COURSE
REVIEWS
Laurel Island Links: Love Lends Just the Right Touch
By Derek Duncan,
Senior Writer
KINGSLAND, GA — No longer is it as novel as it once was to boast that a golf course was “designed” by a PGA Tour player. How many clubs today can claim theirs is an Arnold Palmer course? Or Jack Nicklaus? Or even Hale Irwin? Hundreds.
But how many can say theirs is designed by Davis Love III?
At latest count, there are only eight, and one of them, Laurel Island Links, is in Kingsland, Georgia.
Kingsland
seems an unlikely
place to find
the rare (for
the moment)
Love course.
This small town
a few miles
over the Florida
border on I-95
is primarily
a support system
for the Kings
Bay Naval Base,
and little things
here still mean
a lot. A new
traffic light
was recently
installed at
the entrance
to the golf
course, and
as Marketing
Director Angela
Wigger notes,
“This was
exciting to
us!”
In true small-town form, Laurel Island Links is owned by the city. Says Wigger, “Players who don’t know that it’s a city owned course before they play are really surprised to find that out. It offers playability for golfers of all skill levels. I can certainly attest to that as I am one of the country’s worst players but I do thoroughly enjoy playing the front nine.”
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Love founded his architecture firm, Love Enterprises and Associates, along with his brother Mark in 1994. Until that point, Love had declined to “design” golf courses the way many active touring pros do, which is to basically accept money for the rights to associate their name with a project, show up on a handful of days for media and marketing events, and sometimes offer course suggestions in general ways.
Taking more of a cue from Ben Crenshaw, who works extensively on-site with architect Bill Coore on one or two courses at a time, Love and company (Mark Love, Bob Spence, Paul Cowley, and Scott Drader) chose jobs primarily in the South so they can visit regularly, work only three or four projects at a time, and walk the properties themselves to develop the routing plan.
Laurel Island,
softly shaped
and tinged in
gentle southern
atmosphere,
opened in 1997
and is Love’s
second course.
The light touch
and quiet interaction
with nature
on display here
has already
become a Love
trademark. As
Mark Love explains,
"We try
to do very traditional
courses. The
No. 2 Course
at Pinehurst
was one of our
dad’s favorite
courses and
Davis and I
always have
it in our minds
when we’re
designing a
course."
"In all the courses we do, we try to find a blend of challenges. We want the good golfers to go to the back tees and have a challenge, but like No. 2, we like for them to be open so that you can always find your ball and have a shot.” What drama there is at Laurel Island Links is primarily found in the scenery rather than the shotmaking.
The beginning hole, a 386-yard par four that curves slightly left around a bunker, depicts the fine, traditional elements of the design. The flowing fairway here is wide (as it is with most holes) and the right front opening to the green suggests an approach from the right. A bunker protects short and left and the green curves behind it, rising at the rear center. It’s a guileless opening hole that offers clear guidance on how it should be played.
In an interview
with Links Magazine,
Davis Love (pictured)
explained his
thoughts on
this: “I
see the trend
of trying to
make a golf
course more
difficult, and
I see [the players]
getting excited
when we go back
to something
old and traditional.
It doesn't mean
it has to be
boring or plain.
I just think
that older style
courses require
more thought
in the design,
and they require
a little more
thought in playing
them.”
Thoughtful is an apt word for the Laurel Island Links defenses. The greens are generally protected on one side or the other with a bunker that usually quarters toward the opening. This simple recurrent bunker placement calls for basic yet intelligent shotmaking as it promotes the importance of drives to the appropriate side of the fairway in order to procure the open angle of attack. The 4th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 18th all clearly favor one angle of approach over others.
The wonderful greens share similar characteristics as well. Many are angled behind bunkers (as stated above) and feature a hogback swale of some degree in the center, essentially dividing the green into two sloping segments. While many are subtle, several, including the 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, and 18th are severe challenges, both to the approach and the putt.
The majestic
15th hole, 450
yards from the
back tees, resembles
a composite
of the best
aspects of Laurel
Island Links’
green complexes.
Because of a
large bunker
at the green’s
front right,
the best approach
is from the
left. A deep,
penal fairway
bunker guards
this side of
the fairway
and a water
hazard follows
up the left.
The large green
is raised at
the center,
fading toward
the rear right
behind the bunker,
which makes
it difficult
to reach a center
or back pin.
The placement in the round of the holes along Crooked River basin is an interesting and somewhat controversial choice. The marsh serves as a spectacular hazard guarding the entire left sides of the second and third holes and the rear of the par five sixth. These holes are used to pique interest early in the round, much like at Spyglass Hill where the dunes and dramatic ocean views are implemented on the first four holes before the course enters the forest for good.
One can’t
help but wonder
about the overall
effect had the
two nines been
flipped and
the front been
routed in the
opposite direction.
Certainly the
possibility
of climactic
marsh holes
at the sixteenth
and seventeenth
is an appealing
thought.
Still, this is beautiful, meditative golf at Laurel Island Links, enough to make northerners who stop to play it on their way to Florida envious. Do the locals of small Kingsland realize what a wonderful golf course they have?
Laurel Island
Links
233 Marsh Harbour
Parkway
Kingsland, GA
31548
(912) 729-7277
Location
Laurel Island is approximately 25 minutes north of Jacksonville, FL. From Jacksonville take I-95 north to Georgia exit 6 and head east for two miles. Laurel Island Parkway will be on the left.
Rates
Green fees in March and April and from September to November 25 are $55 weekdays, $60 weekends. April to September rates are $50 and $55 respectively. November 26 through December is $45 and $50. Special rates and values are available throughout the year for local and area residents, as well as local hotel guests. Annual memberships are available for $1,200 with no initiation fee.
Walkability
An added bonus is this course’s walkability, which is permitted after 2pm. Despite some obvious environmental constraint, the layout at Laurel Island Links strives to remain tight. While there are a handful of necessary hikes between holes, they are manageable for the fit and the course is flat. Take advantage of their hoofing policy in the afternoons.
Vitals
Opened: 1997
Architect: Love
Enterprises
and Associates
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,011;
6,564; 6,191;
5,611; 5,498
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