Golf July 14-August 30
Have you ever been in a
restaurant that was really empty, and the service was still real slow? Well,
its been almost seven weeks since I played Piping Rock and Friar’s Head, I have
played all of four courses (two that I had played before and two new ones)
other than Brookline, and here I am finally getting around to updating the
blog…just like those slow waiters in the empty restaurant.
Myopia Hunt Club, South
Hamilton, MA July 22-24: There is a
small number of golf clubs and courses that have a wonderful historical “feel”
to them…you feel like you have stepped back at least a hundred years when you
arrive…and it is a very special feeling.
To paraphrase a well-known jurist…it is like pornography, hard to
define, but you know it when you see/feel it (although is some circles, that
analogy may not be appreciated). Courses
that come immediately to mind are places like Yeamans Hall, Palmetto, Gulph
Mills, National Golf Links of America, Shinnecock, Brookline, Chicago, Merion,
Cypress, Newport, Garden City, and a few more (I apologize for those I have
missed in this listing). Two others are
Essex County and Myopia Hunt, located about 5 miles from each other north of
Boston. July 22-24 I had the pleasure of
playing in the Herbert C. Leeds Senior Four Ball event at Myopia Hunt Club with
Dr. Tom O., a fellow member of Brookline.
I have played Myopia about 10-12 times previously, and won the Leeds
with Charlie B. (a member of Essex County) about 7 years ago. Often, the Leeds is played the same
weekend as TCC’s club championship, but with no overlap this year it was
wonderful to return to Myopia.
Myopia was the host for four of
the first 14 US Opens (1898, 1901, 1905, and 1908…talk about being in the
“rota”). The course is cut through
heavily wooded property and was designed by Herb Leeds who also designed
Palmetto GC in Aiken, SC…perhaps the best example of the term “Hidden Gem” in
the USA (the title Hidden Gem may be highest praise we golf nuts can apply to a
course).
In terms of World Top100’s,
Myopia is #74 on Planet Golf’s current list and was #67 on Links Magazine’s
final list published 12/31/14. On USA
Top 100 lists, it was #33 on Link’s final list, and is currently #69 on Golf
Magazine and #44 on Golf Week’s merged list.
It has never made a Golf Digest USA Top 100, most likely due to not
meeting the minimum number of evaluations (45 over the prior 8 years).
At about 6550 yards (par 72)
from the tips, Myopia is not long but trust me, it is tough. The greens are brutal (and in a couple of
cases close to unfair), and lots of tall fescue punishes wayward shots more
than appropriately (I would not have enjoyed this course with my 1970’s
game). The variety of architectural
features is amazing…featuring convex (#6, 8, and 12), concave (#2, 10, 16), and
sharply sloping (#4, 5, 11, 13, 17) greens, wide and narrow fairways, etc.
etc. Yet, it all fits together
beautifully.
Over the past five years the
club has substantially pruned many of its trees. This pruning became necessary as Myopia lost
a few greens over some of these years due to insufficient air circulation. This work has substantially
improved the turf quality and I also think more work needs to be done.
Best hole is probably #9, a par
3 of about 140 yards with the narrowest, deepest green you can imagine (about
10 yards wide and 35 yards deep) surrounded by a series of very deep bunkers.
Myopia is both a golf club and
an equestrian club, and one passes a couple of polo fields driving into the
property. One senses the “horsies” run
the place, but golf is back after many decades of neglect in the 1950’s through
1970’s or so. Good to see…museums such
as these should not be lost. And if you
think about it, Myopia is to the US Open what Prestwick is to the Open
Championship. It took until 1995 for The
Old Course to exceed Prestwick’s 24 Open Championships, and it took until 1973
for another course (Oakmont) to exceed Myopia’s four US Opens. And as of today, only six courses have hosted
more than four US Opens: Oakmont, Oakland Hills-South, Merion-East,
Olympic-Lake, Pebble Beach, and Winged Foot-West (Baltusrol has hosted seven
but on three different courses).
Sand Hills Golf Club, Mullen,
NE, August 3-6, 2016: The most
frequent question I am asked about my trips, quest and bucket lists is “what is
your favorite course?”…and the answer to that is easy…Cypress Point. The next most frequent question is “how long
did it take you to play them all?” That
is a tough one. For example, the first
World 100 Ever I ever played was Bethpage Black, which I played in 1960 (it was
the 10th course I played).
However, in 1960 there was no World or USA Top 100. Yes, when the lists started coming out in the
late 1960’s and early 1970’s, I would check off how many I had played…but when
did I really start focusing? If my
memory is accurate I think it was June 2010.
Pat and I went to a wedding in Steamboat Springs, CO and then drove back
to Denver, eastern CO and a course in Nebraska’s Sandhills region that had
opened 14 years earlier…Sand Hills GC.
We played 36 at Sand Hills, which was the last time Pat played 36 in a
day. We were both blown away by how good
the course was. I remember our drive
west from Sand Hills (we were heading to Ballyneal GC in northeastern CO) and
saying to Pat that there were 10 more USA courses I really wanted to make sure
I played before I hung up my spikes (Newport, Chicago, Crystal Downs, Yale,
Kiawah-Ocean, Honors, Friar’s Head, Sebonack, Somerset Hills, and Fishers
Island). One year later, in June 2011, I completed those
10 by playing Fishers Island…and of course did not exactly stop there. But it was the brilliance of Sand Hills that
made me realize I had to do it. Outside
of the Old Course, I cannot think of another course that captures “Zen” better
than Sand Hills.
I went back to the list of 295
courses that have appeared on one of more of the 39 World Top 100 lists from
nine publishing sources. When Pat and I
left on that June 2010 trip, I had played only 127 of these 295 (to be fair, at
that time 55 of the 168 had not yet appeared on a World 100 including many had
not even been built)…so in the six year time span from June 2010 through early
July 2016, I played 168 that I had not played before.
I was able to get back to SHGC
for a quick 18 holes in 2014, and when Dr. Dennis K., a fellow golf nut,
invited me for a four-day trip, I jumped at the opportunity. Since Dennis is a good friend of Dr. Mark S.
(an old friend from Quaker Ridge), catching up with Mark on the trip was to be
an added bonus.
The day before leaving, I
started to come down with a summer head cold…and by the next morning, it was going at
full throttle, and flying from Boston to Denver did not help. Our group of eight included 5 physicians
(including Dennis and Mark) so I figured I was in good hands. We met at the gate for the flight from Denver back to North Platte, NE. After arriving at SHGC around 4pm and dropping our luggage
in our rooms, it was off to the course for a quick 18 before sunset.
Our schedule called for 8 rounds
(one on Wednesday afternoon, two each on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and one
Sunday morning). I ended up playing
three rounds, and departing Saturday morning as the cold would not
subside.
The golf course is just as good
as I remember it. There simply are no
weak or average holes and there at least 14 superb or better holes. By Friday morning, I had fairly well figured
out probably about 50% of the nuances of the course and one can score on it at that point. My last round on Friday was a 37-43 =
80…really had it going on the front nine.
The overwhelmingly simple beauty
of the area is hard to describe. The
Nebraska Sandhills covers some 20,000 sq miles (approximately 200 miles x 100
miles), and is the largest contiguous area of sand dunes in the Western
Hemisphere. Just over 25 years ago, a
Nebraskan named Dick Youngscap purchased an option on some 8000 acres of land
south of the town of Mullen, NE (population today about 600). He then brought in the architectural team of
Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who relatively quickly found some 140+ holes (crisscrossing
each other) within the area best suited for a golf course. Coore and Crenshaw then spent the next two
years walking the property to find the best combination of 18 holes, with the
right routing….hence Sand Hills GC was “discovered” and not “built”.
Although it is one of the
country’s most exclusive clubs (approximately 160 members), no one would call
it “over the top”. Part of its attraction
is its total isolation from most of the modern world (although these days a
wi-fi signal is available in part of the clubhouse and a cellular signal can be
found near the maintenance building). The rooms are very spartan but more than
adequate…and the food is superb. But
let’s be clear, if you are coming here to be pampered you will be
disappointed. If you are coming here to
experience of the great courses in the world, you will certainly find
that. There have been many great tracks
built since 1960 (generally considered the start of the “modern” era) including
(in alphabetical order) Ballyneal, Barnbougle Dunes, Bluffs Ho Tram, Cabot
Cliffs, Cape Kidnappers, Cape Wickham, Friar’s Head, Harbor Town, Muirfield
Village, Pacific Dunes, Shanqin Bay, and Tara Iti. But to my mind, Sand Hills stands alone at
the top. When thinking about possible
candidates for the greatest course in the world, Sand Hills is the only Modern
course I would consider along with the following Classics (again in
alphabetical order): Augusta National,
Cypress Point, Merion, Muirfield, National Golf Links, Oakmont, Pine Valley,
Royal County Down, Royal Dornoch, Royal Melbourne-W, St. Andrews-Old Course,
and Shinnecock.
SHGC stretches to about 7075
yards (par 71), has not been rated for course ratings and slope, and is not
known to have a prevailing wind…but trust me it is generally windy (full
disclosure…my 37 on the front nine was during a very calm morning). It has appeared on every World 100 published
since it opened in 1995, has never been listed worse than #17, and its best
rating was #5 on a list published on GolfClubAtlas.com. Its highest USA rating was #2 on the merged
Golf Week list in 2007 and 2008.
If you get the opportunity to
play it…do it!
Vineyard Golf Club, Martha’s
Vineyard, MA, August 16, 2016:
Vineyard Golf Club opened in 2002 and was the first new golf course on
Marth’s Vineyard in about 35 years. In
order to secure permitting, the developers agreed the course would only utilize
organic fertilizers and would never use pesticides, thereby making it the most
environmentally sensitive course in the world.
Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie were the architects and shortly after
construction commenced, were faced with the loss of substantial acreage when a nesting area for a protected animal
was found on the property. This severely
impacted their original design plans.
About 8 years later, the members
bought out the original developer and then, under the direction of Gil Hansen
and Jim Wagner, in 2012/13 redesigned the front nine followed by a major
overhaul of the back nine that was completed last year. The changes were substantial enough that Golf
Magazine named Vineyard the “Best New Private Course” of 2015 (note “New
Course” as opposed to “Renovation”). My
host was a fellow Golf Magazine panelist and is head of the club’s Golf
Committee, so he was well versed in the history of how the club progressed from
its original design to today’s layout.
From the tips the course
stretches to 7146 yards (par 71) and we played from 6223 yards. My ugly twin stayed home this day so I
completed the round without a double bogey or a six on my card and fired a 37 -
40 = 77. Days like this the game is
actually fun!!
I liked the course…it flows
beautifully and Hanse made fabulous use of the land, and shaped the fairways
and greens beautifully. The bunkering is
also superb. The holes vary in look and
feel yet come together as a beautiful 18 holes (note…it is located inland on
Martha’s Vineyard so it does not come with water/ocean views). Clearly, the course is meant to be played in
firm and fast conditions…but it was on the soft side on this day, which
helped my score, but took some of the fun out of the course. I should note that we were in the middle of
one of Massachusetts’s longest heat waves and I would suspect that this
affected Vineyards GC more than most courses in the Northeast given the
fertilizer/pesticide restrictions it is governed by.
I thought the best holes were:
--#3
(136 yd par 3), with two sets of tees and very different “looks” from the two
angles…front bunkers form a virtual “wall” protecting the front of the green;
--#6
(308 yd par 4), uphill and turning right with a well placed fairway bunker,
green with some outstanding pin positions, false front, and a sharp drop off if you are over
the green;
--#9
(550 yard par 5) gently uphill off the tee and then gently down hill the rest
of the way, to a narrow but deep, well contoured green protected by water left;
--#11
(529 yard par 5) very well protected by bunkers left off the tee and bunkers
and a sharp fall off on the right side of the fairway about 100 yards short of
the “infinity” green;
--#14
(305 yard par 4) well bunkered fairway and trouble right cause player to think
hard about how to play any shot here whether going for it or laying up (similar
to the decisions one faces at Newport’s #11);
--#17
& #18 (442 and 438 yard par 4’s) into prevailing wind create tough but fair
finishing holes.
Given the issues that were faced
by its original design, Vineyard GC has never been included on a USA or World
100. It will be interesting to see what
happens with Hanse’s substantial improvements.
To my mind, the design has the clear potential, but the conditioning is
tough with only organic fertilizers and no pesticides. This type of course has to be firm/fast.
Sakonnet Golf Club, Little
Compton, RI, August 27, 2016: Tucked
away in southeastern Rhode Island is the Sakonnet Golf Club, with its first few
holes abutting the Sakonnet River (which, like the East River in NYC separating
Queens and Manhattan is not a river).
The course is also within a mile of RI’s Atlantic Ocean coastline. Founded in 1899, the golf course was designed
by Donald Ross. Sakonnet is one of the
few courses where Ross really did spend a fair amount of time, as he has a
vacation cabin 5 minutes away. There are numerous stone walls bisecting the property which leads me to believe that the property was pieced together from several estates and/or farms.
Pat has played Sakonnet many
times in an annual woman’s invitational, but this was my first time.
More recently, Gil Hanse
completed a renovation the course. While I never played the original course, I
very much liked the results of Hanse’s work.
Best holes to my mind are:
#1-- 383
yard uphill par 4 to “infinity” green sitting totally exposed to the elements;
fairway bunkers right and left and OB left are to be avoided off the tee as are
bunkers short right and left of the green;
#2—180
yard down hill par 3 running westward (same direction as #1) with Sakonnet
River and Newport in the background…stunning view from the tee and very tough
green to hit and hold…again very exposed to elements;
#9—202
yard par 3 to raised “infinity” green;
#10—412
yard dogleg right par 4 with swampland protection the right front of green that
slopes in every direction imaginable;
#17—310
yard par 4 90 degree dogleg right “cape hole”…drivable by the long boys but
with a a hazard occupying the entire right side of the hole, and a green
sloping sharply back to front (right to left as one looks from the tee).
Sakonnet is only 6337 yards in
length (par 70) and is certainly not a championship test, but it is fun to
play. The club is quite simple to say
the least…no “over the top” here…just a quiet place to hang out, if you are
fortunate enough to be admitted> The
locker room consists mainly of some cubby holes to hold shoes…similar to some
of the great clubs of Scotland and Gulph Mills in outside of Philadelphia. I sensed a strong unanimity of purpose among
the membership…something one finds at all great clubs. It has never made any Top 100 and probably
never will…Sakonnet is not a “Trophy Club”, but a wonderful place to spend
one’s summers.
********************************
Summer is coming to a
close. It is now September 3, 2016 as I
write this. Relaxing these last two months has been good for me…even still, I
am up to 128 rounds to date for the year on 90 different courses (69 of which I
played for the first time this year).
Tonight Pat and I head to
Ireland for the wedding of Karen Lynch and Fergal O’Leary…and perhaps a wee bit
of golf during our 6 days there. Our
only other overseas trip will be to an ISAGS event in Cabo, Mexico in late
January 2017.
Next posting…from Ireland.
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