“The selection of grass that we’ve gone with is L1F Zoysia. We chose that because it’s a very tight-knit zoysia that not only has a great color and luster to it, but also it has a phenomenal playing surface. It tees the ball up very nicely, and it creates a surface that it is easy to sweep the ball and hit the ball off of, as well. And it’s not a grass that you can go to [just] any golf course and experience,” says Brandon Goodyk, director of development for Bluejack National.
Goodyk spoke in a five-minute video posted in a blog on the Chron website, dated March 10, 2015, where Tiger Woods previewed his new golf course, Bluejack National, scheduled to open this fall. The video shows interviews with most of the key people involved with the project, as well as aerial video shot last fall over many of the holes.
To read the introductory story and watch the video, click here. To read a transcript of the video, see below.
Video transcription —
Tiger Woods: “This is going to be my first golf course open in the United States. I’ve played all around the world, have seen a lot of different golf courses and have played a lot of different grasses. I am just so excited to be here and see these different landforms we have to work with.”
Mark O’Meara (ambassador, Bluejack National: “I think when people have the opportunity to come and see Bluejack National, they’ll realize how spectacular and beautiful the topography is here, the movement of the land, the gracefulness of these trees that are on this property.”
Byron Bell (president, Tiger Woods Design): “Our goal is really to just take what the land gives you and try to figure out ways to fit a golf course to the land versus trying to fit the land to some preconceived golf course.”
Tiger Woods: “From a design standpoint, I take the land that’s available and try to create options, try to make it friendly for all levels and make it challenging for all levels. One of the things I’ve noticed from playing all around the world is you see a golf course where golf takes so long to play, sometimes six hours, sometimes plus, and that’s ridiculous.”
Beau Welling (founder and CEO, Beau Welling Design): “Tiger has been very adamant that he wants golf courses that are really fun to play, golf courses where you have to think your way around the game of golf and use your imagination, use your creativity, play shots on the ground, not necessarily play them in the air.”
Tiger Woods: “One of the features that we’ve unfortunately gone away from is what I see in links golf is that you have the front of the green open, the ability to use the ground as a friend. I’ve enjoyed the options of hitting anywhere from a 4-iron around the greens to a putter, and anything in between. That to me is a lot of fun.”
Beau Welling: “There can be very definite, optimal positions where you’re going to want to hit your ball into, to either attack a green or putt to a pit. This really going to be a fun, fun place because that really good player can come play with the not-so-good player, and both of them are going to walk off the 18th hole and have had a wonderful, incredible time here at Bluejack National.”
Brandon Goodyk (director of development, Bluejack National): “We are tree lined, but we’re going to have these open areas of pine straw and mulch bedding underneath our tree canopies and in our areas in our boundaries so that even if you hit your balls in those locations, you’re going to be able to find your ball, go in there, punch it out and continue playing at a relatively quick pace.”
Eric Bauer (director of agronomy, Bluejack National): “You have all of these beautiful features that are out there — the rolling hills, the beautiful bunkering that’s going to take place, the greens. But you’ve gotta find that surface that just sits on top perfectly and gives that emerald green look.”
Brandon Goodyk: “The selection of grass that we’ve gone with is L1F Zoysia. We chose that because it’s a very tight-knit zoysia that not only has a great color and luster to it, but also it has a phenomenal playing surface. It tees the ball up very nicely, and it creates a surface that it is easy to sweep the ball and hit the ball off of, as well. And it’s not a grass that you can go to [just] any golf course and experience.”
Mark O’Meara: “The experience of playing a beautiful golf course in an incredible setting is something that I always remember, so I remember the holes and being out in more of a nature environment. Those are things that really intrigue me when I play a golf course.”
Tiger Woods: I see, from a lot of the golf courses I’ve been around the country, they’re trying to incorporate juniors to come out and play their golf course, but they just don’t have the land, the facilities or even the angles or holes created that way. Here, we’re going to do that.”
Brandon Goodyk: “And with amenities from our Playground area, which will be a short course of a collection of nine holes that will range anywhere from 40 yards to 110 yards, you have a great area for kids to learn the game of golf.”
Tiger Woods: “My little son Charlie is five years old, and he loves to come out and play golf with me. I’m always trying to put him in positions that will be realistic of a hole to him. And sometimes it just doesn’t work. You can’t carry over a marsh, you can’t carry over bunkers that far. So I think that by incorporating that, having a family atmosphere in which you can have a five-year-old to a seventy-year-old have fun at the same time — that’s type of the level, of flexibility, I think we have at Bluejack National. Everyone is just so excited about the project — we’re working to create something that’s so enjoyable, so impactful for all the members and all the families that come out and enjoy it.”