13. July 8, 2015—A Round of golf and a journey to Mecca

July 8, 2015—A Round of golf and a journey to Mecca

Pat and I are going down to NYC for an 80^th birthday party this week.  I drove this morning (July 8) and she is taking the train tomorrow.  My plan is to play two of the nine US Open venues I have yet to play (depending on how one counts…not as silly a question as it seems*) the total is about 54 venues. 

My schedule is to play Inwood Country Club, located just east of JFK airport today, and then Fresh Meadow Country Club tomorrow...and hopefully get this bucket list down to 7.

Inwood hosted the 1923 US Open, which was won by Bobby Jones in a playoff against Bobby Cruickshank (as you may have noticed, about 100-120 years ago, most children were given first names as first names…such as Robert, David, Nancy, Susan, etc. as opposed to the practice today of giving last names as first names…this was an aside, but clearly one of some import).  Bobby Jones would go on to win a total of 4 US Opens among his 13 major championships (Open Championship, Amateur Championship, US Open , and US Amateur).  This one was in serious doubt after Jones, leading by 3 going into the final round, finished off regulation play going bogey/bogey/double bogey on 16-18 (in comparison, yours truly played the same holes par/par/par today, but my total score was only recorded on Hilary Clinton’s server which of course was destroyed or whatever for good reasons (although not yet articulated).  Moving on, on the 18^th hole of the playoff with both tied, Jones hit a 2-iron form the rough over the creek fronting the green to 8’ and converted his birdie to win the Open. 

About 75 years later, a plaque was erected at the spot where Jones hot the 2-iron (see pictures below of plaque and the shot he faced).

It should also be noted that Walter Hagen (another first name for a first name) won the PGA Championship at Inwood in 1921.  Not a bad pair of major winners.

Course is very flat and “link-like”, although it should have been firmer and faster.  I enjoyed it very much and should have played this one years ago.  Club had gone through some hard times with the recent recession and Hurricane Sandy, but I gather it is on its way back, which was good to hear.  The jumbo jets were coming in directly over the Club all afternoon.

After the round, I drove about 10 miles over to “Mecca”.  This was my chance for a meaningful religious experience.  Stop scratching your head…I went over to the site where Lido Golf Club opened 101 years ago.  Designed and built by C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, many considered it the finest course ever built in the USA.   The construction of a massive clubhouse/hotel in the 1920’s sealed the club’s fate when the Depression hit a short time later.  The property was utilized for military training exercises during WW II and never reopened after the war.  On its site today are hundreds of homes, streets, etc. as well as the clubhouse/hotel (now a condominium building shown in pictures below).   There is a new Lido Golf Club in the area, designed by R. T. Jones, Sr. (non-golfers: no relation to Jones mentioned above), but I simply drove by quickly and no analogy can properly express the difference between these two clubs.

Moving on to tomorrow’s agenda, I am scheduled to play Fresh Meadow CC with a friend from Pinehurst (Forest Creek) who is a member.  The original FMCC was located in Queens about 2 miles from where I grew up.  Designed by AW Tillinghast, many considered it to be his finest track.  By the end of WWII , high real estate taxes forced the club to move about 3-4 miles east to Nassau County, and the original FMCC gave way to a shopping center and housing development.

Now, there is a serous question that arises due to my US open bucket list.  Assuming the weather holds and I get my round n at FMCC tomorrow, will this count as playing this US Open venue (as it will of course be at the new location in Nassau), or will it be included in the “no longer exists” category?  After long deliberations by the appropriate authorities, it has been decided that this will count as playing this US Open venue.  The key point driving this decision is that I had a girl friend in the 10^th grade who lived at the housing development that occupies the original FMCC site.  Hence, it was decided that I had already played the course.  Enough said.  Time for some sleep.

* for example, The Country Club (which has 27 holes) has hosted 3 US Opens: 1913 on its Main Course and 1963 and 1988 on its Composite Course...is that one venue or two.  Same question applies to Baltusrol (36 holes) which has held seven US Opens on three courses...how many venues is that?