![]() ![]() There’s such a green at North Berwick Golf Club east of Edinburgh. It’s a template hole that one finds here and there. Golfers who don’t read or study architecture often don’t like such a feature. That’s where a section of the green is a deep hollow. We reached the 18th, with its Biarritz green. Somebody should write a doctoral thesis on the matter. “Where did we lose our sense of adventure?” “I feel we’ve lost our creativity,” Staples said. Staples chose a downhill lie for his tee shot at the 15th. We got to the 13th, which we played at about 135 yards from a mound. Staples said we were on a course he liked to call a “playground.” Indeed it is. Or play left if the drive over the trees frightens you. A drive hit over the trees, as over the Old Course Hotel on the 17th in St Andrews, would provide an advantageous line to the green. Staples referred to a group of trees down the right side of the hole as “The Old Course Hotel” of the hole. “Shout/Shout/Let It All Out.” This was a hole to let it all out. The bunkers looked like inverted dishes, comprising hills of sand.Īt the 10th tee, the Isley Brothers song from 1959 was playing. Some “inverted” bunkers, as Staples called them, inserted themselves on some direct lines. We moved along the turbulent ground that Staples had created. The Beach Boys’ song “Surfer Girl” was playing on Staples’ phone in his cart. “Who says a par 4 has to be 460 yards?” Staples asked. When the subject of par came up, as it usually does with visiting golfers, Staples will say The Match is par 67 or 68, although, as I say, there’s no formal par. We saw a family starting their afternoon activity there. The Match would leave room for a nine-hole par-3 course. The Match would be laid out on one of the former courses at the resort, called The Squire after Gene Sarazen’s nickname. “Brookfield was super open” to the re-imagining of the property that led to The Match, Staples told me. The back of the card reads “To Play One’s Self Is a Drill/To Play the Course Is a Skill/But To Play the Player Opposing/There’s Truly No Greater Skill.” Enjoy The Match. Par isn’t even shown on the card, and the course plays 5,841 yards, maximum. The idea is to mark -1, -2, +1, etc., noting the status of the match. It’s a “Match Card,” where one doesn’t even record scores. The scorecard isn’t a scorecard as somebody schooled in American golf (or, for that matter, Canadian) thinks of it. Off we went, with a couple of Staples’ friends who are members at PGA National. Let the ball bounce and roll, as a ball should. Sure, golf in the air is possible, but Staples, a very good player, knows that golf on the ground should also be available. The Match would offer the chance to play many different shots. ![]() As I recall, Staples wore a cap or carried a towel with this message and discussed the idea of the resort selling merchandise with these words. Par wouldn’t matter, in the sense that the essence of match play is to try to win a hole by posting a lower score than one’s opponent. Staples thought a course where players pick what tee to use on every hole -perhaps based on the choice made by the golfer who had won the previous hole - would ramp up the fun quotient. Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management purchased PGA National Resort in 2019 for $218 million (US). I’ve never been to Grand-Mere but look forward to visiting.Īnyway, The Match. Staples will bring out the best in the property. Architecture aficionados might know of this course where English designer Charles Alison also worked. Staples is also working on Club de Golf de Grand-Mere in Shawinigan, Que., which Australian Walter Travis designed in 1917. He designed this ultra-cool course built for match play /2ek6tJhOAU- Lorne Rubenstein April 2, 2023 So much fun to be playing The Match with master of creativity and Willie Park Jr. ![]()
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