144. Finger Lakes Region Upstate NY and Manchester, VT

 

144.  Finger Lakes Region Upstate NY and Manchester, VT

Black Rock Country Club, July 24, 2020:  After returning from my KY-WV-PA-OU journey on July 10, I played Brookline a few times over the following two weeks.  Then on Friday July 24 I played Black Rock Golf Club in Hingham MA, about 12 miles from our MA home.  I had a long outstanding invitation to play Black Rock from Tyler H., whom (or is it who?...no I think whom) I had hosted at Brookline in 2013.  Normally on this Friday in late July I would be playing in Brookline’s stroke play qualifying for its Super Senior Match Play Championship, but it seemed very clear to me that I would almost certainly not qualify for the Golf Medal matches (4 qualify) as my game simply was not ready.  Hopefully I will be ready next year but if not, it has been a good and fun run.

 

Black Rock was designed by Brian Silva (2002) and sits next door to Boston Golf Club (designed by Gil Hanse), which was built about the same time.  I found it simply amazing that this much contiguous land (about 800 acres) located less than 20 miles from downtown Boston would have been undeveloped 20 years ago.  It is also interesting that both architects are better known for their renovations and restorations than original designs.

 

Black Rock has never been on any of the USA Top 100’s or 200’s that I follow, but it has been included in thew GolfWeek Merged USA Top 400 (200 Modern and 200 Classic) six times, with a merged high of #208.  I should note that it is not included in the recently released GW 2020 lists.  

 

It was built in a former quarry and that is very evident from the topography which I think is a “net add” to the course.  The best hole IMO is #4, a 563 yards par 5 with as green set within a large punchbowl…with a downslope of about 60 yards in front of a very large green.  This is one of many blind shots here…but I find blind shots to be fun.  Other good holes are #3, 8, and 11.  Overall I would consider this to be a good course…but not better than that due to the large number of homes lining each fairway which results in long distances from green to tee. 

 

The course measures 6960 yards from the tips (par 71); I played from 5536 yards and had a 45-40 = 85.

 

Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell University, July 30, 2020:  My to do list included 7 courses in upstate NY, including three in Buffalo and two in Rochester.  But that was too long a trip given other obligations so I cut it in half, with a plan to play the Buffalo and Rochester courses later and the closer two now.  This day started with the alarm going off at 4am and my departure at about 5am, on my way to visit Cornell University in Ithaca NY (near the Finger Lakes).  This drive would be about 5:45 heading directly west from Boston.

 

Cornell is of course a member of the Ivy League and the game of golf has seen better days with the Ivies.  First, Brown University (Providence, RI) dropped golf as a varsity sport.  Second, Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH) announced it was dropping golf as a varsity sport and announced it was closing its on campus 18-hole golf course.  Third, the golf world is filled with chatter regarding the condition of the Yale Golf Course, considered by many (including yours truly) as one of the game’s absolute architectural gems (see Post #18).  I also noted the loss of Seth Raynor features at Hotchkiss Golf Course when I played that 9-holer two months ago (Post #142).   As someone who understands the game of golf, the effort required to properly maintain a course, and who served for ten years as a trustee of the nation’s largest research university (MIT) I thought I could add something to the discussion on GolfClubAtlas.com regarding this subject.  So last month I posted some comments regarding the conditions at the Yale Course (basically saying that universities have a mission to educate and it is unreasonable to assume they can understand what it takes the maintain a golf course…and advocating  that universities should spin off these courses to allow them to grow and improve under proper management).  Let me just say I was roundly roasted for such a position…so I guess those who responded keep beating their heads against brick walls even after their heads hurt.   Who knows?  My round at Cornell this day would do nothing but reinforce my previous thoughts.

 

Anyhow, I should not have been surprised by what I saw at Cornell.  No (and I mean zero) sand in the bunkers, fairways with little or no grass.  Greens were OK, but little else was.  I was here because in 1961 it hosted the US Boy’s Junior Championship.  While he completed his studies at Cornell, Robert Trent Jones designed and built 9 of the course’s holes (around 1941), and the other nine were completed in 1954.  The course’s official name is the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell University.

 

I had a 43 - 40 = 83 and frankly was glad to put this one in the rear-view mirror.  All I can say is we would never let a bunch of golf professionals run a major university, so why does anyone believe some educators can operate a golf course.  Simply nuts!  Spin it off!

 

I finished the round just before 2pm and then drove just over 2 hours to Cooperstown, home of Baseball’s Hall of Fame!

 

Leatherstocking Golf Course, July 30, 2020:  I had been to the Hall of Fame some 60 years ago while at summer camp but not since.  Cooperstown is a beautiful small town at the southern tip of Otsego Lake.  Leatherstocking is part of The Otesaga Resort Hotel and is a very very good and fun golf course, built on land seemingly carved out thousands of years ago by glaciers just so a good course could be built here…with the help of architect Devereux Emmet in 1909.  For 15 holes, the land heaves thereby eliminating any flat lies and forcing the player to think hard about how to play these holes.  The last 2.5 holes (downhill  then flat par 4/flat par 3/flat par 5 consecutively) lie along the lake’s edge and while seemingly this would not “fit” with the first 15.5 …they seem to fit quite well and provide a fun finish.  

 

The course has been included on GW’s Top 200 classic course three times, most recently as #198 in 2019…as such it is on my Merged GW 400 list.  Yes, just made it but worth a visit…and you might even want to visit the Hall of Fame (even though the Dodgers left Brooklyn over 60 years ago!!

 

In any case, I was able to play the full 18 before sunset (and it was a gorgeous day and evening), and then drove about 2:15 to a hotel in NYS about 20 miles west of Manchester, VT, arriving around 10:30 pm, nearly exhausted!  Oh…had a 41 – 38 = 79, including fun birdies on the #1 handicap up-hill 7^th and by holing out from the grass filled depression in front of the 13^th hole.

 

Equinox Golf Course, July 31, 2020:   Drove just over 2 hours and stopped at a motel just on the NY side of the VT/NY line…not wanting to stay overnight in VT due to their COVID restrictions.  It was 10:30 by the time I got settled in the room and given that I had started the day leaving our house at 5am, I was just a bit tired.  But tomorrow would just be 18 holes and then a drive home (drive from motel to course in morning was to be about 25 minutes).  

 

Equinox Golf Course is part of a resort (The Equinox) located in the center of Manchester VT.  It was originally designed by Walter Travis and completed in 1927, about 28 years after Travis completed the building of Ekwanok Golf Club’s 18-hole course (Post #18), which lies contiguous and just to the south of Equinox.  Ekwanok is a very exclusive and very private club and is no question one of the most fun courses in the Northeastern part of the USA, sitting in an incredibly peaceful and idyllic setting.  Equinox sits in a wonderful setting as well…but the comparison is a little unfair…just as comparing a sister of Audrey Hepburn to Audrey Hepburn.

 

The small but perfectly set clubhouse sits close ot the cenbter of the Village of Manchester and above the 1^st, 9^th, 10^thand 18^th holes on top of a hill with the rest of the golf course stretching out to the east and north.  It plays to 6423 yards (par 71) and underwent a total redesign by Rees Jones and Greg Muirhead in 1992.  While I never played Equinox prior to 1992, I sense that this redesign did not enhance the golf course, but of course, who knows.  I was here because Equinox was included in the 1966 Golf Digest 200 Toughest list, listed as “Gleneagles”, a former name for the course.  In fact, the “feeling” around Manchester is quite reminiscent of the superb Scottish “Gleneagles” resort located in Perthshire (Post #100). 

 

My game was awful on the front nine but I did play well on the back (46 – 39 = 85).  After the round I met with John H., a member of Ekwanok whose father was a former president of the USGA and a good friend of a now deceased old boss and friend from Citibank, Bill Spencer.  Then it was off to Milton, MA (a drive of about 3:30).