Otter Creek owner and chief executive officer Bob Haddad, fourth from left, speaks to a group of spectators Wednesday at Otter Creek. Pictured from left are director of agronomy Brent Downs, head superintendent Mitchell Eickhoff, pro Jimmy St. John, Haddad, designer Tom Kite, design associate Erik Belgur design partner Billy Fuller and Otter Creek director of golf Austin Wright.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
When Otter Creek Golf Course opened in 1964, it was a lengthy course by those day’s standards.
Nearly 60 years later, players are hitting the ball longer and longer and making the course a little less challenging than it once was.
Last week, Otter Creek owner and chief executive officer Bob Haddad announced that World Golf Hall-of-Famer Tom Kite and design partner Billy Fuller had been selected to do a redesign of the course. Kite, whose wife’s cousin Kevina Schumaker lives in Columbus, and Fuller stopped by Otter Creek on Wednesday to talk about their plans for the course.
“Those of us who played golf back in the 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s know how much the game has changed, just in terms of the equipment that is being used to play the game,” Kite said. “… If we want this golf course to be able to host the very best, the elite players, amateur or professional players, we need to make this golf course have more length, have more teeth to combat the equipment changes and the skill set of the elite players, and yet on the other hand, we want people to be able to enjoy the golf course. We need to have more forward tees and be able to design the golf course where there’s not as many forced carries, where the beginning players can play a round and negotiate the golf course without having to deal with a lot of hazards. So that is part of the strategy, part of the design.”
That strategy and design will include what Haddad is calling a “Cradle-to-grave” experience where beginners to seniors can enjoy the course. So in addition to an 18-hole championship course, the 415-acre land will include a nine-hole Executive Course, as well as a six-to-nine hole “Chip-and-Putt Course” for beginners.
“We’re still vetting it out, but it does have a lot to do with what I believe Mr. (original architect J. Irwin) Miller wanted to accomplish with Otter Creek, and that was to have everybody in Columbus be able to enjoy playing golf and to learn to play golf and use it as a way to build relationships,” Haddad said. “Even when you’re a little kid, when you come out to play this golf course, it’s hard, it’s big, it’s long and it is a huge piece of property that doesn’t feel the right scale. So when you’re a little kid trying to learn on a little chip-and-putt course, where the holes are 40 to maybe 80 or 90 yards long, it just feels better. It feels right. You maybe can hit the ball on the green and maybe make a putt and feel excited about it.
“Then, as you get older, and you can hit the ball farther and you’re learning the game, maybe you can go to what we call an ‘Executive Course’ where a par-4 is maybe 280,” he added. “Maybe you have a hole that’s 350, but you have par-3s in there. But again, you can enjoy it to your scale. It fits how far you hit it. You can make some putts, maybe chip in.”
Tom Kite, right, talks about the upcoming redesign for Otter Creek Golf Course, with design partner Billy Fuller, center, and Otter Creek owner and chief executive officer Bob Haddad, left, at a press conference Wednesday at Otter Creek.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Kite said more people are being introduced to the game of golf, first because of Tiger Woods and more recently because of the COVID pandemic. Those players have a huge range of talent and ability and skill set from elite players to those that are just taking up the game.
The design team is looking to accommodate all of those people.
“It’s going to be an interesting process to take a golf course and challenge the very best players and allow everybody else to enjoy the game,” Kite said. “That’s our goal. That seems to be what happened here at Otter Creek when Mr. Miller designed the golf course 60 years ago. We want to continue that theme and just take what he has done. He laid the great foundation, and we’re just trying to bring it up to today’s standards.”
Fuller is a former greens superintendent at Augusta National, home of The Masters. Otter Creek head superintendent Mitchell Eickhoff and director of agronomy Brent Downs also have worked at Augusta National.
“I got to spend time at Augusta National back in the 80s as the golf course superintendent, and when I learned about the history of the two guys here in the agronomic world also worked there at Augusta and still go back there for tournament time, it was really fun to come in and realize the common denominators we had in our history,” Fuller said. “Then, I went out and saw the conditions here on the golf course as it is today, and I’m ready to tee it up anytime on these conditions. They’re fabulous. These guys are doing a great job.
“They’re having to work hard because of infrastructure,” he added. “The infrastructure here is outdated, the irrigation system, the drainage system, the grasses are old. So all of that is part of the agronomic role. If you take golf course design elements that are really important to all of us, they fall in three categories — strategy, aesthetics and condition. Their work is really cut out because when the contractors leave the property, these guys have to grow (grass) back in, so it’s a big job. I’m here to support that and be a part of that.”
Otter Creek pro Jimmy St. John, right, talks about how much the course means to him with course designer Tom Kite, left, design associate Erik Belgur and Otter Creek director of golf Austin Wright at a press conference Wednesday at Otter Creek.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Kite and Fuller were joined on Wednesday by design associate Erik Belgur, who will be helping with the project. Belgur was impressed with what he saw.
“Coming out here and seeing this property for the first time, my jaw kind of dropped with what you guys have here,” Belgur said. “The space you have, the topography you have and the bones of this golf course are tremendous. So when I first got to this property, once I got past the clubhouse, which is amazing, and I got around to the back, my jaw just hit the floor.”
Fuller said Haddad’s “Cradle-to-grave” vision is unique, and that was appealing to him.
“There are not many places you’ll go today to find golf where pieces are designed on the property where kids and grandparents can play the same golf course,” Fuller said. “So that’s going to be a part of the design. Then, there’s going to be another part, where they’ve learned to hit it further, and play what Bob is calling the “Executive Course.” So those holes are going to be a little bit harder, and it’s a build-up to go out here on the big course and really test their game and have fun with it.”
Fuller talked about this being a special project, and the No. 1 aspect of that project is relationships they have built. Wednesday was he and Kite’s fourth visit to Otter Creek, with the first three being part of the interview and original planning process.
“It’s a big vision,” Haddad said. “It’s a deeper vision than just golf. This is a great team. We’re so excited and so confident that we have the team that we need here at Otter Creek to execute this incredibly.”
Otter Creek head superintendent Mitchell Eickhoff, left, talks with director of agronomy Brent Downs and owner and chief executive officer Bob Haddad about the redesign at a press conference Wednesday at Otter Creek.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
In addition to Haddad, Kite, Fuller, Belgur, Eichkoff and Downs, that team includes Otter Creek director of golf Austin Wright and pro Jimmy St. John. St. John, who grew up playing Otter Creek, has been a leading advocate for keeping parts of the course from the original design.
“This is a great place,” Kite said. “The golf course is phenomenal. Everybody we’ve talked to that has played this golf course more than once talks about their love affair with Otter Creek and how much they enjoy the golf course. If we’ve heard it once, we’ve probably heard it 40 or 50 times — ‘Don’t mess it up.’ So that’s our No. 1 goal. We’re not going to try to mess this golf course up.”
