137. Two local courses in Massachusetts, and Visitors from Down Under

137.  Two local courses in Massachusetts, and Visitors from Down Under

It took about a week to get over jet lag after getting back from France, and I spent most of that week catching up on things and didn't really starting playing golf again until about September 15.  Then last week I arranged to play two very good courses in Massachusetts (first time playing both).

GreatHorse, September 18, 2019: GreatHorse represents a complete makeover of club and 18 hole course near Springfield, MA (about 90 miles west of Boston and 25-30 miles NNE of Hartford, CT).  The site had been the home of Hampden CC which filed for bankruptcy about 9 years ago and was purchased in an auction proceeding for $1.4 million.  The purchaser was the Antonacci family of Connecticut, a very prominent family in the harness racing world.  Architect Brian Silva (think Black Creek in Chattanooga, TN (Post #106) as well as renovations at Fox Chapel (PA) (Post#18), CC of Charleston (SC), and Interlachen (MN)) was brought in and completed a total transformation of the course, while an equivalent transformation was made to the rest of the property.  It opened for play in 2015 and the results are visually stunning.

The property is divided into two parcels (see "Google Earth" shot below):

Wilbraham Road, running between 1 o'clock and 7 o'clock on the above photo, bisects the property (note that north in this overhead shot is at 12:00).  The clubhouse, practice area, and holes 1, 9, 10, and 15-18 lie on the eastern side of Wilbraham, while holes 2-8 and 11-14 lie west of Wilbraham.  The clubhouse lies just west of the parking lot and just right the words "GREAT HORSE" north of the woods and tennis courts on the right side of this shot.  As you can see, all of the 11 holes to the west of Wilbraham run East-->West or West-->East, and the holes on the eastern section run Northeast-->Southwest or SW-->NE.

The clubhouse sits on top of a hill about 220' above the section west of Wilbraham.  The holes on the eastern section are very hilly while the holes on the western section are virtually flat.  The views looking west from the clubhouse are simply spectacular...even if the following two photos are not:

View SW--18th fairway, then 1st fairway, and in background #11, 14 , and 2

View W--18th green front left, practice green to right, #1 and #10 tees behind

The clubhouse facility is outstanding and highly unusual for low key New England...but not IMO "over-the-top".  I have seen three different estimates of the amount of $$ spent on the renovations and rebuilding (course, clubhouse, roads, etc etc)...$30 million, $45 million, and $50 million.  Very casual atmosphere...even allow denim in clubhouse!!  Had lunch after the round and the food and service were excellent.

Now to the golf course.  It is a big one...7602 yards from way back (I played from 6018 yards)...and I counted 190 bunkers (but the head pro said I must have missed 14 others!!).  As you can see from the overhead shot, then fairways bunkers are in clusters that are staggered left/right and different distances from the tee.  As a result, it is critical to know the yardages to reach and carry these clusters.  I counted six par 4's and 5's with bunkers placed in the middle of fairways...further adding to the difficulty and thought required off the tee here.  Given the number and size of the bunkers, this place must have a very large maintenance budget, and I hope the Antonacci's understood that going in.  Interesting architectural features include:

      --a double green for holes #5 and #7,
      --a "horseshoe" shaped tee on the par 3 12th...with a small pond in the interior of the horseshoe, and tees stretching from 157 to 222 yards (where Watchaug Brook is noted on the left side of the overhead shot),
      --a wonderful 4th hole (415 yards from tips) with no bunkers and an angled green protected by water on three sides and a sharp bank along is left-back side, and

Approach shot to peninsula 4th green from rough left of fairway

Peninsula 4th green from back right...note banking on back left side of green  (right side of photo)

      --a very "different" (and superbly effective) Redan hole as the par 3 9th (186 yards)

Par 3 Redan 8th hole.

I started off by almost driving the down hill 1st hole which I played from 300 yards (485 from tips)...and hit the ball fairly well shooting a solid 40 - 41 = 81.  There were some aspects of the design I did not like (such as the long stretch of holes from 2-8 all flat going in just two directions)...but most  of these negatives were simply a function of the site, and I could not figure a reasonable alternative.  And the situation in somewhat alleviated by crossing Wilbraham RD for holes 9 and 10.

Tunnels under Wilbraham Rd are a very "tight fit" for the carts!   Surprised they don't make cart drivers take breath tests!

Some other very good holes are pictures below:

8th hole (623 yd par 5) coming back to Wilbraham Rd and uphill to green; hole has 27 bunkers!! 

16th (440 yard par 4) uphill all the way

#17 is downhill dogleg left off tee to here and then sharply uphill (389 yds)

#18 is uphill dogleg right of 499 yds and reminded me from the tee of #18 at Muirfield Village (OH)

Overall I liked the course...and while I would not want to play it every day...I certainly would want to play it again to get a better feel.  Best word for it might be "intriguing".  Very different "feel" than most New England courses but does not feel "out of place".  This year GW placed GH in its Top 200 Modern list and that placed it at #343 on my Merged GW Top 400.

Charles River Country Club, September 20, 2019:  For some reason I had never played Charles River even though it lies a mere 3 miles west of Brookline and was the second stroke-play qualifying course during the 2013 US Amateur conductor at Brookline and Charles River.  Back in June of this year I was scheduled to play CRCC with three other Golf Magazine panelists but we were rained out.

Charles River was founded in 1921 at its current site with a course designed by Donald Ross...and if you do not know that when you tee off...you certainly know it when you arrive at the first green.  The greens here are big and bold...with very strong slopes and lots of small contours spread throughout the green surfaces.  And, as with many other great courses from the first Golden Age, Charles River has more false fronts than an eighth grade classroom.

The practice green seemed pretty quick but I only took one or two putts there, and then my putt on #1 was very uphill.  I arrived at the green of the par 5 second having "short sided" myself on the right side and hit what felt like a very good pitch from the right rough...only to watch in horror as the ball rolled out about 70 feet and off the left side of the green!  Firm and fast?  No question.  They were rolling about 13.5' on the stimp, perhaps as fast as any greens I had ever played.  I can proudly say that I avoided having a five putt green (but will plead the 5th when asked the length of my gimme 4th putt).  Terrifying is too weak a description.  The greens were perfectly true but you had to be on the correct side...below the hole.  Overall, the course was in nearly perfect condition...fairways could have been a drop drier and faster but the conditions were outstanding.  Learned later that Bill Spence, who retired two years ago after a long career as greens superintendent at Brookline, was consulting for CRCC and I sent Bill a brief email congratulating him on CRCC's superb conditioning.

The course is squeezed into a relatively small plot and is today plays 6701 yards from the tips...relatively short by today's standards.  In 2006 CRCC hosted the Massachusetts Open and exactly one played shot under par (the winner at one under).  The course has 6 blind tee shots that I recall, so local knowledge here is critical...and as the saying goes, "the greens here are the course's main defense...and everything backs up from there."  I ended up with a smooth 43 - 44 = 87 and my tail between my legs!

CRCC has been included in GW's Top 200 Classic courses for most of the last nine years but that just makes the USA Top 400 on my Merged lists.  IMO it is not a USA Top 100 but should be a little higher (perhaps #175-250 range on the Merged list, compared with #382 today).  If you want to test your putting on fast tough greens, this is a place to do it.

Visitors from Kingston Heath GC (Melbourne, Australia), September 21-24, 2019:  It was an Aussie invasion in the USA.  Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison was honored at a state dinner at the White House on September 20, a group of 12 members of Kingston Heath GC was touring USA courses in the Northeast (and played Brookline 9/21), and our good friend from KHGC, John C, visited Boston 9/22-24.

Pat and I were delighted to be amongst a group of 12 Brookline members playing with the KHGC group.  Brookline was beginning to look like a construction zone as modifications planned for the 2022 US Open were proceeding and interesting to observe.

On Monday, I played Brookline with John (and his namesake member) who was last here in 2012.  Then on Tuesday we went down to Old Sandwich in Plymouth, MA...one of my favorite Coore-Crenshaw designs (see Posts #83, 131, and 1005).  OS was in excellent condition and I played fairly well shooting a solid 41 - 41 = 82.  John is in the midst of a quest with which I am familiar.  He is trying to be the 50th person to finish a Golf Magazine World Top 100 and apply for admission to GGCC.  As of this instant he stands at 98 on the most recent lists (2013, 2015, and 2017) and should be at 99 by tomorrow, Friday 9/27.  One to go...and I hope he makes it!!

One final note...we now have proof that the fairways at Brookline are getting much firmer and faster.  When playing with the Aussies, I was able to reach (in fact put it over) the par 4 18th for the first time in over two years.  Definitive proof as I ain't getting longer!!

136: Trip to France...4 days outside of Paris...and ISAGS in Bordeaux

136: Trip to France...4 days outside of Paris...and ISAGS in Bordeaux

Early this summer we signed up for a ISAGS event in Bordeaux, France (see start of Post #69 for brief explanation of ISAGS).  Our original plan was to go to Paris for four days, then take the train to Bordeaux and the ISAGS event for seven days, then fly to Geneva for a day and drive to Como, Italy for about 4 days.  However, we later has to cut the trip down to 12 days...just the portions in France, departing Boston 8/26 and returning 9/7.  As I write this, we are on a train from Paris to Bordeaux on 8/31.

Our flight over to commence this trip was fairly uneventful.  We flew Boston--> Dublin-->Paris via Aer Lingus as these business class seats (full lie flat) were something like 35% the costs of flying nonstop to Paris (yes...65% less).  And on top of that our stewardess was very pretty (Pat said so...I of course hardly noticed).

We stayed for the first five days in the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which is about 17 miles west of the center of Paris.  We picked this location because we wanted to avoid the hassle of getting around Paris and the hotel was about a mile from one of the golf courses we were playing.  The hotel is a member of Relais & Chateaux...which made its price of about $150/night look extremely reasonable.  Having stayed there 4 nights I will just say I think Relais & Chateaux has taken an axe to its auditing budget...but net net, it was fine and a very good deal for anyplace near Paris.

Golf de Saint Germain, August 28, 2019: Tuesday was a day to get somewhat caught up on time zone change and travel.  Then Wednesday afternoon we played Golf de Saint Germain.  The club was founded in 1902 with a 9 hole course (surrounded by a paddock with gazing sheep) in Hermitage.  At the time membership count was 30 and annual dues 60 francs...both have risen mildly since then.  By 1920 the member count was up to 150 and an 18 hole course was built in the Forest at St Germain on a generous plot of 128 acres.  Mr Harry Colt (Sunningdale-New from scratch; Sunningdale-Old major redo; Muirfield-re do; St. George's Hill; both at Wentworth...before the West was just about ruined; Swinley Forest; Rye; Pine Valley with George Crump and re-do's at Royal Portrush and Royal Liverpool...to name just a few), who is considered by many to be the greatest golf architect in history was brought in to do the new course.

The Club has hosted the French Open nine times and amongst the champions here have been Sandy Lyle in 1981 and Seve Ballesteros in 1985.  Today it plays a relatively short but very very good 6705 yards (par 72).  Course has never been included on a World 100.

Pat hit is well and enjoyed the course.  I started off sinking a 12 footer for par on #1, and that was my last putt made longer than 4 feet!  I missed 8 putts of under 15' from holes 8 thru 18  and double bogeyed perhaps the easiest par 4 on the course after getting an awful lie on my tee shot (4 yards right of the fairway)...and ended the day with a 77...three strokes over my secret age.  Really really hit it well (except for the above bitched about drive on 16).  One of these days, maybe??

Best holes IMO are par 3 #5, par 4 #10, and par 4 #14, and par 4 #18.  No weak holes but would be nice if they could trim back the tree lines...but I should be careful about emailing this from France where the tree huggers might get out a posse for me.

Went back to our hotel and cried in my sparkling water...but made a point that I would stop talking about how close I came within the next 4 months.  Want to make sure I don't harp on it.

Golf de Fontainebleau, August 29, 2019:  We had a 55 mile drive south this morning so were on the road around 8:30 for a tee off time of 11:00...one never knows with Paris traffic (more later).  The drive south was pretty easy and we arrived at the club around 10:10am.

Founded in 1909, the club moved to its present location in 1920, and had their course designed by Tom Simpson (Morfontaine GC and Chantilly GC, just north of Paris; New Zealand GC, in Surrey SW of London; County Louth GC, north of Dublin, Ireland) and then renovated and lengthened in 1963 by Fred Hawtree.

This club is magnificent to behold.  No, it is not Cypress Point...but there is a simple beauty to the place...not influenced by a large body of water or mountains nearby...that is most captivating.  The clubhouse, with its Norman style architecture is absolutely charming and the view from the dining room down the first hole is stunning...even better than the French food!

From Dining Room down first fairway.  Name a better view!

The course in many ways seemed to have a "feel" very similar to Morfontaine Golf Club.  In particular I noticed the very fine sand particles along the walking paths as well as the majesty of the trees.  Behind the 1st and 12th greens stands a very large hill, and leading up to the top of that hill the ground was covered with large boulders and rock outcroppings...and this hill reminded me (and Pat as well) of the hill at the end of the driving range at California Golf Club of San Francisco.

Fontainebleau's 1st green and hill behind green (from front of green)

The club's logo, shown below, reminded both of us of Monterrey Peninsula CC's new (adopted in last 10 years or so) logo (also below).

Golf de Fontainebleau Logo

Monterrey Peninsula Country Club Logo

I would expect this issue to have potential for a lucrative intellectual property lawsuit 😆.

Finally, in the men's locker room were three large steam radiators sitting in the middle of the floor to warm the room on cold days...very reminiscent of the radiators in Brookline's locker room.  But Pat had no comment about things looking the same in these two men's locker rooms

OK...enough of this stuff, on to the golf course.  The course is superb.  While it has never been on a World Top 100, top100golfcourses.com rates it #6 in Continental Europe...and I heartily agree.  It was challenging and great fun.  Tipping out at 6784 yards (par 72), it is a bit short for the modern hitter with today's equipment, but who cares.  For almost all players today...this place is plenty long enough.  Best holes are #1 (see above and below), #2, #3 (see below), #12, and #15 (despite criticism

Fitst golf from the tee

Third hole...par 5 of 527 yards from atop of hill behind #1

from some about a blind second shot).  I had a solid 41 - 40 = 81 and wanted to play it again, but time would not allow.  The greens had been punched just 4 days earlier so they were inconsistent and slow (always happens after punching which its absolutely necessary punching0.   Would love to play it again with normal greens...but very special this day even with the recent punching.

One negative event occurred while playing Fontainbleau...for which I take 110% of the blame.  I place a golf ball in my back pocket which happened to also hold my iPhone...and then sat down.  The results were most predictable expect to moi.  Cracked iPhone face and a need to replace the phone.

After a very good lunch and a brief talk with the Secretary, it was time for what would be a long 55 mile drive back to St Germain.  What would normally be a drive of about 1:15 stretched out to about 2:45 as we got stuck in rush hour...Paris style.  A true nightmare.  Think we moved about 0.5 miles in about 40 minutes...but finally made it back to our hotel.  Not fun, but did not erase the wonderful memories of our day at Fontainebleau.

Friday was a day of rest during the day...and then it was back into Paris (braving the rush hour again but this time pretty easy drives both ways) for dinner with an old friend from high school and his bride of some 53 years...Barry and Bobbi C., who were coincidentally in Paris for a medical conference.  Wonderful to catch up and a special capstone to this portion of the trip.

Visit to Bordeaux Region:  We then headed to a six day event in Bordeaux.  I shall format this portion of this post differently from prior posts.  The sub-sections will be:

-Travel to and from Bordeaux, and social events at ISAGS gathering
-Golf tournament and golf courses (two courses, Chateaux and Vigueres at Golf du Medoc)
-Golf round at Tom Doak's Grand St Emillionais Golf Club

Travel to/from Bordeaux and Social Events at ISAGS: Saturday morning we caught a train ride to Bordeaux and the ISAGS event.  Fortunately we left early for the train station...trains stations are generally not designed for folks with a lot of luggage (including two golf bags)...no push carts, etc. etc., but we got on the train which went smoothly.  That evening we enjoyed a fabulous dinner with several ISAGS folks in the city of Bordeaux, which is totally charming ("Paris without the Parisians" 😀😀).  When we arrived at the main Square in Bordeaux, I found an Apple Store right there, just 300 yards from where we were having dinner.  Before dinner, I made one of history's fastest purchases of an iPhone, and was only 10 minutes late!  The old phone was getting on in years anyhow...wonder what it is saying about me??

On Sunday night, ISAGS always has its Opening Dinner.  For this event it was held at Chateau du Tertre.  As always the dinner is proceeded by a cocktail party and a flag ceremony with representatives of each of the countries present marching in with their country's flags...this year including Bermuda, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, UK, and USA.  After the wonderful dinner, we were entertained by a performance by a "Beatles" group playing songs mostly from the sixties.  I loved it and was of course at my best when I helped them perform the Beatle's rendition of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode".  Ahhh...like IFC Weekend in April 1965 and April 1966 with Chuck Berry at MIT's Armory!

Paul (aka Chuck Berry) helping out with Johnny B. Goode

Golf du Medoc, September 1/2/4/5, 2019:  Golf du Medoc has 36 holes.  The first course, Chateaux (Chateau), was designed by Bill Coore (who of course later partnered with Ben Crenshaw).  This was Coore's third solo design, and Rod Whitman of Canada guided the construction part of the effort.  Earlier in their careers Bill and Rod had met each other while working under the tutelage of Pete Dye.  The second course, Vignes (Vines), was designed by Ron Whitman and opened in 1991.

Both courses sit on very flat land but with enough movement to make them very interesting.  They have a very similar feel...not surprising given Whitman's efforts on both.  Located some 25 miles east of the Atlantic Ocean in the Bordeaux region of France, they capture some of the feeling of seaside, heathland, and parkland settings, with this area's very sandy soil and exposure to seaside winds from the Atlantic.  The architecture of both courses is similar...wide fairways, most greens open to running approach shots, strategically placed bunkering and sculpturing of fairways, relatively large greens with very difficult slopes and breaks to read, and options available on most shots.  The big wide fairways seem to make things look easy..but if you approach the greens from the wrong angle you shall pay the appropriate price...and if you want the easy angle for your second shot, your drive will most likely have to flirt with trouble.

Totaling 7189 yards (par 71) Chateau is a very good test and great fun to play...requiring real thought before attempts to execute shots.    Best holes IMO include the split fairway par 4 #1 , the short dogleg left par 4 #11, the short par 3 (with shallow green depth on the right side) #12, the par 5 14th, and the long par 4 16th (which ate my lunch).  The French Women's Open is being contested on Chateau starting 9/19.

Vines plays to 6821 yards (par 71 also).  I think its best holes are #4, #5, #15, and #16.  It has very similar characteristics as Chateau, but I think Chateau is more subtle, and interesting and better risk/reward features....but both are very good.

I was surprised at how soft and wet the course's fairways were being kept.  It has the potential to be very "linksy" in feel, but that is not possible with soft, forgiving fairways and greens.

Our schedule included a practice round on Sunday 9/1, followed by tournament rounds Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (Pat's event was three rounds ending Thursday).  Wednesdays are a day off from tournament play.  We are playing a Stableford competition (non-golfers...do not ask...just know that contrary to "normal" golf scoring a higher score is better than a lower).

Pat won the whole "kit and kaboodle" of the women's Net competition by a whopping 14 points.  She captured 43 points Thursday...basically playing some 7 strokes better than her handicap indicates.  Really great playing and wonderful to see.  Here she is accepting the winners trophy (along with Suzanne Bonafede, the winner of the women's gross competition Friday night).

Women's winners at ISAGS event...Suzanne Bonafede and Pat

I finished in the middle of the pack, clearly peaking in Paris a week too early.  As you can see below, my Tuesday round was simply awful.

Sunday 9/1      Chateau      80 (Practice Round)
Monday 9/2     Vines          81
Tuesday 9/3     Chateau      88
Thursday 9/5   Vines          82
Friday 9/6        Chateau      84

The good news is that the trophy gets shipped to us...so no need to get it through customs.  Now about the expanded trophy case required for Pat's haul...

Grand Saint Emilionnais Golf Club, September 4, 2019:  Wiser members of ISAGS take Wednesdays off from golf during these tournament events, but less wise moi generally travels to nearby courses on these days.  Wednesday this week I went (with one of the guys running the event) to play Tom Doak's new (opened 2015) course some 40 miles easy of Medoc, St. Emilionnais GC.  This course is owned by a very prominent golf family in France and the project is in early stages of development.  The land itself is very special...reasonably hilly, and from what I could tell very healthy soil conditions.  A narrow creek runs through the property and affects play on a good number of holes, and the slopes of the land create interesting choices off the tees...on many holes the safe drive puts you in a spot where the second shot is totally blind, while the risky drive (flirting with the creek, a bunker, our trees) if pulled off yields a clear view and much easier approach shot ...strategic design at its best.  From the tips it plays a relatively short 6765 yards (par 72)...but more than enough for us mortals

Readers will recall my description of the 4th green at Huntercombe (Post # 131)...the par 3 third hole and par 4 17th have greens that are excellent adaptations of this Huntercombe gem.  I had a decent 43 + 40 = 83.  The course is tough playing the first time (like all minimalist firm/fast courses) as one must learn the subtleties of the ground.  Also the green had recently been punched and sanded (regular and necessary routine maintenance practices) making putting surfaces inconsistent difficult (temporarily).  Overall I loved the course and would highly recommend it.

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Great trip...even with the mess dealing with 2 golf bags, two large suitcases and two roll ons through train stations Saturday morning 9/7.  Came close to falling down an escalator at Charles de Gaulle airport's train station (long line for elevator and we had a tight connection), but in the end it all worked out.  Now about flight from Dublin to Boston...so on our way back!