Photo by Mike Olivella
Reviewing the New Seminole Legacy Golf Course, Following a Round
Seminole Legacy Golf Club is the new home of the FSU golf program, and it is now the home of any student, faculty, or local resident who wants to join. No longer open to the public, but certainly accessible via membership, the Seminole Legacy Golf Course was redesigned by the Nicklaus Design Group, making it the perfect mix of neo-classical, Golden Age architecture, and the accuracy based parkland-style golf that Jack most notably favors. Oh, and it's long.
Quick golf architecture background: golf course design transformed from the Golden Age, in which courses favored open terrain with lots of undulation from tee to green. The ball could as easily be played along the ground as through the air-- at times, it was encouraged. As touring pros perfected their craft, and golf course designers wanted more difficult tests, they reigned in the fairways with thicker roughs, more trees, and placed bunkers all around the greens, thus rewarding only the most accurate of shots.
That kind of golf became ever present in the States following WWII through the 1990s. In the last two decades, however, the Golden Age has been re-embraced.
Seminole Legacy utilizes the rolling undulation of Tallahassee, but also incorporates the towering pines and enormous oaks. There is no place for small trees on this property, which gives the golfer a chance to strategize around them, adding difficulty but not being totally penal.
The routing has changed dramatically, as there are only call backs to three, maybe four holes. The first two holes are similarly laid out, as well as number nine and eighteen. Yet, in each case, they were lengthened.
Speaking of length, from the tips this course is 7,800 yards. That's because the modern collegiate golfer can drive it 330 and hit 8-irons 175. The good news for all who are not +5 handicaps: there are a variety of tees to play from.
I played it from just over 6,700 yards and still had my hands full. For example, on number 14, a par-5, I pounded driver into the left rough, but found my ball sitting on top of the rough on a slight uphill lie. I nuked a 3-wood for a 265-yard carry and was still 25 yards short of the green.
Let's not talk about what happened next, but in short I hit a dandy bump shot that chased the length of the green to the back left pin, caught a ridge and rolled down the front to a part of the fairway I hadn't visited yet. I was 15 feet below the hole, on a tight lie, hoping to keep my next shot on the green. How are 20-yard shots more difficult than 250-yard shots?
Speaking of the greens complexes (greens and greenside areas including bunkers), they continue the blend of eras. Shaved collection areas funnel wayward shots away from the green instead of keeping them upright in thick rough. But there are more bunkers, both small pot bunkers and sprawling kidney shaped bunkers that engulf 1/3 of the greens' circumference.
The greens themselves, as my host, former Track and Field Assistant Coach Dennis Nobles, pointed out, have no flat surfaces. They're large with severe and subtle undulation that confounds as much as they amaze. Additionally, the greens are new, so approach shots don't hold-- or in the parlance of the modern golfer "they are firm and fast."
For example, on number 10, I hit cut-driver to position 1A in the fairway. The pin was middle at 165 yards. The green was large, probably 30 paces deep. I hit cut 8-iron high and soft to about 160. The ball barely left a pitch mark, hopped the ridge in the middle and trundled through the back of the green.
Photo by Mike Olivella
Seminole Legacy is a private club, but there are graduated memberships-- everything from student memberships with no initiation fee to resident memberships that might lighten the pocket book just for signing up.
That's the trend for university courses. Stanford, Texas, and Arkansas have all moved to a model of exclusive clubs. It deters the weekend student hackers who have more interest in drinking than golfing. Certainly there is no one like that at FSU. And it encourages large capital investments to maintain pristine facilities.
The course is finished. Its grand opening was in March. Although the 16th green is a little sparse, as it had to be moved away from a water feature because its edge continued to flood with a hard rain.
The varsity practice facilities will be updated from a practice tee and short game area to include 12 par-3 holes.
Finally, the 'Noles will be able to host their own tournaments instead of farming them out to Golden Eagle or Southwood, two very good courses but not brimming with home-course advantage. And the university will be able to host all their fundraisers, be they for the Seminole Boosters or the College of Medicine, on a world-class course.
One of the great perks of the day was playing golf with two people who had seen the course over the years. The aforementioned Nobles, who had a standing Saturday tee time for over a decade, and my brother, Jason. Jason played golf at FSU for two years before organic chemistry became more demanding than learning how to hit a low cut.
Each described where the holes used to be and where the new ones crisscrossed previous fairways. But it was more than routing talk, it was the passage of time. Those towering pines were saplings when they played regularly. Land moves slowly, quite literally glacially. But with the help of CAT, new hills and valleys were constructed. So sharp the contrast in their eyes to their memories. When they spoke, the new course gave them excitement, improving their memories, and rewarding their past experiences with something better. Their new memories will be better, much like the improvement from the old "Ranch" to the new Legacy.
It also helps that Jason shot 72. Not bad for his first Legacy loop.
