Doral Golf Club's Little Blue Monster in Westchester County, New York has undergone a 20-month, $3.1 million redesign and renovation by noted golf course architect, Robert von Hagge. The reopening of the nine-hole, par-34 course represented the first significant golf construction in Westchester County in over 25 years. Von Hagge's design team is noted for its ability to create challenges at each hole for golfers of all levels. New facets of the Little Blue Monster include the designer's trademark mounding, shadows and bunkers, as well as several significant water hazards. In addition, the greens have been expanded to give players easier access to the pin and the green.

Doral Arrowwood's Little Blue Monster golf course

The golf complex includes a 35-tee driving range and a practice green with newly installed sand trap. Also new is Mulligans Bar and Grill, a focal point of the renovated club house. A state-of-the-art indoor golf center features a Sportech swing analyzer, two hitting stations, practice putting area and video tape golf instruction. The course is available to Doral Golf Club members and Doral Arrowwood guests.

Doral Arrowwood, Anderson Hill Road, Rye Brook, NY 10573. Tel. 914-939-5500. www.doralarrowwood.com

Golf Hyatt Program

Hyatt Hotels and Resorts

Before introducing its new program "Golf Hyatt" the Hyatt Hotels and Resorts commissioned a study, "Golf and the Business Executive." Key findings indicate that executives believe that the way a person behaves on the golf course is similar to how he or she will behave in the boardroom. Boone Pickens, chairman of Mesa Incorporated, told an interviewer, "Golf shows an extension of one's personality. If a person is aggressive on a golf course, he or she will be aggressive in the work place." Many businesspeople also say that, "playing golf with an associate is a good way to establish a closer relationship and to make new contacts." A third of those polled added, "Some of my biggest deals were made on the golf course."

Many executives preferred a difficult course over an easy one and the majority of respondents said, "I make sure I play golf on vacation." Quite a few fantasized about careers in golf-designing championship courses, being employed as a club pro and participating in the PGA tour.

The survey also indicated that there are 25 million golfers in the U.S. and another 20 million projected by the year 2 000. "We recognize golf as a growing market and one that is evolving as well," said Darryl Hartley-Leonard, president of Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

To cater to this burgeoning golf market, Hyatt has set up a special toll-free number, 800- 4446-5737, a reservations line (and perhaps the only one in the travel industry) that allows vacationers to book their complete golf vacations at 13 resorts in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Nevada, California, Florida and Texas. Reservationists will accept requests for morning or afternoon tee times and provide information about course rating, par level and course designer. www.hyatt.com/corporate/resorts/golf.jhtml

Fall 1994