Options For The $12 Million To Be Spent On Torrey Pines South
The bad news: Torrey Pines has around $12 million or so to spend on work to update the South Course 16 years after its last major Rees Jones renovation. (Tod Leonard explained what was planned last October before the bids came in.)
The good news? The bids to update irrigation, install completely unnecessary bunker liners and to tweak many of the holes Jones didn't get right the first time, came in too high. Work planned for 2018 will not happen until contractors come back with better pricing, which means the work will be a rush job, more disruptive to play and do little to enhance the course for daily fee golfers.
This work should not happen until the City of San Diego catches up with the rest of the world and earmarks this money to creating more sustainable architecture that takes turf out of play. And more importantly, takes one of the great sites for golf on the planet and finds a design that accentuates this beautiful place.
You will not be shocked that I got a look at the notes for upcoming changes and they fail to inspire. Holes four and 17, which currently fail to take strategic advantage of the amazing canyons, are slated for try #2 by the Jones firm. No one is optimistic they will improve. But we won't know until late 2019. By then any redesign fiascos will be tough to remedy in time for the 2021 U.S. Open.
Given the incredible conditioning work by Rich McIntosh and crew to have Torrey Pines more immaculately presented than ever before, it's hard to fathom how $12 million will make things any better. More likely, the work will only disrupt South Course play, entrench the Jones insipidness for generations to come, and enrich some of golf construction's lesser contractors.
There are better ways to manage this money:
Option 1: replace the maintenance yard tent erected for the 2008 U.S. Open (logo still emblazened on the side, see photo). I can't think of a more absurd sight than the 2021 U.S. Open returning with the same lousy makeshift facility for story expensive equipment. If nothing else, the taxpayers of San Diego deserve not having to drive Torrey Pines Road and looking at a tent.
Option 2: Invest in a mutual fund, Apple or a penny stock to buy time and reconsider how to remedy the misuse of this magnificent site after the U.S. Open.
Option 3: Pay Rees Jones and friends $1 million to take three-year vacation, then give $11 million to spend on other rundown city courses and leave Torrey Pines alone.
Option 4: Put all of the money into saving the Torrey Pine, which, based on the bark beetles efforts at Torrey Pines Golf Course visible this year, is in serious trouble of existing as the primary tree by 2021.
Option 5: Donate to the Century Club in hopes they can buy another grandstand for Farmers Insurance Open fans who paid $55 to (stand) and watch golf. Two would be better than one!
Option 6: Cash out the $12 million, tease the briefcase full of green in front of Rees Jones, then ask a paraglider to dispense all of it over citizens sunbathing at Black's Beach. At least in that scenario you'd be giving back to the people.
Monday, January 29, 2018 at 11:59 PM
Reader Comments (25)
When a golf course architect makes mistakes the client reemploys them.
On an existing course there is zero guesswork, shots can be played before the design is finalised.
But still work is designed and paid for and then discarded.
Anyone know why?
Look, it’s not a perfect course. It’s on a spectacular stretch of land. It’s an affordable muni for residents. It has a ton of history with the two best golfers of the last 20 years. As imperfect as it is, it’s got some special something that keeps the players coming back year after year.
1. Plant a lot of trees to tighten the fairways.
2. Put in more water features, including waterfalls on 9 and 18. TP needs some signature holes.
3. Lengthen par 3s so they all play 225+
4. Redo the greens to flatten them out so they can roll at a 14
5. Put cart paths on both sides of the fairways to "speed up play".
6. Build an elaborate halfway house and more events facilities.
7. Place giant stones on each tee box with bronze plaques, each with a clever name for the hole (e.g., "Rees's Revenge")
8. Use the rest to pay the consulting firm that came up with ideas 1-7.
When is the last time you heard a TOUR player compliment the work of any architect? Bitches, all of them.
Although you lament the poor architecture, no disagreement there, what exactly could be done to transform a Doak 5 into a Doak 7 or 8? The entire course is laid out on red clay with a scant 6" of top soil covering it: extensive regrading would be prohibitively expensive. As pointed out the City's mandate for "fair working wage " pretty much doubles the price of construction. Do you really think that just changing the greens to something more interesting and strategic would seriously elevate the course? Could you give us some insight to what could turn this pig's ear into a silk purse?
http://www.friedegg.co/golf-courses/how-to-fix-torrey-pines
If you had to choose a Rees redo or playing the revised North for the U.S. Open which would it be? The North now appears to be more interesting.
Poor soil does not cause poor architecture. And yes, I really think changing the green complexes to something more interesting and strategic would seriously elevate the course. As would taking turf out of play in creative ways that bring a sense of the canyons hugging the holes while making the place look less like a turf nursery. The green complexes pre-Rees actually had nice variety and character. If you had those, coupled with the tree removal that has occurred, the course would be infinitely more interesting and fun for the daily fee player.
muni,
The South still. Not a fan of the North. I feel it got worse architecturally. Several of the green complexes are mind-bogglingly awful for daily play. They were actually quite fine before, they just need to be restored to their original sizes and the bunker swelling taken down. The old 9th a fine example of going from a work of art covered in dust to something far less enchanting today.
Appreciate the response. I also appreciate your view that the primary focus of course changes should be the paying customer- in this case the public player. Sorry to read the North redo mucked things up. I have played Papago (another Billy Bell gem) many times and always thought his designs get less praise than they should.
I am not ,nor will ever be a GC archetect, other than having a knack for seeing layouts. What to do after that, well.... However:
the reducing the turf could also reduce the costs by selling the grass removed, certainly at least reusing it in other needed city parks or courses. I play at a course (again soon) that was pummeled by H. Harvey, and has acres of open turf, but it is not a watering issue here in the coastal plains. SoCal water is precious.
I would say that some water features would make it visually more interesting, but that ugly shapeless lake on 18 indicates a real blah effort has always been the MO here, and the canyons serve as hazards.
Not every hole can be by the ocean; I get that, but it sure seems like more could be done to utilize the views. Or maybe playing there is better for the scenery and TV just doesn't convey it.
The real issue is to thin the rough, or at least mow it to 2 inches where finding the ball isn't a problem. ~dig~
Rees Jones has seemingly managed to make an uninteresting course for everyone. It sure looks long, and it has stunning views, but it also seems fairly one dimensional. I'd love to play it once, but I think that would be enough.
LMAO
We see this from our bozos in DC all the way down to local towns. I just talked to my mayor in my town about the negligent snow removal and poor road surfaces and he and his council are inept. They're part time and most of them are teachers for a living - go figure. And my town is large with a substantial corporate tax base.
Munihack, Billy Bell is typically used to indicate the father, William P. Bell who worked for years with George Thomas. William F. Bell is the son who designed Torrey and Papago.
William F. Bell is to Billy Bell as Press Maxwell is to Perry Maxwell, nepotistas who did not have the talent of the fathers.
Thanks for the info. Papago was my favorite course for a long time. It lost some of its charm since the renovation. I am curious what ASU does with it.