Chocolate Drops: Good News for a Local Nine-Holer in Ohio

Don’t despair, FEGC. We’ll probably see the Walker Cup at Cypress Point again in… 2070 or so?

Okay, go ahead and despair.

Here’s what has my attention in the world of golf architecture this week:

→ Tom Schwab spent the early part of his career working at high-end private clubs like Merion Golf Club and Aronimink Golf Club. A few years ago, he shifted gears, moving back to his home region and becoming the superintendent at Napoleon Golf Club, a municipal nine-holer in Napoleon, Ohio. Last October, Schwab joined me on the Fried Egg Golf Podcast to talk about this swerve in his career path and his long-term hopes for the course.

Now, just 11 months later, he and his assistant Kolton Holloway have started site preparation for the first phase of a renovation project.

After my interview with Schwab came out, FEGC member and Renaissance Golf Design intern Evan Baldridge got in touch with him, visited Napoleon, and offered to draw up a master plan pro bono. 

This fall, Baldridge will help with improvements to holes 3-5. Schwab expects this initial phase to cost about $3,000, which is the lowest dollar amount I’ve cited in this column for quite some time.

Schwab and Baldridge will continue their efforts over the next three to four years, tackling three holes toward the end of each golf season. They will expand most greens, reconstruct and reshape all bunkers, relocate or add a few bunkers, and install some UK-inspired “cop”-style mounding in a few spots. Schwab and Holloway will also make infrastructural refinements, taking down unhealthy trees, moving some irrigation lines to accommodate the new dimensions of the course, and adding drainage in low-lying areas. All of this work, Schwab expects, will be funded by the course’s normal operating budget.

This is good stuff. Best of luck to Tom and Evan.

→ In early October, King’s North at Myrtle Beach National, an Arnold Palmer design, will reopen after the second and final phase of a comprehensive renovation by Brandon Johnson. Both Johnson and his former Arnold Palmer Design Company colleague Thad Layton have done a lot of high-quality, design-build-driven work in recent years. I would expect the new King’s North to be a cut above your standard Myrtle Beach fare.

→ Brett Hochstein, a California-based golf architect and occasional Fried Egg Golf contributor, wrote a terrific article for his website about holes 2-6 at Cypress Point Club. He argues that these holes epitomize Alister MacKenzie's brilliance and constitute “the world’s greatest stretch of bunkering.” I agree! The more familiar you become with Cypress Point, the more respect you gain for its opening holes.

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Here’s Brett: “[T]here is nothing as complete and encapsulating of MacKenzie’s ideas as the five-hole stretch of 2-6. There’s visual deception. There’s creative and naturally-blended form. There’s camouflage. There’s clever use of strategy. And maybe most of all, there’s the appearance of the holes being more difficult than they actually are, which either leads players to doubting themselves into poor shots or thrillingly pulling off what they feel is a great one.”

→ Social roundup:

• Aerie, Love Golf Design’s new short course at Hazeltine National Golf Club, is up and running.
• With the help of Mike DeVries and Josh Pettit, Meadow Club has removed the unnecessary trees between the second and third holes.
• Fried Egg Golf’s Cameron Hurdus posted a few (characteristically striking) shots from this past weekend’s Walker Cup.