons end, more likely toward the bottom. I was just happy though that real football with actual fans would be back, and as I sat in my car to watch the season’s opening drive on my phone while awaiting a 12:50 tee time at Streamsong Black, I can admit to being a bit emotional as the camera first panned across a full stadium and the crowd boisterously chanted along to that famous Jack White guitar riff as the ball kicked off. A quick 7-0 score over the Western Michigan Broncos and hearing the noisy stadium was a pleasant start but also a sign of things to come. A much bigger sign. They’d win that game 47-14 after only being favored by 17, and they would win again the next week against Washington in an even wilder Maize-out environment, and they would keep on winning, seemingly gaining momentum and confidence all along the way. Eventually, this success started to become real, as did some faint—very faint—hopes of beating Ohio State. After so many years of heartbreak though, I would only believe it when I saw it.

And then, on that late November day, I saw it. All three and a half glorious hours of maximum effort and execution, being played out in the way that as an underdog fan you only dream or fantasize about, with snow flurries and possibly the most raucous Michigan Stadium crowd in history compounding the wonder. It was surreal, and I hung onto every play and every yard, like it was the biggest game of my life, because really, it sort of was, at least from a third-party perspective. I am familiar with recency bias, but I can confidently say that this win and moment was the biggest and most special in all my sports fandom. Bigger than any previous Michigan win—the 1998 national championship winning Rose Bowl included—or Red Wings Stanley Cup. It goes beyond those. This not only meant more because of the specific pain and suffering of this rivalry but also because of how it related to me personally. I saw this team grow stronger and stronger after simultaneously rebooting itself and re-establishing its core beliefs. They confidently danced to “Jump Around” in Madison en route to their first win there in 20 years. They came back late against on the road at night in Nebraska after blowing a late lead—the kind of win not found in the Harbaugh era. They did the same thing again at Penn State. All this new-found confidence, all this momentum, all this success—it felt a lot like what I had gone through myself over the previous year. I was nearly broken at the start of the year, but I changed routines, habits, and—more importantly—the beliefs in myself and what I could be. It was powerful and self perpetuating, just as it seemed to be with this Michigan team’s late-season crescendo.

Lingering beyond those thoughts though were some more that I just couldn’t stop going back to, both in the lead-up to the game and especially the day of. The contrast between this particular post-Thanksgiving Saturday with the previous year’s could not have been much more different. That previous year, I sat in the hospital room with my dad and brother on what would be my mom’s last day on this earth. Michigan was playing a meaningless game at that same time with a depleted roster in an empty Michigan Stadium against winless Penn State. My brother and I watched a series of plays on his phone before we got COVID clearance to go back up into the hospital room (there was a real possibility that we couldn’t all be together in there at once). I didn’t pay attention to it the rest of the way; maybe my dad and I would watch the recording later that night, if we were even to go home that night. That room was where I needed to be, mentally and physically. Outside the window of it, the sun shone brightly on a rare cloudless day in late November. It was a bit ironic, this sunshine on what would be such a dark day, but she did love her sunshine. She also loved snow though, or at least looking at it out the window. One year later, on that same post-Thanksgiving Saturday in Southeast Michigan, we would have that snow. Lots of snow. All I could think of as it fell throughout the game and hardest in the post game euphoria was that she must have had something to do with it—that her presence was there adding to the scene and the team’s good fortunes. It was only after in my post game phone call to my dad and brother, who were in the Stadium that day, that I found out my dad had brought her ashes with him. It would be the second time that day I let my guard down emotionally.

*10 years of pain and frustration released, and a new attitude and approach manifested. Image by Kevin Hochstein.*

Sports fandom is silly, but I am grateful for it. Grateful for its thrills, anxiety, agony, euphoria. Grateful for its anticipation and lead-up to big games. Grateful for the memories it creates or attaches itself to and reinforces. Grateful for the bonds it creates with longtime friends, family, and online strangers. Grateful for moments where all of that melds together as one like it did on November 27th, 2021.

2. Blue Balloons. While out working on the 16th hole at the West Palm Golf Park, I received a FaceTime call. On the other end was a crying child who for some reason decided to have a meltdown just as the phone was ringing. Above her though were a whole bunch of light blue balloons, and at that moment I realized that we would be having a boy that following winter. It was a very special moment (if made a bit humorous by his big sister) and one that made for a lot of appreciation and reflection for the rest of the day. It also guarantees what the number 1 spot will be in this category next year.

3. Standing on the bluffs at Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, silent and solitary on a calm summer evening I had never even heard about this national park until scanning over the map of my upcoming drive the night before in Montana. As it was, it looked interesting enough and worth a stop along my day and a half journey to reach Duluth for a Sunday afternoon tee time. I had hoped to get there a bit earlier than I did, but it worked out as nothing quite beats late day light on the prairie, especially when the wind is down. I had also hoped to be a bit quicker, but I couldn’t help but linger and drive to some of the more remote spots in the park. This place was so peaceful with its soft pinks, grays, and greens and the warm air summer air gently sitting still. The golden light filtered softly through steely clouds, and all that could be heard were crickets and birds as buffalo grazed the surrounding hills. All this was well worth a longer stay and later eventual bedtime, for this was the kind of liberating peace and freedom I could only dream about a year prior. I undoubtedly missed the family, sending them pictures and video of buffalo crossing the road and loading up on fun stuff in the gift shop, but this was selfishly a very nice moment.

*Inner peace in a picture. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Western North Dakota.*

4. Family visit to Michigan For the first time in over a year, the whole family was able to visit my dad’s house in Michigan for some summer time fun. My daughter was re-united with her older cousin as well as getting to meet her new baby one, the days filled with plenty of swimming, boat rides on the lake, and farm fresh sweet corn. It was a really great time as she also got to meet a lot of our large extended family as we posthumously celebrated my mom’s life in a nice event at the bowling center. She still remembers a lot from that trip, talking about “pool,” “Papa’s house,” “boat ride,” “Kevbo” (my brother’s nickname), “Aunt Danielle,” and “bowling pins.” These little minds are never cease to amaze and entertain.

5. “Papa” in Jackson While working in Jackson Hole, my dad mentioned coming out to visit. It would be a great opportunity for him to see our daughter for the first time in over a year, a year in which a lot of basic developments occurred (walking, talking, growing hair, etc.) that he happened to miss. It would thus be great for him to spend time with this rapidly growing and changing little thing. He is also an avid outdoorsman and would love the scenery and keeping an eye out for big game. I am happy to know that he got to see everything he wanted except for a moose, and it was a very cool memory to veer off onto a dirt road and get right up next to huge herd of bison, his granddaughter standing at the end of the half open car window pointing out all the wild beasts among us, including those only a few feet away.

*Prince’s guitar sitting up on his stage at Paisley Park*

6. Paisley Park and Excelsior, MN I’ve long been a Prince fan and have maintained that he is the most talented musician who ever lived. The man could play any instrument and create any type of music, and he could do it all well. The person who was a bigger Prince fan than any I knew though was my mom. Working in Minnesota, specifically Chaska, which is not far from Paisley Park, meant I had to take advantage of the opportunity and visit. So I did one Saturday late afternoon after work. It was really cool taking a tour of Prince’s recording studio that he created and customized for himself and many who followed, but it was also a bit emotional and bittersweet, as I knew she really would have loved it.

Afterward, I headed up to (figuratively) purify myself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka and see what Excelsior was all about. I was amazed to find such a cool, historic, charming town right on this scenic lake bustling with good summer vibes. I must admit to being a bit envious, as none of our lakes like this in Southeast Michigan have such a town on them. Unfortunately I was shut out of an outdoor spot at the hugely popular Maynard’s, but I was able to catch the sunset in town and ended up picking up a Detroit-style pizza from Jet’s on the way home, a comforting sort of consolation for my mild jealousy.

7. Sundays with the Family in Grand Teton Just about every Sunday off day we had in Jackson Hole, we would go for a drive around Grand Teton National Park, which was a treat that wouldn’t get old. Grand Teton was probably my favorite spot on my drive West when moving to California, so it was very cool to be back and explore it even further. It was also special to share it with my little girl who at only a year and a half old had already shown a strong affinity for nature and animals. I think if we let her she would’ve walked the entire 150 yards through the sage brush to get up close to the moose that were standing out in one of the fields.

8. Exploring South Beach Art Deco architecture is cool, and Miami’s version of it is extra cool. Bright and colorful, it embodies the vibes of the culture and the flora of the natural South Florida environment. There are also some interesting narrow, cafe-lined streets nearby like the Española Way, and the alley with the giant Betsy Orb that connects two different buildings and architectural styles. South Beach is a lot more than what you see on the beach.

9. The Open Road Getting on the open road was liberating. I was probably more excited to see the nothingness of central Nevada than just about anyone else would, both from that feeling of liberation as well as a genuine sense of curiosity. With instagram and the internet, there are very few places that have yet to be documented and pop up on your feed. Our family road trip to Wyoming was a memorable one, with stops in historic Winnemucca in Nevada and Park City in Utah. This was my first time in Utah, and the vast salt flats were as glorious as I could’ve hoped. After Jackson Hole though, I flew the family back and was then on my own to make it to Minnesota and back to California. As such, I did the aforementioned trip to Montana to see Rock Creek and then cut across North Dakota to cross off another state, leaving me with 7 still to see. There were many highlights also mentioned in the rest of this piece, but chasing a massive storm head in Montana as the sun went down was a different one, as was watching midnight light linger to the north in central North Dakota, walking the bleachers at the University of Wyoming’s football stadium (Welcome to Elevation 7220 Feet), and stopping to see Babe the Blue Ox in Brainerd for some cheesy, Coen Brothers-inspired Americana. The great open middle of this country just feels like home to me.

Above: America and Americana. Listed in order of appearance.

10 (t). Old Montana While driving around Montana, I became interested in the old, tired civilizations still present there. Deer Lodge was a small town lost in time but clearly had some money in it at one distant point. Old Works was fascinating in itself playing up against the old abandoned mining operation (the reason for the course’s existence is to provide a green barrier from the pollutants below). Seeing Butte on my first drive by encouraged me to make a detour to check it out on my way back, its hillside downtown of brick buildings and unique angled mineshafts luring my curiosity. Lastly, a bizarre, space-futuristic abandoned radio station caught my attention to the point where I literally doubled back to go pull over and take a picture of it. Montana is famous for its natural beauty, but its human past and architectural evidence are pretty interesting too.

10 (t). Exploring the poor interior of Florida and Lake Okeechobee as well as the uber-wealthy, Mediterranean Revival Worth Avenue in Palm Beach in the same day. Since being a little kid who loved looking at maps, I had always wondered about Lake Okeechobee. I assumed it to be populated, beautiful, and pleasant. Really though, it is a lost portion of Florida, much like the rest of the surrounding interior of the state. Following on the theme of forgotten Central Nevada though, this made it that much more attractive to me to go explore. Furthermore, the town nearest to the Palm Beach side was Pahokee, a small, hard-nosed community I had been familiar with for the number of Michigan football players it had produced, including Vincent Smith, who later returned to Pahokee help create citizen-grown gardens to help feed the community.

I found the whole area to be extremely quiet, especially in contrast to the busy Gold Coast, but possessing a haunting beauty unto its own. It is really unfortunate that the town and everything surrounding the Lake is physically isolated from it, due to a 20 foot berm surrounding it built by the Army Corps of Engineers as a large-scale flood control measure. Once you get up to the top of it though, what appears a glimmering body of water that stretches as far as the eye can see. It’s nickname of “Florida’s Inland Sea” is appropriate, for that is what it looks like.

Turning back to the coast, I still had time to explore some more, so I headed up to Palm Beach and head for its oldest and most elegant section along the water. Worth Avenue is a street world renown for its opulent shopping and art galleries, but that is hardly what attracted me to it. What I wanted to see was its collection of Mediterranean-Revival architecture, narrow alleyways reminiscent of old European towns, and lush tropical courtyards. I was not disappointed. Visually, it really did feel like a melding of Europe and Florida with human-scale density, fine texture, and exotic plants all over.

It was an interesting juxtaposition seeing such opposite ends of our American wealth-spectrum in the same afternoon, but perhaps what was most interesting was that I found both equally fascinating and enjoyable.

H.M. Finally catching a “green flash” on Newport Beach; Black Crowes concert in West Palm; First time fly fishing with excellent guide Thad Layton

A final note, and a look forward to 2022...

Are you still here? Congratulations ;) , and thank you if so.

This piece tends to close with some thanks and thoughts of continuing momentum and optimism into the following year. Well, this year is certainly no different, and it’s probably more meaningful than ever given the context and how it all shook out. I’m first thankful to both my immediate and extended family for their much needed support to work in this career and do all these things I love. I couldn’t have started this without them, and I couldn’t have continued on without them, especially after a year that was so bad in many ways.

I’m thankful for all the talented people I’ve gotten to work for and with—other designers, shapers, clients, contractors, superintendents, and maintenance staffs. Everyone plays an important role to the success of a project, and their help and expertise is much appreciated.

I’m also thankful for all the superintendents, members, and otherwise who had me out to see their golf courses this year. I am appreciative both of their hospitality as well as the opportunity it provides to learn something new. You cannot understand just how important that is for us in our development and application of ideas in future projects.

This was truly a year of great opportunity and momentum, and I can’t wait to keep it moving forward.

Thanks again for reading, best wishes to all of you, and Happy New Year!

-Brett

*Our youngest design team member will be joined by her younger brother in 2022*

The Best (??) Of: 2020 / December 30, 2020 by Brett Hochstein

*A spring Sunday morning walk through Diablo Hills, minus tee markers, flagsticks, and the usual hoard of avid golfers*

This may come as no surprise, but I debated if I should even put together one of these this year. I don’t need to explain the main reasons why; everyone knows 2020 was a pretty miserable experience laden with loss while pushing our collective mental stresses to the very edge. With Hochstein Design, there really isn’t that much to share either as far as completed work goes. The big shaping project we had committed to got put on long term hold, other potential shaping opportunities with new design teams were kept closed to their existing crews, travel restrictions made other jobs too complicated, and one of my small solo projects ended up getting pushed back indefinitely.

That said, it wasn’t an entirely lost year. The onset of the pandemic brought about opportunities to focus on some writing, both on this site and with others like The Fried Egg, McKellar, and Golf Course Architecture. There were a couple of podcasts that were fun to be a part of, and there was some solo design work on small projects here in Northern California, one of which actually got completed in the field. It was a time to continue developing a voice as well as my own understanding of golf architecture and the business of golf architecture. It was also a time to get our personal lives set up for the future, moving to a new home with a separate office space that I can stay busy in while also being just footsteps from the family.

While this was a most testing, trying year, we are almost through it. With the foundation laid to move forward and more calls for work coming in, I am ready to dig in and focus on what is next. Bring on 2021.

The Work

As noted, this is incredibly light this year. We only had two projects actually happen out in the field—a small stint of shaping for Todd Eckenrode at La Cumbre and a tee renovation project that we led at Sierra View CC. That makes for easily the least amount of time spent on a machine since I first went to China 8 years ago. While it was good to focus on some other areas both within Hochstein Design and at home, let’s hope that doesn’t ever happen again. Besides the need for income and new experiences, losing that time to be outside and be creative was very tough. It certainly increased my appreciation for what we get to do for a living.

Favorite Features of the Field

1. Fairway Bunkers, La Cumbre

2. Hole 10 and 11 tee renovations, Sierra View

Above: images of work at La Cumbre and Sierra View

**Favorite Features off the Field**

1. A multi-part ode to a week at Askernish that ended up being much, much longer and more in depth than expected

2. Finally hitting “publish” on a Pebble Beach restoration piece I had sitting in the drafts section for a couple of years.

*A hypothetical selective restoration plan for Pebble Beach*

*A hypothetical rendering of Pebble Beach’s 7th borrowing from multiple eras*

3. Proposing a practice area plan for Wente but not getting to put it into the ground…yet.

*Proposed new chipping and bunker practice green at Wente Vineyards*

4. Writing the design feature piece for the 4th issue of McKellar.

5. Putting my Askernish thoughts into a more concise form for Golf Course Architecture

6. Getting a little bit involved with The Fried Egg. Hopefully there is more time in 2021 to contribute further, as I still have plenty of ideas to expound upon

7. Submitting an entry to—and then being asked to be a judge for—the Perry Maxwell Design Competition

hochstein-design-best-of-2020-maxwell-design-comp

8. Chatting it up with my pal Kyle Surlow on the Golf Guide Podcast. We naturally went over time again, so he had to split it up into different parts.

9. A long awaited debut on Ru MacDonald’s Scottish Golf Podcast. This was one of the first golf podcasts out there, and I recall listening to many episodes while working in the rain in Holland 6 years ago.

10. A big increase in calls and emails from courses looking to make improvements. Here’s to hoping some of them hit!

Best Work Experiences

*Almost felt like an athlete working under the lights*

1. Late afternoons digging bunkers at La Cumbre

2. Finishing the tee project at Sierra View while furiously raking under the lights of the nearby tennis courts

3. Hitting the road in August for the first time in months to look at a potential job on a private residence

The Golf

Best New-to-me Golf Courses Seen in 2020

Not surprisingly and fitting a theme you will sense throughout this post, this list is light this year, despite a renewed self-focus on picking up a club in the final quarter of the year. I resisted air travel and hotels for a long while, and by the time I got a little more comfortable with that, I was too busy working on house-related items to make a separate golf-only excursion. So, there were no major study tours, and without any projects in new regions, there wasn’t much to seek out while on the job. I still got to a few good places though that I had longed to see, including Streamsong Black and Clear Creek, and they did not disappoint. There were also the little places like the Lake Chabot Par 3 and Foothill that, while not the most architecturally engaging, prove that golf in a simple and scaled down form can be just as enjoyable.

Hole 17 at Streamsong Black in the golden hour light. Use the huge kicker slope left to approach the green, and be sure to check out the big gators lingering in the pond down below the back of the green.

Really, this should just be fun and give a general idea of what I like in a golf course.

1. Streamsong (Black) - Streamsong, FL; Gil Hanse [8] The large and somewhat wild greens at the Black were made even wilder just off the surface, with the kinds of rumply contours that could be found around the Old Course. Originally, these areas were to be mowed a bit longer despite using a similar grass type. Eventually, everything just ended up being mowed at green height, and I don’t see too much fault in that, especially given the region and agronomy. Playing ground shots through and off these slopes is a blast. Add that in to a course loaded with width, options, and variety in the long game, and it makes for a very fun round.

2. Clear Creek Tahoe - Carson City, NV; Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw [8] Good golf design is about making the most of a given site. I haven’t been to too many Tahoe area golf courses, but what I have seen in pictures and in driving by, most of these courses don’t play off the terrain and integrate with the beautiful natural texture the way that they should. Clear Creek does, though. The routing traverses through the rugged ground in a way that never feels burdensome to walk. The front nine makes a big dip down on the 3rd hole with its long shot into the green that begs to be bounced in from the left. It then works its way gently back up, snaking through valleys and tackling ridges, with views of the gray mountainsides just to the north reappearing at different times. The back nine begins with a flatter respite around a peaceful pond at the 11th and 12th holes before reaching the crescendo of the round at the end of the long 13th hole, with its views well out across the Carson Valley below. A series of fun shorter holes ensues before a strong finish at the 18th, complete with some peeks at those same long distance views found on 13. And none of this talks about the fun, undulating greens or the way the course blends perfectly with the native rock, sandy soil, and vegetation, which is some of the best I’ve ever experienced in golf. The variety of colors and textures among the sagebrush and needle grasses is just fantastic, and balls can quite often be found and played in it. The walking trails through these areas are perfectly done and maintained. Anyone who opts for a cart at Clear Creek is seriously missing out on a beautiful alpine hike that is rare to golf.

3. Brambles (rough shaped in the dirt) - Middletown, CA; Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw with James Duncan [inc.; in construction] This is definitely the most exciting project in Northern California in a long time, the length of which Josh Smith and I couldn’t quite figure out but think it probably goes back to some time during the Golden Age. The site, which is a broad valley that was part of an ancient lake bed, is unlike any other in California, which tends to provide only big hilly land or dead flat parcels. Most holes play in the meat of that valley, but a few wander up into the oak-laden hillside, and a few more start or finish there. In a stylistic bit of fresh air, some of the features and holes are appropriately bold against the simpler landscape, and the 9th, which looks like nothing from the tee, is going to be one of the best holes in the state when it opens. I can’t wait to see and play this course when it opens.

4. Diablo CC - Diablo, CA; Jack Neville, with additions and alterations by William Watson; renovated by Todd Eckenrode in 2019 [6] I’m putting this here because after the renovations, the course is very much new. The routing did not change, but corridors were widened, greens were reshaped and redesigned to varying degrees, natural creek ways and native areas were restored, and bunkers were shifted around to a more strategic arrangement. The result, in combination with a new grassing scheme that is both more sustainable and encouraging of play along the ground, is a course that is more fun, more strategically varied, more beautiful, and more classic looking—appropriate of such an historic site.

5. LLanerch - Havertown, PA; Alex Findlay, with modifications currently being made by Brian Schneider [inc.; only first 9 holes of renovation completed] One of the coolest renovation projects in recent years, I was both very excited and creatively envious of the funky bunkers and landforms that Brian Schneider and Blake Conant were laying down at this old Philly club. With snake-y berms, deep walled pits for bunkers, and a long earthen wall that conjures thoughts of old Civil War military fortifications, they have added a pre-Golden Age punch to this course that will make it stand apart from comparable clubs in the Northeast.

6. The Club at Ruby Hill - Pleasanton, CA; Nicklaus Design [5] A housing development private club designed in the 90s by Nicklaus’s group didn’t exactly get me excited before playing, but I found the golf and experience to be a pleasant surprise. The playing corridors were pretty wide and houses not overly imposing on the experience. Tee shots often had strategy and more difficult lines to take on that would be rewarded if found. The greens had a lot of short grass surrounds that kept approach shots and recovery shots interesting. And there were lots of good distant views of the Livermore Valley as well as a few holes that wound closely through oak-dotted creeks, including the 13th, which seems to be a mirrored version of the 8th at LACC North.

7. Presidio Golf Course - San Francisco, CA; Herbert Fowler [4] Can’t believe I had never played this course, but I finally did at the GCSANC/USGA meeting, which happened just before the pandemic shut everything down. The setting among the hills and cypresses of the historic Presidio is very special, especially as you get peeking views of the dense San Francisco urban fabric surrounding the park. The golf, while not bad, could also be a bit more architecturally interesting. It tends to be a bit of a repetitive test of execution with narrow corridors and greens often fronted by bunkering on both sides. Still, it is a wonderful spot for city golfers to escape, and I love the walking paths for hikers integrating through the course as well as the halfway house that also serves those same hikers.

*The Presidio is a stunning setting to have a game. Sutro Tower looms here on the par 3 15th, one of the more interesting green complexes on the course.*

8. Aviara - Carlsbad, CA; Arnold Palmer Design [4] I was slated to work here with APDC’s Brandon Johnson this spring/summer, but the project was lost for now due to the pandemic. The course weaves its way through canyons and hills as well as starting and finishing along an estuary not far from the main waters of the Pacific. A bevy of heavy landscaping work accompanies the course, which I don’t typically advocate for, but it kind of works here for the most part and adds something to the experience. Hopefully we get to work on the course and improve upon what is already a pleasant round of golf.

9. Greenhorn Creek - Angels Camp, CA; Robert Trent Jones II [4] I only played 9 here, so my rating is somewhat incomplete. Similar to the Ruby Hill experience, I came away enjoying this housing development course more than expected. The first couple of holes have some cool greens mixing sharp falloffs at the sides and one with a back section that falls away within a saddle. The “signature” 4th hole also has some cool elements, including an old kiln and stone wall from the Gold Rush days as well as a big downhill reveal at the dogleg with a nearby mountain as the backdrop. This hole (and others on the course) probably could have been better though without the restrictions of the adjacent housing, but that’s how that often goes.

10. Lake Chabot Par 3 - Oakland, CA; Jack Fleming [3] My new favorite (only?) secret golf spot in the Bay Area, a 45-60 minute stroll through the woods of the Oakland hills high above the Bay is a great way to mentally reset, hearing and smelling the sounds and scents of nature with the occasional view across the water and Lake Chabot itself. For some reason, nobody seems to play this course, which is A-OK with me as long as it stays open. With a little tree management though to open views and some money spent to enlarge and reshape the greens into something more fun and interesting, this could be one of the best par 3 courses in America.

*Lake Chabot’s Par 3 course is a wonderful golfing respite*

H.M. Foothill Golf Course - Citrus Heights, CA; Paul Ottaviano, Sr. (?) [3] I had been intrigued with this little par 3 course since first seeing it along the freeway on my initial visit to Sierra View a couple years ago. On a small rolling property dotted with native oaks, there are a number of small greens just sitting flush upon the natural land, some of which looked to tilt or fall away from the line of play. It looked like fun to play, especially in the dried out September conditions while working on the tee project at Sierra View. I went over one evening after work, and I decided that the most fun thing to do would be to take advantage of the firm dormant ground and force myself to have to bounce it onto every green. With the natural tilts to the land mentioned before, this was a great decision and made for one of the most fun rounds I had all year. This was Cam Champ’s home course growing up (ironically, given his abilities with the driver) and is run by his family. His foundation plans to put some money into it to enhance youth golf and teaching, which could be great, but I hope in that process they don’t also lose sight of the type of golfing spirit I was able to experience that night.

Best Playing/Walking Experiences

*Inspecting the work at Brambles with Bill Coore*

1. Walking around Brambles with the man himself—Bill Coore. This was the first, long-awaited meeting with Mr. Coore and an experience greatly enjoyed that I won’t soon forget.

2. A solo round at Clear Creek after months of being cooped up at home

3. The 36 hole Streamsong Special (Blue at daybreak, Black after lunch) with Kyle Harris

4. Evening loop around Foothill Golf Course with a personal rule of having to land the ball short of every green and skip it on

Above: dry turf and gentle slopes just begging for ground game shots at Foothill

5. Walking around Diablo to see all of our work from last year come to life

6. Meadow Club the day after club championship with Sean Tully and Kevin Hauschel. Course was slick and setup tough—a fun challenge on a great course

7. GCSANC outing at Ruby Hill

8. Bonus holes after work on a quiet Monday evening at Sierra View, complete with the eeriness of the smokey sky and red setting sun

9. Quick tour seeing all of our bunker work grown in at Saticoy with Tim Paulson.

10. Calming solo round up on Lake Chabot Par 3 Course, my new favorite quick golf getaway spot

H.M. Round at Cal Club with a new friend from SoCal; Walking with Zane Ellis around Orinda; an evening match with Kyle Harris at Winter Park and the course otherwise empty

The Everything Else

Favorite Cities

1. Santa Barbara, CA Roman Mars on 99% Invisible once said that Santa Barbara is “stupid beautiful,” and that is correct. Between the blue Pacific with the nearby Channel Islands, the massive mountain range right at its back, the perfect weather, and the historic Spanish revival architecture, the place is quite amazing. Add to that a vibrant downtown loaded with very good and diverse restaurants, all serving outside on a closed-to-traffic main street in one of the few positive side effects from COVID-19. Santa Barbara is undoubtedly one of the best spots I’ve gotten to spend some time for work.

2. Roseville, CA Roseville is an old railroad town just northeast of Sacramento. It has some historic character in its downtown area, and you can tell that there is some movement to better showcase and capitalize upon that. It will be interesting to see that play out in coming years.

Favorite food by Place

Santa Barbara - Where to begin? There is so much good stuff in Santa Barbara. Every morning superintendent Wayne Mills would ask where I went the previous night, as it was usually somewhere new. I joked with him that in order for me to get to every place I wanted to try out, we needed to do a full renovation of the golf course! Between the Thai food, dumpling houses, creative new Mexican restaurants, and Himalayan places, there was something new and exciting to try each night. The sushi places might be the best though, and what is best at those places is the local delicacy—sea urchin (uni) fresh from the waters just off the coast.

Roseville - Tacos from Morenita Market. I’d go to this place for lunch pretty much every day

MUSIC

Those who actually read this yearly have probably sensed an overall downward trend in my enthusiasm for new music, largely due to overall trends in new music. This is the most “down” year yet, but the correlation is much more to do with a lack of work, travel, and general enthusiasm. I’ve always liked to have new music accompany me on a new adventure or creative endeavor, but with little of that this year, there was also little discovery of new music. With a lot of time to reflect though and some major life events, there was a lot of revisitation of stuff from the past. Because of the dearth of new music and the importance of that old music in those situations, some of those songs made the list this year. All albums are new to me, though.

Best Albums

1. Canyon Candy - Javelin

2. Law and Order - Lindsey Buckingham

3. Women in Music - HAIM

4. Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young and Crazy Horse

5(t). Just Lookin for a Hit - Dwight Yoakam

5(t). Juillet - En Attendant Ana

H.M. Superunknown - Soundgarden; The Layla Sessions - Derek and the Dominoes; Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips; Space Cadet (EP) - Beabadoobee

Best Songs

1. "Layla" - Derek and the Dominoes* - My mom’s favorite song. Not a new one to me, but it automatically slots in at number 1 this year.

2. "Long December" - Counting Crows*

3. “Los Angeles” - HAIM

4. "December" - Collective Soul*

5. "Pocahontas" - Neil Young and Crazy Horse

6. “The Day I Tried to Live” - Soundgarden*

7. “Estevez” - Javelin

8. “Ordinary World” - Duran Duran*

9. “I’ve Been Wrong Before” - Generationals

10(t). “In/Out” - En Attendant Ana

10(t). “Long White Cadillac” - Dwight Yoakam

H.M. “The Steps” - HAIM; “Cowpoke” - Estevez; “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” - Neil Diamond; “It Was I” - Lindsey Buckingham; “I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus” - Beabadoobee

*Song not new to me, but it meant a lot to the fabric of this year in revisiting it.

Non-Golf Experiences of the Year

*An exploratory drive around Flint and the deep recesses of my memory*

1. My mom’s funeral It seems strange to put this at the top, but as hard and painful as it was, my feelings of love and appreciation for her were also so strong in that moment. On top of that, the support and love felt from all those around her that day (and beyond) was an incredible thing that I won’t ever forget.

*Michigan winter lake scene. Luckily made it there before the covid struck*

2. My daughter getting to meet my mom (and everyone else on a grand Midwest/Northeast tour) It was only for about 45 minutes, and it wasn't an obvious decision to even let it happen, since the baby was only 3 months old and my mom was in the hospital yet again. But wow am I glad we did, because that would be the only time they’d ever be together in person. They’d share plenty of great moments together on FaceTime though, my mom seemingly the only person my daughter would tolerate through that medium, and you can tell that they still have a special bond to this day, even after her passing.

3. Moving into our new house A positive transition point after a long year.

4. Going on an adventurous drive with my dad to most of the bowling centers of Flint, both past and present (Warning: I go on about this topic much longer here than I expected)

While back to work on projects this summer, I spent my evenings between dinner and bed going down various rabbit holes exploring a big part of my childhood—bowling around Flint, MI. There are probably a few reasons for this—my generally nostalgic personality, finally having a kid of my own, and the growing fascination with a life that is increasingly in the rearview mirror (I’ve now lived in CA for 10 years). Our family bowling business is on the south end of the area in adjacent Grand Blanc (home of the defunct Buick Open—RIP), but every year my brother and I would also bowl in the city tournaments, of which there were 3 different formats—singles, team, and mixed doubles. This afforded lots of opportunity to bowl at the different centers around Flint. We had bowled at almost all of them at some point, nearly 20 in total, and visited the others at different times for different reasons. I always liked how each one had its own bit of character and feel. The building architecture, like most bowling centers, was often utilitarian and occasionally a jumbled mess if additions had been made over time. There would always seem to be some sort of small detail—either kitschy or cool (or both)—that set them apart though, and the jumbled mess of add-ons would always tell a story of the building’s evolution.

Flint, as many people know, has been a city in decay for a long time. This was already in process when I was a kid, but in the time since then that decay has gone to levels that reach beyond sadness and into the realm of fascination. How could we as a society allow a once-thriving community to fall apart so badly? I have some theories for that, but this is about bowling centers, many of which have also fallen victim to the dying city around them. Almost all these closed businesses and past places of recreation and escape from the factories still stand though, either repurposed or left to rot, no one wanting to put up the measly bit of money it would take to knock them down. As I searched for photos of these places in their past and present form, I also used google’s street view option to see what they looked like today. This, suffice to say, was a trip. Many of the places, once I found them (closed businesses don’t usually have google tags), blew my mind both because of seeing them for the first time in 20+ years but also by how funky some of them are. There was Colonial Lanes, which looks from the outside like either a funeral parlor or the kind of strip mall you go to buy blinds at. Town and Country added a big diamond pattern paint job to its long, 56 lane facade. Rollaway looks like a dentist’s office in the middle of a neighborhood, minus the old western themed type-face on its brown wood siding. And weirdest and wildest of all, Landmark (the old Nightingale Lanes) looks like an old elegant hotel from the 1920s with a mishmash of architectural add-ons going into the 70s—a frankenstein of a building with parts spanning some 60 years.

So, when my dad asked me to go up to work with him at the bowling lanes the Monday after a sad and lethargic weekend following the funeral, it seemed like a good idea to do so and get some fresh air while revisiting a place dear to my past. We got to talking along the way, and we came up with the idea to go take a drive around Flint and check some of these places out. This did not disappoint. As the sun started to peek through the clouds at the end of what had been a steel-gray day, we made our way north on Dort Highway with no real plan. It really is amazing how quickly the urban landscape changes heading into the city, and it is also amazing just how much more sparse and run-down everything had become in the past two decades, starting with the NLE Southmoor Golf Course and then our first two stops, the old Dort Bowl and the abandoned Eastown (AKA “Easytown” for its forgiving lane conditions). There is a particular picture on the internet of the inside of Eastown that is rather haunting, almost moreso to me that I distinctly remember the black-bordered white ceiling tile backdrop that hung above the end of the lanes and is still somehow there among the ruins today.

Our drive continued northward after jogging over to Center Road, past the abandoned Walli’s Restaurant and B’s Bowl, which is still open but couldn’t be doing too well. This road used to seem like one of the more vibrant ones in the 90s, but it isn’t so much these days. From there it was a right down Davison Road to see Landmark/Nightingale in all its abandoned, eclectic glory. Current price tag to buy the building and property: 99K. We continued up to Richfield Road (though not past Richfield Bowl, which used to be unique for its inexplicable western themed painting along the lanes, featuring the Road Runner from Looney Toons) to cross town to the northwest corridor home to the former Northwest Lanes and West Lanes. Along the way we drove past the infamous Flint Water Plant, which still has some very beautiful old brick architecture, and the unbelievably massive empty lot that used to house one of GM’s auto plants, the vacant footprint of which spans almost 2 miles long. Once done with Northwest and where our best guess at the location of West was, we said “hey let’s just go all the way out to Colonial now” in nearby Flushing, which is still doing well (and still kind of looks like a funeral parlor (but a nice one!)). We had never been all the way to downtown Flushing, which was home to a little (and little-known) center named Jack’s Place, so we continued onward. The charming and thriving old business district of Flushing felt like a world away from the city we were just in 10 minutes prior, as did the farmland south of town as we started loosely making our way back toward home. We needed to double back to I-75, so why not also stop by Town & Country Lanes over on Miller Road along the way? It turns out Town & Country had just been closed and sold in the last year or so, but as this was a busy part of town that was still busy today, it is getting redeveloped into something else. The south wall happened to be exposed as we pulled up, and that allowed for an opportunity to walk up and view the stripped down version of the interior, which is a strange sight if you can remember what was once there. Thinking we were done and headed home, my dad asked if we should head down Van Slyke and see the old Trevarrow Bowl, which was a surprise ending to me as I thought the building had been long demolished, but it turns out it is still used as some sort of card-playing hall. The big thing I had forgotten about it is that it is right across the street from the remaining GM plant, and because of that my dad says the parking lot for the bowling lanes would always be full at shift end—not with bowlers but with factory workers who just wanted to drink budweisers outside of their cars. Satisfied with a full circle of the town and almost 2 hours meandering, it was time to go home and grill up some venison steaks. After some of the toughest days of my life, this was perhaps one of the best and a memory I won’t soon forget.

The eclectic structure that once held Nightingale Lanes (Landmark Lanes in our day). The corner part of the building that looks like a B&B used to be a general store/nightclub, and bowling was added onto it some time in the 50s.

*Colonial Lanes with its unusual, home-like front for bowling. This was always my favorite place to bowl in Flint besides our own. Only closed in this image due to Covid.*

5. San Diego road trip with the family Back in the pre-COVID times, a family road trip to a work conference was something you could do without worry, or at least the only worries were stopping to make sure the baby got fed every couple of hours. Heading down for my wife’s annual work get-together, we made the most of the trip, stopping at Firestone Walker Brewery for lunch, staying overnight in Ventura on the way there and checking in on Saticoy, staying alone up on a mountain ranch on the way back, and just hanging out in San Diego during free time. I even took the baby to a few brewery tasting rooms and taco restaurants in SD, which I’m sure she enjoyed as much as I did :)

H.M. The drive from Clear Creek down the Carson Valley and up and over Ebbetts Pass after an incredibly satisfying round; Driving back up to Sierra View during the NorCal dark orange smoke event

A final note, and a look forward to 2021...

It was a quiet year externally but a busy one internally. That still requires a lot of support from those around me. I am incredibly thankful for my wife, who goes well out of her way to support us and make this family work, and her parents who have done incredible work both supporting me and taking care of the baby while both of us were busy. It wouldn’t work without them. And I wouldn’t be here in the first place if it were for the support and belief from my parents.

Thank you also to the many of you who reached out to me during the hardest period of my life with my mother’s recent passing. I can’t believe the words of support and direct messages I got as well as who they were from. It’s a special little community of golf architecture and turf grass nerds that we have, and I am very thankful for that.

On one of the few positive sides from 2020, I got to spend much more time with my daughter than I otherwise would have. My bond with that crazy little girl is now much stronger than I ever could have imagined, and leaving now for future work reasons is going to be that much harder.

This year had been looking like it would be my most successful one yet in a number of different ways, but alas it was not to be. It still feels like progress was made though, and 2021 and the years beyond may indeed hold some very exciting new opportunities for building fun golf. I can’t wait to keep moving forward and see what those are.

Thanks for reading, best wishes to all of you, and—more than we’ve ever meant it—Happy New Year

This post, and really everything I do, is dedicated to my mom, Loretta Jean (McCray) Hochstein.

Your creative sense and Scottish ancestry lives on within me and inspires me. Rest in peace

Askernish After 10 Years: Part 5--Ecology and Lessons Learned / May 14, 2020 by Brett Hochstein

*The machair environment is shared by man and beast alike*

This spring is the 10 year anniversary of a life-changing trip to a golf course far away and lost in time: Askernish. To both reflect upon it as well as occupy my time during this pandemic crisis, I am rolling out a multi-part series that explores my thoughts, emotions, and lessons learned from a legendary week on the links. The 1st talks about the physical and spiritual journey of getting to this place, the 2nd is about routing holes over untouched linksland, the 3rd is about the golf course itself, and the 4th teaches a lesson on how to shore up natural links bunkers for golf. This 5th and final segment talks a little about the ecology of the place, our final days together, and the lessons I have learned from the experience and how they’ve applied to my career.

Day 5

After a night of playing out on the machair, it was time for yet another new day and new lesson. The day’s topic was a bit broader but still a very important one—the ecology of the golf course and its surrounds. We would be led by Keith Duff, a top independent ecologist who has done work with the Golf Environment Organization, R&A, European Institute of Golf Course Architects, and many others. Keith made a presentation in the clubhouse discussing how harmonious golf and the environment can be as well as well as how good it is for both sides. In times when golf so often gets (sometimes admittedly rightfully) trashed by environmentalists, it was nice to hear someone say, “hey, golf can in fact be pretty good for the environment, and here is why.” Energized by the positivity, we then we went out for a field exercise to explore and identify the different types of flora and fauna found on and around the golf course.

*Rabbit holes, rock, moss, sand, links grass, beach grass. Plenty of biodiversity in one little spot*

On first glance, you’d say the landscape was barren. Just a place for cows to eat grass. There is more to it though. Birds are very plentiful, the skylarks seemingly always singing (though you can never see them all the way up there). The corncrake, a rare Western Isle bird, makes its home on the machair and the Askernish logo. The rabbits still very much call the land home, as evidenced by the holes, scrapes, and burrows all over the place. Among the dunes are many seasonally wet low areas called dune slacks, and they provide water and cover for all variety of creatures. Further inland the land dips down to groundwater lochs, where otters live and the fishing is said to be legendary. And of course in the opposite direction, you have the beach and ocean itself with all that it entails. Upon closer inspection, little wildflowers dot the land with many more to come as the spring would progress. Important insects, microbes, and pollinators keep the soil and plantlife healthy. The nearby lowlands switch to a heavier, peatier, rockier moorland soil complete with rushes, sedge, and heather. The uneven ground there is perfect for sheep grazing. At the beach is the marram grass discussed in the last installment, and in between there and the moor is the wonderful ground that has given us a place to play our beloved game.

*From the low moorland of the machair to…*

*…the bright blue waters and white sands of the beach and Atlantic Ocean.*

So, more on that in-between ground. The ground that “links” us from town or farm to sea. We’ve alluded to its qualities so far in this series, but what really makes it? For one, it starts with the sandy soil. That free-draining, wind-blown sand is what gives us our wonderful contours. It is also the perfect growing environment for the fine types of grasses that, critically, a ball will roll over. These “poverty”-type grasses—fine fescues and bents—have much smaller leaf blades and therefore have a low level of rolling friction. Because the sandy soil doesn’t hold water or nutrients as well, only these types of grasses exist. And that is perfect for golf. If we only ever had locations with thick-bladed bluegrass or kikuyu, it is hard to imagine golf even existing at all. The ability of the ball to roll is critical to the game, and this amazing natural environment provides exactly that. Add in sheep and rabbits to chew down this turf tightly to ground level, and you have the perfect ground for a bunch of bored shepherds to knock their rocks around.

The greens at Askernish and a winning soil profile for natural links turf. The fine fescue grasses lay down flat and tight, and their needle-like leaf blade provides little friction against ball roll.

I had always thought about those moments of the game’s origins. What must have that ground been like? What were the grasses like? There must have been a true spirit of adventure, knocking your stone around aimlessly and finding the tight ground where it rolls the best. Then you challenge yourself, saying, “I should try and get this into that little rabbit hole.” You continue doing this, exploring new ground, finding new “holes,” and discovering which ones are most fun and most challenging. This continues onward, and a true game develops. Going to Askernish and exploring both the golf course and the surrounding linksland gives us a real glimpse into that initial adventure, discovery, and development.

The modern day management at Askernish does take advantage of a few tools we have now at our disposal, but I do emphasize few. Yes, they use mechanical mowers to keep the greens crisp and the fairways lower. Depending on the season and weather patterns though, these mowings can be very infrequent or non-existent, especially during the winter months when growth is slow and the animals graze. If there is nae need, then nae bother. They also carefully mow around breeding and nesting seasons for birds and insects, another example of the high emphasis on wildlife preservation. The only other modern devices used are a maintenance cart to get around and the electric shock wires around the greens to keep the grazing animals from damaging the surfaces. That’s about it. There is no irrigation, and there are no chemical pesticides or fertilizers applied. Everything has to be fully organic. The fertilizer used is either a seaweed extract collected from the beach or a mixture of dried sheep hoof, horn, and blood. When you think about that, it makes sense as both have long existed within the local ecology of linksland. Both were utilized by Old Tom Morris and the earliest greenkeepers, and both have still stood the test of time as being the best for true links turf. Even St Andrews still uses seaweed extract as fertilizer.

It’s incredibly and amazingly simple stuff. It must be said though, it is impossible for most golf courses in the world to maintain themselves at this minimal of a level. Their climates and growing environments just cannot sustain that. But what they can do in the same way is ask themselves hard questions about their critical needs and do things in a way that most minimally impacts the natural environment. Do we need to irrigate this much? Do we need to put down this amount of chemicals? Does the course need to be this green, this “prim and proper?” Do we need to install this artificial landscape when the naturally existing one would do? Do we need to mow and maintain all that short rough in the out of play areas? Do we really need all of this? These are the questions that Askernish asks itself. We should all be doing so too.

On this note, I was left thinking about our bunkers exercise the day before and the way they have evolved over time, particularly with regards to the links. At first they were wild, wooly blowouts or animal scrapes. Then some level of formalization began with Old Tom just stuffing some sod chunks in weak areas to try and strengthen them and keep the bunker from growing. He called it “revetting.” This form of revetting eventually evolved to cutting out some slightly more formal, but still somewhat rough, strips of grass and stacking them upon one another in those select trouble spots. The steepness attained by the stacking also helped to contain sand blow. That continued a trend of adding more and more of those stacked sod walls until there were entire bunkers surrounded in revetted walls. It would get more and more refined, clean, and geometric to the point that you see so commonly today on many links, especially those on the Open Rota.

The evolution also speaks to the industry at large. We tend to discover something that helps achieve a goal, and then we expand upon it, refine it, turn it into a product, brand it, and branch out with alternatives and “The next Big Thing!™️.” Which is all fine and dandy. Our human desire for progress is innate, and that progress is good for the health of the economy and growing world. With all sorts of fancy new bunker liners, complex irrigation systems, drainage techniques, golf carts and paths, and generally high standards though, it just makes me wonder how necessary all this stuff is. Perhaps we’ve gotten too far away from the basic principles and tactics laid out by Old Tom, and a simpler approach is better not just for the golf but the environment as a whole.

Our natural environment is important to our health and wellbeing, but we have done incredible amounts throughout history to alter it. Some of that is for good, some of it not so much. Golf is no different in this department. We have the extreme cases of mountains being blasted away or wetlands being filled, but we also have a lot of other cases where the golf is in perfect harmony with its environment, including the very place we were standing at that moment. I am a much bigger fan of the latter approach for a number of reasons.

One of golf’s biggest advantages is its connection to the natural world and the ability of such to appeal to our innermost senses. We are happier and healthier when we go outside, step through the grass, feel the changing breeze, smell the wildflowers, and hear the birds and insects. When we step out onto a course that is more in tune with these things, the experience is that much better. Shouldn’t we as an industry be striving for more of this then? I don’t see why not.

*Askernish integrates well with its environment*

———

Thursday night was declared to be pub night, and we were to head as a group along with some of the Askernish members up to the Borrodale Hotel, THE spot for nightlife in South Uist. And by that I think it might be the only pub on the island. That said, it is no less than any other pub in Scotland and not a bad spot at all to hang.

As we were getting ready to leave though and hanging out in the kitchen, we heard the front door of the house open. Into the kitchen quickly walks a young man with rubber gloves carrying a green basket. In the basket are all sorts of completely fresh, completely alive shellfish, from small prawns up to a full size blue lobster. After days of wondering what the deal was, the fish monger had finally arrived and delivered. Change of plans: we needed to delay our departure to the pub and cook these fellas.

Paul grabbed a couple of the prawns and noted how cold they all were, figuring they had just come out of the water perhaps not even an hour ago. We couldn’t just play and admire them though. We had to get cooking. Luckily for us, Price, who was both a cooking hobbyist and from Maine, knew just what to do. Not that it was particularly complicated; it’s really just a matter of boiling. We needed all pots and burners on deck and had to platoon the prawns in batches. It wasn’t so much their volume but their awkward size and length that made it hard to fit into our way-too-small pots. That, and the risk of getting pinched.

We somehow made it out without any major issues or injuries, and we just had to sample a little bit before heading out. With a little bit of drawn Scottish butter, the simple flavor was just perfect. Fresh isn’t really a taste. More of an “essence,” perhaps. You absolutely know it though when you experience it, and with certain foods it seems to matter more. I never liked lobster as a kid until I first had it fresh in Maine, and then I loved it. This was probably better than that.

Quick sample feast complete, it was off to the pub for pints, bar games, and more story telling.

Day 6

It was our final day out on the links, which brought a bit of sadness that this time was coming to a close. Fittingly, the sky was a cool dark gray, perhaps mimicking my emotions but also providing some mercy to those who consumed too many at the pub the night before.

Our agenda was light with just a followup activity planned in the morning. The previous afternoon, we had broken up into groups of two to go out on a bit of an environmental treasure hunt. We were provided a map of an area of the golf course and machair, and we were to locate the different micro-environments as well as provide our management plan for them. For the most part, all of our answers were, “keep doing what they are doing” or “do nothing.” We had gone back in and discussed our maps the previous afternoon, but that morning we would go out and walk to each site and describe our plans. It was a good exercise to visually hammer home the key points being made. Following that was a brief bit of time to roam freely, which I spent by myself listening to Neko Case, looking at the sheep, and absorbing the magnificent landscape around me.

Of course, we also had to play one last round as a big group. This time, we mixed in playing with some of the key members of the club, and it was great to get a little extra perspective from them. I recall one instance on the 9th or 10th hole, trying to play a bump and run shot into the green but getting snagged by some rabbit holes and uneven ground. Thinking that the weight of my shot was pretty good, I commented, “that would have been perfect at St Andrews.” Donald MacInnes, the club captain at the time, just looked on with a half smile and said dryly, “someday.”

*Out on the par 3 2nd for one last go-round*

By a number of reports, they have come pretty close to achieving that “someday.” Eric Iverson reported to me a few years later that he was blown away by how well the course was playing. That sounds pretty good to me, just as long as they go so far as not to overdo and spoil it, relatively speaking of course. I can’t imagine though that ever happens, at least not as long as Gordon Irvine is still around, and their environmental management plan is in place. The course is spectacular and deserves some of the minor improvement I discussed before, but a real part of the charm is how natural both the ground and turf are. And there is so much to learn from that, if these ~20,000 words and 140+ images over the past month haven’t yet made that apparent.

Back to the golf. I can’t say I remember anything else specific about the rest of the round other than that it was again a load of fun. Also, it was bittersweet to hole out for the last time. What I do remember though is that long, open, 300+ yard walk from 18 green to the clubhouse that I described before. Still clinging to the golf experience, I dropped a ball, pulled out my putter, and with my clubs still on my back, I putted my way in.

After all, the native ecology allowed for it.

Day 7

The morning of our departure day came quickly. As my sleep debt had mounted considerably, I missed out on the scenery driving north up South Uist, through Benbecula, and to North Uist and the ferry terminal at Lochmaddy. Even though I regret not seeing what it was like, I wasn’t missing too much as it was rather dark and rainy that morning. Those paying close attention (or only happened to read Part 1 and this final part) will note that this ferry terminal is different from the one we had come in on (Gold Star for you, dedicated reader). Wisely, Paul and the R&A had devised an alternate route for returning. This had two positive benefits. One—this ferry leg was mercifully much shorter in considerably much worse weather than the one before. Two—we would get to see and experience a number of new sights and scenery. I really appreciated this move.

Again, as you couldn’t see much from the rain-soaked ferry windows, I used this 2 hour journey to chip into that massive sleep debt. This was a good call, because I didn’t want to miss out on what was ahead: the Isle of Skye.

You hear about its whisky, but you also hear about its scenery. Whatever you hear is true. It is spectacular. Winding down the twisting highway you move along and between massive, barren slopes of overly weathered mountains, all the while hovering over large lochs lying at their base. It’s a beautiful, dark, eerie scene as if you were flying through the screen of a Lord of the Rings film. It’s also a great way to feel very small, the scale of the hills and water dwarfing your tiny existence.

As we moved our way through and over the bridge off of Skye, we stopped off at Kyle of Lochalsh, named after the inter-sea loch between the mainland and Skye. I can’t remember if it was to get a spot of tea and stretch our legs, but the scenery was quite beautiful, featuring a train station that sticks out into the loch. It seemed quite odd, but perhaps that was the only flat spot they could find for a platform. Our stop may have also just been us looking for our next destination though, which was just down the road: Eilean Donan Castle.

I fully admit not knowing anything about the Castle upon our arrival, just how famous it was, or how it tied into my family’s history. My mother’s maiden name was McCray, which is an Americanized version of MacRae, of Clan MacRae. Clan MacRae were close allies with Clan MacKenzie, who occupied the castle for a number of centuries after it’s construction in the 1200s. Eventually, it would be destroyed in the 18th century by none other than the English and lie in ruin until the early 1900s when a MacRae, John MacRae-Gilstrap, devoted much energy to restoring the castle into the iconic landmark that still sits there today. At the time, I just thought it was a really cool looking castle positioned in a really cool (and defensively strategic) spot. Looking back now though, the memory becomes a bit more powerful and a little more prideful, just a bit of a fitting part to close up this incredible trip. Perhaps it provides an idea where my love of this landscape and general passion for restoration comes from.

*Eilean Donan Castle. I wouldn’t until later on realize its importance, not just globally but personally.*

We continued onward, stopping for a bit of lunch as well as a place to stretch our legs, hiking up a rushing glen deep in the forest. This would be our last break before connecting to the A9, the multilane highway running through the Highlands in a giant ‘S’ shape. One thing I remember was Dr. Paul talking about just how dreadful and dangerous the road was. It just looked like a regular freeway to me, albeit with much better scenery. I guess we Americans are desensitized by the regular dangers we put ourselves through.

—

We eventually landed back in Fife. The older guys, Price and Stuart, were dropped off at their cars at the college, and then I am next to go at my flat further into town. Not quite wanting to end the whole experience yet, the Myerscough boys invited me to stay with them in the Elmwood office and flat in St Andrews, where they were staying overnight before hitting the road the next day back to England. Not only did hanging out with them for another night in one of the greatest towns in the world sound appealing, I had been to the office before and knew that it had this view right here…

*The balcony view for the evening wasn’t too shabby. Also, 2010 Open prep was already well underway.*

They didn’t have to ask me twice.

I first had to settle back in at the flat though, drop my bags, and catch up on something important I had missed over the week—Detroit Red Wings playoff games. How could I have refrained from knowing the outcomes you ask? Well, not having internet on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean helps. Being preoccupied with a trip of a lifetime doing stuff you love also helps.

I skipped through the games a bit quicker than I normally would have because 1) not having ever missed any playoff games in my fandom by live tv or radio, this was the first time I had done it this way, and 2) I was eager to get back and hang out with the lads. Now having seen the Wings steal one of the first 2 games out in the Arizona desert, I could happily bus my way into St Andrews, knowing that the boys in Red would have a chance to go back home and take a nice 2-1 lead tomorrow evening after my weekly walk around the Old Course.

I get into St Andrews with my overnight backpack on my shoulder, and I walk that familiar walk down City Road, a short right up North Street, and a left down Golf Place and eventually The Links. The northern sky was a deep late-day blue, the low sun golden, and the shadows starting to cast down the 18th at St Andrews Old. This was a good idea.

I drop my bag off at the office, and we watch a few golfers coming up before going to the only logical place for that time of day—The Jigger Inn. The Jigger is little, white standalone pub sitting along the wall on the second half of the 17th hole, better known as the Road Hole. You can order pints, stand outside, and watch golfers hit their approach shots into perhaps the most famous hole in the world, all the while the Auld Grey Toon sits behind. It’s a wonderful spot.

We continued on with dinner in town, obligatory drinks at the Dunvegan, and hitting some of the trendier spots frequented by the university students. This was not something I ever got to do, the last buses running out of town by 9 PM most nights, and I was way too broke to be paying for a cab without a few buddies in it. So I was enjoying it not just for the company but also that.

We eventually decided we had spent enough money and went back to the flat for a night cap and to goof around and share some stories one last time. I realized to myself that this thing, this whole year abroad, was not just about golf, not just about exotic places, not just about seeing Scotland, not just about walking the next great links course. It was about the people too. To that point I had spent much of the year alone in this foreign land. Alone in my cold apartment, alone on the bus, alone in a B&B room. And for the most part, that’s all right with me. I generally like being alone and adventuring by myself. But it was too much. I missed this camaraderie, I missed laughing, I missed sharing ideas, I missed my girlfriend and family at home. But minus that last part, I had all those other things over the past week. It was about the people. The people you meet at a new course. The people in the classroom. The people in the green keeping sheds. The people at home. And the people I had been exploring with and learning from over the past week.

The same thing applies at Askernish. As much as it is isolated, as much as it is wild and natural and would probably look almost the same with just sheep and rabbits roaming around, it is the people that make it. It’s Ralph Thompson with his jovial welcome and passion for the place that started the whole restoration back to 18. It’s Allan MacDonald, with his love and care for the grounds even though he doesn’t play the game. It’s Donald MacInnes and the rest of the members with their dry wits and sharp games. It’s Gordon Irvine with his brilliant knowledge for links turf and endless energy to get the best of everything he does. It’s Martin Ebert, who graciously lended his time to come up with a brilliantly fun routing. It’s Keith Duff, who helps make sure the precious natural environment is kept as it should be. And it’s all the golfers, adventurers, thrill-seekers, and nut jobs who make the effort to travel and experience this special place.

I couldn’t be more grateful to all these people above who made this the trip of a lifetime. Thank you to all.

*The Crew 2010. From left: David Golding, Toby Brearly, Simon Maynard, Stuart Greenshields, Price Gendron, Brett Hochstein, and Paul Miller*

Postlude

In the years following the trip, I always have had the Askernish experience and lessons learned in the back of my mind. Whether it’s in conversation, working on a grounds or labor crew, or working on one of the many great projects I have had the privilege to be a part of, I am always pushing for things to be simpler, more natural, more sustainable, and more fun.

At Dismal River in Nebraska—my first project with Tom Doak—we built a course about as simply as you can outside of the machair. Till the native ground, track it in, and rake up the fluff. There were some major shoves that made things more workable, but for the most part, the course is as it is. Bunkers were just scraped away, the forms already sitting there. Tees were made to blend and done with as little shaping as possible. And greens were sometimes done in a matter of hours—quite the contrast to some USGA-spec processes that can take 3 or 4 weeks from start to finish.

In China, things were much more complicated than that with some heavy duty engineering and earthmoving, but a lot of the quest for a “natural” look prevailed. The Renaissance team also pushed to do things as simply as the complicated project would allow.

At the Schoolhouse Nine, with Mike McCartin, we kept things as minimal as they could be. We only disturbed ground at the tees and greens, leaving the rest to just be scalped down and seeded into. We kept the greens a native soil instead of creating a profile. And we used irrigation only on the greens, leaving the rest of the watering to mother nature. Also, we made it as fun and playable for all as we could. With an out and back routing finishing at a pub on the edge of town, it really felt like it had a Scottish soul.

At sandy Hardelot in France, I used the same basic skills that Gordon Irvine taught us about Old Tom Morris bunker building, albeit with a 10 ton excavator. There was chunk revetting, where I took scraps I had carved out and packed them down tightly to build up a new edge and split in-two the large left bunker on the picture-worthy 7th. There was doing something similar on the 17th out in a vast, newly stripped area of sand where I built a little faux-bunker ridge to add some visual interest off the tee. And there was the greenside bunker on the 5th, where sandsplash build up had gotten out of control and made hole locations over there impossible. Instead of stripping the turf on the bunker edge and being forced to created a new one with revetting, I decided to do a collapse. With the machine, I would pull away at the sand well underneath the main roots and organic matter, which gave the grass enough strength to stay intact despite the void below. I could then, very slowly, push the grass down until it met the sand below. I did this in stages until the front right pin was restored but the edge still had some flash to it. And then the actual edge looked like it had never been touched.

And at Santa Ana, Saticoy, and Orinda, I created lipless bottom edges to create the look of sand bleeding over into a natural area, it moving either by wind or water like the natural bunkers I observed out on the links of Askernish.

I can’t wait to see where I will be able to use these thoughts or what I will be be able to do next. (sandy site please!)

—

Askernish is undoubtedly a special extreme in the world of golf. There is a great irony in that though too. Because if a landscape like this didn't naturally exist and turf grass like this didn’t exist, golf itself would not exist. Yet the vast majority of golf courses are so far removed from this. Largely, that isn’t their fault. Specific environments and climates like this are rare in the world, but golf is a massively popular global game. Therefore, not everything can be like this. But, what I will argue is this: golf in most places can be at least be much closer to this than it currently is. We can cut back on the artificial irrigation and the overfeeding of chemical inputs. We can allow more areas in between holes to grow and cohabitate naturally. We can select better sites where we have to disturb less ground. We can just disturb less ground in construction in general, letting natural contours guide most of the play throughout the holes and preserving the native soil and seed bank.

We can do less and ultimately have more. That is perhaps the biggest lesson learned from Askernish.

———

I want to thank you all for reading, especially those who made it all the way through. (Don’t you have better things to do ;-) ) I started this with the idea of one single post, then realized I may need to split it into 2 or maybe three. Then I thought 4 was better. Then it had to be 5. And really, I could have split this one and made it 6. It has been a lot of fun looking back on an experience so important to me and my career, and I hope you had some fun with it too.

Most of all, I really want to thank the R&A, for if it weren’t for them and their commitment to students learning about sustainability, this trip would never have happened (and I would have had to find something else to do for the past month). There is a lot of good educational work going on with the R&A, and this is just one example of it.

Cheers, and thanks again

Brett

Askernish After 10 Years: Part 4--Build it Like Old Tom / May 4, 2020 by Brett Hochstein

*A proper gowf bunker, courtesy of the Almichty (photo credit: Toby Brearly)*

This spring is the 10 year anniversary of a life-changing trip to a golf course far away and lost in time: Askernish. To both reflect upon it as well as occupy my time during this pandemic crisis, I am rolling out a multi-part series that explores my thoughts, emotions, and lessons learned from a legendary week on the links. The first talks about the physical and spiritual journey of getting to this place, the second is about routing holes over untouched linksland, and the third is about the golf course itself. This is Part 4 and gets into another fun exercise taking us back to the era of Old Tom, this time working on a naturally existing links bunker—preparing and stabilizing it for regular golf use. Come join us below as we play in the sand:

Day 4

Morning came quickly after our fire-chasing foray, but I was fresh and excited to go at the day’s prospects. Led by links turf specialist, history junkie, eternal Scotsman, and old-school extraordinaire Gordon Irvine, we would be learning how Old Tom Morris would stabilize and prepare a naturally existing sand bunker for play. As someone who eventually wanted to shape and build bunkers, loved golf history, and was obsessed with natural links ground, this activity was a (another) dream come true.

Once again, the day was perfect (is that getting old to hear?) with beaming sunshine, little wind, and warm temperatures. I thought this was supposed to be one of the harshest weather places in the world? Needless to say, I didn’t mind it.

We gathered at the clubhouse as we usually do, first getting a quick lesson from Gordon on what this would be about and why we were doing it. After that primer and getting excited for the work, it was time to take a hike, this time heading north past the first few holes on the golf course. The land up there is more subdued and simple in comparison to the heart of the Askernish routing, but it was still full of features that would make for compelling golf.

We crested a little ridge just off to the side of the current 4th hole, and from there you could see a perfect par 4 setting up over the landscape. Playing as a slight dogleg left, the fairway tilted slightly away to the right and was guarded at the corner of the dogleg by a deep crevasse. The green, which you could see off in the distance, sat up on a diagonal ridge running at a left to right angle and was perfectly situated to demand a shot from the more difficult-to-find and trouble-laden left side of the fairway. Coupling that demand was a right greenside hazard and our work site for the day—a large, nasty sand blowout.

This thing was cool and entirely the work of Mother Nature’s whipping wind. At the top was a sharp wall of sand revealing the dark striations of years of turf growth and accumulated organic matter in the sand. Just below that were massive chunks of turf and soil that had just until recently been living at that top wall. The wind had continued to undermine the edge until the matted roots of the turf could no longer support itself, causing it to rip and tumble down below to its current location. At the base and the right side was the recently blown sand, mixing into and covering the existing turf in those locations. You could see that the combination of sand migration and turf growing through it had built these areas up, providing almost a sense of containment or support.

*The day’s worksite (photo credit: Toby Brearly)*

All in all, outside of the chunkiness and general mess, you could see the outline and form of a real bunker—the wild and natural type of bunker that was currently being created and implemented by guys like Jeff Bradley of Coore and Crenshaw or the team at Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design. They in turn had gathered their inspiration from guys like Alister MacKenzie, George Thomas, and Tom Simpson, who in turn had gained their inspiration from Mother Nature herself and the very thing that lay before my eyes at that moment. It was very cool to see and mentally complete this circle.

It was also time to dig in. With a trailer full of shovels, spades, tamps, brushes, pitchforks, and rakes, we had our tools to get going. Before getting after it though, we stood as a group, talking about the features, how they got there, and what sort of plan of attack we should have.

The first and primary thing to do was to shore up the wall at the top. In order to do so, we used the very first form of revetting developed by Old Tom—chunk support. Back at St Andrews, the bunkers were prone to sand blow and deterioration. To keep them from falling apart and growing at an uncontrollable rate, he would take chunks of sod either from the bunker itself or nearby in the rough and pack them in, mixing in sand and soil along the way. We would do the same thing here, even digging back underneath the existing in-tact turf above to get these chunks packed in below, using both tampers and the handle end of a rake to lock the sods in.

In some places, it was necessary to try and collapse and lower the top edge. This is a very delicate process where sand has to be slowly undermined while the turf above is supported. If not supported, it will rip and leave a large indent on your bunker where you don’t want one. The supports are made by carefully lodging shovels and/or pitchforks underneath. After you adjust and prepare the new level, you very slowly remove the supports and let the sod meet the new grade. Carefully tamp down the grass to smooth it out make sure it is bound to the sand/soil below. In some cases you can do this without having the supports in place, but that is only when undermining well below the turf level and having that sand/soil above effectively act as the support.

On the bottom edges, especially on the left, the sand was really mixed with whatever was trying to grow. It was also somewhat broken. In order to create a more defined, formal bunker perimeter, an edge was cut out in some places, and the scrap sod was then used to fill in the gaps in others. Where there was no more scrap sod to use, it had to be acquired by cutting out more nearby. Everything we did and used had to be sourced within walking distance. There was no buying in materials or hauling it from afar with machines. We had to use whatever we could find to make it work.

On that note, the particular area I was working on required some imported material. We had debated as a group on how to handle the high right side where a lot of the sand had been funneling and blowing out. The practical greenkeeper side in all of them wanted to close it off and shore it up. The artistic architect side in me wanted to keep it, believing the little wing to be an important part of the bunker’s composition. As such, they let me to it.

Working quickly, feeding off that creative energy as well as trying to get something in place before anyone would change their minds and over-ride me, I set to investigating the space with a shovel. There was a lot of sand buildup on top of anything really growing. If we were to formalize this corner and contain the sand, we were going to have to find a way to stabilize the area. This meant revetting more in the style that you see today though still not as clean and formal. I had my friend Simon, a Yorkshire man, helping to generate some sods to use. Cutting them thickly but into little rectangles about 8” by 18,” they were easy to stack and adjust to shape the edge. We probably stacked the sods anywhere from 4-6 levels high, depending how far down we needed to go to reach a solid ground in the form of buried organic matter. As opposed to leaving the exposed wall as you see on many links courses, this move was purely about function and stability. We would eventually push the sand back up and cover up most of our work.

The issue of blowing sand would still remain though, and we needed to find a way to contain and slow it down. Gordon, who was very active and engaging the entire time with everyone, suggested a very natural solution: plant marram grass on the outsides above the revetting. Marram is the long, wispy golden stuff that you see out in the most active, sandy dunes. It is a pioneer species and can grow in sand with very little water or presence of organic matter. As such, it is the first thing to grow in exposed sand and the first to provide stabilization, eventually cycling through multiple generations and building up organic matter to the point that other grasses and plants can mix in and grow. Because our area in the corner was sandy and likely to continue to receive more sand from the wind, marram is the perfect plant to provide stabilization. Again getting a lot of help from Simon, who was wheelbarrowing chunks of marram over from a spot about 60 yards away, we carefully placed our chunks along the edge and filled any gaps with sand to provide more root zone.

From there it was on to finishing touches. Fill rabbit holes. Re-contour and rake the sand. Clear out any remaining chunks or scraps. Brush sand and soil into all the gaps from our sod work. Tamp over and round off the edges. And cut any odd hanging pieces along the edge. Actually, I should clarify that. Rip, not cut, any edges. To cut leaves a clean line that would stick out in a bunker like this. To rip though leaves a natural, rough edge that matches better with the other edges, which were in reality ripped themselves by Mother Nature.

In about 7 hours time including a break for the typical soup and sandwich lunch, we had our completed, formalized bunker ready for play:

*All set and ready to go. It didn’t seem too different from something you might have seen fashioned at a place like Bandon or Barnbougle Dunes. (photo credit: Toby Brearly)*

*The “before” image again for comparison. (photo credit: Toby Brearly)*

All this left me thinking, would I have done anything differently? Would I perhaps have formalized it even less, leaving some chunks in the sand or bleeding some edges? Or would I have formally revetted a few sections of the bunker, particularly at the top? At Castle Stuart, they had done some of those very things, and I found it to be quite interesting. It was a nice little thought exercise, but in the end I was satisfied. It was time to head back in and enjoy the evening.

———

We would usually hang out in the clubhouse for a portion of each evening, pouring each other pints, sharing stories, and having a laugh. On this night though, the clubhouse lost power. “How does that happen?” you might ask. Well, it turns out our recent run of warm, calm weather was to blame. You see, the clubhouse is powered by a small wind generator, allowing for cheaper energy costs in addition to being more environmentally-conscious. It’s also incredibly reliable as this is one of the windier places in the world. It had been so calm though the past few days, the generator blew through all its reserve energy, meaning both the lights were out and the taps wouldn’t pour. As such, we had to get a little more creative to entertain ourselves. No worries though, as club chairman Ralph Thompson had us covered.

Grabbing a large bottle of whisky from the storage room, a 9 iron, and a bucket of golf balls, big Ralph summoned us all to the practice green. We were instructed to first take a nip from the bottle and then a shot at one of the holes up on the green. 3 rounds, closest to the pin, winner takes whatever remains of the bottle. Now, this was no easy shot. The green, which was formerly the 9th green on the old course, was propped up and guarded by a severe little slope covered in rough. An aerial approach was necessary and no easy task off the tight turf we had to hit from, especially after each subsequent round and nip of the brown stuff.

We all took or turns, oscillating between good-natured jabs at one another’s performance and genuine encouragement. Some shots were closer than others, and some were bladed away into oblivion. One such rocket shot from London-based David appeared to be well on its way to the great beyond until it somehow slammed into the little two foot high pin, almost dislodging it before dropping down innocently right next to the hole. Roaring laughter, clapping, backslaps, and keeling over all ensued upon this most unlikely of outcomes. The shot would hold on to “win” the prize, and the merriment would continue as well.

*The aftermath of a most unlikely outcome*

The wind had picked back up through all of this, and the power at the clubhouse kicked back on. Instead of taking the party back inside though, we decided to linger in the twilight and try out something Paul had been talking about all week but had not the conditions to execute: power-kiting.

You probably hadn’t heard of it, and neither had I. Basically though, it is like kite-surfing without the board and water, and you don’t let yourself get aerial as much. For the most part, it is a struggle and a great way to make your arms useless the following day. Holding on to the hearty reins with both hands and leaning well back with the weight of your body, you immediately feel the intense power of the wind. If you let up at all, it will take you on a ride, either in the air or along the ground. Armed with the warmth and courage provided by our brave juice consumed during the golf challenge, we all gave it a try, laughing and goofing around along the way.

In such a remote place like this, you have to make your own fun. When you lose one of the creature comforts like electricity, that need is even higher. On this night, with a simple club, ball, bottle, and kite, we did so in spades. While tv, internet, and technology are nice and entertaining, they rarely seem to leave lasting memories. Instead, it’s those moments together, unplanned and organic, that stay with you forever. And this was a night I would not be forgetting.

Part 5 will be the final installment and appear in the coming days, discussing the special ecology of Askernish as well as my overall thoughts and lessons gained from the experience. For now, you can view the gallery below and recall the scenes and joy of a most fun night on the machair.

Askernish After 10 Years: Part 3--The Golf Course / April 27, 2020 by Brett Hochstein

*Six-somes allowed. (photo credit: Toby Brearly)*

This month is the 10 year anniversary of a life-changing trip to a golf course far away and lost in time: Askernish. To both reflect upon it as well as occupy my time during this pandemic crisis, I have been rolling out a multi-part series that explores my thoughts, emotions, and lessons learned from a legendary week on the links. Part 1 discusses the physical and mental act of getting there, while the second segment focuses on a fun exercise of routing a course on links land like it is 1891. This is Part 3 though, which talks about the existing golf course itself.

Day 3 (Continued)

We wrapped up our walk throughs of our routings in the mid afternoon and walked back in to the clubhouse (the actual one—not the old stone circle ruins) across the golf course. While on this walk, it was an obvious occurrence to many of us what we should do with the rest of our time on this clear, calm, blue-bird afternoon—play the golf course!

Besides going around a couple of the first few holes the night before, we had not yet had time to experience the full course, especially not the part that people travel far and wide to play—the middle stretch from 7-16. As it was a perfect, warm, and bizarrely calm and quiet afternoon, I absolutely couldn’t wait to get out and knock it around this natural golf ground that I had been thinking about for over a year.

People talk about how the course doesn’t really get started until the 7th hole and even go so far as to describe the early holes as “boring” or a “cow pasture.” While technically that second part is true, I really like the early holes, and the cow pasture part only enhances the experience, not detracts. What is also true is that this land in the early holes around the clubhouse was in fact more subdued, the reason being that much of it was bulldozed flat in the 1930s for landing planes at the onset of WWII. There was still much beauty it in though, especially in providing a contrast for what was to come.

We teed off out into the wide open field of short grass that is the par 5 first hole. Well, almost wide open. Occupying various parts of the fairway, about 20 cattle stood in the way, almost like fielders on a baseball diamond. It was a surreal experience to say the least hitting into them, next to them, and walking by. Again, there was almost no wind on this day and therefore almost no noise, outside of the occasional grunt or “moo!” For this, it goes right up there with the 1st and 9th of St Andrews for most memorable flat holes I have ever played.

*The author heading straight into the opening hole’s main hazard: cattle. (photo credit: Toby Brearly)*

When you get to the green and its large left-to-right kicker, you realize just how different and cool this whole thing is. For one, you have to carefully step over an electric shock wire that helps keep the cows and sheep off the greens. There are also the putting surfaces themselves, which have a variety of micro-undulation at a frequency, sharpness, and scale that I have never seen. A twenty foot putt could break 5 different ways. While some may think that is goofy or gimmicky, I think it is fun and also helps separate the better and more intuitive players from the rest.

The second hole is a cool little par 3 with the green tucked halfway around a small dune-form on the right. It also runs away from you and to the right, so a clever player can work it around. If you haven’t noticed yet, the ground game is prominent here.

The next few holes work in a little counter-clockwise loop before heading back to the clubhouse and eventually the bigger dunes. The 3rd hole is a little teaser dogleg. At 270 yards, the green is tempting for a longer hitter. Plenty of bad lies or even a lost ball await a miss though, and I would just as soon play safely out into the fairway and leave a wedge or a bump shot in.

4 turns back northward and is quite a cool hole with a wide fairway that gradually narrows and falls away on both sides at the pinch point. You want to take on that pinch point as much as you can though, as the green is one of the more difficult to hit with a number of small falloffs surrounding it.

We started out the round in separate groups, but by the 5th hole, we decided to all join up and play together. Despite slowing down the pace of play, this was a good idea and would turn out to make the post round discussions much livelier and on point.

The 5th hole itself is easier on your game and your eyes in comparison to the 4th. The tee shot is elevated on a dune, offering a great view across the simple plain of the opening holes as well as the Atlantic Ocean. The gentle dogleg curls to the left and finishes at a saddle-like green that also has a lot of back to front tilt. Even simpler holes like this are very compelling because of how strong the contouring is. Overall, the greens throughout the course have a very nice mix of both big and small contour. In a lot of places they fall away from the golfer. Keeping them at speeds of 8 or lower on the stimpmeter helps allow for this and makes the golf both more fun and more interesting. Listening to the most recent “Salon” on Derek Duncan’s Feed the Ball podcast, Bill Coore talked about modern green speeds and how they are “putting the cart before the horse.” In many cases of modern golf design, we have been letting green speeds dictate contour and shape on the greens instead of contour and shape dictating speed. How is that right? Why would you want to limit the one aspect of golf design that has the greatest impact on interest and over the smallest area? It does not make sense. Visiting and playing Askernish and its wild natural greens is a refreshing departure from that.

Another benefit and reason for the reduced speeds is that it also keeps from damaging the natural grass that makes up the greens. Remember, these were all just simply chewed or mowed down. No sodding, no seeding, no USGA sand and gravel profiles. This is the real thing.

*The wonderful pastoral landscape around the clubhouse is a nice warmup for what is to come.*

Back to the golf. Hole 6 was a long par 5 playing back along the simple ground that used to be a runway for prop planes. The green finished at a ridge and fell away, which was kind of clever if a little goofy compared to convention. Shots both long and short would have to be expertly judged to get close to the hole. If it was a long shot played along the ground, you would want to pace it to just barely crest the ridge and then trickle down over it. If it was a short shot played in the air, you would want to land it as closely to the ridge as possible and have it trickle down. Being too aggressive leaves a long but reasonably friendly recovery shot; being short means trying to accomplish the same thing again.

I use the past tense above because it was a clever green but has since moved closer to the beach edge as per Tom Doak’s suggestion. I haven’t seen the hole since that change, but I loosely remember the ground that the green would get moved to and think that it could be a good change that further engages the natural advantages of the course—the bright blue Atlantic Ocean the advantage in this case.

The approach and arrival at the 7th tee is the “A-ha!” moment of the round where everyone stops and goes silent with mouth agape, perhaps miming the word “wow” to themselves before going to reach for the camera. As Erik Anders Lang eloquently states upon his first sight of the hole, “It was like the acid kicked in and everything became colorful.” I can’t speak to the details of hallucinogenics, but, yeah, that sounds about right. All of a sudden, the land is completely different. Heaving dunes tumble as far as you can see while the ocean and white sand beach sit on the right with the mountainous Isle of Barra in the distance. The golf plays down through a large dune valley, winding its way about to the green as if it were truly designed. And I suppose it was, just not so by any men or machines. It is a magical golf hole and moment of experience.

Not only is the hole easy on the eyes, the golf itself also really works strategically. To get a visible angle into the green and avoid the sharp dune on the left, you need to take on the dune on the right. Longer hitters can clear it, while shorter hitters will have to try and get their ball to stop on the top of it where the fairway rides over. A running shot with of careful judgement and speed can then make its way up to the green, which falls from right to left and is guarded on the right by a sharp ridge (which was too sharp at the time but has since been softened by the talented hands of Eric Iverson). If trying to fly the ball onto the green though, you will want to avoid that right greenside ridge and come in more from the left, taking on the big, wooly dune in the process. That will help to hold the ball on the right-to-left tilting surface. No matter your game and skillset, the hole will hold your interest.

Of course, you can make all that above strategy moot and pop a huge fade out onto the beach, as some golfers do (see photo on right or above). One of the charms though of Askernish is there is no out of bounds. All land is in play, and that just connects you even more to the natural setting. So when I see my ball sitting 40 feet below on the beach, did you think I was going to play it? Hell yes I was going to play it! I don’t remember exactly what happened with the shot (which means I probably chunked it into even worse position), but I will always remember the fun and thrill of going down and trying it.

Hole 8 is a drivable (270 yard) par 4 high on the bluff with a crevasse intruding upon the right side of the fairway. The green, which is partially tucked behind a large dune on the left, is also guarded by a couple of the few formal bunkers on the course. While the bunkers on the other holes were natural sand scrapes and there were numerous small sandy spots throughout the course made by the rabbits, these bunkers were actually the result of cleaning up some rubbish areas. As the team cleared out the junk and were left with thin turf coverage, the most sensible thing was to formalize them into the course’s first bunkers. Off the tee, you will want to take on the intruding crevasse and trouble on the right, either clearing it or, if the wind is really strong, getting close to it. This will help get you a better angle into the green, as the bunkers and a large dune guard the left side of it.

*Take on the trouble to the right to get an angle around the first bunkers on the golf course.*

9 and 10 both continue outward along the seaside. 9 has a rising tee shot playing straight out toward the ocean, and those who play too carelessly may just find it. Like the 8th, the angle is also better playing close to the danger on the right, which I understand is much more in play now with the fairway being mowed closer to the bluff edge. That angle over there on the edge increases visibility and gives a longer look down a green that sits precariously on a very narrow shelf. Being short isn’t great, but being long is death. While the hole is only 341 yards, it is very demanding, even rating as the 3rd most difficult according to the handicap stroke index.

The 10th turns back inland a bit, but we aren’t ready to fully head back yet. It tees off marvelously near the ocean and out over a crevasse to the fairway beyond. The target is narrow but friendly in shape as balls hit out to the sides will feed back toward the middle. Blow one out to the right over the edge of the ridge though, and you might as well concede the hole to your partner. The green is also in kind of a saddle, but shots coming up a bit short will find themselves trickling back toward the golfer. All the holes are obviously natural, but this one really feels that way as the green is a true continuation of the fairway.

11 is a par 3 that gets a good amount of attention, and deservedly so. With views of the Atlantic, the long one-shotter to a tabletop green demands a good play over a deep valley. It’s a long, unsettling shot, and when I was there I found it a bit too penal as most short shots would either snag up in a small dune or catch a depression that fed into a steep road that would suck your ball down into a 40 foot deep pit. There is a bailout to the right, but it falls away and can kick your shot off over the bluff top. I think there has since been a little work to the approach on this hole, but I cannot fully comment on it without having seen it. With the length on shot and many needing to bounce the ball on though, it would be a beneficial spot to do some gentle alteration, at the very least cutting off the feeder into the road.

—

This might be a good place for some commentary on that topic: is alteration at Askernish a good thing? This was hotly debated during the week when we were there with the “new” course not even being a year old yet. It was so much a debate that I also knew my former (though not yet for another year and a half) boss Tom Doak was involved with some additional consulting.

Obviously, the course had been “found” and, outside of some small shaping work for the tees, simply mowed down to playable golf height. It was completely natural and unaltered, and that made for both an intriguing story and great study into the origins of golf before land was alter-able. But there were admittedly some places on the course that were a bit rough and sharp and didn’t work as well you would hope for the types of golf shots you would want to play in a given situation. The 6th, with its green set away from the land edge, and the 7th, with its very sharp greenside ridge, have already been discussed. I just mentioned the 11th, and later on I will talk about the 16th, which was maybe the fiercest ongoing debate of all. The common theme among all of these holes (outside of the 6th) is that they have/had very sharp, dramatic features that impede ground game shots, the ground being too steep or rugged for anything to run through without a very lucky bounce.

I have to state here that I LOVE the romanticism of the untouched ground story, and there is so much there that all factions of the industry can learn from it. I have to also agree with the suggestions eventually made by Doak to soften a few things. Askernish is not just a cool place and cool story. It’s also a really damn good golf course. And if you can make just a few small tweaks, keeping the ground generally in place and just making it more amenable to a ball rolling through it, you can make it that much better. The key is having a very soft hand, deeply understanding the types of contours found throughout the course, and re-turfing with the same native grass. Fortunately, all of that was in place with Eric Iverson shaping and plenty of sods available.

Because it was to be done like this in the right way, I was in favor of the tweaks, despite it maybe ruining a little bit of the purity of the story. It is all for the better of the golf experience though. It certainly isn’t change for the sake of change, which would be disastrous on such sacred ground. A part of me also thinks that Old Tom very well might have done the same things—shovel, spade, and wheelbarrow in tow. After all, he altered many spots out on The Old Course, including the 18th green where he built up the entire “flat table-land.” Who is to say he wouldn’t have done the same to Askernish? When put this way, maybe it isn’t as much of a deviation from the story as I first thought…

—

Getting back to the golf and the 12th hole, which is probably my favorite on the whole course. Many of the holes have a “choose your adventure” element to them, especially when the grass is chewed down by the animals like it was during our visit. The 12th though is very much that, moreso than any other hole out here. The long, downhill par 5 tees off from the edge of the sand bluff and plays over perhaps the best golfing ground on the whole course before finishing beautifully at the low-land edge of the machair, the reflective water of the nearby lochs shimmering in the distance. It should be noted also that these are the same type of golf-scale dunes talked about in Part 2 and where our 2nd and 3rd holes were routed.

I am a huge fan of the way this hole experiences every landscape type found throughout the course on one single hole. You have the ocean and white sand beach to your back. The most dramatic dunes are still there off to the left while you play over the intermediate ones through the hole. The mountains and distant Barra are still present, and then you finish on a wonderful green slightly perched over the flattest lowest section of the machair, which bleeds off into moorland and eventually the water of the lochs within it. The landscape value of the hole is incredible, but the golf is fantastic too.

*The 12th green sits in a stunning spot that is a remarkable contrast from where the hole started. Photo taken from and courtesy of Askernish Golf Club*

At the tee, you have your first choice on the hole. Try for the longer carry and narrower fairway out to the left, or play more safely to the shorter and wider one on the right. If you bail right, you are left with a blind shot over a big ridge and another decision to make: play a shot of about 150-170 yards to the left fairway but have a tougher angle to the green, play the same yardage shot straightaway to leave a little bit better angle but still 160 to the hole, or rip a 3 wood and hope to find the approach fairway about 210-230 yards away and have 100 or less to the hole. If you go left off the tee, your options are similar, but finding the approach fairway is much easier as well as visible. Brave, long hitters may even try to have a crack at the green, but because of a fronting ridge and a greenside bunker (this one wholly natural) on the left, it is a very tough shot to pull off. Overall, it is a brilliant, fun, rollicking hole and one you can play a different way each time you tee it up.

13 is bit of a breather and a nice little connector hole with more of the wonderful views out across the machair on the right. Its reverse-cant fairway wraps to the left uphill to a tucked green that has some surprising danger at its back. That danger is a sharp falloff and a return to the dramatic dunesland, which the par 3 14th plays right into the teeth of. The dangerous, mid-length par one-shotter plays across a valley to a little tabletop green just sitting there beautifully. Seeing this flat oasis with falloffs all around and knowing it was unaltered makes similar versions you see on other links courses that much more believable.

*The 14th is a wonderful and challenging par 3 that was awaiting perfectly for the team to claim as a hole.*

15 is a shorter par 4 playing through similarly choppy ground. A pinching, crowned fairway makes it effectively play longer though, with the smart play leaving about a 150 yard shot for the second. Originally Martin and Gordon were looking at a par 5 hole with a green further along over a big ridge, but they instead settled on something much shorter and what is my favorite green on the whole course—a shallow little halfpipe that is a blast hitting shots into. The fronting slopes are highest on the left and right, and in between them is a bit of a downhill halfpipe running perpendicular to the green that can be used to help funnel shots through. Even though the shot into the green might only require a higher lofter club for some, it is perhaps a safer play to land it short and bounce it into the bowl. Trying to fly it onto the green and coming up just shy could see you catch the downslope and have your ball rocket on through the green and into the long grass at the back. This is one of those greens though where the recovery shots are so fun, it is almost more enjoyable to miss it on the approach.

Above gallery: the awesome 15th green as seen from the front (left) and right (right)

On to 16 and the controversy mentioned before. The par 4 doglegs slightly right and finishes at a pretty extreme elevated green. The approach to it is very steep and wall-like, which kills just about any sort of running shot. At the top of the wall-like ridge sits a very shallow shelf where, when we played it, the hole was often placed. Beyond the shelf, it falls very steeply in undulating fashion.

As we debated the hole back in the clubhouse, I could see its merits as a true “adventure” type hole and how it functions for match play, but in the end I just thought that trying to land on the top section crossed the threshold of deft skill into daft luck. I said that as well even after getting a 4 iron to stick up there (it required a perfect, speed killing bounce just off the top of the wall in front of the green). Indeed, Eric Iverson and Tom Doak, along with Martin Ebert, did some work on it shortly thereafter, moving the green down to more of a full time position in the back area below and making that more receptive. All the comments I have heard from everyone since have been glowing, and I am quite interested to see how it now plays.

*Looking back over the 16th green with the 9th fairway in the distance. The green for 16 is now located in the low section closer to this perspective.*

I can’t really speak much to the par 3 17th, as it has been moved to a different location from a tough-to-get-close high spot on the right down to a longer but lower and more protected green on the left. It’s another change I would like to see and experience.

Returning home on the par 5 18th is also a return to the simpler ground surrounding the clubhouse, and some may find it to be something of a let down compared to the previous stretch. I disagree though. For one, the views across the broad landscape to the right and straight ahead are beautiful. It also plays around an old cattle pen, its earthen cops still prominent and intruding upon play to the left on the inside of the dogleg. The approach to the large finishing green is perfect for a bouncing shot, the land much simpler yet still slightly tilted and containing plenty of wrinkle to keep your attention, especially on the green itself. After the preceding long stretch of holes meandering the massive dunes, I felt this open, subdued finish to be a nice, relaxing sort of come-down to complete the round. Just as it started slow and easy, it now does the same over the very ground you began upon, the round tying together full circle.

The walk back to the clubhouse is actually a bit long, but it is perfect. Strolling along this same, grazed-down ground, it gives the golfer plenty of time to recall what they just experienced as well as soak up the landscape upon them. It makes me realize that many rounds of golf end too abruptly. All of a sudden you walk off the last green and find yourself immediately in the clubhouse or worse yet, the parking lot changing your shoes. The discord from one space, both mentally and physically, is jarring. Just as we allow ourselves a moment to digest after a fine meal, we could use more the lengthy, reflective post-round walks after experiencing a fine course like that at Askernish.

*We could use more contemplative walks like this after the 18th. Of course, if you aren’t of that mindset and easily get bored, just drop a ball and chip your way back.*

———

As we headed back in and recalled our round, we noticed some smoke streaking across the sky coming from some nearby hills. It continued to grow, and the trail of it shifted to obscure the sun for the first time in hours, turning it a deep pink/red behind the streaky black smoke. It was rather stunning.

We also asked Paul to help us on a grocery run. We needed food (and beverages). At the Co-op (a common small-scale Scottish grocery chain), we loaded up on supplies for that night as well the next few. Some guys planned to cook a dinner together. I don’t know if it was subliminal messaging provided by the many sheep or my own penchant, either real or imagined, for living locally off the land, but I went rogue from the group and got myself a little leg of lamb to roast.

In that same vein, the other American, Price, kept asking the club members to put him in touch with a local fish monger to get some fresh shellfish from the nearby waters. On night two, still no luck or word despite being told they’d be able to come up with something.

My perfectly medium-rare lamb rather disgusted the Brits, who for some reason like their meat gray and dry. It was perfect for my tastes though and would provide some good leftovers for the following night. We wrapped up our meals and walked outside to bask in the twilight. As we did, we noticed the smoke was more intense. As we turned around toward the mountains, we also noticed that the fire was now visible in the waning light, and it was impressive.

*The fire from the mountains was calling, and we must go…*

With some wine from dinner and a few pints of Tennant’s in us, we got the wise idea to take a walk and chase the fire, not knowing whether it was a controlled burn or a wildfire. Remember that youthful idiocy I described at the end of Part 1? Turns out two days was not enough time to grow out of it. The walk started out with 3 or 4 of us, dressed in warmer clothes and armed with a few more silver cans for the walk. I also brought my camera, even though I knew capturing shots without a tripod was going to be tough.

As we walked out to the island’s main road, a paved one-lane highway, we realized this thing was actually some distance away. At that point it was close to full darkness, and a couple of the others bailed, leaving just Toby and myself. We were committed and determined at that point. As we walked along, we gained ground but not nearly at the pace we would have thought. Eventually, we realized the fire was burning away from us and that this truly was a game of chasing. Still, despite our beers running out some 20 minutes ago or so, we decided we were too close not to press on and reach it.

And reach it we did. The flashing lights from the fire trucks spun through the peat-smelling smoke. The firefighters were scattered all about, but there was no sense of urgency in their movements. This was a controlled burn under control, and it was nearing the end of its run. Perhaps a bit disappointed but still happy with taking on the adventure, we headed back down the one lane highway toward the house, tired and weary-eyed. As it was approaching 1 AM with still a ways to go, I stuck out my thumb to hitchhike for the first time in my life. If it weren’t for the overwhelming friendliness of the islanders, I might not have done it, but it seemed well worth the extra 30-40 minutes of sleep we’d get. Needless to say the two cars we saw on the whole walk did not stop for us, but that was all fine. Walking back the whole way gave a sense of completeness to the journey.

Once again, I had stayed up way too late in order to gain a new experience, and while it was exhausting it was also worth it. After all, you don’t write on your website about the early bed time and good night sleep you got ten years prior. You write about the time you walked 4 miles down the road in pitch black on a remote foreign island to chase down a fire that may or may not be controlled.

Morning came, and opening the eyes and standing up out of bed were as hard as could be imagined. There were very few things that could get me up and moving with motivation that morning, but our activity for that day was certainly one of them: building a links bunker using the methods of Old Tom Morris. I couldn’t wait to get back out there.

Part 4 will get into some nitty gritty bunker work and should appear later this week. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!