The Week That Was, august 7, 2011

brazil More Is Not Merrier

People always say that two is company and three is a crowd. If that's true, what's 18?

It's a question that Nick Faldo needs to answer. Because last week, just as the organizers of the 2016 Olympics seemed ready to hone in on a golf course designer, it was revealed that Faldo has gummed up the process by submitting an off-the-wall proposal. He wants the Powers That Be to award the design commission not to a single architect or to a design duo but to a gaudy parade of golf pros.

In a letter to the International Golf Federation, Faldo argues that the course in Rio de Janeiro should be designed by as many as 18 architects. Specifically, he's asked the IGF to consider using “a genuinely international collection of player-designers” who would work together “in the ultimate Olympic spirit” and create “a truly Olympic story.”


I don't know if the IGF is taking Faldo's proposal seriously. I sure hope it isn't.

Essentially, Faldo's argument boils down to this: A golf course designed by an individual or duo generates publicity in a nation or two, but one designed by high-profile professional golfers from every continent would generate publicity all over the world.

This is an idea that sounds good at first but ultimately leaks like a sieve. Without question, a grab-bag golf course designed by a troop of celebrities would generate publicity. Heck, the golf pros' agents and publicists would guarantee it. But the golf course that results would almost certainly end up being a mishmash of well-intentioned but disconnected design ideas. In matters of artistry, more is never merrier. Too many cooks spoil the pot.

One other thing, Nick: If a golf course designed by 18 golf pros is a good idea, wouldn't a golf course designed by 18 legitimate golf course architects be an even better idea? If so, why not offer this alternative to the IGF? (Among serious architects, the idea would never fly. They have too much self-respect to participate in such charades.)

And what happens after the games are played, when the people of Rio de Janeiro are left to maintain what amounts to an expensive novelty course? How does Brazil market the track after the novelty wears off, as it inevitably will?

Finally, I should note that Faldo hasn't proposed an original idea. Legends Golf & Safari Resort in Limpopo Province, South Africa features an 18-hole course that was designed by 18 golf pros -- Colin Montgomerie, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Bernard Langer, Mike Weir, and Sergio Garcia among them. The course opened in 2009, and I don't get the sense that the world's golfers have beaten a path to it.

That's because passionate golfers dream of playing courses that aspire to art, not artifice. They're attracted by greatness, not high concepts.

As far as I'm concerned, a course like the one Faldo has proposed would deliver only a hollow example of “the Olympic spirit.” And don't the Olympics already have enough of them?

canada Jones Returns to Glencoe

One of the top golf courses in Alberta has closed for a year-long renovation.

It's the 18-hole Glen Forest track at Glencoe Golf & Country Club in Calgary, the first golf course in Canada designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. In its most recent listing of Canada’s Top 100, ScoreGolf ranked the 7,147-yard layout as the province's seventh-best course. Nationwide, the magazine ranked it number 41.

The latter number is a problem, as it represents a drop of nine spots from ScoreGolf's previous ranking. So Glencoe is bringing Jones back to give the course a thorough overhaul. The course will be lengthened, its greens and bunkers will be rebuilt (some of the latter will be relocated), and drainage issues will be addressed.

When the work is completed, Glencoe hopes to restore Glen Forest's earlier ranking, if not improve upon it.

“We expect to have one of the best golf courses in Canada once we’re finished,” the club's chief operating officer said in a story posted at CanadianGolfer.com.

The Glen Forest course is expected to reopen in August or September 2013. Until then, Glencoe's 27-hole Glen Meadows complex remains open.

france Smyers Has a Partner

As it turns out, Steve Smyers isn't working alone on his renovation of Evian Masters Golf Club.

The Lakeland, Florida-based architect will be collaborating with Dave Sampson of European Golf Design, a British firm with ties to IMG. According to a press release from EGD, the overhaul will be done in two phases, with the first one to begin in November 2011. The made-over 6,620-yard track will debut in the spring 2013, just a few months before it becomes the site of the LPGA's fifth major.

I posted about the renovation of Evian Masters last Sunday.

The press release provides some additional notes about the renovation. To wit: All of the course's tees, greens, and bunkers will be rebuilt, and four of its holes -- #5, #15, #16, and #17 -- will be redesigned “to introduce more drama” and create spectator viewing areas. In addition, the architects will incorporate “Evian Masters brand identities,” whatever they may be, into the course.

The overhaul is expected to cost $6 million or more.