119. Back to USA—West Virginia/Illinois/Indiana
When you get near the end of bucket lists, the clean up of the few remaining can lead to some interesting itineraries. I wanted to take a trip that would have me away from home no more than two nights, and play as many courses as possible (all from my to-do list). I had two courses in West Virginia I needed to play…but the question was…what else could I tie into this trip?
Then I realized there was a daily nonstop to/from the airport very close to The Greenbrier and Chicago-O’Hare…and the trip came together. On Tuesday 9/18 I flew BostonàChicagoàGreenbrier Valley. Stayed at a decent hotel near The Greenbrier, and was looking forward to the next day.
The Greenbrier Resort-Greenbrier Course, September 19, 2018: I had been to The Greenbrier once before, in April 2014 to play Old White, a wonderful Seth Raynor design. The Greenbrier has four courses and its Greenbrier Course hosted the Ryder Cup in 1979 and the Solheim Cup in 1994. As you may recall, in June 2016 the area in West Virginia near The Greenbrier experienced intense rainstorms (10’ of rain in less than a day) that resulted in massive flooding. These floods buried most of Greenbrier’s golf inder 3-4 feet of mud, and essentially wiped out most of its golf courses. However, much of the resort reopened within a year, and a PGA tour event was successfully held 13 months later. The Greenbrier Course was broken up with 6 holes going to The Meadows Course. The remaining part of The Greenbrier Course is held in limbo but expected to be part of a new course designed by Phil Mickelson. While the lawyers negotiate the insurance claim settlement arising from the flood damage, construction of the new course is on hold.
Over the past year or so, I have traded several emails and had a few conversations with Jamie Hamilton, Associate Director of Golf, regarding my desire to play the original 18 holes from The Greenbrier Course. All 18 holes still esist…but are now spread across two courses. In advance of this trip, Jamie developed plan that would work well. I got in all 18 holes…never running into another golfer. Three of the holes have been closed for a while (leaving 9 of the old Greenbrier holes as a nine hole course for temporary use until construction can commence) but were opened for me. Jamie advised that I would probably be the last golfer to ever play the full Greenbrier 18…that felt a little strange, but interesting, I guess.
To be honest, it was far from my favorite course. Originally designed by Seth Raynor, Jack Nicklaus was retained to totally renovate it in the 1970’s in preparation for the Ryder Cup. It was not my favorite style of architecture, but no question it was fun to do, and the folks at The Greenbrier were simply wonderful for setting up my round. It is a fabulous hotel/resort…and The Old White is an outstanding example of Raynor’s architecture. Will be interesting to see what Phil Mickelson does with the rest of the Greenbrier Course.
After the round drove north about 70 miles (1:30) for my next 18 holes.
Raven Golf Club at Snowshoe Mountain, September 19, 2018: Raven GC was included in GW’s USA Top 100 Modern for nine straight years 1998-2006, but never high enough to be included in my GW Merged Top 100. It is very very hilly with very long rides from green to next tee (it would be almost impossible to walk). The area had been hit with heavy rains, and it was clear that the maintenance budget had been cut over the last decade…this course was in poor shape. Designed by Gary Player, it opened for play in 1993. I had a 41 - 40 = 81.
After the round, drove north 212 miles (3:40) to the Pittsburgh airport to catch a late flight to Chicago. Not a day seeing great courses, but knocked off two hard to get to places and beat some nasty weather today.
Exmoor Country Club, September 20, 2018: Founded in 1896, Exmoor’s website sites the impact of C. B Macdonald without any further details. In any case, today’s Exmoor course is a Donald Ross design (and clearly so) from 1915. In 2006 Ron Prichard was brought in to restore Ross’s design, cut back on trees to open up vistas, restore bunkers, and generally bring the course up to date.
The Senior Players Championship had been played here two weeks before and the course was in outstanding condition. Course now has reasonably wide fairways with interesting options for tee shot and approach shot angles. Greens are beautifully restored and tough to read. Bunkers very well positioned with no rough impeding their entrances…making them the hazards they were designed to be. Only negative is the land is very flat except for a glacial ridge where the clubhouse sits.
Best holes IMO are par 3 5th, par 5 6thand par 3 12th. I played OK having a 43 – 43 = 86, which felt better than the score (but of course, the proof is in the pudding…or score).
I was able to tee off at 7:30am and had a very tight schedule today…in fact I thought it would be impossible to get everything in. Weather was supposed to be OK, but here at Exxmorr as I got to the 4thtee, the sky turned very very dark, and shortly thereafter it started to pour, but stopped in about 2 minutes. My caddy and I were close to a half way house so we had shelter but we could not hear any lightning sirens. When it stopped raining after 2 minutes, we proceeded, and except for another quick outburst a few holes later, the weather was fine. After the round I asked about the lightening sirens and was told they were not working…scary.
Culver Academies Golf Course, September 20, 2018: Culver is a superb private school located about 50 miles south of South Bend, IN. The drive to here was about 140 miles (2:30…plus I lost an hour due to the time change). I was here because GolfClubAtlas.com published a list of “147 Custodians” of the game in late August.
Culver was included on this list as #51 in the World and #21 in the USA. It is a nine hole course (was originally intended to be 27, but the Depression forced the plans to be cut back). The course was completed in 1923 and was designed by William Langford and Ted Moreau (best other courses IMO...Links at Lawsonia-WI, Colonial CC-TN, and Omaha CC-NE). The story about how this track was discovered and brought back to life is very interesting…see http://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/culver-academies/for the details.
I first became aware of Culver about seven years ago. Pat and I had just finished a dinner at a restaurant in Pinehurst and we ran into a couple we were friends with at the bar. The husband (note…sadly, they subsequently divorced and he passed away about 2-3 years ago) and I started talking about where we grew up, went to school etc. (Birmingham, MI and Culver/ University of Michigan for Gus) when we started talking about the Brooklyn Dodgers…and Gus said that Walter F. O’Malley, owner of the Dodgers in the 1950’s-70’s had attended Culver…at which point I interjected “no, he went to Jamaica High School, as I did”. Turns out we were both right…O’Malley went to JHS for about 2 years and then transferred to and graduated from Culver. Others who attended Culver in those days included George Steinbrenner (who ended up buying the NY Yankees) and the William Koch.
Anyhow…back to the golf course. When Ran Morrissett published his “147 Custodians”, all of a sudden I was thrown off my mountain again (although I was higher up the mountain than anyone else). There were four courses added to my World Top 100 EVER list that I had never played…and four added to my USA Top 100 EVER list that I had never played. Sooo. like the obedient servant that I am…I started to figure out when and how to play them. The one frustrating addition is Huntercombe GC near Oxford, England. About 2 days after it was published, I was driving within about 10 miles of Huntercombe, but I had not seen the article and had never heard of the course! So Culver (#51 World and #21 USA) was my first one to visit…it worked perfectly on this trip.
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| Culver #3--174 yards--should have birdied but missed putt! |
The golf course is simple and wonderful. Totals 3228 yards (par 36) for the 9 holes. Longest hole is #1 at 507 yards. I had a 42. The land is fairly hilly and flat lies are tough to find. The course makes perfect use of the land, and has a wonderful routing. Is it “great” or “epic”, no…but it is fun. No electric carts so I had to walk…and it was about 90° and 90% humidity…I was beat by the time I finished, but nothing was going to keep me from finishing! Best hole is #4…a fabulous risk/reward uphill dogleg left of 369 yards.
After the round, I crawled into my car…and started the drive to Ft. Wayne, IN. Yes, Ran was a pain in the butt for adding these courses to my to-do list…but this one certainly deserves the recognition. Definitely among the 5 best 9-holers in the world!
Orchard Ridge Country Club, September 20, 2018: This was an 80-mile drive that should have taken 1:30…and I had no time to spare. And of course, along the way there is a detour…so I arrived about 10 minutes behind schedule. Ft. Wayne is in Indiana’s northeast corner and was the home of the Ft Wayne Pistons of the National Basketball Association until they moved and became the Detroit Pistons.
Gary Whitacre, Head Pro, sent me off the back tees and I had fairly clear sailing there. No too bad on the front as well…played it in 1:50. Orchard Ridge was founded in 1924 and by 1925 had a nine-hole course. By 1929 it was an 18 holer designed by Frank MacDonald which was renovated by Arthur Hills in 1990. In 1955 Orchard Ridge hosted the first Women’s PGA Championship…which is why I was here. It is a good golf course but could use some tree trimming.
This had been a tough day…over four hours of driving and 45 holes including 9 of them walking in hot humid weather. I needed a rest!
After the round it was off to the airport, which was happily about 7-8 minutes away. No problem making my flight…as it was late getting in…and fortunately was able to catch a later flight out of Chicago to Boston…so made it home without another night away!!
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The real good news is that I only have 4 courses left to catch up!
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