Ralph Plummer's Tryall
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In very general terms, courses
built during the dark age of
golf architecture (1950-1970)
were long in length and short
in both character and charm.
The bunkering was unimaginative,
repeatedly forcing the
same kind of aerial approach
shots. Monotonously long
holes resulted in the birth of
the dreaded '7,000 yard championship
course' phrase.
As with any generalization,
there are exceptions with one
of the most important being
Ralph Plummer's design of
Tryall Golf Club.
Opened in
1958, the course measured
6,324 yards. Yet, thanks in
large part to its sloping greens
and the ever present trade
winds, golfers of the highest
calibre have failed for over five
decades to tear it apart.
Recognized early on as the
Caribbean's first course of
genuine character, Shell's
Wonderful World of Golf
staged a match here in 1962
between Dow Finsterwald and
Peter Alliss. Finsterwald won
the match with a score of 72 to
Alliss's 75.
Twenty years later, a desire
by the club to host important
events manifested itself and
the Mazda Champions LPGA -
Senior PGA were held at Tryall
from 1985-87. This event was
followed from 1988-1990 with
the LPGA Jamaican Classic,
which in turn set the stage for
the Johnnie Walker World
Championships from 1991
through 1995.
Just prior to the 1991
Johnnie Walker World
Championship, a sports
columnist not so shrewdly
predicted that one of the professionals
would break 60 as
this par 71 course still measured
below 6,800 yards. That
year's winner was Fred
Couples and not only did no
one break 60 but Couples was
the sole person in the field to
break par for the four day
event.
The subsequent winners of the
Johnnie Walker (Faldo, Mize,
Els, and Couples again) were
all major championship winners,
which suggests a quality
course.
What then are Tryall's
attributes that promote the
best to flourish?
Certainly, the course's island
setting adds much to Tryall's
allure and inspires one to play
his best. However, it speaks little
as to the lasting merits of
repeated games here. The
trade winds which average 20
miles per hour pose the same
question as the winds in the
United Kingdom: can the
golfer control the trajectory of
his shots? The golfer with the
talent to do so shines here.
Those who followed Nick
Faldo during his 1992 win of
the Johnnie Walker marvel to
this day at his complete ball
flight control with every club
in the bag.
The first six holes at Tryall
are routed near the coastline,
and apart from the romance of
such a location, Mother
Nature didn't imbue this flat
portion of the property with
many natural features. Thus,
Ralph Plummer did what
every good architect should:
he created the character but
he did so in a manner that is
peaceful to the eye. The land
in no way looks tortured and
the holes sit peacefully upon
the property. In The Golf
Course by Ron Whitten and
Geoffrey Cornish, Whitten
notes that 'Plummer was
known for the attractiveness
of his layouts and for his
remarkable ability to estimates
cuts and fills and shape
greens and bunkers by eye.'
The only man-made water
hazards on the course
are
ponds found on the first six
holes, namely at the one shot
2nd and in the landing areas
for the second shots on the par
five 3rd and 6th. (Forty three
years later, the Club acquired
the property to build a true
coastal hole - today's 4th -
which is also a water hole,
albeit a totally natural one).
Plummer used the fill from
the ponds to build up the tees
and greens a few feet, thus
providing the necessary
drainage on these first six
holes. With no extraneous
land movement from tee to
green, Plummer's low profile
design at Tryall still enjoys a
timeless appeal.
His complete absence of clutter
is most appreciated, especially
relatively to other courses
built after WWII. Plummer
didn't build three bunkers
when one would suffice.
Plummer didn't follow Robert
Trent Jones horrific example
at Oakland Hills six years prior
in 1952 of pinching in fairways
with bunkers on either side.
Instead of reducing width and
ruining playing angles by
overbunkering holes off the
tee, nine of the fourteen nonpar
three holes at Tryall originally
had no bunkers off the
tee (the 3rd, 8th, 9th, 11th,
13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, and
18th).
In addition, Plummer
eschewed containment
mounds and framing green
sites. The challenge at Tryall
intensifies the closer one gets
to the greens - a tenet of classic
architecture that allows
the greatest range possible of
golfers to enjoy a course (in
fact, so fierce where
Plummer's orginial green
slopes that the greens on holes
7, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 16 were
softened when Club switched
from the old bermuda grass
greens to today's swift tifton
dwarf greens).
Starting at the 7th, Mother
Nature's natural attributes are
more profuse and Plummer
took full advantage as he perfectly
draped the holes onto
the rolling foothills of the
property. As with his other
best west works like Preston
Trail Golf Club, Great
Southwest Golf Club, and the
Cypress Creek Course at
Champions Golf Club,
Plummer's routing makes
intuitive sense to the golfer as
one good hole follows another
with the green to tee walks
always short.
The golfer's judgement is
continually taxed at Tryall on
the variety of approach shots
required: the uphill approach
at the 9th, the sharply downhill
one shot 10th where one
doesn't want to be long, the
uphill approach at the 11th,
the downhill one shot 12th
where one wants to be long,
the uphill approach at the
13th, the downhill approach
to the 14th. The continually
shifting demands keep the
golfer off-balanced, a great
attribute for any architect to
achieve (though few rarely do)
as it means the golfer will
never tire of playing there.
Ran Morrissett is an avid golfer
and host of the popular website
www.golfclubatlas.com that features
course profiles highlighting
the finer virtues of golf architecture
found in over 140 courses
world-wide.
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