{"id":310,"date":"2009-09-05T10:04:12","date_gmt":"2009-09-05T17:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffwallach.com\/?p=310"},"modified":"2011-03-02T17:28:42","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T00:28:42","slug":"island-greens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/310\/island-greens","title":{"rendered":"Island Greens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tail

Tail of the Whale, Hole 3-B at Punta Mita's Original Nicklaus Course<\/p><\/div>\n

Rumor has it that no man is an island, although a fellow named Gilligan made a career out of living on one.\u00a0 Golfers, too, are occasionally faced with the challenge of safely landing on an island without getting lost at sea (or at lake, or stream).\u00a0 The following golf courses all feature a putting surface surrounded by the wet, blue stuff.\u00a0 At least when you\u2019re lining up to make birdie, you can be assured that all putts break toward the water.\u00a0 Try to \u201csink\u201d the putt, and not your tee shot on these testing island greens.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Island Green\u2019s Island Green<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In the Ozark Mountain foothills outside Springfield, Missouri<\/strong>, Island Greens Golf Club is true to it\u2019s name at the 15th<\/sup>-hole, which plays from 125-200 yards from five elevated tee boxes offering different angles of approach to the water-bound green.\u00a0 Jerry Slack designed this 7,005-yard venue with Bermuda tees and fairways and bent grass dance floors set amidst rolling hills. www.islandgreengolfclub.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Golfing a lot of Rot<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

South of Frankfurt<\/strong>, Germany, St. Leon-Rot Golf Course has hosted the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open\u2014appropriate since the course was created by SAP software mogul Dietmar Hopp.\u00a0 Don\u2019t think about hopping a shot onto the seventh green of the Rot course, which is surrounded by water.\u00a0 Liquid assets come into play on half the holes, and environmental areas create additional lateral hazards. \u00a0www.golfclub-stleon-rot.de<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Island Mother<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pete Dye\u2019s Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach (inland from Jacksonville, Fla<\/strong>.), is home to the mother of all island greens at number 17.\u00a0 The 137-yard shot is among the toughest in golf\u2014as attested to by the 100,000 golf balls retrieved from the lake each year.\u00a0 But don\u2019t\u00a0 feel too bad if one (or more) was yours: at the 2007 PGA Championship, 50 balls ended up taking a dive\u2014in a single round. \u00a0www.tpc.com\/sawgrass<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Island Grandmother<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Close by to Sawgrass, the original island green golf hole taunts players at the Ponta Vedra Inn and Club.\u00a0 Herbert Strong designed this oft-copied challenge in 1928 on the Ocean Course, which would have hosted the 1939 Ryder Cup if WWII hadn\u2019t intervened.\u00a0 The island itself\u2014157 yards from the tee\u2014 is edged by palms and peppered with bunkers. \u00a0www.pvresorts.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tracks of Your Tears <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In Bend, Oregon, three hours from Portland<\/strong>, Lost Tracks Golf Club features an island green that\u2019s as interesting for how you get to the putting surface as for the birdie (or bogey) putt you might or might not have.\u00a0 Golfers walk on (okay, over) water via a 1947 railway car decorated with period furnishings and hung with hundreds of bag tags left by visitors from all over the world. www.losttracks.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Escape from Alcatraz<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dye repeated his evil formula at the Stadium Course at PGA West, in La Quinta, CA, outside Palm Springs<\/strong>.\u00a0 On the 17th<\/sup>, known fondly as \u201cAlcatraz,\u201d\u00a0 Lee Trevino earned a get-out-of-jail free card during the 1987 Skins Game when he aced the hole to win $175,000.\u00a0 Sportswriter Jim Murray once said of the course, \u201cYou need a camel, a canoe, a priest, and a tourniquet to get through it.\u201d www.pgawest.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thai Score<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The only floating green in Asia can be found at Amata Spring Country Club, 45 minutes from Bangkok<\/strong>.\u00a0 The 7,400 yard course features lakes, rivers, mountain views, elevation changes, and the 145-yard par three 17th<\/sup>, an island if not of tranquility, then at least of safe refuge from penalty strokes. \u00a0www.amataspring.co.th<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong>Training Ground<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Island Green Country Club occupies a site once used to manufacture subway cars outside Philadelphia<\/strong>.\u00a0 Jim Blaukovitch designed this 6,520-yard course that was the first new layout inside the city limits in 50 years.\u00a0 The 315-yard dogleg 11th<\/sup> hole features a sloping island green. www.islandgreencc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Lose a Fin to Your Golf Chum<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

An island designed by a shark doesn\u2019t, at first, sound like a very good idea.\u00a0 But Greg Norman (\u201cthe Shark\u201d) created a tasty island golf green at number nine on Blue Tip, at the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman<\/strong>.\u00a0 The hole plays 156 yards but wind may vary club selection by 4-5 clubs. www.ritzcarlton.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong>Floatsam and Jetsam<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just west of Spokane, WA<\/strong> floats the original movable floating green at the Coeur D\u2019Alene Resort, in Idaho. The 14th<\/sup> hole can play from 100-175 yards depending on where they move (by computerized cable) the 15,000 sq ft 5,000,000 lb target.\u00a0 Players board a sleek wooden boat to be motored out to their birdie (or triple bogey) putts. www.cdaresort.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Golf Tails<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect to make the birdie putt on hole 3-B at Jack Nicklaus\u2019s Punta Mita Golf Club, located at the Four Seasons Resort north of Puerto Vallarta<\/strong>, Mexico; the green of this extra hole (it doesn\u2019t count in your round) is located on a natural island 194 yards off shore and can\u2019t even be accessed at high tide.\u00a0 The green is shaped like the tail of the whales that can often be seen nearby. \u00a0www.fourseasons.com\/puntamita<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rumor has it that no man is an island, although a fellow named Gilligan made a career out of living… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1695,4907,5048,17],"tags":[207,5782,5774,5783,5775,774,5776,804,37,5777,2861,5778,5779,158,5780,439,5781],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-oregon","category-oregon-golf-assoc","category-alternative-golf-assoc","category-courses-and-travel","tag-punta-mita","tag-ritz-carlton-grand-cayman","tag-island-greens","tag-coeur-d-alene-resort","tag-island-greens-golf-club","tag-pga-west-stadium-course","tag-st-leon-rot-golf","tag-tpc-sawgrass","tag-front-nine","tag-ponta-vedra-inn-and-club","tag-herbert-strong","tag-lost-tracks-golf-club","tag-amata-spring-country-club","tag-jack-nicklaus","tag-island-green-country-club","tag-pete-dye","tag-blue-tip"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2009\/09\/Tail-of-the-Whale-Aerial.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}