Saturday, March 3, 2012

Harry Bowers


HOLE #14 (2007) prior to the removal of 50+ trees limiting the playability of the hole, quality of turfgrass and increasing the frustration level of many.

Harry Bowers designed the new "9" holes in 1991. These holes encompass #'s 6,7 10-14. The routing of the holes and locations of teeing grounds is exceptional.

"The great value of a hazard is not that it catches a shot that has been missed, but that it forces a miss upon the timid player, its psychological miss is greater than its penal value." Bobby Jones
This quotation sums up the values by which Harry Bowers implements in his designs.

His design requires exceptional shot accuracy on approach. Just like with Thompson a golf course evolves over time and the new 9 was very narrow to begin with, but has matured and required exceptional shot making abilities. This narrowing leaves a very small margin for mistake and can slow pace of play and be exceptionally penal to the higher handicap.

Scott Witter a local golf course architect designed hole #8 and #9. Also, Witter aided in the redesign of several areas of the golf course. Hole #14 was one of these areas. 50+ trees were removed, the greenside bunker was eliminated allowing for increased accessibility of the green site on the approach. The shot is still demanding and requires accuracy, but there is no longer a need to work the shot in one specific direction in order to hit the putting surface.

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