Every Hole at The Park West Palm | Golf Digest

Golf Digest’s Architecture Editor Derek Duncan narrates a hole-by-hole flyover of The Park West Palm in West Palm Beach, FL, site of Capital One’s The Match on February 26th.

Narrator and Script Writer: Derek Duncan
Cinematography: Carlos Amoedo
Editor: Nicholas Grieves
Production Manager: Kimberly Davis
Executive Producer: Christian Iooss

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In 1947 a course opened in West Palm Beach Florida that would help Define a new era of Municipal Golf in post-war America designed by Dick Wilson one of the most influential architects of the 1950s and 60s West Palm Beach golf course introduced generations of daily fee golfers to the game while providing

A buffer of nature against the frenetic growth of South Florida 75 years later West Palm Beach has been reborn as the park a reimagined ipal golf Avatar of golf and Recreation for the next Century Architects Gil Hans and Jim Wagner along with colleague Dirk zff completely remodeled and rerouted the course

Molding the Sandy rolling terrain into an adventurous Excursion of Highly playable holes that allows for aggressive driving a thriving ground game and cleverly contoured greens at its best municipal golf has always been a conduit that connects the surrounding Community to the game the park is once

Again at the center of the West Palm Beach Community and the broader community of public golfers as a whole as its motto Open golf suggests everyone is welcome and everyone can play this is every hole at the park West Palm the Fairway at the park opening par

Five is a welcome site a broad swath of green that plays straight toward a solitary Live Oak aiming point with room on the right into the adjoining 18th to catch cold slices only the flag stick is visible on the approach through a saddle between a Gra and a raised bunker face

This is the first Optical trick of the park there’s over 60 yards of rumpled terrain beyond the saddle and balls that land on the back side of the bunker can kick forward onto or near the broad St Andrew style Plateau green with a steep valley of sin protecting the front

Left the modest par for second is a true architect’s hole nothing previously in the ground would indicate that it might become one of the course’s most interesting cerebral holes the sight lines are are a bunker left and a bubbling swath of Fairway on the right that seems to beckon a safe drive but

Being prudent means hitting an approach shot across the shallow axis of a low thin green oriented to the left the putting surface is a fascinating concoction of alternating outer knobs that form a sinewave trough through the center of the 60 yard deep green creating distinct hole locations with a

Tiny rear pocket being the most extracting of them All the view from the third te is another illusion has the raised green on the par 3 appears relatively flat in matter of fact posed simply against an ordinary backdrop you think you have it summed up hit the yardage avoid the flanking bunkers but it’s only upon the approach that the multi-dimensional

Putting surface expands into its full form the front section extending more toward the tea than is visible this is Hansen Wagner’s take on a double Plateau green with a Sprinkle of a beer it’s mixed in and the three distinct levels conspire to make Club selection lag putting as critical to scoring as any

Hole on the course the Park’s first nine canvases the mostly level terrain of the eastern half of the property and the architectural team enlivened the Aesthetics of these holes by making the site sand and scrub buffers and small created Dune Ridge is part of the story

The Sand formation set up a right to left left to right shot pattern on the long par 44th but even if drives don’t travel far enough down the left side alley to unlock a clean view of the target know that long semiblind shots played over the top of the bunker on the

Right will’ll find nothing but Short Grass surrounding the relatively level green over an acre of closely cropped Fairway allowing for all variety of recovery options turned almost due east the seasonal winds can have a major impact on the playability of the 227 yard Par 3 fif the design is set up to accommodate

Such unpredictability with tight Turf running all the way to the open fronted green so a running shot is often the best play whether hitting metal wood Woods or even driver her into the stiff winds coming off the ocean or to get a ball down when the wind is behind like

The third a Swale sloping right to left dominates the center of the putting surface and whole locations along the back Edge through the depression are the most challenging to access the rear Contours will help hold a skidding ball on the upper level the short par 4 has become an ofus

Calling card for contemporary Architects and Hansen Wagner have designed some of the game’s most intriguing versions including the sixth at the park whole locations on the twole green should dictate how drives are played if the flag is on the upper tier a drive as far as possible down the spacious right side

Of the hold is ideal to leave a short unencumbered pitch when it’s low left good players can sling t- shots off the central Fairway mound to get the ball tumbling toward a valley short of the green which sits in a hollow and is the first indication that more interesting topography lies

Ahead the third par through three in the first seven holes is the most penal usually playing in a crosswind it’s modeled after a Redan with elevated front and left sections flared up to funnel balls toward the rear of the green a deep bunker on the right will

Capture short shots and two more vicious bunkers hidden through the putting surface offer an even worse fate the green complex repels balls in all directions so the smart play is to try to place a shot on the front of the green or even short of it and attempt to tput for par

The E hole is best described as a space eater as it works back Eastward along the southern boundary over mostly neutral terrain that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of strategy a dune Ridge of trees and sand defines the high sight of the hole making the enormous expanse of Fairway on the left look particularly

Inviting the best strategy however is to keep a drive as far right as possible so the two cross bunkers short of the green don’t have to be carried on the approach a formidable task into the frequent headwinds this is another large though modestly contoured lad to the ground

Green that happily accepts a bouncing ball and a four here is always a good Score the first nine closes the way it opened with a par five though this one demands Advanced planning due to bunkers that slash into the Fairway on either side bombers can take the risky but direct line down the right by carrying the first set of bunkers then attack

Another set 60 yard short of the green the hazards keep pushing shorter hitters to the left but eventually they’ll need to find a way to tack back toward the trouble on the right side if they want to access the direct line into the guts of the Triangular putting surface and

Avoid hitting across the surrounding barrier of bunkers that guard the green Left Flank the routing of the park saves the most exciting landforms for the second nine first encountered at the par 410th t- shots placed at the crest of the Fairway at this dog leg right will face

A downhill approach often from a hanging lie the wide green occupies an attractive Grove with a well protected whole location on the left and more vulnerable flags on the right as with most holes here there’s ample Short Grass around the green so players who are out of position on the drive can aim

For the bailout areas and utilize the short game options to try to get up and Down the par 3 11th set in a Glade surrounded by sand flashed bunkers scrub Oak pal Meadows and sable palms is an American cousin to the sand belt courses of Australia the green is a technical achievement layered into a ridge with cascading levels that are appear fluid rather than rigid intersecting shoulders

Can serve as back stops for certain hole locations but balls that settle on the incorrect level will require perfectly pasted putts rolling up and down over the sizable ridges a gorgeous hole the 11th sets the tone for one of the most memorable second n runs in Florida public

Golf the par 412 offers an abundance of room to the right of the Fairway but drives that hug the bunkers on the inside corner can cut as much as 30 yards off the approach the hole climbs uphill and left toward a punch ball green complex where only the top of the

Flag is visible and longer incoming shots from the lower right side of the Fairway should aim at the tall rake of the tiedyed caveman who stands watching from behind the putting surface a nod to Gil hans’s love of the Grateful Dead and the name of Jim Wagner shaping crew any

Shot that makes it over the front formation of the punch bowl has a chance of ricocheting close to the hole in case it’s not obvious by now the Park’s architecture consistently rewards drives that attack the High ground and challenge hazards those who can carry

The sand at the apex of the par 4 13th will have a shorter level look at the green those who can’t are looking at a longer uphill shot across a pair of bunkers from the lower part of the Fairway and approaches that don’t make it all the way onto the gently crowned

Putting surface will drift 10 or 15 yards down to the right the 13th is a study in degrees where even slight miscalculations on the t-shot or around the edges of the green don’t penalize players as much as put them in awkward situations and stances it may seem strange that a 471 yard par

4 can feel like a respit but the wide Fairway and slightly downhill drive at 14 offer an opportunity to swing freely without having to tactically place the t-shot The Greens at the park illustrate how architectural Trends have evolved dick Wilson’s original Greens on this site were propped up and often blocked

In front or pinched by bunkers to challenge the modern post-war aerial game playability and variety are more invogue today so greens like the large fragmented 14th that lay at Fairway grade are more accessible and long uphill approaches that don’t make the putting surface result in manageable putts bumps and pitches even for high

Handicap golfers it may be hard to make a par but a five is well within reason even on this long par 4 running along the Park’s Western Edge near I95 the 15th is a unique par 4 and A2 of just 494 yard that rises toward a skinny green hidden behind a ridge line

And cocked at a 30° angle good drives to a massive Fairway set up an interesting decision fire a shot at the flag flapping over the top of the high cross bunker lay back short of the same bunker to play an obscured wed shot third from

A poor angle or hit a long Club over the second bunker on the right to leave a simple pitch into the length of the green the 15th is a wonderfully complex original hole where virtually any score can be made exactly what you want coming down the stretch of a match

Number 16 at the park is similar to other short par 4S that Hans and Wagner have built including the 16th at Piner number four oopy match club’s 14th hole and the 15th at Ladera the concept is the same drives attempting to reach the green must be able to hold elevated

Putting surfaces that are deep narrow angled and Fall Away on multiple sides at the park the t-shot is uphill and blind challenged by typical cross and headwinds but as long as the drive can clear the edge of the Fairway bunker on the left there’s no reason not to take a

Shot since the greenside recoveries are straightforward at least compared to other versions of this hole the Park’s final part three is its most visually intimidating due to a 9t deep gorge of sand that wraps from the front of the green to the large banion tree behind the putting surface appears

To hover over the bunker like a floating island and when the hole is cut on the left there appears nowhere to land the ball the front right is accessible and there’s plenty of Fairway wide of that but bailing out this late in the round probably feels entirely unsatisfactory

You’ll have to ask yourself is this one of those occasionally terrifying moments where you simply have to step up and hit the shot after the rush of holes from 11 to 17 the wide level par 518th provides a smooth Landing like a cruise ship coming into Port it pairs thematically with its

Neighbor the first hole transitioning out of the round and also presents the chance to finish with a par or bird it’s critical however to place the second shot accordingly avoiding the bracketing bunkers and favoring the left side of the Fairway the convex left to right angled green will repel errant

Shots so take plenty of Club to avoid the embarrassment of scrambling back and forth under the watchful gaze of onlookers on the clubhouse patio public golf comes in all shapes and sizes but in few other places does it achieve the enticement or architectural sophistication of the park

The park fields both old and new a convenient easily walkable course where it’s almost impossible to lose the ball with a design that’s elusive rather than difficult changing with different winds and greens that assume you’re in the mood for fun in a time to finded by premium luxury private clubs located in

Farway Landscapes the park is refreshingly public and available its message is different this is Open golf and you’re invited