Kohler can afford to cut them down.
I know there was always at least a tree there. I’m just curious if there are any photos of the hole from the 90s that give a sense how extreme the tree(s) were. Was there one, or more? How much has it/they grown?
1 Like
You know, there might be an image in one of the Dye books I own. I’ll check when I get home.
2 Likes
Yeah, I don’t know if I have kept any of my old books. Might spend some time searching those or online later.
1 Like
Can afford to and willing / wanting to are very different things
I have a River Course scorecard from the early/mid-90s. I don’t entirely recall why I have these since I’ve never been to Kohler? There are a couple possibilities - possible that someone was there and picked it up for me, or it might have been in a video game (Links) and they included the scorecard.
Anyway, the picture on the front of the card looks to be 13. The trees seem to be as thick and tall as they are today, if not worse (they seem bushier, almost). The scorecard also has individual hole drawings and the picture of 13 looks like is showing trees all along the bend of the river, just as they exist today.
Verdict, Pete would not bring out the chainsaw.
4 Likes
This is wild to me given what he wrote in his autobiography about fighting with Herb specifically about trees on these courses.
Maybe he saw them as a vertical hazard and wanted to force people to play a draw or maybe he just lost the battle of tearing down these particular trees. I’m kind of astounded that he would wan to leave those there.
2 Likes
Terrible golf hole yet it’s amongst the most photographed and thus used in their promotional material of any hole on that course.
Awesome pull though finding that
4 Likes
There’s also 17 on Meadow Valley that has that one big tree in front of it. Not quite as egregious and most shots should fly it, but still twice on one property is a choice.
4 Likes
Damn! Missed my own vote!
This tree actually seems like it would be right up Pete’s alley. Not really in play. Just a visual mind fuck to make you think about it. But any reasonably struck shot should carry it just fine.
2 Likes
Big Randy would love this place!
1 Like
The thing is, Herb was the kind of guy who would just have another tree planted after Pete cut it down because he liked it. The prick did whatever he wanted basically until the day he died.
2 Likes
I’m going to go home and find that passage in Pete’s autobiography and post it in here now just for fun. It does give a good sense of the two men.
1 Like
I’ve met and interacted with one of the two, I’ll let you guess which one.
1 Like
There are a lot of instances of stuff like this (the use of fescue grass in our climate being one of them and I hate them) and having worked there for 7 years you hear many more stories that to be fair are a lot of hearsay but it certainly gives you a sense of what Herb was thinking.
Interacted with both of them at the same time on multiple occasions. Pete came out to check the course at least once a year.
While I hate to interrupt this parade of horrible golf holes discussion, we have had a serious uptick in Supper Club membership requests as of late (which is great, welcome all!) and I wanted to address the event schedule for this season.
I’m sure it takes some wind out of the sails to finally take the plunge in joining the Refuge/Nest and getting involved with the Roost only to find that the majority of events are booked by the end of January. Listen, I get it, but:
- Put yourself on the waitlist and plan on attending the event. I promise you people will drop out and you will get in. I say this about both the major and The Ope. I’ve seen the Ope waitlist rip through 100 like nothing and being local to Wisconsin gives you a serious leg up from a logistics perspective. Same thing with the major.
- Get involved in the Discord. Are we loud, weird, with an obscure sense of humor, and share too much about our personal lives? For me at least, yes, but we all love Wisconsin golf and everything single one of us is looking to grow our circles we can play golf with. The discord helps in keeping track of the event sign ups.
- The Discord will also unlock plenty of last minute invites to play during the summer. Regularly, people will post about an open tee time on any given day of the week, all over the state. Last summer was our first with the Discord and this kind of thing happened a ton and I suspect it will only grow this summer.
TLDR - don’t be discouraged by the packed event dance card in January. Sign up. It will change. Get in the Discord and watch what’s going on.
15 Likes
Great job Cap.
I’ll take this opportunity to invite everyone to The Burban.
11 Likes
To this same point, do not ever feel like you have to wait for a formalized event to try to get together with people. Jump in, put out a plan to get 4-96 of us together, it doesn’t have to be super organized or even have a format. In the end, the main purpose, at least for us, is to get together and have some more people to play golf with.
Our very own @PTM started one of my most treasured rounds of golf every year as not only his fist roost event, but as the first time meeting people from this place. He doesn’t even put a cap on it!
Our roost will only be better the more pop up events and casual get togethers that we can have!
9 Likes