False Front

A false front is a forward portion of the green that from the tee looks like green and that the ball can land and stay on the surface, but is too steep to hold a ball.

Don came up short on #12 below the false front.  This hole may have squared the match up. I was down by 4 early. He was hoping to get up and down, but my birdie sure did rattle him for my eventual win 2&1.

Some recent comments on Wolf Point from near and afar:

I remember every single hole and shot at Wolf Point.

Playing WP is a fantastic way to spend a day.
I think very highly of Wolf Point and I am blown away that it was your first solo effort. your client was very lucky to have found you and Don.
Like St. Andrews, it does provide a very strong home field advantage.

The fairway and green shaping is 10 out of 10! Can’t wait to see it.

Don will be at the GIS too.

Booth #1862 Golf Industry Show in New Orleans

Come visit us at booth number 1862 during the Golf Industry Show in New Orleans from Feb. 5th - 7th.

We are located near the Construction project across the aisle from Landscapes Unlimited.
Please click the above image to see a larger version.

I'll be showing lots of images of Wolf Point Club - in book form.  Great images of another site a little west of Texas and an interesting new relationship.

Many of my long term consulting relationships started with GPS As-builts. For my superintendent friends, I'll be sharing why that can be a big help when undergoing long term planning work.  And I'm still creating the best looking and easiest for the super to utilize - Please ask to see some samples.

"The Cruel Shoes"

Below is a story by Steve Martin that was also the inspiration for the name of a compilation of essays published called Cruel Shoes.  If you are unfamiliar with the story please skip to below.

I recently saw one of the most horrendous golf holes, ever.  It looked like the cruel shoe with the razor blades.  It was so forced into the property with rediculous shot requirements that no one could ever enjoy playing such a travesty.  The green complex was hideous and made my stomach hurt.  Why could such a thing happen?  The course was designed by the owners who had little understanding of the golf course routing.  Creating a golf course is a dream and often even a novice could create a good hole here or there.  It is the expert that is required to build an entire course of sufficient quality that people would want to play for generations, and so it can be maintained efficiently so as a business it can survive for just as long.

Cruel Shoes:   Youtube version.

173 Tees

I recently finished GPS mapping all of the grassing areas and features - greens, fairways & tees. When Don and I play a round the winner of the hole chooses where to tee from - usually very close to where we sank our putts. I did win our last match 2&1, but more about that another day.

The philosophy of the courses tees was to have as many different interesting locations to start a hole from, and it only needed to be a small flat spot. They don't look like tees - they aren't raised above the ground like the things elephants stand on at the circus.

It turns out there are 173 big, little, funky, cool spots to start playing from.  The main clubhouse is surrounded by tees as represented by the green circles in the above illustration of the GPS'd data.  Many of which can be used as tees for either the 1st or 9th hole - depending on your mood, your game and your opponents game.

Different winds and different tees combine for unique angles and strategies every day.

PGA Merchandise Show

I'm looking forward to attending the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando for the first time, later this month. Say hello if you see me please.

Wordle Proposal

The above image is a compilation of words from a recent proposal. The more times a word is used the larger it is in the image.  It gives a flavor of what is involved in a project - lots of construction and maintenance issues.  

Nuzzo is tiny and in the middle of it all.

It was created at Wordle.

Mulligan

There is a new member of the crew.... meet Mulligan.

GPS: I'm like a giant pencil

Last week I started GPS mapping the final details of Wolf Point.  Fairways, greens, tees, alternate tee locations, bunkers and anything of interest.  The irrigation system is already completely mapped and hasn't changed.

The above image is a screen shot of some of the steps to get the data to a final image like the irrigation as-built.  The hand held unit communicates with the GPS satellites and records my movements.  Picture me as a giant pencil drawing points, lines or shapes.  Where ever I go I can record.

Finding all the potential tees is the most challenging part of this exercise, there are a lot of them - note all the dots in the above image.  And the nice weather is a draw away from the work.  Don and I played a match in the afternoon.  I'll share some of the surprising spots he wound up later this week.  I played easily with a single ball - I'll break 80 at Wolf Point one day soon - I did birdie 12 - not easy to do.

Happy New Year.