Post by tpcsouthnine on Nov 11, 2021 12:38:44 GMT -5
I’m happy to share progress on my build for this one. Set in Sevier County, Tennessee across the creek from Dollywood and inspired by a late (1956) William Langford design (Gatlinburg Golf Course), this course will feature significant elevation changes and built-up greens with considerable slopes.
My intention is to build a course in a style that The Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson calls, “golden age maximalism.” Most of course follows the land, letting existing contours motivate strategic interest, but other features like green sites with bold external shaping and bunkers are happy to appear manufactured.
While Gatlinburg Golf Course I was the initial inspiration for this build, the course will not be a recreation. The routing follows some general ideas from Gatlinburg — a more traditional front nine built playing across the side of a broader slope followed by a quirkier back nine playing directly down, up and around steeper slopes — but differs in the specifics. I’m also taking motivation from other architects’ work on rocky soil: Ross’s New England courses like Essex County and George Wright and Flynn’s work at Kitansett (specifically the choice to create mounds by covering piles of rocks with soil).
So far I’ve routed the course and taken an initial pass at sculpting and surfacing. I expect there’s a fair chance a hole or two or five may get blown up, but I doubt I’ll go back and do a major reroute.
With object meter currently at 0.7%, planting is in the, uh, nascent stage. 😜
Enjoy some pictures with yellow lines and other junk cluttering them up:
Looking back up the hill on the par 3 7th
Looking down the par 5 3rd fairway
Approach to the 18th
Up and across the hill to the 1st green
A nearly impossible to make out routing pic
My intention is to build a course in a style that The Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson calls, “golden age maximalism.” Most of course follows the land, letting existing contours motivate strategic interest, but other features like green sites with bold external shaping and bunkers are happy to appear manufactured.
While Gatlinburg Golf Course I was the initial inspiration for this build, the course will not be a recreation. The routing follows some general ideas from Gatlinburg — a more traditional front nine built playing across the side of a broader slope followed by a quirkier back nine playing directly down, up and around steeper slopes — but differs in the specifics. I’m also taking motivation from other architects’ work on rocky soil: Ross’s New England courses like Essex County and George Wright and Flynn’s work at Kitansett (specifically the choice to create mounds by covering piles of rocks with soil).
So far I’ve routed the course and taken an initial pass at sculpting and surfacing. I expect there’s a fair chance a hole or two or five may get blown up, but I doubt I’ll go back and do a major reroute.
With object meter currently at 0.7%, planting is in the, uh, nascent stage. 😜
Enjoy some pictures with yellow lines and other junk cluttering them up:
Looking back up the hill on the par 3 7th
Looking down the par 5 3rd fairway
Approach to the 18th
Up and across the hill to the 1st green
A nearly impossible to make out routing pic
I'm sure this will be a good follow up to Gray County!
