SEA ISLAND, GEORGIA | The 20th Jones Cup Invitational last week was a little unlike any other. Eighteen of the previous 19 since 2001 had been played at Ocean FOREST Golf Club. This one, as the folks at the Sea Island Co. like to say, marked the first one played at OCEAN Forest.
The distinction in emphasis isn’t subtle, much like the “refresh” that was given to the 25-year-old Rees Jones layout by Beau Welling Design. The dramatic renovation of a revered course that immediately debuted on top-100 lists when it opened in 1995 fully embraces its seaside setting with exposed dunes and sandy wastes and strategic enhancements that make it play much more linksy than it ever had.
David Ford, a University of North Carolina junior Walker Cupper and defending Jones Cup Invitational champion, used the word “appropriate” to describe how the course changes suit the environment.
“I like the sandy areas; I feel like it feels like we’re more in Sea Island,” Ford said of the most dramatic visual elements of the refresh. “The palm bushes, palm trees and the sand kind of make it a good Sea Island vibe. I think the runoffs in the greens play more like Seminole and Pinehurst, which is cool, so I think it fits the mold well to where we are.”
Jim Stahl, the venerable 84-year-old amateur champion who helped build the Jones Cup Invitational into one of the biggest tournaments on the amateur calendar, was blown away by the course transformation.
“It is different. If you saw the old course and you see this course, they are two different golf courses,” Stahl said. “I’ve been a member since the original course opened, and we all liked that golf course. But I would call it a positive change.”
So does Bill Jones III, the fourth-generation chairman and CEO of the Sea Island Co. and the namesake for the elite 84-player invitational. He believes the work Beau Welling and his design team did “exceeded expectations.”
“Well, first thing I’d say is, which I’m really pleased about, is that the routing didn't change,” Jones said. “Because I think it’s one of the best routings anywhere. It just takes advantage of the land as it sits, the fingers of the river and ocean and forest. I love opening it up, where you get these vistas. It reminds you of when it was first built.”
Bill III, as he’s known, recalls Ocean Forest being described by R&A friend Colin Maclaine as “forested linksland” that weaves through the marshes and mature trees in the northeast corner of Sea Island where the Hampton River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. “By opening it up, you see more of that, and then we’ve enhanced it and uncovered what those dunes looked like in an earlier day,” Jones said.
It was a big ask of Welling’s team to take a course that was purpose-built by Rees Jones for competitive golf and make it “a more memorable and playable experience” for the membership while still presenting a daunting challenge to the top amateurs who compete in the Jones Cup Invitational every winter.
“It was almost an oxymoron: harder for good players and easier for the members,” Welling said of his mission. “Making it challenge golfers in a different way.”
That suitability to the landscape drove the changes.
“What everybody thinks is so special about Ocean Forest is its setting with ocean, river and forest. We wanted to enhance and expose all of that,” Welling said.
“Our personal design philosophy is Bobby Jones-style stuff – to reward good shots and not be overly penal and get people to use their brain. I think we’ve accomplished that. A lot more thinking to go around Ocean Forest now.”
Beau Welling
That task was accomplished in a number of ways including lowering and rebuilding all new free-flowing tee boxes and green complexes. Roughly half of the deep and difficult bunkering was removed and repositioned, while all around grass and cart paths were taken out and replaced with expansive sandy waste areas that flow from hole to hole. Where once you couldn’t see adjacent fairways from one hole to the next, now you can see across long stretches of the course and toward the ocean and river.
“Beau lowered some tee boxes, lowered some greens to make it look more natural as if we were walking the property in the ’20s,” said John Wade, the director of golf at Ocean Forest. “It really opened up some views to the river to the ocean.”
Said Stahl: “That's a very unique quality, a feature, on that golf course – the sand areas. Instead of seeing 2-foot-high weeds or grass, you slide over toward the next fairway and you’re staying right on the same surface that you’ve been on.”
The redesign also addressed what had been a relatively one-dimensional strategic element. Ocean FOREST had virtually every green elevated and guarded by deep front bunkers right and left. That meant players really only had one way to play it.
“Hit it high and hit it straight,” Wade said.
Welling changed all that with new greens that are lower and larger, allowing more dramatic interior contour and ample short-grass runoffs and collection areas off the sides that aren’t as heavily bunkered.
“The golf course is 20-something years old, and it was time,” Jones said of the decision to refresh it. “I think Beau did a fantastic job. I’m really pleased. … The greens are fantastic. They do have a Seminole style.”
That style presented entirely new challenges to the amateurs who have been coming to the Jones Cup for years.
“They’re taking more time on the greens and have to figure out what kind of shot they’re going to hit, and that’s part of that strategy,” Wade said of the overwhelmingly positive field feedback. “Instead of high and straight, maybe it’s low-running, bumping-along-the-ground-type of golf.
“The way I would categorize it is, what used to be was difficult and penal. Now, it’s difficult but fair.”
Said Welling: “Our personal design philosophy is Bobby Jones-style stuff – to reward good shots and not be overly penal and get people to use their brain. I think we’ve accomplished that. A lot more thinking to go around Ocean Forest now.”
That was certainly the case this week. With the entire course project getting completed between last year’s Jones Cup and the member re-opening in October, everything is still very firm. There wasn’t the usual overseeding done to allow the grasses to establish themselves, so the firm-and-fast course presented a brutal challenge in the first round when stiff winds from the north battered the field and yielded only three sub-par rounds on Friday.
“I feel like I’ve been beaten up for 18 holes,” Oklahoma’s Jake Holbrook said after an opening 81, a sentiment shared by many.
The tournament’s namesake was pleased with how the first big test turned out and how his new OCEAN Forest will evolve as it grows in.
“I think it's really hard, but it’s fair, you know?” Jones said. “And I don’t think you can ask for much more than that.”
Nobody was complaining as the traditional Sea Island pampering alleviated any bruised egos.
“It’s more than the golf course,” Jones said of the invitational’s enduring popularity in the opening slot of major amateur events. “We’re all still in the hospitality business, and so it’s the whole package.”
The new OCEAN Forest delivers.
E-MAIL SCOTT
Top: The redesigned Ocean Forest course takes full advantage of its setting among ocean, river and forest.
Courtesy sea island co.