Golf Course Design with PGA Professional Ed Ekis is currently an elective at the Golf Academy, but if you ask me, it should probably be a requirement for anyone considering a career in the golf industry. Whether you’re going into management, sales, or maintenance, it never hurts to know what an architect was thinking when he was designing and ultimately building a golf course.
One of the purposes of this blog has always been to give future generations of Golf Academy students an idea of what they can expect. No one had ever documented what a “day in the life” was like, and because I was curious when I was looking to enroll at the Academy, I thought I would. If you do elect to take the class, you should know what you’re getting into up front: a massive golf course design project due at the end of the semester.
I’ll be honest. When I was considering whether or not to take this class, I did my due diligence. And by due diligence I mean interview 4-5 of the fellow classmates I trust the most. To their credit, all of them, to a man, told me I would regret not taking the course if I let the project dissuade me. That’s a testament not only to the learning power of the project itself but to Ed’s teaching.
So I signed up, albeit with a few reservations. Perhaps I was destined to take this class. After all, if you look closely, the background of my web site is actually the faded topographic map of a golf hole. I don’t know which hole, but that’s what it is.
As far as projects go, including my college years at Arizona State, I would have to go back to my freshman year in high school to find one as time-consuming as this one. Back then, it was what felt like an impossible family genealogy assignment for Ms. Lucero’s English class. Turns out just about everyone got an A just for trying. How can you really punish a student based on his ancestry anyway?
This project wasn’t the hardest one I’ve ever had, but it felt like the most time-consuming. I invested (no joke) upwards of 40 hours on this hypothetical golf course, including a minimum of 2-3 hours per week. And here’s the kicker: the criteria was both simple and straight forward. There was no right or wrong answer, just a blank topographic map for me to explore. It was the ultimate blank canvas – scary and liberating at the same time.
I did have to incorporate the following: design 18 holes using the elements discussed in class, consider the schools of influence, include short, medium, and long Par 3s, 4s, and 5s with five tee locations, implement additional supporting features such as mounding, long grass, boulders, water, trees, and the like, apply various approaches to green complexes of various shapes and sizes, color it with colored pencils or markers, and do it all to scale.
You should know going in that scale is the element which students screw up the most. On my map, two inches represented 400 feet. When you do the conversion to yards, it’s only about 133, which is not a lot. Green complexes are about the size of your pinkie fingernail.
I settled on the name Devil’s Cut for my private course because when I added up all of the yardages from the front, middle, and back tees, the total distance from the middle tees was 6,666. I’m not superstitious, but after all that this project took out of me, the name Devil’s Cut seemed most appropriate. I won’t lie. This project was a lot of work and I’m not sad it’s over, but it was also a heck of a lot of fun. I would highly recommend it.
That all being said, here’s a hole-by-hole summary of the course I finally put together:
Devil’s Cut (Private)
Front Tees: 2,922/2,889/5,811 yards
Middle Tees: 3,356/3,310/6,666 yards
Back Tees: 3,698/3,592/7,290 yards
Handicap Holes: Odd (Front), Even (Back) for Match Play purposes
Hole No. 1: Downhill slight dogleg right Par 4, 300 yards from Front Tees (F), 350 yards from Middle Tees (M), 383 yards from Back Tees (B)(Handicap hole No. 17) slight dogleg right drops down into river valley to crescent-shaped green guarded by two framing bunkers. Runway entrance to green. Green slopes back to front.
Hole No. 2: Downhill dogleg right Par 5, 476 yards (F), 523 yards (M), 553 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 13) to pinched fairway guarded by bunkers on the left and giant oak trees on either side of the fairway. Oak trees on the left provide aiming point off the tee. Hole then moves slightly uphill to elevated, t-shaped green with bunkers short left and short right. Green slopes front to back. Fairway to green entrance.
Hole No. 3: Short uphill Par 3, 106 yards (F), 150 yards (M), 170 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 11) along edge of property. Forced carry entrance into deep/narrow green between two framing bunkers. Three-tiered green slopes back to front.
Hole No. 4: Downhill dogleg Par 4, 370 yards (F), 423 yards (M), 437 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 7) to split fairway with grove of giant oak trees running down the middle. Left fairway is more difficult tee shot but shorter distance in. Cluster bunker pattern long of left fairway. Right side is easier off tee, but player has to navigate 15-foot mound on approach. Hole drops down into square-shaped green that’s elevated and convex-shaped and biased toward left fairway. Fairway to green entrance. Bunkers on three sides of green.
Hole No. 5: Slightly downhill Par 3, 180 yards (F), 230 yards (M), 256 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 5) to shallow/wide green guarded by carry bunkers. Green slopes from front left to back right toward shrubs long and right. Forced carry entrance to green.
Hole No. 6: Slightly uphill dogleg right Par 4, 392 yards (F), 417 yards (M), 488 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 1). Approach shot must carry pond twice to reach kidney-shaped green complex. Raised and relatively flat green. Bunkers short left, short right, and long left. Forced carry entrance to green. This is my favorite hole on the front nine.
Hole No. 7: Uphill Par 4, 335 yards (F), 363 yards (M), 413 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 9) to fairway that pinches at around 175 yards. Oak trees and fairway bunker left just beyond trees. Three-tiered, crescent-shaped green slopes back to front. Surrounding bunkers short and long left. Runway entrance to green.
Hole No. 8: Downhill dogleg left Par 5, 420 yards (F), 474 yards (M), 515 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 15) to narrowing fairway with giant oak trees on either side. Parallelogram-shaped green slopes back to front with natural bunker short and right favors side-angle tie-in approach.
Hole No. 9: Downhill dogleg left Par 4, 343 yards (F), 426 yards (M), 483 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 3) down into river valley to uphill approach shot that crosses river into triangle-shaped punchbowl green. Framing bunkers on either side of forced carry approach shot over shrubs. This is my second favorite hole on the front nine.
Hole No. 10: Downhill dogleg right Par 4, 361 yards (F), 415 yards (M), 446 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 6) down off tee to fairway between shrubs. Uphill approach shot into crescent-shaped green with framing bunkers short right and short left to allow for ramp approach.
Hole No. 11: Uphill dogleg right Par 5, 526 yards (F), 576 yards (M), 610 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 4). Fairway bunker at entrance to pinched fairway. Framing bunkers into teardrop-shaped green. Forced carry entrance.
Hole No. 12: Slightly downhill Par 3, 167 yards (F), 200 yards (M), 231 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 8). Oak trees on left side of elevated, square-shaped green that slopes front to back with tongue entrance to green.
Hole No. 13: Downhill dogleg right Par 4, 399 yards (F), 500 yards (M), 518 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 2). Split fairway offers multiple options. Fairway carry bunker comes into play on both landing areas with oak trees at end of landing areas. Parallelogram-shaped green slopes away from player with framing bunkers on either side of runway approach to green.
Hole No. 14: Downhill dogleg right Par 4, 313 yards (F), 358 yards (M), 384 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 12). Fairway bunkers at end of landing area. Forced carry approach shot to island green in shallow/wide shape of river sand bar. Green slopes from back to front to allow shots to hold. Framed by shrubs.
Hole No. 15: Slightly uphill dogleg right Par 4, 322 yards (F), 347 yards (M), 391 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 10) along river to angled green that offers ramp approach from left and slopes front to back. Framing bunker short right.
Hole No. 16: Slightly uphill Par 3, 100 yards (F), 131 yards (M), 165 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 18) to flat, cloverleaf green complex with forced carry over river. Oak tree left of green. Carry bunker short. Saving bunker long.
Hole No. 17: Slightly uphill dogleg left Par 4, 247 yards (F), 284 yards (M), 317 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 16) along ridgeline with fairway bunker left to t-shaped green complex with framing bunker right. Ramp or runway into green that slopes back to front. This is my favorite hole on the back nine.
Hole No. 18: Downhill dogleg right Par 5, 454 yards (F), 499 yards (M), 530 yards (B)(Handicap hole No. 14) with oak trees framing end of landing area. Approach shot into deep/narrow green complex allows for fairway to green entrance between two framing bunkers. Green slopes front right to back left.
Blogger’s Note:
On Monday, the Golf Academy held its final National Collegiate Club Golf Association (NCCGA) qualifier at Lone Tree Golf Club in Chandler. The only other playing goal I had set for myself this semester, other than passing my PGA Playing Ability Test and qualifying for the golf team trip down to Tucson, was to qualify for the final club team event in Sedona.
Last year, I qualified for the first club team event in school history, also in Sedona, and also at Oakcreek Country Club. This is a great event, and it’s really nice of the Academy not only to sponsor a team and pay our entry fees but to put us up for the night so we don’t have to drive the two-and-a-half hours back and forth for the two-day event.
I’m happy to report that I made it – by the hair on my chinny chin chin! Three-over par usually gets you in with room to spare, but a lot of guys at the school are playing really well right now. Three guys shot even par 71s, and the cutoff ended-up being four-over 75. A few of the guys who qualified for the team earlier this semester failed to qualify this time around.
In a way, it’s too bad we won’t get to defend our title with the same guys, but having multiple qualifiers ensures the school is always fielding the best possible squad. It’s working. The GAA has won the last two NCCGA Desert Regionals in both Goodyear and Tucson. I finished 2nd in Tucson and am looking to improve upon that finish this weekend. The weather forecast is looking a little iffy: 72 and sunny on Saturday but 61 and rainy on Sunday. Time to dust off the rain gear.