Whistling Straights - trip report

[judgesmails]

I played at Whistling Straights, site of last year's PGA Championship, yesterday. I had been looking forward to this round for over a week. I was familiar with the land in that area prior to the golf course construction and I was interested in seeing how it was transformed into a "links" course and how it compared to other natural links courses I had played like Bandon Dunes, St. Andrews, Rye Golf Club, Westward Ho, Pacific Grove Muni, Spanish Bay, and Pebble Beach.

The property at Whistling Straights was mostly flat prior to construction and the native soil was a heavier clay. To make this look and feel like a links course is no small task. Traditional links courses are noted for their rolling dunes, sandy soil, and firm playing conditions. Clay makes courses hold water and play soft.

Despite seeing the course on television last year, I did not really think the course would hold up to close comparison to natural links courses. I was quite wrong about this with two small exceptions.

First, to the eye, the topography and vegetation appeared to be native and very natural. The only hint that this was a manufactured setting was the area where fairways met the rough. On more native links courses, the fairway topography blends more naturally into the surrounding rough. At WS, you could tell there was some grading done.

The second difference concerned how the course played. It had just rained the night before so the course was very wet and there was not much roll. This made for some difficulty on short approach shots where the combination of wind and topography called for a bump and run shot. I could not hit that shot on this day because anything landing short of the green would stop almost immediately because the ground was so wet.

The caddies told me that these conditions are very rare, as they try to keep the course as dry as possible and don't irrigate very often.

The best holes were the par 3s. There was a nice variety of distances and most were by the lake. I was a little dissappointed in the lack of design variety in many of the holes. I play most of my golf at Paiute in Las Vegas where there are three Pete Dye courses. These courses have many holes where you are given some options on tee shots that include decisions on how far to hit the ball, which side to favor, and a clear bailout area away from a menacing hazzard.

WS, despite being a Dye design, did not have such clear options. It mostly required a long, straight shot and if you missed right or left, you were in one of the 1000 + bunkers. This takes away from the enjoyment for average players, but I guess is somewhat understandable when you realize this course was built to host major championships and challenge the greatest players in the world.

I played the green tees (6500+ yds) and hit the ball really well on a very windy day. In fact, I did not lose a ball and hit 9 greens in regulation - a good day for me (13 hndcp). I putted like crap though and shot an 85.

Despite a couple minor complaints, I came away very impressed with the monumental effort construction of this course must have required. It is a true work of art and a very enjoyable round of golf. Though on the expensive side, I felt it was a valuable experience and would recommend it. As for how it would rate with other links courses, I would rate it behind the other links courses I listed above with the exception of Pacific Grove Muni and Westward Ho.