After three years of discussion and preparation, the North Course at Torrey Pines is finally having its date with a bulldozer this year. The renovation is set to begin the day after this year’s Farmers Insurance Open and slated to take six months to complete.
Tom Weiskopf, a PGA Tour veteran who had his first Tour win at Torrey Pines in 1968, and his design group will execute the redesign plan originally awarded to Phil Mickelson. City of San Diego Golf Operations manager Mark Marney says the core concepts of the plan remain intact with only subtle differences in Weiskopf’s execution as opposed to Mickelson’s.
“There were core things we wanted to have and then it came down to what we could afford,” Marney said of a project that’s tabbed to cost between $12 million and $14 million.
The core objectives are to rebuild, enlarge and re-contour greens, add greenside and fairway bunkers, renovate the cart path system, and add a new irrigation and pumping system. Players shouldn’t find the course tougher, Marney said, and some might even find it more accessible.
“The course isn’t getting any longer,” he said, “and we’re rebuilding a few tee boxes and adding an extra set of forward tees.”
Increases in difficulty and cost have been the primary concerns expressed by locals, some of whom play up to 150 rounds a year at Torrey Pines. For them, the North Course is a reprieve from the challenges of the tougher South Course, site of the 2008 U.S. Open that also will play host to the 2021 national championship.
“For a lot of them, it’d be pretty brutal to play the South all the time,” Marney said. “The North is a little more forgiving and we have players who prefer that.”
Marney said Torrey Pines hasn’t raised its rates in five years and that any future increase won’t be tied to construction costs. The North hosts between 80,000 and 85,000 rounds a year – nearly 20,000 more than the South – and Marney said it was long overdue for an update of the original William Bell design.
Amateur and professional players will benefit, Marney said, as the North is used during the first two days of the Farmers Insurance Open. During the tournament, the North on average plays three strokes easier than the South, a gap Marney said the new North layout could close if tournament officials so choose.
“They’ll have an opportunity to pick some pin positions that will make it as tough as they want to make it,” he said. “But I’m not sure Tour players want us to close that gap. They like having the chance to go over to the North and shoot something lower and make hay when the sun shines.”
Marney is looking forward to the Tour players’ reviews of the new North Course at the Farmers Insurance Open in 2017. Lots of dirt and sand will be moved between now and then – and possibly even water. An El Nino winter could hamper construction, but Marney said delaying the project again wasn’t an option.
“Every time we delay, the construction costs increase. If we put it off again, the costs could’ve gone up another 10 percent,” he said. “Next year is uncertain too. We need to plan and be as ready as we can be.”
The project is scheduled to be completed several months before the 2017 Farmers is played. That’ll provide ample time for the course to round into shape, with sodding instead of seeding the greens being done to expedite the conversion.
“That’ll give us a finished green surface sooner but there are some risks involved,” Marney said. “We’ll have to put in extra work to make sure we don’t get outside material (such as undesired grasses, weeds) in the turf, and we’ll have time to fix any construction scars.”
Overall, Marney said after years of delay that Torrey Pines officials are thrilled about getting the project started and eager to see it through.
“We’ve got a good plan and a great designer and contractor who understand what we’re looking for,” he said. “I’m excited about the time when we’ll finally have the big unveiling.”
