Warm Up hole

What a great way to start a round at Wolf Point.  Walkers get to use the par three 8th as a warm up hole - driver (240) to mid-iron (160) - there are a lot of tees.

If you'd like a larger digital version of this illustration please ask.

Can you see our 4-legged companion?

The new birdie balls are here, the new birdie balls are here.

If you haven't gotten a birdie ball in the mail before - please ask - the new version is here. It has a nice little picture of the 6th on the side.

This is the modern version of the golf wiffle ball. This one draws, fades and makes a neat sounds when you hit one with your club. Yes they don't break and go about 40 yards in the back yard.

Cheers

Maintenance - Then & Now

Above is a picture during the 1952 Masters.  It is amazing that conditions good enough for Hogan, Burke, Nelson and Palmer aren't close to the demands of today's average golfer.  Someone complaining about conditions is like a traveler complaining about the high speed internet not working on a plane.  In order for many of today's courses to survive practical maintenance needs to be embraced.

Clubhouse View

Here is the view from the clubhouse I mentioned yesterday. There are several tees to the 8th & 18th green around the deck just in case after a few beers someone thinks they can have another crack at the day's victor.

Clubhouse Complete

It has been a year since I Iast posted a picture of the clubhouse (here is the clubhouse label).  I would say it is 99% finished - Don has done a great job.  He has been responsible for all the vertical architecture and keeps expanding on his responsibilities - not that being the superintendent wasn't demanding enough.  Our client very much appreciates his abilities and continues to ask him to do more.

The clubhouse is a great place to have a beer (they taste really good), review the day's round and have a look at the golf course -- tomorrow I'll post a view from the clubhouse.

Juilliard's Golf Program

I recently got a wonderfully flattering e-mail from a post-graduate student from Juilliard wanting to persue his other passion of golf course design.  It is an extremely competitive market for projects and for those that want to enter the business.  I've heard many architects tell prospective applicants not to even bother - it is just too hard today - which is very good and accurate advice.  I try to be a little more optimistic - doubtful - but still optimistic.

His message was inspiring for me and I'm honored to be its recipeint and better understand how lucky I am to be in the position I am.  Thank you.

Pictured above is the 18th green from above.  Sometimes the clouds make the picture too.

The Byron Nuzzo

Pictured above are my father, Uncle Jim & Uncle Dom standing on the 5th green. I was very fortunate to bring them to the course this past week. My client is very gracious.

They had a ball. I'm not sure when, but for a long time whenever it is an outing of all Nuzzo's it automatically becomes a tournament round. It has the moniker of The Byron Nuzzo - out of respect for Lord Byron. My Uncle Jim is the self appointed president for life and defines the rules this way -- our tournaments are more like Boxing. The winner is the Champ - no provisions for past records or performance. I must have been too gracious of a host myself as I wound up trounced. Wolf Point is very challenging if one isn't paying attention.

We had a great time full of new firsts - not the least of which was playing on my first solo course.

They introduced me to this great game and an appreciation for spending time with loved ones - for this I am forever grateful.
Cheers

p.s.
I did regain the title before they got on a plane back home.

Mike and I

My oldest friend came to visit. We've been playing together for years around the country. We caddied together in High School. We were also 2 of 5 Mikes in our 2nd grade class.

Here were some of his thoughts of the course:

• The rolls and waves of the fairways looked awesome. But deceptive, as I thought I’d have some troublesome lies with a second or third shot. But in actuality I can’t recall the ball being very much above or below my feet more than a couple times in several rounds.

• The visual from the tees are very calming, appealing, and natural looking. Tee shots do not feel intimidating and in essence that probably leads to a false sense of security on the tee. (more deception)

• Options near the green were endless and really made me think. Do I bump and run, chip, pitch, flop, putt, putt a hybrid….. After I would hit a greenside shot, the ‘what-ifs’ enter your head.

• There is a certain aura and peacefulness about the course that made me feel very good. And made me feel that at the time, there was no place I’d rather be.

A busy afternoon

It was me, Mike and Will and two extra visitors. In other words a busy day for the course.

The crop duster was actually playing a few holes along with us flying from tee to green - I think he loved the extra wide 4th fairway too.

ULI Fall Expo

I spent last week at the ULI Fall expo in Miami. It was quite the week. I got to hear some great talks from Paul Volker, Christiane Amanpour, Vicente Fox and Sam Zell. In all it was a very worth while trip.

Here is what I learned, we spent too much, we can achieve our goal of stopping enrichment in Iran - but not regime change, the rest of the world admires our freedom - probably even more so this week, some people think we can WIN a drug war and it is possible to be a billionaire and still be way cool.

The expo was impressive too - the picture above was of a house that was built in hours in the convention hall - note the deck on the back right corner.

Newest caddie at the course

I haven't shown an animal picture in a while.

Here come the players

Recently I had two visitors to the course. Will pictured above on the back 9th tee thought the course was perfect for our client and one of the better modern courses he's seen - more comments to follow. Incidentally he is hitting towards the 5th green - at the end of the day we hit a few different shots around the course.