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Imagine giving the Mona Lisa a face-lift or changing the colors of the Taj Majal to earth tones. Hey, there are some things in life you just don’t do.
That’s why I was surprised – i.e., shocked! -- when I learned recently that the nines of the Monument and Pinnacle courses at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale are being scrambled to create the “New Monument’’ and “New Pinnacle.’’
Good lord, had the owners – Scottsdale-based Troon Golf – lost their collective minds? And did they have to put Troon North’s creator, Tom Weiskopf, in a strait-jacket before performing such surgery?
Turns out, Weiskopf approved and oversaw the transformation, which combined the old front nines of both courses into the New Monument and the old back nines into the New Pinnacle. Troon Golf feels that, if anything, the flip-flop has “improved both golf courses and enhanced the player experience significantly,’’ according to its founder and CEO, Dana Garmany.
“Making changes of this magnitude to two of the game’s most highly acclaimed courses was something we extensively studied and took very seriously,’’ Garmany said of the changes. “But (combining the different nines) was a natural fit, and it also eliminates that gap through the condominiums on the Pinnacle (the long drive from the ninth green to the 10th tee.)’’
To achieve that, Troon North closed the Pinnacle Course this summer with the idea being to “make it look more like the Monument.’’ It’s all part of a two-year, multimillion-dollar project that began last year with the final touch-ups and tweaks scheduled for next summer.
As it stands, the New Monument Course (the “new’’ will eventually be dropped, Garmany said) begins on the No. 1 of the old Monument and ends on No. 9 of the old Pinnacle. Personally, I’ve always thought the Pinnacle’s front nine was the best nine of the four simply because it roamed up and around the namesake Pinnacle Peak. That land is so priceless it once was earmarked for nine holes at the highly private Estancia Club – but that’s another story.
As for the old front nine of the Monument, it was always my second favorite. So putting them both together should be off the charts, although Garmany seemed more psyched about the future prospects of the New Pinnacle where the majority of changes will be made.
That should be interesting because the back nine on the old Pinnacle was my least favorite, mainly because it was too tight with a couple of extremely difficult holes, most notably No. 10. But according to Garmany, more turf has been added to that nine (now the front nine of the Pinnacle) to make it more “visually appealing,’’ and the old No. 10 on the Pinnacle has a green you can now actually see from the fairway.
“All the greens on both courses have been resurfaced with PennLinks bent grass (dating back to last year), and about 30 to 40 bunkers were removed on the old Pinnacle Course,’’ Garmany reported. “That brings it more in line with the Monument,’’ which originally had about half the bunkers of the Pinnacle.
The most dramatic changes, Garmany said, occurred on the old front nine of the Pinnacle, where the eighth hole was converted from a short par 5 (510 yards) to a long par 4 (488 yards), and the old ninth was enhanced with a new green and bunkers. As a result, the New Pinnacle will play to a par 71 while the New Monument remains a par 72.
Why spend millions to mish-mash two of the highest-rated public courses in Arizona golf history? Weiskopf, for one, said it was long over due.
“The course reconfiguration we have undertaken is something we contemplated back in 1996, when we built the second course, the Pinnacle,’’ said Weiskopf, who had teamed up with Jay Morrish in 1989 to build the Monument.
“When the work is complete, both courses will be played exactly as the land dictates, the way Mother Nature intended.’’
The debut of the new courses is set for Oct. 4 – roughly six weeks away. I know it’s crazy, but I kind of understand where Weiskopf and Garmany are coming from in regards to re-marrying the nines to the land, as the new nines now sit closer to each other geographically.
Still, how does Troon North give up all those accolades of yesteryear from virtually every golf publication?
“It’s always controversial when you change courses that have been highly rated,’’ Garmany explained. “But when the changes are complete, we’re confident the new courses will be so good they’ll even supercede those past rankings.’’
My suggestion, play both the New Pinnacle and the New Monument again “for the very first time’’ as soon as possible. Even though the green fees remain the same, both courses still are the highest priced golf experience in Arizona at $75-$90 out of season, and $245-$295 in peak.
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