Every Hole at The Renaissance Club | Golf Digest

Every Hole at The Renaissance Club | Golf Digest

a dozen years into his career golf course designer tom doak had risen to the pinnacle of his profession having built such world-class layouts as barn bugle dunes cape kidnappers and pacific dunes but he had yet to build one in scotland the home of golf the country whose exploration after college led him to the conclusion that old country lay of the land design values were with embracing and emulating when he first started out dope called his little design and build firm renaissance golf design to signify his intent to change the direction of modern golf architecture in 2005 doke finally got an offer to build a scottish course which would be named of all things the renaissance club a group of american investors obtained a 99-year lease from the duke of hamilton on a 300-acre portion of the archerfield estate east of edinburgh where they wanted doke to create a private course worthy of major championships what doke built with the help of his team in particular associate designer don placic plays considerably like a lynx its turf is firm and tight its bunkers are deep with riveted faces and its greens encourage the use of the ground game following the addition of new holes by doke in 2013 including three along the seacoast renaissance has become a mainstay in scottish professional golf having hosted men’s women’s and senior events and now the genesis scottish open this is every hole at renaissance club [Music] the course opens with a stern par4 fashioned from the flattest portion of the property a forest of evergreens was removed to make room for the fairway and green but a single remaining pine on the left converts an otherwise straightaway hole into a slight dogley to avoid the tree on the second shot the drive must challenge the bunkers down the right the nearer two are of little consequence but the far one at nearly 300 yards recently rebuilt and deepened must be avoided at all costs so much the right rough as a drive into it puts the right hand tree 50 yards short of the green into play a hillock on the back left of the diagonal putting surface serves as a backstop for shots coming out of the rough and the green cants from there back down to the front right the long par four second runs adjacent to the first and back to the clubhouse its original wide fairway has been permanently narrowed in recent years so drives no longer automatically roll into a diagonal bunker left of the landing zone the fairways artful washboard bridges shaped from the dead flat meadow pose just enough awkward lies to make long iron approach shots into the prevailing wind a bit more challenging the putting surface is a beauty with a lateral trench dividing the deep green into different levels doke has written that his greens at renaissance are a bit more subdued than what we might expect from him but those who face long putts on the second would disagree there’s nothing subtle about a six-foot break on a 20-foot putt dokus declared the par-5 third to be one of the best he’s ever designed like the two preceding holes it was clear-cut from a forest but here one portion of the dense stand of evergreens was preserved to form a sharp dog-leg right the design intent is to force long-hitters to carry over the top of the trees to shorten the hole an interesting proposition back in 2006 that now seems far less daunting given the launch angles of most professionals these days the second shot will be played in a crosswind usually a right to left one and the green is surprisingly generous although it slopes off in every direction another surprise is the hidden pot bunker directly behind the green awaiting anything that rolls through the putting surface [Music] the fourth is another dogleg right but it is a drive-in pitch par-4 the fairway has bunkers scattered at various distances from the t in keeping with doke’s belief that golfers of different abilities should occasionally face a challenging shot which he provides on this drive the green sits atop a plateau and has a unique shape with the trench at the front left call it a giant thumbprint funneling balls down into the left rough with the back portion of the green sloping to the back the wise play is to aim to the center regardless of the hole location the drivable par 45th introduces a unique feature at renaissance ancient walls of stacked stone that once delineated property lines here the walls bracket the landing area and can be in play for those preferring to lay up off the tee with the swale and perpendicular line of low mounds stretching across the fairway the fifth green perched ever so slightly so that its perimeter slopes away on all sides has a middle shelf flanked by dips front and rear it was patterned by doke after the 12th green at the old course at st andrews the first of five par-3s on the course the short sixth brings to mind the famed eighth hole the postage stamp at royal troon at least in the positioning of its bunkers although the green itself is far bigger with more undulation the sixth provides the first vistas of the firth of fourth an inlet of the north sea that intersects with the mouth of the river fourth when first built seven was a short par 5 but in the 2012 remodeling it was extended by over 50 yards the fairway bunkers here are definitely in play for bounding tee shots particularly a center one that due to fairway reduction for tournament play will be on the right fairway edge the second shot is key here it must either be carried all the way to the green or be laid well back because the topography immediately short of the green is a slope leading downhill into a trio of pot bunkers the left side of the green also feeds left into a solitary stacked sod bunker [Music] the eighth is perhaps the most underrated hole on the course the tea shop must carry a depression and three traps recessed into the face of a ridge and it takes a monumental drive into the prevailing wind to do so two bunkers right of the green look like the eyes of a submerged crocodile waiting to snatch any ball that lands on any nearby slope the putting surface has parallel ridges plus an intersecting one meaning many putts will be double breakers two putting here is an accomplishment the ninth is a par-3 added in 2013 at the same time the ocean front holes were put into play until then this locale had been a cluster of trawl trees but today it looks like it’s always been superb links land much of the credit for shaping this hole goes to kybe goldbee son of the late masters champion bob goby and a fine golf architect in his own right the green is especially tricky as anything landing on the right edge will feed down into a bunker the longest walk to the next tee brings into view a long row of trees down the left side of hole 10. beyond those trees is muirfield whose members offered renaissance club when it was still in construction a land swap in order to retain a buffer between its course and renaissance practice range in exchange for a tree-lined strip meerfield sold renaissance 25 acres of ocean frontage enough for three holes knowing it would take at least five years to get government permission to build holes that close to the sea doke proceeded to build his original 18 in 2007 then returned in 2012 to add holes and remodel a few others today the stretch from the 10th to the 14th is one of the finest run-up holes in doke’s portfolio that run starts with the magnificent par-5 tenth the landing area framed by two deep traps left and some mock sand dunes down the right the fairway narrows as it swings right and past the turn actual dunes are visible in the distance the last quarter of the fairway incorporates them in humps and dips with a high dome on the right obscuring the view of the right side of the green from everywhere but the left side of the fairway the green which doke is called his favorite seems carved from the top of a dune it pitches from right to left with an abrupt eight-foot drop off the left collar doke suggests the play here is a faded approach shot there’s not a bunker within 200 yards of this screen yet it surrounds pose some of the toughest recoveries on the property the 11th is a work of art a long par-4 with tees at the base of dunes and a valley fairway that runs gently uphill but downwind waiting for you at the green is a dastardly string of deep-dish bunkers positioned like sentinels guarding the putting surface the green extends the uphill climb a full five levels and it’s clear dope shaped this one as tribute to aleister mckenzie’s famed stair-stepped 12th green at sitwell park in england so dramatic is this green that one barely notices the hillside of deep marim grass just steps off the left edge or the remnants of rock wall just steps off the right [Music] the par 312th is the first of three oceanside holes unveiled in 2013 skirting the high edge of a field of sand dunes it plays to a deliberate horizon green which in the design trade is known as an infinity green a swath of putting turf seemingly floating atop the wide expanse of the firth the fourth in the panoramic distance the green flows right to left and dope shape the putting surface with folds and pockets that mimic the dunescape with an enormous thumbprint in front directing shots into a hollow front left 13 has to be one of the finest holes doke has ever built one is called his showstopper a dogleg left benched between a massive doom and an ocean bluff it is a classic risk-reward situation the temptation is to cut the corner but the fairway gets tighter as it approaches the green and when the prevailing wind is headed out to sea the drive is akin to landing a fighter jet on the deck of an unsteady aircraft carrier to add to the excitement doke positioned the green close to hazard’s edge and tilted it in that direction as well so both tee shots and approach shots can be just one hop from oblivion when the tide is in and the surface crashing against the cliffs the drama is heightened even more [Music] the last of three new dunes on holes the 14th place downhill and into the wind to a wide diagonal green that’s separated from the 12th green solely by a ragged stretch of ancient stone wall the wall can be in play for those who over club intending to knock the ball below the wind meanwhile the soul bunker short of the green will catch shots that balloon in the breeze looking westward the skyline of edinburgh is visible as is arthur’s seat the extinct volcano in whose shadow the city was built the 15th hole combines the old par-4 12th and par-3 13th into one mammoth par-4 made even longer with the recent creation of a new championship tee box it plays uphill off the tee atop the dune that shoulders the 13th and has the most heavily bunkered fairway on the course the green sits at a high point and is usually wind blown but the approach fairway has so many little bumps and knobs that a low bouncing approach has no guarantee of reaching the grain the lower back right corner of the green positioned beyond a pot bunker is especially hard to access with the second shot dropping some 30 feet the par 5 16 will be reachable in two for many providing they can land a drive on the snake-like fairway all the sand bunkers are down the left side but the prevailing wind from the right pushes shots toward them the terrain of the fairway contains some knobs that can kick a ball farther down the hole or nudge it into the rough the last 150 yards tumbles downhill to a long wide open green that slopes gently front to back on the left is one of the most treacherous green side bunkers on the course so deep that most will be playing out sideways while bulldozing the 17th the remains of some medieval buildings were unearthed so construction was halted while archaeologists investigated the rectangular stone footings and a horse burial site suggests perhaps a barn but no one knows for certain don placic doak’s on-site designer sought to integrate some of the contours of the find into the architecture of the hole so the 17th is a big oval green that is separated into right and left pockets by a perpendicular ridge it certainly has the most gentle contours of any green at renaissance the closing hole at renaissance is a dramatic steeplechase finish leaping not just one but two stack zone walls in between dodging a principal’s nose bunker on the right and his earlobes on the left the long second shot plays into the teeth of the wind to a long elevated green that is accommodating as straight shots but punishing to those that go left or right the sharp edge hollow left of the green is particularly intriguing when a pin is placed on the left a shot from that hollow can become the most difficult recovery of the round tom doke is the first to admit that renaissance club does not possess the dramatic landscape of barn bugle dunes cape kidnappers or pacific dunes although elements of all three can be found on certain corners of this course what doke demonstrated in his sterling design at renaissance is that fairly ordinary land can become extraordinary golf holes if the architectural principles used to create them are sound yet unusual what’s more his design is so flexible that it can and has been played in several different routings in whatever fashion renaissance club has encountered it is an intriguing demonstration of architecture a thoughtful examination championship skills and a fascinating round of golf

Golf Digest’s Architecture Editor Emeritus, Ron Whitten, narrates this spectacular hole by hole flyover tour of The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.

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