South Course at Corica Park

Jones Presents Alameda Course

Courtesy of Ron Salsig
Alameda Sun

Rees Jones presented his plans for the Jack Clark South Course to a capacity crowd in the City Council chambers. Jones, perhaps the most famous golf-course architect in America today, explained that he took the job in Alameda because he is committed to public golf and has long admired the work that Greenway Golf has accomplished. He also heard good things about how Alameda supports public golf.

"You were very smart to hire Greenway," Jones said.

Jones said he admired the way original architect Billy Bell routed the holes, and the routing will remain essentially the same in his design.

Some holes may be a bit longer, others shorter. The big difference in his design will be turf conditions which allow him to bring back the ground game. The fairways will be much firmer, allowing the ball to roll, and more undulating. This will put a premium on ball placement off the tee.

"The essence of the design is to bring back an old, classic look," Jones said. "There will be fewer bunkers but more slopes, with firmer fairways. That's where the challenge will be — to position the ball properly."

He explained that he did similar re-designs to Torrey Pines and Bethpage Black (two public courses that hosted the U.S. Open). Greenway founder George Kelley added that he would like to host a USGA championship in Alameda, perhaps a mid-amateur.

Jones said his design is not complete and that he wants to hear what the golfers of Alameda would like to see in their new course before he completes the design. The remainder of the session was an extensive question-and-answer period with the audience.

The architect stated after the meeting that he had a lot of respect for the public golfers in Alameda after hearing their comments.

He especially appreciated the breadth of the junior golf program — not necessarily because that program has produced golfers like James Hahn, but more because the program is geared for the common junior golfer.