141. Finish Up 2019...and New World 100

141. Finish Up 2019...and New World 100

Pinehurst #1, November 30, 2019:  I would assume that most readers of this blog are familiar with a number of industrial magnates from the late 19th century and early 20th century...people such as John Jacob Astor, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Richard Mellon, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt.  To that list you need two add James Walker Tufts, referred to as a "soda fountain magnate" by Wikipedia!!  

Each year Tufts took a train south from Boston to Florida in the fall and returned north in the spring.  The train made a lot of stops, including one in Southern Pines, NC.  In 1895, Tufts decided to inspect the area around Southern Pines, located in an area now knows as the Sandhills.  Tufts purchased (for about $1.25/acre...not inflation adjusted) about 5000 acres of scrubland east of Southern Pines.  Pinehurst Resort, which predates the Village of Pinehurst, dates back to this purchase.  The Village of Pinehurst was not incorporated until 1980.

Tufts would have known of Donald Ross from Ross' position as head professional at Oakley Country Club in Watertown, MA.  Ross immigrated to the USA from Dornoch, Scotland in 1899 and was hired by Oakley immediately.  As a side note, some 63 years later I played Oakley CC for the first time as a member of MIT's Freshman Golf Team.

During the first years of Pinehurst Resort, Tufts noticed an increasing number of guests shagging golf balls in the open fields, and had Dr. Leroy Culver design 9 holes in 1898, with an additional nine added by John Dunn Tucker shortly thereafter.   Tufts hires Ross as head professional and in 1901 he renovated what is now Pinehurst #1.  Ross' more famous Pinehurst #2 opened for play in 1907 and  he was the initial architect of Pinehurst #3 (1910) and Pinehurst #4 (1919).

I first played #1, #3, and #4 in 1974 (#1 was the 73rd course I ever played) and #2 and #5 in 1971.  I had not played #1, #3 or #5 again until my round on #1 this month.  I played #1 this day with Greg O., a fellow GGCC member from Chicago and Pinehurst after hearing some good things about #1 from other players (frankly, I could not remember anything about #1, #3, or #5).

Both Greg and I were very pleasantly surprised.  Yes, from the tips it stretches a mere 6089 yards.  But these early Ross greens make the course.  Ross did a brilliant job of building these greens with sweeping slopes, but camouflaging these slopes at least from the eyes of this player.  The first hole, playing 391 yards is a dogleg left with bunkers the outside of the turn and therefore screams "play down the left side".  But too far left and trees block your approach shot...and a very false front and back third of green sloping towards the back combine to produce a very difficult 2nd shot.  I have driven behind this green on Morganton Road regularly since 1998 without appreciating its subtlety.

The course has terrific greens and is fun to play.  It could use some updating to create better definition   and restore the bunkers which look "tired".  I would think rejuvenating this course would add another jewel to the Pinehurst Resort's crown and prove to be a most worthwhile investment.  Perhaps the second course touched by Ross this historical venue is due for a freshening.

Pinehurst #1 has never been included on a USA Top 100 but from 1902-06 hosted the North and South Open (won by Alec Ross..Donald's brother...in 1902 and 1904 and by Donald Ross in 1903, '05, and '06).  In retrospect, the North and South Open is considered by many to have been a "major" during its existence from 1902-1951.

Forest Creek Golf Club-North, December 9, 2019:  I was a golfing member of Forest Creek from 2000-2010 and eventually fully withdrew my membership four years later.  The North course opened in 2005 (the South Course dates back to the Club's opening in 1996).  I had last played the North in December 2017 and South in December 2016.  Both courses were designed by Tom Fazio and Fazio recently completed an extensive renovation of North.

I played with FC member Bob K. and two other members from Ft. Worth, TX.  As I was undergoing a medical procedure two days later, I limited my play to 11 holes and putted/chipped on the other 7 holes.  Mostly I was there to see the changes to North.

The most important change IMO was the conversion of the greens from Bentgrass to Champion Bermuda.  As the course had just reopened 2-3 months before my round, it was too early to properly evaluate the greens but I was surprised how little "grain" was present on these greens.  Time will tell if that is due to their young age or efforts by the Forest Creek staff and Fazio.

The architectural changes to North were pretty much as described to me by others.  First, the greens are slightly expanded, and with less in the way of "tiers" and more sweeping/gradual slopes.  My sense is that they will take longer to really understand as they are filled with subtle breaks and result in more double-breaking putts.  Second, most of the "love grass" that accented many of North's bunkers is now gone, and that IMHO is a negative aspect of the changes.  The fairways seemed wider and with the larger greens offer more angles and options for play, and that certainly is a positive IMO.  Finally, the elimination of some trees (even the one on the left 160 yards short of the 3rd green) I view as a positive as is the expansion and flattening of some of the bunkering.  At this stage I think the changes are certainly a net plus, with the size of the plus a function of how the greens play after they have grown in for another year or so.  One footnote...these comparisons are with the North Course of the 2005-2007 time frame (when I think the original course was at its best),  as opposed to the period from 2008-2017.

As this was likely to be my last round of 2019 (we are in Massachusetts right now for the Holidays and the weather is not exactly conducive to golf), I should note that I ended the round by parring the 18th hole.  No score was kept during this round or at #1.

Summary of the Year 2019:  Was a good year.  I ended with 161.4 18-hole equivalent rounds (note...if I play 27 holes day 1 and 9 holes day 2...that totals 2.0 "18-hole equivalent rounds").  I played on a total of 119 different courses, of which 28 I had played before 2019, and 91 were "new" to me.  This brought me to 1209 courses played to date.  Comparable numbers for recent years are as follows:

Year            18-hole equiv rds           total courses played         new courses played
2019                 161.4                                   119                                    91
2018                 158.4                                   125                                    99
2017                 222.0                                   157                                  115
2016                 209.7                                   127                                    92
2015                 202.1                                   140                                  110
2014                 159.9                                   104                                    74

Highlights of course were completing the World Top 100 EVER (11 sources) for the third time at Huntercombe GC in England on June 11 and the USA Top 100 EVER (6 sources) for the first time at Treetops--Smith Signature in Michigan on June 17 (sometimes referred to as standing atop Mt. Everest and K-2 simultaneously).  You will recall that immediately after, I announced my retirement from chasing World and USA Top 100's.

Since that time one more USA Top 100 list has been published leaving unblemished my record on the USA Top 100 List.  Two additional World Top 100 lists have been published and while the Golf Magazine list did not affect my status, the recently published Top100golfcourses.com list included two courses that I have not played (Lanhai International--Yangtze Dunes in China, and Santapazienza in Brazil), thereby knocking me off Mount Everest 180 days after my third ascent.  At this point I have no plans to visit either but my travel plans for 2020 are undecided at this point.  To my knowledge, no other golfer has ever conquered either "mountain".

One other bucket list completed in 2019 was the "Five Cups EVER" (Walker, Ryder, Curtis, Solheim, Presidents listed in chronological order of their first Match), with my playing Denver Country Club (CO), host venue for the 1982 Curtis Cup Match on August 22.  These five Cups will have been held at 108 different courses throughout 2020 and as of August 22, 2019, I have played all 108.  I know of no other person who has completed all 108.  I had the chance to meet Joey Hines last month.  Joey is the Head Pro at Cape Fear Country Club (Post #140), and earlier this year he completed the Men's Major Venues EVER bucket list.  I added Ridgemoor (IL) to that list to recognize Hogan's 5th US open in the 1942 Hale America Championship.  If you count Ridgemoor, Joey beat me to it...if not I was first.  Call it a tie.  Joey is attempting to finish the Ryder Cup EVER list and I am cheering him on!

Goals for 2020...have a few more bucket lists to keep me off the streets.  Crossed the "75" barrier this year and hoping to keep this going.   "Reasonable" goals are:

GOAL                                                                           To Go          Cum To Go*

Reclimb World 100 EVER                                                 2                        2
Golf Week USA 100 Classic & 100 Modern EVER               10                      12
Golf Digest USA 101-200 EVER                                         8                      18
Senior Majors EVER                                                         2                      20
Current Women's Majors EVER                                         5                      25
US Senior Amateur EVER**                                               4                      29
PGA Tour "Biggies"***                                                       3                      32

Long term stretch goals would include:
US Junior Amateur EVER**                                             23                    154
US Women's Am, Mid-Am, Sr Am, Jr Am, 4 ball               92                    242
Golf Digest 1966/67 200 Toughest                                  80                    308

Note that completing the above through the next to last line (242 to go) would mean having played every venue to host one one the USGA's current 14 championships.  Probably not doable but that might be something to focus on...

* net of duplicates (courses on more than one bucket list)
** have completed US Amateur, US Mid Amateur, Amateur Championship EVER
*** World Golf Championships and Fed Express Playoff Championships EVER (have completed Tour Championships Venues EVER)