256
edits
| Willipedia is now back online as of 5/5/2019 |
| It has been several years since Willipedia closed. Please help get it updated! |
| Go to the Willipedia 2.0 Project to learn more. |
Changes
→The Future of Taconic
== The Future of Taconic ==
The greens committee of Taconic is currently considering a course restoration project to be completed during the winter of 2006-2007. They are working with architect Gil Hanse, who has had a hand in restoring such classic courses as Merion East, Kittansett, and Fenway. One exciting proposed change is adding a lower tee for #12 to the left of the existing tee. This would make the tee ball more intimidating, as the angle would be sharper and the shot semi-blind up and over the steep falloff; hopefully Hanse will also consider removing the huge oak that currently constricts the dangerous long left driving alley. The second major change will involve the third hole - removing large trees on the right of the hole and shifting the fairway over to bring the creek more into play while adding fairway bunkering on the leftwhile reconfiguring the landing areas. This proposed change alters one of the best par fours on the course, so hopefully the resulting hole will not fall anything short of excellent. Other changes include added adding fairway bunkering on 1 , 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 15 while removing the current bland oval fairway bunkers on 6, 7, and 8; adding greenside bunkers on 5, 15, and 18; recapturing lost green space on almost every hole; stretching fairways back out to their original width to tie them to bunkers that now lie disconnected in the rough; and adding new back tees to 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, and additional back 18 - in total adding 200 yards to the course. The tees on 16, 17, and 18 - bringing will bring those already punishing holes to 465 460 yards, 240 245 yards, and well over 500 535 yards, respectively. Should - should be quite the tough finish to the already demanding back nine!
From an interview on golfclubatlas.com, a few of Hanse's thoughts on restoring classic courses such as Taconic:
So often these courses have been emasculated through the removal of 'controversial' features, and then tree lined so that the destruction of any form of recovery or angle of attack is removed from the course. In essence, golf on many of these courses has been reduced to hit it in play or in the trees. If you hit it in play, it would be unfair to have anything in front of you i.e., cross bunkers, berms, or a natural feature that obscured your view. If you hit it in the trees, you really don't deserve a chance at recovery, so chip it out sideways. I truly believe that the introduction of way too many trees and the eradication of classic features have seriously eroded the quality of these old courses. The beauty of many of these courses is that the architect set the course up to make recovery shots more difficult, through the angling of a green, the locations of bunkers, etc. Difficult, yet not impossible as it is from the tree lined courses of today."
Hanse's ideology and experience appear to be an excellent fit for Taconic as it moves forward with course changes. Thinning out trees and adding long-forgotten cross bunkers such as on the par four 7th are a necessary step in making Taconic an even purer golden-age golf course than it is currently. With well-thought out restoration strategies completed, Taconic will shine even brighter as one of the few true jewels of New England golf.
== Taconic and Williams ==
