tHE EAGLE COURSE

Golf Course Architect: Steve Smyers Design Associate: Patrick Andrews

The New Eagle Course at The TwinEagles Club

A Modern Challenge In A Classic Design

"I believe a golf course should be designed to make every

golfer who plays it a better player by giving them options

that require strategy, creativity and imagination."

—Steve Smyers, architect of the Eagle Course at TwinEagles

In an ancient game whose roots stretch back centuries, the relatively short “Golden Age of Architecture” – roughly the first three decades of the 1900s – did more to define golf than any other single period in the game’s long and storied history. That statement remains true today, and it can easily be argued that it will continue to be so,

regardless of the game’s longevity. In fact, many, if not most, of golf’s hallowed shrines – includ-

ing 22 of the top 25 courses in GOLF Magazine’s current ranking of the “Top 100 Courses in the

U.S.” – were designed and built prior to 1940. And the names of the architects who created those

shrines – names like Macdonald, Raynor, Tillinghast, Thomas, Flynn & Toomey, Colt & Alison,

MacKenzie and certainly Ross – are as recognized and respected by golfers today as the great lay-

outs they created.

Yet, even among its most avid devotees, relatively few know, much less understand, exactly

what defined the Age that defined golf. One who does is golf course architect Steve Smyers and it

is that knowledge and understanding that separates him from the majority of his peers in the field

of modern golf course architecture.

“Classic architecture – the architecture that we associate with the Golden Age – wasn’t

simply plopping down features in random fashion. It was all about fitting a golf course, a golf hole,

even each specific golf shot to the existing landscape,” Smyers explains. “That is the very defini-

tion of classic architecture – fitting golf to its environment.”

That is exactly what Smyers, along with design associate Patrick Andrews, did in designing

the new Eagle Course at The TwinEagles Club in Naples, Fla.

But Smyers and Andrews did more than that. Building a course that stretches more than

7,600 yards from its longest tees and offering more than 2,500 yards difference in its five sets of

markers, the two designers employed classic architectural strategies to create a playing field on a

scale that challenges the skill, conditioning and equipment technology of the contemporary

golfer, while remaining enjoyable and very playable to golfers of every skill level.

The result is a par-72 course that has been selected as annual host of the LPGA Tour’s CME

Group Titleholders Championship, an elite season-ending event that will serve as the ladies’ equiv-

alent to the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship.

“Our primary objective throughout this entire project was to relate the golf course to the

landscape, to make it tie into the landscape so that any features we developed would allow you to

read the golf course,” Smyers explained.

“All of the shapes out here are derived from the landscape. We studied the landscape first

and figured out how the strategy of each hole would emanate from that,” he said.

That design philosophy is evident right from the first tee at the Eagle Course at

Twin Eagles, a par-4 where the gentle bend of the dogleg left perfectly mirrors the forest edge that

frames the entire right side of the hole. It’s further evident from the width of the horizontal green

that connects that same tree line to the water hazard left of the putting surface.

As you go around the course, pay close attention to not only the overall shape of the holes

but the shape of the elements and features within the holes – greens, tees, hazards, bunker com-

plexes and more. Now, look at the landscape that surrounds them and you’ll see that all seem to

be in harmony with one another.

You’ll see that the triangular green at No. 3 reflects the existing perpendicular tree lines that

mark a corner of the TwinEagles property. You will notice that the sweeping curvature of the green

at the par-5 fifth perfectly mimics the edge of the water hazard well behind the green.

Throughout the entire course, this interweaving of golf into the existing landscape to

create a seamless, aesthetically pleasing canvas continues to reveal itself. At least, it does for the

knowledgeable golfer who understands and appreciates classic design principles. As Smyers avows,

“That is classic design, classic architecture, interacting with the landscape as much as possible.”

His golf pedigree indicates that the architect of the new Eagle Course knows something of

what he speaks. A member of the University of Florida team that won the 1973 NCAA

Championship, Smyers has competed at the national and international level for six decades – from

his days as a junior to now as a senior. Along the way, he has played in seven U.S. Amateurs, eight

U.S. Mid Amateurs, three British Amateurs and both the U.S. Junior and Senior Amateurs. In 2009,

he won the Senior Crump Cup at Pine Valley, recognized by many as the best course in all of golf,

and finished second at the George Coleman Invitational at Seminole Golf Club, another fixture in

golf’s “top 10.”

In addition to his playing résumé, Smyers served as a member of the USGA Executive Com-

mittee from 2006-12, most recently serving as treasurer, making him the first architect to hold a

a seat on the committee in 116 years. The 2011 recipient of the USGA’s Ike Grainger Award which

recognizes dedication and service to golf, Smyers has chaired the U.S. Mid Amateur Committee for

two years, chaired two USGA committees on turfgrass research and maintenance, served on the

USGA Championship Committee and, last year, was named to the Joint Equipment Standards Com-

mittee of the USGA and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, the ruling body in all

of golf outside the United States.

Smyers literally grew up in golf in his native Texas. As a teen, he caddied for Miller Barber in

the 1969 U.S. Open at Champions Club in Houston. Throughout his playing career, all of it as an

amateur, and his professional career as a course designer, he has traveled to, played and studied the

courses considered the best in the game. All, he says, demonstrate three axioms that are fundamen-

tal to classic architectural design:

Classic golf courses are fitted to, not forced upon, the land they occupy.

Classic course design provides strategic options that allow for a variety of shots.

Classic design rewards or penalizes the player not only on their physical ability to hit well-

executed shots, but their mental discipline and their ability to select the proper shot for

the situation.

In designing the new Eagle Course at TwinEagles, “We wanted to get the golf to interact with

the landscape as much as possible. We worked to identify the dominant features of the existing

landscape and to make the strategy of each hole emanate from that.”

But further, Smyers and Andrews worked to tie the design to the landscape in such a way that

they created what the architect calls “holes within a hole and greens within a green.” This overall

design concept is evident throughout the course but never more so than at the par-5 fifth, par-3

eighth and the drivable par-4 16th holes.

“I always want to provide an option,” the architect explains. “Options confound the great

player because if they don’t make the right decision, then the great player beats himself up. The

average player doesn’t have the multitude of options in their repertoire.”

Smyers’ philosophy, in part, has grown out a favorite quotation from one of the legendary

architects from the game’s Golden Age, a quote that Smyers has kept on his office wall since starting

his own design business in 1984. Alister MacKenzie, whose genius is displayed in works like Cypress

Point, Royal Melbourne, Pasatiempo and Augusta National, wrote:

“Unless we provide golf courses full of intricate problems, players will get

sick of the game without knowing why they have gotten sick of it and

golf will die from a lack of abiding and increasing knowledge.”

Certainly, every player who challenges the Eagle Course will recognize the myriad of “intricate

problems” presented within the layout. The true golfer will be equally quick to recognize the fact

that the Eagle Course always provides a variety of answers, any of which can be correct depending

on the situation. “This golf course is about shotmaking but it’s also about testing your ability to man-

age yourself,” Smyers said. “It’s a mental test and therein lies the stimulation of the game.

“That’s why I say that this golf course takes hundreds of rounds to understand. If you have the

discipline required to play this course – the discipline to manage both your game and yourself – you

can play any course in the world. You’ve got to learn to take your medicine out here. If you put it in a

bad position, manage your way out. Take your medicine, take your one-stroke penalty and get out of

the situation. The beauty of this course is there are places where you can incur penalty shots, but

they are well out of play. Here, you won’t get penalties from hitting it into hazards so much as you

are penalizing yourself by making bad decisions.”

“Pine Valley is the greatest golf course in the world when it comes to demanding you to hit

the right shot for the situation,” Smyers continued. “You can hit good shots all day long at Pine

Valley and be dead because you didn’t choose the right shot to hit. You could have hit a good shot,

but you didn’t hit the right shot. And that’s what this place is all about. And that’s what any great

golf course is about – hitting the right shot for the occasion.”

That is one of the defining tenets of classic design. And as Joe Passov, current architecture

editor for GOLF Magazine, observed when he was senior editor of Links Magazine,“ Steve Smyers

doesn't just reveal his understanding of the fundamental principles of classic architecture, he illumi-

nates his mastery of them.”

The Eagle Course demonstrates Passov’s observation to perfection. Without exception, every

hump and hollow, every ridge and roll on the TwinEagles layout was placed there for a reason. Some

are there to benefit the prudent player; some are there to penalize the impatient. It is up to the

player alone to study the landscape, analyze their own abilities and emotions, gauge the conditions

and select the proper play. As Smyers offers, at the Eagle Course, the right shot always beats the

good shot. And isn’t that the real hallmark of any great golf course? If you take time to learn this

golf course, you will beat any player who doesn’t understand it. And if you learn this course, learn

the shots to hit and learn how to manage yourself while you manage your way around it,” Smyers

concludes, “you will become a much better player.”

Written by: Reid Nelson

Golf Publicist

No. 1 “Outward Bound” Par 4; 414 – 396 -383 – 338 - 285 A modest par-4 by today’s standards, the opening hole is set against a forest to the right so that the tree line indicates the movement of the hole. The strategy of the hole emanates from the broad, but shallow horizontal green that Smyers’ design team created to connect the tree line to the water hazard on the left. Because of its width, the green has been divided into left and right tiers – higher on the right as you would expect as your eye moves from the tall trees down to the water. The two-tiered green produces what the designer calls “holes within a hole,” a concept that runs through the entire Eagle Course. “Basically, the strategy of the hole is related to the putting surface,” Smyers says. “Because we had such a wide space from the forest edge to the water, we needed a wide green to connect the two. But then, we broke it up strategically with the terrace through the middle, so you have two greens within a green. One of the things we always tried to do our here is to build holes within a hole.” The first hole achieves that by presenting two distinct targets – a ramped plateau green on the right with a more receptive bowl guarded by a false front and a miniature version of St. Andrews’ famed Valley of Sin to the left. “We want the strategy of the hole to emanate from where the pin is cut on a particular day. If the pin is right, you want to attack the hole by driving it down as far as you can. If the pin is left, you want to position your drive on the left portion of the fairway because the green is more receptive on that side; it’s more of a punchbowl.”

No. 1 “Outward Bound”

No. 2 “Death Valley” Par 5; 605 -577- 522 – 480 – 421 The name of the second hole comes from the pronounced grass hollow directly behind a kidney-shaped green that bends around a bunker complex at the front left. Whether attacking the green with a long second shot or a short pitch for your third, every precaution must be taken to avoid going right into “Death Valley.” The littoral shelf along the long, narrow lake to the left, as well as the fairway, itself have been shaped to reflect the right to left movement of the existing tree line. The slope of the fairway is contoured to encour-age a draw, the shot a right-hander needs if getting home in two is a goal. “Jack Nicklaus told me personally … that the toughest discipline in the game of golf is to shoot away from your target,” Smyers says, explaining the strategy of the second hole. “That is the Line of Charm that Alister MacKenzie wrote about in The Spirit of St. Andrews. We have that Line of Charm here. From the middle of the fairway, the Line of Charm is directly through the bunkers. We gave you an alternate route, but you have to have the discipline to shoot away from your target. If you really want to manage yourself to take the high score out of play, you have to have discipline. “If you go for a back pin and err short in the bunker or long and right into the valley, it requires the most disciplined golfer to take one’s medicine and play the next shot away from the pin. But the prudent play can prevent the big number. Everything is about risk/reward strategy here and being able to manage your own game,” Smyers says. “If you want to play safe, play your second shot short of the bunker on the left, then play your third shot to the front middle of the green and two-putt for a relatively easy par. That’s Seminole; that’s the strate-gy of Seminole to a tee. The design suckers you into making a high score.”

No. 2 “Death Valley”

No. 3 “Cornered” Par 4; 460 – 418 – 376 – 331 – 274 The name of this “bunkerless” par-4 comes from more than its location on the property. The triangular shape of the putting surface mimics the space it occupies, where tree lines to the right and behind the green meet at a 90-degree angle and a wetland to the left forms the third side. The green has been elevated, so as to be visible from the fairway, but not so much as to hide the tree line at the back. The strategy of the hole again relates to the shape of the green and position of the pin. Drive left to attack holes cut back right and conversely, drive right to go at back left hole locations. The real decision comes when the pin is cut toward the narrow front of the triangle. Note, the ramp leading to the front of the green is wider than the front part of the green so only the most accurate run-up shots will find the surface. “Any front hole location is very demanding,” Smyers says. “The risk/reward decision that must be made is, do I attack a front pin and the narrowest portion of the green or do I hit it past the pin, to the fat part of the green? Or do I lay up short for an easy pitch?” The most important consideration in answering that question may not be the player’s ability to produce a shot but their ability to judge how they are feeling at the moment. “The whole key to this golf course, including this shot, is to understand yourself,” Smyers says.

No. 3 “Cornered”

No. 4 “Narrows” Par 3; 202 – 177 – 167 – 136 – 124 “The area we had for this hole was long and narrow so we created a long, narrow green,” says Smyers, explaining both the design and the name of the hole. “We picked up the back right portion of the green so you could read the ground a bit better. And then, on the left side, we provided a chipping area and on the right side, we put a bunker.” Given the depth of the narrow target, picking the right club at the tee is critical if birdie is the goal. But playing safe to the left leaves a straight-forward chip, making for good chances to save par.

No. 4 “Narrows”

No. 5 “Reverse Redan” Par 5; 572 – 528 – 509 – 472 – 412 The name here comes from the left to right sweep of the green at this par-5 that, with the prevailing wind, will play downwind from tee to green. Not nearly as dramatic as the Reverse Redan that Seth Raynor built at the Country Club of Charleston – a course Smyers calls one of the most underrated in the game – the green will funnel a low running shot played from the left to a middle pin position, around a deep frontal bunker. The ridge leading to the extreme left edge of the green further benefits such low, running shots. “If you want to go at the green in two, play your approach over the first of the three fairway bunkers leading to the green with a slight fade and the ground will take the ball right toward the center of the green,” Smyers says. But all the strategy isn’t confined to the green setting. As Smyers points out, even with a favorable wind, the player must think before automatically reaching for the driver on the tee “because downwind, we are going to make the golfer hit it right along the right edge of the lefthand bunker,” he explains. “If you hit it there, the ball lands and trundles out to the middle of the fairway. If you push it, the way the bunkers move, you’re going to hit it in the se-cond bunker on the right every time. So the hole places tight demands on the tee shot if you want to reach in two. “If you want to take all the trouble out of play,” he adds, “we give the player a tremendous amount of room short of the bunker on the right. The cautious player hits a drive short of that, hits a second shot short of the next set of bunkers, which leaves you 100 yards and you hit a pitch shot on the green. “ Trying to get close to the green in two means hitting to a tighter landing area. But if the pin is cut far right, playing to the portion of the fairway right of the last fairway bunkers should prove worth the risk.

No. 5 “Reverse Redan”

No. 6 “Redan” Par 4; 481 – 431 – 391 – 374 – 328 The Redan green has been reproduced countless times with various degrees of success since it was first built at the 15th hole on North Berwick’s West Course. Charles Blair Macdonald and his protégé, Seth Raynor, built one on nearly every course each of them did. But like Macdonald did in building the fourth hole at National Golf Links and Raynor did with his sixth at Yeamans Hall, not to mention the original, most Redan holes are par-3s. But Smyers saw the land at the end of a long par-4 as perfectly suited for the Redan-style green, thus the name of the sixth hole. “What do you do to challenge the elite player? First thing you do is you build a long hole into the pre-vailing wind, which is what we did here” he says, explaining the strategy at the sixth. “You’re going to find out real quick whether they can hit the ball or not.” No doubt, this is a long hole into the prevailing wind, but the golfer has plenty of options, starting with the tee shot. The fairway angles away to the left, effectively widening the landing area, but making it im-portant to pick the proper line off the tee to bite off as much as one can. From the fairway, the Redan green design encourages the run-up shot, especially the low draw. Like the Reverse Redan before it, the contour of the green will help get the ball to middle and back left pins without having to challenge bunkers guarding those hole locations.

No. 6 “Redan”

No. 7 “Thumbprint” Par 4; 472 – 416 – 399 – 377 – 334 Once again, the hole takes its name from its classic green design with its striking “thumbprint” depression dominating the middle front of the putting surface. The thumbprint defines precise targets within an overall gener-ous green, especially when the pin is cut in either front corner. Off the tee, a large bunker pinches the fairway from the right, narrowing the landing area as you move closer to the green. Successfully take on that challenge and you’re left with a shorter approach to one of those small target areas within a shallow, elevated green. But because the green is left open in front, those who want to lay back and take the fairway bunker out of play may consider the run-up shot a better option than the long-range aerial attack. Seth Raynor made repeated use of the thumbprint green in many of his classic designs, including the par-4 second hole at Mountain Lake, the par-3 third hole at Yeamans Hall and the par-3 finishing hole at The Greenbrier’s Old White, site of the PGA Tour’s Greenbrier Classic . And Jack Nicklaus placed an elevated thumbprint green at the end of the 520-yard, par-5 13th hole on TwinEagles’ acclaimed Talon Course.

No. 7 “Thumbprint”

No. 8 “Three-in-One” Par 3; 222 – 194 – 182 – 152 – 129 “Classic architecture is all about connecting the golf holes to the environment. No. 8 green is a great example,” says Smyers. “At No. 8, we had a big, open space. So we created a big green, then created greens within a green. So you have three holes within a hole, based on the hole location.” Building some 15,000 square feet of putting surface, Smyers and Andrews created three template-style target areas within one green – a Redan on the left, punchbowl in the center and plateau to the right. The punchbowl portion of the green is protected by large mounds, front and rear, while a false front guards the plateau to the right. “The whole concept of this course is we have holes within a hole and greens within greens. So as much as any single hole out here, I think this hole demonstrates our design objective with our work here at TwinEagles,” explains the architect. For tournament play, Smyers designed the hole to be played from the longer tees when left hole locations are used, from mid-length tees to middle pins and short distance when the pin is cut back right on the plateau. “With the wind blowing and the pin on the plateau, the hole could play as short as 130 yards and it still be as tough a par as there is on the course.”

No. 8 “Three-in-One”

No. 9 “Hilltop” Par 4; 445 – 420 – 408 – 379 – 318 At the par-4 ninth, a dogleg left fairway bends its way to a dramatically elevated green, thus the name, Hilltop. A bunker complex inside the dogleg conforms to the overall triangular-shaped space the hole occupies. Depending on the pin placement, the player can opt to play short of bunkers, leaving a longer approach but a better angle to right hole locations, or drive to the right of the bunker complex, when the pin is cut in the center or left side of the green. Either way, proper club selection is important because of the false front and run-off areas all the way around this elevated target.

“That’s why I say that this golf course takes hundreds of rounds to

understand. If you have the discipline required to play this course

– the discipline to manage both your game and yourself – you can

play any course in the world.”

No. 9 “Hilltop”

No. 10 “Hourglass” Par 4; 492 – 465 – 432 – 419 – 345 The back nine at the Eagle Course starts with a long par-4 that can play even longer than the yardage when the sea breeze is in the player’s face. The drive must find a fairway set across a ridge, with a long bunker guarding both sides of the landing area. A slight fade fits perfectly between the hourglass bunkers, but players can pass on the challenge by driving short of the bunkers and accepting a longer approach to a green, again protected both left and right by sand. “We give you a bailout and that’s MacKenzie. That’s the Line of Charm,” Smyers says. “If you want to shoot away from the Line of Charm, we give you all the space in the world. You just have to have the discipline to play away from the direct line to the target.”

No. 10 “Hourglass”

No. 11 “Lion’s Mouth” Par 4; 477 – 451 – 413 – 368 – 316 Running parallel to, but in the opposite direction of No. 10, this is the second straight long par-4. But as Smyers explains, these two holes will always play much differently in a given round. “The 11th is downwind with the sea breeze,” he says. “So one of these two will play long, one short, depend-ing on whether you have the land breeze or the sea breeze. But they are never going to play the same.” At 11, a generous driving area leads to a green wrapped around a deep, frontal bunker – “the Lion’s Mouth.” The original Lion’s Mouth guards the green at No. 13 at St. Andrews, but there, the namesake bunker sits some 30 yards short of the green, so its impact on the hole is diminished from what may be the most famous Lion’s Mouth bunker in golf. Seth Raynor put real teeth in this template feature when he built his Lion’s Mouth at the Country Club of Charleston’s 16th hole. At the Eagle Course, Smyers took his cue from Raynor, wrapping the putting surface tightly around his Lion’s Mouth bunker to make maximum use of the hazard both visually and psychologically. With water right and another bunker left, the player can choose between three options – run-up areas to either side of the central Lion’s Mouth or take the aerial approach.

No. 11 “Lion’s Mouth”

No. 12 “Lofty Approach” Par 3; 233 – 205 – 177 – 137 – 95 To this point, options have presented themselves at every turn of the new Eagle Course. But at the par-3 12th, Smyers strongly suggests the aerial approach with his use of a large bunker to protect more than two-thirds of a horizontal green. A narrow opening will allow a run-up shot to find the left side of the putting surface and gentle grading in the approach area will aid the player brave enough to aim at the narrow entryway. “Even though there is a bailout area, the 12th is one of the few holes that encourage a high-lofted ap-

proach shot,” Smyers says. “But for players who don’t have that, we offer the left side, and the opportunity to

use the contours to feed the tee shot onto the green.”

As Smyers puts it, classic design always gives the player a map as to how

best to play the hole. The true genius of the architects of golf’s Golden

Age was their ability to see that same map in the existing landscape,

even before they started construction of the course, then to route and

build the course accordingly.

No. 12 “Lofty Approach”

No. 13 “Cape” Par 5; 471 – 440 – 400 – 368 – 339 Macdonald is credited with the Cape design, having first built what has become one of golf’s template holes at National Golf Links. There, the true Cape hole requires both tee shot and approach carry the same body of water at the par-4 14th. But over time, the Cape name has become more associated with any hole where an intervening hazard demands the player “bite off” as much yardage as they dare to reach a fairway that runs away on a diagonal. This is exactly what the Eagle Course asks at the 13th, a reachable par-5 that wraps left to right around a large lake. For the boldest players, fairway bunkers inside the dogleg add to the carry. But more prudent play-ers can take both sand and water out of play with a drive left of the bunkers into the corner of the dogleg. “We give you the opportunity to bite off as much as you want, but in keeping with MacKenzie’s Line of Charm, we give you all the room you want to bail out left off the tee,” Smyers explains. The long, narrow green cants from high left to low right, with a bunker right. Front left hole locations can be attacked by air or, for those looking to reach in two, with a run-up shot that takes advantage of a ramped approach. A mound to the left can be utilized to kick the running shot toward the hole. Front right pins are approached through or over a valley, while the back portion of the green is bowled to help contain longer approach shots. Again, the green demonstrates Smyers’ “holes within a hole” design concept, with three distinct green segments requiring innovative shots to best reach each.

No. 13 “Cape”

No. 14 “Twin Hollows” Par 5; 580 – 553 – 496 – 453 – 420 A par-5 that mimics the forest edge to the right of the hole, the 14th derives its strategy and its name from its distinctive green complex. An elevated target that grows continually wider from front to back, the green is protected both left and right by deep grass hollows that swallow up any approach that strays from its intended line. Because of the green’s narrow at the front, wide at the back shape, players need to plan their second shot to leave the best angle to the pin. If the pin is back right, consider playing short left of three fairway bunkers with your second shot. But with the pin back left, the best play is long and right of those same bunkers. Either way, the approach must be precisely judged to avoid a large depression in the middle of the green. If one is to reach this par-5 in two, the tee shot must avoid trees right and water left. Doing so leaves a second shot that must carry the fairway bunkers to reach a ramp leading directly into the middle of the green. Push or pull the long second a bit and the ball is sure to find one of the hollows. The more conservative play off the tee with a three-wood finds a much wider landing area.

No. 14 “Twin Hollows”

No. 15 “Pleading the Fifth” Par 4; 501 – 457 – 418 – 379 – 320 “This is one of my favorite holes on the course,” the designer admits. “It’s a long hole that is reminiscent of the fifth hole at Augusta National because of the type of shot it affords the player on their approach to the green.” Smyers knows all about that particular hole at the Masters venue. As a member of the USGA Executive Com-mittee, he has served as the hole official at No. 5 during the Masters and watched young players, trying to approach the green with high lofted shots, struggle to get close to any pin cut on the upper, back ledge. “Tom Watson came in there – this was just a few years ago – and he hit a bump-and-run shot , landed it well short, rolled right up and he was the closest one to the pin,” Smyers recalls. With its false front and gentle spine that divides the upper plateau left and right, the 15th at the Eagle Course will accommodate, even encourage, the same type shots. And with no bunkers on the hole, the entire terrain is open to the ground game.

No. 15 “Pleading the Fifth”

No. 16 “Short” Par 4; 309 – 285 – 246 – 219 – 173 The three-hole finishing stretch called “Smyers’ Smackdown” begins with a drivable par-4 that offers a myriad of options from the tee, all of which must take into consideration the deep depression left of the green called the “Toll Booth.” Only the most skillfully played recovery shots will find the green from this grass hollow; all others will have to “pay the price.” If conditions are favorable and your game is solid, have a go at the green with the driver. Or play short on a line with the green with less club and try to find the ramp leading into the putting surface. This will require negotiating a series of bunkers on and to the right of a direct line to the hole. More conservative yet, a lay-up tee shot into a bowl to the left some 90-100 yards short of the green will leave a wedge approach up the length of a vertical green. Regardless of the route chosen, the ultimate target is a severely elevated Biarritz-style green. But unlike the original in France or Macdonald’s famed Biarritz ninth hole at the Yale Club, the trough doesn’t extend completely across the green, stopping short of the left side. “Make your decision based on pin position, wind and, most importantly, your own feeling and emotion at the moment,” Smyers advises. “But whatever you do, avoid the Toll Booth or you’ll pay for your mistake.”

No. 16 “Short”

No. 17 “Forest’s Edge” Par 3; 184 – 169 – 166 – 135 – 114 The penultimate hole at the Eagle Course is a medium length par-3 set against a cypress forest and associated wetlands. The wetland theme is continued through a water hazard that must be carried from the longer tees. But more forward tees, set right of the water, provide an opening into a kidney-shaped green that wraps around a frontal bunker from front right to back left.

“If you take time to learn this golf course, you will beat any player who doesn’t under-stand it. And if you learn this course, learn the shots to hit and learn how to manage yourself while you manage your way around it,” Smyers concludes, “you will become a much better player.”

No. 17 “Forest’s Edge”

No. 18 “Home” Par 4; 514 – 482 – 444 – 398 – 341 “I’ve always felt that a great course and a great championship should end with a stern hole that applies pressure on every shot you play” Symers says of the longest par-4 on the course. “With the pressure on, we want-ed to provide the total examination of the player’s ability to cope with the situation and produce the shots de-manded of a champion.” More than just length challenges the player at the Home hole. This dogleg right requires a precise tee shot be fitted between bunkers left and right to find a fairway that turns gently across a ridge. From there, a long ap-proach shot is played to the second largest green on the course, leaving the potential for lengthy first putts with less than precise approach shots. “Under the gun, even the most talented player has trouble giving perfect weight to a long lag putt.. What defines true champions is their ability to control the nerves as well as the hands to not only make a good first putt, but to hole the four- to six-footer that might follow.” A strong hole that demands four well-executed shots: to Steve Smyers, it is the only fitting way to finish a round that provides a total examination of one’s golf game, whether it’s the LPGA Titleholders trophy or a $2 Nassau on the line.

No. 18 “Home”

The TwinEagles Club is located in prestigious Naples, Florida, just six miles east of I-75 via Immokalee Road (exit 111). For more information about The TwinEagles Club, model homes/home sites or tee times, please visit www.twineagles.com or call the club concierge at 239-354-1700 or the pro shop at 239-352-2121.