Let’s hear it, the first one that pops into your head. One sentence only. I’ll start…

Recency bias, but I think it’s #5 New South Wales for me.

This series was below my radar until looking for the Palmetto write up and WOW this is sick, sicko level stuff. Awesome dives into the holes and some excellent photography (no surprises). Can't wait to read through everything.

Thank you Garrett, Cameron, and Matt and anyone else on the FEG team!

Hi everyone, i am heading down to Savannah area for work this week and looking to get a round of golf in on the afternoon.

Looking for any recommendations on where to play?

Thanks!

Big news for golf in the Southeast. Broomsedge immediately jumps near the top of accessible golf in the Southeast.

It won't be cheap but I think this is an awesome golf course and for some reason never got the pub it deserved when it opened.

https://www.thefriedegg.com/articles/broomsedge-golf-hospitality-private-club-model-keiser-thompson

Great to hear the team is coming to St Andrews for a live show. I’m very disappointed that I won’t be around that week to see it. I assume you’re playing the reverse Old Course as well, are you?

I was thinking about how many of my favorite and usually the most talked about or highly regarded par 3 holes are typically short and precise or long and heroic. Think Cypress 15/16, Merion 13th, Royal Troon "Postage Stamp" 8th, Pebble Beach 7th, Oakmont 8th, Sawgrass 17th, Portrush 16th, Pac Dunes 11th, LACC North 11/15, etc.

I'm not sure exactly what the cut-off yardage should be for a "short" and "long" par three but generally think it's <150 yards and >210 yards.

This leaves Augusta's 12th, "Golden Bell" as the front runner for best mid length par-3s in the world as well as the Old Course's 11th "Eden".

What are some of the other most notable mid length par-3s in golf?

Hi all,

This is a bit of a niche question, but I'm relatively new to golf course architecture. My home course is currently being renovated (the architect is Jay Blasi) and I'm going to be around the club some while it happens. Have any of you been close to a project like this? Anything interesting to look for?

FEGC Homies,

We have a rather big Augusta National project in the works ahead of this year's event and we could use your help. We are looking for the most memorable shots — good or bad — from each individual hole at Augusta National. Some are obvious, but if you have submissions (especially pre-2000) we are all ears. Feel free to drop them here!

I received news that Michael Kaiser will be helping fund the renovation of Odana Hills.

1. does anyone have any information on how extensive the renovation of the course will be?
2. this would put Madison now at 2 public courses redesigned by Kaiser… could quickly become one of the best cities to play 18 holes of golf under $50

Yesterday, Cameron and I went to check out the completed renovation work at Maggie Hathaway in Los Angeles. Neither of us had played the course before the project but we were both extremely impressed with what we saw. Tommy Naccarato, a longtime collaborator of Gil Hanse (who's firm waived their design fee) was onsite for the entire project and his passion for the work is evident in ground (he's calling it little LACC South). It's definitely one of the best sets of greens anyone can play for $9. The grand opening is March 27th and Garrett Morrison will have more on this project in next week's Design Notebook!

List as little or as many golf course architects as you’d like (living and/or deceased), and write what you think is their biggest contribution to golf course architecture. It could be philosophy, a design element, their impact, whatever.

Anyone notice the odd hue of the greens at the Siam CC for this week's LPGA event? Has anyone seen anything about it? I assume with the climate there they are some type of hybrid bermudagrass. If so, I've never seen greens look quite like this on a televised golf event.

Anyone heard any intel?

George Williams, GCA

Today, the Pebble Beach Company offered insights into Gil Hanse's upcoming transformation of the Links at Spanish Bay. This project has had, by the standards of the 2020s, an extended gestation period: PBC announced that it had hired Hanse back in 2023, committed to a timeline last year, and is now revealing details of Hanse's plan. The work will begin on March 18 of this year, and the reimagined course is scheduled to open in April 2027, two months before Pebble Beach Golf Links hosts the U.S. Open.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., with consultation by Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum, the Links at Spanish Bay opened in 1987 and has long lagged behind PBC's other two seaside golf properties, Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, in both regard and profitability.

Here, quoted from the press release, are a handful of changes that Hanse intends to make:

• Relocating several green sites, including the current 14th and 18th holes, creating room for an entirely new par 3* that will replace the current 13th hole
• Expanding putting greens by ~40% and completely resurfacing to provide smoother, more receptive targets and variety for hole locations
• Replacing the rough in the green surrounds with low-cut turf to offer more recovery options
• Widening fairways by ~30%, repositioning fairway bunkers, and adjusting contours to make the playing corridors more forgiving and strategic
• Repositioning and redesigning tee complexes to open sight lines and options, reduce forced carries, and elicit excitement at each hole....
• Redesigning the cart path system to better blend into the landscape

(*The new par 3 will play to the existing 14th green site, which looks out on Asilomar State Beach.)

Hanse's primary intention, it seems to me, is to bring Spanish Bay out of the 1980s. Like many courses built in that decade, it was harder than it needed to be, especially for everyday resort play, and it failed to blend in with the surrounding landscape, with its push-up greens and cookie-cutter containment mounding. Most of Hanse's planned changes seem aimed at enhancing playability and settling the course into the terrain.

As Derek Duncan's Golf Digest piece from earlier today suggests, however, there's only so much Hanse can do. I'm sure the architect would like to color outside the lines of Jones's original design a bit more, but a wholesale rerouting would be unlikely to pass regulatory muster. Also, the realities of mainstream resort golf will always limit the degree to which the Links at Spanish Bay can authentically live up to its name. The rye grass and cart paths must stay.

Nonetheless, this project is obviously a step in the right direction. Let's hope it opens some eyes as to what might be achievable at the company's flagship property.

I'm trying to find a course to complete my trip to GA/FL, between Atlanta and the Florida line would be ideal, coming from Ft Myers either the night before or the morning of. Let me know where I should play, and if it's possible to even get on anywhere decent. Thanks

I think I remember Andy talking about a “golf architect family tree” on a podcast or video at one point. As someone who is a visual learner, I always thought that would be a really nice visual to have, so I did some quick searching online but couldn’t find anything.

I tried to make my own today, but got stressed that the direction I was going wasn’t correct/could be organized in a much better way. So before I go crazy I wanted to ask if anyone knows if a visual like this already exist? And if not, would anyone be willing to help me think through a more accurate or better way to organize this?