The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic celebrates its 50th anniversary with the upcoming tournament to be held Jan. 19-25, 2009 in California’s Coachella Valley. One of the calendar year’s first tournaments, the Classic has always had a special place in golf fan’s hearts. To help celebrate the event, five-time Classic champion, Arnold Palmer will serve as host for the 50th anniversary tournament.

Confusion – Hole 15 at the Palmer Private Course

This year, the Palmer Private Course at PGA West will serve as tournament’s host golf course. Other courses in the 2009 rotation include the Bermuda Dunes Country Club, an original course in the first tournament in 1960, La Quinta’s SilverRock Resort, another Arnold Palmer design, which debuted in 2008, and the Nicklaus Private Course at PGA West, in the rotation for the first time.

ASGCA staff recently sat down with ASGCA Treasurer Erik Larsen to talk about the upcoming Classic and some of the more unique aspects of the tournament. Erik is Executive Vice President of the Arnold Palmer Design Company — the group responsible for the design of the Palmer Private Course and Silver Rock Resort.

ASGCA Staff: Erik, thank you for taking a few moments to talk about the upcoming Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. The Classic is an example of a “rotation” tournament where four different golf courses are used during play. What makes this attractive for players and spectators?

Erik Larsen: Since there are 4 courses vs. 1 this format provides easier access to a tournament course for spectators from around the Coachella Valley. It also offers better viewing opportunities because there are 72 hoes to watch instead of the standard 18. Having multiple courses really brings in an extra dimension of intrigue to a tournament as players get the opportunity to meet new challenges every day during the tournament.

ASGCA Staff: Of the four courses in the 2009 rotation, the Palmer Private Course at PGA West serves as the tournament’s host course and Sunday’s final playground for the professionals. What can everyone look forward to here?

Erik Larsen: Everyone at Arnold Palmer Design is proud of the way the golf course looks, feels and plays. The design takes advantage of the views and scenery unique to the Coachella Valley. We also anticipate the playing conditions to be near perfect. The players will be trying … and expected … to “go low” which always makes for an exciting tournament and good TV.

ASGCA Staff: The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic is celebrating 50 years this year. Erik, can you tell me some of the design trends for desert courses that you and your colleagues at Arnold Palmer Design have encountered during your time as an architect?

Erik Larsen: One specific concept we have embraced over the years is to make sure we are using less water by simply irrigating less turf. It just makes sense environmentally but it provides a more native, or desert-like, atmosphere off of the course’s playing surfaces. It is important for us to avoid using to much of the natural terrain because unfortunately this ecosystem is relatively featureless and hard to play out of. We always strive to make courses fun and beautiful and this California terrain is harsh to most people. Creating visual excitement with limited water use can be challenging here. A technique we use is to create a sharp edge between the perfectly maintained turf and raw desert. It creates a striking look; a “wow’ factor. Albeit manufactured, it is a look unique to contemporary desert golf courses.

Panoramic View – Hole 17 at the Palmer Private Course

ASGCA Staff: Aside from the inherent challenges of building and maintaining a course in the California desert, can you touch on some of the additional obstacles to planning for a professional tournament like the Classic?

Erik Larsen: It means more land than a normal 18-hole course and more planning up front. Providing space for the infrastructure, sky boxes, wiring, general access for spectators etc. combine to make things a little more complicated in the design process. Providing professional length takes more room also. The real complication lies with the golf course developer. Most of these courses are the primary amenity for residential developments, so the additional land required, up to 10% or as many as 20 acres, creates an economic issue for the developer that he must consider. Planning is easy. The decision of giving up 20 acres of prime developable land for the notoriety of a PGA event one week of the year is a complicated.

ASGCA Staff: Thank you, Erik. Just one more question for you — which hole would you classify as the “one to watch” during tournament play?

Erik Larsen: That’s an easy question — the last one! If it’s a close tournament, that’s where the championship will be won or lost. Other than that though, two holes I’m interested to watch on Sunday are “Confusion” (15th) and “Panoramic View” (17th). The 15th sports a narrow par three green that is just to the right of a canal with rock outcroppings in the front. It’s a chance to score, but only with an accurate iron. Another par three, the 17th should really come across well on TV. It’s got a great mountain vista, is well bunkered and protected by rocks on the right side. With a deep green that slopes from right to left towards a canal, it’s a great looking hole that really sets the stage for the final walk up on 18.