One random North Dakota moment before getting to Luc’s review of the course itself. As we arrived outside a Jamestown, North Dakota restaurant there was a guy that started a conversation with us. He was maybe in his early sixties and it was immediately obvious that he was a genuinely nice guy. We chatted for a couple minutes about our trip and then came a question neither of us were expecting. “Are you two fellas church-going folks?” Um, I’m sorry, we were just talking golf and driving – where did THAT come from?? We didn’t say that, instead I answered that actually I was jewish and Luc said something about being raised Quaker. We then got the “I have a jewish neighbor” line and something about knowing a nice guy who was head of the university that was a quaker. He then reassuringly told us, “as long as you believe in the man upstairs, it’s all a good thing.” Um, thanks… In retrospect, we wished we had answered, “no, we’re atheists” just to see his reaction. He might have had a heart attack right on the spot so maybe it’s better we didn’t. Ok, onto the course review.
Hawktree Sunday August 23, 2009
Hawktree is an American resort-style course, designed for recreational golf. It is perfectly manicured, boasting lush fairways, rough, and greens. The clubhouse is beautiful with panoramic views overlooking much of the back nine. There’s a comprehensive practice facility with grass tees, a short game area, and two putting greens. This is the type of course that anywhere near a coast might cost double the $65 green fee.
Hawktree is designed with long distances between greens and tees, demanding that players rent golf carts (equipped with GPS systems that track your every move, shut down when you enter any marginally restricted part of the course, and advertise McDonald’s as you wait between shots). There are no water fountains or coolers on the course, just a cart girl selling drinks and a bin with bottled water halfway through the front and back nines.
It is frustrating that more and more courses are being designed to prohibit walking eighteen holes, usually explicitly by rule, or as in the case of Hawktree, by the practical constraints of design. It's ironic that the one time a high profile-golfer had an actual physical need for the use of a cart, Casey Martin, the American golf establishment pushed back arguing that walking is an essential part of competitive golf. I'd guess that well over 50% of high-end American golf now courses require cart rentals.
The holes themselves are mostly phenomenal, challenging yet fair. The rough and black sand bunkers are consistent, downgrading the role of luck when recovering from an errant shot. The greens are large and undulating, with full-grown grass allowing them to roll fast and consistently, without being hampered by dry spots that plague so many greens late in the summer.
Best holes:
#4 A par four that turns slightly right to left around a long pond, #4 has a large tree on the left side of the fairway and a large two-tiered green that runs right/left, rather than back/front. The tree is large and shouldn’t affect a well-struck tee shot, but it provides a visual frame for shooting up the right side, safely away from the pond.
#10 The back nine starts with this reachable downhill par five. #10 turns right with a water-protected green that has a ridge dividing it into two distinct sections. With an elevated tee and a snake-like fairway, longer players are forced to keep driver in the bag and carefully place a ball about 240 yards from the green. While shallow, this back-to-front sloping green is receptive to balls carrying all the way to the putting surface. This hole is target golf at its best—punishing balls struck off line, but rewarding players who manage to hit fairway woods/hybrids consistently.
Holes that try too hard:
#3 is a short par three (150-165 yards) that runs straight downhill to a small, narrow green guarded by a deep bunker on the right side and a large tree just on the left. I’m a huge fan of challenging short par 3s that require players to hit at the middle of the green regardless of the day’s hole location. And this hole is visually stunning. The only problem: you can’t see any of it from the back tees! The architect neglected one of the basic conventions of course design–while individual holes should be distinct and have their own personalities, every one should start the same way: a flat tee box and a line of sight. #7 is a par five with the same line of sight problem. Teeing off without seeing any of these of these two holes is made particularly daunting by the fact that there are no distinctive landmarks on the horizon to aid alignment.
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