September 24, 2018
Everyone knows Tiger Woods and all the ups and downs that have occured on and off the golf course in the last decade, but do you remember Rees Jones? Every golf fan probably should! Labeled "The Open Doctor" Rees Jones provided designs that gave us:
7 US Opens
8 PGA Championships
5 Ryder Cups
2 Walker Events
1 President Cup
If your club wanted a major back in the 90s / early 2000s, Rees Jones was essentially your easiest and even only way there. He became so dominant in the architectural world some said he had a monopoly, others said it wasn't fair, and some became angry.
Why Rees Jones for Championships?
Rees Jones niche was, is, and always has been championship design. As technology in equipment advanced it just wasn't a possibility for classic clubs who wanted to host tour events, especially majors. Major changes were required. An easy solution everyone is quick to recommend is, just add tee boxes and make holes longer. For the pros, this works on some Par 3 holes but that is about it. You need to add bunkers at 300+ yards out from the championship tees, and make sure approach shots are not just longer but maintain interest while being fair. As the pros got substantially better it became harder and harder to maintain a course for everyone. Rees was the designer who would make significant changes for championship design and he ran with it successfully for years.
What went wrong?
The US Open has always been regarded has VERY HARD and classic courses posed no threat to the pros. We started to see 300 yard plus drives, balls that were easily workable, and par broken regularly. Rees Jones redesigned many of these courses to accommodate the tour. Even though technology has helped the amateur golfer as well, there was never a bigger separation between pro and amateur. Some courses he redesigned just to contain the pros ended up being far to hard for amateurs. Members wanted the events but also wanted their courses back to being playable for them. Members like to feel like pros, easier the better after Sunday! This became impossible and some clubs lost membership over it.
Then There Was Phil Mickelson
“It’s a perfect example of how modern architecture is killing the game, because these holes are unplayable for the member,” Mickelson said. “You have water in front and you have a bunker behind, and you give the player no avenue to run a shot up. . . .
“Now, for us out here, it doesn’t make a bit of difference, because we are going to fly the ball to the green either way. And that’s why I say it’s great for the championship. But it’s a good reason why the number of rounds are down on this golf course amongst the membership.”
The Architectural Community
Who are they? Mostly raters, historians, the most passionate enthusiasts. Like Phil said, they like to run the ball up, otherwise known as "options". The demographics of golf course raters would be a huge help here, but lets assume they are "older" players. Let's assume they older because most publications have requirements of how many courses a rater must visit and rate which appeals to an older player who is retired. Are they all old and retired? Of course not! Are most? It's a safe assumption. In almost every equipment ad for the last decade ball flight, specifically higher ball flight, gets as much attention as distance. This is because height comes from club head speed which the pros have a lot of, amateurs don't have as much of, and older players have little of. Making the argument for "options" or holes which allow the player to run the ball up to the hole are very appealing to a majority of raters. The architectural community decided options was important, and when Phil made a scene of it they all jumped on board. It quickly became if you wanted to get into the discussion of golf course architecture the easiest way was to say you like options and hate Rees Jones.
The Rankings
After golfers of all kinds (including Phil Mickelson) declared Rees Jones designs to be too hard and raters learned it was okay to dislike courses they couldn't run the ball up to the hole on, Rees designs started to fall out of the ranking lists. There were other modern designers who were similar, Jack Nickalaus and Tom Fazio, so why punish Rees Jones? Tom Fazio has had more top ranked courses then any other modern designer and hating Jack is just not an option. Neither had a stranglehold on the tour events the way Rees did. It was an easy choice.
Restoration ~ The Act Of Returning Something To It's Original Place, Owner, or Condition
Restoration quickly became the new fad. Architects such as Keith Foster, Gil Hanse, Tom Doak, Coore & Crenshaw, and many others championed the idea of restoring all these classic designs back to their original intent. The easiest way to find business? Go to all the courses which have been redesigned to accommodate modern golf. But what about classic championship design? Gil Hanse seems to be getting most of the work lately and while calling projects "restorations" he's also making them longer and harder than ever intended. Will he be the next everyone loves to hate????
The Double Standard Against Rees Jones
The most popular knock on Rees Jones is the degree in which he alters a classic design to accommodate the tour today. For those that dislike him they also need to find reasons to dislike his original designs. Rees has always said he wants to be in championship golf so his original designs warrant many of the same Double Standards. Here are a few with some basic rebuttals:
Rees Jones design philosophy is hard par easy bogey, it's thoughtless ~ Have you ever participated in anything in life that was harder than average? Do harder than average activities normally require more or less thought than easy activities?
Rees Jones courses have to many forced carries ~ Forced carries are one of the challenges of golf. If you absolutely despise them, do not look at Pine Valley on google maps, you'll hate it and possibly pass up on one of the greatest golf experiences you'd ever turn down after seeing the number of forced carries required on the map.
Rees Jones moves too much land ~ We are in the 21st century. Finding the most perfect untouched land to build a golf course the way they did 100 years ago (without machinery and technology) is unreasonable. Changes must be made to adapt to modern golf which means land must be moved, unless you're in Nebraska.
Rees Jones Courses Aren't Natural ~ The sand is too white, the conditions are so nice they are unnatural, and the bunkers look fake. Every year there is a lottery to get to the masters. Do not go if you dislike white sand and pristine conditions, because Augusta is more than likely the finest manicured property in the world.
Fast Forward To 2018
Bellerive Country Club hosts the PGA Championship and Tiger Woods finishes second smashing tv ratings while publicly showing a liking to the course. Then there was the BMW Championship at Aronimink which was recently restored by Gil Hanse and torched by the pros under favorable wet conditions. Then the Tour Championship at East Lake. Tiger Woods wins his first tour event in 5 years and gives praise to the course design.
"This course is hard, but its right in front of you. You must hit the shots, everyone must hit the shots and I like it, it suits my game well." ~ Tiger Woods after 3rd round of Tour Championship.
What's Next?
Does Rees Jones need Tiger or does Tiger Need Rees? Or do they need each other? It is proven ratings soar when Tiger is in the mix, and Tiger has shown this year he plays his best when he competes on "hard" golf courses. Heroic shots, greens surrounded by penalty, forced carries, they all define Championship Golf and Tiger Woods thrives when competing in that atmosphere. The PGA and USGA notice and if they want what they saw at Bellerive and East Lake, be prepared to see the return of Rees Jones.
Will Classics Like Oakland Hills & Baltusrol Who Have Moved On From Rees Jones Change Their Minds?
Stay Tuned.....
7 US Opens
8 PGA Championships
5 Ryder Cups
2 Walker Events
1 President Cup
If your club wanted a major back in the 90s / early 2000s, Rees Jones was essentially your easiest and even only way there. He became so dominant in the architectural world some said he had a monopoly, others said it wasn't fair, and some became angry.
Why Rees Jones for Championships?
Rees Jones niche was, is, and always has been championship design. As technology in equipment advanced it just wasn't a possibility for classic clubs who wanted to host tour events, especially majors. Major changes were required. An easy solution everyone is quick to recommend is, just add tee boxes and make holes longer. For the pros, this works on some Par 3 holes but that is about it. You need to add bunkers at 300+ yards out from the championship tees, and make sure approach shots are not just longer but maintain interest while being fair. As the pros got substantially better it became harder and harder to maintain a course for everyone. Rees was the designer who would make significant changes for championship design and he ran with it successfully for years.
What went wrong?
The US Open has always been regarded has VERY HARD and classic courses posed no threat to the pros. We started to see 300 yard plus drives, balls that were easily workable, and par broken regularly. Rees Jones redesigned many of these courses to accommodate the tour. Even though technology has helped the amateur golfer as well, there was never a bigger separation between pro and amateur. Some courses he redesigned just to contain the pros ended up being far to hard for amateurs. Members wanted the events but also wanted their courses back to being playable for them. Members like to feel like pros, easier the better after Sunday! This became impossible and some clubs lost membership over it.
Then There Was Phil Mickelson
“It’s a perfect example of how modern architecture is killing the game, because these holes are unplayable for the member,” Mickelson said. “You have water in front and you have a bunker behind, and you give the player no avenue to run a shot up. . . .
“Now, for us out here, it doesn’t make a bit of difference, because we are going to fly the ball to the green either way. And that’s why I say it’s great for the championship. But it’s a good reason why the number of rounds are down on this golf course amongst the membership.”
The Architectural Community
Who are they? Mostly raters, historians, the most passionate enthusiasts. Like Phil said, they like to run the ball up, otherwise known as "options". The demographics of golf course raters would be a huge help here, but lets assume they are "older" players. Let's assume they older because most publications have requirements of how many courses a rater must visit and rate which appeals to an older player who is retired. Are they all old and retired? Of course not! Are most? It's a safe assumption. In almost every equipment ad for the last decade ball flight, specifically higher ball flight, gets as much attention as distance. This is because height comes from club head speed which the pros have a lot of, amateurs don't have as much of, and older players have little of. Making the argument for "options" or holes which allow the player to run the ball up to the hole are very appealing to a majority of raters. The architectural community decided options was important, and when Phil made a scene of it they all jumped on board. It quickly became if you wanted to get into the discussion of golf course architecture the easiest way was to say you like options and hate Rees Jones.
The Rankings
After golfers of all kinds (including Phil Mickelson) declared Rees Jones designs to be too hard and raters learned it was okay to dislike courses they couldn't run the ball up to the hole on, Rees designs started to fall out of the ranking lists. There were other modern designers who were similar, Jack Nickalaus and Tom Fazio, so why punish Rees Jones? Tom Fazio has had more top ranked courses then any other modern designer and hating Jack is just not an option. Neither had a stranglehold on the tour events the way Rees did. It was an easy choice.
Restoration ~ The Act Of Returning Something To It's Original Place, Owner, or Condition
Restoration quickly became the new fad. Architects such as Keith Foster, Gil Hanse, Tom Doak, Coore & Crenshaw, and many others championed the idea of restoring all these classic designs back to their original intent. The easiest way to find business? Go to all the courses which have been redesigned to accommodate modern golf. But what about classic championship design? Gil Hanse seems to be getting most of the work lately and while calling projects "restorations" he's also making them longer and harder than ever intended. Will he be the next everyone loves to hate????
The Double Standard Against Rees Jones
The most popular knock on Rees Jones is the degree in which he alters a classic design to accommodate the tour today. For those that dislike him they also need to find reasons to dislike his original designs. Rees has always said he wants to be in championship golf so his original designs warrant many of the same Double Standards. Here are a few with some basic rebuttals:
Rees Jones design philosophy is hard par easy bogey, it's thoughtless ~ Have you ever participated in anything in life that was harder than average? Do harder than average activities normally require more or less thought than easy activities?
Rees Jones courses have to many forced carries ~ Forced carries are one of the challenges of golf. If you absolutely despise them, do not look at Pine Valley on google maps, you'll hate it and possibly pass up on one of the greatest golf experiences you'd ever turn down after seeing the number of forced carries required on the map.
Rees Jones moves too much land ~ We are in the 21st century. Finding the most perfect untouched land to build a golf course the way they did 100 years ago (without machinery and technology) is unreasonable. Changes must be made to adapt to modern golf which means land must be moved, unless you're in Nebraska.
Rees Jones Courses Aren't Natural ~ The sand is too white, the conditions are so nice they are unnatural, and the bunkers look fake. Every year there is a lottery to get to the masters. Do not go if you dislike white sand and pristine conditions, because Augusta is more than likely the finest manicured property in the world.
Fast Forward To 2018
Bellerive Country Club hosts the PGA Championship and Tiger Woods finishes second smashing tv ratings while publicly showing a liking to the course. Then there was the BMW Championship at Aronimink which was recently restored by Gil Hanse and torched by the pros under favorable wet conditions. Then the Tour Championship at East Lake. Tiger Woods wins his first tour event in 5 years and gives praise to the course design.
"This course is hard, but its right in front of you. You must hit the shots, everyone must hit the shots and I like it, it suits my game well." ~ Tiger Woods after 3rd round of Tour Championship.
What's Next?
Does Rees Jones need Tiger or does Tiger Need Rees? Or do they need each other? It is proven ratings soar when Tiger is in the mix, and Tiger has shown this year he plays his best when he competes on "hard" golf courses. Heroic shots, greens surrounded by penalty, forced carries, they all define Championship Golf and Tiger Woods thrives when competing in that atmosphere. The PGA and USGA notice and if they want what they saw at Bellerive and East Lake, be prepared to see the return of Rees Jones.
Will Classics Like Oakland Hills & Baltusrol Who Have Moved On From Rees Jones Change Their Minds?
Stay Tuned.....
