I recently turned another year older. Whether I’m any wiser or not is debatable. But, after enjoying a birthday gift round of golf at my first-ever Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, I did learn a few things about the master architect.
First, the Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa in Victoria, British Columbia is a beautiful retreat. Spacious rooms, outstanding views, mild summer weather and a close-enough-but-not-too-close-location from downtown Victoria makes it a great place to get away. But it’s golf we’re talking about, not high tea for tourists.
With a great practice facility and two excellent courses Bear Mountain will host the Telus World Skins Game in June 2010, so you know it’s a renowned resort. The back tees (7,203 yards / 75.1 rating / 152 slope) at the original Mountain Course are apparently the highest slope rating in Canada. Tough stuff. But with five sets of tees and a facility designed as much for vacationers and conference goers, anyone can enjoy the challenge.
In playing the course last month from the so-called Grizzly tees (6,754 yards / 72.9 rating / 147 slope), a significant challenge for my 9 handicap, I noticed three things about the Nicklaus Design philosophy:
Position, Position, Position
If real estate is about location, the Mountain Course – and presumably other Nicklaus Design golf courses – is about position. It is clear upon playing the course that your ball is intended to be placed in a certain portion of the fairway or on the green in order to access the hole. In other words, there are places to be and other less desirable places where you don’t want to miss.
At other less challenging golf courses, particularly many easy resort courses, you can spray the ball and still recover to shoot a good score. However, here if you are out of position you will likely be faced with a blind or obstructed shot. Or, you’ll have a very difficult angle into the green. Sometimes all of the above.
Nicklaus clearly wants you to hit your ball in the proper spot. If you do so, you’re rewarded with a relatively easy approach. If not, you’re punished with a challenging – although often absurdly fun – second shot.
Two-Way Street
As much as Nicklaus during his professional golf career was known as a master of the power fade, his golf course tests all aspects of your game by asking players to work the ball both directions – sometimes on the same hole.
The best example is unlucky No. 13, the No. 2 handicap hole and an enormous 488 yards from the tips. The back tees are in a narrow chute that opens to a fairway bending from left to right. A fade off the tee is your best chance to clear the trees. But, an angled green and a greenside lake on the left dictate that you hit a draw with a long iron or fairway wood approach. Good luck.
I was lucky enough to accomplish both with a fade off the tee and a sweeping draw of a 4-iron from 196 yards onto the front of the green. But in my excitement at having reached the longest par 4 I’ve ever played, I got overzealous on the birdie putt, blew it by and had a downhill 6-footer for par. Oops. I’m sure you can guess what happened. Damn you, Jack.
Short Holes Can Be Good
The Mountain Course offers a great collection of par 3s.
No. 4 requires a long iron to an uphill green guarded by a deep front bunker with an ominous rock face. No. 7, probably the easiest of the group and the only short hole where I made a par, is another uphill shot with a mid-iron but plenty of room to miss long and left.
No. 12 is just a short iron, but the two-tier island green is both intimidating and difficult to putt. No. 16 is all downhill and requires only a mid-iron, but the drop is nearly 70 feet and the green is 60 feet deep so club selection atop a windy, exposed hilltop tee box isn’t easy.
Finally, the unique No. 19, which actually comes between Nos. 14 and 15, is a fun, scenic hole on a cliff with an expansive view. Intended as a tiebreaker and an opportunity to soak up the scenery, the 19th is just a short iron from all but the back tees. But, the area can be breezy and anything right is dead. Here I hit one of my best shots of the day, a 9-iron from 138 yards. As the ball hung in the air halfway there I dared to hope for a birthday hole in one, which – of course – immediately doomed my chances. But the ball stuck just three feet from the hole for an easy birdie.
There are other interesting elements at Bear Mountain, including dozens of deer that roam freely across the course. And, I mistook the palatial cliffside building near the No. 19 green as a conference center or VIP facility, but was later informed that is supposedly the home of Len Barrie, an investor in the resort and co-owner of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightening.
Aside from having a great day on the golf course, I also learned that as a crafty golf course designer Jack Nicklaus demands you hit the ball in the proper position or you will pay, that you can work the ball both directions and you better hit pinpoint irons on the par 3s. It’s easier for him than the rest of us.
Have you played a Nicklaus designed golf course? What were your impressions? And, do you have a favorite designer? Why? Tell us in comments below or email us at staff@niceballz.com.
First off – happy birthday !
Second – that is a spectacular picture. looks like it’s a visually stunning course.
Ok – back to the question – I’ve played several Nicklaus courses. Didn’t like them initially. As I found out later, his early designs were built to play the way he likes to play – mostly left to right – and I was almost exclusvely a right to left player. (Thanks Jack – just make me pay a lot of money to be miserable)
Later on, as I learned to move the ball around a little better, I started liking his courses better. Around here, we have Bear’s Best – a collection of some of his favorite holes – a lot of fun to play except for one that is a very long par 4, but was built at high altitude. Not a problem to play a long par 4 a mile up – but he is a stickler for details and copied that hole at our lower altitude and higher humidity – so it is a beast of a hole.
Way up in North Georgia is Achasta Golf Club (formerly Birch River) – a nearly flat course built in the mountains. Pretty amazing. He mixes in his short holes and finds a lot of interesting ways to challenge your shot making skills.
I’m a big fan of Nicklaus courses these days.
Happy birthday, Corey! Looks like a great Nicklaus course…nice visual. I played a Nicklaus course in LA (Angeles National Golf Club). All I remember is a beautiful layout (lots of green and desert contrast), a high score and many lost balls–no spraying allowed.
What did you end up shooting?
We’ll pass on your comments on the course at Westin Bear Mountain to Jack when we see him in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the 2009 Asian Pacific Golf Summit next month. Tom is sitting down with Jack for a fireside chat along with Spencer Robinson & Dave Seanor of Asian Golf Monthly. You’ll hear more about this soon & you can always catch up on what’s going on in golf by tuning into Speaking of Golf, streaming live every Saturday 9-11AM. http://www.speakingofgolf.com.
I think it was a 92, but that includes the par-3 19th hole (insert alcohol jokes here), so a 90. I felt good about it. Regardless, was a fun day and I’m interested to play more of his courses.