Waste area.
Today would have been the final round at the RBC Heritage Classic at Harbor Town Golf Links. Here is quick story that was told to me by Pete Dye.The year was 1969, Pete Dye was an aspiring young golf architect and had just partnered with a new design consultant by the name of Jack Nicklaus. They laid out what has become one of the favorite tracks on the PGA TOUR, Harbor Town Golf Links. The course is your classic target golf layout. Because of the by tight corridors and low country topography, it’s a shot maker’s paradise.
I met Pete Dye for the first time in 2002 as we walked the swamp area that would become the TPC Louisiana. I was hired by the PGA TOUR as a Player Design Consultant along with Steve Elkington. As Pete and I walked the property and discussed elements of design and what features he would incorporate into the course, I asked him “will you be using a lot of waste area bunkers? Similar to what is in place at English Turn Golf Club (a Jack Nicklaus designed course)?” He asked me “why do you ask?” I said “they don’t work to well down here in New Orleans because of the amount of rainfall we get each year. They are hard to maintain.” Pete then asks “do you know where the term waste area comes from?” I said “no sir.” He replied that when they were building Harbor Town, on the 16th hole there were some condos being built nearby. Pete had just constructed a rather long bunker area that consisted of crushed shells (not sand) on the left side of this dog leg left 434 yard par four hole. The sewer line for the condo construction area broke and the contractor approached Pete about using his newly built bunker area to store some of the waste while they fixed the line. Pete looked right at me and said “that’s where the term waste area comes from.” Now you know the rest of the story as told by Kelly Gibson (according to Pete Dye).