54. The New Golf Life Begins…Return to Great Ones

The New Golf Life Begins…Return to Great Ones

Having returned to Boston the evening of July 10, I was able to take a day off on Monday, then on Tuesday morning I drove down to Long Island to play two of the great ones there…one old and one new…Piping Rock and Friar’s Head.  The drive down took longer than normal due to an accident in CT, but otherwise things were pretty much normal (including heavy traffic on the LIE).  I arrived in Locust Valley at Piping Rock Club around 2pm, in plenty of time for by 2:30 tee time.

Piping Rock Club, July 12, 2016:  Piping Rock was designed in 1911 by the great Charles Blair MacDonald, with Seth Raynor of course handling the details of construction.  Apparently, MacDonald was somewhat frustrated by the allocation of land to golf.  According to GolfClubAtlas.com, a large tract sitting right behind the clubhouse was reserved for Polo (which was the preferred sport of the members at that time) and try as he might, MacDonald was not able to wrestle that land for the course.  He would be somewhat pleased to learn that the Polo field is gone-zo and is now a practice range.  However, readers should note that MacDonald might not have known what a practice range was in 1911.  Before Bobby Jones, golfers did not practice on “ranges” and no club would have allocated large tracts of valuable land to this use.  Ranges at pre-1920 courses have them as a result of later land acquisitions or the availability of Polo fields (e.g. Piping Rock, Westchester, Dedham Golf & Polo).  Think of the great old courses that do not or did not have free standing full size ranges (e. g., Quaker Ridge, Nat’l Golf Links of America…had a hitting net until about 20-30 years ago, Winged Foot… “range” is narrow and only about 180 yards deep).

Anyhow, getting back to Piping Rock, when it was first established, this was the premier “Waspy” family club on Long Island, with members such as J. P. Morgan, Percy Chubb, et al.  Today it still is a premier club and boasts superb facilities (34 tennis courts including 15 grass courts, beach club, etc etc).  And due to a restoration by Tom Doak, the course has been brought back to the brilliance of its initial design (I had played it once before in 1982 but hardly remembered it…more a reflection of my lack of knowledge than anything else).  Most importantly, the fairways were widen to an average about 50 yards and some 20+ cross bunkers that had been removed through the years were restored.  As a result, angles come sharply into play with the cross bunkers heavily influencing tee shots that end up in the fairway, but the decided wrong side of the fairway (which changes depending on wind conditions and pin placements).  The greens were expanded to their original dimensions, and all the playing surfaces now are very fast and firm.

The “Template” holes are showcased at PRC including a Principal’s Nose in the fairway of #1, an excellent Redan at #3, a superb Road Hole for #8, a very good Biarritz (valley fronting green) as #9, a tough Eden as #11, Excellent Knoll #13 (birdied by moi), and one of the better Short holes I have played as #17.  Great use of sloping greens and fairways, false fronts and the rolling terrain throughout…and even better variety and flow of holes throughout the 18.  Used about every club in the bag.  This is a wonderful course…playable day after day after day.  Had a 42-39 = 81 and enjoyed every birdie, par, bogey, and double!

Piping plays to 6877 yards (par 71) from the tips.  It is built on a huge tract of land (creating a wonderful feeling of isolation and tranquility a mere 22-23 miles as the crow flies from midtown NYC, and very close to the hustle & bustle of Long Island) and could easily be stretched to all several hundred yards, but this venerable club does not have touring pros in sight, so no such plans are in the works.  See pic below from 15^th green. 

View from behind Piping's 15th green back down hill to fairway.

It has never been included in a World Top 100.  In terms of USA Top 100’s, it is now #57 Highest ever) on Golf Magazine and has been on GM’s USA Top 100 continuously since 1999 and Golf Week merged list since 2005 (currently #77).  It has never made the Golf Digest Top 100…probably due to having insufficient panelist ratings to qualify.  I would be surprised if it does not improve its position on all three lists over the next decade.  But lack of enough ratings might continue to keep it off Golf Digest.

Friar’s Head, July 13, 2016: After the round, it was back to the traffic on the LIE as I headed east on LI…to the small town of Baiting Hollow, just NE of Riverdale.  Stayed in a local hotel overnight (a wedding factory) and left early the next morning for Friar’s Head…which I had played 2x before (36 in one day) in 2011.   This time I was the guest of Mike P. a fellow GM panelist and played with Mike and a mutual good friend and also a GM panelist, Steve L.

Friar’s is located on the north shore of LI just before the two fork’s of the island split off (the “Hamptons” are located on the south fork).  One enters Friar’s from Sound Avenue by heading north on the club’s driveway.  This is one of golf’s great entrances…with no signage, just a mailbox with the number 3000 on the box!  Fabulous.

Friar’s pays to about 7050 yards (par 71) and could be stretched much longer.  BTW, yardage is close to a state secret as it is not shown on the scorecard or the club’s website.  My data is from Golf Digest’s USA Top 100 listing.  Since it opened in 2004, it has been a regular on most USA and World 100 listings.  Golf Magazine carries it at #31 currently (highest rating ever), Golf Digest at #53 (down sharply from #37 in 2014), Top100golfcourses.co.uk at #30 (highest ever) and Planet Golf at #27 (highest ever).  My sense is that GD has it wrong and the other three are about right.  In terms of Top 100 in USA, GD has it at #23, GM at #21, Golf Week (Merged) at #15, and Top100GolfCourses.co.uk at #18.  Designed by Coore & Crenshaw, I personally considered it one of their best designs, exceeded only by Sand Hills (NE) and Shanqin Bay (China) among their completed projects.  Built on 350 acres combining sand dunes (at its north end) and a former potato farm (at its south end), it is dramatic, fun and exquisite in all aspects…from clubhouse to golf course. 

We teed off around 8:40 on another glorious day with just enough wind.  FH is just as good if not better than when I played it in 2011.  Swaths of tress are gone…some thanks to Hurricane Sandy and others through planned efforts.  There are no weak or average holes…and so so many great ones.  If I had any criticism (and this one is very minor), it is that the first hole may be too demanding for a first hole.  While not overly long (about 375 yards), the second shot is reminiscent of Pine Valley’s approach shot on its second hole…to a raised green with very pretty “garbage” on the hill up to the green.  The holes vary in length, direction, elevations, and terrain beautifully.  I had a 45-43 = 88 without accounting for some mulligans (allowed since Pat’s nickname for me is “Mulli”).  Lousy excuse but I was also tired after the trip to Cabot for three days, one day of rest then the drive to Long Island and the exhilaration of playing Piping and Friar’s.

Best holes are #1 (if it wasn’t a #1), #3, #5-10, and #14-18.  Short par 4 #5 features a little knob just at the very front of the center of the green…maybe 24-30” high at most…plays havoc with trying to get close to the pin.  You’ve heard of the Principal’s Nose?…this is like the Substitute Teacher’s Zit!!  Just perfect!

One particularly distinctive feature of the course is the walk from the 15^th green to the 16^th tee…part “catwalk”, part “boardwalk” that includes a stretch of about 50-60 yards perched along the side of a massive sand dune sitting at about a 70° angle (more accurately 110° angle) to the Long Island Sound and probably 150 feet above the Sound.  This walk was completed a few years after FH opened and is in the area that vexed Bill Coore as he thought for months about a way to transition from the 15^th green to the par 3 17^th.  The 16^th is a brilliant short, drivable par 4 (with a green small enough to be at Brookline…raised on a knob in front and its left side and with a sand dune rising above it in the back and to its right…in other words, have fun trying to drive it) that works perfectly with the rest of the track.  And, the new walkway (prior to it, players had to walk back along 15 and cross over a large dune) is in my mind, the world’s #1 in a new category (unless someone else has thought of this as well)…BEST WALK FROM GREEN TO TEE.  Major mistake not getting a picture of the walk…but four others are shown (including overhead of walkway).

Par 3 10th.  Front left guarded by giant "anthill" (per GCA).  Huge green with most invisible from tee.  Got up and down from anthill for par.

Bunker along right side of long apr 3 12th (as seen from 13th tee)...amazing workmanship.

Glorious 15th from regular tee (Champ tee is back and to left) with LI Sound and CT in distance.  Walkway to 16th tee in distance to right.

Overhead from Google Maps of walkway from 15th green to 16th tee.

Condition was excellent but not quite as firm and fast as one might have expected (few “puffs of dirt” raised when drives landed in fairway).  The clubhouse is beautiful and the locker room has the best modern showers I have seen (question…should ratings of showers be divided into “Classic” and “Modern” as Golf Week does for courses??).  Place in general a bit over the top but nothing is perfect. Other than that, the club has one thing that is a major demerit…but that shall be my secret.

In case you didn’t get the message…if you get the chance, play it…even in February!!  Is it as good as Shinnecock and National?  No, but that question is simply unfair.

Had a shower and a quick lunch and headed to the Orient Point Ferry.  Mike and Steve and the five other guests were going out for a second 18.  Those were the days.  Have good friend from Toronto and Pinehurst coming to Boston for a two day Senior Invitational…and this old codger is not sure how much fuel is left.