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Nicklaus 'christens' his golf course (PBP) January 2007PALYn 19riRCt� Nicklaushcristens' his golf course "It's auser-friendly course. It's more challeng- ing the better you are" Jack Nicklaus Legendary golfer, designer of North Palm Beach Country Club course Golf legend on hand for North Palm Country Club grand opening By KEVIN CROGILLA Sports writer NORTH PALM BEACH After much anticipa- tion, the North Palm Beach Country Club golf course had its grand opening last Friday, high- lighted by an appearance by Jack Nicklaus. Mr. Nicklaus redesigned the course. The course officially re- opened in November, but this time Mr. Nicklaus was on hand to give his thoughts on the finished product. He gave a warm-up demonstration on the driving range and played an 18 -hole exhibi- tion round in the morn- ing. After, Mr. Nicklaus posed for photos and signed autographs for fans before being inter- viewed by the local tele- vision media. At the press conference/lunch- eon, he gave his assess- ment of the course. "I think it's a great course. I think we did .a very good job. I did with the course just about what I wanted to do with it," Mr. Nicklaus said. "It's a user-friendly course. It's more challenging the better you are. I undulat- ed the greens and put a little spice in them. I did- n't change them com- pletely, but I just added some elevation and dif- ferent looks to the greens. That gives people a new challenge." A de.4'�'W�33T Basically, the theme all along has been a more challenging course:ele- vation changes, bigger and better sand traps, and more holes with water hazards. There's a very small amount of length added to it, but not changing the length was important, because of the demographic of the club members, he said. "I think it's a perfect golf course for the com- munity. I didn't want to come in and build a golf course- that the senior citizens couldn't play. I was really concerned a;qut them. They come down here to retire. I wanted them to have a course that they could play. When you get older, you get shorter. And there are a lot of good, short holes," Mr. Nick- laus said. Joe Musciotto, a 64 - year -old North Palm resi- dent, recently played the course and explained the difference between before and after the reconstruction. "It's like day and night. The greens are very diffi- cult to master. They're bigger, better and faster. The traps are better.. It's also a topical difference in the way the course looks," he said. "There are elevation changes all around. It's a completely different course. The old course was boring. This one never gets boring."