Alex Elias
Last summer, I was fortunate enough to play Interlachen Country Club following Andrew Green’s restoration, and while I seldom write about my own experiences, there was one shot in particular that illustrated one of Green’s most overlooked changes.
On the Par-5 9th—a hole steeped in history, known for Bobby Jones’ “Lily Pad shot” and Annika Sörenstam’s iconic eagle—after a tee shot that found the left rough and a lay-up to about 100 yards, I wound up just long of the green to a back-left pin, a position where Nathan Ollhoff, Director of Golf at Interlachen Country Club, joked “one shouldn’t be,” as the green slopes back to front.
Beside me was Jeff Keiser, Director of Marketing & Communications at Interlachen Country Club, who had also missed long. As we stood three or four feet below the putting surface, Keiser noted he had never seen that pin position, one made possible by Green’s expansion of the green. With short grass now draped off the back, Green forced us into a decision: play it high, bump it into the slope, or putt it. Keiser chose high, I went low, and we both walked away with par.
“The addition of fine turf in select areas is absolutely a theme of the golf course. There is now more fine turf than we’ve ever had, and as a result, every player has options,” said Ollhoff. “How do you challenge a first-class player? You give them options and demand they execute, while also allowing higher handicappers to keep the ball on the ground.”
