Balancing Golf Course Design & Condition for All Players

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00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - When you restore a golf course,

00:04 you have to look at not just the PGA Tour players,

00:07 but the rest of the membership.

00:08 So, I imagine the challenging part in the balance

00:13 of making it modern, but also playable, right?

00:17 - Yeah, and I think everyone,

00:19 a lot of people talk about,

00:21 we all geek out about golf architecture,

00:23 but everybody appreciates good maintenance, right?

00:26 Whenever you ask your friends,

00:27 "How was the golf course?"

00:28 They don't go, "Wow, it was really thoughtful.

00:30 I had to think about every tee shot and go around."

00:32 It's like, "No, the greens were great.

00:34 It was in great condition."

00:36 That's always the first thing everybody talks about.

00:39 And so, I think from a member's perspective,

00:41 having all that infrastructure now

00:43 and having a rich Macintosh and team in charge,

00:45 or the conditioning should be amazing.

00:47 So, whether they, hopefully they like the architecture,

00:50 but even if they don't, the improvement from a standpoint,

00:52 and that's also something that you guys appreciate.

00:55 - When we show up, frequently, or almost always,

00:59 you get the course in the best possible condition

01:01 it's gonna be in all year.

01:02 Well, now, what we're hopeful is the Colonial,

01:05 and its best week, which has always been tournament week,

01:10 will be a lot closer to tournament week

01:12 in their worst week, as opposed to in the past.

01:15 So, I think design-wise, the players that show up

01:19 are gonna see a golf, it's gonna feel familiar.

01:21 It's gonna be different, but they're not gonna be like,

01:23 "Oh, you dropped me into outer space

01:25 "in some place completely new."

01:27 But it'll be interesting, and you know this as well as I do,

01:30 the scoring that first tournament

01:34 is gonna be almost a referendum on the architecture.

01:37 And it couldn't be further from the truth,

01:39 'cause we don't know what kind of weather

01:40 we're gonna get that week.

01:41 I mean, if the wind blows, and it's firm,

01:44 which we know it'll be firm, and it's dry,

01:45 yeah, it's gonna be hard.

01:46 And everybody's gonna say, "Wow, Gil and his team,

01:50 "Jim and Josh McFadden, those guys did an amazing job

01:52 "making it harder."

01:53 If it's soft, and it's wet,

01:55 and those guys are throwing darts everywhere,

01:57 and the winning score's 18, 19 under,

02:00 they're gonna say, "Boy, Gil really screwed that up."

02:02 So, it's one of those things where we know,

02:05 in our heart of hearts, that we believe

02:07 the architecture's better.

02:09 We know the infrastructure's better.

02:12 The members are chomping at the bit

02:13 to get out there and play it.

02:14 They're not gonna be able to play it

02:15 'til after the tournament.

02:16 And as you mentioned at the start,

02:19 that was the one that gave me even more gray hair,

02:22 was just thinking about how are we gonna get this done

02:25 in time.

02:26 And I'm happy to report, after walking around it last week,

02:29 if we get a little bit of heat,

02:32 and the Bermuda gets growing,

02:33 and we get the rough up a little bit, it's ready.

02:36 And that's a testament, again, to Rich,

02:38 and to LeBar Golf, and to Heritage Golf,

02:41 like of the team.

02:41 I mean, we have, and Mother Nature, thank you,

02:44 because it was one of the driest summers we've ever had.

02:47 - And hot, too, right?

02:48 - And hot, yeah.

02:49 Wasn't great for everybody else,

02:50 but it was great for Colonial's project.

02:52 So we got it done.

02:55 We're really proud of what we're gonna show off here

02:57 in a couple weeks, and hopefully the players enjoy it.

03:00 (upbeat music)

03:02 [MUSIC]

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