Golf Course Architecture - Issue 59, January 2020

62 that look appropriate for this particular place,” says Phillips. “If you look from the clubhouse, down the eighteenth, there are some wrinkles that we didn’t smooth out. You get those little shadows and it just legitimises that this isn’t all machine-finished – they’re more natural and windblown.” Those wrinkles are particularly pleasing. As you get close up, the movement is more striking than it seems from afar, with sharp rises and falls creating a series of plateaus in fairways. It’s unexpected and gives the design an edge, without looking forced. On many holes, including the first and eighteenth, a distinctive advantage can be found by holding a plateau, or getting a generous kick forward from one to another. The short par-four third is an excellent example of this movement of the land dictating strategy. A single central bunker has been cut into a ridge that bisects the fairway. There are many options from the tee, from laying up short of the bunker with a mid-iron to trying to drive the green. Even on repeat play, none of those choices seems obviously the best. To drive and hold the green requires complete control. But choose safety from the tee and you’ll need precision for your approach, particularly if the pin is set left in the smaller portion of the green. Holes two to eight lie beyond a river, in the segment of the course that is furthest from the clubhouse. There is a large lake on this side of the property, which comes into play on the Cape-style par-five seventh and the short par-three eighth. The latter is just a wedge shot, but it has trouble all around: the lake will take anything short and right and a large bunker anything long. A miss left will roll down to short grass way below the level of the putting surface – requiring a frightening recovery shot. There’s also a water hole on the back nine, the par-three seventeenth. It requires a club or two more than the eighth and the primary danger is the river that runs in front and to the side The par-four opening hole at Bernardus BERNARDUS