While the highlight of the year for Hochstein Design was undoubtedly the completion and unveiling of the William Land GC Master Plan, there was a distinct theme and focus to the rest of the year—our work at Alister MacKenzie golf courses. Pasatiempo and its back nine restoration with Jim Urbina surely gets most of the attention, as it should, but we also worked at Hadley Wood near London (Clyde Johnson project)—MacKenzie’s only surviving course in the south of England—as well as continuing the development of our restoration master plan for Haggin Oaks in Sacramento, with all the research (on-course and off), reading, and podcast listening that such a process entails. At one time, it looked like we may also help out on two other projects linked to MacKenzie, though those never worked out for us to join in. It’s truly been a fun and immersive experience, more deeply understanding the work of the Doctor with each restored contour and article read. We hope that we’ve given the Work its proper due in our contributions at Pasatiempo and Hadley Wood, and we are seriously excited for what could be re-gained at Haggin Oaks. It has been a fun puzzle thus far to try and solve.

The following is a recap of our work throughout the year as well the sights, sounds, and people that made it special along the way. Hope you enjoy!

Design Highlights

William Land Golf Course Master Plan

In March, our master plan for Sacramento’s “Land Park” was finalized with delivery of the plan renderings and books to Morton Golf, the caretakers of Sacramento’s public courses. In June, at the 100 Year Celebration at the golf course, this plan was revealed to the public. Needless to say, this was a wonderful moment to simultaneously be a part of William Land’s deep past and its distant future that we seek to enhance and protect through the elements of this plan.

The plan acts not as a direct restoration but rather a restoration to the pre-MacKenzie American Golden Age, inspired by various architects such as Walter Travis, Devereux Emmet, early Donald Ross, and A.W. Tillinghast. The gentler site, historic parkland setting, and early 1920s time period lend itself more to something of that character. We believe that with shrewd design moves we can transform this special 9-hole course into something truly fun, visually unique to California golf, and as charming as the Park and neighborhood in which it sits. Major infrastructure and agronomic fixes are a part of the plan as well, considering water usage and maintenance to set the course up to thrive for another 100 years.

Haggin Oaks (Alister MacKenzie Course) Master Plan

We continue our careful and deliberate development of this most important master plan. We plan to present a full concept, emphasizing restoration, for review at the start of 2025. Stay tuned in the coming months for updates and developments on this rare MacKenzie municipal site.

(Above: some of MacKenzie’s wildly creative greens concepts at Haggin Oaks)

Shaping Highlights

Pasatiempo Santa Cruz, CA—Jim Urbina restoration/renovation

Last year was the front nine and all the pressure of how this process would really go. This year was the back nine and all the pressure of delivering upon one of the greatest nines in all of golf. We finished strong though in 2023 with the big, complicated moves on hole 3, and that carried right over into 2024 and jumping right into things on the 18th hole.

The back nine contains some of my favorite bunkers anywhere in golf. I’ve been enamored of the 18th in particular since first seeing some old pictures of it around twenty years ago. How many other bunkers in the world are more vertical than they are wide? Not many, if any. So to work in those, and the array in front of the 10th, and the wild deceptive set on 13, and the awesome barranca-side beast on 16…well, it doesn’t get much cooler than that.

Each had their sets of challenges and amounts of work, all of which were a lot more than one would think when making direct comparisons to the excellent restoration work completed the last time Jim Urbina and Tom Doak’s crew was here in the 2000s. Big soil fills, perpetually wet subsoil in spots, shifts in location, underground infrastructure (so much underground infrastructure…), and just the general demand to get as close as possible to the old pictures were just some of the challenges faced. That’s the worthy price to pay though in moving things more toward that original 1929 MacKenzie version of the course, and I’m grateful that everyone involved—from Jim and Justin to Earth Sculptures to the grounds staff—were fully on board to put in this extra work and do it right.

I already miss my time there, and I wish there was another nine to do to go back and spend another pleasant summer in Santa Cruz, obsessing over MacKenzie details all day and playing nine of his greatest holes in the evening. An excellent experience and one that not only greatly strengthened my understanding of MacKenzie but also my own abilities as a designer looking to follow in his footsteps.

Above: shaping out MacKenzie’s incredible bunkers at Pasatiempo

Hadley Wood Barnet, Hertfordshire, England—Clyde Johnson renovation

I had been wanting to spend time in Southern England and its wonderful, deep, and varied golf scene for a very long time. So when my friend Clyde Johnson messaged me about coming over to do some MacKenzie bunkers on his project there for a month or so, he didn’t have to sell it hard.

Hadley Wood is the only surviving MacKenzie course in the south of England, opened in 1922, which was late for him in that country but early in comparison to most of his well-known work across other parts of the globe. As such, it has elements and features that are not as extreme, bold, and quirky as his earlier work in the north such as at Alwoodley and Moortown, but it also doesn’t have the same flowing scale and smoothness of his later work in the Americas and Australia. I personally found this to be very fascinating and a large departure from the place I had just spent 3 months at—Pasatiempo—where greenside mounds and dropoffs are large and smooth. At Hadley, the greenside features are smaller, sharper, and more irregular. They feel more created in how they juxtapose the land, but they have serious character and charm as well. A lot of the same MacKenzie ideas are still present with those features affecting your ball upon landing; they are just presented differently. I really liked it and am eager to get up to see the rest of his earlier work across the country.

As far as the project goes, this was less of a true restoration like that at Pasatiempo. There are very few ground photos at Hadley, the earliest aerial is from after WWII, and the course has changed a number of times over the years, with an added nine, a nine taken away, and holes playing in different directions (though to the same (presumably) untouched MacKenzie greens). With that, Clyde has taken more of an interpretive approach, employing a MacKenzie look with the typical capes and bays and relying on various traits and tenets of the Doctor, such as trying to get distant bunkers to line up and overlap. It was a fun process as well as more liberating, not being tightly tied to detailed historic photos.

I am looking forward to returning next year for the last couple phases to do the back nine along with Clyde. Should be a lot of fun!

Above: these little bunkers left of the green were simple circles before. Now they are set to change in appearance as one looks at them from different angles.

The refreshed bunkering on 7 was all about varying little noses/fingers while also opening up the approach-way on this brilliant fallaway green. That should get some real use, despite the hole only being ~135 yards.

William Land GC Sacramento, CA

With the need to generate more funding as well as get the irrigation/water-sourcing issue more stabilized, we didn’t want to jump into too big of projects yet for the William Land Master Plan. It made sense though with existing funds to do some less risky yet high upside work, and we settled on the rebuilding of the 3rd hole tees. The 3rd is a par three nestled in the trees and close to the 5th green and park street behind. As such, the tees were not as big as they could be as well as suffering from the lumpy buildup that is typical of par three tees over time. They also weren’t tied into a recently built cart path as well as they could be. We sought to address all these issues, reshaping the tees to be as large as they could be (almost doubling them in usable size), leveling them off, installing drought-tolerant warm-season grass, and better tying them into the surrounds and new cart path. The early results of wear and recovery have been good, and we look forward to continuing to make these kinds of improvements as well as getting into the even bigger and more exciting stuff.

The new tees on hole 3 at Land Park are much larger, flowing, and tied in better.

Other Highlights from the Field

(In no particular order)

Kid visits at Pasatiempo and the freshly grassed 3rd tee at Land Park

Being a part of Pasatiempo’s Opening Day Match ceremonies and Firepit Production’s “Bonfire” a couple weeks later

Listening to The Kinks’ “Muswell Hillbillies” album on a Saturday afternoon at Hadley Wood after spending the morning with the family in Muswell Hill

Reshaping and rebuilding the 3rd hole tees at Land Park as spring fully comes alive in the Park

Finishing the last bunker on 13 (big one short left) at Pasatiempo in the moonlight. I never fully “saw” the final product until it was grassed months later. Outstanding work by Earth Sculptures to keep all the details in what is one of my favorite bunkers from the project.

Top New (to me) Courses Seen

This was an absolutely loaded year for seeing new golf, which is not surprising now that I’ve finally gotten to explore England a bit. The “ranking” of these courses is a loose guide based upon both “feel” and objective analysis (St George’s Hill, for example is boosted by objective analysis, while Blackwell is dinged by “feel,” having played it just after the crazy Cotswold courses, which are in turn dinged on objective analysis as “feel” would have them all top 5), and mainly it is meant to help convey what I think is cool and good in golf. Debate all you want, but don’t take it too seriously! The one thing not debatable is that I liked all of these courses and loved almost all of them. It amazes me that a spiritual experience like Minchinhampton Old comes in at 14, a creative and beautiful engineering marvel in Ladera at 11, and my “surprise of the year” Pajaro Valley only 19. It just speaks to the quality and depth of the places I was fortunate enough to visit and learn from this year. Courses in the 20s this year may have been top 5 in other years. “Doak rating” is noted in [brackets].

1. Royal Worlington and Newmarket [9] Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. Tom Dunn, with revisions by Harry Colt. I knew this remote 9-holer had a lot of hype among the golf geeks, and while I also had high expectations for it, I struggled to imagine it living up to the hype. Well, it did, and then some. I’ve never seen a course that gets so much out of every feature and every corner of the property, also doing it without anything ever becoming overwhelming or lost in the fray of “too much cool stuff.” “Economy of design moves” was the phrase that kept coming to my head. Everything, from the criss-crossing routing to the subtle contouring of the greens, matters in an impactful way I haven’t quite felt anywhere else. My host Jasper Miners and I figured we’d easily get two loops in on our self-allotted ~3 hours early Sunday morning before the “crowds” showed up, but we ate up the entire session just for that one loop, discussing features and trying different shots. That, like the golf course itself, was as “economical” of a study session as I’ve had anywhere.

2. Royal St George’s [9] Sandwich, Kent, England. William Laidlaw Purves, with revisions by Alister MacKenzie. I happened to see St George’s the same day as “Mildenhall” above, and my description of it is what separates these two world-class courses. Whereas you felt every design move at the Sacred Nine, St George’s—with its endless linksland rumples both big and small—is information overload. This isn’t a bad thing—quite the opposite, especially if it were your home club. I had always had Sandwich (as it is also commonly known) as my second favorite of the Open Rota courses, well ahead of everything else (except for Portrush now, which seems it could hang with RSG) yet still behind St Andrews (because everything in the world is behind St Andrews). I was curious (and maybe even a bit nervous) how those thoughts would hold up, but they did. The course has some of the most interesting tee-to-green strategies in the way holes play off larger dune formations, and it also has probably the most consistently undulating and beautiful sets of green contours of any Open course (making me wonder just how much impact MacKenzie might have had upon them; seems like a fair bit). To experience both in person was important and validating.

3(t). Sunningdale (Old) [8] Sunningdale, Berkshire, England. Willie Park, Jr. I’ve been getting more into the early periods of the Golden Age, fascinated both with the genesis of ideas as well as the more crudely shaped features, which to me are full of charm and character and showcase a sort of timelapse of Man learning on the fly how to re-create and mimic nature. For anyone else into this history (and great golf), the courses at Sunningdale are absolute must-sees, particularly the Old and its turn-of-the-century Willie Park design. The course is laden with semi-geometric features—greens, bunkers, pits, and drainage berms—all often covered in heather and mosses, which add age, color, and texture to what are features already full of character and stories. This is not to mention also that the setting, especially in August with the blooming purple heather, is like experiencing a fairytale traipsing through the grand pine woods. There are a number of interesting angled cross bunker sets that are highly fascinating, and hopefully I get the chance at some point to actually play the course and get a better sense of how they impact strategy.

3(t). Sunningdale (New) [8] Sunningdale, Berkshire, England. Harry Colt. The “New” course is still over 100 years old, and it feels it right from the start. As soon as you get to the first green with the side-by-side par three 17th and 2nd just beyond, you can feel the boldness of Harry Colt’s feature shaping, which must have been borderline outrageous (in a good way) at the time. It was stunning even for me. I loved it. What I also loved were the parts of the routing that extended a bit out into open heather, which was a much more common landscape in those early days of London extending its reach westward but is sadly less common now. Most people struggle to separate the Old and New in terms of favorites or overall quality, and I am no different. They are both outstanding and essential to the study of golf course architecture—borderline Doak “9”s.

5. Royal Cinque Ports [8] Deal, Kent, England. Tom Dunn, with revisions by Sir Guy Campbell. I am a sucker for links golf, especially that on “flatter” ground that still contains lots of human-scale contour (think St Andrews Old Course). These are the places where so much can happen to the ball after it lands, especially in the firm and fast summer months and even more especially so downwind. That was very much the case over the front nine at “Deal,” as it is also known more locally. I got lucky in a little gap of play on a Monday bank holiday, that spacing of which allowed me to take my time and try out different shots, no place more so than the rollicking par five 3rd, with its bathtub green tucked behind a big rising ridge. This couple hour stretch was the most fun golf I’d play all year. Then the back nine hit with the wind coming back in the face, offering a completely different type of challenge and one still fun in its own way. There are some outstanding holes on that side too, with some of the best greens and approaches on the course. That’s really the defining hallmark of the course though—awesome, fun, and varied greens and approaches. And to have great golf, do you really need much more?

6. St. George’s Hill [8] Weybridge, Surrey, England. Harry Colt. Clyde Johnson, who is now a consulting architect here along with Brian Schneider, described St. George’s Hill as “among Harry Colt’s finest.” That is true, and it is probably also among its grandest, especially in the large collection of holes below the castle-like red-brick clubhouse, from which all three nines start and finish. The land movement here is bigger than most courses in the area but also never feels overwhelming. The old heathland pine forest running along the holes is tall, simultaneously providing a sense of intimacy and grandeur for the holes. Colt’s bunkers bench neatly into hillsides and landforms, and the large green pads provide good variety and movement. I’m very curious to see what the team is able to do here, because while the course is already great, there are stylistic, strategic (read: corridor widening and green expansion), and agronomic upgrades/restorations that could be had to take this place into yet another level. One look at the cover of Robert Hunter’s The Links, featuring the amazing par three 8th hole, is all you need to see.

7. Cleeve Hill [7] Cheltanham, England. Old Tom Morris, Alister MacKenzie, and lots of unknown. No, you are not reading the rankings and Doak numbers incorrectly—I have this “7” above two “8”s below. That is because Cleeve is just a true, authentic, spiritual golf experience. The vistas for miles in all directions, the firm natural playing surfaces nibbled down by sheep, the dog-walkers and horseback riders sharing the land, ancient quarry pits providing character and strategy, and greens literally set into Iron Age fortifications—it hardly gets more magical than that. I had lofty expectations for this place, and it didn’t disappoint at all, even on the drab day where I first got a round across the whole course. And my first experience, just 6 holes with the family on a sunny afternoon, was the highlight of my year, watching the kids run all over chasing the sheep and balls I gave them to toss along the fairways.

8. Brambles [8] Middletown, CA. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, with James Duncan. Speaking of sheep and doing things in an authentic, throwback way—Brambles is now open for play. I was lucky enough to play with lead architect of the C&C team and driver of the whole project, James Duncan, in the late fall before rain season started again and the new zoysia surfaces were at their slickest. James and the team set out to do something different from many of the current trends of modern design, really relying on holes that maximize the features of a simpler (yet beautifully pastoral) landscape and minimal design moves and rugged grass-face pits and walls for bunkers. It all works well and makes you feel as if playing some early, archaic version of rustic, rural California golf 120 years ago. Yet, it is just getting started, and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of evolution and tinkering it takes on.

9. We-ko-pa (Saguaro) [8] Fort McDowell, AZ. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. This was my first true experience with Arizona desert golf (my only other real desert golf would be Rustic Canyon, which some may argue is not), and I get the sense with how good and fitting this was that there isn’t anything much better than it. The holes use the landforms really well, blending right in to the beautiful and exotic desert vegetation. The views are also stunning, and the lack of surrounding development provides a real sense of peace. Also, the golf holes themselves provide all sorts of strategically sound and fun golf to play, as is the baseline standard for Coore and Crenshaw designs.

10. Huntercombe [7] Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. Willie Park. I’ve long been interested in seeing this course, primarily for its rugged, bold, quirky early Golden Age features that look like miniature mountain ranges. As my tastes have evolved, that interest has only increased. So, on my very last day in England, I was able to get a walk around with their great Scottish greenskeeper, Grant, and talk all about how those features are maintained, what grows on them, and what kinds of projects they are up to. In observing some of the speedy foursomes play and how the ball was rocketing all over the ground and contoured greens, I was dying to play, but my flight at Heathrow called. This is the kind of place I really want to see again though, and maybe next time there’ll be time to experience this Willie Park masterpiece that way. The greens and holes look too fun not to make a return visit.

11. Ladera [Inc.] Thermal, CA. Gil Hanse. I will be honest and say I didn’t realize just how much went into this creation—from the land movement to the engineering to the landscaping, no expense or effort was spared. It really was impressive to see, and the grand scale of many of the holes and mountainside setting overlooking the Coachella Valley is enough to make one feel a sensation of smallness when out there. That, and the likelihood of few others (if anyone) being out there. Play is very limited, and I felt lucky just to get the drive-around tour with their excellent and easygoing superintendent. That is also why my observations are incomplete, though. Some of the holes, strategies, and greens looked very fun and interesting, though, and I’d love the opportunity to explore them further at some point.

12. Woking [7] Woking, England. Tom Dunn, with revisions by John Low and Stuart Patton. The famous 3rd hole gets its rightful attention for helping spark the revolution known as the Golden Age of Golf Architecture, but this is a really solid golf course otherwise, particularly at the greens, which are extra good on the back nine, including the large tumbling 12th, the 13th with its twisting divider trench, the 15th with it’s “arbitration” ridge just left of the front right bunker, and the tilted 18th hard up against the pond. The tree work recently done on the front nine really enhances this true heathland landscape, and I will be interested to see if there is more done like that to the back.

13. Painswick [6??] Painswick, Gloucestershire, England. David Brown. This is, simply put, the craziest golf course I have ever played. And you won’t believe it, but at 4500 yards from the yellow markers, it is very challenging and demanding of all of your attention. The tight corridors, which for the most part are shared going both out and back in, and perilous falloffs and woodlands bordering them demand control and thought, not power. The 1st hole, a 220 yard par 4 (yes, par 4!) tempts one to go for the green, but the extreme straight uphill nature of the shot will likely leave that ball deep in a blind quarry fronting the green. This theme of sucker holes rewarding thoughtful iron play off the tee continues throughout the course, which works its way up the hill and into the remains of an iron age fortress that provide highly unusual contours and some great holes playing in amongst them. From up there are also some great views across the countryside and a chance to catch your breath along with the many hikers walking the trails throughout the course—another element altogether to be cautious about. There is no other course quite like Painswick, and you could never open one like it today. I am sure glad it exists, though, and for a certain subset of golf enthusiasts, I would put it up there with anything else in England on the “must-see” list, even if the masses won’t ever quite understand or appreciate it.

14. Minchinhampton (Old) [6] Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. R.B. Wilson, with likely much organic evolution. What I would do to have golf like this nearby me. The leadoff of my “Cotswold Commons” golf weekend, I could not stop catching myself from saying “look at that!” Immediately up the clubhouse driveway in the middle of the Common, I drove through a group of elegant white horses, unbound by any fencing. The first hole plays straight out into an unassuming field and finishes with a rugged little green set in a bowl. Cows are grazing everywhere, and distant views are ever-present. Firm conditions and tilted greens with ancient man-made features guarding them are what challenge you on the next stretch, then the greens get more dramatic and varied in the stretch from 8-11, the 11th a true punchbowl at the end of a long par 4 that must be an old stone quarry. The stretch of holes 13-15 play along and over ancient bulwark (fort wall) formations, and 16 and 17—a par three and drivable par four both playing over a large quarry—are possibly the best holes on the course. I can’t believe I have this—a truly spiritual golf experience memorable for a lifetime—all the way down here at 14th.

15. Talking Stick (O’odham) [6] Scottsdale, AZ. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. I feel like the drab, muddy day on which I played this is unfairly affecting my thoughts of the course, but I think it also has something to do with the way it has been managed and presented over the years as more of a lush, tree-laden course instead of the open, fast-and-firm strategic masterclass it set out to be. I could see and sense some of that going on though, especially on the more noted border holes, and I could also see that this isn’t the minimalist design that others have claimed it to be either. Coore and Crenshaw had to do some serious earthmoving and engineering to make the surface drainage work as well as create features. The fact that people think they didn’t is the brilliant part and something to emulate.

16. Blackwell [7] Blackwell, Worcestershire, England. Tom Simpson. The “Cookie Jar” guys, Tom and Sam, famously belong here and talk its Tom Simpson design up to no end, almost to the point of it becoming a tongue-in-cheek “bit.” But, they are right to praise it—it’s very good, especially in the firm and fast summer conditions I got to experience it in, where the brilliant tilts and partial openings into the greens really come into play, and the wilder of the greens, like the 5th and 6th, demand all of your attention. The only reason I don’t put this higher is just because, outside of the clubhouse architecture and ancient plow furrows on the back nine, it feels a lot like the American Golden Age courses I’ve already seen so much of and thus overshadowed by the exciting new experiences had out on in the heathland, over the links, and on the common. This is great golf though and should be seen if you get the chance.

17. Lakeside [6] North Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA. Max Behr. Max Behr was all about freedom of play and utilizing natural features—particularly in less-than-obvious ways—to create strategy and what he famously called the “line of charm.” In an early morning walk around a Lakeside layout that is underrated in the LA area, this was apparent to me, his holes often straddling drop-offs along ancient tributary landforms leading into the LA River, whereupon an advantageous route into the green could be had. For various and unfortunate reasons, though, there are trees and/or rough often in these spots. Hopefully the club can continue to build upon the success of the recent Todd Eckenrode work and further restore these elements along with the greens sizes and contours, which appeared much larger with more ground movement in old photos and aerials.

18. Flempton [6] Flempton, Suffolk, England. J.H. Taylor. Another nine hole club just a few miles from “The Sacred Nine,” I had never heard of this course until recommended by Clyde Johnson a few days earlier. I’ve never been disappointed in Clyde’s recommendations (my recommendation is always listening to his recommendations). As I’ve both been trying to expand my design palette to earlier Golden Age features and am always up for fast and firm, irrigation-less fairways, this was an excellent stop in my “golf day of the year” that also included Mildenhall and Sandwich. J.H. Taylor’s “alpinisation” is ever-present throughout and mixed in with lots of rugged little bunkers; it must have involved a good bit of construction in its time. These features add a ton of character and spatial variety to a mostly subdued site, notwithstanding the punchbowl at the end of the short par four 7th hole. The semi-heathland nature of the ground makes for gold-toned fast and firm fairways, and dodging the many humps and bunkers jutting into them is the primary name of the game here. It’s a very cool course and definitely worthy of seeing, especially when in the neighborhood for Royal Worlington & Newmarket.

19. Pajaro Valley [6] Watsonville, CA. Floyd McFarland, with a second nine by Robert Muir Graves. This was my “pleasant surprise of the year,” as no one in the Bay Area ever talks about this course situated in Watsonville just south of the Santa Cruz corridor. I had always been intrigued by it though, as the land over there seemed like it could be interesting with no houses in or around it. I couldn’t believe just how good it was though, with holes and green sites just sitting on the ground and having a real throwback Golden Age feel. Which makes sense, as the original nine here was constructed back in the 1920s. Some of the greens, like the 5th, have serious tilt to them, and the 18th falls off to the right with a bunker perfectly guarding the bounce shot in from the left. Which, the ground and turf in many places is quite bouncy, lending itself to the ground game—another throwback. The setting is also amazing, with good land movement, mature cypress trees, and views out to a distant estuary below. Even the later Muir Graves holes, which are on that more scenic land overlooking the water, have some character and older feel to them. Go see it now, as there are plans by Forrest Richardson to make changes, and even if he employs a light touch, it may very well not feel and play quite the same.

20. North Foreland (Northcliffe) [6] Broadstairs, Kent, England. Tom Simpson. Eighteen Tom Simpson greens on a small tract of land with North Sea views and fast/firm conditions? Yes, please. This little par three course is a complement to a full course next to it, but it seems like it could be the main star of the show. The holes are a good mix of shots, some requiring carries over flashy bunkers and some more open and using contours to feed them. Wherever possible, I’d recommend the mid-iron pitch/punch shot. It’s more fun, which is what this spot is all about.

21. Hadley Wood [5] Barnet, Hertfordshire, England. Alister MacKenzie, with revisions by various unknowns. See above “Shaping” section for more, but this is a lovely MacKenzie on the side of London less known for golf. As mentioned, the features are very cool, and there are some great greens too, including fallaways at the 1st, 3rd, and 7th as well as a natural-looking two-tier green at the 12th. The broad setting down below its stately clubhouse dating way back before golf is really pleasant, and it should only get better with proper tree management and property restoration.

22. Papago [Inc.] Phoenix, AZ. Billy Bell, Jr, with revisions by Dave Zinkand. I got a quick walk around here late during the first evening of the GCSAA Conference, and it was enough to make me want to come back and play some day. It looks to be one of the better versions of design from its 1960s era, and the recent bunker and green work by Dave Zinkand seems to have elevated it further.

23. Old Fold Manor [Inc.] Barnet, Hertfordshire, England. Harry Colt. This was another quick evening walk in the waning evening light at a course just down the road from Hadley, but I saw enough to make me want to go back for the whole thing. The greens had some very interesting and notable contour to them, including a punchbowl-dip on (what I am assuming is) the 2nd hole. Furthermore, and I don’t just know if this was the lighting playing tricks on me, but the greens seemed to fool the eye, the ball doing things different from what I expected. After all these years of playing, caddying, and building golf, it’s pretty hard to really confuse my eye like that. Between that, the really firm fairways, and the pleasant setting, I really want to get back and see it again.

24. Hawk’s Landing [4] Yucca Valley, CA. Cary Bickler. I read about this place in a Golfer’s Journal article and was interested enough to check it out after my Ladera tour. I thought it was pretty solid and fun enough to play, and the presence of Joshua trees just off property on the hillsides was pretty cool. Bonus points for being a 12 hole routing primarily made to serve the local community.

25. Gilroy [Inc.] Gilroy, CA. “Local farmers and businessmen”. I checked this out quickly on the way down to Monterey this fall, and it was worthy enough for the stop. The setting was cool and a bit more “old California” with golden oak hills surrounding it, and I found its way of getting “18” holes to be unusual: multiple tees on each hole, and 10 greens, with the 8th hole splitting at the beginning of the fairway and the 9th then being approach from two different directions following those greens. I wish the features and greens of the 1920s course were a little more quirky or “Golden Age,” though.

Other Highlights in Golf

Bringing the family along for 6 holes at Cleeve Hill and watching them chase sheep and golf balls rolling along the firm fairways

Another educational early morning Cypress Point walk

…Coupled with the same at Valley Club a day later. I soaked in a lot about MacKenzie bunker-layering and feature shaping within 36 hours time.

Front nine twilight post-work rounds at Pasatiempo

First open-air strikes of my new Miuras out at Hadley Wood

Joining Garrett for a fun discussion on Land Park and public golf on The Fried Egg Golf Podcast.

A round at Soule Park on a stunning SoCal November morning

Who I listened to…

Something of a rebound year for music, both on the excavator and at the drawing table

Albums

1. “Life in the Dark” —The Felice Brothers

2. “Faith Crisis Pt. 1” —Middle Kids

3. “Green Imagination” —The Sunshine Fix

4. “EP” —Lola Kirke

5. “Muswell Hillbillies” —The Kinks

6. “Strange Disciple” —Nation of Language

7. “Tigers Blood” —Waxahatchee

8. “The Window” —Ratboys

9. “Artifacts” —Beirut

10. “The Essex Green” —The Essex Green

11. “Yolk in the Fur” —Wild Pink

12. “To the Ghosts” —Cults

13. “The Kinks are the Village Green” —The Kinks

14. “Prelude to Ecstasy” —The Last Dinner Party

15. “100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions” —Blitzen Trapper

16. “Who is, This is” —Voodoo Glow Skulls

17. “La Sera” —La Sera

18. “The Lostines EP” —The Lostines

Other Bands and Songs

Esther Rose, Lilly Hiatt, Dehd, The Clean, “For Agent 13”—The Besnard Lakes, “Hadsel”—Beirut, “The Ship”—Still Corners, “Fugue of the Wino”—Iain Mann, “Ghosts”—Mapache, “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight”—Oak Ridge Boys, “One Time Villain”—Coco, “The Gloating Sun”—The Shins, “The Girls of Wild Strawberries”—Guided by Voices, “Dominoes”—Mary Timony

Other Highlights Not in Golf

1(t). Rose Bowl. Best single sports moment of my life (and a dream fulfilled to finally experience one of these in person).

1(t). National Championship. Best overall sports moment of my life.

1(t). Kids first game at the Big House. Most meaningful sports moment of my life.

4. Exploring the Cotswolds with the Family

5. Solo London day exploring and catching my first Premier League Match at Craven Cottage

6. The road less travelled going north from Ojai. California rules. I just can’t believe this state and its diversity of landscapes sometimes.

7. Family beach days in Santa Cruz/Capitola

8. Hochstein Family Reunion. Pure old fashion family fun back in Michigan with well over 100 other extended relatives from the Hochstein tree.

9. Bowling weekend in Michigan: Dad’s retirement party/selling of the bowling lanes and Induction to the Detroit Bowling Hall of Fame. Really going to miss that place and all those childhood memories there

10. Impromptu fall Yosemite weekend with the family. Again: California rules.

A word of thanks, and what to look forward to in 2025…

As always, it takes a lot of people to execute a golf project, and it takes a lot of surrounding support to get to do this in the first place. This will sound a lot like last year’s thank-you notes, but that’s just because of the multi-year nature of some of these projects and processes.

Thank you again first to the Mortons in Sacramento for continuing to trust me in creating visions for two of your most special and historic golf courses. I am truly excited about both.

Thank you also again to Jim Urbina for letting me be a part of the special restoration work at Pasatiempo and greatly deepening my understanding of MacKenzie’s work. Thank you again to Justin Mandon at Pasatiempo for being the centerpiece of everything Pasatiempo and taking on immense risk to do what you believed was best for the course and MacKenzie’s design. Thank you again to Theisen Downing and Earth Sculptures for your help and support at Pasatiempo and your care to do things right and do them historically-minded.

Thank you to Muhammad Ali and his crew at Land Park for providing any and all support to build those tees (and best of luck with your new endeavors—your departure is a huge loss for us out there!).

Thank you to Clyde Johnson for finally giving me the excuse to get over to London and help out on a cool MacKenzie project at Hadley Wood. Thank you to Peter Thompson out there for being a highly-involved, helpful, and construction-minded greenkeeper. Thank you to Warren Bolton and Profusion for your support and ability to adapt to Clyde and I’s construction process, especially on a tight schedule. Thank you to the Club for your wonderful support and welcome before, during, and after the project. I look forward to a return again next month.

Thank you to all the general managers, secretaries, greenkeepers, superintendents, and golf enthusiasts who welcomed me to see and experience your courses. I learned something (and often much more) from every single one.

And as always, thank you most of all to my family who deal with this weird life and passion of mine, dragging yourselves all the way across the world sometimes as well, as you did this year. It’s not easy, but it’s also a lot of fun. I appreciate every bit of it.

We are looking forward to what could and should be a great 2025, with another master plan (Haggin Oaks) approved, hopefully some more signed up, and another moving forward with some real project work (Land Park). We also look forward to a return to Hadley Wood for a couple stints to help finish the project (and hopefully see a bunch more awesome English golf!). And, who knows whatever else might come up! Don’t hesitate to reach out about your golf course or project—we love to listen and chat possibilities. It’s an exciting time in golf course design, and we are fortunate to be a part of it. Thanks everyone for reading, and Happy New Year!

Cheers!

-Brett