107. One More Trip Round The World

107. One More Trip Round The World

So, having returned from my Southern Swing on March 22, six days later it was time for an important trip.  Time to get back on top of the World Top 100 EVER Mountain. As you will recall, those “savages” (to quote a New York based physician friend) from two publications had added two new courses that I had not played to their latest World Top 100 listings:

--http://www.top100golfcourses.com in late 2017 had added Yokohama Country Club-West (Japan…just south of Tokyo) to their updated listing as #92; and 

 --Golf Digest, having published a much criticized (including by your truly) “World 100” consisting only of courses located outside of the USA, published a new World 100 listing including USA courses and this list had Mission Hills Haikou—Blackstone (China, on Hainan Island) as #96.

Having previously conquered the World Top 100 EVER list, and remaining as the only person known to have done so, it was obviously important for me to get back on the road to play these two.  Business folks who read this know the importance of protecting one’s franchise.

Additionally, Greg Norman had recently completed a new course about 2 hours from Melbourne, Australia, and given how close Melbourne is to Tokyo and Hainan Island, it obviously made sense to include a stop in Australia on the way.  Readers who know how my mind works will understand that how I could come up with that last statement.  Dearest Pat questioned how well I did in geography!  And to break up the trip, a few quick stops out west in the USA made sense as well.  Finally, given the pricing of Round The World tickets, it made sense to fly:

 USAàAustraliaàChinaàJapanàLondonàUSA

rather than returning to USA directly from Japan (even though that added about 5 flying hours to the journey).  Saved a bunch of $$ with the longer route, and got home close to the same time.

Black Mesa GC, March 29, 2018:   You will of course recall that in October 2017 I went to Espanola, NM (about 30 miles north of Santa Fe) to play Black Mesa, but the course had been hit with major thunderstorms and no carts were allowed.  This is a very tough course to walk and I was scheduled for another course that day, so I had to cancel my round and move on.  It was time to avenge that cancellation.

Caught a flight to Santa Fe through Dallas-Ft Worth early the morning of March 29, and arrive at Black Mesa around 11am for an 11:30 tee time.  This is a very rugged course…and has had financial difficulties of late based on some newspaper articles I found on the web.

It made the GW USA Modern Top 100 9 straight years (2005-13) but never made the Merged 100 (highest was #117 in 2005). My guess is that it was severely impacted by reduced tourist travel during the 2008-12 recession and has never recovered.  Its condition when I played it was fair at best…but it was also clear that in terms of design this is a very good course.

Played it in about 2:30 and then drove about 90 miles to the Albuquerque airport for a flight to Las Vegas.  Arrived LV at 9:30 and then had a drive of about 95 miles (wishing for the old days with no speed limits in NV).  Was good to get to sleep finally.

Wolf Creek GC, March 30, 2018:  I had heard quite a bit about Wolf Creek before this trip…course rating of 75.4 and Slope of 154 (non golfers…do not ask, simply accept the fact that numbers that high means this place ain’t easy).  It is built in mountainous desert with huge drops on some holes, equivalent uphill holes of course, and some long carries over deep canyons.  The Wifey often accuses moi of driving a golf cart too fast…let me tell you, it would be very easy to kill oneself in a cart here…especially in the morning with dew on the cart paths.

After a few pars I thought for a while maybe this isn’t so bad…but after 18 holes, it seemed just plain silly.  Yes the views are great, and some holes are spectacular, but the design does not make you think about alternatives…often there are no bailout zones.  Was on GW USA Top 100 Modern in 2003 and ’04 but not high enough to make Merged GW list. Some will want to play it to test themselves, but I doubt this place gets many replays.  On the other hand…to be honest about it…when I was 30-35 years old and could pound the ball, I would always go to courses like this and immediately head to the championship tees.

For the record, I had a 41-42 = 83…and then headed back to Las Vegas (90 miles)…TPC Summerlin awaited my arrival.

TPC Summerlin GC, March 30, 2018:  Designed by Bobby Weed and Fuzzy Zoeller, TPC Summerlin opened in 1991.  It hosts the Shriners Hospital for Children Open each October.  Pretty good TPC Course (remember, I do not like TPC courses in general…so that statement is certainly not meant as a compliment).  I had a plane to catch (heading to San Jose, CA) at 8:25pm and was watching the clock a little worried about the pace of play…but several foursomes let me play through and I had no problem.  

Course is about 7250 yards and not bad but not exactly memorable…expect for the 8^thhole, a 239 yard par 3.  My tees were 190 yards and I birdied it…and noticed this humongous house just right of the hole, with a huge swimming pool and other buildings…looked like it could have been a clubhouse for a 36 hole club.  When I got to the 9^thtee, the group in front of me waved me through, so I asked “who’s house was that?” Answer…Sheldon Adelson, Chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, one of the world’s richest men, and a major contributor to conservative causes (yes!, yes!!, yes!!!).  As an aside, my elder step-son is good friends with his son-in-law.

Otherwise unremarkable course…I was here for the same reason as many of the other courses on this year’s trips…it was once on the GW USA Top 100 Modern list (1997, the first year the list was published).  Had a 40-42 = 82.

After the round, back to the airport…so far so good with the trip.  Arrived San Jose around 10pm…drove 25 miles southeast to my hotel and got a bit of sleep…tee time Saturday was to be 7:10am.

CordeValle Golf Club, March 31, 2018:  For decades, there wasn’t much in the way of great courses between San Francisco, CA and the Monterey Peninsula (especially given the number of superb courses at both of these locales).  The obvious historical exceptions were Stanford University’s course and Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz.  In the 1970’s that started to change with the opening of Half Moon Bay (good but not great) and in more recent decades this has accelerated driven by the tremendous wealth in Silicon Valley (yes…nerds also love this silly game).

In 1999 a new club opened about 30 miles southeast of San Jose…CordeValle.  Built by the founders of Frye’s and designed by Robert Tent Jones, Jr., it is located in a spectacular valley with gorgeous foothills surrounding the course.  It hosted the 2010-13 Frys.com Open on the PGA Tour as well as the USGA’s Senior Women’s Am (2013) and Women’s Open (2016). It has never been on any US Top 100 or the GW USA Modern Top 100.

  

I was first off and able to play it on a Saturday morning thanks to another GM World Top 100 “Conquerer” (more about that word in a subsequent post) who is a member…Hong-Seh L.  Hong-Seh and I played Ocean Dunes on King Island (Australia) two years earlier.  He could not join me this day but we were scheduled to play Yokohama Golf Club in Japan about a week later.

In some ways really liked CordeValle.  It was in excellent condition (although a wee bit too green for my tastes) and is really quite breathtaking…the foothills of Northern California are visually quite something, very much like the North Island of New Zealand.  The views reminded me a little of Jack Nicklaus’ Kinloch Golf Club on the North Island of New Zealand.  The club covers 260 acres (150 acres is more typical for 18 holes and a practice range), the holes flow very well, and suit the landscape very well also…  However, something about the architecture did not excite my senses…perhaps too few “options” and “angles” or maybe a pre-conceived notion about Robert T Jones Jr’s designs (although I really really liked Spring City-Lake in China when I played it in 2015).  Who knows…but in any case certainly a fine addition to the golf near San Jose, CA.  Tough course…hit it very well and shot a 43-41 = 84.

Of course, now I had to get to the airport…to fly to San Diego to finish off a “partial play”.

La Costa Resort, March 31, 2018:  Blog readers who are old-timers or semi-old-timers will remember La Costa, which was home to the Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour (which has evolved into today’s Sentry Tournament of Champions played each January at Kapalua on the Island of Maui, Hawaii).  It also hosted the WGC-Match Play event 7 times between 1999 and 2006. Back in the old days La Costa was a regular on the Golf Digest USA Top 100…landing in the 2^nd50 for every listing from 1969-89, with a high of #78 in 1987.  It has not appeared on any Top 100 list since 1989.  

Originally designed by Dick Wilson, it opened in 1965 and was renovated by Damian Pascuzzo and Steve Pate in 2011 and 2013 expanded to two 18-hole courses, Champions and Legends.  In April 2017 I played The Champions Course, whose front nine is essentially the front nine on the original La Costa course.  However, I was not able to play the back nine of Legends, which was the back nine of the course that was in the Golf Digest USA Top 100 from 1969-89, resulting in a serious footnote to my claims…a footnote that of course needed to be erased. 

Landed at San Diego Airport around 2:30 and made it to La Costa by 4pm.  The plan was for me to meet up at the 10^thtee with a threesome who teed off at 3pm on hole #1…but the course was pretty empty and I was able to get right off on #10 and was finished with the 9 holes by 5:30.  While I am not sure that La Costa was as good as proclaimed by TV commentators (check that…I am sure it was not), for sure it has not improved with age. Anyhow, that footnote is now history, as I have played the original 18 holes (or at least the land they previously occupied).  I drove south about 30 miles to my hotel in San Diego and was able to get some rest. Sunday would be another long day…36 holes followed by a flight from San Diego to LAX and then a nonstop to Melbourne.

San Diego CC, April 1, 2018:  San Diego CC was founded in 1897 with 9 holes located in Balboa Park.  After being evicted from its land, the club merged with Point Loma Club and used their 18 holes.  Finally, the club purchased its present land in 1921, and a course designed by William Watson (also involved with Olympic-Lake in CA, Interlachen in MN, and Olympia Fields in IL) was completed in 1930.  The club hosted the San Diego Open (now the Farmers Insurance Open played at Torrey Pines) starting in 1952.  The great (and seriously underrated) Billy Casper started as a caddy at San Diego CC and played his junior golf out of this club.  In 1964 it hosted the US Women’s Open (won by Mickey Wright, also highly underrated and who also played his junior golf at SDCC) and the US Women’s Amateur Championship in 1993 and 2017.

I really liked this course…found myself a “pure” golf course here.  Little of the spectacular views of CordeValle, but fast and firm and in excellent condition, with small undulating greens, and wonderful rolls on the fairways. Located in a sketchy neighborhood, this is clearly a wonderful club and course…could play it every day.  I had a 39-41 = 80, was highly impressed…this one has great history and has aged beautifully.

Barona Creek, April 1, 2018:  From SDCC, I had a drive of some 30 miles inland through into the mountains east of SD to play Barona Creek.  There I was meeting Andy C., a Harvard graduate who had hosted me at Southern Dunes in Las Vegas in April 2017.  Despite his educational background, Andy is a fun guy and I was looking forward to catching up with him…and convincing him to come to Boston so that I could reciprocate.

Put simply, Barona Creek (part of a Casino) was a disappointment and clearly has seen better days.  Looked to be a fairly good design, but conditioning is average at best.   From 2002-06 it was included on the GW USA Top100 Modern list, but not high enough to make my GW Merged Top 100 (highest Merged rating was #163 in 2005).  I have no idea what I shot, but it was probably high 80’s at least…frankly was just trying to get the round completed and on my way to Melbourne…I did not want to missed by LAX flight.

  

Andy talked me into driving to LAX, and that worked well.  I arrived at LAX in more than enough time and was headed over the Pacific again.  Going to Australia (4 courses), China (1), and Japan (4) before heading further west with a stop in London (just to change planes) on my way back to Pinehurst.  The main goal was the main purpose of the trip…play the two courses that I had never played and had been included on a recent World Top 100.  Wanted to get back on top of the World Top100 EVER mountain.

That part of the trip in my next post…