Upstate New York, June 5-8, 2017 (Part
II)
Had done most of the packing
last night but awoke early, finished packing, got dressed, had breakfast (Fiber
One, of course) and left for Oak Hill about 6:15am. Tee time was for 7:00am but we were able to
go out early (about 6:55). Had same caddy
as yesterday…Jack A., who is entering his senior year at Ohio State, majoring
in Finance. Jack is a wonderful guy…and a very good
caddy. Enjoyed being with him yesterday
and was the same today.
Today we are playing the West
Course at Oak Hill. Oak Hill is one of a
group of clubs built before the Depression with 36 holes consisting of a big
championship course and a shorter “more fun” track…examples follow (Club name/
State/Champ Cs/Fun Cs):
Los
Angeles CC CA North South
Olympic
Club CA Lake Ocean
Congressional
CC MD Blue Gold
Oakland
Hills CC MI South North
Baltusrol
GC NJ Lower Upper
Oak
Hill CC NY East West
Winged
Foot GC NY West East
Firestone
CC OH South North
Merion
GC PA East West
Not surprisingly, the Board of
Governors of the above clubs (for sure 100% male prior to say 1970) were not
noted for their creativity in terms of naming courses.
In some cases, the course that
ended up being the Championship track was not considered to be the great course
when the courses were originally designed.
For example, legend has it that when Winged Foot hosted the US Open for
the first time in 1929, the event was scheduled to be played on the East. However, heavy rains the prior week caused
flooding on the East, but the West, built on higher land, was relatively dry…so
at the last minute, the USGA decided to switch the event to the West. After a very special win in a 36-hole playoff
by Bobby Jones, Jr., it was the West that continued as the host venue for the
big ones (East hosted the inaugural US Senior Open and two US Women’s Opens).
Some familiar with Oak Hill’s
history say that Ross considered the West to be OHCC’s tougher track, but when
it came time for the 1949 US Am and 1956 US Open…the East got the call.
Today, members generally prefer
to play the West…unless the have guests who usually want to play the US Open
track (yup…male egos)…and the same is true at many of the 36 holes clubs listed
above. I remember playing Winged Foot in
the 1970’s with my friend Bob, and if I asked if we could try the East…Bob
would respond that “the East is for wives and kids.” Bob is no more sexist than I…but some would
assert that that is not saying much. In
any case, before I get myself in deeper trouble, today, members at WF reputably
prefer East by a margin of at least 2:1. Now let me turn to the West at OHCC.
Oak Hill CC-West, June 8,
2017: The West plays to 6723 yards,
par 71. So 411 yards shorter (with one
stroke more for par) than East. Having
been tinkered with less than East, it is more of a pure Ross track today than
East. It has never been on a World or
USA Top 100, but Darius Oliver’s Planet
Golf Top 100 included Oak Hill West on its list of courses that either were
previously on his World Top 100, or were close to making the Planet Golf World Top 100. It has never hosted a major event.
Best holes on West are:
#3 a 420
yard par 4 turning right with a large bunker protecting the right front of the
green);
#6 a 543 yard straight par 5 with two large
mounds traversing the fairway, and a sharply uphill approach shot to an
elevated and small undulating green;
#9 a
short (365 yard) straight par 4, uphill off the tee, then steeply downhill
starting about 215 yards from the back tee leaving a slightly uphill approach
to a difficult green to read and putt (sloping back to front); and
#13-#15…three
holes built on undulating land that offer many options for playing strategy.
If I was a member here, almost
of all my rounds would be on West…it is far more fun. Of the 36 hole clubs listed above, while I
have played all of the Championship courses, of the “fun” courses, I have only
played WF-East, Baltusrol-Upper, OH-West, and Firestone-North. Of these four, my order of preference would
be as shown in the prior sentence.
It was about 52° when we teed
off but quickly warmed up on a beautiful day.
I played OK shooting a 42-40 = 82.
We completed the round at 9:11 and by 9:25 after thanking Jack (and
exchanging contact info) and the pro shop staff, I was off in the car for a
drive of about 4 hours 30 minutes.
Silo Ridge Field Club, June
8, 2017: I was heading for Silo
Ridge Field Club in Amenia, NY, located in the Hudson Valley about halfway between
NYC and Albany NY (on the eastern side of the Hudson River, about 4 miles west
of the NY-CT state line). This is a
beautiful part of NY State. There has
been a golf course here for a couple of decades and Discovery Land purchased
the site and brought in Tom Fazio to completely rebuild the course, which
re-opened October 2016.
Discovery Land has developed 20
clubs to date (16 in the USA, two in Cabo, Mexico, one in the Bahamas, and one
in the Dominican Republic). Of these 20,
including Silo Ridge, I have played five (Gozzer Ranch—ID, Silo Ridge—NY,
Mountain Top—NC, Estancia—AZ, and Playa Grande—Dominican Republic).
After a drive of about 290
miles, I arrived at about 1:55pm, quickly changed into golf shoes, and went out
to play accompanied by the head pro Brian Crowell (whose voice sound just like
Jim Nance’s). I needed to play quickly
as I wanted to leave by 4:30, so that I could get back to home by around 7:30pm
(I still had a drive of 185 miles to get home).
This is a spectacular site, and
a beautiful golf course. Plays 7107
yards from the back, par 71. It is in
wonderful condition and the back nine has a good number of wonderful holes,
especially #10, #12, #14, #15, #17 and
#18. The land on the back nine is
especially dramatic…although the distances between greens and following tees
were longer than I like. The front nine
was somewhat more pedestrian with holes 2-8 running either NàS
or SàN. Silo Ridge is too new to have been on any Top
100.
The ambiance at Discovery Land
clubs is frankly not to my liking. The sites
are beautiful, and the service first class, but I find them over-the-top. That reflects my personal preferences, but in
evaluating clubs and courses, almost everything is a matter of personal likes,
dislikes and tastes. Many obviously like
Discovery Land Clubs, as well as Tom Fazio courses, but I am not to be found on
that list. Spectacularly beautiful, yes…but
mentally challenging (offering various angles and options, testing your plan on
each hole, etc.), no.
Please see the attached two
pics…one is the home that Tom Brady is building on the left side of #10, and
the other is the very dramatic #17, a downhill 231 yard par 3 over a deep
gorge.
 |
| Tom Brady's house on Silo Ridge #10 |
 |
| Silo Ridge #17...231 yd par 3...rather dramatic |
I was able to leave at about
4:40pm…would have liked to spend more time, but I needed and wanted to get
home. This was a short, tiring trip, and
I still had a good drive ahead. Pulled
into the driveway at 7:45pm…was so so wonderful to see Pat!! She da best!
So there it was…a total of 80
hours…filled with six golf courses (five new and one…Oak Hill East…a repeat),
and 1195 miles of driving. Lucked out in
terms of weather for sure. Best course
IMO…probably Monroe or The Park. Most
interesting and different…CC of Buffalo for sure. Most disappointing given its reputation…but
at the same time the one with the highest potential, Oak Hill East. Four by Donald Ross, one by Tom Fazio, and
one by Colt & Alison.
Pat and I had a wonderful
dinner. Had to get some sleep…our very
good friend from Pinehurst, Richard Brown, was coming into Boston tonight on a
late flight (landing around 10:30) and taking a taxi to our condo. Richard is flying to Ireland Friday night at
5:50pm…and he and I are playing Old Sandwich GC in Plymouth, MA Friday at
8:30am. Who put my schedule together? That guy has to be nuts!!
Old Sandwich, June 9, 2017
Before too long it was 5:30am
and time to get up. Richard’s flight was
on time but he hit construction during cab ride here, so he looked to be almost
as much of a mess as I did (that statement may make me liable for a deformation
suit). We had breakfast, said goodbye to
Pat, and drove about 45 miles south to Plymouth, MA…yes someplace near The
Rock!
We were playing with Gray G.,
the son of Kevan G. (who belongs to Old Sandwich and lives further south on
Cape Cod). Gray is a recent graduate of Villanova working for a mutual fund in
Boston. Pat and I know Kevan from ISAGS
trips…having played with him at places such as Cape Wickham on King Island,
Tasmania, Australia in February 2016.
Kevan was in Maine for a college reunion and Gray was a most worthy
substitute…and is a wonderful, bright young man.
We arrived at just before
8:00am. This is at least my 6th
round at Old Sandwich, which was completed in 2005 and designed by Coore and
Crenshaw. Our friend who works for C-C,
James Duncan, worked on OS when it was being designed and built, and playing OS
with James a few years ago was a wonderful experience.
In its short lifetime, OS has been
well recognized on USA and World Top 100 lists.
In World lists, Darius Oliver has it as #49 on Planet Golf and Top100golfcourses.com
has it currently at #80. In terms of
highest ratings, GM had it at #67 in 2013, Planet
Golf at #41 in 2009, and Top100golf courses.com at #68 in 2014. In USA lists, it’s highest current rating is
#40, and its highest ever rating was #28 (top100golfcourses.com in 2006). My sense is that #40 is about right.
My game stunk up the place…I was
(to say the very least) a bit tired from the Upstate NY trip. I fired a smooth 46-42 = 88. Disappointing is not strong enough, as I
think OS is a superb course. Off the top
of my head, I think only Sandhills, Shanqin Bay, and Friar’s Head are clearly
better Coore Crenshaw original tracks (excludes renovations).
Favorite holes are #7 and #14. Number 7 is 391 yard par 4 turning to left
and downhill to island green (surrounded by sand), and #14 is just to the east
of #7 and heading south (7 heads north) and is uphill doglegging right to an
infinity green well protected in front by deep bunkers and the rise before the
green (see pic).
 |
| Old Sandwich approach to 14th green |
Other superb holes
include 3-6, 9, 11, 13, and 15-18. The 13th
is a 560 yard par 5 with one of the most natural green settings I have ever
seen (see pic).
 |
| Old Sandwich setting for 13th green |
Given the rains that had
inundated eastern MA since late May (about 3.25” in the two weeks prior to our
round), it was not surprising that OS was a little softer than normal…but I am
sure it was back to its firm fast self in a matter of days.
After the round, we had lunch
took showers, then I drove Richard to Logan airport for his flight top
Dublin. Traffic was horrendous and when
I finally got home, I was ready to rest…
In any case, I as of June 18, I
stood at 936 courses lifetime, and for 2017 year to date 91 rounds on 57
courses (of which 42 were new and 15 courses I had played before 2017). My primary buckets lists stood at:
64
to reach 1000 lifetime;
17
to complete the USA Top 100 EVER
11
(all PGA sites) to complete Professional Grand Slam EVER
6 to complete Cups EVER (Ryder, Presidents,
Walker, Solheim, Curtis)
4 to complete US Amateur EVER
8 to complete US Senior Open EVER
5 states (AK, IA, ND, SD, UT) to have played
in all 50 states
Eliminating duplicates (for
example, Portland GC in OR has hosted a Ryder Cup, PGA Championship, and US
Amateur) 41 courses in total to complete the above bucket lists (except for
1000 lifetime).
Next trip…June 21-27 to the
“hinterlands”…visiting IA, KS, ND, NE, and SD.
If the trip comes off as planned, I will knock off:
4
of 17 USA Top 100 Ever
1
of 5 Cups EVER
2
of 4 US Amateur EVER
2
of 8 US Senior Open EVER
3
of 5 missing states to have played in
all 50 states
10
of 41 to complete all of above.
Oh, and it will get me to having
been in 49 of the 50 states (currently missing AK, ND, and SD).
And to answer your question, I played Erin Hills in July 2013, and really loved it.
No comments:
Post a Comment