Steve Smyers works wonders at Grande Pines

By Derek Duncan,
Senior Writer

(Note: The author toured Grande Pines with the architect in mid-December prior to its January 2004 opening.)

ORLANDO, Fla. (Dec. 14, 2003) -- Will somebody please give Steve Smyers a good piece of land to work with?

Even though he's clearly established himself among the profession's elite, Smyers is found, year after year, working on properties that most other A-list architects wouldn't touch with a stick. While his peers are repeatedly given mouthwatering locales, the typical Smyers site is flat, constricted, and frequently just plain awful.

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The hex was almost broken last year when he was a finalist for the third course at Bandon Dunes, arguably the commission of the year and a site that would seem perfectly suited for his talents. In the end, however, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw got the job, something even Smyers has difficulty begrudging. "I cannot understand how Bill Coore is not the greatest of all time," he says, "except he builds [his courses] too short for the modern day player. But the sites he gets and the golf courses he builds are better than anybody who's ever lived, and people don't give him the recognition for it."

Even without sites like Bandon -- or more accurately, sites that are usually the antithesis of Bandon -- Smyers continually produces intellectual, classically reverential designs that also have the guts to challenge the best players.

His most recent straw-spinning is the redesign of the beleaguered International Golf Club on International Drive in Orlando, a Marriott owned and operated property now called Grande Pines and opened for play in January 2004.

Though popular, the beleaguered 1986 Joe Lee course was built on a terrible site, plagued by poor drainage and, in places, poor soil. Furthermore Smyers was forced to confine his redesign to the existing playing corridors, hemmed in by condominiums and wetlands (an early plan had the course routed backwards but this idea was scratched due to liability concerns).

After amending the surface/subsurface issues and clearing away much of the vegetation that suffocated the holes, Smyers took to lengthening the course (to 7,000 yards) and extensively reshaping and repositioning the green sites. The once ordinary, low profile greens are now elevated or "popped up," as the architect describes them, and extraordinary for both their intricacies and bold appearance.

The degree of greenside shaping was novel for the architect but the effects are striking. The contrast in elevation between putting surfaces and the surrounding hollows creates a vivid visual outline, something like chiaroscuro in painting or how shadows and light create depth of field in photography.

The bunkering -- deep, grassed faced hazards set well below the putting surface -- is also a departure from the flashed mode most commonly associate with Smyers. It's a style he calls a cross between Seth Raynor and Pete Dye.

As Smyers walks the intensely molded putting surfaces, notably the 660-yard par-5 second, the drivable third, the par-5 fifth, and the par-4 ninth, he illustrates with gestures how each contour might influence a high, low, or spinning shot, how a long or short iron from different places in the fairway will react at various pin placements, or how players can exercise choice in their approaches. It's an impressive demonstration of how thoroughly conceptualized the Grande Pines design is.

"Part of our deal is for the golfer to be able to read the ground," he says. "If you read the ground, you have all these contours within the putting surface [that] you can work your ball off and feed it to a hole location. Conversely, if you don't work your ball and you're on the other side of the contour, then you're fighting."

The complete relevance of every shape and ground contour, and the knowledge of how it pertains to shotmaking, is something that separates Smyers from contemporaries more preoccupied with how a golf course looks (a luxury, if you've got a great site). It occurs off the greens as well.

Players trying to reach the par-5 11th in two will find a mound to the left of the green that will redirect shots onto the button-hooked green and a putting surface that falls heavily toward water on the right. At least seven more holes afford the chance to bounce the ball to the green if certain ground features are utilized.

"On every one of our fairways there are subtle contours, but they are contours that the accomplished player will work his ball one way or another off of to gain an advantage." A drive at the par-5 16th that challenges the right-side fairways bunkers, for instance, will propel forward whereas those played meekly to the left will roll sideways, away from the target (bringing to mind many of the driving nuances at Royal Melbourne).

For the player able to "read" its complexities, Grande Pines is an endlessly rewarding golf course. For those who can't, or don't, the shaping is nevertheless memorable for its quirkiness, if you want to call it that.

When asked about the presence of knob-like features found on many of the greens (also noticeable at many of his other designs -- one on the fourth green at Southern Dunes comes immediately to mind), Smyers says, "That's my love of Pine Valley. Pine Valley's got these knobs all over the greens. They set the hole locations right around the edges of them, and if you're not on the right side of that knob, you're [in trouble]."

It doesn't stop with knobs. The front half of the 196-yard 17th green, for instance, is a wide, un-pinnable ramp that slides down into a low chipping area. The wide shallow back section -- the actual putting surface -- is shaped nearly like a skateboard half pipe (or in classical terms, a mini punch bowl) and sloped left to right.

The green at the long par-4 13th is elevated and contains five or six distinct sections including what looks like a rear upstairs bedroom. And the 18th, well, where to start? The horseshoe shaped putting surface, with a bunker in the apse, is a cacophony of slope, swale, and ridge, with a false front to boot. Looking at it Smyers shrugs and shakes his head. "I don't know," he says. "I'll probably get criticized for it, but who knows? In 75 years it might be considered a classic."

Grande Pines Golf Club 6351 International Golf Club Road Orlando, Fla. 32821

The same could be said for much of his work. In addition to Grande Pines, Smyers also spent the last year renovating Islesworth Country Club in Windermere (it re-opened for members in December 2003) and will soon begin work on three new projects in Central Florida: two near Lakeland and one in the sandy hills northwest of Orlando (with input from Nick Faldo). Are these sites any better that usual? Doubtful.

"If I look at my career," he says with a laugh, "I've probably been blessed with more bad sites and more bad settings than anybody in architecture."

Maybe it doesn't really matter anymore.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.