Jay Flemma | |
Tobacco Road and Pulp Fiction:
Years ahead of their Time
Continued from Page One
April 26, 2006
On The Course
Strantz gives out a break at the par threes at Tobacco Road. None of them is longer than 178 yards from the regulation tees and 194 yards from the tips and the majority average merely 150 yards from the regular tees and 170 yards from the tips. Mid to short irons are a welcome relief. Nevertheless, Strantz found a fascinating way to add an ingenious strategic design characteristic to these short holes. The sixth is a perfect example. Instead of runway tees or tees merely staggered by distance, Strantz built five different teeing grounds scattered laterally. The green, which features three distinct tiers, appears very wide but shallow from some tee boxes, but sits deep and narrow from the others. Therefore from one set of tees, the hole tests accuracy and from the other tees, tests distance control.
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The murderous uphill approach to the long par-4 ninth. Strantz originally had designed an even more severe approach and more penal collection areas greenside. He decided on a somewhat more subdued design after being reminded by design partner Forrest Fezler that "Mike, my mom has to play this hole too." Fezler nevertheless believes that the hole is more intimidating than demanding. When I shared my thoughts on the topic by asking, "O then how does your mom play that hole" he smiled and replied From the Forward Tees. |
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The par-5s are all dripping with strategic options. At the eleventh, although the hole is short (531 from the tips, 511 from the second box and 486 from the third), another cavernous, scrub-choked waste bunker extends from tee to green. The bunker gets deeper as it approached greenside. Finally, the green is dangerously shallow, especially at the back right. Of all the tremendous holes Strantz has designed, he believes this hole would provide the greatest challenge to touring professionals, as the depth of the bunker combined with a tough back right pin placement would wreak havoc with depth perception and mete out severe punishment for errant shots.
At the par-5 thirteenth, Strantz ratchets up the intensity several notches. Another long, straight drive is a prerequisite to even having a chance to reach this gargantuan par five in regulation. Here is a prime example of how it is easy to lose perspective. The fairway again disappears behind a massive 40-foot sand dune. More enormous dunes and trees block the direct approach to the green making it nearly impossible to reach in two. The second shot must be played semi-blind to a tight landing area to have even an approach shot to the green, which again, is guarded by two massive 40-foot sand dunes and is mostly obscured. Near the cart path on the right side of the fairway, stands a wood-carving peg board of this very shallow, wide, severely elevated green. Balls hit one club long will be in or over the road and out of bounds. Left and only a high lofted shot can reach the green.
| "Mmmm! This IS...a tasty burger!" Even a great screenplay needs a break for lunch. Try a Big Kahuna Burger today. (From the people that brought you Teriyaki Donut). |
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At the unique short par-4 15th, a severely "u-shaped" green offers pin placements in two completely distant sectors. Tee shots to the right of the fairway have clear views to left pin placements. Conversely tee shots to the left can aggressively attack right pin placements. Miss on the wrong side of the fairway or worse and the approach angle is severe, blocked or both.
Finally, the long par-4 18th is one of the best finishers in the country. A long uphill dog-leg left, it is easily Strantz' most demanding final hole to date. Standing on the teebox, the only thing the player sees is a massive 180 yard long scrub-filled fairway bunker which runs uphill and disappears over a rise. A black flue at the end of the bunker serves as the player's target line. The hole admirably emulates Pine valley's famous "Hell's Half Acre" bunker. "200 yards of hell" commented one of my playing partners. Even if the player finds the fairway off the tee, the approach will be semi-blind over tree covered mounds from the left side. The green opens up from the right, so a fade off the tee is the play to have a clear approach. The front pin placement is difficult as the green is only ten paces across and slopes off into correction areas or into more deep waste bunkers. Back pin placements offer more room for error. If you need a birdie for whatever reason, pray hard.
With every hole not only memorable, but indelible in its artistry and strategy, Tobacco Road, along with Bandon Dunes and Black Mesa in Sante Fe, NM, is one of the three the most architecturally important courses to open in this country since Sawgrass.
Boldly going where so many feared to tread
Just keep going until you can't go any further. Then go further, because the moves you make then when you've run out of steam and you're totally on subconscious and not even thinking about the mechanics - the moves you make then are incredible. - Jeff Buckley
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18 demands the best drive of the day. Hit it over the tiny black flue in the fairway...if you can see it. |
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Musician Jeff Buckley was talking about himself, but he was speaking for any true artist, any true trailblazer, any true maverick. Yes, even a golf course architect or a movie director. Tobacco Road and Pulp Fiction are such bold examples of what can be accomplished if you think outside the box. Sadly, like Jeff Buckley, we lost Mike Strantz, (1955-2005), far too soon in the height of his ascension.
Like Pulp Fiction, many knew The Road was destined for greatness right from its opening, even in the face of vocal opposition. Just as Pulp Fiction stirred bitter controversy at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with its black humor, unabashed violence, deviant sexual exploration, and promotion of various aspects of criminality. so too did Tobacco Road stir controversy with its fearless courage in demanding blind and semi-blind shots to devilishly positioned greens. Nevertheless, Pulp Fiction's riveting, poignant dialogue and virtuoso acting performances transcend its colorful subject matter. The movie made the careers of Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson. So too do the strategy and artistry and other worldly, eye-popping visuals elevate The Road to legendary status in our game. With every hole playing like a crucial chapter in a book you can't put down, The Road's whole is greater than the sum of its mighty parts.
| "They had a hi-fi phono. Boy did they let it blast!" Thurman and Travolta in the hippest dance scene ever in a movie - they are cool enough to do the Batoosie and the Swim. Are you? |
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Both pieces were instant classics. Both are also enduring classics and are examples of the highest form of their respective crafts, raising the bar for all that followed. TR even inspired the great Black Mesa. Some feared each piece's raw power and unabashed personality. Some panned them, but they were proven wrong, others embraced them and have been shown to be visionary.
Why? Easy. They have depth of substance and integrity. Every scene in Pulp Fiction is critical to its intricate plot, but the scenes are never rushed, for great dialogue creates endearing characters, whether they discuss mayonnaise on French Fries, sleeping like spoons, small talk on dates or matters of life and death. God was in the details. The movie's forest is made from a grove of mighty trees: its great writing and career-defining acting performances.
Just like Pulp Fiction elevated Tarantino to the pantheon of great screenwriters and director, Tobacco Road was a defining moment, indeed career moment for Mike Strantz too. Like Tarantino, he dared to be different and challenge us. Tarantino rubs sex and violence in our face, but we tolerate it because with skillful dialogue and poignant acting he shows us how genius creates a legend a silk purse out of a sow's ear. So too, Strantz turns convention on its ear and says, look how much further we can reach when we suspend expectations and take some chances. Only now are we beginning to appreciate just how visionary he was, yet also how true he remained to the design strategies he imported from courses overseas.
Further, as Strantz' idol Alistair Mackenzie believed, great courses are meant to be replayed over and over and that is when they reveal their secrets. (Just like a great movie must be seen again to reveal great dialogue.) Although both Strantz and Tarantino have reached great heights since the works discussed here, they are indelibly defined by their breakout works, their magnum opus which rightfully catapulted them to well-deserved stardom.
Tobacco Road Golf Club
422 Tobacco Road
Sanford, NC
877-284-3762
919-775-1940
www.tobaccoroadgolf.com
www.maverickgolftrail.com
Architect: Mike Strantz
Par - 71
Cost Depending on season, Peak $65-$115, shoulder seasons $45-$60,
see website for latest pricing
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