THE SECOND PLAYS DOWN TO THE LOWPOINT ON THE PROPERTY - THE GREEN HARD AGAINST THE STONE WALL

THE SIMPLE YET EXCELLENT PAR THREE FOURTH

I had obviously heard great things about this course. One friend who has traveled all over chooses it as his favorite in the world. While I would not go that far, I do believe that it is one of the best I have had the pleasure of playing and easily in the world top 10. I think it has more in common with Shinnecock than the other links courses I played on the trip. The fairways are relatively flat and have very little rumple or small scale contour. The course is very fair which is not a prerequisite for me to like a course, and in fact I often find fair boring and mundane. Where Muirfield shines is the routing. It takes advantage of every aspect of the property and flows seamlessly – one good hole after another.

THE SECOND SHOT AFTER A BLIND TEE SHOT AT THE ELEVENTH (VERY EVOCATIVE OF THE SEVENTEENTH AT YALE)

When you combine the course with the experience – four ball in the AM, an amazing lunch with a few Kummels, and then an foursomes match in the afternoon – and the result is one of the most enjoyable days in my golfing life.

THE SUPERB THIRTEENTH PLAYS TO ONE OF THE LARGER CONTOURS ON PROPERTY

THE HOME HOLE

]]> http://punchbowlgolf.com/2010/08/muirfield/feed/ 7 http://punchbowlgolf.com/2010/08/long-time-no-blog/ http://punchbowlgolf.com/2010/08/long-time-no-blog/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:39:49 +0000 Will Smith http://punchbowlgolf.com/?p=2160

ZACH KELLY ESCAPES FROM SHELL BUNKER

Its been a while. I have been working very hard on starting a new business and have had no time to update the website. It is my hope in the coming months to get back in the habit of updating the site. I will start with some photos and comments from a recent trip to Scotland with Murray International Golf. Cameron Murray, owner of the company, is a friend and he does an amazing job of putting  together an itinerary and making sure things go smoothly. I can not recommend his services more highly.

Stay tuned for Muirfield…

There is a very attractive texture to the black-and-white original images taken by Fairchild Aerial Survey Company. The large film format produced a richness image than any of the subsequent surveys during the next 60/70-plus years. Aside from using these images as archival blue-prints, the aerial perspective renders the delineation of fairways and greens as a form of land art. Some courses do this better than others, but the holes on Blind Brook, Wee Burn and Shennecossett in particular, appear like a school of wales, or paramecium in a petri dish, or sometimes I see submarines. Check them out before you think I’m crazy or hallucinating.

The 1934 images also show a Connecticut prior to a suburban sprawl. Other than Bridgeport, New Haven, Waterbury and Hartford, the state was positively rural, linked by small villages along the Sound and rural farming communities up north. There were no major highways of any kind and the courses along the coast, like Longshore, Shorehaven, Madison, Shennecossett and CC of Fairfield pre-date any development of density.

I was also able to find other aerials of the Yale course over the years from the same perspective: 1951, ‘65, ‘70, ‘86, ‘91, ‘95, ‘04 and ‘08. (Note to viewers, I did not re-label the Yale prints with any titles other than credit to the photographers. There’s also a second image of New Haven CC from 1965 that immediately follows it in the queue. That second one doesn’t have name, city either.)

This past December I downloaded another dozen Macdonald and Raynor courses–the two who designed the Yale course–from the US Geological Survey’s website, where they exist as part of the public domain. I was able to get very clear images of National Golf Links, Fishers Island, Westhampton, Creek, Piping Rock, Shoreacres, Chicago Golf Club, Mountain Lake, Yeamans Hall, CC of Charleston, Camargo, Fox Chapel, etc. About 36 of the 45 have been printed and are being framed in time for an exhibit in a small gallery in Silliman College in New Haven called Maya’s Room. (Silliman is one of the 12 residential colleges at Yale.) It will run for one week beginning this Friday evening. Some of the items have been sold and others have been purchased and donated to the clubhouse at the Yale course (and indoor golf team room on campus) where they will hang permanently. I know it’s unlikely many of you can make it to New Haven next week, so here’s the link to all 45 aerials on Picasa. These proofs have been downsized so they don’t really do the final, high res prints justice. Anyway, they make for an interesting set, and the Yale course through the years helps us track all the changes and recent restoration work by Scott Ramsay.

http://picasaweb.google.com/colinsheehan/GolfCourseAerials?feat=directlink

If you have any interest in purchasing any of these posters please email me at colinsheehan@gmail.com.

THE UNDERSTATED CLUBHOUSE AT CHECHESSEE CREEK (Courtesy of GCA)

John Paul Newport wrote an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal last weekend that should be read by all who are concerned with the golf industry. He highlights a few clubs who bucked the trend of lavish and garish clubhouses and points to them as the way to go forwards. Here’s hoping.

Just want to give you all a heads up on Josh Smith’s elegant new website. Some his work can now be purchased through the site. Josh’s is one of the most talented people I have come across in my time in golf. Check out his site and if you have the means, buy yourself a Christmas present.

See my interview with him here and here.

This is a quick video of the 2009 Punchbowl Tournament held at the Yale Golf Course on November 8th. We had a great turnout and better weather. This is the third edition and we have had sun all three times (here is the video from 2007). Thanks for all those that came out and helped make this event a success. Special thanks to Yale superintendent Scott Ramsey for having the course in such great shape so late in the season, Chris Billington of Bayonne Golf Club for making the event run so smoothly and Tom Dunne of out-and-back.net for shooting and editing this video.

- Will & Colin

A quick video of a Sunday drive on one of the prettiest roads in the world.

THE SEVENTEENTH AT CYPRESS

Jim Colton has started a new website that has its very own Top 100 list. This list is built using the input of bloggers who cover golf courses and golf course design. I submitted my rankings a few weeks back and the results have recently been released. I think it is a good list with a wider variety of courses than some of the others. I like seeing National and Sand Hills in the top four and Boston Golf Club in at #72. Jim’s intention is to profile two to three of these courses a week,  as well as provide links to further information about them. This could become a valuable resource for anyone interested in golf course design. I wish him the best of luck and encourage everyone to take a look.

Golf needs a vocal advocate pointing out the many good ways that golf interacts with the nautral environment and fighting the preconceptions of many outside the idustry. This year has seen golf attacked as elitist by both the left and the right of the political spectrum. It is crucial that the message being put forth by this website is heard by the general public.