When Travis Alley arrived at the Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, California in 2007, he had the feeling that he would not be leaving soon.
When Brandon Harkins finished family visits to the Lake Tahoe area, he always knew that he would take advantage of opportunities to return.
reported: How it works: Modified Stableford | Preview: Barracuda Championship
Both men were right, so it is not surprising that they will participate this week when something familiar (the beloved modified Stableford format) and something new (Old Greenwood) anchor at the 22nd annual Barracuda championship. Alley, now director of golf at the 36-hole Tahoe Mountain Club, and Harkins, a member of the Korn Ferry Tour who was on the PGA TOUR in 2017-18 and 2018-19, are not shy about their passion for this mountain resort at around 200 miles from San Francisco.
“It’s a golf club that is also a disco,” said Alley. “It’s a ski club that’s also a golf club.”
As for Old Greenwood, a Jack Nicklaus design that was opened in 2004, “I think it’s a phenomenal layout for the Stableford format,” said Harkins.
While Alley – who graduated from the PGA Golf Management program at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 2007 – certainly spends much more time at Tahoe Mountain Club than Harkins, a native of Walnut Creek, California, embraces every visit.
“Growing up in Northern California, we had a home in Tahoe, so it’s a special place for me,” said Harkins.
And almost every visit to the Tahoe area involves a stop at the Tahoe Mountain Club, where a second course, Gray’s Crossing, was designed by Peter Jacobsen and inaugurated in 2007. It is however Old Greenwood that Harkins has played perhaps 20 times.
“I like the layout and it’s always in good shape,” he said. “There are some difficult holes, but there are also some big risk / reward holes where you can earn some points quickly.”
Does your experience at Old Greenwood, which will host the Barracuda championship for the first time, make it a popular sounding board for players looking for insights and any chance of advantage? Harkins laughed. “To be honest, not many players contacted me,” he said.
“But a couple of guys who know I’ve been there a lot have asked and whether or not they should put the Barracuda event on their schedule?
His answer?
“The same for everyone – absolutely,” said Harkins.
Players will likely be used to the usual elevation advantage, as they had had the same thing at the Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nevada, for the first 21 years of this tournament. “Being at 6,000 feet, the ball will go far,” said Alley.
“Players will have some short par 4s they can drive (the eighth from 357 yards; the eleventh from 345 yards; the sixteenth from 396 yards), and there will be plenty of opportunities to catch up,” said Alley.
“But at the same time, there will also be opportunities to lose it.”
