Country Club of Darien, August 28, 2020: As I work my way through my current bucket lists and come down to the last 25 % or so if a list or lists, sorting out travel plans becomes easier by merging my “not played” from my current lists and then sort them geographically by region. For example, I try to play courses between Boston and Pinehurst in the fall or spring each year during my drive south or north. In September 2019 I contacted the Head Pro (Cory Muller) at Country Club of Darien, which had been on Golf Digest’s “200 Toughest” lists in 1966 and 1967, to see if I could play it during my trip south in October. The club had an event scheduled on the two days that worked for me. So playing it in 2019 was not possible, but Cory told me to check in the spring or fall of 2020.
Of course, by May 2020, the virus and resulting surge in golf participation had made most clubs very busy and many (including CC of Darien) had temporarily prohibited unaccompanied guest play…and this situation still exists at many clubs today. Then in mid-August I decided to try another route. Pat and I joined the International Seniors Amateur Golf Society several years ago…and I realized ISAGS’ roster might include a member of CC of Darien (as well as two clubs in Buffalo with similar policies this year…more later on these two clubs). I was successful finding a member of CC of Darien but not successful with the Buffalo clubs. I contacted Paul C. of CCD and he immediately suggested a couple of dates and we settled on 8/28, playing with Paul, another member (Chuck D.) and HP Cory Muller.
The drive was some 175 miles and the morning trip down to Darien was easy…no real traffic. I met Paul, Cory and Chuck, and all three were great guys. The course was active but not crowded.
But first some architectural history. Golf in Darien had centered around Wee Burn Club (founded in 1896 and moved to a new location in 1923 to course designed by Devereux Emmet…and famous in the 1980’s for 20+ year wait lists), and Woodway CC (founded 1916 with course designed by Willie Park Jr.). Edgar S. Auchincloss had been living on a 200+ acre “gentleman’s farm” (note that his nephew was Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ step-father) and in 1956-57 decided to convert the farm to a golf course which soon thereafter was sold to a club which had attracted a strong membership base. The course was designed by Alfred Tull who started in the golf course construction business and eventually became a full partner of Devereux Emmet. Tull also designed the Yellow Course at Bethpage, Dupont CC (DE), Woodmont CC (North and South) (MD), and Belmont CC (MA) among many others.
In 2007 Dr. Michael Hurdzan (in partnership with Dana Fry through 2013) commenced a long-term renovation of CC of Darien that continues to this day (in fact, Dr. Hurdzan is a member). He has designed (either alone or with Fry) Erin Hills (WI), Devil’s Paintbrush and Pulpit (near Toronto), Calusa Pines (FL), Hamilton Farm (NJ) (Post #121), Naples National (FL), and Shelter Harbor (RI) (Posts #5 & 142).
The front nine is good but the land on the front (after the second hole) is very flat and most of its holes run parallel to each other (either NS or SN). The course really gets going starting at the 10th and the back nine is excellent with some very good land movement and design variety. My scores reflected my appreciation of the back as I shot 46 – 41 = 87. IMO best holes are #7 (outstanding green complex), #10, and #12. From the tips it plays 6822 yards (par 71).
After a quick drink I was on my way back to Boston, hoping to miss any traffic backups on I-95 or the Merritt Parkway. Not to be…it took me about 1:15 to go less than 20 miles as I got caught in the back woods of Darien and Norwalk and got stuck behind crew removing a tree damaged by the last hurricane (that came through almost three weeks earlier!). Made it home by 8:45 or so. Despite the drive home a real fun day. Very good club and courses and great bunch of guys.
Atunyote Golf Club at Turning Stone Resort, September 1, 2020: My bucket lists contained 4 courses in upstate New York that I had not played, plus Oak Hill CC’s East course had been renovated by Andrew Green and that was a “must see.” Besides, with the various restrictions on entering certain states (particularly returning to Massachusetts), options for travel were fairly limited. I planned my journey but the COVID golf surge meant I could not play one of the courses, Brookfield CC, in Clarence, NY (NE of Buffalo). They allow accompanied guest play but no unaccompanied play…so, do any of you readers know any members of Brookfield??
As a substitute I added Atunyote, designed by Tom Fazio and Beau Welling and opened in 2004. Atunyote is part of a Casino Resort and is located in Verona NY just south of the NYS Thruway about 25 miles east of Syracuse, NY (think Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, and Sam Penceal…one truly tragic story between two great stories). I left our house around 4:30am, arrived about 8:40am, and teed off at 9:00am.
Atunyote hosted PGA Tour events from 2006-2010 and the PGA Professional Championship in 2006 and 2016. It is built on a large gently rolling piece of property and stretches to 7315 yards (par 72). Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not a huge admirer of Tom Fazio’s architectural efforts (with a few exceptions) and I shall simply say that Atunyote may be IMO, his most ordinary effort. The holes are very repetitive and the word “boring” may best describe the course. I had a 40 – 42 = 82, said my thanks, and headed west to Rochester.
CenterPointe Golf Club, September 1, 2020: Back in 1966 a golf course known as Kanandaque G. C. (6905 yards par 72) was included in Golf Digest’s “200 Toughest Courses in USA” list, the first ever “Top XXX” list. While Kanandaque was one of 49 courses dropped a year later when the 1967 list was published, it had its day (or year) of fame. And this was why I was here this day. It is now a semi-private course and its condition is probably slightly above average for USA munis. The greens were actually in fairly good condition.
Today it is known as CenterPointe and from the tips it plays to 6785 yards. I had a tee time at 2pm and had to play before leagues started off holes #1 and #10 at 4pm. I did play the full 18, but not in 1-18 order. This was unambiguously a “check off the box” round…and I knew it would be before I arrived. If one wants to play every course that has been in a USA Top 200, one must have these experiences. But then again, this place is in much much better shape than the NYC munis I played from 1955-62 so who am I to complain. Golf is like this for many many golfers and guess what, it ain’t so bad. I had a 39 – 40 = 79.
I was a tired puppy after the round. After emailing a copy of the 1966 and 1967 200 Toughest lists to the management of CenterPointe, I was off to Hamburg, NY, just south of Buffalo, a drive of about 1:40. It had been a long day and a place to rest was most appreciated. Only issue for Wednesday was a weather forecast featuring a day full of showers and thundershowers.
Brierwood Country Club, September 2, 2020: Brierwood had originally been built and owned by Bethlehem Steel Corp., duplicating Bethlehem’s Saucon Valley Country Club north of Philadelphia. A friend at Brookline who was raised near Buffalo recalls cutting the greens at The Bethlehem Club early on summer mornings as a teenager. Bethlehem Steel purchased a 400-acre parcel of land, and the course, designed by Gordon and Gordon (Stanwich Club in CT, Berry Hills in WV—Post #143, Saucon Valley-Grace in PA) opened in 1959. It is listed at 7100 yards in the 1966 200 Toughest list, which was very long in those days.
In the 1980’s Bethlehem Steel was forced to reduce costs and management perks and sold the club in 1987 to E. F. Burke Development Co. It was purchased by Arnold Palmer Golf Management in 1997 and more recently by a Hong Kong based investment group.
I had arranged for play through the GM who said I needed to play early, at 7:30am, which was great for me. I zipped around the course in 1:59, shooting a 40 – 41 = 81. The conditioning at Brierwood was quite poor…far worse than CenterPointe and I was pleased to get the round in before any rain arrived. While the course has clearly seen much better days, its “bones” indicated that back in its day this was probably a brute of a golf course. I was scheduled to play a course nearby (Wanakah Country Club) at 2pm and was hoping it might be possible to get off early. As a postscript, one of the people I played with at Wanakah said he formerly was at Brierwood and it used to be a fine club, run into the ground by its current owners from Hong Kong. Who knows?
Wanakah Country Club, September 2, 2020: Wanakah sits almost right on Lake Erie and offers some wonderful views of downtown Buffalo to the northeast. It was founded in 1899 and initially started with a small clubhouse and nine holes. The course expanded to 18 by 1913 and by 1925 boasted an 18-hole course designed by Willie Watson (The Olympic Club, Brentwood CC, Hillcrest CC, Annandale GC, and San Diego CC, CA; Interlachen CC and Minikahda Club, MN; The Country Club, UT). I was here because Wanakah hosted the 1950 US Girl’s Junior Championship.
From 2009-2018 Chris Wilczynski oversaw a complete renovation of the course including major efforts to improve drainage and reduce tree overgrowth. The end result is a fine, fun golf course. Best holes were #2, 4, 10, 13, and 14. Course was in very very good condition.
The club was very busy so I could not play until about 1:15…but the nap I had in my car was much needed! Rain did arrive as I teed off and lasted for about 5 holes but the lack of thunder etc. was much appreciated. It actually cleared up nicely for the back nine. When I arrived at the 10th tee a threesome of members asked me to join them and they were very good guys. I had a solid 42 – 39 = 81 after a poor start (4 over thru 3 holes).
After thanking Head Pro Marc Rosa, I drove back to Rochester as I was scheduled to play the restored East Course at Oak Hill CC Thursday morning.
Oak Hill Country Club-East, September 3, 2020: Oak Hill’s East Course had long been considered one of USA’s great championship courses. It has hosted three US Opens (1956, 1968 and 1989 won by Cary Middlecoff, Lee Trevino, and Curtis Strange respectively), two US Am’s (1949 and 1998 won by Charlie Coe and Hank Kuehne), three PGA Championships (1980, 2003, and 2013 won by Jack Nicklaus, Shaun Micheel, and Jason Dufner), and the 1995 Ryder Cup won by Europe. The club was founded in 1901 with 9 holes located in Rochester. In 1921 The University of Rochester proposed a land swap which was accepted by the club…yielding it 355 acres in Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester and cash to build two new courses. Donald Ross then designed Oak Hill’s East and West courses.
Oak Hill member Dr. John R. Williams inspected the new courses (built on former farmland), saw a desolate landscape, and decided to do something about it. He studied up on botany and concluded that oak trees were perfect for Rochester’s soil and climate…and proceeded to hand plant some 75,000 trees (mostly Oaks). By 2015 these trees had grown to towering specimens but with much expanded width. I played OHCC-East in 1981 and both tracks in June 2017 (Posts #82 and 83), and after the latter round observed the plaque honoring Dr. Williams’ trees and concluded that OHCC would never undertake a massive tree reduction. I am now happy to report that conclusion was very wrong.
The trees were choking Ross’ superb design and three holes designed by George and Tom Fazio 30+ years earlier still looked out of place. After viewing Andrew Green’s efforts at The Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, the leaders of OHCC placed some heavy bets on Green and agreed to massive and controversial tree reduction and pruning. The results are simply outstanding, creating spectacular vistas and allowing the land to receive necessary sunlight and fresh air. Green also redid every green and bunker to restore aspects of Ross’ design…and changed three holes substantially (#4, 6, and 15) and created an all new #5…all in order to conform with Ross’ intent. IMO all of these holes are far superior to what I played in 2017…and the same may be said about the rest of the track as well.
The course reopened for play a couple of months ago and plays firm and fast…and very difficult (7360 yards par 70…and you really want to avoid these new bunkers) but also fun. I honestly believe Dr. Williams would be most pleased with the result.
Over the past 30 years, OHCC’s standing in most “Top 100 lists” has slowly but precipitously declined. For example, after consistently standing between #30 and #40 in GOLF Magazine’s World listing from 1983-2001, it steadily dropped to between #52 and #93 from 2007 to 2017, and fell off the Top 100 in 2019. Its performance on Golf Week’s USA Top 100 Classic list mirrored this drop…but was actually worse. In fact, the only listing that does not reflect this type of drop off was that of Golf Digest’s USA 100 Greatest (which many believe overemphasizes course difficulty). Oak Hill’s standing on lists published by GOLF Magazine, Golf Week, and top100golfcourses.com all showed similar declines during this period, with Golf Digest being the one outlier. I fully expect OHCC to significantly advance in most listings over the next 2 years (as soon as it reaches the minimum number of reviews established by each publisher). In terms of brilliant restorations/renovations, this one IMO in is close to being in the same class as LACC, Moraine, Old Town, Pinehurst #2, and Sleepy Hollow (see Posts #70, #80, #65/104/140, #104, and #128 respectively). More time should give a definitive answer (for example, having just opened, OHCC needs some true grow-in time). BTW…you can add Cal Club to this list…but there is no “Post” reference since I have not played it since starting the blog.
I played with three younger (relative to my age) members, having been introduced by Fergal O., and I absolutely look forward to hosting my host, Scott C. at Brookline either later this season or next year. With his son enrolled at Boston College, there should be sufficient opportunities. I had a respectable 41 – 43 = 84 that was marred by doubles on two par 3’s and painful bunker visits. In summary all I can say, is that it is fabulous to see one of the great ones return to life! Well done OHCC!!
