Is Rees Jones really that bad – and will Phil Mickelson be any better?

Observing from afar, the lashing dished out to Cog Hill and its redesign architect Rees Jones during the recent BMW Championship seemed astonishing. I’m not suggesting the criticism was unwarranted in any way, but I am surprised at the tone of some of the vitriol and, more importantly, the quarters from which it came.

Geoff Ogilvy started the ball rolling the fortnight earlier, when he birdied the 72nd hole in Boston to sneak into the BMW field in 69th position (out of a field of 70). Acknowledging his good fortune and clutch play, Ogilvy sarcastically noted that it meant he was, ‘rewarded with a trip to Cog Hill.’

Ogilvy is an impassioned student of golf course design, and the player least likely to ‘get’ the design style of Cog Hill architect Rees Jones. His criticism of Jones and his design work has been consistent over the years. Mild but consistent.

This time, however, Ogilvy was not only joined by a chorus of other players damning the tweaked Rees Jones layout, he was well and truly overshadowed by a number of bitter attacks.

One came from seemingly mild-mannered Steve Stricker, who suggested the owners of Cog Hill should start again with the redesign and receive a full refund from Jones for the work he did. Phil Mickelson went ever harder, strongly rebuking the layout and the entire design philosophy of Rees Jones and his staff. Mickelson mounted a number of strong arguments, as he did at Atlanta Athletic Club a month prior.

Mickelson’s main gripe was that Rees built courses that were virtually unplayable for the average golfer, and repetitive for the good players. His narrow fairways, heavy roughs, deep bunkers and sloping greens place absolutely no emphasis or importance on strategic play and instead simply test execution of a pre-determined plan forced by the architect on the golfer.

Mickelson said of Cog Hill, that ‘there’s really no shot-making here that’s required. It doesn’t really test our ability to maneuver the ball because the fronts of the greens are blocked, and the only shot is to hit a high flop shot that stops. Chipping areas, shot value around the greens, penalties for certain misses, all that stuff wasn’t really well thought out.’

Mickelson ended his assault by declaring that he’d love to have seen a guy ‘that really knows what they’re doing come in and create something special here (at Cog Hill). We all wish that it had turned out differently,’ he added, ‘but there were a lot of other guys to choose from that probably could do the job, and maybe if they just start over, it could turn into something really special.’

Indeed, the Cog Hill design now leaves little room for thought, strategy or creativity  – if you can hit it long, high, straight and with plenty of spin you’ll be fine.  If you miss the green you’ll be left with a deep bunker shot or 60 degree wedge from the rough. Professional golfers are used to such mundane golf but for amateurs, struggling to break 100 on such a layout is not much fun.

It is interesting that Mickelson is increasingly passing negative comment on golf course architecture, as he now looks to develop his own signature course design business and grow the ‘Mickelson’ brand. In China there are a few ‘Phils’ currently under construction, with several rumored to be in financial trouble and littered with design and construction mishaps and oversights. There are also serious questions marks over his partnership with American ‘designers’ like Joe Obringer, who is based in China.

As we try with all architects, we will be watching Phil Mickelson’s projects carefully over the coming months and years. Phil might just want to remember that amateur golfers have to pay for their golf and his exorbitant design fee – upwards of $6 Million per course, will always mean expensive, inaccessible golf. At that price, and given Phil Mickelson’s impassioned championing of quality golf design, the Phil Mickelson Design Company will be marked hardly when their latest courses are finally finished and open for play.

Michael Goldstein

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