Trip from Milton, MA to Pinehurst, NC October 4-12, 2016
So, were you wondering where the
hell I was? Truth is we spent three
weeks in MA and my golf was limited to Brookline during that period (not a bad
purgatory by any means). Then we flew
down to Pinehurst on Friday 9/30 for a wedding, returning on Sunday 10/2. A good friend, Steve Smith was married to
Karin Torgerson. Both Karin and Steve
are lawyers (as they say…no one is perfect), Karin from Dallas and Steve is
from Toronto. I met Steve at an Outpost
Club outing about 5 years ago where we played Sage Valley together after
playing the previous day at Palmetto GC (Palmetto being so much better than
Sage Valley that I cannot express it adequately in words). Steve has a vacation house in Pinehurst and
is a member of CCNC. Karin does not play
the silly game of golf, but is charming.
The wedding went very well and
the weather was great. On Saturday Pat
and I were able to play the newly renovated Dogwood Course, which had reopened
about 4 weeks earlier.
Country Club of North
Carolina—Dogwood, October 1, 2016: CCNC
was (to my knowledge) the first private club in Pinehurst, founded in
1963. It started with 18 holes,
(Dogwood) designed by Ellis Maples and William Byrd, and then built an
additional nine designed by William Byrd which opened in 1970. This third nine would later become holes 1-5
and 15-18 of the Cardinal Course. The
“outward nine” of Cardinal (holes 6-14) was completed in 1981 and was designed
by Robert Trent Jones Sr. with help from his son Rees. The Jones’ work in the late 1970’s also
included some updating of the other Cardinal holes deemed necessary as a result
of increased distance of golfers at all levels.
In the period from 1999-2001
CCNC retained Arthur Hills to renovate Dogwood’s greens and later, Hills led more
extensive renovations to Cardinal’s greens and overall design. Finally, in 2012 Cardinal’s bent greens were
replaced with Champion Ultra Dwarf Bermuda grass…which had an huge positive impact
on the condition of Cardinal.
However, Dogwood’s bent greens
continued to have problems given the summer climate in NC, and the fairways in
many spots were almost always way too soft and wet. In 2015 CCNC brought in architect Kris Spence
to renovate Dogwood and this renovation included the installation of Champion
Bermuda greens, capping the soft fairways with sand and improving the
drainage. The course reopened in early
September 2016.
Condition-wise…the course is at
minimum 5000% improved. The fairways are
firm and fast (and they were that way on 10/1 which was after 4.46” of rain
from 9/27-29 (including 3.4” on 9/29)…and also that way on 10/15, 7 days after
Hurricane Matthew dumped 6.83” on October 8).
The greens are beautiful and very firm (as new greens always are at
first), and the sand in the bunkers is also 5000% better. In terms of individual holes, hole #4 is now
superb, much much better than previously and it is the best improvement.
On an overall basis, from the
forward and regular tees (white and blue), the course is shorter (and plays
much shorter because of the firmness) and wider, the greens are still tough,
but a bit flatter, and the bunkers are a little bit shallower. I think all these are for the better…but the
combination may have taken too much fire out of the course. I say “may” because it takes time for all new
courses and renovated courses to “shake out”…changes are almost always made a
year or two after the job is “done”…so it will be interesting to see how
Dogwood evolves…but in any case, on an overall basis it is much much better
than it was two years ago…no question about that.
Background wise, Dogwood hosted
a US Amateur (1980) won by Hal Sutton and a US Girl’s Junior in 2010. In terms of ratings, Dogwood was:
--#99 on
Golf Magazine’s World Top 100 list in 1985 (the first year that GM had a World
Top100…prior lists were a Top 50);
--within
Golf Digest’s Top 20-40 in their 1969-79 USA lists and exited the GD USA Top
100 after a #86 in 1997; and
--#78 in
GM’s USA Top 100 in 1991 (note that when GM listed Dogwood as #99 in the world
in 1985, GM did not publish a USA Top 100).
In terms
of full disclosure, I have been a member of CCNC since 1998 and first played it
(Dogwood) in 1976.
On Sunday October 2, Pat and I
flew back to North Carolina. Our flight
was delayed which meant that we missed a good part of the Ryder Cup singles
matches. I would like to find out who
won so if some of the European readers of this blog could let me know, that
would be much appreciated.
Quaker Ridge GC, October 4-5,
2016: Then on Tuesday morning, Pat and I drove from Milton, MA to
Scarsdale, NY to play in a “Walker Cup Reunion” being held at Quaker
Ridge. I was a member of QR from
1975-2000 (full disclosure again) and Quaker is celebrating its 100th
anniversary this year. Alan Howard, a
former president of QR was put in charge of the 100th anniversary
events and in addition to what may have been the “standard” 100th
Anniversary party for members, came up with the idea of a Walker Cup Reunion
(QR hosted the Walker Cup in 1997) inviting all living former players and
captains, representatives from all clubs that have hosted the event, and
representatives/officials of the USGA and R&A. According to Alan, when he first proposed the
Reunion during a conference call with senior representatives of the USGA and
the R&A, it was met with a period of total silence. Shortly, others started warming to the idea
and it turned out to be a wonderful event that was superbly run…at least a
“home run” and perhaps a “grand slam” IMO.
Pat and I attended as representatives of The Country Club along with
good friend Lawrie Foster (Lawrie’s wife Daphne could not attend). To date, there have been 46 Walker Cup
Matches conducted at a total of 32 clubs, 14 in GB&I and 18 in the USA (all
of which have been played by your truly).
The event was attended by representatives of 25 of these clubs (13 of 14
of the GB&I clubs with Royal Lytham & St. Annes absent and 12 of 18 of
the USA clubs with Baltimore, Cypress Point, Interlachen, Milwaukee, Minikahda,
and Seattle absent…two of which are in Minneapolis and probably had post Ryder
Cup events). In total, some 150 people
attended the dinner on October 4 and heard many wonderful anecdotes about the
history of the Matches. Of course, the
passing of Arnold Palmer was in everyone’s mind during the entire event and
many special examples of his generosity and warmth filled the two days.
Lawrie and I were able to play
QR twice and Pat joined us for the October 4 practice round….where we were also
joined by an old friend from QR, Michael Frankel, whom I had not seen for about
20 years. Michael had read about my
travel/golfing exploits on the internet and had reached out to me this past summer
and it was special to relive old times (even if some of his stories about my
lack of accuracy with the driver were somewhat exaggerated).
Quaker was in great condition
and never looked better. Gil Hanse
completed an outstanding renovation/restoration of this Tillinghast gem that
has brought the course back to its original intent, severely cut back on tree
growth (IMO, QR is a poster child for tree removal), and resulted in a very
tough but fair parkland course. It now
stretches to 7008 yards (par 70) with its real strength resting in its par 4’s
(2 between 351 and 400 yards, 6 between 401 and 450 yards, and 4 above 450
yards) and a great variety of par 3’s.
The tree removal program has resulted in firmer and healthier turf and
greens that are much firmer and faster.
I had balls come back and roll off the green on two false fronts which I
never knew existed during probably 2000 rounds at QR between 1975 and 2000. Simply put, it is a very different (and much
much better course).
In terms of ratings, Quaker has
appeared in every Golf Magazine World Top 100 list starting in 1983 (the 1979
and ’81 lists were Top 50’s), reaching a pinnacle of #33 in 1987 and most recently at #74 in
2015. In terms of USA Top 100’s, it has
appeared on every list from all sources except GD’s 1966 and 2011. It’s highest rating was #14 on GD in 1989 and
its highest current rating is #39 on top100golfcourses.co.uk and #40 on GM.
Winged Foot GC-East, October
6, 2016: Winged Foot lies just
across the street from Quaker and with WF’s 36, this almost contiguous combination
of 54 holes is certainly one of the 3 or 4 most outstanding combinations of 3
courses in the world (only rivals seem to be Shinnecock/NGLA/Sebanock, Bandon
Dunes, and Royal Melbourne GC (36)/Victoria GC.
I have excluded the stretch from Gullane GC (#1) through North Berwick
(West) which also includes Muirfield and Renaissance, because of the gap
between Gullane #1 and Muirfield and Archerfield GC (a less than stellar pair
of tracks) sitting between Renaissance and N Berwick (W). No question that the WF/QR combination is the
best almost contiguous 54 combination designed by a single architect. Tillinghast did his initial work at QR in
1916 and made major revisions in 1927; his WF efforts were completed in 1923.
In 1929, the US Open was
scheduled to be played over WF’s East course.
However, heavy rains and flooding just prior to the event caused the
USGA to move the event to the West course, where Bobby Jones won his 3rd
of 4 US Opens in a playoff against Al Espinosa.
Since then, Winged Foot has hosted 4 US Opens (with another scheduled
for 2020), 1 PGA Championship, one Walker Cup, and 2 US Am’s on the West Course
and 2 US Woman’s Opens and 1 US Senior Open on the East Course. Many observers consider the West Course to be
the 2nd most difficult course in the USA (with Oakmont as the
toughest) and its US Open results back that up.
In 1974 Hale Irwin won at 7 over par and in 2006 Geoff Ogilvy won at
five over.
I had the opportunity to play
Winged Foot many times starting in the 1970’s, and I distinctly recall that
members referred to the East Course as being for “ladies and kids.” After the Hanse renovation, no one is saying
that anymore. Rumor (from WF members)
has it that something like 65-70% of member rounds are now played on the East…and
members choose which course they want to play.
Apparently, most rounds on West these days are when members have guests
who want to play the “US Open” course. To
be fair, Hanse has just commenced his renovation of West, so the mix of play
after the West’s renovation will be a better “test.”
Now to the course…it is simply
brilliant. The greens are perfect…fast
and firm in terms of condition and I personally think East has the best set of
Tillie greens…each green is different from the others and yet they all work
together beautifully. The bunkering is
extremely subtle and tough. From a
distance, the bunkers do not look that challenging, but when you get in them,
you realize that Hanse has created concave surfaces in most of the
bunkers. With most of the greens sitting
well above the bunkers, the player finds that most shots run to the “outside”
half of the bunkers, leaving him with a downhill lie to a green sitting 5-7’
above the ball. In fact, I hit into 5
greenside bunkers and faced this situation in 4 of the 5. The fairways have generous width which brings
the cross bunkers into play on most recovery shots (and Tillie loved cross
bunkers). The best holes to my mind are
#3 (a downhill148 yd devilish par 3 with a huge false front); #13 (a 146 yard
par 3 to a green angled to the right, a huge bunker protecting the right side
of the green, and a precipitous drop off behind the green; #15 (a 336 yard par
4 with an infinity green sitting on top of a mound protected by a creek at the
start of the mound and a bunker sitting at least 8’ below green level on the
right side; and #17 (a 227 yard par three that must be approached from left to
right). Throw in the huge magnificent
clubhouse and a pure golf atmosphere, and you have one of the best golf clubs
in existence. Was special to have Pat
finally play one of WF’s courses, and see the inside of the clubhouse.
The East Course measures 6792
yards (par 72). In terms of Worldwide
ratings, East has been on Golf Magazine’s Top 100 every year since 1993 with
the exception of 2013 and currently sits at #84 (its high point was #59 in
2001). At present it is not on any other
current World Top 100. In USA Top 100
ratings, it has appeared on 55 of 66 listing shown on my spreadsheet, reaching
a high of #24 in Golf Digest’s 1993 list.
Its highest current rating is #44 on Golf Magazine’s 2015 list. It will be interesting to see where it sits
in 2017 and 2019 (it takes a few years for enough raters to see a course after
it is renovated).
After our round it was a quick
lunch, then I dropped Pat off at Westchester County Airport for her flight to
Raleigh-Durham. Then I got back in the
car for about 6 days of golf as I wound my way down to Pinehurst with a whole
bunch of golf stops along the way. Want
to finish the USA Top 100 EVER plus the PGA Championship venues, so there is
work to be done!
Siwanoy Country Club, October
6, 2016: So, if I’m going after PGA
Championship venues, why not go after the first, 100 years after the
event? Siwanoy hosted the first PGA
Championship in 1916 won by Jim Barnes.
The club was founded in 1901, built a 9 hole course and moved to its
current location and built an 18 hole track designed by Donald Ross in 1914. Today the course totals 6383 yards (par 70)…very
short but a lot of fun. It sits on
excellent terrain (there are only two flat holes on the course and about that
many opportunities for flat lies) and a recent restoration has brought back to
life the Ross greens, which are in perfect condition. Located in the southern portion of Westchester
County and near the NYC line, it is landlocked with no place to expand. It has never been included in any Top 100
listing and while its days as a great championship course are well behind it,
it would be a fun track to play every day and it is a superb club. During 1986-87 I lived about 2-3 miles from
Siwanoy but never had the opportunity to play it. Best holes are the par 3 third, par 4 eighth,
and par 4 15th.
After the round I drove down to
Nassau County on Long Island, happily through less traffic than I
expected. With another 36 hole day
scheduled for Friday, I needed some rest.
Eisenhower Park-Red Course,
October 7, 2016: Located in East
Meadow (about 5-7 miles east of Bethpage), Eisenhower Park started off as a
very exclusive private club…Salisbury Golf Club designed by Devereux Emmet in
1914. In 1926 it hosted the PGA Championship
that was won by Walter Hagen. Unable to
pay its real estate taxes during the Depression, it closed down and was taken
over by Nassau County. Today, the park
has three courses, with the Red being the “premier” course, stretching to 7199
yards (par 72). For a number of years it
hosted a Senior tour event.
The Red is built on very flat
terrain and is in awful condition. In
2010 I went back and played the Queens NY (Kissena Golf Course) muni I played
as a kid (which was great fun) and quite frankly it was in much better
condition than the Red. I was here
simply because of my dumb quest to play all the PGA venues (having already
completed the Open Championship, US Open, and Masters venues). Sorry if I sound like a golf snob (can’t be
one since I loved going back to Kissena), but this place has no redeeming
values.
Nassau Country Club, October
7, 2016: After finishing my round at
the Red, I drove about eight miles north to Glen Cove to play Nassau Country
Club. Here on the northern part of Long
Island, the terrain is totally different that the terrain on LI’s southern
portion. During the last Ice Age, the
glaciers stretched south and eventually stopped about half way across LI,
before the earth started re-warming (obviously due to the first uses of fossil
fuels) leading to the glaciers receding to the Artic. Funny, I thought “global warming” and
“climate change” were more recent phenomena.
Have to write Al Gore and see what he has to say. In any case, the glaciers brought with them
huge rocks and boulders from more northerly land and created the hilly terrain
of northern LI, upper NYS, and New England.
These rocks and boulders are now the large rock outcroppings that are
found in these regions. The southern
portion of LI were never touched by the glaciers and remained very flat. If you are familiar with the borough of
Queens, Hillside Avenue (running east-west) marks the bottom of the hill where
the debris dragged down by the glacier stopped (I know since I grew up at the
top of that hill).
Nassau Country Club was founded
in 1896 as Queens County Club, as the County of Nassau did not exist in 1896 (Queens
County encompassed what is now Queens and Nassau). In 1899, the current Queens County became a
borough of New York City, Nassau County was incorporated, and the club changed
its name to Nassau County Club. In 1903,
it hosted the US Amateur (which is why I placed it on this itinerary…as I am
also trying to complete the US Amateur venues) and in both 1914 and 2014 it
hosted the US Woman’s Amateur. The club
is also where the Nassau golf bet was created (non golfers…a Nassau is a match
play bet where there are equal amounts bet on the results of the front nine,
back nine, and all 18…creating three separate bets). A member, Mr. J. B. Coles Tappan, created the
concept as a way to keep a game interesting in cases where one played or team
gets off to a very strong start…the idea was to create a new game on the back
nine to keep all the golfers focused longer.
Finally, Nassau CC is where Bobby Jones started putting with his
Calamity Jane putter. In 1923, Jones was
on Long Island preparing for the US Open to be played at Inwood. Nassau’s head pro, Jim Maiden (and brother of
Stuart Maiden, the head pro at Jones’ East Lake club in Atlanta) asked Jones to
try his putter (that he had nicknamed Calamity Jane) and Jones started sinking
almost everything. As they say, the rest
is history. Now lets move along from our
geology and history lessons…
Nassau CC was originally
designed by Devereux Emmet. Seth Raynor
renovated the course in the 1920’s…which is obvious from the 5th
green. The shape of that green and its
surrounding bunkers reflect the Short Hole “template” used by C. B. MacDonald,
Seth Raynor, and Charles Banks…even to the point of the oft-included raised
“ledge” along the back and side portions of the green. Sometime later this hole was stretched to 204
yards…but it clearly was at one time a “Short”.
Subsequent renovations were
completed by Herb Strong and Tom Fazio (2012) and unfortunately somewhere along
the way many of the bunkers were redone (badly), and the 5th hole was stretched
to 204 yards. The club is planning
another renovation to bring the bunkers back to their Raynor design and I
applaud that plan. Today, the course
totals 6702 yards (par 70), is in excellent condition and is fun to play. The greens are very tough but fair and the
rolling terrain is similar to Siwanoy’s.
Best holes are 6, 13 and 15 and the most unusual part of the course is the
old cemetery (which predates the club) located next to the 10th
tee. One of the Long Island railroad’s
lines runs along the left side of holes 6-8 and the local train station is only
about 400 yards from the clubhouse, a great convenience for commuting members
and a reminder that almost all older courses were built near railroad
lines. I had my first decent round of
the trip at Nassau ever after starting with a double bogey…40-43=83.
Again, here is a course that
never was on a top 100 and probably never will be…but a fun fun course to play.
After completing the round
before sunset I drove into Manhattan for dinner with my sister Jean, her
husband Amatzia, and my sister Ann. Jean
moved to Israel over 55 years ago where she met Amatzia and they still live,
and Ann lives in Manhattan. With the
exception of some back and forth volleys regarding this year’s presidential
candidates, the dinner was nice and all were well behaved (even I). After dinner I had to drive to New Jersey for
Saturday’s round at Essex County Country Club.
Got there past 11pm…and was fairly tired to say the least.
