Final Thoughts On Harding Park's Successful Week, Now About Those Bunkers...

The TPCesque marble tee signs are aging gracefully

After Torrey Pines next year and Bethpage’s Ryder Cup in 2025, the major event schedule mostly returns to country clubs or high end resorts (I’m not sure how we’ll characterize Frisco’s PGA Championship course under construction, but it will be open to the public).

As Garrett Morrison wrote in lamenting the winding down of muni major sites, San Francisco hasn’t quite gotten what it hoped for with the $23 million renovation PGA Tour Design Services 2003 effort and the grifting that could have funded refurbishments on all of the city courses.

Still, there is no price to put on the images that came out of San Francisco on east coast prime time and the perfect conclusion to Harding’s resurrection. The course will have just that much more cache when it becomes the regular site of a Steph Curry-hosted fall Tour event and while it’s not a major, the schedule is booked well down the road with no obvious opening until 2031 or so.

While the front nine can get redundant or downright goofy at the 8th, as I noted here with the ShotLink evidence on my side, the back nine presents a pretty stout set of holes and grand conclusion. While the 16th may not be a future template hole, the scatter charts demonstrate a huge variety of ways it was attacked over four days. Not many holes, including Riviera’s vaunted 10th, can make that claim in the era of protein shake six packs and packages of bacon for breakfast.

There is one issue that needs to be resolved for both functional and spiritual reasons: the bunker sand.

Leave the blinding stuff to Augusta National or places adjacent to white sand beaches. It works in those places.

At an old San Francisco muni with ancient Monterey Cypress, Harding just needs some old fashioned beige pits with steep faces and thick lips. Good news, they have the example they need on property in the form of The Fleming Course.

The par-3 course used to house TV, the range and the fifth tee, also has much better looking bunkers than “TPC” Harding Park. They also looked to have actual sand in them, unlike on the big course. No one enjoys having the flange of wedges hit pricey liners installed to keep the white stuff clean. Tiger Woods was 0 for 7 until getting up and down 2 of 4 times Sunday. Tiger Woods is no junior varsity bunker player.

So Harding Park, I know another pricey redo to give the bunkers worthy character is not in the budget, nor should it be. But lose the country club sand and we look forward to seeing you ever September starting next year.

A few photos:

TPC Harding Park’s 11th hole (left) and the Fleming Course’s more befitting bunkers next to it featuring beige sand, raised faces and thick lips

The Fleming Course

A Fleming Course hazard with character.