11 MA I L BOX Dear Editor I live in Baytown, Texas, and our city leaders have finally heard me and the rest of the golfing community, to return Evergreen Point GC as a golf course. Evergreen closed down six years ago and the city purchased the course, only to help a developer build a custom home neighborhood – which did not come about. They built 30ish tract homes in six years, not exactly a wild success! The city kept the remainder of the course, roughly 105 acres, as a park, with the cart paths as walking/jogging paths, stocked the water hazards as little fishing holes, added a disc golf course and whatever footgolf is. It would be funny if I were not so passionate about the loss of an incredibly nice and challenging golf course. I have petitioned our mayor, City Hall and the City Council for these past six years to renovate this course. The city has been focused for years on building a hotel and convention centre less than a mile from Evergreen Point GC and I was told that we could not talk about golf until they broke ground on this. Now, our city has appointed a developer for what I thought was going to be a traditional golf course. Due to the limitations (land size/ footprint) that the city has imposed, the developer has come back with a ‘compressed’ design, putting their 18-36 holes into a nine-hole footprint, with each hole having five or six tee ‘spots’, not boxes. Have you ever heard of such a gimmicky golf game like this T36 I have described? Is this a laughable joke? I am familiar with more than a few course designs of nine- and 12-hole courses, and parthree courses looking for ways to grow the game of golf and considerations for limited real estate and land. I get it, these make sense, with more people having time for nine or 12 holes or an hour or two to play a par-three course. At 63 years of age I maybe a little too set in my ways, but I do not see this as an answer to anything other than getting into a lawsuit. Chet Theiss Baytown, Texas Chet, thank you for your passionate letter, which demonstrates how important local facilities are to us all. It appears that the developers are proposing nine holes that would be played twice (from different teeing angles and in some cases to different greens) to form an 18-hole round. Hopefully this mitigates safety issues and, while it may not be one of a kind, if implemented with care and expertise, it could bring enjoyment to many. I would prefer to have some form of golf available than none at all. We are delighted to receive letters from readers, and the best in each issue will be rewarded with a golf shirt. Send to 6 Friar Lane, Leicester, LE1 5RA, UK, or email us at letters@golfcoursearchitecture.net Sandy was in his happy place last time out, on the first tee of the historic Lundin Links course in Fife, Scotland. Though the club was founded in 1868, golf has been played on those links for much longer: Lundin and the adjacent Leven course were originally one, but the increasing popularity of golf forced the two to separate, and some additional holes to be constructed to give both clubs eighteen holes. It was a local who was first out of the hat, so congratulations to Martin Bonnar of nearby Ladybank GC. A prized GCA shirt is on the way. This month, Sandy is quite a long way away from Scotland! And if Lundin/Leven is one of the first few places where golf was played, this venue is famous for being the last place where something happened. No more clues! Answers, as ever, by email to gopher@golfcoursearchitecture.net. GOPHER WATCH
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