"Biarritz" Golf Course Print by Thad Layton

Originally known as the “Chasm” hole, the 220-yard par 3 Willie Dunn design in Biarritz, France played over a gaping inlet of the Bay of Biscay. Because of its difficulty, this hole was scrapped after just a few seasons. Fortuitously, CB Macdonald saw it before its demise and was so smitten with the design that he incorporated versions of it on almost every course they built, dubbing it “Biarritz”. Aside from Redan, it might be the most pliable template of all. There are scores of Biarritz variations…The twisted Biarritz at Wexford Plantation’s par 4 16th, an on-grade Biarritz at Las Piedras par 3 #2, and The Creek Club’s Island Biarritz at the par 3 eleventh.

The brilliance of the design is how its 3 different levels consistently triage the quality of each shot. Front pins typically require an approach landing short of the green to adhere to the first level of the green. Middle pins are the easiest as the deep swale that bisects the green offers a degree of latitude due to the gathering nature of the trough feature. The hardest pin location? That would be on the back level where a trundling shot is necessary to speed through the trough. Don’t go long though as the elevation of the back of the green will face a daunting up and down!

Size: 20" wide x 16" tall

About the Artist:

Over the past 3 decades, Thad Layton has traveled the planet plying his trade as a Golf Course Architect for Arnold Palmer Design Company. He is a lifelong student of the game and has studied scores of golf’s greatest courses. Along the way, he’s catalogued the journey, filling up piles of sketchbooks with doodles and descriptions that have informed and inspired his work as an architect. Of these, Thad has illustrated a selection of his favorite design studies to share with fellow golf enthusiasts in a vivid series of original giclee watercolor prints.