The course is fun to play from the forward tees, but more advanced players will face a strong layout from the blue or the gold tees. Loblolly is recognized as one of the top courses in Florida and offers fast greens, deep bunkers, and a number of holes with surprising changes in topography seldom found in a coastal setting.
My favorite hole was called Calamity and is modeled almost directly after the original famous Calamity Corner hole at Royal Portrush. Loblolly’s version really is an excellent copy, visually impressive and a blast to play. Amazing that this was manageable on flat land.
It’s one of Pete and P.B. Dye’s unsung layouts that simply bristles with style. Formerly known as Loblolly Pines, this is Floridian seaside golf from the top drawer.
Putter. A putter is used to hit your ball toward or into the hole while on, or sometimes around, the green. The putter has a flat surface in order to hit the ball squarely and accurately.
World's 10 toughest golf coursesThe Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, South Carolina, United States. ... Carnoustie Golf Links, Dundee, Scotland. ... Ko'olau Golf Club, Oahu, Hawaii, United States. ... Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin, United States. ... Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club, Lijiang, Yunnan, China.More items...•
Course overseeding is done in Florida when the base Bermuda Grass goes d ormant in the winter and golf courses elect to overseed the Bermuda with a northern style fescue such as Ryegrass to protect the Bermuda as well as provide a lusher, greener surface.
A golf course is the grounds where the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup".
Legend has it Oakmont's greens reach head-spinning Stimpmeter readings around 14-15 feet on a regular basis. That's brutally fast on flat greens – and Oakmont's greens are not flat. The course traipses up and down the hilly farm country outside Pittsburgh, Pa., and the enormous putting surfaces match the topography.
America's 50 Toughest Golf Courses. Pete Dye's Ocean Course tops our eclectic new ranking of America's 50 Toughest Golf Courses. Opened in 1991 before the Ryder Cup—and dubbed Looney Dunes for the mishaps there—the Ocean Course has the highest combination of Slope Rating (155) and Course Rating (79.6) in America.
Bentgrass is one of the most popular types of grass planted on golf courses. It's available in many varieties, commonly found in cool summer and coastal regions. It's short, even, and flat, making it the perfect match for putting greens and courses.
Overseeding often involves putting the seed down along with a thin layer of sand, then allowing the new grass to grow in for many days without being cut.
When light intensity is high and temperatures are low enough, the rate of chlorophyll breakdown exceeds the rate of chlorophyll synthesis and the turfgrass plant leaves turn brown (Beard, 1973). In other words, chlorophyll is breaking down faster than it can be produced.
Apron The grass surface on the perimeter of the green that separates it from the surrounding fairway or rough. Also known as the fringe.
This is from the GCSAA Tournament Fact Sheet: “Golf course management facts: Average tour green size (sq. ft.): The average green size on the professional tours is approximately 6,000 square feet, ranging from 3,500 sq. ft at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif. to 9,000 sq.
Golf course fescue is usually grown in the second cut of rough or beyond (such as in unmowed native areas). When golfers think of fescue, they picture a sturdy grass that turns golden and can grow three feet high.
A 13 handicap hole with a generous driving area off the tee. An average tee shot of 185 yards leaves you with approximately a 160 yard shot to the green. It's best to favor the right side of the green while making this approach.
From an elevated tee to a double tiered green, normally into the prevailing southeast wind. This hole only demands an elevated tee shot of 120 yards.
You should keep your second shot down the left side to avoid the long fairway bunkers on the right. Your third shot is, on average, an approach of 120-130 yards to a very long, narrow green bordered by bunkers and water. Download Scorecard. Hole 7.
On this very demanding tee shot, you must keep the ball down the left side of the fairway to avoid the long extended fairway bunkers on the right. Doing so leaves you an approach to a double tiered green surrounded by bunkers.
With an elevated tee to a fairway that slopes to the left, the best approach is from the right side of the fairway, making your approach to the green on the left side and avoiding steep bunkers on the right.
An all carry takes you to a large green that is over 40 yards from front to back with a generous area to land your tee shot, however this hole can be extremely penal if you miss your tee shot to the right. The hole was designed with the visions of Calamity in mind (the 14th hole at Royal Portrush).
The tee shot must stay down the center to the left of the fairway to a very narrow long, elevated green.
The putting green, or simply ‘the green’, refers to the section of a golf course where the hole and the flagstick are located. This part of the course is typically oval-shaped and is specifically designed for putting.
When selecting the best golf course putting green grass, you should factor in the blade texture and whether the grass can withstand being mowed low. Some of the best grass types for a golf course putting green include bentgrass, Bermuda grass, perennial ryegrass, fescue grass, Poa annua, and Zoysia grass.
You can successfully grow fairway grass at home provided you adopt the correct planting and maintenance practices. Fairway grass varieties are usually low growing types, as golf turfs have to be mowed low. Common low-growing turfgrasses used on golf fairways include Bermuda grass and bentgrass.
In the US, courses in Florida and Georgia utilize Bermudagrass, as it is heat and drought resistant and is receptive to being mowed low, which is ideal for cultivating smooth putting surfaces.
So, if you’re one of the lucky ones who gets to play golf with the sun beating down on your neck all year round, you’re likely to be playing on Bermudagrass.
The best type of grass to use on a golf course is a variety that is tough and fast repairing.
Bentgrass and Bermudagrass tend to take the limelight, particularly where putting surfaces are discussed, and for good reason.
Adding sand to golf course grass is a process known as ‘topdressing’ and is vital to the healthy growth of the grass across the course.
As this article introduces, there are several types of golf course grass used in the US, and one of the primary influences is the climate that the course experiences for the majority of the year.
As we’ve already introduced, Bermuda loves the heat, while Bentgrass does better in cooler climates.
Rarely will you find a championship golf course built just 25 years ago that has undergone multiple overhauls and renovations as is the case with Medalist Golf Club, in Hobe Sound , Florida. The club ownership and Greg Norman did not see eye to eye on the somewhat radical changes Norman made and they parted ways with Norman.
Bobby Weed’s renovation restored the angled, small greens and revetted sod wall bunkers. Simple put, these greens are hard to hit and while the greens encourage running shots into them, you are going to need a very sharp short game to score well at Medalist.
Bobby Weed commented as follows: “The renovation of Medalist Golf Club was completed to restore the style and strategy of Pete Dye’s original layout. While an exact replica was not the goal, we derived considerable inspiration from photographs of the course taken in 1995 and a video of the Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match… Several specific steps that were taken include lowering the putting surfaces and reducing their size to what first existed. The new green complexes now encourage a running approach shot and demand dynamic short game play. Revetted sod walls have been returned to the bunker faces and the hazards once again occupy the inside corners of the fairways, tempting players to go for ever-longer carries off the tee. The native aesthetic of the course was enhanced by ‘painting’ new coquina-like screenings and native plant material around the perimeters of each hole, while previously overgrown long views and vistas across the expansive marshes have been re-established. Our hope is that the cumulative effect of these improvements stirs the membership’s soul and cultivates their passion for the game. Once again, they have a golf experience that offer intelligence, authenticity and flair – attributes only the greatest golf clubs enjoy.”
Medalist is a no frills golf course where good shots are usually rewarded and poor ones punished. For a great player up and downs are achievable, but you must be precise. Approach shots with side spin will not hold the firm and super fast greens.
The 11th and 14th holes are in theory “driveable” par 4s but the word “driveable” is in quotes because if you play them, you likely won’t think that’s the right word to describe them unless you can hit straight towering long drives that can fly 285-305 yards and land softly. Somehow Phil Mickelsen, the ultimate risk taker drove the 338 yard par 4 11th hole in “The Match” and the line which he had to take to do it was over the center of a thick row of trees and the carry looked to be about 305 yards on that line. The margin for error here is minimal and taking this line is generally not advised. The 14th is actually designed by Weed to be driveable but still is quite challenging with water short, a revetted bunkers greenside left and short right where getting up and down out of them depending on the pin position is quite challenging. An eagle is possible yet unlikely and a more realistic birdie opportunity comes from a strategic layup to the widest part of the fairway setting up a straight forward pitch shot.
Since the early accolades, the Medalist has been widely ignored by most ranking lists but it is undoubtedly still one of Florida’s best courses. “More importantly,” wrote Norman, “it possesses many design features worth emulating: broad fairways, turf kept firm and running with greens open in front, greens set at angles dictating the appropriate spot from which to play, and finally, fascinating recovery shots for those times that you miss the green. To achieve so much from a flat piece of land makes it a design worthy of much study.”
Let’s be clear Medalist is not a golf course designed for the faint of heart and those looking for a resort experience with feel good scoring. The fairways are generous but any par at Medalist is earned and birdies while possible are far outweighed by some bigger numbers that all everyday golfers will see add up quickly. If you are looking to see just how sharp your game really is on a golf course that is penal buy fair then Medalist is just the right course for you.