native areas and adjusting bunker placement to make the game a bit more approachable to the average guest who plays here, and expanding the size of tees to take on the amount of play we had gained over the years.” The back nine was rebuilt in 2022 and the front in 2023, along with the new green complex for the eighteenth. In 2024, with the building project complete, the sixteenth hole was rebuilt, plus new tees for the seventeenth, allowing it to be played as a par five and restoring the total par to 72. “We wanted to make sure that the new sixteenth was a signature hole for us, as it is in full view of the ballroom on the second storey of the new building,” says Turner. “One thing we were conscious of is that when guests are looking out to the new hole, they are going to be looking at the back of the green. Rees created a run-off area and hidden bunker to make it look like the front of a green. We want guests to be thinking, ‘I gotta go play golf’.” When they do, they will find what Jones describes as “a pre-Depression style golf course”. The original design incorporated many elements from classic course design, including a Biarritz inspired green at the seventh, and the renovation work has Photo: Russell Kirk The renovated green complex of the par-three eleventh at Waldorf Astoria, with the seventh in the background 75
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