Forget about an ace on a par 3. Blasi did one better.
Most golfers dream of scoring a hole-in-one on any par 3. Golf course designer Jay Blasi did one better.
Blasi, who serves on Golfweek’s Best architectural advisory panel and often hosts course-rating events, used driver to ace the short, downhill par-4 14th of Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley Resort in Wisconsin.
The hole tips out at 325 yards. Blasi was playing the orange tees as he led a group of Golfweek’s Best raters around the David McLay Kidd-designed layout. He said it was playing 272 on a direct line at the flag. As seen in the video below, it took a few seconds to register. (Warning: Some language is as might be expected for such a surprise, and might be NSFW.)
“On a par 3, anytime you hit one towards the hole you have a sliver of hope it will go in,” Blasi told Golfweek. “On a drivable par 4, the hole becomes the green itself and you feel like you accomplished your goal if you knock it on. In this case it landed on the green in line with the flag, rolled at the hole and disappeared. The feeling was more shock and awe than pure joy for me. But for the group it was just bliss.”
Blasi didn’t immediately share details via text about what his bar tab might have been after buying a round for the house to celebrate, but the Golfweek’s Best raters can be a thirsty bunch with high standards.
The hole curves sharply downhill with a feeder slope coming in from the right on a typically firm fairway, allowing players to send the ball out wide of multiple centerline bunkers and still feed it onto the green. It’s not exactly a monster so long as players miss the sand, but still, a hole-in-one? Pretty cool and totally unforgettable for Blasi on a course that ranks No. 3 among all public-access layouts in the state and is No. 36 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of all modern courses in the U.S.
No. 14 of Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley in Wisconsin (Brandon Carter/Sand Valley)
The Wisconsin-raised, California-based Blasi sports a 2.9 handicap index and previously had made four holes-in-one on par 3s at a strong lineup of courses: The Patriot in Oklahoma (after having helped design the course, he made the first ace on opening day), Stanford Golf Course in California, Pasatiempo in California and Omni PGA Frisco’s short course named the Swing (of course we count them on par-3 courses!) in Texas.
The latest ace comes on the heels of Blasi complaining to this writer about the state of his game. Might that have anything to do with the fact we’re opposing captains in the Ryder Cup-style, Golfweek’s Best rater-based Scratch Cup in October? After the hole-in-one, this writer and his team are accepting thoughts and prayers.
Architect Jay Blasi shares how he reshaped Golden Gate Park Golf Course into a community treasure.
Editor’s note: Architect Jay Blasi works with Golfweek as a rater ambassador and contributes occasional stories.
Golden Gate Park Golf Course is what is right about golf. It is accessible, affordable, playable, sustainable and charitable.
Most importantly, it is repeatable. Every city in America, big or small, could have its own version of Golden Gate Park, and our communities and our game would be better off for it.
The course officially reopens Friday, Feb. 16 after The First Tee of San Francisco invested $2.5-million in a 2023 renovation that I had the good fortune to design.
Perched on a small parcel packed with sand dunes and majestic cypress trees just a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean, the course is expected to host 40,000+ rounds a year. Highlights and results of the work include each of the following:
Accessible: The course is located in San Francisco, within Golden Gate Park, a few hundred yards from the beach. Golfers can arrive on foot, by bike, by bus or by car. The course is nine holes of par 3s and is an easy walk for all. The clubhouse and practice greens will be open to all and are certain to become a community hub.
Affordable: The course will cost between $20 and $25 for locals or around $40 to $50 for out-of-town guests. Children – including those who participate in First Tee or Youth on Course programs – will pay even less. That’s compared to $75 to $120 at several other top par-3 layouts.
Playable: The tees, fairways and surrounds are all maintained at fairway height, and there are no forced carries. The course plays firm and fast, so balls roll – even topped shots. Players of all skill levels, including first-timers, will be able to enjoy the course. It can be played with just a putter if golfers want to try it.
Sustainable: The smaller footprint and use of fescue turf will make Golden Gate Park Golf Course one of the most efficient users of water and chemicals in the U.S. golf industry. The single height of grass allows the maintenance team to mow the whole facility quickly. The use of only one formal bunker means all raking can be done in one minute.
Charitable: The First Tee makes the course available to its students for practice and play. The kids are learning valuable lessons that will enrich the community for decades to come. By investing in the course and offering an architecturally interesting layout, beginners will get hooked on the game.
Repeatable: Golden Gate Park Golf Course sits on only 20 acres of land. It was designed in a way that the man-hour equivalent of 2.5 employees can maintain the course. The money invested in the course came from wealthy local golfers and corporations that wanted to support underprivileged kids through golf. This formula can work in New York, Dallas, Denver, Seattle and Atlanta. It also can work in smaller towns in every region of the country.
One of the key architects in the SentryWorld renovation shares the details of rerouting the Wisconsin layout.
Editor’s note:Jay Blasi is a California-based golf course architect originally from Wisconsin. He served as project architect, working in collaboration with Robert Trent Jones Jr., on SentryWorld’s 2013 renovation. He also serves as a Golfweek’s Best rater ambassador, which includes writing for Golfweek.
STEVENS POINT, Wis. – SentryWorld plays host this week to the U.S. Senior Open, the third USGA event at the course and it’s first major of any kind. The route the course took to get here, both from an ownership standpoint and a golf design perspective, is unique.
The course is owned and operated by Sentry Insurance, which has been headquartered in Stevens Point since 1912. In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, Sentry developed a one-of-a-kind campus. Decades before Google and Facebook were lauded for their innovative work environments, Sentry crafted a massive headquarter building complete with swimming, basketball, barber shop, auto center and more, the theory being that an attractive campus and quality of life for employees would allow Sentry to attract and retain top talent when competing against firms in big cities.
John Joanis, Sentry’s CEO at the time, also wanted golf as part of the mix. He hired Robert Trent Jones Jr. to design a course in a flat, wet and rocky pine forest. The Jones team created large water bodies and routed holes through the forests. It was the addition of No. 16 – the Flower Hole – that gained most of the attention.
SentryWorld opened in 1982 and was unique to Wisconsin. It was a sight to see, complete with white sand bunkers, bent grass fairways, caddies in full outfits and the flowers. Before the four courses at Kohler, before Erin Hills, before Sand Valley, it was SentryWorld as Wisconsin’s first destination golf course.
Shortly after SentryWorld opened, Joanis passed away. Over the next 25 years the course aged, as with most other courses. By 2010 the course was tired – it essentially was at a fork in the road. Should it go away or devolve into a muni-type layout, or should Sentry reinvest and restore the luster to the gem. Enter Pete McPartland.
McPartland took over as Sentry president and COO in 2010 and chairman of the board in 2013. He was unwavering in his belief that SentryWorld is the front door to Sentry Insurance, and it needed to be special. Under McPartland’s leadership the company embarked on a journey to transform SentryWorld into the destination it is today (and once was). The layout received Golfweek’s award as top renovation in 2013.
The new No. 3 at SentryWorld, created during a 2013 renovation, plays out to what had been an unused peninsula that was covered with trees. (Courtesy of Jay Blasi)
Not only has Sentry completely redone the golf course, it has rebuilt and expanded its giant fieldhouse, added on-course dining pavilions and crafted a boutique hotel dubbed The Inn that opened in 2022. In addition to campus investments, the company has become the title sponsor of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua on the PGA Tour, the official insurance partner of the USGA and a corporate trustee of The First Tee.
Sentry’s path to becoming a leader in golf was unique, and so too was the evolution of the golf course.
After extensive study from 2010 to 2012, Sentry decided to completely rebuild the golf course in 2013 – all new irrigation, greens, tees, bunkers, paths, drainage and more. And the biggest decision was to reroute the golf course.
Many owners and clubs don’t reroute because they know the course as it is and are afraid of change. But the cost to reroute – if you are already redoing irrigation, drainage, tees, greens and bunkers – is nominal and the impact can be profound. Routing and green complexes are probably the two biggest factors in how well a course is perceived, so not addressing a less-than-ideal routing is a huge missed opportunity for any course that is renovating.
No. 4 at SentryWorld was converted from a par 3 into a par 4 during the 2013 renovation. (Copyright USGA/Fred Vuich)
When studying a golf course routing, it is important to assess what is working well along with opportunities for improvement. In the case of SentryWorld, the majority of the holes fit the land nicely and just needed more breathing room after 30 years of tree growth. Some holes with sharp doglegs through the woods felt awkward given technological advances in golf. The range was too small, and the short-game practice areas were limited.
There was also little variety throughout the round, with water on the left on eight of nine holes, plus trouble left and right on 17 of the 18 holes. The good news was there were unused pockets of land within the site.
The original layout was organized as two clockwise loops of nine holes. The front occupied the northern half of the property with the back nine on the southern side. As you played the course and studied the routing, there were some awkward spots that stood out.
The routing for SentryWorld in Wisconsin before the 2013 renovation – the yellow circles indicate areas of the course that were not utilized in the original routing. (Courtesy of Jay Blasi)
Hole 1: The dogleg was too sharp for opening hole, and the transition to No. 2 was awkward.
Hole 3: The dogleg was sharp, and the water and bunker on the outside of the dogleg were awkward.
Hole 9: A hidden creek and trees blocked the route to the green on the right.
Hole 11: There was hidden water left of the green.
Hole 13: There was a sharp dogleg with blind water through the fairway.
Hole 17: There was a sharp dogleg with a turning point at an awkward spot, and an impossible approach.
Looking at the image, you also can identify several spots on the property that were not being utilized for golf (yellow circles).
The area left of No. 3 green.
A peninsula of land on north side of the lake left of No. 3 and 13.
The woods right of No. 9 fairway.
A wooded area right of No. 11 green.
An area right of No. 12.
The woods between Nos. 17 and 18.
And so begins the puzzle of using the open spaces to get to the routing you see today.
The routing for SentryWorld in Wisconsin after the 2013 renovation – the letters are areas of the greatest change, as described in the story below.(Courtesy of Jay Blasi)
Here are the 10 moves that were made to get to the current layout:
A: Combining Nos. 1 and 2 into a long par 5, which is the new No. 10. This allowed us to eliminate the awkward tee shot on No. 1 and the awkward transition to No. 2. It also allowed us to expand the driving range.
B: Add a new par 3 out to the peninsula north of the lake, which is the new No. 12. This allowed us to take advantage of a great natural green site and spread out the routing.
C: Change the tee angle on No. 13 by 90 degrees. The new hole plays straightaway over the water, eliminating the sharp dogleg and blind water. The key to this change was Sentry installing a new bridge across the lake.
D: Open the right side of No. 9. This allows players options off the tee and on the second shot for the par 5.
E: Shift the 11th green to the right up the hill for the new second hole. This makes for a straight hole playing slightly uphill and eliminates the blind water. It also opens up a space for back tees on No. 6.
F: Eliminate the old No. 12 and create a new hole in the woods right of the old hole, which is the new No. 3. This takes advantage of some topography and offers a new shot with water behind.
G: Extend No. 4 back, converting it from a par 3 to a par 4. This allows for a seamless transition from the new No. 3 and offers a drivable par 4 with options.
H: Open the right side of No. 17 and shift the green to short of the water. This provides players with options off the tee and a short, tricky approach with water behind the green.
I: As evidenced above, this made for new hole numbers in the routing. They are as follows:
Old 10 = Now 1
Old 11 = Now 2
Old 12 = Now 3
Old 4 = Still 4
Old 5 = Still 5
Old 6 = Still 6
Old 7 = Still 7
Old 8 = Still 8
Old 9 = Still 9
Old 1 & 2 = New 10
Old 3 = Now 11
New hole = 12
Old 13 = Still 13
Old 14 = Still 14
Old 15 = Still 15
Old 16 = Still 16
Old 17 = Still 17
Old 18 = Still 18
The renumbering allowed us to recapture the original tee shot from the course when it first opened while keeping the Flower Hole as 16.
All told, the changes to the routing allowed us to eliminate the awkward shots, highlight some great unused parts of the property, add 400-plus yards to the course and add variety, playability and flexibility.
The changes also allowed Sentry to attract the U.S. Senior Open.
“The property remains a favorite for players and fans alike.”
Chambers Bay has proved its ability to test the best professional and amateur players in the world, so much so that the U.S. Golf Association has announced it will return to the municipal course on the Puget Sound near Seattle twice over the next 10 years.
The USGA will hold the 2027 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2033 U.S. Amateur championships in University Place, Washington, the fifth and sixth USGA championships to be contested on the design by Robert Trent Jones Jr., Bruce Charlton and Jay Blasi (a Golfweek’s Best rater ambassador and contributor to Golfweek.com). A stroke-play companion course for both championships will be named later.
Chambers Bay previously hosted the 2010 U.S. Amateur (Peter Uihlein) and 2015 U.S. Open (Jordan Spieth), as well as last summer’s 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Saki Baba) and 2022 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball (Kiko Francisco Coelho/Leopoldo Herrera III).
“There have been several memorable moments for us already in Chambers Bay’s short history, and the property remains a favorite for players and fans alike,” said Mark Hill, USGA managing director of championships. “We’re grateful for our continued partnership with Pierce County and look forward to bringing these two premier championships to such a special property.”
The course is a national treasure, but it perhaps could stand to use some tweaking, at least according to one leading architect.
Pebble Beach Golf Links provides magnificent backdrops for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am each year, the famous course taking center stage on the final day of the event.
Jay Blasi is a golf architect who has worked on courses such as Chambers Bay, The Patriot and Santa Ana Country Club. He also serves as a Golfweek’s Best rater ambassador and contributes frequently to Golfweek.
In 2019, Blasi tweeted that he felt the experience at Pebble could be even better. We caught up with Blasi at a Golfweek Raters event in Las Vegas this week, to ask his thoughts.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CZj5YTkjcyj/
“If you take a hard look at it, there would be an opportunity to create a figure 8 out at the end of the property away from the clubhouse,” Blasi said.
Blasi’s point is valid — although the dynamic stretch of holes through the last five holes of the front and first after the turn offers breathtaking ocean views, the cliff consistently plays along the right side, making it more dangerous with those who play a fade.
But a re-routing could bring a figure 8 into play that offers more variety and a better all-around experience.
Proposed New 9th Hole. 622 yds – Par 5. Playing backwards through the corridors of current 13 and 12. This hole would fit the land with a pinchpoint over a ravine and through some trees on the 2nd shot. This also adds a par 5 playing East adding more variety in Par 5 orientation pic.twitter.com/7wRQ4Vpycl
According to Blasi, the changes would bring a little added distance while creating a wider variety of shots needed.
Proposed New 13th Hole. 270 / 200 yds – Par 3. Playing from near current 14 tees out to the headland between 6 and 8. This could be an infinity greensite with Stillwater Cove / 17&18 in the background. Much better par 3 than current 12. Gives Pebble a long par 3 if they want it pic.twitter.com/NaDN7LCQNy
To end his tweet stream in 2019, Blasi summed up his thoughts.
“All told, the refinements would add 66 yds to championship length. Add variety to par 5 orientation. Add variety to par 3 distances. Add a cliffside green. Add variety to coastline. Use compression and release to build drama. Fit the natural terrain. YOUR THOUGHTS????”
In this special edition of Forward Press, golf designer Jay Blasi chats with world renowned golf course architect Tom Doak about his process when designing a new course, discussing a project with a client, his new book “Getting To 18” and much more.
