Lauderdale

As was previously discussed, the current 6th hole used to play to the current 4th green. The hole was originally the 2nd, and played as a slight dogleg left. In the 1950’s, a green was built in it’s current location. The pond fronting the approach was also built in this timeline, as a way to collect runoff, of the now paved Hwy 280. Always a par 5, and always one of the wettest holes on the golf course, given its location and flat topography, the MP work tried to bring more Raynor strategy, and improved drainage.

No pond in 1950’s

Pond constructed by early 1960’s

Jim Urbina had envisioned standing on the tee boxes in 1921, and seeing the small town of Lauderdale in the background, hence the naming of the hole. To improve the teeing grounds for the hole, the tees were reconfigured. A new back tee was built, the blue tee was reconfigured to play parallel with the hole, not perpendicular, the white tee was moved forward, and the red tee was built at the beginning of the fairway. These changes alone vastly improve the playability, and fescue was planted around the tees to also improve the aesthetics.

Standing on back tee as Assistant GCS Tina Rosenow hydroseeds Fescue

The width of the fairway remained the same until it approached the pond, then it was widened to the left, right, and slightly above it.  A 40 yard section of cart path was also removed, as it was in play for many who wanted to play up the left side of the pond. However, rough left of that was converted to Fescue, for those that used to be able to “bail out long and left.” All of the rough around the front left bunker was converted to fairway, wrapping all the way around to the back of the green. This brings the bunker more into play for the aggressive player, and provides more interesting recovery shots from short grass for all.

The topdressing shows where the rough was removed, and the fairway was expanded. The rope and stakes show where the cart path was removed.

In what used to be a slough, the pond itself was dug out in the 1960’s. All of the soil that was excavated to dig it out was piled up behind the 6th green, and from the approach, looked like a backstop. Urbina identified all 500 tons of that soil as being extremely valuable, as it was used to expand the greens on #1 and #5. Bringing that much soil to both greens took a lot of labor, and even more wear and tear on the rough, from the few hundred trips it took with the tractor/trailers. Another benefit with removing the backstop aesthetic was increasing the consistency of the infinity look to the green complexes.

A bunker was added behind the green, with shortgrass feeding into it, bringing it into play for those who take on the green in two shots. The green surface was not changed much, only slight expansions to the back, and front left corners. The green is not an orginal Raynor green, but with the changes, will look and play much more like it now.

The area around the pond has always been wet, and for several reasons. Remember, Raynor routed this hole the current 4th green, turning away from where the pond is today. Originally, it was a slough. Raynor knew drainage, probably better than most classic golf course architects, given his background as a Civil Engineer. He routed Midland Hills beautifully around these sloughs, often times making them come into play with the longer hitters. It is well documented in the club’s board minutes, as the first alterations made by the membership, were burying most of the sloughs that came into play. Fast forward 100 years, and we are still struggling with these areas, as they are wet, and wanting to convert back to what they’ve always been.

We identified where drainage would be the most effective. We’ve made great strides in improving the drainage on the 6th fairway over the past several decades. If you’ve played here for long enough, you can recall when this entire fairway would be underwater, often losing grass in the middle of the season, after large rain events. But the area directly to the North of the pond has been an area where we faced a lot of surface run off from all surrounding areas (4 green to 5 tee to hwy 280), a virtually flat piece of land, and when the pond overspills, this area became it’s extension. Drainage is never a popular investment, mainly because it’s very expensive, and you cannot see it. But the ROI might have the largest impact on playability, and the ability to properly maintain the surfaces.

The 6th hole is now a better hole aesthetically, strategically, and functionally.

Mike Manthey