The National Journal Presents
A Course Within a Course
Led by Golf Course Architect Ashley Mead from OCM Golf and Director of Courses at The National, Leigh Yanner, this second course tour offered an exclusive inside look at the transformations taking place on the course.
Featuring quotes from Ashley Mead and Leigh Yanner.
Written & Photographed by William Watt
As I stand slightly bamboozled on the old 8th tee of Long Island Golf Course on a calm August afternoon, it’s starting to dawn on me just how unique this project is. As Ashley Mead points in all directions and talks about new holes, old holes, alternate holes and bypassed holes, it’s becoming clear this is one of the most ambitious golf course redesigns in recent memory. Long Island has always been a respected course, but what’s happening here now is something entirely different. We’re witnessing the rebirth of one classic course, at the same time two new siblings are being created.
The large gathering of around 200 members of The National seem to be fairing slightly better than I with keeping track of the changes. To be fair to myself, most of them are not simultaneously flying a drone, recording audio and taking photographs. But it’s clear a lot of them have done their research prior to the walk and have a good understanding of the three different routings, and are understandably excited for what is being built.
Long Island – August Course Walk with Ashley Mead and Leigh Yanner
The Ninth: A New Perspective
We begin our tour at the ninth hole, where Ashley immediately addresses the elephant in the room – or rather, the dramatically altered landscape before us. “Okay, here we’re standing on the old ninth tee, which will still be the ninth tee in one of the courses,” he begins, a hint of excitement in his voice. “You’ll notice the tee is a lot bigger than it used to be and it’s been slightly lowered, especially the front section.”
As Ashley explains the reasoning behind these changes, it becomes clear that every alteration, no matter how small, is part of a larger vision. “The reason for dropping the tee down was so we could see a lot of the ground in front of us. In the past when you’d stand on this back tee you’d get blocked out – you wouldn’t see a lot of the bunkers.”
It’s a simple change, but as we look out over the expanse of sand and newly shaped terrain, the impact is undeniable. The ninth hole we knew is still there, but it’s as if a veil has been lifted.
Long Island Classic Course Versus “Course B”
Long Island Classic Course Versus “Course C”
The 10th: Transformation and Strategy
As we reach the 10th hole, the scale of the changes becomes even more apparent. Where once stood a wall of trees along the left side, there’s now an open expanse. Ashley explains the strategic implications:
“One big change you’ll notice here is on the old course, if you couldn’t make the corner, you were stuck behind a big set of trees on the left hand side and really had no shot to the green. Under this new scenario with the trees gone, the green actually opens up from the left hand side. This also means that when playing from the alternate tees (that make this hole a short par-4), the fairways bunkers are in play as a target to carry, if you’re brave enough to go for the green.”
The Double Green: A Design Challenge
One of the showstoppers of the new design is a double green at the 4th and 12th of the original course that will serve multiple holes depending on the chosen routing.
“The challenging thing for us is building greens that are played from completely different directions and for different sort of shots. For this green here, you’ll have people coming in most likely with a short iron from the west on one day, but then it plays as a long par-3 from the east the next day,” Ashley explains. “So we have to be conscious of ensuring it is not only playable, but also interesting and fun, for both routings.”
A True Sandbelt Experience
As we walk, Leigh Yanner adds insights into the technical aspects of the redesign. His explanation of the bunkering process is a reminder that we’re standing on hallowed golfing ground – the tail of the Melbourne Sandbelt.
“A lot of our bunkering is going to be modelled on a Kingston Heath style, so not like Metropolitan where it’s manicured all the way around. One thing that we are doing, which has become ‘Sandbelt’, is cutting the greens right out to the edge of the bunkers. I was part of the team in the 2000s when we did that at Metropolitan. It wasn’t a new thing – many years ago when all the mowers used to be driven around by hand, Metropolitan used to actually cut the greens right out. It was just one more job they didn’t have to do. Over years of technology and the era of ride on mowers, that art was lost. So that was brought back by Metropolitan in the 2000s and now many golf clubs on the Sandbelt have adopted it and we’re excited to to implement that here as well. It gives a feeling that the greens are actually bigger than what they are, and also allows our staff to put pins in different spots and add more variety as well.”
