150. Three-day Mini Trip to Western NC and Greenville, SC

 

During my drive home I started planning the following week in Pinehurst, given that Pat would not be flying down for another week, and quickly realized this would be a good opportunity for a mini trip.  Thinking about courses/clubs I wanted to revisit or see for the first time, it became clear that the western half of NC was the closest opportunity with a reasonable number of alternatives.  Nashville, TN would have offered more bucket list outstandings, but meant too long of a drive after this last week’s almost 1250 miles.  Mentally going through my “to-do” lists, a potential trip started coming together starting Tuesday 11/3 and returning Thursday 11/5 (it is difficult to find courses that are open on Mondays, and I had three guests scheduled to join me at CCNC on Friday).

 

I knew a return to Old Town Club (“OTC”) should be part of the trip and other areas of interest included the Blue Ridge Mountains in western NC, Charlotte, NC, and Greenville, SC.  On Sunday morning I outlined a possible trip and started emailing and calling pro shops and friends in these locations.  One piece of excellent news was a very positive weather forecast for the entire week in all of these locations.  I was surprised (but totally understood) to learn that many clubs had continued to ban unaccompanied guest and panelist play due to the volume of member play generated by COVID induced “cabin fever”.  All three courses I wanted to visit in Charlotte gave that response, so that location quickly dropped off my prospect list.  On the other hand, I received positive emails back from my friend Dunlop W. at OTC as well as the HP at Biltmore Forest CC in Asheville, NC, and these two provided a good starting point for the rest of the trip. 

 

Old Town Club, November 3, 2020:  Located in Winston-Salem, NC (about 1:45 from our Pinehurst home), OTC has become one of my favorite tracks in the world.  I first played it in 2006, prior to the restoration work completed by Coore-Crenshaw some 7 years later.  Starting in 2013 I have played it annually every fall after our return from MA except for 2015 (when I played in in May).  In all, this round was my 9^th at OTC.  As prior posts #65, 104, and 140 describe some of those visits, I will keep this one brief.  

 

I played with Jim E., a former OTC President and a member of CCNC, and two other OTC members.  The weather was close to perfect and I had a 42 – 42 = 84.  All in all, a wonderful afternoon…course was in great shape and the company was outstanding.  After the round I had a 2:25 145-mile drive to Asheville, NC.  During the drive I was able to line up two courses to play on Thursday November 5^th, thereby filling out my dance card for this mini trip.  I stayed up watching election returns which were looking good until about 10:30pm when several key states announced they were halting their counts until the next day.  Seemed a little strange and unusual and I failed to notice that all of these states were controlled by Democrats.  The rest is history as they say…apparently some dirty history (but I shall stop any political commentary at this point).

 

Biltmore Forest Country Club, November 4, 2020:  Back in the late 19^th century, a young entrepreneur by the name of Cornelius Vanderbilt became involved with the shipping and railroad businesses.  For you kiddies, shipping and railroads were the internet in the 19^th century.  He did OK in these businesses and ended up one of the richest people in the history of the USA.  Cornelius’ youngest grandson, George Washington Vanderbilt II, used his inheritance to build the Biltmore Estate near Asheville, NC.  That home originally sat on 125,000 acres, or about 196 square miles (equivalent to a square with 14 mile long sides!)….and totaled almost 179,000 sq. feet of living space.  To put the Biltmore Estate in perspective for you golfers…the home on the estate is almost three times the size of the clubhouse at Sleepy Hollow CC (NY) which of course was another Vanderbilt home.

 

His daughter was the original owner of Biltmore Forest Country Club which opened in 1922 with a course designed by Donald Ross.  Biltmore Forest has consistently appeared on GolfWeek’s USA Top 100 Classic course list since it was expanded from 100 to 200 courses…as well as my GolfWeek Merged USA Top 400 list (#361 in 2020).  Additionally it hosted the 1999 US Women’s Amateur and the 2013 US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships.  From the tips it plays to 6750 yards (par 70).  This is a beautiful and outstanding club and course…and IMO, very underrated.  The property is filled with steep slopes which camouflage the actual slopes on the greens, and the greens in some ways reminded me of the “rolls” that Perry Maxwell built into many of Old Town’s greens.  The fairways have excellent width and there are options available on almost every hole.  Golf here is absolutely fun and this is certainly a course one could play every day. 

 

The clubhouse here has a wonderful 1920’s sense to it and feels as comfortable as an old shoe, even while being relatively formal…that is a tough combination.

 

I thought the best hole is #16, a 470 yards dogleg left par 4 with a Redan green protected by a sharp drop off on the left side and a green that slopes right to left much more than it looks.  The 9^th hole is a more traditional par 3 Redan although at 161 yards is a bit short for this Template.

 

Overall, a true hidden gem.  It may be a little out of the way but absolutely worth the trip.

 

Speaking of trip, I had a 1:15 (53 mile) drive to my hotel in Greenville, SC…and when I arrived at the hotel, I discovered that I had left my golf bag and clubs at the bag drop rack at Biltmore Forest…thereby requiring an additional round trip to pick them up.  The body did not need a 159-mile trip this evening, but it got one.  

 

Green Valley Country Club, November 5, 2020:  Green Valley is located north of Greenville, SC, opened in 1958 and was designed by George Cobb…who also designed the Par 3 course at Augusta National GC and Quail Hollow GC (NC).  In 2001, the course was renovated by Tom Jackson.  In 1966 and 1967 Green Valley was included in the “USA 200 Toughest” lists published by Golf Digest (these being the first “Top” lists ever assembled and published).

 

Earlier during the trip I was told that and one time Green Valley had the highest number members who were also members of ANGC of any club in the south.  I also heard that at one point the club went through bankruptcy proceedings.  No way of knowing regarding either claim.  Based on my quick playing of the course, it may well have been fairly tough.  And there are clear signs that the club has seem better days.  In any case, I am afraid this is not a great track…but playing it means I only have 69 courses left to finish Golf Digest’s 1966 and 1967 200 Toughest.  

 

After the round I drove about 50 minutes north back into NC to play Bright’s Creek.

 

Bright’s Creek Club, November 5, 2020:  From 2000 through 2008 I was a member of Forest Creek Golf Club in Pinehurst (as well as CCNC).  Forest Creek has two Tom Fazio courses (Posts #65 and #141) and around 2005 the developer of Forest Creek opened another club called Bright’s Creek located in Hendersonville, NC (and also designed by Tom Fazio).  A good number of Forest Creek members bought land and joined Bright’s Creek and the two clubs were almost sister clubs (but no formal tie was ever implemented).  I never made the 3:45 trip to play and see Bright’s Creek but I remember people saying it was in a simply spectacular setting.

 

A knew that Bright’s Creek had closed its course and terminated its operations a few years ago, and then earlier this year learned that it had been purchased (I believe out of bankruptcy) and had reopened…and it turned out that a friend of mine (Mark L.) was a member and part of the group of three who had purchased the property.  Mark suggested that I play it and give him my thoughts and it geographically worked well with Green Valley for a day of this trip.  

 

The course has 19 holes (including a par 3 19^th to resolve tied matches…Forest Creek’s South course does the same).  I had assumed that since it had just resumed operations this summer the course would be fairly empty this time of year…and that was a bad assumption.  As a result, I was only able to play 14 of the 19 holes (1-9, 12, 13, 17-19), and that took some mad scrambling around the property searching for open holes.  The DoG, Rich Albright was most helpful but with a dinner scheduled in Pinehurst that evening, I simply did not have the time to finish.  I will make the following points about the property.  First, my Forest Creek friends were not exaggerating…Bright’s Creek in in a simply spectacular setting, and this is a very good Fazio course.  The facilities also are first class.  What surprised me the most was its condition, which was very very good by any standard.  Given that for some 2-3 years there was only one maintenance person managing its upkeep, and that it has only been about 4 months since the club reopened, I was amazed at how good the overall condition of the property is today.  On the negative side, the course seemed to have too many long treks from green to next tee.  My next trek to western NC will for sure include a complete round at Bright’s Creek, and hopefully another 18 at Biltmore Forest.

 

After the round I had a quick lunch and then drove eastbound to Pinehurst barely in time for my scheduled dinner.

 

Course Count and Bucket Lists:  These recent rounds brought my total course count to 1,261 (or 22,205 golf holes).  This year I have played a total of 65 different courses (of which 52 were for the first time and 13 have been courses I had played previously). Bucket list status today is as follows:

 

High priority to play (total of 34 excluding “double counts”):

to reclimb World/USA Top 100 EVER for another time (4)

finish Golf Digest Top 200 USA EVER (8…none of which were ever USA Top 100)

finish Golf Week Top 100 Classic and Top 100 Modern EVER (11…none of which were ever Top 100 on “Merged” list)

finish all Women’s Major and Senior Major sites EVER (7),

finish all USGA Senior Am sites EVER (3)

finish World Golf Championships sites EVER (3)

Then 20 more to finish US Junior Championships EVER 

Then 67 to finish Golf Digest 1966/67 200 Toughest

Then 59 to finish USGA Women’s Am, Mid-Am, Senior Am and Girl’s Junior…to complete USGA current championships sites EVER.

 

TOTAL of 180 to go!!!!!...plus any new ones that crop up…finish by end 2023?  Doable (but doubtful) if stay healthy!!  Need that vaccine!!

149. Drive from MA to NC

 

 

It was getting to be time for our annual pilgrimage south from MA to NC.  As we have for the past 10 years or so, I drive (with a car stuffed to the gills with our winter things) and always include stops for golf along the way.  Pat then flies down and I pick her up at Raleigh-Durham Airport.  This year I left our Milton MA home around 6:15am on Monday October 26.  The plan for day one included one stop to visit a friend in CT, then 18 holes in NJ, and then on to Philadelphia for dinner at my brother’s and my hotel west of Philadelphia.  This would be a long day including 402 miles of driving (assuming I never take a wrong turn) and 18 holes of golf.  

 

Stop #1 was to visit a great friend for the last sixty years, Dr. Barry C. and his wife Bobbi in their home in Westport, CT.  Barry and I played together on the Jamaica High School golf team in 1961 and 1962 and have remained close since.  In more recent decades he has been a leader in medical research while I fully retired some 12 years ago and traveled the world to play its great golf courses.  Although we had communicated frequently, over the past 5-6 years our opportunities for face to face interactions have been too limited (but did include a round at their CT course, Birchwood).  Barry has been a superb advisor to both Pat and me regarding medical issues that come with growing older…and no question in my mind that human beings do not come in a better package.

 

After some 90 minutes Barry had to get back to work and I headed to West Orange in central NJ…but on the way detoured to La Tourette Golf Course (to replace missing scorecard), a NYC muni in Staten Island that I played with fraternity brother Jim F. in 1970.  

 

Essex Fells Country Club, October 26, 2020:  Located next to West Orange, NJ, this part of NJ is headquarters for Seth Raynor country.  Within a few miles of each other are the following Raynor designed tracks:

                        Essex County Country Club (first course)

                        Essex County Country Club (second course---now Francis Byrne Golf Course)

                        Essex Fells Country Club

                        Montclair Golf Club (9 holes designed by Raynor and built by Banks)

                        Rock Spring Club

 

Essex Fells was incorporated in 1896 and hired Alex Findlay to design a 9-hole course totaling 1810 yards.  In the early 1920’s, Seth Raynor rerouted that nine and expanded the course to a full 18 holes of 6144 yards.  Today the course totals 6531 yards from the tips and is located on an excellent piece of land with good slopes making it difficult to read the greens.  However, in 1996 it had the misfortune of being “redesigned” by Rees Jones…and many of the Raynor characteristics are well obscured.  I thought the best holes are #3 (a downhill reverse Redan…although some would say a Redan cannot be downhill), the long par 3 10^th (which may have been a Biarritz at one time), the 458-yard par4 8^th, and the 448-yard uphill 16^th.     The 12^th fairway is filled with natural bumps and rolls…so flat lies are almost to find, but unfortunately the rest of the property lacks this characteristic. 

 

Overall a good but not great track.  I do plan to come back to this area to play Francis Byrne and Rock Spring, hopefully next year.  For now, I am left with 9 Raynor’s to go (out of 51):  Brookville (NY); Knollwood (NY); Blowing Rock (NC); Everglades (FL); Lake Wales (FL); Waialae (HI), Mid Pacific (HI); and Rock Spring and Francis Byrne in West Orange.  Hit the ball pretty well and had a 42 – 42 = 84.

 

One last note regarding Essex Fells…the term and concept “Mulligan” was either invented here or Winged Foot…both clubs claim credit.  No way to know which is the true answer, but I do know that Pat is my Mulli!!

 

After the round I was in the car and headed to that beautiful highway known as the New Jersey Turnpike on my way to Philadelphia and dinner at my brother’s.  This drive was a mere 101 miles and I arrived around 6:15pm.  There were four of us, Dave, his wife Rose Mary, and their son Sam.  Dave and I were relatively well behaved and avoided politics.  Was great to see all three of them.  

 

Drive to hotel was relatively short…32 miles (plus add 4 miles for one wrong turn).  Very long day…followed by lousy night of sleep (probably overtired), which should make Tom Doak’s greens at Stonewall-North extra impossible!

 

Stonewall-North, October 27, 2020:  Stonewall is a relatively new club (founded in the early 1990’s) about 45 miles WNW of Philadelphia with two Tom Doak designed tracks, Old and North.  Back in October 2014 I played the Old course, and decided to play the North course this trip.  The North has never been included on any well recognized “top 100/200/400” listing and it has not hosted any of the events I track.  Old hosted the 2016 US Mid-Am (with North co-hosting the stroke play qualifying rounds) and Old has been on the GW Merged USA Top 100 and GM USA Top 100. 

 

However, I actually liked North more than Old…it is certainly more fun and interesting, while Old is for sure more difficult.  North totals 6790 yards from the tips, Old totals 6980, and both are par 70’s.  My favorite holes on North are the par 5 3^rd…where the tee shot must carry a very large mound  and then hopefully trundles down the downhill slope on the other side, the par 5 8^th of 601 yards with a second shot that must carry a stone wall (otherwise known as a Stonewall), the short par 4 12^th of 351 yards that doglegs left to a green that is somewhere between a Biarritz and a Double Plateau, and #15 a 395 yard uphill par 4 that is superbly well bunkered and whose green has a false front and right side (I three putted).

 

For sure the North offers more fairway width than the Old, as well as larger and more undulating greens than Old.  This makes the course a more demanding “thinking” course than Old…and means holes can play very differently with different pin placements.  To me those attributes make North the better track.

 

I was tired from yesterday’s long drive and lack of good sleep so I chose to not keep score.  But this is really a fine golf course…and I am surprised it has not made any listing.  If you come to Stonewall you will probably want to play Old…but if you become a regular here, I would think 2 of 3 rounds would be on North.

 

After the round I headed south.  I was scheduled to play two courses in Baltimore the next day, but Thursday looked like a washout all along the Mid-Atlantic coast.  Thursday I was scheduled to play Manor CC outside of Washington DC and then Birdwood in Charlottesville, VA…with Manor being of greater importance for my bucket lists.  So, as I started my southbound trip I set my GPS to Manor CC (in Rockville, MD) and called Manor’s pro shop.  My MAPS app was showing a 3:45 arrival and sunset was to be at 6:08.  I had been rained out of Manor a year earlier and could not play it due to COVID on my trip north in May…and did not want it to slip by again.  HP Mike Sullivan was not in and the assistant pro I spoke with said 2:20 would be tough for a full 18.  But I figured what did I have to lose?…if I could only play 16 or 17, then coming back for the one or two missing holes would be much easier than a full 18.  I arrived at Manor at 3:40pm and quickly grabbed a cart and made it to the first tee after (sort of) checking in with the pro shop.

 

Manor Country Club, October 27, 2020:  While Manor has never been included on a USA Top 100/200/400 listing, it has hosted two US Boy’s Junior Championships (1957 and 1971) and one Girl’s Junior Championship (1959).  The club was founded in 1922 and hired William Flynn to design 27 holes (an 18-hole Championship course and a 9-hole short course).  In 2005, the Championship course was restored by Arthur Hills.

 

I teed off on one and quickly played holes 1-6 before running into 3 groups playing holes 7-9.  As the seventh tee lies only 150 yards from the clubhouse, I drove over to the 10 tee and saw the back nine was wide open.  I completed the back nine in about 1:05 and then went over to the 7^th tee to find holes 7-9 to be completely empty…and finished the round on hole #9 (best hole on the course and very similar to Oak Hill-East’s 9^th hole) at 5:55pm…with 13 minutes to spare before sunset.  Truth of the matter is I had to play Manor too quickly to adequately evaluate it and did not keep score.  But based on my quick round, it is a very good but certainly not a great course.

 

I had scheduled dinner with Jason Mills (current HP at Congressional CC), who was an Ass’t Pro at Brookline two years ago.  We had dinner in Bethesda at a nice Italian restaurant.  Congressional’s Blue Course is undergoing a major renovation under the guidance of Andrew Green which should reopen in Spring 2021 which has to have been a wonderful experience for Jason.  Was great to catch up and see him doing well and growing into a very big job.

 

After dinner it was back to Rockville to my hotel.  A rushed but good day…36 holes plus some 198 miles of driving.  Tomorrow would be another 36 but not much driving.

 

Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, October 28, 2020:  I first learned of this club about a year ago when I saw that it had hosted the US Girl’s Junior Championship in 1999.  Last May I was hitting balls at CCNC’s practice range when a very well connected member and friend came by to say hello and I noticed his polo shirt had an unusual logo (fox’s head with the letters GSV) that I had never seen before, so I asked where it was from…and the answer was “Green Spring Valley in Baltimore”.  Further research revealed the club was founded in 1892 “to promote fox hunting”.  Golf was added in 1914 after two members contributed $4500 to finance the purchase of acreage sufficient for a nine-hole course designed by noted architect Tom Bendelow.  In 1930 one hole was eliminated and current holes #1 and #18 (more about them in a minute) were added to create a 10-hole track…and members would play #1, the remaining original 8 holes twice, and then #18 to complete an 18 hole round.  The 1930 changes were guided by another architect of some note, Herb Strong (Canterbury in OH, Engineers in NY, Guyan in WV).  Finally, in 1957 Robert Trent Jones eliminated one hole and added nine others to create today’s 18-hole course of 6623 yards.  Last year a new master plan developed by Tyler Rae (think Beverley CC and Skokie CC in IL, Cedar Rapids in IA, and Mountain Lake in FL) was approved by the club with implementation planned over the next few years.

 

I have played at a good number of old money golf clubs and country clubs over the years but this one may be the “WASPiest” of them all.  It is spread over what seemed to be some 7-10 different buildings with minimal signage, and GPS brought me to the wrong one…and there were not a lot of folks in evidence at 8am.  This place is deep, deep, old $$ Baltimore.  The golf course is as quaint and unusual as they come.  I have played a few courses that start with a par 3 including some very good ones (including England’s Royal Lytham & St Annes which has hosted The Open Championship some 11 times).  I have also played a few courses that finish on a par 3 (including Long Island’s brilliant Garden City Golf Club).  I should also add that both Royal Lytham and Garden City are mainstays on World Top 100 listings.  But until this day I had never even heard of a full length 18-hole golf course starting and ending with par 3’s.  Additionally, the stretch of holes from #7-#15 (9 consecutive holes) are all par 4’s.  Hardly conventional, but it works and the course is fun to play, although certainly not a “great track” (but hole #7 is quite good)…and just as certainly part of a great family club.  Glad I got to play it.

 

Baltimore Country Club-East Course, October 28, 2020:  BCC was founded in 1898 and located within the City of Baltimore in an area called Roland Park.  The following year BCC hosted the US Open.  By the 1920’s the club needed room for expansion and retained A. W. Tillinghast to design the East Course (opened in 1926 at its new second campus (known as Five Farms) located about 7 miles north of the Roland Park site.  In 1962, the Roland Park course was closed (more on that later) and a second course (“West”) designed by Ed Ault was opened at the northern site.

 

The East Course has hosted the 1928 PGA Championship, 1932 US Amateur, 1965 Walker Cup (the only Walker Cup Match to end in a tie), the 1988 US Women’s Open, and the Senior Players Championship in 2007-9.  It is a wonderful design on superb land with tons of elevation changes (and hence slope!).  In 1915 it was restored by Keith Foster.  This was my third visit to BCC’s East Course (prior two were in 1984 and 2013).  In 2013 I also played the three “remaining” holes at Roland during my quest to play all of the “still remaining” courses that have hosted a US Open.  I had learned that three original holes could still be seen behind the Roland Park Clubhouse, and receiving permission to play them prior to a wedding brunch we attend at Roland Park.  Am not sure that I would characterize Pat as being pleased by this, but by then I believe she understood whom she had married.  

 

The golf course really has no weak holes and the best of the bunch are two par 5’s (#5 and #14 which are 586 yards and 607 yards respectively) and the phenomenal 457-yard par 4 10^th with a small green guarded short & left by a beautiful pond and wetlands.  Totaling 7181 yards with severe slopes and a par of 70, this is a big course for all but the PGA Tour.  It has not pierced World 100 lists in about the last 15 years, and has been rated by most around #60-#70 on USA Top 100 lists…which speaks loudly about the quality of golf courses in the USA and World in recent years.  If you get to Baltimore and secure an invite,,,make sure you accept it.

 

I played with Joe F. and Jim G. who were my hosts here back in 2013.  Told them no more trips to Baltimore for me until they get their butts up to Brookline.

 

After the round I headed back down to Rockville and my hotel there (remember...I was scheduled to play Manor CC the next morning, which continued to look like a weather washout.  I cancelled my game in Charlottesville for Thursday and planned an easy day driving from Washington to Williamsburg, VA.   Pat had booked a flight for Saturday November 7 from Boston to Raleigh and my host for golf in Virginia Beach suggested we play there Saturday 10/31 rather than the afternoon of Friday 10/30…given the amount of rain that was expected Thursday.  Sounded like a good plan to me.  I would then drive from Virginia Beach to Pinehurst Saturday afternoon and early evening.

 

NO GOLF!!!, October 29, 2020:  After rearranging my golf plans for Friday and Saturday, it was time to brave the heavy rains and head southeast.  Along the way I planned two stops to pick up missing scorecards.  Between the weather and convoluted stops for scorecards, the drive took much longer than expected and I arrived at Williamsburg around 5:00pm.  That left just enough time for a short nap before dinner with Hank W., a fellow Global Golf Centurions Club member who lives primarily in Williamsburg.  My body thanked me for no golf this day…but cursed me out for another long drive.

 

Hank and I had a very nice dinner at a local restaurant and I retired to get to bed early.  I was scheduled to play the next morning at the Green Course at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, which is owned by the Williamsburg Resort.  I had played the Gold Course in 1984 and while the Green generally did not garner rave reviews, it had hosted the 1998 US Senior Women’s Amateur.  The question would be…given the rainfall on Thursday…would the course even be open on Friday.

 

Golden Horseshoe Golf Club--Green Course, October 30, 2020: I was up early and called the pro shop to make sure I could play…and then learned I had to be off before 9am as there was a charity outing with a shotgun start at noon.  Due to Friday’s very heavy rains, it was cart paths only which would mean my round would take a bit longer.  I grabbed a quick breakfast and got over to the Green course.  The pro reminded me about the cart path only rule (he didn’t have to…it was obvious that if you took a cart into any fairway it would immediately become mired or stuck in the mud).  I decided that since I was here and needed to play it, let’s just get it done.  

 

I have never played on a course that was wetter…there was casual water literally everywhere and no place to take complete relief (but at least the rain had stopped overnight).  The very definition of a quagmire.  I played from the lady’s tees as quickly as I could…helping matters by holing out with a 75-yard wedge on the par 4 third hole.  Otherwise, the round and the course were completely unremarkable.  Rees Jones designed it in 1991 (his father RTJ, Sr. had designed the Gold Course here).  I actually played fairly well (41 – 40 =81) but did not post a score given the condition of the course and the liberties I took with relief.  At one point I took a nasty slide while walking downhill…but luckily no damage done.  I completed the round and checked the course off my list around 11:50am…and headed back to the room for a good nap.

 

Hank had asked me to come over to their house in Williamsburg for dinner.   His wife Dixie is wonderful and the house is superb.  We had another good evening trading golf stories and political thoughts.   I remained optimistic about the election’s eventual results but it was clear to me that no one really had a handle on this one.

 

We agreed to leave for Virginia Beach (a 55-minute drive) around 8:30am and planned on playing at 10am, which worked well for my schedule.

 

Bayville Golf Club, October 31, 2020:  The drive was easy.  Bayville is a high-end club located just north of Virginia Beach and about 0.5 miles east of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  It opened in 1995 having been molded into its current form from its predecessor dairy farm by Tom Marzorf of Tom Fazio’s shop.  While it has not appeared on a USA Top 100, it did host the 2011 US Women’s Mid  Amateur Championship.  

 

After hitting a few balls we teed off on #13. I thought the back nine was very very good…and in particular liked the par 5 15^th hole (even though I butchered it after three very good shots).  I was fairly disappointed by two holes on the eastern end of the property (#6 and #7).  The 6^th is a par 5 of 545 yards that is slightly uphill with a slight turn right and a tough semi-blind tee shot (a very good start), but when you get to the crest of the hill, the rest of the hole simply looks wide open and frankly a bit ordinary/boring…almost as if Marzorf had run out of ideas at this point.  To a somewhat lesser degree the same feels true on the par 4 478-yard 7^th hole.  I cannot remember any two holes like these that emanated from Fazio’s organization.

 

Otherwise, I thought it was an excellent course.  It is very exposed to the wind which swirls more than one would expect at a location like this, and some of the views are compelling.  Its conditioning was very good.  The par 72 plays to 7138 yards from the tips.  I had a decent 43 – 43 = 86 marred by mental errors on #15 and #9 that resulted in ugly double bogeys.

 

Wanting to do most of the trip to Pinehurst in daylight (this was the last day of DST), I grabbed a quick sandwich for the road, profusely thanked Hank for a very special 2+ days and headed west for the Sandhills.  I arrived home around 6:15pm and got busy reopening the house and unloading the car before collapsing in bed around 11:30pm.