HOBE SOUND, FLORIDA | I am, at heart, a word guy, which makes sense given that I spend most of my time trying to put words together in the most elegant and efficient ways possible.
But when it comes to golf holes, I am all about numbers and prefer that they be identified – on the scorecards and in conversations – as such.
To be sure, the golf historian in me enjoys seeing the names of template holes at courses where the designer has interpreted Old World classics, be it a Biarritz, for example, or a Bottle. I find that better connects me to the place, and the past, and provides another way to appreciate the golf hole.
But naming them after trees or flowers or coming up with appellations that feel forced and, well, too cute for words, leaves me cold, especially when I consider that not once have I heard someone refer to a hole by a given name rather than its number. Unless, of course, it is a template.
To me and the vast majority of my golf mates, the spectacular third hole on the Straits Course at Kohler will always be No. 3 – and not O’Man, which is also how the dramatic, lakeside par-3 is identified on the card.
And who among us has ever referred to the 13th at Augusta National as Azalea, even though it is lousy with those flowering shrubs?
“I remember sketching (No. 13) out and thinking, man, this is like ‘Stairway to ‘Heaven.’ Then, it just hit me, and I started naming all the other holes after Zeppelin songs.”
Tom Fazio II
I have been pretty steadfast in my feelings on this subject over the years. But earlier this winter, Tom Fazio II showed me an “unofficial” scorecard for the new South Course he and Mike Davis have built at the Apogee Club in this Florida town, with each hole being named after a Led Zeppelin song. And that has changed my thinking a bit.
For one thing, I like the whimsy of what Fazio had done, even though I have never been much of a Led-head myself, and the way that it speaks to the 56-year-old’s passion for music in general and that band in particular.
I also enjoyed the story of how the architect, who is the namesake and nephew of noted designer Tom Fazio, came to identify the holes at Apogee South as he did.
“I am a drummer and Led Zeppelin is my favorite band by far,” said Fazio II, who looks like something of a rock star with his long black hair, well-tanned complexion and fit physique. “I really liked their music and their songwriting.”
And he says he thought about both of those when he and Davis started building their first hole on the South, an uphill par-4 that played to a green perched on top of a hill – and that came to be No. 13.
“I remember sketching it out and thinking, man, this is like ‘Stairway to Heaven,’” he said. “Then, it just hit me, and I started naming all the other holes after Zeppelin songs. I picked ones that had some connection to the holes, which is why 'Kashmir' and 'Whole Lotta Love' are not part of it. But 'Over the Hills and Far Away' worked. So did 'Dazed and Confused.' And 'Bring It On Home' was perfect for the 18th.”
Fazio says that club members love the bootleg names.
Much to my surprise given my longtime sentiments on hole naming, so do I.
John Steinbreder
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: oxygen, Getty Images