120. Mini Trips Within 200 Miles of Home
Good thing I was able to get onto the late flight from O’Hare to Boston on September 20th, as the next day was Pat’s 39thbirthday…she is the same age as Jack Benny (kids---ask your grandparents who Jack Benny was). But before I left for West Virginia, I had made some plans including a mini trip to Maine on Saturday, September 22. As noted in prior posts, GolfClubAtlas.com’s publication of its “147 Custodians” World list had added four courses to my USA and World Top 100 “to-do” lists. As I had knocked one off (Culver in IN)…the remaining ones (and their positions on the “147 Custodians” list) were:
Huntercombe GC---Near Oxford, England (19 in World)
Cape Arundel GC---Near Kennebunkport, ME (94 in World , 40 in USA)
Glens Falls CC---About 50 miles NNE of Albany, NY (121 in World, 53 in USA)
I also have not played Austin GC in Austin, TX (93 World, 39 USA on "147"), but Austin GC was already on my “to-do” list to finish the Golf Week Top100 Modern/Top100 Classic Lists EVER.
The good news was that Cape Arundel and Glen Falls could be done on day trips.
Cape Arundel Golf Club, September 22, 2018: Cape Arundel (then known as Kennebunkport GC was founded in 1896, and started with a nine-hole very low key golf course designed by Alexander Findlay. About 25 years later, one of its founders, George Herbert Walker (President of USGA in 1920, grandfather of George H. W. Bush “41”, great grandfather of George W. Bush “43”, and absolutely a “force” behind the start of The Walker Cup…so much so that he was named after the Cup) asked Walter Travis to renovate the course and expand it to 18 holes. With only 88 acres, this was no easy task but Travis got it done.
Among Travis’ other wonderful works are Columbia CC (MD), CC of Scranton (PA), Ekwanok CC (VT), Garden City GC (NY), Grover Cleveland Muni/CC of Buffalo (NY), Hollywood GC (NJ), Orchard Park CC/The Park Club (NY), and Westchester CC (NY).
Travis won the US Amateur in 1900, 1901, and 1903, and in 1904 became the first resident of America to win the British Amateur.
The Bush's have summered at their Keenebunkport compound for decades, and have loved their ability to play Cape Arundel very quickly (“41” once played 18 in 1:24…not playing alone but in a twosome…but that was reported in the NYT making it highly likely to be “Fake News”).
Cape Arundel is in southeastern Maine 103 miles (1:50) north of our home in Milton, MA. Along the way I stopped to pick up a good friend from Pinehurst, Carney L. who lives with his bride, Sharon in North Hampton, NH during the summer. My last round of golf with Carney was September 2015 at Yale with our brides (Post #18). Carney and I generally see eye to eye regarding the world and US politics so it was good to reaffirm our truths!
We arrived at Cape Arundel about 9:45 for a 10:20 tee time. It was a gorgeous day but very windy (probably steady winds of 15mph and guests to 20mph…me think pretty standard here). The course plays to 5859 yards but with a par of 69 from the tips, so more like a 6300 yard par 72. The clubhouse is exactly what I expected…comfortable but small and simple with a locker room that makes Brookline look like a castle. If you are looking to be pampered with massages and sushi, this ain’t the place…BUT if you are looking for a really good and fun golf course, you have found it. The land has almost no major hills to climb, but the land is superbly rumpled and moves in every direction…flat lies are at a premium around this place. The greens are relatively small (large when you are from Brookline) and are simply devilish. False fronts, sides and backs and small plateaus abound (there are some that make the back shelf on the 17thgreen at Brookline seem vast). Their putting speeds were about 8.5-9.0 because with the slopes on some of these greens, anything faster would be impossible. It is the collection of greens that make this golf course. Note that they have been smart here; by keeping the greens at 9.0-9.5 max in speed, they are still playable for most and a challenge for all. And the club has been able to keep the basic design as Travis’…unaltered. I have played a number of courses whose membership demanded fast/fast greens…and they either had to re-slope the greens to reduce the slopes, or they have some greens with just 2 or 3 usable pin positions (think Olympic’s #18 green at the 1998 US Open...which has been redone since).
Bruce Hepner, formerly with Tom Doak’s Renaissance, has been the club’s architect of record for about 20 years and is credited with leading the transformation of what had become an overgrown golf course. He proceeded by clearing trees to get air circulating especially around the greens, then slowly expanding the greens to their original size, and finally added better drainage, a modern irrigation system in 2009. The fairways then came back to life and got firm/fair surfaces of today. Finally the bunkers were rebuilt and where appropriate moved.
If this is beginning to sound like a broken record on all these posts, there is good reason…the problems impacting many many courses in the US and around the world tend to be the same…trees grow over time, chock off airflow and sunlight, and soak up underground water grasses require. Greens tend to shrink over time as crews get lazy and “cut corners” which tends to eliminate the most interesting pin placements. And bunkers are like us…they get old and run down and need to be refurbished every once in a while. The cures tend to be very similar no matter where the course is located.
I would also suggest that single trees are majestic…looking at them you can see their branch structures. But a row or forest of trees is anything but majestic…you cannot see the branch structures and it tends to look like a green curtain or wall. Look at a thick row or wall of trees…you bet I am right! OK, OK, I will get off my high horse.
Best holes include:
#3—par 3 of 153 yards with green sloped heavily from back to front (most old greens are) and perched up in front by a “false front”
#10---short par 4 of 333 yards that turns right to a green slightly raised on a plateau…just high enough to give you fits, especially if you were bold off the tee and have to approach it from the rough and could not spin the ball out of the rough! Shelf on back right of green is dangerous…high risk to go for it.
#11---339 yards par 4 turning slightly left…and a fairway that simply trundles its way toward the green.
#13---a par 3 of 167 yards requiring a carry across Grist Mill Pond to a green with a false front and angled slightly to the right…in the most open part of the terrain. When playing into an easterly wind, one does start thinking about the water, even though it is not that close to the green’s front edge; if pin is back right, better not even think about attacking it
#17—358 yards to a punchbowl green and a hole that is sheer fun…with sharp slope over hill down to green.
Ended up with a 39 - 44 = 83 (stunk up the place on the back).
Ended up with a 39 - 44 = 83 (stunk up the place on the back).
Play was quick and fun (even with poor back nine)…neat neat place…thank you, Ran!
Glens Falls Country Club, September 27, 2018: This is another previously unknown (at least to me) Donald Ross Gem (worthy of Hidden Gem designation) in the northeast. Glens Falls is located about 55 miles NNE of Albany NY (25 miles north of Saratoga Springs). Drive from our place was 227 miles so doable as a day trip.
One of the Assistant Starters/Caddy Masters at Brookline, Ben Kelly, grew up in Glens Falls playing this course with his father. His grandfather was a member for 66 (!) years and club champ four times. Also, Ben worked at Cape Arundel prior to moving to the Boston area and starting at Brookline. His more important jobs are (1) husband and father, and (2) Vice Principal at Milton High School (about ¼ mile from our Milton home). Finally, Ben is also a Panelist for Golf Digest (he reinforced for me Ran’s comments on both tracks), and he also is a pretty strong player…having just missed qualifying for the US Amateur at Pebble Beach this year. Finally, he is a great guy.
One of the Assistant Starters/Caddy Masters at Brookline, Ben Kelly, grew up in Glens Falls playing this course with his father. His grandfather was a member for 66 (!) years and club champ four times. Also, Ben worked at Cape Arundel prior to moving to the Boston area and starting at Brookline. His more important jobs are (1) husband and father, and (2) Vice Principal at Milton High School (about ¼ mile from our Milton home). Finally, Ben is also a Panelist for Golf Digest (he reinforced for me Ran’s comments on both tracks), and he also is a pretty strong player…having just missed qualifying for the US Amateur at Pebble Beach this year. Finally, he is a great guy.
Glens Falls is cut through Adirondack forests….but with wide corridors. The club was established in 1912.
Best holes include:
o #2--399 yard par 4…drive from elevated tee down to fairway, and then uphill and turning somewhat right to green perched on top of a shelf…anything short will roll back and over is gonso! I doubled this sucker after perfect drive and solid second.
o #4—550 yard par 5 uphill blind tee shot then fairway is flat. Two big trees frame fairway about 175 yards short of green…but the hole is “made” by the green. High ridge from center of green to middle of back edge divides back half of green in two and overall green slopes slightly left to right. Pin this day was back left and my wedge 3rddrifted right…not an easy putt ensued but I got down in 2 for my par
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| Third shot on par 5 4th hole...note ridge in middle back |
o #6—341 yard par 4 uphill off tee then sharply downhill and finally up slightly to green…once again green defines holes…this time two tiered (upper tier on left).
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| Approach on par 4 6th hole with two tier green |
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| 6th green from just off left edge |
o #9—150 yard par 3, slightly downhill to green perched on hill with steep fall off on left and short
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| Par 3 9th hole |
o #15—394 yard par 4 uphill off tee then downhill to green…green had very subtle breaks and is so so hard to read (as least for me),
o #16—530 yard par 5 sweeping from left to right to raised and angled green…stuck my 7-iron 3rdto about 18” and got my birdie (could read that putt)
o #18—149 yard par 3 to green angled from left front to back right…two tiered and sloping same way as green angle. Very different but good finishing hole.
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| 401 yard par 4 #17 |
Course is a little short (6505 par 71) but more than adequate for 98% of players…and fun to play. Would also guess that it is visually stunning about 2 weeks after I played it when the leaves are changing. Scored 42 - 38 = 80.
Ran---very good pick, especially as it is a day trip from our Milton home! As noted above, I did not have to play this for my World Top 100 EVER (since it was #121) but needed it for my USA Top 100 EVER. And knocking this off left me with the following to do:
World 100 EVER— Austin GC, Texas
Huntercombe GC, England
USA 100 EVER-- Austin GC, Texas
Bonita Bay-Marsh Course, Florida
GW 100 Classic & 100 Modern EVER—(27 courses)
Chenal, Arkansas
Bluffs-Thompson Creek, Louisiana
Austin GC, Texas
Barton Creek-Canyons, Texas
Crown Colony, Texas
Spanish Oaks, Texas
Vaquero, Texas
Union League (was Sand Barrens), New Jersey
Orchards, Michigan
Virtues (was Longaberger), Ohio
Ravenna, Colorado
Iron Horse, Wyoming
Powder Horn-Mount/Stag, Montana
Apache Stronghold, Arizona
The Gallery-North, Arizona
Mirabel, Arizona
Seven Canyons, Arizona
Whisper Rock-Lower, Arizona
Granite Bay, California
Madison Club, California
Winchester, California
Astoria, Oregon
Broken Top, Oregon
Oregon GC, Oregon
Pronghorn-Nicklaus, Oregon
San Pines, Oregon
Desert Canyon, Washington
Total (net of duplicates)—29 courses
Only problem is…bunch of new USA and World Top 100 listings expected to be published in next 10 months…who knows what is coming??
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On October 2 and 3, Pat and I drove to Westchester County, NY, and then Westhampton CC on Long Island. Westhampton had not been on any of my bucket lists, so playing it did not affect my Top 100 Buckets lists outlined above.
Westhampton CC, October 3, 2018: We left Westchester around 5:30pm right as a fierce rainstorm was subsiding. I was concerned that this drive (about 90 miles to our hotel in Bellport, NY) might take as long as 3 hours given rush hour traffic in NY, but amazingly we would have made it in about 1:40 if dumb me had not set the GPS to Westhampton CC…about 20 miles past the hotel.
Some eight months ago I came across an article on the web about an golf artist from Westhampton who had grown up playing Forest Park, a NYC municipal locate in Queens, NY (just off the Interboro Parkway next to the Queens/Brooklyn County line). I played Forest Park about 5-7 times in my high school days. It was designed by Tom Bendelow in 1896 and renovated in Stephen Kay in 1995. Bendelow also was involved with the design of the following courses: East Lake GC (GA), Birmingham CC (MI), Medinah CC (courses 1, 2, and 3) (IL), CC of Scranton (PA), and Van Cortlandt Park (NY).
The golf artist is George Lawrence. I reached out to him and we talked about Forest Park and Kissena (my "home" muni) and the game of golf in general. Looking at his website, George has real talent. We agreed to do and home & home at Westhampton and Brookline this summer…but other events and issues got in the way. With the need to travel to Westchester, I realized Pat and I could go out to the Hamptons that night for one day, and take the ferry from Orient Point to get home Wednesday night. I called George and he said that would be great, except he could not play as he was recuperating from a recent medical procedure…but would walk several holes with us.
We arrived at Westhampton CC around 8:45 for our 9:30 tee time, and both of knew immediately this is a very special club. George met us in the clubhouse and is a delightful guy and good player. He could only swing with his right arm and walked along for three holes hitting/punching an 8 iron with just his right arm, hardly ever missing the sweet spot. Next year must have him up at Brookline for a Kissena vs Forest Park match.
The clubhouse is beautifully done with absolutely nothing being “over the top”. The first tee is surrounded on two sides by the clubhouse…literally the best first tee setting I can recall seeing in the USA (yup…better than Merion and Cypress) and the second best I have seen in the world (kind of tough to beat The Old Course with the R&A sitting about 15’ behind the first tee). The pro shop with a big picture window is behind the tee…and there is a bar area to the left of the tee with a porch/veranda outside (see poor pics below).
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| First tee looking back to pro shop |
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| Looking at clubhouse to left of first tee |
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| Bar/clubhouse to left & front of first tee |
Before I get back with more course descriptions, I need to give some history….but not much documented history is available. The club was founded in 1890, and the course is reputed to be Seth Raynor’s first solo effort (in 1914-15 after C. B. Macdonald retired). I have been told by a highly knowledgeable source that the club at one time had 36 holes, the second course being named Oneck. Apparently it was built around 1920 and closed in the late 1930’s after being done in by the Depression and the 1938 hurricane (which was of course generated by the burning of fossil fuels and global warming…proof is that it was stronger than any North American hurricane recorded between the years 500 and 1492). Designed by Charles Banks, it supposedly was longer and more difficult that the Raynor course.
Through decades of play, the effects of WW II (fuel rationing caused almost all clubs to alter the mowing patterns of greens in order to save fuel…resulting in circular greens due to not maintaining the original corners), bunker elimination, etc., many of the distinct Raynor touches were lost. Credit for restoring these touches goes heavily to retired Greens Superintendent Mike Rewinski, Brian Silva’s restoration work in 1988/89 and more currently the efforts of Gil Hanse.
Aside from the first tee, the aspects of the course I found most compelling were as follows:
o some of the best cross bunkering I have ever seen, particularly on holes 1, 2, 6, 8, most especially 9, 13, 15, and 18;
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| Cross bunkers on #9 |
o #3…and punchbowl par 3 (cannot remember any other) surrounded by two concentric circles of bunkers…9 bunkers in all (go to google maps to see this)…you stand on the tee and cannot see most of the bunkers as they are in the punchbowl...see pics:
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| Pat from bunker short of #3 green |
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| Some of the bunkers on 3 from left front of green |
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| Bunker at bottom of pic is on outer concentric circle...bunker ahead of it is in inner circle |
o a fabulous set of greens with the three best being #7 (great Redan w pics below), #9 and #11 IMHO;
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| #7 Redan 211 yards from tee |
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| #7 from 50 yds short of green |
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| #7 from just in front...note slopes! |
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| See slope to left on pic above...toward this bunker is left of green |
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| Best view of 7th green...from behind and left...tee in background with group on it |
o overall the 451 yard #9 is the best hole between the angled set of mounds with a carry of about 220-280 depending on the angle/line you take, and then cross bunkers about 155 yards short of the green (you do not want to lay up short of these)…and a green with 3 ridges running front to back and some impossible putting situation if you are not careful…and avoid the pot bunker right!!
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| Pot bunker right of 9th green---any ball on right front will roll right into it |
o wonderful hole #13…with large mound horseshoed around the green’s front, right and back…similar to #2 at Fox Chapel outside Pittsburgh;
o Interesting par 5 #14 with a “Principal’s Nose” in the middle of the fairway some 90 yards short of the green;
o beautifully framed hole #16…which Pat noticed was so very similar to #7 at Yeaman’s.
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| par 4 #16 336 yards |
The only hole I questioned was the Biarritz #17...where the side bunkers curl around to the front of the green and keep player from running it on:
On the card, fairly short at 6548 yards par 70…but it is a rare day without a good strong 15mph or higher wind in these parts. It had rained in buckets the night before, but the course played well…just not truly firm/fast, but the conditioning given the rain received was absolutely superb. Had a 40 - 43 = 83.
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| #17 Biarritz 214 yards from front (slope above right bunker is being re-grassed) |
On the card, fairly short at 6548 yards par 70…but it is a rare day without a good strong 15mph or higher wind in these parts. It had rained in buckets the night before, but the course played well…just not truly firm/fast, but the conditioning given the rain received was absolutely superb. Had a 40 - 43 = 83.
No question this is a “Hidden Gem” to be recommended highly. Why never even in a GW Classic 100...too long a set of shadows from NGLA, Shinnecock, et al?
And the clubhouse is loaded with many of George’s magnificent paintings!
And the clubhouse is loaded with many of George’s magnificent paintings!
After the round, I drove Pat to see National Golf Links of America and Shinnecock Hills GC…then it was off to the ferry and drive home. This is a great way to travel...sailing in a ferry across Long Island Sound...much better than driving. Not a bad day at all, and a very good two-day trip.
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So…where do I stand now? My Top 100 bucket lists remain as outlined at the end of Post # 119: three courses left to finish the World and USA Top 100 EVER combined, and another 26 to also complete the Golf Week USA Classic and Modern Top 100 EVER.
My event related bucket lists stand as follows:
Current Men’s Majors EVER: DONE
Current Senior Majors EVER: Reserve Vineyards-South (OR)
Superstition Mtn-Prospector (AZ)
Ft Lauderdale CC (FL)
Port St Lucie CC (FL)
Turnberry Isle-Souffer (FL)
Bobby Jones—Sarasota CC (FL)
Dunedin CC—PGA Nat’l (FL)
Ft Myers CC (FL)
Dearborn CC (MI)
TPC of Michigan (MI)
Greystone-Founders (AL)
Current Women’s Majors EVER: Kalispel G&CC—Spokane CC (WA)
Rolling Hills CC (KS)
Muskogee CC (OK)
Forest Lake CC (MI)
Las Vegas Nat’l—Stardust Hotel (NV)
Mission Hills CC (CA)
Evian Resort (France)
Six Cups* EVER: Denver Country Club (CO)
*Walker, Curtis, Ryder, Presidents, Solheim Cups; International Crown.
US Amateur Championship EVER: DONE
Amateur Championship EVER: DONE
US Mid-Amateur Champ. EVER: DONE
All 50 States DONE
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US Senior Amateur Champ. EVER: Farmington CC (VA)
Sunnybrook GC (PA)
Belle Meade CC (TN)
Keane Trace GC—Champions Trace Course (KY)
Tuscon CC (AZ)
Tuscon National GC (AZ)
Lochivar GC (TX)
Big Canyon CC (CA)
Timuquana CC (FL)
Sea Island (9 from Plantation) (GA)
World Golf Championships EVER: Gallery GC-South (AZ)
GC at Dove Mountain-Sag/Tort (AZ)
Austin CC (TX)
Mt. Juliet Conrad (Ireland)
Mission Hills-Shenzhen-Olazabal (China)
Club de Golf Chapultepec (Mexico)
Players Championship EVER: DONE
Federal Express Playoffs EVER: TPC Southwind (TN)
Tour Championship EVER: Oak Hills CC (TX)
My primary bucket lists are the first eight listed above---19 course left
My secondary bucket lists are the next five listed above---18 course left
Summary: USA Mexico GB&I Europe Asia TOTAL
Top 100World/USA 2 1 3
GW 100&100 26 26
Primary Event 18 1 19
Secondary Event 15 1 1 1 18
Total 61 1 2 1 1 66
Total courses played to date: 1092
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