Five Mile Beach…

“One course is a curiosity; two courses are a destination…” -Mike Keiser

Mike Keiser wasn’t the first person to build a golf resort with more than one course. There are hundreds or more of thirty-six-hole venues throughout the world with varying degrees of quality and access.

One can’t be held at fault for thinking the main goal of the projects-particularly in the heyday of the flare-legged seventies through the flat-front nineties-was not golf, but to provide an amenity for the resort guest. Certainly, this is no doubt a result of expensive market research that could be summarized in this made-up equation:

Resort=[(guys+golf)(ladies+dayspa)/(resortstylepool+swimupbar)*games room

Essentially, the process was to hire the most famous (insert bankable) golfers on the planet to “design” the golf course, put in an Estée Lauder Red Door spa, and then put absolutely no thought into the game room– they always sucked. The “Resort” was adjunct to the bigger master-planned community, and to quote Tony Horton (yeah, I am doing p90x to start 2023):

“THAT’s where the money is…”

A lot of money was made, many family vacation memories were experienced, and cities were literally built out of the desert using this model.  Enter the great USA golf boom.  With the sheer volume of course construction and dollars being spent you would think this period would have produced the second “golden age” of golf course architecture. Instead, when you look at the list of the best modern golf courses that meet the criteria, the pickings are slim.  You could also argue that courses like The Ocean Course at Kiawah, TPC Sawgrass, and Muirfield don’t meet the criteria as they were either purpose-built for PGA Tour events or, in the case of Kiawah, built for a pure golf experience. I often wonder if Pete Dye would look at master-planned communities and make sure he could route at least a few holes where there was no chance of being surrounded by housing.

While the boom itself did not generate the second “golden age”, it certainly inspired those after to create works that could be the “Golden Age”.  I imagine Dye associates such as Bill Coore and Tom Doak, after observing the compromises and listening in on the meetings where clients were taking all the best land, ruining routings, or asking a golf course to be built on a parking lot or swamp, were compelled to seek the opposite. The response is to then find clients who value golf as THE experience and not just an experience. But did those clients even exist?

Enter Dick Youngscap and his outrageous property in the Nebraskan Sandhills.  His brief for Bill Coore – low key, no frills, and under budget. It had to have a Nebraska feel, Nebraskan values, and showcase the Nebraskan Sandhills. In other words, the ultimate pure golf experience inspired by the landscape. Retrospectively it seems like an obvious formula for achieving the best from any given property.  It changed the golfing landscape for a generation and yet Coore and Crenshaw were not the only people thinking or building “minimalist” golf courses.  Sand Hills Golf Club gave permission for a golf course to be the superstar again and that the old giants of the game could be threatened by a new wave of young designers given the opportunity to build on great sites without compromises from the developer.  Similar to Nirvana’s impact on music (specifically grunge)—golf course “minimalism” had not yet had its “Nevermind”. Sand Hills was just that for golf architecture.

The drawbacks to the herculean success of Sand Hills were that it is very private, difficult to get to, and has a limited season.  Only a lucky few get to enjoy Sand Hills every year.

Enter Mike Keiser – hold my beer…

Mike Keiser is an iconoclast of the golf gold rush of master-planned communities and resort golf. Having visited and played many great courses around the world, he correctly summarized that the experience and feeling you get playing the links courses of the British Isles was nowhere to be found on his home continent. He fell in love with links golf and set out to bring that feeling to America. The result is Bandon Dunes and his influence, directly or indirectly, led to a reclamation of golf’s soul.

High praise, bordering on obeisance. But if you look in the back of the boot and there is a Mackenzie Walker, Daphne Headcovers, Western Birch Tees, a spare persimmon driver, a dozen cream-colored wound balatas, and seven TBC putter covers you know what I am saying.  You spent the last week trying to find a perfect navy-blue cardigan and for some reason became curious about smoking, and you just posted a picture to Instagram of the google map journey to Sweeten’s Cove, have cued up 11 episodes of Tom Doak on TFE podcast for the drive to prepare for the fifty-four holes you are about to walk. You’ve embarked on the esoteric pilgrimage (and accessorizing) inherent to expressing the newfound nostalgic “soul” of golf.

One of the interesting stories about Bandon Dunes and its success was the trepidation Mike had with expanding the resort to the second course, Pacific Dunes. 

Very early on Mike had purchased enough land to build more than one course.  So, the idea of building a destination resort must have been there from the beginning.  A place where visitors could not only just play links-style golf but also immerse themselves in a similar feeling of going on a golf trip to the UK.  Imagine playing way too many rounds, eating pub food, and staying at a simply appointed bed and breakfast. Clearly, it’s impossible to recreate everything a golf trip imbues. If you read Mike’s Book “The Nature of the Game” the effect was life-changing – Bandon does a pretty good impersonation.

Mike was concerned that the extra course would add to the considerable investment, increase ongoing expenses and result in the number of yearly rounds being split between the two courses. Certainly, sound like a logical fear.

What ended up happening is another of Mike’s famous quotes:

“1+1=3”

The addition of the second course didn’t just have a slight increase in the number of rounds played and they didn’t just manage the same number of rounds at both courses.  The number of rounds nearly tripled compared to one course. It turns out that providing a true golf experience, where you can stay and play multiple courses over and over had a compounding effect.  And if you don’t believe me there is an entire website, masquerading as a golf course architecture website, dedicated to never-ending thread topics such as:

• If you had three days at Bandon how many rounds and in what order would you play?
• If you had three days at Bandon which course, would you skip?
• If you stayed a month at Bandon, how would you split up the rounds?
• What were your last ten rounds at Bandon?
• If you went to Bandon and didn’t play golf. Would it still be the best golf trip ever?

These topics are interspersed with either threads about or started by Tom Doak. (*You know I love you guys)

Toward the end of last year, I had the exciting announcement that Five Mile Beach had successfully progressed through the Expression of Interest period for Tourism Development in a Crown Reserve – phew! Tell me about it.

In short, my dream of a second golf course is one step closer to reality.  The next process is a Development Application through the Clarence City Council.  I will be asking all supporters of our project to voice and write in their support when the public consultation period begins.

The Five Mile Beach site is directly north of the Seven Mile Beach site.  It’s a completely different piece of property but with all the great attributes you would want to build a course: sand, interesting contours, and most importantly next to the water.

The potential of Five Mile Beach shouldn’t be underestimated.  When Mike Clayton was with Ogilvy Clayton Cocking & Mead one of his partners did suggest that Five Mile Beach had the potential to be a better course than Seven Mile Beach.  It’s exciting to think we could have the chance to partner with two very different but equally exceptional golf experiences right next door to each other.

The easiest way to describe the difference between the two sites would be Seven Mile is a dramatic Irish links site and Five Mile is a classic Scottish links site.

Equally exciting to me personally is the opportunity to open the entire site to non-golfers. 

• providing more trails and access for horse riders, walkers, dog walkers, etc.
•  amenities for everyone to use.

I feel a responsibility to take this opportunity to showcase everything positive that a golf course – see also intense land management – can provide for a site as environmentally degraded and poorly managed as the Seven Mile Beach Reserve.

The golf courses on the “spit” will revitalize the shorebird habitat that has been destroyed by the pine plantations. Additionally, the golf courses will lead to a restoration of the native vegetation and shift ownership of this process back to the local community where participation in this effort is welcome and encouraged.

The golf courses will expand the trail network, and partnered with the long-term revegetation plan, create a walking or riding experience that is a call back to those days long before the pine plantations took over.  A uniquely Tasmanian beach experience.

The golf courses will bring in tens of thousands of visitors, millions of dollars of economic activity, invest millions of dollars in the local economy, and provide dozens of jobs.  Most of those jobs will go to young Tasmanians who will gain experience and build a résumé that will open opportunities for them to work at any golf course around the world.

Don’t think of this development as a “Golf Development”, it’s not.  It’s a public recreation and reclamation project.

The land that is perfect for golf is being used for golf.  The rest is being reclaimed for native vegetation, erosion mitigation, shorebirds, horse riders, dog walkers, beachgoers, local fauna, and I’m open to ideas for the future…

*Not sure why Tom Doak and GCA get a drive-by every time I write something, I enjoy both immensely.