ASU Karsten GC, Tempe. Pete Dye and Perry Dye, 1989. NLE

An infamous Doak zero, mostly owing to the location—between roads, a manmade but invisible lake, and a power plant.

At long last, Doak is victorious and the course will be plowed under for further university development. But I miss it.

This was late 80s Dye in every way—huge artificial mounds separating the holes, water hazards bulkheaded by railroad ties, pot bunkers, and perched greens. But it’s not like all that manufactured landscaping was marring an otherwise beautiful site and, also in typical Dye fashion, the holes were excellent strategically. There was no shortage of quirk—a pond right of the 15th green sat well above most of the fairway, which was down in a valley. But that pond pushed most shots left, where recovery was all but impossible; meanwhile, there was more room to miss right than you’d guess.

Because the course was the home of the highly ranked ASU golf team they had converted two par 5s into 4s—without actually changing anything about the holes, which were already difficult par 5s for most players. I don’t know why they had to change the scorecard for everyone—college players may have gone low here, but I doubt many others did. Now no one will.

[2019]