| BY DESIGN
A Little Piece of Scotland Award-winning architect Paul Jansen casts his eye over Donald Ross’s classic creation at Pinehurst, which promises to provide a unique canvas for the world’s best this month.
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Courtesy of the USGA
The irrigated areas at Pinehurst No 2 have been greatly reduced resulting in less water usage and maintenance requirements – it has become a sustainable model (opposite top); the legendary Donald Ross (opposite bottom) tackles the ninth hole on what is arguably the most famous course he ever designed 46
HK GOLFER・JUN 2014
inehurst Resort is unquestionably one of America’s greatest golfing beacons. The longtime home of famed golf course architect Donald Ross, it was the gathering place of the first meeting of North American course designers in 1947. The resort, consisting of eight layouts, is best known for its No 2 course, the work of its able resident. Ross, originally from the seaside village of Dornoch in the northern reaches of Scotland, worked on four of the golf courses at Pinehurst, yet it’s his No 2 course that gets most of the press – and for good reason. Of all the golf courses Ross designed, and he designed hundreds throughout North America, Pinehurst No 2 was his favorite and his best volume of work. In the book Golf Has Never Failed Me – The lost commentaries of legendary golf architect Donald J Ross, he said this of No 2: “I am firmly of the opinion that the leading professionals and golfers of every caliber, for many years to come, will find in the No 2 course the fairest yet most exacting test of their game, and yet a test from which they will always derive the maximum amount of pleasure” … and he was right. No 2 has indeed stood the test of time and thanks to a 2011 restoration it now looks and plays similar to how it did during the days Ross resided on the property, where he would pass in 1948 at the age of 75. Pinehurst represents the type of golf course I enjoy. It has links-like characteristics including the ability to play hard and fast (thanks in part to a sand-base), it is strategically strong, its greens offer great defense and it is playable for every level of golfer. To go further – and this is largely due to its
recent restoration – it is also a sustainable model given that irrigated areas have been greatly reduced resulting in less water usage and maintenance requirements. When the course hosts both the men’s and women’s US Open this month, golfers will be subjected to a very different course setup than what they’ve come used to. America’s national championship is most always characterised by narrow fairways and long rough, yet at Pinehurst golfers will experience wide fairways and no grass rough. Sand, wire grass and pine needles will dominate the non-mown areas and much like you experience in the British Isles, the ground contours can (and will) dictate some of the play. I’m an advocate for wide fairways – but only where they offer strategic interest. As is the case at Pinehurst, just like at St Andrews, players are rewarded by positioning their ball to a particular side of the fairway so as best to attack the length or grade of the green and surrounds. Of course the best golfers still need to put a premium on accuracy – this is essentially what narrow fairways do – but the rest of us are still in the game even if we should find ourselves attacking (or defending) from the wrong side of the hole. Grass that is tightly mowed as fairway has obvious benefits as well – it allows the opportunity to highlight existing or built-in contours close to the green. In this particular case golfers needs to negotiate these exposed “humps and bumps” with great skill and creativity using a putter, sand-wedge, 7-iron or whatever club deemed necessary. This is “pure” golf and requires great imagination and skill. Rough grass areas have great value as well, and whilst we will see little of it during the weeks of the US Opens, it can test the best and of course HKGOLFER.COM
the worst golfers. In fact, one would argue that its value is more important today than it ever was because of the way golf courses have been designed and maintained. Around the world, courses are set up to be soft and receptive thanks in part to extensive irrigation systems and their capacity to throw a lot of water onto the playing surfaces. Hard, fast and dry has unfortunately become a foreign language as golfers seek out (and at times demand) green and lush conditions. The result of this being that golf has become very much a “target game” with little interest in the ground. This is not helped by the fact that many courses are designed to be played in the air – golfers are forced to hit over bunkers or water to reach an intended target. Having said that, rough grass has the ability to negate the aerial game, and here’s why: When a golfer finds the equator of the ball below the grass line (ie in rough) it is almost impossible to predict what the ball is going to do upon landing. In this case those creative golfers amongst us will start to survey the fairway and green surrounds to see how they can use the slopes to positively propel their ball towards the target. Golfers are no longer focused on a small target; rather they are “forced” to look at the big picture and in doing so start to harvest some creative thought. “Can I use that bump to propel my ball forward towards the target? What if I get a negative bounce off that slope? What if I over hit that ridge line?” According to legendary Golden Age course architect Max Behr, the object of golf architecture “is to give an intelligent purpose to striking the ball” and it’s obvious under different conditions HKGOLFER.COM
The object of golf architecture “is to give an intelligent purpose to striking the ball” and it’s obvious under different conditions that both rough and short grass has the ability to achieve this end – so neither should be ignored nor scorned.
that both rough and short grass has the ability to achieve this end – so neither should be ignored nor scorned. Donald Ross grew up in Scotland and apprenticed under Old Tom Morris before moving to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, where he would reside at Pinehurst for the better part of his life. In No 2, he designed a little piece of Scotland, as if to remind him of home – how could he forget those creative ground shots he would hit at the links at Dornoch and St Andrews? Now, one hundred years on, it will be interesting to see if the best golfers are able to replicate some of the shots Mr Ross would have played all those years ago and in so doing prepare themselves for the next “Open” held in July. Paul Jansen is the principal architect for Jansen Golf Design. For more information visit his website at jansengolfdesign.com HK GOLFER・JUN 2014
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