On level ground

Bryce Alderton

Changes to Newport Beach Country Club’s layout for this year’s

Toshiba Senior Classic will be subtle and all a matter of

perspective.

The tee boxes on holes 7 and 10 were redone for both aesthetic and

“playability” purposes, Newport Beach Country Club head professional

Paul Hahn said.

The par-4 seventh hole’s box was widened and leveled while crews

lengthened and shifted the tee area slightly to the right on the

par-4 10th.

The “extreme” back tees at No. 10 now measure 437 yards, about

eight yards longer than before construction, Toshiba Tournament

Director Jeff Purser said.

“It gives more flexibility with yardages and how [golfers] play

the hole than we’ve had in the past,” Purser said of the lengthened

tee box, where golfers will also gain an unobstructed view of the

fairway. If the tees are up, the hole can play 422 to 424 yards.

“The angle down the fairway is more of a dogleg right,” Purser

said. “It makes the course more challenging.”

The renovated boxes also added nearly 200 yards, bringing the

course’s layout to just less than 6,800 from the championship tees,

Purser said.

Not that the course needs to add sharp teeth to its mouth, Purser

said.

“We were ranked 28th out of 31 golf courses [in terms of

difficulty with 31 being the easiest],” Purser said, referencing

statistics based solely on scoring averages for Champions Tour events

in 2004. “A shorter golf course doesn’t demean its quality.”

Tom Purtzer won last year’s tournament at 15-under 198, with three

varying rounds, scoring wise.

Purtzer shot both a Champions Tour and Newport Beach Country Club

course record 60 (11-under) during the first round while tallying 71

and 67 in the second and third rounds, respectively.

“The course giveth and the course taketh away, too, that’s why we

have good fields every year,” Purser said.

Golfers averaged 70.099, or nearly 1-under, through three rounds

last year.

Part of the Champions Tour’s allure, Purser said, is watching

players make birdies and other “great shots.”

“If people were getting to 21- or 22-under, then we would talk

about [making the course more difficult],” Purser said. “But the

greens are difficult an the rough has grown up. You have to play it

in the right position.

“Until someone reaches 23-under par, we’re not going to worry

about [making the course more difficult].”