Nicklaus' gift (PBP) 11-17-06DAMON HIGGINS/Staff Photographer
North Palm Beach Country Club has more elevation changes than most area courses. Jack Nicklaus' design uses them to challenge golfers.
Nicklaus gifti. A course _utialieover,
A redesigned North Palm
Beach Country Club — at a cost
of $1— reopens today.
By CRAIG DOLCH
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
NORTH PALM BEACH — It's still at
the same location and it's still 18 holes
of golf, but few players will recognize
North Palm Beach Country Club when
it reopens today after a major redesign
by neighbor Jack Nicklaus.
The public course has been trans-
formed in seven months from a basic,
driver -wedge layout to one that will test
the skilled players while still allowing
high -handicappers to enjoy their round.
Nobody can say Nicklaus didn't give
them their moneys worth.
"I charged them one dollar for the
design fee," said Nicklaus, who gave
the same bargain to Lost Tree Village
(where his family lives) and Ohio State
University (where he went to school) .
When Village of North Palm Beach
officials started their search for an ar-
chitect, few thought it would be the golf-
ing legend who lives about a mile away
but has never played the course. Village
council member Ed Eissey asked Nick-
laus
icklaus almost as an afterthought.
"He said that I probably wouldn't be
interested, and I told him, `Don't be
id. "I've lived here and
silly,"' Nicklaus sa
seen that piece of property for. 35 years.
It's a fantastic piece of property. I know
that property should have a golf cnQarse
the village would be proud of."
Nicklaus changed the routing of the
holes and stretched the layout from 6,300
yards as a par -72 to a par -71 that can play
at 7,100. while Nicklaus wanted to make
the course more appealing to a quality
player, he didn't want to make it too dif-
ficult
ifficult for many of the older residents.
To that end, he tried to leave the fair-
ways more open in the 220 -yard range
to lower the degree of difficulty. The
farther someone hits it, the more trouble
is brought into play.
"Jack did exactly what he said he was
going to do," said David Norris, North
Palm Beach's mayor and a 5 -handicapper
who was among 30 people who played
the course Wednesday. "If you're looking
for a challenge, moving to the back tees,
will give you that. But the people who
played the front and middle tees said it
was a lot of fun."
Nicklaus tried to take more advan-
tage of the property's elevation change
something that is rare in Florida.
"There's more than 30 feet of eleva-
tion change," he said of the course. "It's
probably on the same dune structure
that runs through Seminole (Golf Club,
also in North Palm Beach) ."
Nicklaus said his company also found
sand on the property that is the best it
has tested in Florida in terms of avoid-
ing buried lies in bunkers. But he said
putting will be more difficult because
he changed the contour of the greens to
take advantage of the elevation changes.
"They have gone from flat greens to
greens that fit the property," he said.
The hardest part about playing North
Palm may be getting a tee time (and dai-
ly greens fees have risen considerably).
Norris said interest was so high that the
500 yearly memberships sold out before
they could be offered to any nonresi-
dents who weren't already members.
(Dcraig_dolch@pbpost.com