47 in rankings, have demonstrated a move toward the removal of trees from the areas between holes. This leaves the question as to what should fill that space. Although some would prefer wall-to-wall fairway, allowing the oft-cited width and angles to take precedence over penalty, this is an unlikely option for clubs with more realistic maintenance budgets. Native areas appeal to the minimalist eye, another trend in current ratings. Many parkland courses won’t have the sand base to create an alternative such as Kovich’s work at Laurel Links. Waves of fescue, blowing in the wind, seems like an ideal solution, especially considering its idealistic link to the links of old. But it’s an idea some clubs may want to think about with regards to the long term, and not just a simple aesthetic. Golf has always had spiritual associations with certain plants (particularly those that keep to the ground). None has had a more profound inf luence than fescue, which has led many clubs – including, until recently, Laurel Links – to wear it as a badge of honour. It’s a strange contradiction for an industry that has increasingly embraced indigeneity when creating golf courses (see Kovich’s use of local sand). There’s an undeniable appeal in teeing off at Pacific Dunes’ par-three seventeenth with a backdrop of yellow gorse, making golfers feel like they’re playing in golf ’s homeland, and not the Oregon coast. That said, some research into Bandon’s backstory will provide a dramatically different outlook regarding the plant’s existence. The gorse at Bandon is an invasive species, introduced by an Irish immigrant more than a century before Mike Keiser stepped foot on the land. As Keiser negotiated with the local community to seek permission to build his golf resort, he promised to remove the vast majority of gorse so that native species could thrive again. One of those species, coincidentally, was fescue, which now thrives – naturally – among the dunes at Bandon. The Oxford English Dictionary defines thriving as the act of “developing well or vigorously”. The new, sandy waste areas are helping Laurel Links reach a new peak, 20 years into its existence. It’s a club that’s thriving, even if the fescue isn’t. GCA Read more from Ryan Book on his blog www.bethpageblackmetal.com A dune ridge has been constructed behind the par-three twelfth Photo: Jaeger Kovich
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