Twitter: GeoffShac
  • The 1997 Masters: My Story
    The 1997 Masters: My Story
    by Tiger Woods
  • The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup
    The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup
    by John Feinstein
  • Tommy's Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son
    Tommy's Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son
    by Kevin Cook
  • Playing Through: Modern Golf's Most Iconic Players and Moments
    Playing Through: Modern Golf's Most Iconic Players and Moments
    by Jim Moriarty
  • His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir (Anchor Sports)
    His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir (Anchor Sports)
    by Dan Jenkins
  • The Captain Myth: The Ryder Cup and Sport's Great Leadership Delusion
    The Captain Myth: The Ryder Cup and Sport's Great Leadership Delusion
    by Richard Gillis
  • The Ryder Cup: Golf's Grandest Event – A Complete History
    The Ryder Cup: Golf's Grandest Event – A Complete History
    by Martin Davis
  • Harvey Penick: The Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf
    Harvey Penick: The Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf
    by Kevin Robbins
  • Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Art of Golf Design
    The Art of Golf Design
    by Michael Miller, Geoff Shackelford
  • The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Lines of Charm: Brilliant and Irreverent Quotes, Notes, and Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
    Lines of Charm: Brilliant and Irreverent Quotes, Notes, and Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
    Sports Media Group
  • Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Golden Age of Golf Design
    The Golden Age of Golf Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
    Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
    Sleeping Bear Press
  • The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    by Geoff Shackelford
« Jim Kaat Shoots His Age Righty & Lefty! | Main | This Week In Golf Channel Ratings: Friday Shark Shootout... »
Saturday
Dec212013

Sewailo: "Begay ordered construction of 17 waterfalls, dug out space for 14 acres of lakes, and created a meandering path for a mile-long creek."

Thanks to reader Douglas for taking me back to the 90s with this Greg Hansen story on Notah Begay's newly opened $25 million design near Tucson.

Only, the course was not built in the roaring, in-hindsight-hideous 90s, but actually opened in 2013 in a game legitimately worried about water usage and accessibility.

Sewailo--loosely translated as Say What?--sounds like a poster child for the 90s will not be remembered fondly. Only, this course opened in December, 2013.

Begay ordered construction of 17 waterfalls, dug out space for 14 acres of lakes, and created a meandering path for a mile-long creek.

The stonework to support those waterways cost an estimated $4 million.

This is the type of course you’d build at Hilton Head Island, S.C., the type of eye candy you see while watching PGA Tour regulars at Kapalua in Maui.

Location, location, location does not apply here.

Begay built Tucson’s latest “world-class golf course” a few hundred yards from the Casino del Sol resort — address: Middle of Nowhere — at a time Tucson needed another golf course the way it needs another Modern Street Car.

He built it during a period in which the golf industry in Southern Arizona borders on funereal, in which two established golf courses, Canoa Hills and Santa Rita, have been shuttered, and three others, Forty Niner, San Ignacio and Arizona National, were temporarily closed, foundering with cash-flow trouble.

He built it when two muni courses, El Rio and Fred Enke, had their necks in a financial guillotine.

You can drive for miles on West Valencia Road and see neither a flower nor a green piece of turf, yet Notah Begay and the Pascua Yaquis named this $25 million venture “Sewailo.”

Flower world.

And Hansen said this about the difficulty:

Undeterred, Begay, a Stanford grad, stood at Sewailo’s 10th tee last week — it’s a ridiculously brutal 638-yard par 5 — and winked when someone asked him if “six golf balls” would successfully get him around the course.

“You might hit six water balls on the first few holes,” he said, laughing.

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (29)

stupid is as stupid does
12.22.2013 | Unregistered Commentergreg c
The course is located at a casino which explains the extravagance. It does not have to be self sustaining if the gambling revenue is sufficient at the resort..
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterStephenP
Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be a golfer. Y'all might think that's too strong a word but I'm in my mid-30s and have one foot in what I'd call the "cycling to work" community and another in golf. And by bike commuters what I'm getting at is people who try to be thoughtful on their environmental impact and living a healthy lifestyle. Rightlyorwrongly , mostly right, golf is seen as a long, slow, difficult, wasteful, drunken, expensive endeavor by people who would pay to ride in a cart rather walk. For we golfers the game is fun but its right to question the excesses of the sport. Golf---brought to you by Rolex and Mercedes.

I haven't played any of the "back to the dirt" courses that are being designed the last dozen years but there is something about the movement that really appeals to someone in the thoughtful class. An emphasis on the environmental impact durng construction and maintenance, and an emphasis on walking for those who are able. Of course they are too expensive for a young bloke raising a family but I think the sport is finally starting, barely starting, to head in the right direction. The most inspiring golf photo I've seen in forever was of the speed golf championships at Bandon. These guys looked like Olympic athletes. And they were golfers!
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterRon
"Notah Begay, you should have stayed at home yesterday..."
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterOMD
It's educational to lean about the Pascua Yaqui dialect. Somebody should ask Notah what the Navajo/Pueblo word is for being scalped.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterD. maculata
Notah did what he was asked to do and got paid nicely for that.

The owner, who laid out the cash, may be the stupid one.

On the other hand, the owner may know the casino player market that he is after.

Tme will tell...
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterBud
Maybe he's warming up to design courses for Donald Trump?? Ever think of that??
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterBn
Never seen a waterfall at Hilton Head, railroad ties and alligators for sure, but no waterfalls.

$100 green fees on a $25 million course, sounds like some shady casino stuff going on.
Not sure about the outrage on this one. Look at the list of best casino courses, e.g. the list from Golfweek, and this course looks like it will fit right in with the vast majority of them in terms of lakes, waterfalls, over the top features, etc. Casino courses are not bound by the same restrictions that other muni or privately-held courses are bound - whether it is financial or in the case of New Mexico and I presume also Arizona, water usage. The newest course in the Albuquerque region is Sandia Golf Course, a casino course that is #15 on Golfweek's list (too high IMO). They have one constructed waterfall, but it is so fake and unnatural that is is fortunate that it isn't visible to the player until he/she is on the 18th green. But, the purpose of the waterfall on #18 isn't for the golf course - it is for the people in the bar/restaurant high overhead in the hotel to have something to gaze down upon. As I haven't seen the course, I have no idea if some of the impetus for the water features at Sewailo are strategic for the golf course, or eye candy "gee whiz" for the high rollers that will be playing the course, or both (most likely). But most of the courses I play in New Mexico - Sandia, Twin Warriors, Santa Ana, Black Mesa, and Cochiti - are all owned/affiliated with casinos and reservations, as they have the resources to build the courses and keep them up. As long as I don't have to spend any money in the casino then I am happy to play the courses. I'll leave the gambling to others, and based on full parking lots there doesn't appear to be any shortage of those.

As for NB3, I am sure he gave the casino owners exactly what they wanted. As mentioned above, time will tell whether it is a good business plan. This course was clearly not built primarily for the local population - it was built for visitors to the area. If the local courses are having difficulty, that is a more local issue and problem as none of the courses mentioned are really travel destination courses (other than maybe Arizona National a while back). The customers targeted by Sewailo and Fred Enke are quite different, much like the customers for a Ford Focus and a BMW 7 series are quite different. I'll give Sewailo a play in the spring and make up my own mind whether to ever play it again. I do note that Traveling Joe Passov sure liked Sewailo, and he knows everything as Golf Magazine tells me each week he's an insider!
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterRickABQ
Bud, StephenP: I agree.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered Commentergov. lepetomane
Can'r wait to play there. ... Not.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterSteven T.
More like fire-water hazards, Amirite?
12.22.2013 | Unregistered Commenterroger
Seventeen waterfalls, 14-acres of lakes and spending $25M to build a golf course is sacrilege today.

Most developers really need to be saved from themselves. It’s hard to believe that anyone building golf courses today aren’t following the minimalist approach and ground game.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterZokol
Sounds like there's plenty of blame to go around here.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered Commentertlavin
Is it already April 1 ?

I totally missed January to March.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterJohn Stiles
One of these days a canny owner will ask his architect to design a really beautiful course with concave fairways 70 yards wide with elevated tees. And flat greens with concave surrounds- no false fronts. And bunkers and waterfalls where no one can ever venture even with a shanked shot but qualify as eye candy.
And shooting 5 under your handicap will be easy!
Did not realize NB3 had any formal training in golf course design, engineering, or construction. Wonder who he trained under? Or is he self taught?
Hey TPFD how many golf club committees screw up their own course by themselves with no formal training in golf course design, engineering, or construction?! And this site thinks St Andrews did a pretty good job screwing up The Old Course with lots of formal training in golf course design, engineering, or construction! Cheers.
Dover,
He worked with Ty Butler, a RTJII alumnus. The site states it a Notah "signature" design. Looked at the layout and its got lots of water to carry. I wonder what the slope rating is? Likely 144 from the blue tees.
Casino or no casino, what you want is a course that people want to play again and again, that builds your business. Overly difficult courses have a high number of guests who play it once and say "thanks but I don't want to get beat up everyday and lose 5 golf balls doing it."
If they are prepared to lose money on the golf investment, they have gone about it the right way. The amount of repeat business from locals with be very low. They can comfortably rest assured because guests won't spend too much time on the course and instead will stay in the casino and lose money.
"Hey what about another round tomorrow?"
" No thanks, no balls left in my bag, I'll just play blackjack tomorrow"
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterKG
NB3 also did the well-regarded Firekeeper Course in Kansas with Jeff Brauer.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterRickABQ
Unfortunately, many posters above are correct, the architect in most cases is doing what the owner or developer wants. The trend amongst most architects is definitely more (sorry, I have to say it) sustainable golf courses that require less water, less maintenance, and are a bit easier. I've heard several prominent architects speak recently and each one speaks of the above model so they are buying into it, I believe. All they have to do is look at who is getting the jobs to realize this. Notah certainly is not making the kind of money he made when he was winning on the Tour and undoubtedly gave his name to the project for a check. This one has to go to the course owner.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered Commenterol Harv
RickABQ- Black Mesa is owned by casino?? Really? Played there in October. Great course, played it twice in one day, no one was there during second round. Twin Warriors greens were super fast and true. Not so sure about the course, bad waterfall on that Par 3, overall I thought Paa Ko was the best, but I hated the 21- 27 holes. But I never really like downhill Par 3's.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered Commentervwgolfer
vwgolfer -

Black Mesa is affiliated with the Santa Clara Pueblo (and is located on their land) and they own a casino/hotel in Espanola, just north of Black Mesa. Black Mesa is advertised on the casino website and there are stay/play deals. The reason I said originally "owned" or "affiliated" was mainly for Black Mesa - I am not totally sure of the relationship between the course and the reservation. All the others are clearly owned by the pueblos. Black Mesa may be some sort of private relationship with the pueblo.

If you don't like downhill par 3's, the PaaKo isn't the place to go, for sure. All 7 par 3's range from "slightly downhill" to "severely downhill". I agree with you on holes 19-27; I wish they had used the downhills in one or two cases as part of a par 4 or 5 rather than having all the par 3's be so similar. Out of the three courses you mentioned I play Twin Warriors the most as it is the closest to my house. PaaKo and Black Mesa are several times a year treats, and we do what you did - play them all twice/day. Glad you liked Black Mesa - many people hate it due to the number of blind shots. At least the first time they play it. Oh, and I have gotten used to the waterfall on #4 at Twin, even though it looks so out of place. The waterfall at Sandia is just awful.
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterRickABQ
RickABQ is dead on, its just a loss leader for the casino. they probably would have built 100 additional waterfalls it meant more suckers bellying up to the blackjack table

also, the article reads like squidward from spongebob wrote it
12.22.2013 | Unregistered CommenterMatt Cambro
RickABQ- back nine at black Mesa is great. Any truth to rumor of second course at black Mesa?
12.23.2013 | Unregistered CommenterVwgolfer
@vw -

I have not heard that, but that would be fantastic news! There was talk a few years ago about building a second 18 at Sandia that would be a private members course. Supposedly they had some initial plans and economic studies done, but then the late 2000's happened and it wasn't feasible to be private. I've heard nothing more since then about any new course in New Mexico; however, I have heard that Sierra del Rio in Truth or Consequences, NM (down towards Las Cruces in the southern part of th estate) is having serious $$$ issues and may close, as the real estate development around it has not materialized to the extent the backers were counting on. Nice course to play on the way down to Cruces/El Paso area.
12.23.2013 | Unregistered CommenterRickABQ
I think that I read it on golfclubatlas. And Doak was supposed to do the 2nd course.
12.23.2013 | Unregistered Commentervwgolfer
Bud, StephenP, gov lep., Harv, RickABQ: I agree.
12.23.2013 | Unregistered CommenterDTF
Put yourself in the position of a casino development for a little bit. Does every aspect of the project have to be a money maker? In the case of an out of the way location how else are you going to attract attention. All the resort courses I've played revolve around a tourist experience not the every day local customer. Think of it as a golf amusement park. After all the Players championship has and island green...
12.31.2013 | Unregistered Commentermunihack

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.