{"id":2330,"date":"2017-09-28T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2017-09-28T00:00:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T00:00:01","slug":"the-timeless-allure-of-the-loop-tom-doaks-latest-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/2330\/the-timeless-allure-of-the-loop-tom-doaks-latest-triumph","title":{"rendered":"The timeless allure of The Loop, Tom Doak’s latest triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

Golfers are in for a priceless surprise at The Loop<\/p><\/div>\n

It was Brian Cairns, one of the Michigan PGA Section\u2019s top players and a newly inducted member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, who finally prodded me into scheduling a long delayed tee-time at The Loop, Tom Doak\u2019s reversible layout at Forest Dunes. During a rain delay at this summer\u2019s Michigan Senior Open, we struck up a conversation and he told me he had recently played the award-winning design (Golf Digest\u2019s<\/em> Best New Public Course for 2016).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s simply the best course in Michigan,\u201d said Cairns. \u201cIt\u2019s truly amazing and a lot of fun to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was high enough praise for me to get off my duff, recruit some of my Saturday morning golf cronies, and arrange a stay-and-play package at Forest Dunes. In truth, I\u2019ve had several opportunities to visit the course in the past, including some buzz-generating, \u201csneak preview\u201d media invitations. But I\u2019ve learned it\u2019s often advisable to be more patient and to give the new layout more time to mature. You simply can\u2019t rush Mother Nature given the slower and shorter growing climate of northern Michigan. Besides, I knew the quality of The Loop\u2019s turf and conditioning would be essential elements of its strength and appeal.<\/p>\n

The long and short of it: the wait was worth it. Like Cairns, I was smitten by the playing experience and marveled at the thinking and ingenuity imbedded in its design.<\/p>\n

By staying on-site at a two-bedroom Villa, our foursome played on successive days The Loop\u2019s Red and Black courses, played counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively. As part of the stay-over package, we availed ourselves of the complimentary push carts and relished the \u201cwalking only\u201d experience. Heading down the first fairway, one of my favorite golf sayings popped into my head: \u201cGolf cars often ruin the journey of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fast<\/a>

Fast and firm conditions are an integral element of the playing experience<\/p><\/div>\n

And The Loop is a journey best enjoyed and appreciated with a more relaxed and thoughtful (without being a tortoise, of course) approach to the shot or putt at hand. In hindsight, our group probably should\u2019ve hired at least one caddie to help guide us in our deliberations. Instead, we fumbled around at times and misjudged some holes due to our ignorance and inexperience. However, we did rely on\u2014belatedly\u2014the handy and gratis course booklet, expertly organized and composed by Doak and his Renaissance Golf Design. Like The Loop itself, the booklet is cleverly designed as a two-in-one package\u2014depending upon whether you\u2019re reading about the Red or the Black courses. So here\u2019s one quick tip about The Loop: make sure you grab a booklet, along with hole locations handout, and read them before each hole.<\/p>\n

To not spoil the priceless surprise posed by The Loop, I\u2019m foregoing any hole by hole narrative or so-called signature hole descriptions. Not that the reader would recall these meager words anyway. Instead, I\u2019m suggesting a clear, open, unvarnished mindset while playing it. A little intrigue and mystery make for good reading but also for good golf. Didn\u2019t Agatha Christie say that?<\/p>\n

However, I will share some post-round comments from my pals as we gathered for a hearty meal and generous liquid libations inside the impressive Forest Dunes dining room:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greens were smooth and fast and fairways were bouncy and firm, like the best Irish links courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe land is huge and expansive with several impressive vistas yet not overly rigorous for a walking only course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so quiet and peaceful and its remoteness, like Forest Dunes itself, is almost eerie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bunkers are well-placed and the quality of the sand is excellent. But the waste areas can be brutal.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll takes a devil\u2019s pact to score well here, requiring a deft short game with no flinches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVisually, the fairways looked young and immature yet they still played fine with few if any crummy lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOff the fairways, the roughs and gnarly thickets are still a work-in-progress. Searching for balls should become easier with more clearing and grubbing out. Meanwhile, stay in the fairway!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven its links-inspired design, yardage marker should be to the front of the green instead of the middle. You\u2019re smart to play it short and run it on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow the heck did Tom Doak and his team figure this all out?\u201d<\/p>\n

Our group also discussed The Loop\u2019s resistance to scoring. It\u2019s not a walk in the park. While the landing zones are generous, it demands precise shot-making and, as mentioned, a solid short game. Incidentally, Cairns is known for his short game prowess; he’s a maven at getting the ball into the hole. In particular, it requires experience if not an appreciation for links golf, where imagination, touch and seeing the proper angle and line are all critical factors for tackling the course. (One of our golfers said, \u201cThe Loop will spook many golfers not prepared for it.\u201d)<\/p>\n

But if you possess none of these traits, you\u2019ll still have an upbeat round so long as you\u2019re not overly scorecard conscious. As I tell those embarking on their maiden overseas golf trips to Ireland or Scotland, play the Stableford or match play format and don\u2019t get too frustrated or dismayed by aggregate scores.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly captivating about The Loop is its timeless allure, like it\u2019s been there for a generation. This is a result of Doak\u2019s famed minimalist design philosophy where inviting and smart golf holes are discovered and carefully shaped using the natural contours of the land. As the lauded golf course architect from Traverse City has written, \u201cWe take any edge of disturbance, be it a clearing line or the end of a section of major earthwork, and strenuously examine and finesse it until it is blurred beyond recognition. This is the key to producing a new course that looks like it\u2019s been there for 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darn glad it didn\u2019t take me that long to get there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photos by Brian Walters<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information about The Loop, including its stay & play packages, visit www.forestdunesgolf.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was Brian Cairns, one of the Michigan PGA Section\u2019s top players and a newly inducted member of the Michigan… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":2333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[2832,128773,2862,4739,363990,494,931224,975939,1012966,4338,1013035,1013036],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-courses-and-travel","tag-terry-moore","tag-renaissance-golf-design","tag-michigan-golf","tag-links-courses","tag-michigan-golf-hall-of-fame","tag-tom-doak","tag-michigan-pga","tag-brian-cairns","tag-the-loop","tag-forest-dunes","tag-best-new-public-course-for-2016","tag-reversible-golf-courses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2017\/09\/unnamed-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2341,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions\/2341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}