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"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
online golf column
by
Chris Dortch
June 27, 2007
It’s long been considered the finest golf course in Tennessee and
one of the best in the world, but The Honors Course is not above
undergoing alterations from time to time.
Likewise, Black Creek Club has been ranked among the state’s top
10 courses since its 2000 opening, but the course has begun work
to lengthen some of its holes. And storied Chattanooga Golf and
Country Club is a state landmark, but its recent renovation by
talented course architect Bill Bergin proves that change can be a
good thing—for numerous reasons.
Technology and increased skill levels of the game’s elite
players—many of whom think nothing of bombing 300 yard-plus tee
shots—are the common denominators in course renovations today.
Those courses that can change over time—and have the real estate
available—change. Those that don’t keep pace, sadly, have been
passed by, at least as significant tournament venues.
That’s not going to happen to The Honors, which in 2010 plays host
for the second time to NCAA men’s golf championships. The course
those young players face will be dramatically different than the
one Tiger Woods dismantled for three rounds in the 1996 NCAAs, his
last college tournament.
Not that The Honors didn’t reach out and grab Woods—witness his
closing 80 after rounds of 69-67-69. But the course, as have all
golf courses, gradually became more vulnerable to scoring as
today’s players, taking advantage of advanced instruction
techniques and distance-improving technology, were able to shorten
holes with mammoth tee shots.
In
a move to head technology off at the pass, The Honors made subtle
changes in 2003, two years before it was to play host to the USGA
Mid-Amateur Championship. Five holes, including the already
formidable par-4 7th and 15th, were
lengthened.
Now, well in advance of the 2010 NCAA Championships, The Honors
has been lengthened again. New tees have been added at a pair of
par-3 holes, No. 3 and No. 16, and the par-5 6th. And
No. 10, already a demanding par-4, has drastically changed with
the addition of a fairway bunker and a new green.
The course can now play a stout 7,350 yards from the back tees.
Those collegians will have to bring their A games in 2010.
Though Black Creek’s members were perfectly fine with their
course, it has been vulnerable as a tournament venue because of
its relatively flat (and perfect) putting surfaces and absence of
rough. The course plays host to the Nationwide Tour and usually
yields the lowest average scores on that circuit every season. In
2006, former UTC golfer Thomas Smith won the Tennessee Amateur at
Black Creek by shooting a record 19-under-par 269.
Like The Honors, Black Creek has tried to keep pace. The par-5 4th
hole was lengthened a couple of years back, and now, several other
holes are getting new tees, including No. 13, already a long par
4. The changes will make good players ponder their options longer
than they might have and might reduce the birdie barrages.
Chattanooga Golf and Country Club might not necessarily have been
looking to toughen the course when its board voted to hire Bill
Bergin to oversee a total renovation. But that was the result as
Bergin took the course back to its Donald Ross roots while also
allowing for the modern game. Bergin didn’t lengthen shorter
holes—he liked the element of risk-reward too much—but he did make
them tougher to negotiate. He did add length to holes that were
already plenty long by the standards of most golfers, making them
a genuine challenge for tournament players.
Interestingly, in part because of the club’s challenging greens,
players at the 2006 Tennessee Mid-Amateur who also played
Chattanooga in the state amateur a few years before said the
course was significantly tougher. Scoring was down in the state
mid-am—only two players broke par.
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