Chocolate Drops: Don’t Let the Sky Fall on Shortland

Welcome to the week, Club TFE. Here’s what’s happening in the golf architecture world right now:

→ Last week’s big discussion topic was the announcement from Forest Dunes that Hanse Golf Course Design will design a new private course, Skyfall (or, as Adele would say, “Sky-FAAAALLLL”) for the Roscommon, Michigan, resort. Check out Andy Johnson’s write-up for Club TFE, if you haven’t already. I added some thoughts in the comments section, which I’ll reprint here:

This is great news. The Lido’s relative accessibility has been such a positive thing, in my eyes. It has allowed the discussion of that course to be so much broader than it would have been if the Keisers had gone with a purely private model. Would it be nice for Skyfall to have a fully open tee sheet? Sure. But I’ll take what I can get in the current climate.

Totally agree with Andy that competing with Kingsley and High Point on the regional private-club scene will be tough. Perhaps that injection of off-peak public green fees will make the whole thing work. That model has apparently been highly successful at The Lido.

As Andy mentions, the elevation changes look substantial and somewhat relentless. I’m curious to see how Hanse’s routing manages that stuff. The green-to-tee transitions look pretty tight, for the most part.

I can’t get on board with the name. The word “Skyfall” is too closely linked with a very good and extremely successful James Bond movie. Not to mention a super ear-wormy Adele song. It’s not quite like calling a course “Squid Game,” but it’s sorta close.

→ On Friday, January 24, Jackson Kahn Design associate (and Club TFE member) Connor Dougherty kindly walked me around an under-construction JKD project in West Linn, Oregon—about 30 minutes from downtown Portland. Built on a portion of the shuttered Sandelie Golf Course, the new course will have 19 par 3s, none exceeding 100 yards. Its name: Shortland Golf Club. I mean, what else could you possibly call a short course near Portland?

The tees, greens, and bunkers at Shortland will consist of artificial turf provided by the company Celebrity Greens. The rest of the golf course will be sodded with real grass. This choice will save owner Mike Fritz a great deal on labor and maintenance in the future, but it has required a significant up-front investment. Installing this stuff isn’t cheap! Connor and I hit a few tee shots during our tour, and I was surprised by how realistically the ball reacted when it landed on the greens. The synthetic grass is somewhat grabbier than actual new golf turf, but the difference isn’t as obvious as I thought it would be.

Shortland plans to open up nine holes to the public this spring. Meanwhile, the Jackson Kahn team is busy refining and grassing the rest of the course, tidying up some drainage issues, and making plans for a chip-and-putt course and Himalayas-style natural-grass putting green. A small bar, standing at a centrally located high point, appears close to finished. Shortland’s routing returns to it several times, if that gives you an idea of the intended vibe.

{{content-block-chocolate-drops-skyfall-shortland-designing-golf-001}}

What do you think of par-3 courses with artificial turf? Have you played any?

→ Many of you have reached out to me with your reactions to the first three episodes of my new podcast, Designing Golf. Thank you so much for the enthusiasm and feedback! I’m excited to keep this project going and see where it leads.

This week, I’m going to chat with historian Stephen Proctor about the golf architecture books every budding sicko should read. That episode will be released on Tuesday of next week. Got any questions for me and Stephen about the literature of golf course design? Put them in the comments section below.