111. Six Days in the Midwest…204 Holes
Having given the stitches from the Mohs procedure time to set and heal, I was ready to play some golf about three weeks after the procedure. I left Boston late on Saturday 6/9 and flew into Traverse City (in the northern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula). By the time I reached my hotel, it was about 11:30pm…and I was scheduled to play the next morning at 7:30am!
Black Forest at Wilderness Valley, June 10, 2018: Up early for a long day starting at what I think was Tom Doak’s first course (opened 1991). I gather that helping Tom built this one were Mike DeVries…and Gil Hanse. Not a bad combo…but clearly that team could not guarantee strong cash flow in the 25+ years that followed (obviously architects are rarely responsible for cash flow). In any case, this place looks to be really hurting. I arrived at 7:15am and was offered a cart to use. It is about a 400-500 yard ride from the clubhouse to the first tee…I got about 250 yards and the cart literally died. This course occupies probably 300 acres on very hilly land…got me thinking what might have happened if it had died 60 minutes later.
I am here this day because Black Forest was once on GW’s Top 100 USA Modern list in 1997 and 1998 (GW’s first two years of publishing a list) peaking at # 69 in ’98, but not close to high enough to make my “merged GW” list for these years.
I have no idea what sort of condition Black Wilderness was in during the 1990’s…but today the word “Wilderness” certainly applies. Perhaps the worst condition of any course I have ever played in 63 years of paying this game…including days roaming NYC muni’s. Greens close to unputtable…but certainly fast and firm (hard-pan tends to be that way). Shoot it to take it out of its misery. Enough said? Did not keep score…but did birdie #18.
Forest Dunes, Loop Red, June 10, 2018: After a 50 minute drive I was at Forest Dunes…my second visit to this resort. I was here in July 2014 to play the original course by Tom Weiskopf (opened in 2002), which I really really liked.
The land at Forest Dunes has had some rather interesting owners through the years, including William Durant, one of the founders of GM, the Detroit Partnership (aka Detroit Mafia), and the Michigan Carpenters Pension Fund (aka…another “Detroit Mafia”…just “kidding”, of course). After years of losses, the Pension Fund sold the property in 2011 to Lew Thompson, an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the long haul trucking business. Thompson first built a nice lodge on the property (Forest Dunes is located in a fairly remote part of northern Michigan)…then he went looking at various ways to expand its golf offerings.
You may know that a few days each year The Old Course at St. Andrews is set up in a “reverse loop”:
--play from 1sttee to 17thgreen, then
--from 18ndtee to 16thgreen, then
--from 17rdtee to 15th green, …and eventually
--from the 3rdtee to the 1stgreen, and finally
--from the 2ndtee to the 18thgreen.
In other words, instead of playing TOC counter-clockwise, it is played clockwise those days.
Tom Doak has long been interested in building a “reversible” course, and Thompson gave him the opportunity five years ago. By 2016 “The Loop” at Forest Dunes had opened featuring the counter-clockwise Red Course and clockwise Black Course. The advantages are obvious…offer customers two different (they are very different) courses on one piece of land and the maintenance of one course. Naturally, only one course can be opened at a time…or the number of golfers in this country would decline further. So Forest Dunes plays the property as the Red on days 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. …and as the Black on days 2, 4, 6, 8 etc. Guest no longer arrive at Forest Dunes for a one day visit…they now tend to stay for 2-4 days to play all three courses. Mike Keiser’s theorem proved again.
So on this day I played Red at 11am and enjoyed it a lot. Fairways and tees are fescue, which if you have the right climate I think is the best playing surface (very firm and fast). Fairways are wonderful wide corridors but player needs to hit to a particular area off the tee or shot to the green becomes very hard. Best hole IMO is #12 and hardest is par 5 9th(at least for moi)…greens are very interesting but not “crazy Doak” greens…they are difficult to read, important to understand but playable. Very easy piece of land to walk…and one that really challenges players…land “rumpled” and fair number of greens slope front to back (almost has to be on a “reversible course”).
One interesting question that needs to be sorted out in future years is does this get rated as two separate courses or one? To date, the only USA or World Rating to include The Loop has been Golf Week’s 2018 listing…which lists it as “Forest Dunes—The Loop (Red & Black). On the other hand, Golf Digest’s list of Candidates shoes two separate courses …pain in the butt for me as to how I end up showing it on my Top 100 Spreadsheet! In any case, the one listing was #69 on the 2018 GW Top 100 Modern…which brought it to #144 on my Merged Golf Week listing. Several reversible courses and partially reversible courses have been built. Look for more in the future. Requires the right land forms (should not have large hills) and very bright creative architects to make it work…it does here at Forest Dunes, and the next day I would play it clockwise. After a poor start and a 7 on the par 5 9th, ended up with a 45-39 = 84. Not bad.
Now I needed to get in my car and up to Bay Harbor near Petoskey, Michigan…a drive of 86 miles and 90 minutes…and this after already having played 36 (obviously all three rounds in a cart).
Bay Harbor Golf Club-Links/Quarry, June 10, 2018: This is a 27 hole course with three nines named The Links, The Quarry, and The Preserve. The course was designed by Arthur Hills and opened for play in 1997. I was here to play Links/Quarry, as this was the course that had been included on Golf Week’s Top 100 Modern from 1997-2002, including three years (1997, ’99, and ’00) when it made the Merged GW listing. Arriving at the club around 5:30pm, I was stunned by the fabulous views to the north of Little Traverse Bay and the Town of Harbor Springs. However, if this was the 66thbest course in the USA in 1999, why didn’t the Observation Deck on the 86thFloor of the Empire State Building make the Top 100…the views there are also stunning??
The course is designed to maximize the views…to the detriment of the golf course itself. Due to some long distances from green to tee, it is essentially unwalkable. Additionally, the course is overwatered and its design is unimaginative. I know, no one to blame but myself for being a captive of my Bucket Lists!!
The back nine (Quarry) lacks views of Little Traverse Bay and surrounds parts of a deep quarry. It can play very tough (I gave up on scoring for the last nine). Perhaps 54 holes and 175 miles in a single day was too much to schedule?? It was nice to get back to my hotel and get to sleep.
Treetop Resorts—Robert Trent Jones Masterpiece—holes 13-18, June 11, 2018: In July 2013, I played The RT Jones Masterpiece Course at Treetops Resort. I teed off around 2pm and play was glacial in pace. The round would have taken 6 hours had I finished but I walked off after 12 holes, as I needed to get back to Detroit.
I called Treetops several weeks before this trip and they were wonderful in allowing me to go out to holes #13-18 first thing in the morning to finish this course. I must also say that while I did not like the course five years ago, I did find the course much improved compared to 2013. Serious efforts have been made to cut back the tree cover and widen the fairway corridors, and the turf was much improved from what I remembered. It was good to take this one off my “cleanup list” and officially mark it as played.
Forest Dunes, Loop-Black, June 11, 2018: Back to Forest Dunes to play the Clockwise or Black Course of The Loop. This course definitely seemed tougher than Red to me, although I thought the fairway corridors were a bit wider. Around the greens there seemed to be more trouble than Red (remember…these are the same greens, coming from different directions). There were two corridors on the Black where the walk from the previous green was about 100-150 yards, which did not help the “flow” of the course…but playing 54 yesterday and 42 today was making it impossible to do a deep analysis.
No question these are the two of the toughest courses to get to know that I have ever played. Worth the visit, but you should be smarter and wiser than I…stay for 4-5 days and get to know all three tracks, BTW…walking only on Loop.
After the round it was back in the car to drive down to Tullymore…another delightful 110 mile drive (2 hours) to about 50 miles NNE of Grand Rapids.
Tullymore Golf Resort—Tullymore Course, June 11, 2018: Tullymore was designed by Jim Engh and opened for play in 2002. Sometime since it merged with St. Ives Golf Club and both courses (in separate locations) are under common ownership. I am playing Tullymore because in 2007 and ’09 it was rated #83 and #90 on Golf Digest’s USA 100 Greatest (don’t blame me…I became a GD panelist in 2010). It also appeared in 2003 on GW’s Top 100 Modern…but not high enough to make my GW merged list.
Among Engh’s other designs, I have played Black Rock (ID), Hawktree (ND), and Sanctuary (CO)…count me as a fan of none of these. He also built the third nine (The Kilmore Nine) at Carne Golf Links, but I did not play that nine.
Strikes me that Engh takes jobs with very difficult sites. Tullymore is simply overloaded with wetlands (water comes into play on 14 holes) and one has the feeling the holes were shoehorned into whatever open spaces he could find. Obviously, this requires its own set of unique skills, but that does not guarantee a good result.
After finishing at Tullymore, I had to drive 135 miles down to Benton Harbor, MI, where I would to play a Jack Nicklaus track, Harbor Shores the next morning. So over the past 48 hours, my totals were about 550 miles and 96 holes of golf (5.3 rounds)…and the only two really good courses amongst them were the two Doak Loops at Forest Dunes. Who picked this job, anyhow??
Golf Club at Harbor Shores, June 12, 2018: I was the first golfer on site this morning and was off the first tee promptly at 7am. After a very good first hole, the course starts getting shoehorned a bit, as wetlands and real estate impinge on major portions of the property. Actually the site was a superfund cleanup site and the golf course and real estate development was built on top of the reclaimed land. Nicklaus says they removed enough water etc from the land to fill an area the size of a football field to a height of 65 feet (about 120,000 cubic yards by my math).
In even numbered years from 2012 through 2024 Harbor Shoes has and will host the Senior PGA Championship. When the course first opened, Jack played an exhibition round with Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller, and on the 10thgreen sunk a 102’ putt that Johnny Miller said was impossible to get up the hill:
The rise from the lower portion of the green to the upper must be a good 12-15”. I three putted from the lower portion of the green…and sunk a putt of 6’ to do that!
Anyhow…a good golf course but not USA Top 100 material…but what a green on #10!!
Birmingham CC, June 12, 2018: OK…now we get to the real reason for the trip. You will recall that I ended 2017 having played every Men’s Major Venue EVER…except one…the site of the 1953 PGA Championship, Birmingham CC. That PGA is famous for what didn’t happen rather than for what did happen. In 1953 Ben Hogan played only six Tour events…and won five of them (including The Open Championship). He could not play in the PGA Championship because it overlapped with The Open Championship that year (July 1-7 for the PGA and July 8-12 for the Open Championship). Additionally, it is doubtful that Hogan could have competed in the PGA as his legs had been severely weakened by his 1950 automobile accident, and the PGA finalists would be forced to play about 30-36 holes/day for five straight days. Walter Burkemo won that PGA.
I contacted a fellow GD Panelist who found me a member to play with at BCC…an English woman who had her final interview for becoming a US citizen that morning! I very much enjoyed the course, especially the front nine (best hole is #2) which is built on beautifully “rumpled" land that reminded me of much of the land used for courses in GB&I. Routing is excellent and the greens very very special…and overall the course was in super condition. The course was originally designed by Tom Bendelow. In 1930, major alterations were made under the direction of William Diddell. Robert Trent Jones made some changes before the 1953 PGA, and finally Brice and Jerry Matthews made some changes in 1963.
It was a wonderful place to finished off my Men’s Major’s Ever bucket list. Was clear from looking around that BCC is a superb club…very active and busy, which is great to see. Ended up with a fairly ugly 41-44 = 85. Always good to finish off a Bucket List…especially this one since I have played all the announced Men’s major sites as well…so covered for a bunch of years (unless the Masters moves).
I had called Orchards Golf Club in Washington, MI about 27 miles NE of BCC and was able to get a starting time for around 6pm…headed there hoping to knock that off as well, but when I arrived it became clear that there had been a miscommunication and I would be behind men’s league play which would be very slow…so instead headed up to Grand Blanc (near Flint, MI) where I was staying overnight and playing the next morning. Not playing that third course was a good thing…I was fairly tired…another 275 miles this day.
Warwick Hills Country Club, June 13, 2018: Warwick Hills hosted the Buick Open event on the PGA Tour from 1978 through 2009. I had never played it but went up to Flint (I was living in Alexandria, VA) to meet my friends Davis and Ruth Ann Phillips at the 4thround of the Buick Open to see if our friend Mark O’Meara could win the event (he was tied for the lead Saturday night…but did not play well Sunday). So I knew the course from walking all 18 holes…but I had to play it as it was included in the #61-70 bracket of Golf Digest’s 1969 100 Best Tests list and in the #51-100 bracket of GD’s 1971 100 Greatest list. Clearly a very active club and very good golf course in excellent condition (although too green) and built on good land...but routing suffers from too many parallel fairways and still too many trees, despite removal efforts of late. In any case it was fun to see it from “inside the ropes.” Played it with Jay H., whom I met and played with in 2017 at Plum Hollow CC (another former PGA Championship venue). Had a good round…41-39 = 80.
Was good to catch up with Jay and after the round, he needed to get to his office and I needed to get to South Bend, IN, where I was scheduled to play Notre Dame’s course. Another 215 miles on the odometer.
Warren Course at Notre Dame, June 13, 2018: Squeezed between a variety of football fields and other football related practice facilities is an 18-hole course designed by Coore & Crenshaw. The course opened in 1999. The property is very very flat except for holes 16-18 located in the NE corner of the property. It is a good course but I do not think worthy of a Top 100 rating (and it has not earned one). It is scheduled to host the US Senior Open in June 2019 and I think it will be a good venue for that event. It plays to 7020 yards from the tips (par 71).
I arrived around 4pm and was able to get right off. I played very well on the back, shooting a 42-38 = 80 and thought the best holes were 7, 9-11, 13, and 16-18.
After the round, I drove 30 miles to Gary, IN to stay overnight. The next day would include two courses in Chicago and then, happily, a flight home. This has been a long trip. By the time I arrived at O’Hare the next day, I had logged something like 1150 miles and 204 holes (11 courses plus the last 6 holes at Treetops RTJ Masterpiece).
Harborside International, Port Course, June 14, 2018: After a 40 mile drive I arrived at the 36 hole Harborside facility near Lake Michigan south of Chicago by 6:45am. Both the Port and the Starboard course were designed by Dick Nugent and opened for play in 1995 and 1996 respectively. Both play to about 7150 yards and par 72…and while I did not see Starboard, I sensed to is similar to Port…which is a big boring course. I was playing Port because it was #100 on the GW Modern Top 100 in 1999, which made it #200 on my Merged GW 1999 list.
Teed off around 7:00 on hole #1 and had to play the course in thee following order because a shot gun event was scheduled for the front nine at 7:45: #1-5, then #10-18, followed by #6-9. Then after I has played 1-3, the starter came out to tell me he had the shot gun plans wrong and I had to finish #5 by 7:30…so I made a mad dash and got through with #5 just in time, played the back, and then finished up on 6-9. Don’t remember much of this track, but then again not much memorable about it. Just glad it is in the rear view mirror.
La Grange CC, June 14, 2018: Located about 8 miles WSW of downtown Chicago, La Grange CC was founded about 120 years ago and after outgrowing its original 9 hole course, moved to its present location in 1913. Its current course was designed by Thomas Bendelow with assistance from William Langford. It hosted US Women’s Opens in
1974 and 1981. In 2004 the course underwent a major renovation led by the architectural firm of Cornish, Silva and Mungeam. It is a good course but has too many parallel fairways…with 15 holes running along the N-S axis and only 3 going E-W. It is also somewhat overtreed IMO, but that is probably necessary with so many parallel fairways.
I had to hop around to get my round done quickly but that worked well….and I was pleased to get to the airport…having knocked a whole bunch of courses off my bucket lists…and having completed my Men’s Major Venue EVER list! Time to get home, watch the US Open, and get some rest. Would like to think that I would avoid such an itinerary in the future, but who would I be kidding…certainly not you folks (or Pat).
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