BACK TO THE FUTURE - Westwood Golf Club
Transcription
BACK TO THE FUTURE - Westwood Golf Club
96 / HOUSTON LINKS SIGN UP FOR HOME DELIVERY AT WW.HOUSTONLINKSMAGAZINE.COM PRIVATE CLUBS BACK TO THE FUTURE efore there were car radios, there was Westwood Country Club. Prior to the invention of 7Up or Scotch tape, famed architect John Bredemus designed a nine-hole golf course about 15 minutes west of downtown Houston for the 30 prominent families who founded Westwood in 1928. Perhaps one of Houston’s most underrated historical treasures, Westwood has the distinction of being the city’s secondoldest private club still on its original grounds. The back nine was added to complete B Westwood Golf Club Westwood CC is one of Houston’s most historic clubs. Yet, 80 years after it was founded, it is starting over with a new name, a renovated layout and plans for a new clubhouse. By Mark Button the 18-hole course in the 1950s by Ralph Plummer, a Bredemus disciple. Westwood played host to the Houston Open in 1972, won by Bruce Devlin and the 1974 LPGA S&H Green Stamps Open, won by Carol Mann. More recently, the club underwent a total reconstruction by Keith Foster in 2002-04. It also took on a name change, Westwood Golf Club, and a new focus. It’s all about the golf. Once a fully functional country club, Continued on page 90 The old Westwood Country Club, which turns 80 this year, has a new name (Westwood Golf Club), a classic layout that was recently renovated and has plans for a new clubhouse. MARCH 2008 PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM IN HOUSTON LINKS 90 / HOUSTON LINKS SIGN UP FOR HOME DELIVERY AT WW.HOUSTONLINKSMAGAZINE.COM PRIVATE CLUBS Westwood Golf Club Architect Keith Foster, who has produced top courses around the country, led the recent renovation of the 80-year-old layout at Westwood Golf Club. Continued from page 96 complete with indoor/outdoor tennis courts, a swimming pool, a huge clubhouse and separate pro shops for tennis and golf, Westwood now serves a singular purpose: to give its members a first-rate golf experience. The club’s expansive practice area, for example, includes a five-acre short-game area. The surprisingly undulating course itself is highlighted by classic, squared-off tee boxes, rolling fairways and tricky, pure-rolling greens. When Foster, also responsible for the design of the spectacular Tradition Course at Cypresswood, began the latest redesign, the entire club was leveled. The clubhouse, gone. Tennis courts, gone. Swimming pool, gone. Westwood Country Club, gone. What exists today is a pure golf club, a golfer’s golf course. There are no frills, no bells or whistles. It’s just 7,184 yards of immaculately maintained, come-and-get-it golf. Under Foster’s direction, the contractor who did the reconstruction was Landscapes Unlimited, the same group who built The Club at Carlton Woods, which boasts the area’s two most pristine courses, the Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio Courses. The course is ranked No. 79 in the state in the Dallas Morning News’ Texas Golf poll. Located near the nexus of Bissonnet and Highway 59, Westwood is nothing less than an urban golf oasis. “It’s basically an 80-year-old, brand new golf course,” said Gene Potter, Westwood membership director and one of the golf pros. “The people who come here do so for one reason—the golf.” For the past few years, Westwood utilized a temporary clubhouse for its pro shop, dining area and administrative offices. In January, however, the membership approved plans to build a glamorous, 12,500-square-foot clubhouse and 5,000-square-foot cart facility for about $4.7 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in July and is expected to be complete by August 2009, Potter said. “This is the final piece of the reconstruction,” he said. “We should get a bump in the interest level of the club, and we should see a huge jump in pride from the membership.” Near the end of the Roaring ’20s, Bredemus took on the project after he finished building BraeBurn Country Club in 1926. Eight years after he finished Westwood, Bredemus went on to build the state’s best municipal course, Memorial Park. That same year, 1936, Bredemus created what many golf purists consider to be Texas’ best golf course, Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. By the time the first drive was struck at Westwood, Houston already had grown into the state’s most populated city. As Houston Bunkers—or staying out of them—are key to getting around Westwood with a decent score. MARCH 2008 PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM IN HOUSTON LINKS SIGN UP FOR HOME DELIVERY AT WWW.HOUSTONLINKSMAGAZINE.COM Westwood Golf Club HOUSTON LINKS / 91 PRIVATE CLUBS continued to grow throughout the next 40-50 years, many affluent impressed with the membership’s passion for restoring their course families migrated toward the Memorial Park area and points north. and making it better than ever. The neighborhoods surrounding Westwood were left behind, creat“I really like how the ground was so insulated,” Foster said when ing a challenge for the club to lure new members. asked what attracted him to the project. “Then there was a ravine “I remember when it seemed like Westwood was way out in the that cuts through the property. Westwood was, at one time, considcountry,” said 70-year-old Dr. Leon Daily, who has been a member ered a flat golf course. I saw the ravine and I thought that was a since 1968. “It was out there with nothing around it in the early to great opportunity to make some elevation changes. mid-1950s. But it was always so convenient. I live in the Meyerland “The group of guys I met there were fantastic, too. They wanted area, southwest Houston, and Westwood is just 15 minutes away.” to create the best course possible, a classic, old school design, someDaily, whose father-in-law has been a member for 40 years, said thing that had more of 1920s or 1930s feel to it.” the proximity factor was enough to outweigh the decline of the Foster said he has always loved courses built in that era. He neighborhood through the years. prefers the understated nature of those classic designs, and he rebuilt “Some of my friends have joined clubs and they’re driving 45 Westwood in that vein. Aesthetically, the course won’t “wow” many minutes to an hour just to get there,” he said. “That’s a two-hour golfers. Water comes into play on only seven holes, but it’s commute every time you want to play golf.” Westwood’s subtle nuances that makes is such a gem. Daily loves the new course—especially the contour of the fair“Everyone is used to a lot of water features,” Foster said. “We’re ways and the challenging bunkers—and in a very visual time; everyone expects a ‘Back in the 1920s and lot of drama. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, he’s excited about the new clubhouse. Like many of the nation’s grand, old 1930s, you didn’t get hit you didn’t get hit over the head with a lot golf courses built in the 1920s and ’30s, of extravagant water hazards and visual Westwood watched Houston grow in a dif- over the head with a lot of features. You’re not going to get sensory ferent direction, leaving it in a neighbor- extravagant water hazards overload at Westwood. But when you play hood that failed to keep pace with the it, you realize there’s a lot more golf there and visual features. times. Similar situations have occurred in than you ever thought.” Atlanta with East Lake Golf Club, home of those design subtleties—a comYou’re not going to get monOne of the PGA Tour Championship, and in denominator throughout the parkland sensory overload at Dallas with Brook Hollow Golf Club. track—is the challenging makeup of the Through community revitalization, the complexes. Most of the putting surWestwood. But when you green neighborhood surrounding Westwood is faces are elevated. Aggressive, pin-seekbeing restored and looks to be moving a play it, you realize there’s ing players can be penalized should they positive direction. Just a block from take too much club on approach shots. a lot more golf there than “If you’re above the hole or if you play Westwood is the Higher Dimension Church, built in 2003. Pastor Terrance H. aggressively over the greens and have to you ever thought.’ Johnson and his congregation moved into chip back,” Foster explained, “you always the place of worship after spending its first four years inside a nearhave a treacherous chip or putt coming back. All the old golf courses by elementary school. back in the day had greens that were more ‘pitchy’ and ‘slopey.’ In fact, the southwest part of Houston has been growing quickly That’s certainly a characteristic of Westwood.” in the past few years, as evidenced by the recent announcement of Another Foster-inspired element of the course is mounding that Minute Maid moving its offices to the Sugar Land area. encases the perimeter of the property, which measures about 157 When Westwood first approached Foster, he said several factors acres. To keep the golfers’ focus on golf and not on its surroundattracted him to the project. He said he loved the land and was ings—there is not a single home on the course—Foster created tall PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM IN HOUSTON LINKS MARCH 2008 92 / HOUSTON LINKS PRIVATE CLUBS SIGN UP FOR HOME DELIVERY AT WW.HOUSTONLINKSMAGAZINE.COM Westwood Golf Club grass mounds between the exterior holes and the property’s edge. Carlton Woods. Because of the ravine that dissects the course, Foster was able to “I’ve always thought that bunkers were half-shot penalties,” achieve the perimeter mounding effect without moving significant Foster said. “At a lot of places, when you get into a fairway bunker, amounts of dirt. you can just advance the ball pretty far. If you play a great golf “The ravine allowed me to drop everything around it,” he said. course, like Oakmont, when you get into a fairway bunker you can “The holes closest to the ravine, Nos. 6, 7, 8 and 11, I lowered by advance the ball, but not very far. You’re not going to take 3-iron or three to four feet. On the perimeter holes, I raised those holes three 4-iron and hit it on the green.” to four feet to try and create more elevation change. We took all the That was the case last year at Westwood during a Women’s U.S. excess dirt, debris, concrete and trash and threw it on the perimeter Open Regional Qualifier. One of the top amateur players in the and then we capped it and buried it.” country found a fairway bunker on the ninth hole. Trying to reach The result provides a peaceful, uninterrupted experience. There the green, she caught the lip of the bunker several times before she are countless spots where, while you’re chasfinally escaped the hazard. The unfortunate ing those birdies and eagles, you can forget incident all but ended her hopes of qualifyhow close you are to downtown, the Galleria ‘I’ve always thought ing. area and the Medical Center. Anyone who has played Westwood will that bunkers were A peek at the scorecard might suggest an tell you to play conservatively from the fairopportunity for red numbers right away. way traps—take your medicine—and try to half-shot While that is technically true, the 537-yard, get the half-stroke penance back somewhere par-5 opening hole is not nearly as easy as the else. penalties...you’re yardage might suggest. The green is elevated, Westwood’s first three holes were not going to take making club choice tricky, and it’s guarded by touched the least by Foster in the redesign. two bunkers on the right and one large trap on 3-iron or 4-iron and He said he added five completely new holes the left. and changed many of the rest significantly. hit it on the green.’ Danger lurks before you even see the After the par-3 third, a 183-yarder with green, however. For starters, the first hole water short, left and behind the green, plays into prevailing winds. There’s also a golfers are introduced to Foster’s first major small pond right of the fairway about 315 thumbprint. yards out. It’s hidden from view of the tee box and is more of a secHe moved the green about 30 yards to the left, creating more of ond-shot hazard for most players. a dogleg-left flow to the hole. Tree-lined on both sides with out of What is in plain sight is the deep, steep-faced fairway bunker on bounds stakes to the right, the final 200 yards of the fairway the left about 285 yards from the tee box. During Foster’s three-year ascends about 20 feet until it rises again for the elevated green. redesign, he added about 16 bunkers to give Westwood a total of 61 The next hole starts what might be the best stretch of holes on traps. Almost a third of those hazards are found in or adjacent to the course. No. 5, a 328-yard par-4, can be played a myriad of fairways. All of them are nasty. ways. The hole basically is straight, but the fairway zigzags, first In most cases, the best shot available is to wedge out and hope right, then back left. Foster pinched the short grass tight and placed to advance your ball 30-40 yards. The severity of the fairway traps three cavernous bunkers about 160 yards out. The fairway slopes to at Westwood is nearly equal to the most penal bunkers in this part the left, so most shots kick that direction. of the country—the diabolical fairway traps on the Fazio Course at Foster said he always has been a fan of risk-reward holes, MARCH 2008 PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM IN HOUSTON LINKS SIGN UP FOR HOME DELIVERY AT WWW.HOUSTONLINKSMAGAZINE.COM HOUSTON LINKS / 93 PRIVATE CLUBS Westwood Golf Club Carol Mann won the 1974 LPGA S&H Green Stamps Open at Westwood Country Club. and the short, par-4 fifth at Westwood is a prime of example. “I set the bunkering on the inside turn, so if you feel like going at it, you just go over the bunkers to try and go at the green,” he said. “Depending on whatever tees you play, based on your skill set, you have the same risk and reward as anyone. It’s the same deal, based on yardage. So everyone, when they get off the tee, will have two or three ways to play No. 5.” The sixth hole offers another set of risks. The 560-yard par-5 requires a drive that must carry the ravine while avoiding all the overhanging trees on either side of the fairway’s opening. The hole sweeps to the right—the fairway slopes left to right—and the ravine tracks up the entire right side. Local knowledge becomes an advantage, as two steep cross bunkers preempt the fairway about 90 yards short of the green. Depending on the result of their drives, players must decide whether to lay up short of the bunkers or carry them. Foster’s “halfshot penalty” philosophy definitely is in play for shots that find either cross bunker. Like so many others, No. 6 has an elevated green, and it’s protected by two traps in front and the tree-lined ravine to the right. Players cross the ravine to play No. 7, a 445-yard dogleg-left with the most elevation change on the course. The fairway rises about 2530 feet from the tee box and reaches its apex about 245 yards out. A large, deep fairway bunker to the right marks the top of the hill, then the land falls about 40 feet before rising again to an elevated green. There’s also water in play for drives that drift too far right. PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM IN HOUSTON LINKS MARCH 2008 94 / HOUSTON LINKS SIGN UP FOR HOME DELIVERY AT WW.HOUSTONLINKSMAGAZINE.COM PRIVATE CLUBS Westwood Golf Club Foster planted tall, native grasses and used mounding and classic bunkering when renovating Westwood’s classic layout. The back nine is highlighted by another three-hole stretch, Nos. 12-14. The par-5 12th measures 584 yards and makes a near-90-degree turn to the left, wrapping around a long, skinny pond that isn’t clearly visible from the tee. A fairway bunker rests on the right side, about 280 yards out. Big hitters can draw their drives off the bunker and shape the shot around the lake. The well-protected green features two sand traps on the left and another on the right. Next is another of Foster’s favorites, the second par 4 that can be reached with powerful drives. The 345-yard par-4 slightly resembles No. 5, with cross MARCH 2008 ‘It’s basically an 80-year-old, brand new golf course. The people who come here do so for one reason—the golf.’ —Gene Potter, Westwood GM bunkers and pinched fairway positioned about 260 yards from the tee. “Those cross bunkers are set up so that from the tee, you can play short of the bunkers with an iron and not even think about them,” Foster said. “But if you’re killing it, you can take driver and go over them. If you carry those bunkers, the ground feeds straight into the green because the bunkers are on higher ground than the green.” At 500 yards, the 14th hole might make some do a double-take when looking at the scorecard. Yes, it’s a par-4. It plays downwind, but the straight-away hole takes two firmly struck shots to pro- PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM IN HOUSTON LINKS SIGN UP FOR HOME DELIVERY AT WWW.HOUSTONLINKSMAGAZINE.COM PRIVATE CLUBS Westwood Golf Club vide a birdie putt. There’s water in play up the right side for the final 80 yards. With four sets of tee markers, Westwood is playable for golfers of all skill levels. More than that, with varying wind directions, the course can challenge all golfers from any set of tees. “The course changes from every set of tees,” general manager Jay Haffner said. “It doesn’t matter if I play all the way back or all the way up, it will test my game.” Westwood has had a long, proud history. Many courses have come and gone throughout the years, but Westwood managed to survive, despite the direction of Houston’s growth. With a fantastic new layout, a luxurious clubhouse on the way and an improving neighborhood, the golf club’s popularity and success appear to be headed toward an alltime high. HL HOUSTON LINKS / 95 Westwood Golf Club 8888 Country Creek Drive www.wwgolfclub.com 713-774-3011 Course Architects: John Bredemus (1928), Ralph Plummer (1957), Keith Foster (2004) Opened: 1928 General Manager: Jay Haffner Membership Director: Gene Potter Director of Instruction: Mark Nye Greens: MiniVerde Bermuda Fairways: TiffSport Bermuda Location: Near the intersection of U.S. 59 and Bissonnet. PLEASE TELL OUR ADVERTISERS YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM IN HOUSTON LINKS MARCH 2008