Orlando – The 17thth The hole at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Lodge & Club has a long reputation for not being at the beach. But for Arnold Palmer Invitational this year, the distinctive beach bunker from Palmer has been removed and replaced by rough, and the water is closer to the putting surface. And a person with a lively overview of what the king might think of the change says that he would not be too happy to see the bunker before who bled in the risk of water.
Brandon Johnson golf course architect was one of Palmer’s right hell men, With Thad LaytonDuring their days at Arnold Palmer Design Co. Layton drew sketches from the first nine while Johnson was responsible for the nine rear during a renovation of Bay Hill in 2009, which coincided with the 80th anniversary of Palmer. Johnson presented a plan to shorten the 17th hole and remove the beach bunker, which had been added in 1989. Such a change would also have allowed an extension of the 18th by 4.
“There are no shorts by 3 in Bay Hill,” said Johnson Golfer In a telephone interview on Tuesday. “Could you make a very good parasise of 150 yards, always keep the same look less the beach bunker, and remove the 18th T-shirt and put the driver back in your hands?”
How did Palmer react when he checked the plans?
“It was a bit like Mr. Palmer,” said Johnson to remove the beach bunker (as well as shorten the hole). “I knew it was a characteristic for which he competed. He gave us a lot of freedom, but it was once he insisted to keep him. So I hate seeing him go.
Johnson recalled that Palmer called the feature film “A water bunker” and compared it to that of the 15th of Pine Valley. The architect Mike Stuntz popularized the functionality, and Palmer incorporated it into other courses which he designed as The King & Bear in St. Augustine, Florida, and the tradition Golf Club in Quinta, California.
While Palmer shot down the idea of withdrawing the beach bunker at 17, he accepted a concession: the elimination of a beach bunker keeping the left side of the 16th by 5. Johnson ended up kissing his “interior beach bunker” and widened the beach bunker at 17 in 2009.
“I ended up really like it,” he said.
But thick rough have replaced the bunker to cope with the green by 3, which will measure 221 yards. Johnson concedes that the beach bunker could be a maintenance problem, including last summer when heavy rains flooded the region while two hurricanes hit Florida.
“It has become a little bit of mud, and it was really difficult to maintain it in a consistent way with the rest of the bunkers on the golf course,” said Sam Saunders, Palmer’s grandson.
Saunders, who grew up in Bay Hill and played several times in the API, was asked how much the hole will play this year for competitors.
“Not much. In terms of playability, I would say that it is slightly easier,” he said. “I think some people could be concerned when they see the bunker left than if you miss it short, the ball would go in the water. We were very thoughtful for this decision because 17 is already an incredibly difficult hole. It is a long by 3. Obviously, a pin on the right. Water, it would be just a little too brutal.
“I think that once all players pass and see specifically that this slope is not incredibly severe, and that the grass goes … A shot will stay there, I think they are going to say, ok, that’s good.”
But that will not present the same challenge as on March 30, 2004. It was at this moment that Palmer avoided the beach bunker with a 7-bois and marked the 19th hole in his life.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Bay Hill removes the beach bunker by the water on n ° 17
