July 13, 2015
Carnegie Abbey, RI
Played in a pro-am at Carnegie Abbey with Tyler Gosselin,
one of the superb group of Brookline assistant pros. Carnegie Abbey was originally conceived as a
high end club (about 10 miles north of Newport) by Peter de Savary (who purchased and renovated Skibo
Castle, the old Andrew Carnegie estate near Dornoch, Scotland about 15 years
ago and subsequently got into financial trouble). Course is built around lots
of wetlands, which caused a bunch of design problems (e.g. first hole is a par
5 with a long carry over wetlands on second shot). Did not like holes 1&2 but then course
got much better…although it has some very long treks or drives from green to
tee…and it includes a 22 story condo (that looks like it was imported from
Atlanta…with apologies to the state of GA).
Fun afternoon and suffice it to say we did not win anything.
One side note about wetlands. Reality is that most of the great old courses
built from the late 19th century through the 1930’s could not have
been built today. Issues with wetlands
would have made impossible these projects and resulting great courses.
July 17-19 Weekend in
Philadelphia
Started off with a great Italian dinner on the very block in
Philly where Rocky did his running through the open markets. Dinner with my brother David, his wife
Rosemary, and my nephew Sam (tennis player and a good one) and niece Jean (who
became a mom four months ago). Was great
to catch up and to hear the wonderful news that Jean’s husband, Sebastian, was
approved for his green card and would be back from Germany shortly (since
arrived).
July
17 Philadelphia Cricket—Wissahockon.
Tillinghast design recently renovated by Keith Foster. Brilliant job on renovation. Sweeping views, fast greens and wonderful
piece of land. Hosted US Club Pro
Championship some 2-3 weeks earlier (used to determine Club pros who are
invited to play PGA Championship last week at Whistling Straights, WI). Broke through in ratings with a #53 in GolfWeek
(my merged list). First top 100 ever for
this course. Best hole in my mind was
#15, a 240 yard long Redan…not exactly a birdie hole. While we loved the design, the condition was
less than ideal. The fairways looked
great but had almost no root structure.
If this is to be a truly great course and find a permanent place in the
top 100 (which it has the capacity to achieve), it needs to have some rest and
let the grass come in properly…especially in climate such as found in
Philadelphia. Importantly, playing
Wissahochon got me back to having completed all three of the current major
magazine top USA Top 100’s…a status I lost when it was named to Golf Week’s Top
100 about 5 months ago.
July
18 Pine Valley Golf Club--Always a very special treat. Simply a phenomenal design and a marvelously
superb club. Incredible variety of
holes…and they integrate beautifully.
PVGC has dominated the USA and World ratings from day one. To date, there have been 49 USA Top 100
listing which named a #1 (another eight listings named a top 10 listed
alphabetically)…of those 49, PVGC has been named #1 on 40 (82% for you liberal
arts types), and #2 on another 7 (plus one #3 and one #4). Cypress Point has been named #1 on 5 of the
49, Augusta National on 3 (sorry ANGC…you don’t get credit for being listed
first alphabetically on the eight that just showed a top 10), and Pebble Beach once. On the World Top 100’s that I track, there
have been 28 listings showing a #1, and PVGC has hit the #1 spot 24 times (86%),
plus two #2’s and one each of #3 and #4.
Others hitting #1 Worldwide are Cypress Point (2x), Muirfield, and The
Old Course at St. Andrews.
Yours
truly considers Cypress Point to be #1 in the world. I am a great admirer of PVGC…to me, its basic
design is the best in the world. If one
examines some of the early photographs of PVGC, the trees were thinner and
shorter and the vistas far superior.
Some golfers love courses with each hole separated from others by trees. In PVGC’s case, these trees have grown in
height, number, and density. The
fairways still provide wide corridors (a good thing), but to me, the thick
undergrowth and trees lining the fairways are a negative in several ways. First, they restrict airflow, which
negatively affects turf conditions. Second,
they impede views, which I love to see on a course. Third, I believe that single trees are
beautiful (as one can see the shape of the branching) but dense forests are
not…they look like a green curtain. One
man’s opinion and others may (and obviously do) disagree. In any case, it is still the best course in
the world in terms of hole design, overall flow, etc.
I shot
an 84 for handicap purposes (incalculable for stroke play) including 5 double
bogeys. I did birdie #12 and #17…but the
ending was ugly. Suffice it to say that
if this had been a stroke play event, I would be close to reaching the Indian
Ocean (via the direct route) by now. I
now refer to the right front bunker on #18 as “home.”
The
very special thing about PVGC on this trip was that Pat was able to play
it. PVGC allows women to play every
Sunday starting at noon and our host (who, consistent with my policy on this
blog, shall go unnamed) was kind enough to invite two other couples as well…so
the 3 men guests played with our host on Saturday (while the women played Gulph
Mills in Philadelphia…wonderful and described in an earlier blog) and the women
played PVGC with our host on Sunday (we played Merion that day…see below). Was a special thrill for Pat…and she has now
played all of the #1’s in history on USA and Worldwide top 100’s except
ANGC…and loved all but one (do not mention Muirfield to her…it is a wonder that
our marriage lasted after that round…one of a mere 11 on our honeymoon…she
furious at me for bringing her to such a hayfield, and me even madder at her
for not appreciating what I consider to be the world’s premier championship
track). In any case, she loved her day
at PVGC and to our “host” (who reads this)…thank you from both of us again.
One
final PVGC thought. Back in the good old
days (stop groaning you baby boomer and younger readers), no club gave away free
tees. The practice started in the 80’s
or so and as clubs tried to outdo each other in going over the top, this was
usually the first small step. Today,
almost all top clubs in the USA gives away tees. This results in tee boxes littered with used
tees and ruined mower blades. The
stupidity of this practice is astounding.
Never done in GB&I or Australia…and you won’t find old tees (broken
or whole…the broken ones are great for hitting anything but drivers)…they have
some sense!!!. Since 1974, I have never
paid for or taken any free tees from a basket, etc…and each year end up with
about 100-200 extras. The easiest way to
cause waste is to give things away. The
point of this rant/diatribe is that PVGC has stopped giving away tees. Hurray!!
Perhaps others will follow their lead…let’s hope so and ask our clubs to
follow. If a few more great clubs do it,
it will become “socially acceptable” and a trend will begin. Just remember, free tees are worse than denim
on a golf course.
July
18 Merion Golf Club—I still remember back in June 1971, going upstairs to
the 38th floor of Citibank’s headquarters in NY to watch the
broadcast of the Monday Nicklaus-Trevino 18 hole playoff at Merion for the US
Open Championship. That was Trevino’s
second US Open victory (having won at Oak Hill near Rochester, NY in 1968), and
the genesis for one of the great quotes in golf history (from Lee of
course): “I love Merion, and I don’t
even know her last name.”
I also
remember playing it for the first time in the summer of 1976…it was the 128th
course I had ever played. I recall that
at the end of the round, I had several pictures of every hole in my mind and
could remember every bunker and most (I thought) of its nuances. Today, I can’t remember where I put my keys 5
minutes ago but I do know that I could play Merion 500 times and never
understand all of its nuances. It was
about 6,500 yards then and played to just short of 7,000 yards for the ’13 US
Open…very short for a championship track for both times. But so brilliantly cunning!!
It was
a typical Philadelphia summer day…about 95 degrees and much higher
humidity. After a good start, I ended up
playing like a dog, sweated like a pig, and loved every second of it. My last round here was May 24, 2012…and the
fairways were about as wide as bowling alleys (in preparation for the ‘13 US
Open). At that time, it was impossible
for mere mortals, or even club pros.
This time, with the rough at mere brutal height and fairways back to
normal width, it was still extremely difficult but fun to play again. The sheer genius of the routing…squeezed onto
about 110 acres but with no sense of being crowded…is something to behold. If you survive holes 2-6 (#1 is the perfect
opening hole…not too hard but enough of a challenge to get you going), you can
almost semi-relax on holes 7-13…because then you better hold on for dear life
on 14-18. Flows like a symphony…only
Cypress’ flow is better. There are a
bunch of birdie holes (1, 4, 8, 10, 13) all of which quickly become double
bogey holes with the wrong mistake.
There is also a collection of some of the toughest holes in the game (4,
5, 14, 16, 17, and 18).
And
the club is equal to the course. We
feasted on a superb dinner Friday night that ended with a tour of the clubhouse
and its incredible memorabilia. Finally,
after the round Sunday to the men’s locker room and showering under some of the
world’s great shower heads.
One
important note about Merion’s condition needs to be mentioned. The club has reduced the amount of watering
employed this year as well as the amount of pesticides used. The results are interesting. The fairways and tees look far from perfect
in many spots but the course was firm and fast (despite the heat), the lies
were uniformly perfect for everyone in our foursome…and that is what
counts!! Brown is good, soft and green
and pretty is bad.
In
terms of ratings, Merion is one of 20 courses to be included in every World Top
100 ever (note that of those 20, 11 including Merion are in the US), and one of
11 USA courses to be included in every World Top 100 ever, and one of 20
courses to be included in every USA Top 100 ever. Its highest current World 100 rating is #9
(Golf Magazine) and highest current USA 100 rating is #5 (Golf Digest). Pretty consistent, pretty strong.
Thank
you again to our wonderful host, a close friend from NC with (if you can
believe it) a sense of humor almost as sick as mine.
Our
drive back to Milton, MA proved once again that all good things must come to an
end. Took seven hours, including 1:25 to
get over the GW Bridge. Arrived home at
12:25am with fond memories of a special weekend.
July 24-26 TCC Club Championship
Each
year on the last weekend in July, Brookline holds its Club Championship,
consisting of a stroke play qualifier on Friday, and then match play
elimination rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
Pat and I competed in the Men’s and Women’s Super Senior Championships
which require participants to be 65 or older.
Unfortunately we easily make that grade.
Pat was playing as defending champion, having won her gold metal last
year. On the other hand, I was laboring
under the burden of losses in the finals in ’12 and ’13 and in the semi’s last
year.
Sunday
July 26 was a very special day and both Pat and I won our respective events, thereby
earning the title of “Mr. and Mrs. Super Senior Champion”. A great capstone to the prior 10 days.
July 27-August 1 Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago,
Minneapolis
Got up
very very early the next day for a whirlwind 6-day trip and to catch a 6:30am
flight. One of my outstanding bucket
lists is to play all 54 US Open venues.
Depending on definition, the number can vary. For example, Baltusrol as hosted 7 Opens on
four different courses. In any case, as
of July 27, I had seven to go. My plans
were originally to play six of these, but then I learned that Skokie CC near
Chicago was commencing a regrassing project on July 27 and was closing until
next year. So this trip was reduced to a
mere 9 tracks in six days. And, I am
starting out pretty tired from the prior 10 days.
July 27 St George’s--Monday morning flew from Boston to the great city of
Toronto to return to St. George’s, a very popular name for great tracks (three
have made a world 100…St. George’s Hill in Surrey, England, Royal St. George’s
in Sandwich England, and St. George’s near Toronto…plus another with a solid
reputation…St. George’s on Long Island, NY).
A superb Stanley Thompson design that unfortunately was ravaged by the
winter of ‘13-’14. In the spring of
2014, Tom Doak came in to rebuild all 18 greens and make a series of
renovations. The course was closed until
approximately May 2015. However, during
June the club experienced a horrendous combination…heavy traffic (lots of play),
monsoon-like rains, and also no sun. By
July, the club had 18 temporary greens.
By July 27 only three temps remained but the other 15 were wisely kept
much longer and shaggier than normal.
New grass is like infants, very fragile and susceptible to disease. My sense is that it will take until fall 2016
before these greens are fully established, and that will depend on not going
through another difficult winter (in this era of global warming there of course
should be no concern about that). Renovations
are not without risk (financial, operational, etc.) even when overseen by the
best in the business (and Doak is one of them).
Boards of Governors need to think these through carefully…but act
decisively when needed. Courses, grass,
bunkering, etc etc wear down over time and must be repaired and rejuvenated at
times. Most great clubs and courses had
overseers who insured that they were kept up to date in previous decades. Today’s overseers have a responsibility to do
the same for the future members and generations an their clubs. Those that do not run the risk of falling by
the wayside.
St.
George’s is currently #87 in the world on Golf Magazine, #30 in the world on
Golf Digest’s initial list and #55 on www.top100courses.co.uk and has for many
years generally been considered to be Canada’s finest. My guess is that with the recent problems it
will temporarily drop somewhat but then bounce back in a couple of years.
While
overly slow greens can make it difficult to properly evaluate a course, I believe
the changes to St. George’e are excellent. Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs are
giving it a real run for the “best in Canada” title. Who knows who will win in the next few
years…but I have not see a rival to St. George’s outside of Cabot.
After
a wonderful dinner at St. George’s, I drove to Buffalo with James Duncan of
Coore Crenshaw to be ready for an important course to visit…the original CC of
Buffalo.
July 28 Grover Cleveland Municipal: After
arriving at James’ house at 12:30am (very long story) we set the alarms for an
early wake up…tee off scheduled at 6am (no typo there). Unfortunately, Lisle and the kids were in
California, so I did not get the chance to meet them.
Some
history here. Grover Cleveland was
originally designed and completed in 1889 as the home of the CC of Buffalo, was
revamped by Walter Travis in 1910-11, and hosted the US Open in 1912. Subsequently, in 1922 the club purchased land
in the suburb of Williamsville and retained Donald Ross to design the new
course, which opened in 1926. While
Grover Cleveland occupies much of the same land as Travis’ design, through the
years there have been renovations…although the course has never been
“modernized.”
In
planning this trip, I faced an important decision…which venue should I play to
tick off the CC of Buffalo/1912 US Open list from my bucket list. The answer was obvious…had to go back to the
original. So at about 6:10am James and I
teed off on #1. It was fairly empty at
that hour and we played quickly. The
course, which extends back to 5621 yards is a par 69 and we of course played it
from the tips. Without boring you any
more, let me just say that I hit a gap wedge into 18 and left myself a birdie
putt of about 7’ that would have given me a 70… shooting my age. With the pressure mounting, I choked and
missed the putt (to be fair it broke about 8”).
Opportunity lost. Yes, I know
many of you are saying right now that my age rounded to 71 (I was approximately
70.6767 years old that day). But, I
would of course never want to bring that up.
In any case, probably a good thing I missed this time…not sure I would
want to listen to me if I had shot my age at a former US Open venue playing from
the tips, with a golf architect as a witness.
On the
way to the airport we looked quickly at the current CC of Buffalo and The Park
CC, but no time to play. Am off to
Chicago to go play some more US Open venues.
July
28 Midlothian CC: Arrived at the
club around 2:20 and was off the first tee by 2:40. Midlothian hosted the 1014 US Open won by
Walter Hagen. So, in the period from
7/26-28, I had played the venues for the 1912, 1913, and 1914 US Opens (CC of
Buffalo, The Country Club, and Midlothian CC).
It also hosted the Western Open 3x (2x won by Billy Casper). Midlothian has not been included in any Top
100 listing, but it is a fine course.
Hit the ball fairly well and enjoyed the course. Had to jump around to play the full 18 in
about 3 hours and had a 77…so total of 148 not too bad for a 36 at the old age
of 70.6767 (approximately). Drove about
30 miles north to my hotel for the next two nights near Glenview IL. Not as tired as I should have been.
July 29 North Shore CC: Short drive to
club and played with 8:30 group of seniors who play together Wednesday
mornings. Fun bunch of guys. One of them was celebrating his 90th
birthday…and yes you guessed it, he beat his age for about the umpteenth
time!! North Shore was founded in 1900
and moved to its present location in 1924 after building a course designed by Harry
Colt and Charles Alison. It hosted the 1933
US Open (won by Johnny Goodman, that last amateur to capture the US Open) and
1939 and 1983 US Amateur (won by Bud Ward and Jay Sigel respectively). North Shore was a regular on Golf Digest’s
USA Top100 through 1985 when it peaked at #86.
Since then, it has not appeared.
A very
good course, but to my mind, way too green, soft and over watered. Lots of Poa and the club is grappling with
what to do to improve (see words above regarding St. George’s) Started with an
ugly double bogey on #1 (after a perfect drive) but finished off with an 80 and
our team lost $10 (each!!). After
playing in a cart Monday and then 36 Tuesday, walked this 18…and then got some
much needed rest that afternoon and evening.
Almost glad Skokie was being re-grassed as my plan was to play it that
afternoon. Now down to 4 US Open venues
and the weather looks good for the rest of the week here in Chicago and in
Minneapolis.
July
30 Onwentsia Club: This will be
another long day. Playing Onwentsia at
8am, then off to O’Hare Airport to catch flight to Minneapolis, and hopefully
play Minneapolis Golf Club this evening.
Lots of things have to work to make this happen.
Onwentsia,
founded in 1893 and located in Lake Forest IL is a very private club and a
simply beautiful club. In 1895, the club
moved to a new location and retained Charles B. Macdonald to design the first
nine holes in its present location. The
second nine was designed by Herbert Tweedie and James and Robert Foulis shortly
thereafter and the club hosted the 1899 US Amateur (won by Herbert Harriman) and
1906 US Open (won by Alex Smith). More
recently, the course was renovated under the direction of Tom Doak.
I
loved the layout…wide open with wonderful vistas. Similar to Quaker Ridge and Muirfield, it has
9 holes around its circumference surrounding the other nine. However, with Onwentsia, the back nine is on
the circumference and moves in a counter-clockwise direction. Walked the 18 and had a 41 on the back 9
followed by a 40 on the front. Course
was superbly firm and fast and in simply perfect condition. Interestingly, there are three pairs of
greens so close to each other that they seemed ideal candidate for double
greens (#1 and #8, #3 and #6. and #7 and #11).
Apparently, this was voted down by the membership due to the fact that
Shoreacres, also located in Lake Forest, has several double greens and the
members did not want to be seen as “copying” Shoreacres.
Drove
to O’Hare, caught flight to MSP...which was on time, rented my car at MSP, and
headed off to for my next 18.
July 30 Minneapolis GC: Founded in 1916
with a course originally designed by Willie Park Jr. and then renovated by
Donald Ross in 1922 including redoing the routing due to the relocation of the
clubhouse. Hosted the US Am in 1950 (Sam
Urzetta defeated Frank Stranahan in the final) and the PGA Championship in 1959
(won by Bob “He has no shot” Rosburg).
Amazingly, this course has never appeared on any Top 100 listing other than
Golf Digest’s 1966 and 1967 listing of the USA’s 200 toughest courses.
In my communications
with the head pro, he said I could go off at 6:30pm, but would not be more
specific. I arrived at 5:30pm, saw the
tee sheet and wondered how I could possible get in 18; there was a member’s 9
hole event going off #1 until 6:00PM and those foursomes would take at least 2
hours. I almost drove away.
Ran into the starter
who said he would get me off on #10. I
played all 18 (wild order: 10-15, 9, 1, 16, 17, 2-8, 18) and to put it
simply, I loved it…it is a hidden gem. Condition is perfect…firm and fast
with just enough rough. Greens are very tough if you get above the pin,
and coming out of the rough, you can play it, but it is almost impossible to
have any distance control.
The land is wonderful…rolling
all over the place. As you stand on the tees, there are all sorts of
options for direction and distance as the mounds dissect the fairways at
different angles…so the carry to reach a downhill portion of a fairway might be
30 yards further on the right side of the fairway compared to the left
side. I would guess that it takes many
rounds to figure out how to play this course and it would be great fun
learning.
Yes, lots of
parallel fairways…but they go in about 3 directions.
What I do not understand
is how has this course stay under the radar for 100 years? Very
special…could play it every day and never be bored.
July 31 Minikahda
Club: Founded in 1898, Minikahda
has hosted a US Open (1916 with Chick Evans winning), a Walker Cup match (1957),
and a US Amateur (1927 with Bobby Jones defeating Chick Evans in the finals). Minikahda’s original course was designed by
Willie Watson (the club’s first pro), Robert Foulis (also an architect at
Onwentsia…see above), and C.T. Jaffrey (one of the club’s founders). In 1916 the club brought in Donald Ross for
major changes. In the decades that
followed, several architects including Geoffrey Cornish have overseen minor
changes. Then in 2001, Ron Prichard was brought in to remove hundreds of trees,
bring the greens back to their original dimensions, restore the bunkering and
lengthen the course.
Sitting high above
Lake Calhoun, the setting is magnificent.
The variety of holes is superb as are the green complexes, with the 7th
being the best in my opinion. With
limited acreage, the course could only be stretched to 6815 yards, relatively
short with today’s players and length, but this is a wonderfully fun course to
play. While never piercing a USA top 100
list, Minikahda has consistently been on Golf Week’s list of USA Top 100
Classic courses (but not high enough to make the top 100 when merging GW’s
Classic and Modern lists). In summary,
this is a wonderful club and course…certainly not of great “championship caliber”
but no question a fun fun track that one could play every day without being
bored. It was firm and fast and in
outstanding condition.
July 31 Spring
Hill Golf Club: Completed about 1999, this Tom Fazio design
set on about 210 wooded acres stretches to 7042 yards (with what looked like a
lot of space to lengthen if necessary) par 72. Spring Hill has been included on Golf Week’s
Top 100 Modern USA course list since 2011, but those ratings (as with Minikahda
above) have not been high enough to earn a top 100 on my “merged” Golf Week
list. For example, this year, it reached
#46 on the Modern list (best to date) that was #109 on my merged list. It has never “qualified” for Golf Digest’s
Top 100 as it was not “actively seeking raters” (meaning raters had to find a
member to sponsor their round). Since a
course must have 45 ratings over the prior 8 years to qualify for the GD Top
100, and Spring Hill had never reached that total, it simply did not qualify
(even though it is #2 in Minnesota…ahead of a top 100 course). May seem crazy at first, but these rules make
sense as Golf Digest is looking for a meaningful “sample size” when it averages
raters ratings for the Top 100. Starting
recently, Spring Hill has been “actively seeking raters and is now over the 45
round hurdle (according to their head pro)…was glad to help them get over that
minimum.
I played with a
friend who is a member (who I know from Pinehurst) and one of the assistant
pros. We went off the back nine. While I started off playing well (for about 3
holes), I quickly got tired. This has
been a tough trip. In any case, I did
get a good look at the course.
Spring Hill is a
beautiful facility and a superb test of golf.
Best holes are #3 (540 yd par 5 with vary well bunkered and elevated
green), #8 (231 yd par 3 to slightly elevated green with subtle breaks, #14 (455 yard par 4 with a very subtle and
well positioned green), #16 (508 yard par 5 dogleg left sharply uphill from the
drive with superb fairway bunkering making the layup a very tough shot). The settings of each hole are spectacular…however,
as with Pine Valley, almost all of the holes are surrounded by thick forests,
which block vistas (admittedly a style issue) but also limit air
circulation. While MSP did get about 2”
of rain earlier in the week, that was followed by two cool dry windy days which
should have fully dried out the course.
Instead, it was a touch on the soft side and not nearly as fast and firm
as Minneapolis or Minikahda. My host
pointed out a good number of places where the club had cleared trees and opened
up the fairways more…and I definitely applaud these efforts. My sense is that the course is much improved
versus 10-15 years ago when it looked to me to be so difficult as to be very
little fun except for folks with plus handicaps. Much more is needed and I think the course
has incredible potential if it aggressively pursues these efforts.
Had dinner w our NC
friends at Spring Hill that evening.
Wonderful dinner. Clubhouse
facility is first class (as is the food).
August 1 White
Bear Yacht Club: Friday 7/31 was very tiring. Saturday was (thank goodness) just an 18-hole
day and then flights back to Boston. Pat
had played in a women’s invitational Monday-Wednesday at TCC, then went up to
York, ME to play with a close friend from TCC, and then with grandkids on
Friday. Be great to see her when I get
home.
My round at WBYC was
originally scheduled by Fergal O’Leary (friend from Boston and fellow rater…and
in case you couldn’t guess it, originally from Ireland, Dublin and Portmarnock
to be specific). Fergal was out west on
business and got to play all 36 at Forest Highlands (Flagstaff, AZ) Friday
followed by a horrific red-eye from Phoenix to MSP (arriving at about
4:30am). He showed up at my hotel room
about 5:15am and was able to get about 30 minutes of sleep (stop what you are
thinking…room had two beds...if it didn’t I wouldn’t be writing about
this). We had a game at WBYC at 8:20 and
then had to catch a flight at 2:40pm.
Arrived at White
Bear around 7:40 and met out hosts, the current and incoming greens committee
chairs (one of whom was from Flushing Queens…not Jamaica of course, but pretty
close…trust me, our back and forth regarding Queens in the 50’s and 60’s would
have bored you to tears…even more so than this blog). Club was very busy, and has a healthy caddy
program, which was great to see. We went
off on #10 to make sure we could catch our flight, but first some background. Located on White Bear Lake north of St. Paul,
WBYC was founded as a yacht club in 1889 and added an 18 hole course designed
by Donald Ross in 1912 (renovated by Don Herfort in 1971 and Tom Doak in 1995
and 1999). In the early 20th
century, WHYC was a hub for the wealthy and influential of MSP as exemplified
by the following except from the club’s website:
“It is said, that during the
summer of 1921, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, rented a room at the
White Bear Yacht Club. A year later, he published Winter Dreams, a short story
that transpired at a golf club in Black Bear Lake, Minnesota…sound familiar?”
WBYC
was rated #65 in the USA on Links Magazines final listing (12/31/14) and #59 on
Planet Golf’s Worldwide Top 100. In
terms of historical ratings, it reached as high as #67 on Golf Week’s merged
2007 USA Top 100.
Now
for my thoughts. First and foremost…a
true hidden gem. The land and Ross’ use
of the land is simply spectacular. Almost every hole is filled with many
options…and plays with the golfers mind beautifully. My guess is that it
would take at least 15 rounds to really get to know it…and even then a player
is always learning some more with each round.
The course is in
great condition...but would be much more fun and better if it was really firm
and fast. There had a bunch of rain 4 days earlier, but given how windy
it was during those days, that should have been plenty of time to dry it out.
It was a bit soft the day we played it and if it was firmer and faster,
it would play easier for B and C level players and harder for the A players.
Am not talking fast and firm like Muirfield at the Open a couple of years
ago, or Royal Liverpool in 2006…but there is a lot of “room” between current
conditions and that level.
WBYC have done an
excellent job of clearing trees so far, but more work can be done and that
would help improve the firmness of the course. In my (always humble)
opinion, a wall of trees is NOT beautiful as all you see is a curtain of green.
On the other hand, individual trees are beautiful as you can see their
branches and shapes (which you cannot see when looking at a “wall” of trees).
Thinning out thick forests helps here also. Yes, I know this is a repeat
of what I said in the PVGC write up…but it is worth repeating.
Only
weak hole was #18. It may be possible to
build a new tee back about 50-60 yards.
In total, possible changes such as that could add as much as 200 yards
to WBYC’s current 6471 yards…but of course must be done carefully and not just
on the suggestion of an old hack like moi.
Since you were wondering, I had an 81.
We
finished by 12:20, thanked our hosts and made it to MSP in plenty of time for
our flights. Two exhausted but happy
dishrags. Was great to get home…and
exhausting to think that I had a game with two guests and another member at
Brookline the next day!!
Next Stop Canada: Toronto Golf Club, Jasper
Lodge, Banff Springs August 14-19
