Interview: Bill Coore, golf course designer

Published on Friday 10 December 2010 14:48

IT was the first tip-off that Donald Trump's proposed new track in Scotland might not be all that he is claiming it will be. If it really is going to be the "best golf course in the world", then why isn't Trump employing the world's best golf course architect? Why isn't Trump employing Bill Coore?

For those not completely au fait with the esoteric world of course architecture, Coore is a softly-spoken North Carolinian who, along with long-time partner, former Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, has designed some of American golf's most memorable lay-outs since they first got together in 1984: Sand Hills in Nebraska, Friar's Head in New York, Bandon Trails in Oregon, Kapalua in Hawaii and Old Sandwich in Massachusetts, to name but five.

Coore's latest creation, however, is both international and a solo venture, the much-awaited Lost Farm course in Tasmania, sister course to the already acclaimed Tom Doak/Mike Clayton design at Barnbougle Dunes. Officially opened only two days ago, Lost Farm has already drawn rave reviews from those in the know.

"Bill Coore's Lost Farm just may be the strongest golf course built anywhere in the world since Augusta National in 1934," says Mike Keiser, owner of the Bandon resort, where all four courses are ranked inside the world's top-100. Bandon, in fact, is the business and golfing model for the Barnbougle pair. Both are in remote locations; both are living proof that the "build it and they will come" philosophy can work in golf.

And, while Keiser's hyperbolic description is perhaps a little over the top, what a course Lost Farm is, one the designer is justly proud of.

"This is still a Coore-Crenshaw product, if only because I have had the same people - Dave Axlend and Keith Rhebb - working with me," says Coore, with typical modesty. "It was an opportunity of a lifetime, a bit like being asked to build a course in Scotland, special places in golf."

The end result is a typical Coore product - if there can ever be such a thing - in that it is a fascinating and delightful mixture of challenges and shots. Crucially too, it is a course golfers of all levels can play, all of them having huge amounts of fun in doing so.

"We truly do let the site dictate what we do," continues Coore. "We look for sites that feel like golf in its natural state. We have no preconceived notions about par or yardages. We just let it evolve. To us, course architecture is an art, not a science. It does have a technical foundation, but the creation of the holes is an art.

"Lost Farm is a great example of that.

There are some quirky holes out there. There are some holes you won't see pretty much anywhere else. Look at the second hole, the green is 70 yards wide but that is what we found there. All we did was add a couple of bunkers to the fairway and we had a pretty nice hole. That's all we did. "We like to present situations where golfers choose how to play the hole, as opposed to us dictating how they are going to play it. We don't want them 'kicking field goals' constantly between hazards. Dictating to players is the easiest thing to do, particularly very good players. They love to play holes that tell them exactly what to do, so all that is left is 'hit between this and this.' Technically, they can do that over and over. When there is mystery involved, the decision-making process becomes part of the challenge."

In what will surely be seen as one of the most appropriate moves ever made by a course owner, the Coore-Crenshaw coupling is currently employed in the restoration of one of America's most famous golfing venues, Pinehurst No.2 in North Carolina. Largely because of the ill-informed growing of long grass, the (Dornoch-native) Donald Ross design has recently lost its way.

"We're taking out all of the Bermuda rough," promises Coore. "We're going back to hard-packed sand. It's not like those waste bunkers at a TPC course. It's hard-packed sand with wiregrass here and there. No rough.

"In 1999 when Payne Stewart won the US Open there, the fairways were narrowed. Then, in 2005, they got narrower still. That followed the general perception that width makes golf too easy. But all it does is make the game more interesting. A lot of the problem is television, where people watch the same courses over and over. They watch professional golfers being asked the same question time after time. They hear commentators talking about the 'premium' on driving the ball in the fairway. So the perception grows that hitting to those narrow spots is what the game should be. But it is the most uninteresting golf to watch and to play."

Happily, it sounds as if 2014 is going to be a very different - and therefore historic - US Open.

"It's going to be interesting," says Coore with a smile. "Mike Davis (the USGA's director of rules and competition] has told me the 2014 US Open will be the first to be played on a course with no rough. We wanted to make sure they were comfortable with what we were doing and they are. Some of the fairways are going to be 40 yards wide, but they say that is fine with them. Mike says they will not grow rough. Which will be unbelievable. I really hope it happens. If they get the fairways firm, the course will be just as difficult."

Sadly, despite having won that particular "battle," Coore isn't so confident of emerging victorious in the ongoing "war" with the distances the modern golf ball travels when struck by an elite player.In fact, it is a fight he spends a lot of time trying to avoid.

"To me, the cart is in front of the horse," he sighs. "Why are we changing thousands of courses - or at least dozens - for the sake of the golf ball? Why not just change the ball? There is no doubt it has had a negative effect on architecture generally. Guys just hit past stuff so much these days. To which people say we can move tees back - but sometimes you can't - or move bunkers - but sometimes that isn't practical or advisable. I hate to see bunkers that have been there for decades suddenly moved. For one thing, rebuilding a bunker exactly as it was isn't that easy.

"Having said that, the ball has less influence on our work than for some other designers. We don't do courses for tournament play. Mostly, our courses are for membership play. Yes, they have been used for events - the PGA Seniors was at Colorado Golf Club this year and the PGA Tour's season-opener has been at Kapalua for a while now. But we didn't do those courses with events in mind, they arrived later.

"We tend to work from the greens backward to a certain point. Beyond that, distance is not a priority. Our biggest interest is in making a hole fun to play."

No long grass. No narrow fairways. No hacking out. Just fun. What a concept eh?