| In very general terms, courses built during the | | | | Course by Ron Whitten and Geoffrey Cornish, |
| dark age of golf architecture (1950-1970) were | | | | Whitten notes that 'Plummer was known for the |
| long in length and short in both character and | | | | attractiveness of his layouts and for his |
| charm. The bunkering was unimaginative, | | | | remarkable ability to estimates cuts and fills and |
| repeatedly forcing the same kind of aerial | | | | shape greens and bunkers by eye.' The only |
| approach shots. Monotonously long holes resulted | | | | man-made water hazards on the course are |
| in the birth of the dreaded '7,000 yard | | | | ponds found on the first six holes, namely at the |
| championship course' phrase. As with any | | | | one shot 2nd and in the landing areas for the |
| generalization, there are exceptions with one of | | | | second shots on the par five 3rd and 6th. (Forty |
| the most important being Ralph Plummer's design | | | | three years later, the Club acquired the property |
| of Tryall Golf Club. | | | | to build a true coastal hole - today's 4th - which is |
| Opened in 1958, the course measured 6,324 | | | | also a water hole, albeit a totally natural one). |
| yards. Yet, thanks in large part to its sloping | | | | Plummer used the fill from the ponds to build up |
| greens and the ever present trade winds, golfers | | | | the tees and greens a few feet, thus providing |
| of the highest calibre have failed for over five | | | | the necessary drainage on these first six holes. |
| decades to tear it apart. Recognized early on as | | | | With no extraneous land movement from tee to |
| the Caribbean's first course of genuine character, | | | | green, Plummer's low profile design at Tryall still |
| Shell's Wonderful World of Golf staged a match | | | | enjoys a timeless appeal. His complete absence of |
| here in 1962 between Dow Finsterwald and Peter | | | | clutter is most appreciated, especially relatively to |
| Alliss. Finsterwald won the match with a score of | | | | other courses built after WWII. Plummer didn't |
| 72 to Alliss's 75. Twenty years later, a desire by | | | | build three bunkers when one would suffice. |
| the club to host important events manifested | | | | Plummer didn't follow Robert Trent Jones horrific |
| itself and the Mazda Champions LPGA - Senior | | | | example at Oakland Hills six years prior in 1952 of |
| PGA were held at Tryall from 1985-87. This | | | | pinching in fairways with bunkers on either side. |
| event was followed from 1988-1990 with the | | | | Instead of reducing width and ruining playing |
| LPGA Jamaican Classic, which in turn set the | | | | angles by overbunkering holes off the tee, nine of |
| stage for the Johnnie Walker World | | | | the fourteen nonpar three holes at Tryall originally |
| Championships from 1991 through 1995. | | | | had no bunkers off the tee (the 3rd, 8th, 9th, |
| Just prior to the 1991 Johnnie Walker World | | | | 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, and 18th). In addition, |
| Championship, a sports columnist not so shrewdly | | | | Plummer eschewed containment mounds and |
| predicted that one of the professionals would | | | | framing green sites. The challenge at Tryall |
| break 60 as this par 71 course still measured | | | | intensifies the closer one gets to the greens - a |
| below 6,800 yards. That year's winner was Fred | | | | tenet of classic architecture that allows the |
| Couples and not only did no one break 60 but | | | | greatest range possible of golfers to enjoy a |
| Couples was the sole person in the field to break | | | | course (in fact, so fierce where Plummer's orginial |
| par for the four day event. The subsequent | | | | green slopes that the greens on holes 7, 8, 11, 12, |
| winners of the Johnnie Walker (Faldo, Mize, Els, | | | | 13 and 16 were softened when Club switched |
| and Couples again) were all major championship | | | | from the old bermuda grass greens to today's |
| winners, which suggests a quality course. | | | | swift tifton dwarf greens). |
| What then are Tryall's attributes that promote | | | | Starting at the 7th, Mother Nature's natural |
| the best to flourish? Certainly, the course's island | | | | attributes are more profuse and Plummer took |
| setting adds much to Tryall's allure and inspires | | | | full advantage as he perfectly draped the holes |
| one to play his best. However, it speaks little as | | | | onto the rolling foothills of the property. As with |
| to the lasting merits of repeated games here. | | | | his other best west works like Preston Trail Golf |
| The trade winds which average 20 miles per hour | | | | Club, Great Southwest Golf Club, and the Cypress |
| pose the same question as the winds in the | | | | Creek Course at Champions Golf Club, Plummer's |
| United Kingdom: can the golfer control the | | | | routing makes intuitive sense to the golfer as one |
| trajectory of his shots? The golfer with the talent | | | | good hole follows another with the green to tee |
| to do so shines here. Those who followed Nick | | | | walks always short. The golfer's judgement is |
| Faldo during his 1992 win of the Johnnie Walker | | | | continually taxed at Tryall on the variety of |
| marvel to this day at his complete ball flight | | | | approach shots required: the uphill approach at the |
| control with every club in the bag. | | | | 9th, the sharply downhill one shot 10th where one |
| The first six holes at Tryall are routed near the | | | | doesn't want to be long, the uphill approach at the |
| coastline, and apart from the romance of such a | | | | 11th, the downhill one shot 12th where one wants |
| location, Mother Nature didn't imbue this flat | | | | to be long, the uphill approach at the 13th, the |
| portion of the property with many natural | | | | downhill approach to the 14th. The continually |
| features. Thus, Ralph Plummer did what every | | | | shifting demands keep the golfer off-balanced, a |
| good architect should: he created the character | | | | great attribute for any architect to achieve |
| but he did so in a manner that is peaceful to the | | | | (though few rarely do) as it means the golfer will |
| eye. The land in no way looks tortured and the | | | | never tire of playing there. |
| holes sit peacefully upon the property. In The Golf | | | | |
