‘Emphasis on aesthetics’: Dazzling U.S. Mid-Amateur site readies for spotlight

Vinny Giles is the Bobby Jones of his generation, the dominant amateur of his day. A four-time Walker Cupper and winner of the British Amateur, he finished runner-up in three consecutive U.S. Amateurs before capturing that title in 1972. Along the way, Giles also nabbed low-am honors in the Masters and the U.S. Open, and left a deep mark in his home state, claiming three Virginia Opens and seven Virginia State Amateurs. And that’s before he shined on the senior amateur circuit.

You get the picture. Dude had game. Still does.

Though he never competed for prize money, Giles has earned his keep elsewhere in the game. He is the founder and president of a golf management group whose client roster includes Davis Love III, Lanny Wadkins and Tom Kite. Like Jones before him, Giles also delved into golf design. In 2001, he collaborated with the course architect Lester George on Kinloch Golf Club, a private club outside Richmond, Va., that will seize the spotlight this week as it welcomes just the sort of tournament Giles loves best. The 43rd U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship starts Saturday at Kinloch (with nearby Independence Golf Club serving as co-host for the stroke-play portion of the competition).

Giles, who is 81, will be among the spectators onsite. He’s familiar with Kinloch. In case you’re not, here are 6 things to know about the place.

The USGA has been here before

This is not the first go-around for Kinloch as a big-time amateur tournament stage. In 2011, it hosted the U.S. Senior Amateur, which, if you’re keeping score at home, was won by Louis Lee, of Heber Springs, Ark., who sealed the deal with a four-foot par putt on 18 to nip Philip Pleat of Nashua, N.H.

Its practice grounds are all-world

If you can’t get ready for a round at Kinloch, you can’t get ready anywhere. Even in an age of tricked-out practice facilities, the club’s offerings stand out. They include a 3,200-square-foot training center, with three heated and lighted indoor hitting bays (equipped with all the latest swing analysis and a shot-tracking tech), and a short-game facility that provides a faithful challenge in miniature, presenting golfers with similar shots and lies to those they encounter on the course. Then there’s the range. It’s double-ended, with multiple target greens, including one set at 100-yards for dialing in your wedge game. While the main hitting area is planted to bentgrass — just like the course — the back end of the range, 320 yards away, has Bermudagrass, in case you feel the need to fine-tune your game on a different type of turf.

The conditioning is mint

Lukas Michel, the 2019 U.S. Mid-Am champ, is in the field this week and got his first look at Kinloch in a Thursday practice round. Michel, who is also a GOLF Magazine course rater, hails from Melbourne, Australia, and plays most of his golf in the fabled Sandbelt, a region known for ruggedly minimalist maintenance practices. Kinloch, he says, could hardly be more different.

“There is a lot of emphasis on aesthetics,” Michel says, with impeccably manicured turf and bunkers, striped fairways and tightly mown green surrounds that extend for upwards of 60 to 70 yards. While many of the touches, such as criss-cross fairway mowing patterns, have little influence on how the course plays, Michel says the visual effect is real. “It’s such a contrast to back home,” he says. “It takes a while for my to get used to it when I’m looking out from the tee.”

The 9s will be reversed

Per usual, the USGA has allowed for flexibility in the setup. For the competition, though, the course is listed as a par-71, stretching 7,299 yards. The hole sequence will be different than it is for daily play, with the 9’s flipped. As a consequence, a long par-5 that is usually the 9th hole will play as as the finisher, raising the prospects for closing fireworks.

Split fairways, sloped greens

Among the more compelling strategic options that struck Michel were the split fairways on several holes. “In those cases, it wasn’t immediately obvious which was the better option,” he says. “So there should be some interesting decisions to make.” It will help, of course, to find the short grass. Michel says the rough is up along the fairways, but even more around the greens, which, he says, “have more tilt than contour.”

One of the targets that stood out to him was the green on the short par-3 14th (it play as the 5th hole with the flipped 9s), which slopes from front to back, with a tight-mown slope behind it that spills toward the water. He expects that to be a ticklish shot. But there will be others. “With the tilt in the greens and the thick rough around them, if you short-side yourself, you could have a tough time of it,” Michel says.

The course is soft…for now!

After recent heavy rain throughout the region, Kinloch was relatively soft on Thursday, Michel says. But with warm, sunny weather in the forecast, that should change. “They’ve obviously got great drainage, and I’m sure things will dry out nicely,” Michel says. “It should be plenty firm and fast.”