A Monday Mini today, and it is inspired by a comment from a wolfpacker who listened to our recent Graham Marsh episode, where Swampy talked about his career - including significant work designing golf courses. They suggested Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen should design a golf course....and we thought, okay, if Nick and Mark were to design a course what elements would they make sure were there, what style of course would it be, what would they build?
So we asked.
What are the must have elements?
What par would the course be, and would it be different in tournament golf (of course).
We pick the mix of par 3's, 4's, 5's.
Are there any holes at other courses that they might take inspiration from?
And a sideline where we chat about the time when Metropolitan Golf Course hosted the World Matchplay, Mark tells a couple of stories.
Nick muses over whether the opening hole should be a 'warm handshake' or a 'kick in the teeth'.
Mark is a fan of having a quirk on the course, he names a couple of quirks that he likes. He also would like plaques around the course, so it is 'dripping with history'.
We discuss the style of clubhouse we'd build, and some of the elements that would be included in the clubhouse.
Would there be a driving range?
Mark is keen on having a Team Matchplay comp at the course.
Nick is keen for the final hole to be a risk/reward hole. Mark agrees, as long as it is not a big green.
So there it is. In about 15 minutes, Nick and Mark have designed a cracking golf course (and club house). Now we just need to find $100 million or so and we can build it !
Let us know if you reckon we've missed anything that should be included in the course, or if you disagree with any of the inclusions.