Up and Down at Meadowbrook Country Club
Some brief thoughts from Andy Staples on his renovation work at the club
When a pro golfer hits a shot thin, they typically say something like, “I caught that one a groove low” or something similarly tour-saucy. I’m not sure how many grooves up the face is the right one to hit an 8-iron on the sweet spot, but my thin shots tend to be at least two grooves low, or maybe three, or sometimes there aren’t even grooves involved in the contact. Such was the case on the tee of the par-3 8th hole at Meadowbrook Country Club.
It was my first round at Meadowbrook, and throughout the morning I had been enjoying the bold shapes and contours on the course. The 8th hole was no exception, with a green that had a moderately severe back to front tilt, and behind the green a steep falloff. As my ball rocketed across the green, it found that steep slope, and continued running until it reached a bunker some 10-15 yards beyond the surface.
As I reached my ball and analyzed my impossible situation, standing on the 9th tee a few feet away and with a perfect view from above and over my shoulder were Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg, whose team had organized the event we were playing in, and golf architect Andy Staples, who headed the 2016 renovation of the course that we were playing, a project undertaken to honor the 100th anniversary of the original Willie Park, Jr. design at Meadowbrook.
I don’t recall if any words of encouragement were shared, but I certainly heard some laughter aimed in my direction as the result of my predicament. The resulting shot was seemingly forgettable - the ball predictably ending up well off the front of the green - but apparently not so for Mr. Staples. As a part of my article last summer highlighting the Fried Egg event held at The Mines, I had reached out to Andy (Staples, not Johnson) for some comments on the event at the Meadowbrook from the previous year. He may have been humoring me, but when I mentioned the embarrassing shot from that 8th hole, he recalled it and revealed that he had been in that bunker himself a time or two before.
And thus began my communication with Andy Staples, who could not have been more thoughtful with his answers or more generous with taking time out of his busy schedule. In conjunction with my release of the digital recreation of Meadowbrook CC in PGA 2k23, here are some of Andy’s thoughts on Meadowbrook, and what it was like seeing a collection of golf architecture nerds having a great time experiencing his design.
CL: While I'm sure not everyone at [The Fried Egg event] fit under the same umbrella, for the most part the participants were all followers of the Fried Egg content of some sort, and therefore could be considered to be somewhere between partial to complete golf architecture nerds. I imagine for a private course like Meadowbrook, at the end of the day feedback from the membership is most important, but what is it like to play alongside and observe a large field like the Fried Egg group playing your course?
AS: I like this question. My first reaction is attending this type of gathering is good from a perspective of how Meadowbrook fits in with other courses that could be considered “similar.” For example, I received recently a question about why the 5th hole was designed as a punch bowl green, since it was one of the shorter holes. That’s a pretty detailed, aware question, coming from a bit of experience with other punchbowl greens, and it takes a fair bit of knowledge of other courses to come up with that thought. I do pick up a lot of good feedback, and questions and perspective that I don’t normally get from players looking to shoot a low score, or perhaps even getting the ball air born!
By the way, the answer to that question is I intended that hole to play longer, with more players having a harder time reaching the top of the hill, and getting down the slope. I actually moved the tees closer to the green and shortened the hole during construction based on this concern. So, I’m hopeful to get back to the hole and adjust the tees by a few yards to make this hole play a bit more difficult, with a longer approach! I can’t say the adjustment to the course was completely in response to the question from the group, but it does reflect a level of knowledge that can be considered.
CL: Do you pick up anything unique from the feedback that you can take with you and help you improve future projects?
AS: I can’t say this feedback is always that impactful in terms of specific feedback for future projects, but it does make me generally aware of areas where I need to continue to be focused on. This could be areas such as pinnacle area on the greens, course set up, tee yardages and locations, and overall support for fairway width and the impact of long grass. There is a contrasting view also here that is related to washing all golf courses into making every golf course look and play similar. I do think the architecture crowd can fall deeply into group think, and this can be construed as being narrow minded. Funny thing here though, is I mostly agree with the group!
CL: To expand on that idea more generally, as you go back and revisit previous courses that you built, are you always learning things about the courses and how they change over time that affect your future work? Or is each property, owner, and project so unique that you actually have to compartmentalize each one in order to make sure that you don't copy or repeat themes from previous courses?
AS: I’m always learning from one project to the other, especially related to location and scope of work. Examples here pertain to how to handle green expansions on old push up greens, or how other courses have gone about converting old rough grass into cool flowing fescue. Each project is unique, and generally will have their sets of goals and objectives (and budgets), but nothing can replace real world knowledge, and having an ever growing set of experiences to rely on when clubs entrust you to get the work done, and build something unique, and fun to play.
CL: What has your experience with Meadowbrook and/or Michigan golfers been like, and are you hopeful to do more work in the state in the future?
AS: As someone that was born and raised in Wisconsin, but spent many summers in the Upper Peninsula, I felt like I had a head start on working in the State. But, in actuality, it was far better than I ever imagined. The Club has been incredible, and the people across the State have been supportive, and extremely helpful. There’s no doubt I had to answer the question of “why would you hire a guy from Arizona??” a few times. But, I hope we answered that question well, and will plan to continue to be supportive of the golf and turf industry across Michigan for many years to come!
Once again, I appreciate Andy Staples taking the time to provide some thoughtful answers to my questions about Meadowbrook. At the risk of wearing out my welcome, I have a few non-Meadowbrook questions that I am going to pester Andy with, as well, so hopefully there will be a Part 2 to this discussion in the future!