Post #166...Golf Since Return from Australia/New Zealand

Two Mini Trips into South Carolina:  After returning from Australia/New Zealand, it took a few days to get rested up and the old batteries charged again.  I did a couple of 1-2 day trips down to South Carolina.  Played the 9th hole at Camden Golf Club (it was closed for the installation of a new sprinkler system when I played the other 17 holes on January 5, 2022).  By the way…that is a real sleeper and worth the visit if you in the area.  Also played Cheraw State Park and Quixote Club…both good but not great courses.  Quixote is a wonderful club that exists to support a Charter School in Sumter, SC…a most worthy cause.

 

Trip Plans for 2023:  Also was very busy planning some trips for 2023.  One is pretty major.  I am scheduled to go to Continental Europe and Great Britain departing Boston June 24 and arriving back July 18.  Countries I hope to visit (with courses per country in parentheses): Norway (1), Denmark (2), Holland (1), Portugal (1), Spain (2), Scotland (5), England (5), and Wales(5)…a total of 8 countries and 22 courses.  Of those 22, I have never played 19 and three are repeats for me (Muirfield, North Berwick-West Links, and Royal Porthcawl).  During that time frame, Pat will spend 6 days with Grandson Duggan at Duke Basketball Camp in Durham, NC, then be back in Boston for three days and then fly over to rendezvous w moi at the Edinburgh airport.  We spend about 5 days together playing golf and enjoying Scotland (around Gullane and then St Andrews) and then fly to London.  At that point she joins one of her Castles and Gardens Tours…this time in Wales.  I go play golf in England and northern Wales and pick her up at the conclusion of her Tour for three days of golf together in southern Wales…then we fly back to Boston together.  Very complicated but we were able to make it work!

 

Also been planning a 3-4 day trip to Dallas with some other GOLF Magazine Panelists at the new PGA headquarters in Frisco, TX (about 35 miles north of “Big D”).  We will be playing two new courses there that are highly anticipated in the golfing world and I hope to play two others on this trip which is scheduled from May 30-June 1.

 

MIami, Brazil, and Long Island April 21-25, 2023:  Finally, I had to plan a 5 day trip to Miami, Brazil, and Long Island for late April.  Early on Friday April 21 I flew from Raleigh-Durham to Miami to get to Indian Creek Country Club.  Scott Weber, the son of Alan and Sue Weber (neighbors when I lived in Purchase, NY, and good friends during Alan and my days at Citibank going back to the early 1970’s), lives in Miami and now belongs to Indian Creek.  Alan and Sue live in Boca and Scott, Alan, and I played Indian Creek that afternoon.  I had played Indian Creek 2-3 times in the late 1990’s and it had just been renovated by Andrew Green, whose work has really impressed me.  Indian Creek is the old $$ course in Miami.  It was designed by William Flynn and opened in 1928.  You have heard of island greens…well this is an island course…in Biscayne Bay.  Along the circumference of the island it is lined with a series of magnificent homes. Ray and Maria Floyd used to live in one of them, and that house recently was purchased by Tom Brady who naturally tore it down and is building a home that appears to be about 20-30,000 square feet in its place.  

 

The course is superb…Green has brought back all of Flynn’s wonderful bunkering and retained the brilliant subtlety of the course.  It looks pretty simple until one ends up hitting into one of these greens from the wrong angle…then the “fun” starts.  Having already proven his ability to restore a big/bold course (e.g. Oak Hill, Congressional, Inverness, Scioto), this one demonstrates Green’s ability to create effective “whispers” on subtle tracks.

 

That night I flew south to Sao Paulo, a quaint village of some 12.4 million residents (or 33+ million in the “macrometropolis”).  Arriving at around 5am, I was taken to the home of Jairo L., a wonderful 84 year old Brazilian whom I met about 5 years ago at Muirfield in Scotland.   Having not slept very well on the overnight flight, I caught a nap at Jairo’s home and then we went over to Sao Paulo Golf Club and played a quick 9 nine with Paulo Marzoni, Jr.  

 

Santapazienza Golf Club:  Paulo’s father, Paulo Sr. and Jairo were childhood friends and worked together in Brazil’s banking industry as adults.  At some point, Paulo Sr. became enamoured with commercial real estate and became an important shopping mall developer.  Eventually he accepted an offer for his real estate holdings that was too good to refuse.  That deal provided the Mazoni’s liquidity that would be used to create their own 18 hole golf course 50 miles north of Sao Paulo.  Today, that course is included in one publication’s World Top 100 listing, and that of course meant I had to get down there to see and play it.  

 

But getting from a large piece of Brazilian farmland to a world class golf course is rarely simple and it certainly was not simple in this case.  Starting in the late1980’s the two Marzoni’s went about designing and constructing a nine hole golf course.  By 1993 the nine holer was completed and they immediately commenced efforts to expand the course to a full 18 holes.  Much of the farm was coved with rain forests but in those days Brazil’s environmental regulations were weak and clear cutting was possible.  By 1993 the course was a full 18 holes and the next 15 years or so were spent completing small but incremental improvements in the design and the course’s infrastructure (water sprinkling systems, drainage, etc etc.)

 

By the late 2000’s, the Marzoni’s realized it was time to secure professional help if they wanted the course to become special.  They knew the property had huge potential…but that it would take real professional architectural help to bring out its best points.  They read many very positive reviews regarding Tom Fazio’s work and approached Fazio…whose reaction was fairly negative given the logistical issues associated with such a large project in a distant land.  Not willing to take “no" as an answer, the Marzoni’s invited Tom's son and partner Logan to come down and view the course.  Logan made the trip and was immediately enamored with the situation and its possibilities.  Logan convinced Tom to take a close look.  The land was big and bold, the rain forest was enchanting, and the Marzoni’s clearly had the capacity and desire to think big.  A deal was struck.  In fact the Fazio’s and Marzoni’s became very close personal friends.  

 

However, environmental laws had been passed that prohibited further clear cutting and provided protection for most of the vegetation.  While some truly invasive species of plants (such as bamboo) were exempted from this legislation, many forms of vegetation were explicitly covered.  So for the most part, it was no longer possible to simply clear cut new fairways. Fortunately, there was sufficient room in the fairways that had been cleared and the Fazio’s were able to make significant improvements.  What was initially conceived as a set of minor improvements ended up being  a six year project (2008-2014) upgrading the entire golf course.

 

However, some of the most significant improvements that the Fazio’s suggested were impossible to implement due to a county road that divided the property.  The Mazoni’s decided to offer the county a new road to by-pass the current route if they could purchase (and eliminate) the original road.  The negotiations (and the construction of the new bypass route) took some 4- 5 years to complete.  Completion of the road allowed for the building of three entirely new holes, (today;’s #11, #12, and #18), switching the front and back nines, and other significant routing improvements.  

 

In the second half of 2019 top100golfcourses.com listed Santapazienza at #98 in its World Top 100 listing.  That same listing also listed Lanhai International (Yangtze Dunes)-Links at #92 in its World 100 listing…thereby knocking me "off” my World 100 Ever (All Sources) perch.  

 

By 2020, the road deal had been finalized, Santapazienza was closed to visitors, and the three new holes were constructed and other changes made.  During the next three years, the “minor changes” being made were always promised to be 3-6 months from completion.  Frankly, based on my conversations with the Manzoni’s and others who had played the course, I do not think it was even close to being a World 100 track in 2019.  My sense is that those who pushed it as a World 100 were trapped by their own early on exaggerations…if the course was known to require three more years of work, how could it have been a World 100 before that point in time.  

 

However, even if my opinions as just expressed are correct…the issue regarding Santapazienza (as well as any other course) is:  “is it a World 100 today?”  I arrived in Brazil a skeptic, but the course’s real strong points are very compelling:

 

1.  it has a good number of really strong interesting holes…that offer real “options” off every tee, options that force a player to think their way through the round. Many holes offer from the back (Black and Blue) tees a very difficult set of options (usually meaning that the “safe" play off the tee creates a very difficult 2nd shot)…but the forward tees create angles and hole directions that allow the lesser player to play conservatively and be somewhat challenged.  The differeces in play between the forward and back tees is amazing…and not just in terms of length. The back tees often require at least one very challenging and risky shot on about every hole…but the average player can avoid those situations by playing an approriate set of tees.  As many of you have surmised from my prior writings, I have never been a big fan of Tom Fazio designs…but this one is really an oxymoron..a Strategic Fazio Design. That is meant as a compliment…perhaps "left handed”, but a compliment in any case.

 

2.  The bunkers here are simply enormous and are to be avoided at almost all costs. 

 

3.  The course challenges all parts of the player’s game..is very difficult, and often great fun!

 

It does have one substantial flaw in my opinion…the distances from a green to the following tee (especially on today’s front nine).  The brilliant (and extraordinarily creative) Dr. Alister MacKenzie put forth his "13 Principles of Golf Course Design” in his 1920 book Golf Architecture and Rule #3 states: There should be little walking between the green and the tees, and the course should be arranged so that in the first instance there is always a slight walk forwards from the green to the next tee, then the holes are sufficiently elastic to be lengthened in the future if necessary.

 

After a 3 hour “tour” of Santapazienza with Paulo, Jr. on April 22 and a round of golf the following day, I thought hard about how to deal with the MacKenzie’s Rule #3 when evaluating Santapazienza and my World 100 ballot come late August of this year.   I now think it should be a partial negative, because of the legal issues involved with the Rain Forest…and the fact that going through the Rain Forest between hole is a critical part of the very special experience offered by Santapazienza.  And that experience is hugely enhanced by the opportunity to interact with Paulo, Jr. and Paulo, Sr., two wonderful gentlemen.

 

In any event, my decision will be held in confidence…but I did want to explain some of my thought processes. Who knows…maybe I am getting soft in my old age?  Certainly hope not!! 

 

Most important, this left me with just two to go to refinish the World Top 100 EVER (all sources).

 

After a quick shower, I drove back down to Sao Paulo with Jairo and caught a flight to Rio de Janiero.  Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s I went to Rio probably 3-4 times (the first time in August 1974) on business for Citibank or to visit the Phillips’ and the Friesell’s who worked out of Rio.  In those days almost all multinational companies doing business in Brazil had their main Brazilian offices in Rio.  Over the past 30 years, almost all of that has moved to Sao Paolo due to the terrible crime problem in Rio.  

 

Pat had asked whether I wanted her to go to Brazil with me on this trip.   I had told her she has an open invitation as always to join any of my trips, but if she wanted to go to Brazil (and especially Rio), there were two requirements.:

 

1.  she had to remove 100% of the jewelry she wears before the plane landed, and 

2.  if I was playing golf and she did not want to play that day, she absolutely could not go out and walk the streets, shop in stores, etc. etc.

 

Unfortunately, that immediately ended any chance of Pat joining me on this trip.

 

Rio Olympic Golf Course:  I stayed at a nice Marriott Hotel on Copacabana Beach and had a car service take me everywhere.  Early on Monday morning (4/24) we drove out to The Olympic Course (about a 40 minute drive).  My tee time was 9:00 but there was almost no one there.  I arrived at 8:05 and was off the first tee by 8:15.  The course is on a very unusual site…it sits 1/3 of a mile from the beach and the Atlantic Ocean, but neither the beach or the ocean is visible from anywhere on the course. The land was obviously flat as a pancake when Gil Hanse first started his efforts, and the architectural work is brilliant…probably his best effort IMO (given what he had to work with).  Almost no level lies on the course…except a few spot areas on each hole…all of which require one’s drive to flirt with danger to end up there (just like The Old Course in St Andrews).  Lots of fairway width but the angles make for a real need to hit it accurately off the tee.  And the greens are shaped and positioned beautifully. 

 

The course was in very good condition…but once you left the fairway it started to get a little bit “ratty”…not super bad, just not good.  But again, the tees, fairways and greens were very good.  Not a World 100, but absolutely a World Top 100 and maybe Top 50-60 in terms of architecture.

 

After the round I chatted with the staff at the pro shop and then headed back to my hotel.  Had a late check out and then a flight to Sao Paulo that afternoon to catch a flight to JFK Airport in New York. 

 

Two Courses on Long Island:  I had planned to play two courses near JFK (in Nassau County) that I needed to play to complete a new mini Bucket List…playing every course that has ever hosted a Metropolitan Open and/or Metropolitan Amateur.  There are 83 courses that had done so, and I had played 63 (one of which no longer exists).  Of the 20 others, 10 no longer exist, so I had 10 left to play (5 on Long Island, 3 in New Jersey, and 2 in Westchester County).  On this day, 4/25, I was scheduled to play two courses…BUT my flight was an hour late causing me to miss my early tee time at one club…but but, a quick call to the pro at another gave me a second course to play (always helps to have a back up plan).

 

So at around 9:30 I teed off at Rockville Links Club in Rockville Center with a friend who met me there..Bob K, who is a member at Fresh Meadow CC, as well as their teaching pro, Phil Cardwell, who was an ass’t pro at Quaker Ridge about 10-12 years ago.   Rockville Links was designed by Devereux Emmett and opened in 1924.   It was later renovated by Jim Urbina.  Front nine is very flat and is good but somewhat repetitive.  Back nine is really very good.  And now I only had 9 left!

 

After the round I had a drive of some 15 minutes to Hempstead Golf & Country Club.  Built in 1921 and then renovated by A. W. Tillinghast in 1927, the course remined me in many ways of Winged Foot…trees were very similar and shapes of greens and bunkers were similar to Winged Foot’s.  I enjoyed the course but must admit that I was tired by the time the round ended.  Might have something to do with traveling for about  17 hours and then playing 36 holes.  In any case…now 8 left on this Bucket List and this round brought me to 1539 courses played lifetime to date!

 

Headed back to JFK, caught my flight to Raleigh-Durham, and somehow made it back home around 11:30 pm…some 34 hours after leaving my hotel in Rio.  No problem sleeping that night and great to be back.

 

The Tree Farm, SC, Sunday April 30, 2023:  As I have said a number of times, the volume of new courses, retro’s,and reno’s underway in the USA and worldwide these days is nothing short of astounding.  One of the most highly anticipated has been The Tree Farm located between Aiken, SC and Columbia, SC.  The “force” behind this club is a member of the PGA Tour, Zach Blair.  Zach has had a dream to build a great golf course as home for a world class golf club.  He searched for appropriate land in his home state of Utah with no success and then looked at this property in near Aiken, SC.  All the while he was “running” a “golf club” called The Buck Club which was selling merchandise and running/promoting golf events on line.  

 

Having found the SC property, he revised his architectural plans and decided to get personally involved in that end of the business.  Until that time, Blair was planning to use the team of King-Collins (think Sweetens Cove outside of Chattanooga, TN and Landmand Golf Club in NE outside of Sioux City, IA) as his architects, but this arrangement was terminated on friendly terms after the SC property deal happened.  Instead, he struck agreements with Tom Doak and Kye Goalby to handle the course routing and course construction respectively.  Blair planned to work on some of the architectural details as well as recruit members for the club, staff , etc etc…this is intended to be a real business and that takes some skill and effort to put the pieces together.

 

The golf world has been all excited about this project, especially since another high profile project (“Old Barnwell” ) was announced shortly shortly after The Tree Fram’s announcement and is under construction with some eight holes playable at this point. 

 

Dave F., a fellow member of our Global Golf Centurions Club joined The Tree Farm and invited me to join him with two others on April 30.  That Sunday morning I left home around 4:45am.  The weather forecast was fairly iffy, but this was an opportunity not to be missed due to “possible” bad weather.  I arrived around 8:10am.  The club is for sure a work in progress which is what I expected.  Almost all new course built today are launched with sparse amenities, which are completed after the course is open.  The current “clubhouse” at The Tree Farm is a temporary tent.  

 

The weather was threatening but looked like it might hold off.  Our foursome consisted of Dave and two other golf affection ado’s whom I knew of (and vice versa).  We started on hole #10 and played the back nine first followed by 1-9.  On #10, I hit a good drive, then hacked it around and was lying 4 just over the green when I canned a 50+ foot putt for a bogey five.  That was strange way to start the round to say the least, but whom am I to complain? 

 

I walked (with a caddy) the first nine holes we played (the back nine) and given the weather and the terrain it was a tough walk. As we made the turn to #1 I grabbed a cart.  I played well shooting a 42 on the back and 39 on the front for an 81 but was playing a very short course (well ahead of the club’s most forward tees which at 5750 yards are too long for my game).  I will make a few comments about the course and the club.

 

The land the club has been constructed on is simply magnificent: lots of land movement and a good sand base.  Best holes IMO are (in the intended order of play on the card):

 

            —#4…a 230 yard (from tips) uphill toughened version of Pine Valley’s #5

            —#15…185 yard Redan with controversial high mound hugging right side of green

            —#7…wonderful short par 4 to small well protected green

            —#18…controversial “par 3.5” finishing hole…where I stuck a 9 iron to about a foot for a birdie, so hole must be good!

 

The routing and basic architecture is superb.  However, over the prior two weeks this area had received a significant amount of rainfall and that highlighted some areas of the course that require modification to deal with drainage issues that became obvious due to those heavy rains.  

 

So in summary, I view this one as requiring more work which seems to be scheduled.  Not an unusual circumstance IMO…often times these things just need to be “tested’ in the real world to see what “tweaks” are necessary.  Time will tell.

 

Mimosa Hills Country Club, May 5, 2023:  Mimosa Hills is a Donald Ross track (opened in 1929) located about 50 miles NW of Charlotte.  It was included on GolfWeek’s Top 200 Classic Courses from 2011-2013.  Given the flood of great courses built (or revived) in the ensuing years, I doubt it will make this list again.  The back nine is very good, but the front nine too repetitive (I also am repetitive, because I made the same comment regarding Rockville Links 😀).  

 

I also was at Greensboro CCs’ City course (another Ross) that week with Hayes H. and DoG Tyler Gosselin…the weather was much too cold for this body…in the 40’s with winds of at least 15mph, so I played “spectator”, meaning it does not count in my list of played courses…for obvious reasons.

 

Status and Plans:  That brings me to 1541 courses played to date.  Starting with my drive north to Boston later this week, my calendar is pretty well booked for the next 60 days or so, including the Continental Europe/Great Britain and Texas trips mentioned near the top of this post, plus:

 

5/19-21:  hopefully knock off either 4 or 5 of the courses that have hosted a Met Open or Met Am…which should leave me with 3 or 4 left to play;

 

6/12-16:  In the early stages of planning a trip to midwest and Upper Plains and hope to play about 7 courses (all but one of which will be new for me); details not ready for “release” as of yet

 

Will be a busy next 60+ days!!

Post #165...Melbourne, Australia and New Zealand's North Island

First things first…flight from LAX to Melbourne was not 18 hours…more like 15 hours and 20 minutes.  Sorry about the error in closing out post #164.  Importantly the flight went smoothly and the golf in Melbourne went well.  We arrived February 8th and I was able to play all 8 of the courses on our schedule.  We had great weather with highs most days in the mid 70’s (F); I seem to recall experiencing lots of days the 90’s and 100’s on prior visits and those temps were not missed by either of us.  I now stand at a total of 28 courses play in AUS and have a  list of about six others I would love to get to…but I also understand that if I played those 6…there would be another 6 that would represent a new “need to play” list.  Such is the thought process of a confirmed addict!  As they say…one cannot fix a problem without first recognizing the problem!

 

Given some of the weather events near us…we were extremely fortunate.  By some piece of good luck I had scheduled the trip Australia first followed by New Zealand…if I had done the opposite we would have been caught by the monster Cyclone which hit NZ’s North Island hard about 7-10 days ago (and decided to hang around for a while).  

 

Once again, we rented an Airbnb apartment in a high rise in the Southbank area just south of Melbourne’s Central Business District.  It was close to the City’s great art museums and Pat was able to take advantage of that on the days she did not play golf (I would do the same but never can seem to schedule such days!).  

 

For those of you who have not been to Melbourne, IMO it has the finest collection of great golf courses within say 40 miles of the CBD of any major city in the world.  New York beats it when you expand the radius from 40 miles to say 100 miles…but for close in courses Melbourne is the best!

 

You will of course recall that of the 8 courses I played in Melbourne, three were repeats:  Royal Melbourne-West, Kingston Heath, and Victoria.  RM-W is currently #7 on GOLF Magazine’s World Top 100 and KH sits at #22.  Both are brilliant fun designs that feature wide width, lots of options, and the need to think one’s way around the course; and both play very firm and fast.  Victoria is one of the City’s finest clubs and is in nearly perfect condition after a wonderful restoration by Ogilvy, Clayton, Cocking, & Mead (OCCM).  The other five were first timers for moi:

 

            —Peninsula-Kingswood GC was formed by the merger of Peninsula GC and Kingswood GC.   The 36 holes at Peninsula were renovated into a new pair of courses (North and South) under the direction of OCCM and used a new breed of grass for their greens (“Pure Distinction”) which created fabulous greens.  I simply loved the North Course (played 2/10) and liked the South Course (played 2/13).

 

            —Woodlands GC, which has been included on Planet Golf’s World Top 100 since 2020, is a very old course with some design features that are unique for this area (smallish raised greens, tight narrow fairways).  Frankly, I do not comprehend how Darius Oliver could include this course on his World Top 100.

 

            —National Golf Club—Gunnamatta, redone by Tom Doak about 4-5 years ago and now really special.  This course sits near the southeast corner of the Mornington Peninsula about 75-90 minutes south of Melbourne.  This was our last golfing stop in Australia and it proved to be a beauty.  We played with two new friends…Vyn and Prue T.  who are members and were wonderful hosts.  Highlight of the day was playing #11 (a long par 3 designed to be a adaptation of Royal Portrush’s brilliant #16 hole “Calamity Corner").  Here were four folks in their late 70’s and the pars by Prue, Vyn, and moi were “chopped liver” compared to Pat’s birdie (tee shot to about 6-7 feet above the hole followed by a beautiful putt for birdie).  Doak must be working on plans to toughen this one up!

 

            —Frankston Golf Club (aka “The Millionaires Club”).  I loved this club...9 holes built at least 110 years ago and hardly touched in the ensuing decades.  Clubhouse consists of an old wooden structure with a large sitting room (and furniture MUCH older than moi).  Total staff…3 greenskeepers.  Members often bring their own food for lunch…and a local rule says losers of any match must wash the dishes after the post round drinks/meals!  Love it.  It is the “anti-Discovery Land Club” and its member roster consists of many of the most powerful and richest people in Melbourne and Australia.  Course was in near perfect condition and has greens with extreme slopes…which are very difficult to discern from out in the fairway.  These greens are near the leaders of the pack in terms of “greens visited” (Pinehurst #2 is often cited as the true leader of this statistic).

 

During our last couple of days in Melbourne we watched the reports of the Cyclone hitting New Zealand’s North Island with some horror thinking about the people living in that beautiful country and our trip plans.  Somehow, we once again were very fortunate.  The area we were heading towards had avoided most of the very serious damage and recovered quickly.  The area near Cape Kidnappers was not so fortunate.

 

I had originally planned to play Titirangi Golf Club upon our arrival in Auckland, but delays in our flight and in securing a rental car meant the round could not be played on Saturday February 19.  We stayed Saturday night in Auckland and after breakfast on Sunday headed north to Te Arai, a drive of about 1 hour 30 minutes.  Interestingly, there was very little damage to infrastructure that was apparent during that drive. However, based on drives to Auckland and back over the next 3 days, it became clear that the days immediately following the cyclone were spent dealing with life threatening problems and assessing the damage throughout the North Island so that a clear plan for clean-up could get implemented quickly.

 

Te Aria lost its power for three days but had recovered completely (including internet-based communications) by the time we arrived on Sunday….and property damage there did not look serious.  Clean-up was well underway.  After a hectic but outstanding visit to Melbourne, Sunday was a welcome period of rest for us.   

 

Late Monday morning Feb 20, we teed off on the Coore/Crenshaw South Course at Te Arai.  This is a incredibly stunning golf course which stretches alongside the Pacific Ocean for a total of 8 holes: #6–9 on the front, and #15-18 on the back nine.  Except for parts of holes 2 & 3, the entire course sits within 575 yards of the Pacific’s waters. The course has lots of width and options abound on every hole.  The course has superb land movement but Pat and I were both able to walk it (with caddies) on Sunday and Tuesday…while also walking Tara Iti on Monday.  Yes, the legs were pretty sore at the end of these three days but they also are 78 years old.  

 

Interestingly, the greens are pretty wild for C&C.  Filled with a lot of "Maxwell Rolls” (if you do not know what that means, you need to travel to Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, where Perry Maxwell generally plied his trade, or Old Town Club in Winston-Salem NC).  Aside from the sheer beauty of this track, the architecture is wonderful.  Overall, I would place it at either a high “8” or a solid “9” on the “Doak Scale” (explaining that would take my two typing fingers way too long to finish…so go Google it!).  One comment I would definitely make is that when we played it the second time on Tuesday Feb 22, I concluded that it was better architecturally than I had thought during our first go-round…and that is a sign of a “budding romance” and not just a “one time fling.”  

 

My favorite hole was #2…a par four that stretches to 444 yards from the elevated tips, goes down off the tee then uphill while bending right around an unfriendly fairway bunker on the right.  Green is protected by a mound at the front left corner so a safe tee shot must go left…leaving the conservative driver with a much longer approach and the the need to deal with that mound.  The heroic driver gets a clear path to run a shot into the green assuming he avoids the right fairway bunker.  Options options options (loaded with both risks and rewards)!

 

Tuesday morning we were at Tara Iti Golf Club.  Pat and I were there in early February 2016 when she played 2.5 rounds and I played 3.  Having spent the prior day facing incredible vistas, I decided to focus primarily on the architecture at “TI”, and that architecture is simply brilliant.  Better than my memories from 2016.  TI has 18 distinct holes, that blend and meld together like the well know “hand and glove”.

 

On the Doak scale my current thoughts are solid “9” or low “10”.  What I found very interesting was that the courses are not similar to one another…they simply complement each other.  Doak’s greens at TI tend to be very sloped but without a lot of internal movement…while the greens at TA-South tend to have lots of internal movement (e.g. Maxwell Rolls) and less overall slope.  I might even say that Doak’s TI has greens I might expect from Coore-Crenshaw, and C-C’s TA-South has greens I might expect from Doak!  In any case I HIGHLY recommend a visit to find out for yourself!

 

Wednesday afternoon, after our second round at TA-South, I had the unique opportunity to tour Te Arai-North with Jim Rohrstaff of Legacy Partners.  North will be TA’s second public course when it opens in October 2023 and has been designed by Tom Doak.  It presently is in the “grow in” phase.  While North does not have the incredible views on every hole like South, it is naturally bold…and that is a tough but fabulous combination.  There are a good number of bold designs and a good number of very natural designs in golf…but very very few naturally bold ones.  There is a natural punchbowl green here that will blow you mind…and your score if you are careless…but help your score if you are careful!  Hard to tell at this stage and without playing…but this one could very well end up as the best of the three (despite have “only” seven holes with ocean views).

 

With these three courses all in play nine months from now, this will for sure become of the the game’s truly brilliant centers.

 

As noted earlier, there is a wonderful old Alistair MacKenzie course in Auckland. NZ which I was determined to play during this short visit.  On Tuesday morning I awoke at 4:30 am in order to be off the 8th tee on Titirangi Golf Club at 7:30am and play holes 8-18 before heading back north for my round at Tara Iti.  Then with our flight departing Auckland at 1:40pm on Thursday, I repeated the early drive south and was off the first tee at 7:38am and finished up at the 7th green around 8:50am.  After a quick shower and change I was off to Auckland’s airport to meet Pat who took a shuttle ride down from Te Aria to the Airport.

 

All in all a wonderful trip.  Starting with El Niguel CC in Orange County, CA (see end of Post #164) a total of 216 golf holes played on some 12 golf courses.  This brought me to a total of 14 courses played in New Zealand, and 1532 worldwide.

One final important point…as superb as the golf was throughout the trip…it paled in comparison to the people we were with in both Australia and New Zealand.  In particular, I would cite in alphabetical order our primary “hosts” while “Down Under”:

 

            —John and Kay C.—of Melbourne, and Kingston Heath GC, a fellow member of the GOLF Magazine World Top 100 Panel and close friends of our since we first met in Melbourne in 2012;

            —Gary and Maureen L.—of Royal Melbourne GC; Gary is a member of the GOLF World 100 Panel happens to be one of the world’s finest golf course photographers; our round on February 19 was our first in person meeting;

            —Mark and Ellen L.—good friends from the USA, members of Tara Iti GC, and President of Global Golf Centurions Club.

 

Thank you all…and thank you to all the others we were with on this glorious venture.

 

Next Post coming shortly…an update to my Top 100 Spreadsheet.

Post #164---last two months...big event 12/1/2022...close out of 2022...and we are heading back to AUS/NZ

 Folks—

Guess this s Post #164.  Will be brief again.

Since my last post on 11/25/22, I have played 4 courses for the first time.  One included a highlight worth mentioning.  

On 12/1/22, i left early in the morning for a 3:30 or so drive to Charleston SC…to play the Ralston Creek Course at Daniel Island Club, just north of the center of Charleston.  My long time caddy at Brookline, Jeremy Brofsky is working there and joined me for 18 holes.  Ralston Creek is hosting the 75th US Junior Amateur Championship in 2023 and I needed to play it to extend my USGA Championship Host EVER play list through 2023.  We tee off and moved quickly until getting behind some foursomes at the 9th tee…so we skipped ahead, played 13-18 and then circled back to the par three 9th.  WE both watched my tee shot which was headed right at the flag (hit an 9-iron but hole length from this tee is now classified…you may find the answer in Joe Biden's Corvette).  It looked to me like it was about 6” right of the hole but it then disappeared behind a small mound on the green. Jeremy though it was in but he could not be sure, so we hopped into the cart and drove top to the green.  He got out of the cart first and got the first look and told me to come up...see below:

(do not know how to post video...sorry)

So now, in 67 + years of golfing, I have spent maybe 10-15 days in the Charleston area…and both of my holes in one happened in Charleston’s northern suburbs (#1 happened on Wild Dune’s Harbor Course in 1987).  Feeling somewhat proud, first call was to the wifey…proud owner of three holes in one.  Her response was immediate and appropriate…”keep it going sweetheart, if you make another, maybe you’ll catch me.”

Anyhow, we got all 18 in, and I finished 2022 with 1522 courses lifetime including 137 (2405 holes) for the first time in 2022.  Including replays, I played 161 different courses in 2022.  So far in 2023, I have added 3 courses in NC…the best of which was Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte…and I stand at 1525 lifetime.

Pat and I are in Los Angeles right now, on our way to Melbourne, Australia and the North Island of New Zealand.  We will get back to NC on Feb 23.  Playing 8 courses in Australia.  Three of the 8 I have played before and 5 will be first time for me (one of which is a 9 holer).  In NZ, we are playing Tara Iti (both of us played it in 2016) and the all new Te Aria South (I hope to play South 2x).  I also expect to be able to walk the site of Te Aria North…a Doak design still under construction.  Additionally, I am scheduled to play Alistair MacKenzie’s Titirangi on February 18 after landing in Auckland.  This will be my 5th golfing trip down under and Pat’s 3rd…and there is a reasonable chance it will be the last trip there for both of us.  We love it in both countries.

Two other things:

1.  in my last email I cited 2022 highlights through November 25, but neglected to mention my round at The Floridian on February 23…getting up and down from a bunker on #18 (by pouring in a 12 footer for a 77) and finally shooting my age playing with others and having an attested scorecard!  Driving the green on the par 4 sixth hole and canning the 12’ eagle putt helped! 

2.  Yesterday morning I got up at 4:45 and drove down to Orange County.  In November 2022 I had run out of daylight playing El Niguel Country Club and could not play holes 14-18…thereby keeping me from completing the 1966 and 1967 Golf Digest USA 200 Toughest lists which were listed alphabetically).  I arranged to play just the back 9 starting at 7:30am…was done by 8:50 (had to keep behind the morning maintenance crews) and had a good 41 on the back…with 4 bogies on the holes I has played before (10-13) and then a birdie, two pars and two bogeys on the 5 new hoies for me (14-18).  Finished with a par on #18. This is also meant that I have now played every course included on any USA Top 200 listing EVER.

But now it is time to get to LAX and spend 18 hours on a flight to Melbourne!!

Post #163---originally distributed by email November 25, 2022

 Folks—

Hope all of you had a very special Thanksgiving.

This has been a very busy week, month and year.  On Tuesday, http://Top100golfcourses.com released its 2022 World Top 100.  It contains 12 courses that were not on its 2020 edition…seven of these were on their list for the first time, and five had appeared on their list prior to 2020.  Lofoten Links of Norway is the only one of the 12 that had never pierced any World Top 100 list previously.  I have not played Lofoten but from what I have heard, I was not surprised by its selection.

Last week I was in the Los Angeles area for four days, and played 7 courses, five of which were first timers for me and two were repeats which had recently undergone major renovations.  I am now winding down a very very busy year and the LA trip will be my last major trip in 2022.  More on the LA trip in a few paragraphs (see highlights #22-25 below), but first allow me to outline what I accomplished in 2022 as well as the current status of my various bucket lists.

I now stand at 1,521 courses played in my lifetime.  Five years ago (at the conclusion of 2017) I stood at 1,023 so I have played 498 new courses in those 5 years), and two years ago (at the end of 2020) I stood at 1,261 (played 261 new courses in 2021-2022).  For 2022 alone my total courses played stands at 160, of which 136 were played for the first time.    I have played this year courses in 34 states plus Puerto Rico, France, Ireland, Northern Ireland…and in 2021 I had played 12 of the 16 I missed in 2022…leaving just NM, WV, AK, and HI as unplayed over the past 20 months (April 2021-November 2022).

Highlights of 2022 (in chronological order):

1.  May 5…Bidermann (part of Vicmead Hunt Club, DE).  Designed by Dick Wilson.  Course and facility have a natural beauty and dignity about them that is simply remarkable. 

 

2.  May 11...Congressional CC (Blue, MD).  Originally 18 holes designed by Devereux Emmet and expanded to 18 holes by Trent Jones Sr. in 1957.  A brute of a course whose style became inconsistent with the tastes of panels in 1980’s and 1990’s…and whose ratings started slipping precipiously as its tree coverage expanded.  Brilliant renovation by Andrew Green has caused me to really appreciate the course that I had grown to hate.

3.  May 26…The Country Club (Open Course, MA).  An honor to be able to play it three weeks prior to The 2022 US Open.  “Brookline” has never been in this type of condition and the old lady really was dressed perfectly for the June showing!  Quite an event and this preview round was thrilling.

4.  June 7...Bald Peak Colony Club (NH)…had heard lots of very special reports but this was my first visit.  A brilliant piece of work by Donald Ross overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee.   Superb club that has the same “feel” as Florida’s Mountain Lake…like a “camp” for old wealthy people (meant as a sincere compliment).

5.  June 22…Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club (CA)…this is one cool place!  The original site of the Bing Crosby Pro-Am (before it moved to Pebble) with walls lined with incredible photos to prove it.  And the golf course is top notch…outstanding piece of land and a design by Max Behr.

6.  July 8—Royal Portrush Golf Club (Dunluce Links, Northern Ireland)…had played 2x but realized about a year ago that I had not played the new holes #7&8 that were pulled into the Dunluce from the Valley before the 2019 Open Championship.  Contacted GM who arranged for me to play holes 7&8 early on this day thereby solving my “problem”.

7.  July 10—Rosapenna (St Patrick’s, Ireland)...widely acclaimed new design along Ireland's north coastline by Tom Doak proved to be more than equal to its glowing reviews.  Big and bold with brilliant features, makes superb use of phenomenal sand dunes that previously housed 36 holes.  As predicted by many, a solid World 100 (rankings of #55 and #41 on GOLF and top100golfcourses.com).

8,  Enniscrone GC (Ireland)—soaring dunes that must be seen to be believed!

9.  Ballybunion(OLD) (Ireland)—had been to too many years and I literally had forgotten just how superb this place is.  I have now been well reminded!

10.  July 18—The European Club (Ireland).  Always a joy to return to here where I finished by initial GM World 100 and was granted an Honorary Membership by Pat Ruddy.  One of the few courses I have played that seems to improve with each round played (three to date).

11.  July 20—County Louth Golf Club (Ireland).  Had played in 2016 in worst weather I ever experienced on a golf course…so this was my first chance to actually see the course and I simply loved it.

12.  July 21—Portmarnock Golf Club (Ireland).  Had played three times previously and for reasons I can’t understand, did not appreciate how good this track is on my last two visits.  Felt very differently this time…this is a superb track…tough but fair and even a bit of fun!

13.  August 3—Quaker Ridge GC (NY)…my annual visit to my golfing home from 1975-2000.  Still marvel at the brilliant work of Gil Hanse in clearing out the overgrown trees and restoring the greens to their original greatness.

14.  August 19—Sand Hills GC (NE).  Simply gets better with every visit.  Mr. Youngscap revolutionized the game of golf in 1995 with Sand Hills’ opening.  No Sand Hills and no Bandon, etc. etc.  He proved if you build greatness golfers will travel to it…and the golf world learned!  How he has never been inducted in the Golf Hall of Fame astounds and embarrasses me as a golfer.

15.  August 22—Home Course (WA).  Between Gold Mountain Golf Club (Olympic) (played last year) and Home Course, Seattle must have the best two public courses near one major city in the USA—of not, please tell me a city with two better public tracks!

16.  August 29—Quarry at Giants Ridge (MN).  Wild, woolly and certainly great fun.

17.  August 31—Landmand Club (NE).  Latest effort by Rob Collins & Co.  Incredible scale and in some ways a tame version of Quarry at Giant’s Ridge.  Has not made a Top 100 yet but I think after folks get used to it and it gets refined in minor ways it will be a regular.  Too much fun to not be.

18.  October 8—Shoreacres GC (IL).  Replay…first visit in 2010 let to my being placed on Golf Digest Panel.  Course was overgrown with trees and vegetation back then and so so so much better now.  Could tell the difference about 5 seconds after entering driveway.  So wonderfully firm and fast now.

19.  October 12—Scioto CC (OH).  Another replay (first visit in 1982)  and another superb renovation by Andrew Green…this is the 5th of his that I have seen (where I had played course prior to his work) although in this case I have almost no recollection of the course as it was 40 years ago.  But this one makes it clear to me…he is the current King of the Restorers/Renovators.  Brilliant is too weak a term.

20.  October 12—Pepper Pike (OH).  What an overwhelming day this was.  This place is so wonderful and so much fun.  And for years I thought this and The Country Club (OH) were the same course.  One always has things to learn!

21.  October 22—Arcola CC (NJ).  A superb course that literally gets “lost” in the New York area’s collection of brilliant tracks.  Absolutely under-appreciated.

22.  November 15—Bel-Air CC (CA).  Designed by George Thomas and William Bell…through years of minor modifications by Dick Wilson, George Fazio, and Jones Sr., it had lost its way and certainly its brilliance.  I had played it in 2013 and liked it but it could not be compared to LACC and Riviera.  Enter Tom Doak to usher in one of the great restorations.  Thousands of suffocating trees gone, greens now require you to think and decide how to play a hole, and options abound throughout the course.  A joy.

23.  November 16—Hillcrest CC (CA).  Played once before in 2017…this place was originally designed in 1920 by Willie Watson and now has altered dramatically (for the very much better) by Kyle Phillips. View from the tee of the par 3 4th is simply to die for…and the one word that continuously crossed my mind during the round was “exquisite”.  Could conceivably give QR a run for the best predominantly Jewish golf course in USA.

24.  November 18—Saticoy Club (CA).  Finding a Hidden Gen used to be easy.  I recall seeing Royal Dornoch and North Berwick for the first time in 1981…but these days, tough to keep such a secret.  But through hard work, may have found one this day (at least for non-LA’ers).  Outstanding course designed by Billy Bell Jr (1964) and renovated by John Harbottle III.  Thad Layton then remodeled bunkers, expanded the fairways and removed trees.  I thought the final six holes represented one of the finest stretches of golf anywhere.  About 60 miles NW of downtown LA but worth it.

25.  November 19—Santa Ana CC (CA) Arrived here expecting another over the top Orange County track…and was I ever wrong about that.  Found a place that decided to step up its game and undergo a substantial transformation.  In its final stages with the recent planting of fescue rough lining the wide fairways.  IMO the work performed by Jay Blasi has been superb.  Reminded me of two other extensive changes to old tracks…Old Town in Winston-Salem NC (by Coore/Crenshaw) and California Golf Club of San Francisco (by Kyle Phillips).  At one point, both of these clubs were facing major crises as a result of these renovations…but both fought through and now are thriving better than ever before.  I think and hope that will be the eventual outcome at Santa Ana.

Apologies to dozens of other wonderful courses I played this year that are not mentioned above.  I firmly believe we have the finest selection of courses to play that has ever existed.

Special notice regarding Coral Creek Golf which I had the pleasure of playing on February 10.  Hope and trust it came through Hurricane Ian and proved to be repairable.

One final point regarding 2022…it was a tour filled with Tom Doak’s work:

Rawl’s Course at Texas Tech

Rosapenna-St Patrick’s

Common Ground

Medinah #1

Bel-Air CC

He is a genius!

Bucket List Status:

1.  World Top 100 EVER (from all sources)…am now four courses shy of reconquering this mountain (Lanhai in Shanghai, China; Lofoten in Norway; Santapazienza in Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Woodlands, Melbourne, Australia.  As I announced about a month ago, I have decided the risks of returning to China make such a trip foolish at best.  Hence I will instead try to finish playing the other three.

2.  USA Top 100 EVER (from all sources)…COMPLETED

3.  USA Top 200 EVER (from all sources)…to complete this I have to play (as of today): one course under construction in Wisconsin (scheduled to open August 2023), and holes 14-15 on El Niguel CC in CA

4.  Golf Week USA 200 Modern and 200 Classic from the same year…must play two courses in Hawaii

5.  All of the courses that have hosted current Men’s and Women’s Professional Majors…regular tour and senior tour…COMPLETED

6.  All of the courses that have hosted the five big "Cups” (Walker/Ryder/Presidents/Curtis/Solheim)…COMPLETED…but will need to play Finca Cortesin (Spain) and Bernardus Golf (Netherlands) before they host Solheim in 2023 and 2026 respectively

7.  All of the courses that have hosted PGA Tour Players Championship PGA Tour Championship, Fed Exp Cup Playoffs, and World Golf Championship events EVER…missing Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City and Mission Hills Shenzhen-Olazabal from WCG events.  PLan to play Chapultepec in2023 but again, cannot risk trip to China under present conditions.

8.  Play every course to have hosted one or more of the USGA’s current 15 National Championships and two Cups (Walker and Curtis) EVER…COMPLETED 11/18/2022 in Los Angeles but need to play Daniel Island (SC) to carry throught 2023 season (scheduled to play Daniel Island 12/1/22)

9.  Play every course to EVER host a Metropolitan (NY) Open or Am Championship…total of 10 courses remaining, all in NY and NJ.

Updated v117 of Spreadsheet:

See attached.