Q & A with Craig Parry thanks to Greenshoots Marketing!
Q: YOU’RE LOOKING AT THE COFFS HARBOUR GOLF CLUB’S LAYOUT AND YOU’VE BEEN TAKING PLENTY OF NOTES. LET’S SAY YOU STARTED ON THE FIRST TEE. WHAT IS IT YOU’RE LOOKING AT WHILE YOU’RE STANDING THERE?
CP: I’m looking at the size of the tee for the length of the hole. So if it’s a shorter par-4 you know there’s going to be divots on the tee so you’ll need to have a larger tee. This one’s a par-4 that’s average length, there’s not going to be divots everywhere, the sun is getting on to the tee so there’s no shadowing effects happening on the tee. Does the tee line-up with the fairway? Looking down the fairway, do any trees encroach on to the fairway that have been growing for 20-30 years that no-one’s seen?
I might come in and say ‘look that one’s popping out a little too far, we just need to trim it back’.
More or less what it is is looking at the hole. Looking at the hole, how can you play it? How can it be improved? Does it need to be in a different location, the tee itself to make it better?
Just all of those little things that come into play. You can’t do it quickly. You have to spend time. I took photos of every tee shot, second shot and around the green. I wrote down a lot of notes yesterday, put them on the computer last night to check that everything was the correct image and you could see what I was actually trying to say in my notes related to the photo.
It’s just a lot of knowledge over many years.
Q: IS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOUR KNOWLEDGE HAS LED YOU TO BELIEVE ABOUT GOLF COURSES?
Golf courses are over-bunkered as a rule. And it’s an architect’s poor way of penalising golfers. That’s the way I see it.
When I was a good player playing on the PGA Tour, I’d hit it in a bunker once a week. I’d be in one bunker for the whole week. In Australia I might be in two or three. That’s for a week. So the better player you are, you don’t hit it into fairway bunkers or greenside bunkers because you know how far you’re going to hit it.
The average player doesn’t know how far they’re going to hit it, they’re a nightmare for them and as I say I think golf courses are just over bunkered too often.
I’ve done Teven and we’ve only got a minimal amount of bunkers. We’ve got eight bunkers and one of those is a fairway bunker. Seven greenside bunkers in nine holes and it’s so much fun to play. The feedback that we’re getting is that everyone enjoys it and it’s just in really good shape.
Q: SO THE 9TH HOLE AT COFFS HARBOUR IS THE ONLY HOLE WITHOUT A BUNKER BUT IT’S STILL A FUN HOLE TO PLAY. YOU CAN SHOOT A BIRDIE THERE BUT YOU CAN JUST AS EASILY MAKE A DOUBLE BOGEY.
CP: Out of bounds is your penalty there, both sides. Out of bounds left with the work sheds and you’ve got the car park right. It’s a bit of a bowl the green, so it sort of collects the ball, you only have to hit the ball in the air and it comes down. Which is fine, it’s really hard to make a good green going uphill. They’re just very, very rare.
You think of the great uphill holes in the world there’s not that many. Kingston Heath has got the 15th hole, par-3. You’ve got Royal Melbourne number seven, it goes up a hill. Augusta, the 18th goes up a hill. You don’t actually see the ball land at Augusta. All you see is the bunker in the front, you can see the edge of the green and then you don’t see the next part of the green. So it’s actually a hidden green. You can see it when you’re watching on TV, there’s no drama but when you’re on the fairway, you can’t see it because it’s going up a mountain.
There’s just not many really good holes going uphill. It just doesn’t happen.
Q: SO WHAT IS THAT ATTRACTED YOU TO GOLF COURSE DESIGN POST YOUR PLAYING CAREER?
CP: I’ve always loved the golf course design aspect. I had drawings when I was a five year-old, when I just started playing of me drawing out a golf course, a map and we had it at home.
So it’s something that I’ve always loved.
And I’ve taken photos from about 1993 or around then of nearly every hole I’ve played that I’ve played on the PGA Tour or the European Tour. So I’ve got this catalogue of golf holes that are the best in the world and you learn quite a bit over many years of playing.
And you can see what happens to golf courses and how they’re not improved. Some of the work that gets done you just bite your lip sometimes and other times I voice my opinion and say ’this is crap’.
At the end of the day, every one of the golf courses that I’m associated with, you can go and contact them and they will say ‘our golf course has improved’ and the membership have enjoyed what I’ve done at the golf course.
So there’s not one of them you’ll get a bad comment. And that’s all on our Instagram and I just love doing it.
Q: WHAT IS IT ABOUT COFFS HARBOUR THAT MADE YOU WANT TO PUT UP YOUR HAND FOR THIS JOB?
CP: The job came up and Justin (Sheehan) called me and said we’re doing a Master Plan, do you want to put your hand up for it?
Justin’s seen some of the work that I’ve done at Teven, Cabramatta. He spoke to Spraggsy at Tuncurry.
I just love doing it. Love improving the golf course. And at the end of the day there’s nothing better than the membership coming past you in the street and going ‘love what you’re doing with our golf course’ because there’s so many golf courses that don’t get improved.
You think about how many golf courses have changed over the period of say the last decade, how many have improved?
Not many. And it’s not the way it should be.
Q: YOU’RE LOOKING AT THE COFFS HARBOUR GOLF CLUB’S LAYOUT AND YOU’VE BEEN TAKING PLENTY OF NOTES. LET’S SAY YOU STARTED ON THE FIRST TEE. WHAT IS IT YOU’RE LOOKING AT WHILE YOU’RE STANDING THERE?
CP: I’m looking at the size of the tee for the length of the hole. So if it’s a shorter par-4 you know there’s going to be divots on the tee so you’ll need to have a larger tee. This one’s a par-4 that’s average length, there’s not going to be divots everywhere, the sun is getting on to the tee so there’s no shadowing effects happening on the tee. Does the tee line-up with the fairway? Looking down the fairway, do any trees encroach on to the fairway that have been growing for 20-30 years that no-one’s seen?
I might come in and say ‘look that one’s popping out a little too far, we just need to trim it back’.
More or less what it is is looking at the hole. Looking at the hole, how can you play it? How can it be improved? Does it need to be in a different location, the tee itself to make it better?
Just all of those little things that come into play. You can’t do it quickly. You have to spend time. I took photos of every tee shot, second shot and around the green. I wrote down a lot of notes yesterday, put them on the computer last night to check that everything was the correct image and you could see what I was actually trying to say in my notes related to the photo.
It’s just a lot of knowledge over many years.
Q: IS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOUR KNOWLEDGE HAS LED YOU TO BELIEVE ABOUT GOLF COURSES?
Golf courses are over-bunkered as a rule. And it’s an architect’s poor way of penalising golfers. That’s the way I see it.
When I was a good player playing on the PGA Tour, I’d hit it in a bunker once a week. I’d be in one bunker for the whole week. In Australia I might be in two or three. That’s for a week. So the better player you are, you don’t hit it into fairway bunkers or greenside bunkers because you know how far you’re going to hit it.
The average player doesn’t know how far they’re going to hit it, they’re a nightmare for them and as I say I think golf courses are just over bunkered too often.
I’ve done Teven and we’ve only got a minimal amount of bunkers. We’ve got eight bunkers and one of those is a fairway bunker. Seven greenside bunkers in nine holes and it’s so much fun to play. The feedback that we’re getting is that everyone enjoys it and it’s just in really good shape.
Q: SO THE 9TH HOLE AT COFFS HARBOUR IS THE ONLY HOLE WITHOUT A BUNKER BUT IT’S STILL A FUN HOLE TO PLAY. YOU CAN SHOOT A BIRDIE THERE BUT YOU CAN JUST AS EASILY MAKE A DOUBLE BOGEY.
CP: Out of bounds is your penalty there, both sides. Out of bounds left with the work sheds and you’ve got the car park right. It’s a bit of a bowl the green, so it sort of collects the ball, you only have to hit the ball in the air and it comes down. Which is fine, it’s really hard to make a good green going uphill. They’re just very, very rare.
You think of the great uphill holes in the world there’s not that many. Kingston Heath has got the 15th hole, par-3. You’ve got Royal Melbourne number seven, it goes up a hill. Augusta, the 18th goes up a hill. You don’t actually see the ball land at Augusta. All you see is the bunker in the front, you can see the edge of the green and then you don’t see the next part of the green. So it’s actually a hidden green. You can see it when you’re watching on TV, there’s no drama but when you’re on the fairway, you can’t see it because it’s going up a mountain.
There’s just not many really good holes going uphill. It just doesn’t happen.
Q: SO WHAT IS THAT ATTRACTED YOU TO GOLF COURSE DESIGN POST YOUR PLAYING CAREER?
CP: I’ve always loved the golf course design aspect. I had drawings when I was a five year-old, when I just started playing of me drawing out a golf course, a map and we had it at home.
So it’s something that I’ve always loved.
And I’ve taken photos from about 1993 or around then of nearly every hole I’ve played that I’ve played on the PGA Tour or the European Tour. So I’ve got this catalogue of golf holes that are the best in the world and you learn quite a bit over many years of playing.
And you can see what happens to golf courses and how they’re not improved. Some of the work that gets done you just bite your lip sometimes and other times I voice my opinion and say ’this is crap’.
At the end of the day, every one of the golf courses that I’m associated with, you can go and contact them and they will say ‘our golf course has improved’ and the membership have enjoyed what I’ve done at the golf course.
So there’s not one of them you’ll get a bad comment. And that’s all on our Instagram and I just love doing it.
Q: WHAT IS IT ABOUT COFFS HARBOUR THAT MADE YOU WANT TO PUT UP YOUR HAND FOR THIS JOB?
CP: The job came up and Justin (Sheehan) called me and said we’re doing a Master Plan, do you want to put your hand up for it?
Justin’s seen some of the work that I’ve done at Teven, Cabramatta. He spoke to Spraggsy at Tuncurry.
I just love doing it. Love improving the golf course. And at the end of the day there’s nothing better than the membership coming past you in the street and going ‘love what you’re doing with our golf course’ because there’s so many golf courses that don’t get improved.
You think about how many golf courses have changed over the period of say the last decade, how many have improved?
Not many. And it’s not the way it should be.