‘Terrible’ Tom Isn’t
By Janina Parrott Jacobs
Cedar River designer, the late Tom Weiskopf, was not known as a nice guy. Ruthless as a competitor with a quick temper, his people skills weren’t exactly optimal. However, after winding down a long career as a PGA touring professional, his work as a course architect changed everything and he actually enjoyed the camaraderie and collaboration in designing some of the best golf courses around the world.
“At some golf and ski complexes, I’d see people flying down the ski hills laughing and joking as they ended their runs. It was pure joy. I asked myself why I didn’t have that when stepping off the 18th hole?” Weiskopf once said.
Tom did find the joy, but only after switching gears toward course design. And there was one other item: he wanted ALL golfers to enjoy his courses, not just the men.
The Cedar River course at Shanty Creek was woman-friendly right out of the box. In a little known tale, designer Tom Weiskopf wanted to showcase how the course played for women. I met Tom during the evening cocktail party prior to the course’s Grand Opening media events in June of 1999, and he immediately quipped, “You look like a golfer….what’s your handicap?”
I had just come from Hidden River Golf and Casting Club after conducting a Golf Digest Best New Course rating and hadn’t bothered to change for the outdoor festivities on an uncharacteristically hot, humid 90+ degree evening. I was competing nationally then and told him it was 2. He answered, “Well then, you should be playing golf with me!” At the time, Tom was designing the original Forest Dunes course and I jokingly suggested we play golf somewhere when he was in the area.
“I have a better idea,” he replied. “Why don’t you play the Opening Exhibition with me tomorrow morning? That way, the women can see how the course plays for them, from the forward locations….and the men can see me play from the back and regular tees.
“If I ask you to hit a drive over there, or to putt at some point on the green to show architectural items of note, you can do that, right? We don’t need to keep score and if we hit a bad shot we can drop another ball. Does that sound good? Will you do it?”
Flabbergasted, I accepted. He said he’d set it up and walked away. One of my editors heard this exchange and asked, “WHAT just happened here?”
I replied, “Well, whatever it was, I couldn’t have orchestrated this if I’d tried.”
The next day was magical. Tom and I played 18 holes with caddies, in front of about 400 people. We walked and talked, hit good shots and some not-so good ones, but traversed a well-designed and fun course that today, is probably the most popular choice at Shanty Creek. It is in fabulous shape and the greens putt like smooth tabletops with challenging contours. Playing there recently in August, I noted the red Forward Tees are still a good test, and yes, a little longer than I recall from 24 years ago!!
The course is scenic and pastoral, with a good mix of uphill and downhill shots, and not too many forced carries anywhere. It is still playable for women but here’s an interesting twist: on every Red forward tee, you’ll note a set of Gold tees on the same box, about five to ten yards behind the Red tees. There seems to be a mysterious stigma about senior or shorter-hitting men hitting from Red tees, even though they might be the ideal yardage. But here, the gents will gladly play from the Golds, simply because they are not the Reds.
We lost Tom this year but my memories of him will remain as one moment in time when a top touring professional and course designer truly cared about his women’s course set up….and wanted to show it off.
