152.  Boston Summer Part I

Having arrived home in Milton MA on May 23, I needed a day or so to get organized and somewhat rested.  I was playing in Curtis Shield event at The Country Club (Brookline) for Seniors with good friend Michael F. (from Quaker).  The Curtis Shield would take place May 25 (practice round), 26, and 27.  Michael and I played decently and tied for our flight but lost based on match of cards...so no cigars.  

About two years earlier, Brookline's long time Director of Grounds Bill Spence retired and the club hired Dave Johnson who previously held similar positions at Whitinsville Golf Club and The Wianno Club, located in central MA and on Cape Cod respectively.  Dave is part of the "new breed" of golf course superintendents who really understand the agronomy of new grasses and chemicals available today.  It took a couple of years for his methods and program to really take effect but there was a huge improvement in the course's conditioning that was instantly noticeable this year, simple by walking the fairways and greens.  I had never seen the course in this type of condition.  It was fast and firm and showed a wonderful palette of greens and browns.  With the 2022 US Open less than 13 months away, this was none too soon and fabulous to behold.  The anticipation regarding next years event was starting to build and I would expect that to continue until next June.

Boston, MA...June 5--Trip #8   Certainly not one of my most extensive "trips"...one of the Senior Staff Writers at GOLF Magazine contacted me to ask if I could play George Wright Golf Course in Boston with him early on June 5.  I jumped at the opportunity.  I had worked with Josh on some features and he is a very good guy and very knowledgeable about our silly game.  I had played George Wright once before in September 2012 (prior to my posting to this blog).  Designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1938.  It was conceived as a private club but those plans were dropped when the Depression hit...and were revived by the WPA in 1932.  The project was massive and it is one of Ross' great designs (although in need of better and more extensive care).  GOLF Magazine's Top 100 panel named it #3 municipal course in the USA earlier this year (behind Bethpage Black and Chambers Bay).  Tons of dirt were moved and rocks blasted to get this one built.  No question this course is worth playing if you have not done so...and while there look through the massive clubhouse. 

Buffalo, NY...June 8--Trip #9   This would also be a short trip in terms of time expended, but not miles driven.  Careful readers of this blog will recall that when I travelled to Buffalo in 2020 (Post #146) I was not able to play Brookfield Country Club in Clarence NY (about 7 miles as the crow flies NE of downtown Buffalo).  Brookfield was originally designed (as the Meadowbrook Club) in 1927 by William Harries.  Meadowbrook was acquired and renamed in 1943.  In 1985 the club hosted the US Boy's Junior Championship (won by Charlie Rymer who went on to win fame on the PGA Tour as well as The Golf Channel).  Additionally it hosted the Western Open in 1948 which was won by Ben Hogan.  A good friend in Boston, Fergal O., had been to Buffalo late last summer and people he played with knew members of Brookfield and that led to my being able to play it this year.  With no other courses near it left on my "to do" list, I decided to depart Boston around 2am and drive to Brookfield (450 miles and about 6 hours 45 minutes each way!) returning that same day after my round.  I pulled into my driveway around 10:00pm.  No problem sleeping that night!

Course was good and in good condition.  I had a 42 - 40 = 82.

Cape Cod, MA...June 12--Trip #10  Another Mini-trip, this time to Cape Code to play one of Massachusetts' great old tracks, Oyster Harbors Club.  Early on, a playground for the likes of duPonts and Mellons, the Club remains a "bastion" of "old money".  Was designed by Donald Ross and the entire grounds were created by Fredrick Olmstead, which represent a pretty good start to say the least.  Some 12 years ago Tom Doak's Renaissance Group restored the bunkers and greens under the hands-on direction of Bruce Hepner.  Course is very subtle and simply wonderful.  

I had played it once before in 2014 (Post #5) and again played with Kevin P. and Alex D. the time joined by Marty H.  Not much to add to my prior post but scary to think I had a 75 seven years ago and an 83 this time out (probably playing from about 700 less yards).  Time does tend to do its thing!

Bridgehampton, NY...June 15-16--Trip #11  This was planned as a two-day trip via ferry to the Hamptons on Long Island.  I had played Atlantic Golf Club once back in 1993 and The Bridge once in September 2015 (Post #19).  The Atlantic had undergone a major renovation and The Bridge was in the middle of a renovation in 2015, so I wanted to get back to both to see how they currently play.

The morning of June 15 I caught an early ferry to Orient Point and then drove to Bridgehampton to the home of Ken and Doreen W.  Ken is a good friend whom I met about 20 years ago while active with MIT's Alumni Association.  He also loves the game of golf (and owns Pound Ridge GC in Westchester County NY) although professes to have totally lost his game.  Ken has been a member of Atlantic GC for years and has wanted me to come back out to play it (we did not know each other when I first played it in 1993).

Atlantic Golf Club was designed by Rees Jones and opened for play in 1992.  Before Atlantic, golf on the eastern part of Long Island was dominated by three great old clubs...Maidstone Golf Club (see Post #138), National Gold Links of America (Posts #19 &138), and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (Post #138).  By the mid 1980's the greatness of all three had become well known and they had become almost impossible to join as a member.  And in those days, outstanding clubs in the New York area (as well as the rest to the USA) were almost all "classifiable" into one of three categories:  predominantly WASP, predominantly Christian, or predominantly Jewish.  And there were no great clubs/courses on Eastern Long Island in the latter category.  Atlantic was founded by Lowell Shuman, a Jewish real estate developer in Westchester County. Since it opened, Atlantic has welcomed golfers of all faiths (and probably atheists as well)...but you still need good golfing connections and background as well as a fair amount of $$.  Its membership book filled almost immediately as it satisfied a pent-up demand for great golf on Eastern Long Island.  

My recollections from my round there in 1993 is dominated by what was a questionable routing of the 18 holes.  I recall having to walk around part of another hole to walk from green to the next tee.  Several years ago Rees Jones came back and rerouted the 18 and those issues, for the most part, are gone.  

The land here, while not pure links land, provides a wonderfully sandy base and flowing land with few "flat" lies.  Place it almost anywhere else in the USA and it would dominate the golfing landscape...but with the above mentioned "Big Three" and the more recent addition of Friar's Head, Eastern Long Island is a tough golfing neighborhood to make a dent in.  And somehow, Rees Jones' skills, while considerable, are in a very different class than those of C.B. MacDonald/Seth Raynor, William Flynn, Willie Park Jr., and Bill Coore/BenCrenshaw.  So while Shinnecock and NGLA are almost alway included in Top 10 World and USA lists these days, and Maidstone Top 40 USA/Top 70 World, Atlantic has never appeared on World 100 and has not been on a USA 100 since 2005.  As I said...tough neighborhood!

It was in perfect condition, and if located elsewhere might get more love.  Well worth the visit if you secure an invite...unless of course you have an invite to the now "Big Four" (nope...Sebonack is not in the "Big 4" IMO).

After a wonderful evening with Ken and Doreen, I was off to The Bridge on 6/16.  I will not repeat many of the things I said about The Bridge in Post #19, but will say this is a fascinating place.  Different is not quite the right word but it come close.  Love its sense of irreverence, as well of its "sense of history."  This was the site of a auto racing course and I distinctly recall being in the Hamptons a few decades ago and hearing the sounds of the cars racing from many miles away.  Paul Newmann was a serious racer at Bridgehampton and I would guess that was a key drawing card.  The course sits atop the highest land on Long Island and the views of Peconic Bay, Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean are simply something to behold.  The golf course is very very good...but like Atlantic has less than great routing...and like Atlantic , it resides in a tough neighborhood!

After the round it was back to the ferry and Massachusetts.  Having completed these "warm-up" trips, I was ready to do semi-serious traveling.   

At this point...here is where I stood on major milestones and courses played in 2021:

Courses Played (lifetime): 1,294

Courses Played 2021: Total of 45 of which 33 "new" (for the first time in 2021) and 12 "repeat" (played prior to 2021).

Return to Nebraska and Sand Hills GC...June 19-24--Trip #12  Prior to this year, I had been to Sand Hills Golf Club three times (2010, 2014, and 2016) for a total of 6 rounds...and after this June 2021 trip I have 9 glorious rounds under my belt.  Just further proof of how lucky I have been.  My first trip was in 2010 and that was also my first time in the State of Nebraska.  I had never even heard of the region known as the Nebraska Sandhills.  As of today,  I have played a total of 14 courses in Nebraska (obviously all played in the last 12 years) and IMHO the only thing better than the golf courses in NE are the people of that great state.  Readers should go back to Posts #2, 3, and 56 for more background information on the course and its origins.  I my own mind, the best 11 golf courses in the world are all at least 90 years old, with the exception of SHCC which is now about 26 years of age.

I had some 6 courses in NE on my various bucket lists that I needed to play...and then in May I was invited to go back to SHGC and I was able to play five of these six (played the sixth in July).  Plans for this trip were relatively easy to organize as the SHGC days were set in stone, and of the five other courses, two are municipals with access to all and the other three courses are part of country clubs that are relatively unknown and do not receive lots of requests for outside play from golfers who reside more than 1000 miles away.  I should point out that none of the other five courses on this trip is located within the Sandhills region of NE.

I landed at Omaha's airport early afternoon on Saturday June 19, and immediately proceeded to Holmes Golf Course located in Lincoln, NE (also home of the Big Red Machine for you college football fans) some 62 miles (1 hour and 5 minutes) from Omaha's Eppley Field airport (and on the route to SHGC).  I teed off immediately at 2:45pm and played fairly quickly (2 hours and 55 minutes); literally every group ahead of me immediately asked if I wanted to play through when I came up behind them.  While the course was in fairly good condition for  a muni, it certainly was not "tough"...for example its bunkers are very shallow and hardly could be considered "hazards".  After parring the first hole with a 5, I proceeded to bogey holes 2-4, including a three putt on #3, and began to wonder when I might get some of my old game back.   

I then put together a string of three pars and birdied the par 5 eighth and parred #9, making me feel much better about the state of my game.  Interestingly, after hole #9 I did not add up my score for the front nine (which was 38) and sort of thought it was probably a 40.  So my mind was not focused on my position versus par throughout the back nine...where I had a bogey on the par 3 14th and pars on the other eight holes.  After a two putt par on 18, I added my score...38 -37 = 75 and quickly realized I had finally done it and in fact had beaten my age.  Definitely not a sign of how good my game is...more proof of how old I have become! And despite its inclusion on Golf Digest's 1967 list of the USA's 200 Toughest Golf Courses, Holmes Park Golf Course (designed by Floyd Farley and opened in 1964) may not be one of the great tests of golf.  My play was from the Red tees which measure a total of 5077 yards...but all I know is that I beat my age on a course that has earned its rightful spot on my "Top XXX" spreadsheet.  For the record I hit 11 of 14 fairways, 12 of 18 fairways and had 33 putts.

After thanking the staff at Holmes (and of course signing thousands of autographs) I got back in my car and drove the 293 miles to Sand Hills Golf Club (prior posts # 2, 3 and 56) in Mullen, NE.  I have already described the sheer brilliance of this course in these prior posts and will not repeat these points.  Suffice it to say that the golf course changes only as a result of the effects of nature over time, and the wonderful "sense" of the place is remarkably constant and wonderful.  I was a guest of my good friend Dr. Dennis K. who makes wonderful use of this incredible place and also manages to save lots of lives as a brilliant oncologist.

I arrived in time for dinner and accolades after I described my round at Holmes.  The next morning we were off early and after an awful double bogey on the par 5 first (due totally to hacking it around and on the green), I played out of my skull for the next eight holes to end the front nine with a three over 38!  However, visions of another beating age round quickly dissipated starting with a double on #10...and I ended up with a respectable (but should have been better) 82.  Played in two more times and had 38 - 41 = 80 followed by a 41 - 43 = 84.  All in all was very pleased with my game.

Very early in the morning on Wednesday June 23 I was off for Eastern NE and my other four courses on my bucket lists.  First stop was in Hastings NE, just south of Grand Island, NE to play Lochland Country Club, which had been on the Digest's 1967 l200 Toughest list.  Lochland was in good condition but built on very flat land.  I had a good 41 - 38 = 79.   

During my second year at Ford Motor Company (June 1969-May1970) I lived in Detroit and roomed with Steve Lockwood, who I worked with at Ford.  I had called Steve before this trip to catch up with him and his bride Bonnie.  Very glad I did...we talked about health issues...both of us having had heart episodes, and sadly, in late June, Steve passed away.

After finishing my play at Lochland, I was headed back to Lincoln, NE to play HillCrest Country Club.  HillCrest was on the Digest's 1966 200 Toughest list.  It opened in 1928 and is located on very hilly terrain.  I had a respectable 41 - 42 = 83 and then drove northeast to Omaha for the night.

Thursday June 24 I was scheduled to play two courses in Omaha and then fly back to Boston on Friday.  The weather forecast over those two days was iffy.  My first focus was trying to get in the 36 holes on Thursday.  I was off the first tee of Happy Hollow Club early on Thursday and finished the round early...shooting a 42 - 42 = 84.  Course opened in 1925 was was designed by the great team of William Langford and Theodore Moreau.  Clubhouse sits high above most of the course.  While not as great as Lawsonia Links (WI) or Culver Academies (IN) (see Post #119...played Lawsonia before I started the Blog), there are very clear signs of Langford and Moreau's boldness in the greens and bunkers...despite two rounds of renovations.  Happy Hollow was on the Digest's 1966 USA 200 Toughest Courses list.

In the afternoon, I rushed my way around Benson Park...finishing on time playing all 18, but certainly not in their planned order.  Ended with the same score at Benson...42 - 42 = 84.  Benson Park was on the Digest's 1966 USA 200 Toughest Courses list.

After all that...my flight was cancelled and I was rescheduled to fly back to Boston the next afternoon.  Made arrangements to play the next morning at Arbor Links, a member of the Dormie Network (and actually the only course in the Dormie Network I have not played).  Arbor Links is located in Nebraska City, about 50 miles south of Omaha's airport.  I drove down to Nebraska City and checked into my hotel when the tornado warning siren went off and we were shepherded to the basement for about 30 minutes before hearing the "all clear".  When I got back up to the first floor it was raining as hard as I have ever seen it rain.

For obvious reasons the course was walking only the next morning and while I could have walked it, I would have missed my flight so I cancelled golf and flew back to Boston.   All in all a great trip.  Three more rounds at Sandhills and five courses removed from to-do list.  Oh, yes, almost forgot to mention that I also finally beat my age!  At close to mid-year 2021, I stood at 1299 courses played in my lifetime and 38 new courses played since March 28, 2021...and a total of 51 different courses played so far this calendar year.

Minnesota...June 29-July 1--Trip #13  The following week I had a couple of days open and I realized I could do a quick two day trip to Minneapolis-St. Paul, so I flew to MSP the evening of June 29.  The next morning I had a tee time at 6:25am (first one off!) at U of Minnesota's Les Bolstad Golf Course.  Bolstad had hosted the 1958 US Junior Amateur which was won by Buddy Baker of Florence, SC.  Buddy is a long time member of CCNC where we live and play in Pinehurst and I have probably played CCNC with him a good 30-40 times...trust me he still has "game".  Buddy learned to play at Florence CC (Post #140) and my 18 holes there in November 2019 showed me why he has such a fine game.

In 1958 the U of Minnesota had one course...which was later named for Les Bolstad, the long time and beloved coach of the golf team, and a new facility was built for the varsity teams.  Today the Les Bolstad course is utilized primarily by students, faculty and staff of the U of MN.  The course first opened in 1929 and was designed by Tom Vardon, Harry Vardon's brother.  I played well and had a 39 - 39 = 78.  I called Buddy Baker later that day and we talked about the course...he had a good chuckle over the chance to reminice.

After finishing the quick round at Les Bolstad, I headed west to Wayzata CC, where I was scheduled to play at 10:15am as the guest of Pinehurst friend Gail K.  Wayzata opened in 1956 and was designed by Robert Bruce Harris (it was subsequently renovated by John Fought in 2008).  In 1984 the club hosted the US Boy's Junior Championship and the Men's Mid-Amateur in 1994.  After a sloppy 42 on the front (double bogies on #3 and #6) I had a very good 39 on the back for a solid 81.  The course was in excellent condition and I had clear sailing for my round.

Given this was the end of June, the days here last over 15 1/2 hours, so playing 54 was easy to do (so long as this old body held up).  I went over to Golden Valley CC which had hosted the 1988 US Girl's Junior Championship and was teed off for my third round of the day at 4:54pm.  Golden Valley CC was formed in 1914 and started as a 9-hole course.  A. W. Tillinghast created today's Golden Valley design in 1926...and his involvement was probably a result of his work at Rochester Golf & Country Club about 60 miles south of Minneapolis (more on this shortly).  Course was very good.  While I was tired on the front nine (shot a 45) I got a second breadth on the back and had a good 41, including sinking a fast breaking 8 footer for par on #18.  

After grabbing a bite to eat I drove south about 50 miles to Rochester, MN.  I teed off at Rochester Golf & Country Club early the morning of July 1.  This club has some interesting history.  Tillinghast was visiting his daughter and son-in-law in Rochester where his son-in-law was a physician at the Mayo Clinic.  The club asked Tillinghast if he would be interested in overseeing the club's expansion from 9 to 18 holes.  Legend has it that Tillie agreed to do so for no fee...so long as the club agreed to admit his daughter's family as members with no initiation fee or dues as long as his daughter and son-in-law were alive.  Good deal all around although who knows that the IRS thought about it!  

Oregon & Washington...July 18-24--Trip #14  At this point my USA bucket list to-do's were heavily weighted toward the Northwest.  In the states of Oregon and Washington there were 23 courses I needed to play, plus two more that looked like they would join some of these bucket lists in the very near future.  I figured I needed to do two "crash" visits to get these done.  The first started by flying to Eugene OR on Sunday July 18.  The flight itself proved to be very productive as the day before I left I learned that Alex D. (who had hosted me at Oyster Harbors on June 12) would be on the same flights and we were able to sit together and get some work done regarding my spreadsheet. My first stop would be at Bandon Dunes to play its latest addition, Sheep Ranch designed by Coore and Crenshaw.  Alex was also headed to Bandon but was meeting up with others who were arriving at Eugene later.  I was soon off to the west and then south for a 2:45 drive to the greatest golf resort in this world.

Sheep Ranch had opened about a year earlier and quickly became part of my Worldwide and USA Top 100 spreadsheets when Darius Oliver listed it as #52 on Planet Golf's World 100 and it hit #35 on my Merged GolfWeek USA Top 100.  So it was high on my hit list and made sense to start the journey here for that reason...and it made sense geographically as well.  My old friend Steve K. whom I met in my trouser manufacturing days (Steve was then a menswear buyer at Nordstrom) now lives in Florence along the OR coastline about 70-75 miles north of Bandon, and Steve drove down to Bandon to accompany me as I walked Sheep Ranch.  

The course is built on an amazing piece of land jutting out into the Pacific.  I certainly regret never having played Sheep Ranch when it was Tom Doak's free form creation, but it was always closed during the summer (due to fear that a forest fire would destroy it) and all of my trips (five previous trips if I recall correctly) to Bandon were made during summer months.  The land had one problem...it was just a bit too small for 18 holes...but an ingenious routing by Bill Coore enabled C-C to shoe-horn in a full regulation 18 holes.  Because the site is so exposed to the wind, sand bunkers were not part of the design...with grass bunker used in their place.  While some find that to be a questionable decision, I did not particularly "miss" sand bunkers here and I thought the grass bunkers worked fine.  IMO the best hole is #6, a long (460 yard) par 4 with a steep cliff down to the Pacific dominating its right side; and the other best holes are #3, 8, 9, 11, 16, and 17 (note that #3 and 16 share an amazing double green).  I had a very good front (41) followed by a fairly poor back (45)...totaling 86.  Looking back I would have to place Sheep Ranch as #5 of the 5 18 hole Bandon courses.  Given how tough this neighborhood is, being #5 is certainly not an insult! If I was doing a USA Top 100 it would be in it, but not a World 100.  

After the round we drove up tp Florence...I would be staying at Steve and Linda's place this night (wonderful house right against the coast line and beach!) and Steve and I would play early Monday in Florence.  The drive north of 75 miles was uneventful except for a member of the Oregon State Police pulling me over for briefly crossing the center line.  He asked if I had had any recent drinks...and my reply of "not for 26 years" seemed to take care of the issue.

At 7:30 the next morning we were at Florence Golf Links (previously known as Sandpines Golf Links) ready to tee off.  This Rees Jones design essentially wasted a potentially wonderful site.  The dunes land between the holes is full of rumpled land that bobs and weaves it way through the dunes...and Rees must have bulldozed all of nature's beautiful humps and bumps away in building this track in 1992.  Such a shame and frankly no big surprise!  I has a 42-40 = 82 and left thinking what could have been.  

In any case it was great catching up with Steve and Linda...and now I needed to drive northeast about 115 miles to Salem, the capitol of OR, where I was scheduled to play Illahe Hills CC, which in 1981 had hosted the US Girl's Junior Championship...and was open for play Monday afternoon.  The club and course were relatively deserted and I was able to play it fairly quickly.  Illahe Hills opened for play in 1961 and was designed by William F. Bell (son of William P. Bell who assisted George Thomas in the design of Riviera) and was renovated under the direction of John Harbottle.  The clubhouse sits atop a hilltop looking over the course below.  Hole #1 is sharply downhill and holes #17 and 18 play back up that hill.  The course was in good condition and was a good but not great track.  I had a 40 - 40 = 80.  Had quick dinner at the club's pool and then was off on a 140 mile almost 3 hour drive to Bend, OR.  This was a tiring day with two courses played and 260 miles of driving.

Bend is a beautiful town in Oregon's high desert and offers great skiing in the winter and great golf during the summer.  I had been to Bend once before for golf, in October 2015.  On this trip I has four more courses to play and because three courses I had hoped to play were unavailable (due to events at the clubs on the days I could play them), I added two courses well east of Bend to my plans.

In October 2015 I had played the Fazio course at Pronghorn (Post #22) and the morning of Tuesday 7/20, I was on the first tee of the Nicklaus course at Pronghorn Resort.  The course, now almost 20 years old, can be stretched to 7380 yards (but would play considerably shorter at Pronghorn's altitude of 3200') but I was playing from the Silver tees or about 5250 yards.  Best holes IMO were #12, 15 and 16 and I ended the round with a 43 - 41 = 84.  In terms of USA Top 200's, the JWN tracks #130 on Golf Digest in 2013 (the first time GD published a #101-200 list) and has since fallen to #190.  On GolfWeek, it started as #142 on my Merged GW list in 2006, fell to #188 by 2008 and then disappeared from the list.

As soon as my round was completed, I was back in my car headed about 170 miles east to Silvies Ranch, which is located about 15 miles past nowhere!  While Silvies has not hosted a big event and has yet to be included on a "Top XXX" list, it seems to be creeping closer to a Top XX listing so I thought I should give it a look.  There are two 18 hole courses at Silvies, which is part of a 140,000 acre (that is 218 sq miles...or almost 15 miles by 15 miles square) private ranch.  The courses are "reversible" (really semi-reversible as there are 27 different greens between the 36 holes)...9 of the greens are used on both courses.  On even numbered days it is set up as the Craddock course and on odd number days as the Hankins course.  The afternoon of 7/20 after checking into my room I was on the first tee of Craddock...and the fairway was a bright tan.  I hit a good drive on this short par 5 and started walking.  Silvies is so far from "civilization" it is one of those courses where the silence is almost total...one can hear the blood rushing through your ears and the rest of your body.  But there was another sound as I walked, and I quickly realized it was the sound of the fescue grass on the fairways "cracking" as I took steps...perhaps the coolest sound I have ever heard on a golf course!  And yes, this place was the definition of firm and fast!  I loved it.  The courses were designed by Dan Hixson and opened in 2017.  Other courses by Hixson are Bandon Crossings (near but not part of Bandon Dunes) and Wine Valley in eastern WA.  Pat and I played Wine Valley a few years ago and liked it.  But Silvies is love at first sight (or sound).  The ball rolled forever and I could handle the distances.  My tees on Craddock totaled 5533 yards, which is "long" for me (stop laughing please), but I was hitting much less club on almost all of my approach shots.  And the fairways are so wide here that with my current very straight game missing any fairway was difficult.  I had a 40 - 39 = 79 and felt great about my game.  Played the last 3 holes in with a fivesome of Oregon greens superintendents who were there on a golf trip...parred my way in and they were wondering "who is that old man".  😁. Joined them  for dinner that evening and told them my golfing background...was playing three of their courses on this trip.  Finally got to bed and asleep (rooms here are in log cabins and are very comfortable).

Early on 7/21 I was first off on Hankins.  Another real fun course and a little easier than Craddock.  It had rained for about 30 minutes overnight and parts of the fairways has greened up a bit...still firm and fast just not firm and lightning!  Played even better this morning.  Had a two over 38 on the front and on the back had three bogies and birds 2's on both par 3's for a 37 and another 75!!  Second time beating me age!!  Bought some stuff in the pro shop, checked out and got in the car to drive 170 miles back to Bend...had another game there at Broken Top GC.

One aside here...Silvies Ranch is VERY remote but it is a really neat place. The golf is great (there are also two "short" courses of 9 and 7 holes) as are the food and accommodations.  And there is a lot of opportunities for hiking, fishing etc...lots to do for non or part time golfers.  Highly recommended!

Drive back to Bend went well...and was able to get right off at Broken Top.  Daughter of head pro works in accounting at TCC so getting a tee time here was a piece of cake!  I was able to get off right away and played fairly quickly as 2 or 3 groups immediately waved me through.  Still hitting the ball real well and fired a 39 - 37 = 76...this one equaling my age...not a bad day for golf on this July 21st!  Course was much greener than Silvies but still very fast and firm.  I played from 5281 yards and for my second shots on par 4's I hit 9-irons three times, 8-irons 2x, and a 7-iron once.  Was really hitting my driver well.  Course was designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish and opening in 1993.  Broken Top was on the GolfWeek USA Top 100 Modern in 1997, '98 and 2000 ranking # 61, 85, and 91 respectively (which yielded rankings those three years on my Merged GolfWeek USA 200 of 122, 170, and 182)...but has not appeared on a Top XXX list since.

After a good dinner it was back to bed...trip was working great but starting to wear me down.  But I was more than half way done and had three days left...and six courses as you might have guessed.  During the trip I was also having to juggle tee times at a. few courses...took a lot of calls and text messages but it did work out.  

Thursday 7/22 would be my last day in Bend.  Was second off the first tee of the Meadows course at Sun River at 7:09am, playing behind a threesome who were sure they would keep ahead of me.  By the second tee they had waved me thru and I didn't see them in my rear view mirror again.  I played. a mixture of the Gold and Red tees totaling about 5400 yards.  The course is very very flat...especially after two rounds at Silvies (also Broken Top has good elevation changes).  There were two holes that played mildly uphill (both par 3's to raised greens) and 16 holes that were essentially flat!  While the course was in good condition, it was architecturally fairly uninteresting IMO...and water comes into play on at least six holes.  Course opened in 1969 and was redesigned by John Fought (date unknown).  Hosted US Women's Senior Amateur in 2007.  Never on any Top XXX listing...so someone must agree with my opinion!  In any case, had a 41 - 42 = 83.

After the round I headed over to Tetherow, designed by David McLay Kidd...who designed Bandon Dunes.  Was very much looking forward to playing it...until I played it.  I had forgotten that Tetherow was the reason that McLay Kidd was shunned by Mike Keiser for a number of years.  If you believe (as I do) that great golf courses are supposed to be fun to play, stay away from Tetherow.  The word punishing is the best one I can think of to describe it.  If you decide to play it, make sure you have a good supply of golf balls as the long fescue really gobbles them up.  And on top of that, the greens are impossible to hit into and harder to putt.  The good news is that McLay Kidd learned his lesson and designed the brilliant and fun Gamble Sands in central Washington.  Keiser saw this and again reached out to McLay Kidd for Mammoth Dunes in Wisconsin.  All is well that ends well.

I had a 43 - 42 = 85.  Tetherow made a brief visit to Golf Digest's 101-200 list in 2013...landing at #192...and after being on the Merged Golf Week list at #284 in 2011, slid to #394 by 2015 and has not been seen since.

Then it was back to the car for the 180 mile drive to Portland!  Two days to go but making great progress!.

Around noon on Friday 7/23 I was at Oregon Golf Club...which has one of the most stunning entrance drives of any club I have ever visited.  The driveway points right at the majestic Mt. Hood to the east.  The club is located on a former large estate and has (IMO) too much land movement.  It was designed by former tour player Peter Jacobsen, opened in 1992, and has a good number of superb holes but some of the hills (starting with the uphill #1) are like climbing Mt Hood...and some of the distances from green to tee are way too long.  Routing could have been much better on this land.

I started with double bogeys on #1 and 2 and then settled down for a 44 - 40 = 84 hitting the ball really well.  Course is in wonderful condition and this is a very high end club...but really really tough on day to day basis I would guess.  Course rating and slope from the back tees are 75.8 and 153!  When Golf Week published their very first set of Modern and Classic lists in 1997, Oregon GC was number 73 on the Modern list...yielding it spot #146 on my Merged list...but that was its sole listing anywhere!

Somehow managed to finish and then get over to Reserve Vineyards early and ahead of my 6:00pm start on its South course, which from 2003-2006 hosted the Tradition Championship, one of the Senior Tour's major championships.  It opened in 1997 and was designed by John Fought.  With the sun setting at almost 9pm that time of year I had plenty off time to finish my round...especially since many of those playing the front nine stopped play after 9 holes.  I would describe it as a good but not great golf course and has never been on any Top XXX list.  I started well but was tired for about the last dozen holes and ended with a 40 - 43 = 83.

Finally, it was July 24, the last day of this trip. I was playing Meriweather National Golf Course, a public course that has seen better days and was first off at 6:20am.  Meriweather was included in Golf Digest's "200 Toughest" list in 1966.  I played alone and quickly...not bothering to keep score or make any notes.  After the round I had to drive north 150 miles to Tacoma, Washington  where I was scheduled to play Fircrest Golf Club.  Fircrest was also on the GD 1966 200 Toughest list but also appeared on GolfWeeks's Top 200 Classic courses in 2012 and 2013 and thereby on my Merged Top 400 those years as #357 and 387 respectively.  I arrived and got off quickly...wanting to get the round over with as I still had to drive back down to Portland to catch a flight at 9:55pm to Atlanta and then connect to a flight to Boston arriving Sunday 7/25 at 9:45am.  But almost right away I really began to enjoy Fircrest, which was designed by Arthur Macon and opened in 1924.  While Fircrest is built on very hilly land, its use of the land is brilliant and makes the course fun to play.  Still I was tired and scrapped out a 42 - 43 = 85. Trip done...13 courses and 1249 miles driven on the rental car in about than 6.25 days!

At this point, I had played 55 new courses this year...all in a. period of less than 4 months...March 29-July 24.  When I arrived home, I think I slept for two days straight!  But this trip made a serious dent in my lists...and for the first time I felt I could see light at the other end of the tunnel.  Just hoped it was not an oncoming train.

OK...so 55 new course so far in 2021 plus 13 "repeaters" for a total of 68 courses played in 2021 as of July 24.  That brought my lifetime played total to 1316.  More work to be done!

*********************

As I write this, it is November 14, 2021.  As of now...my year to date total is 119 new courses...more new courses than I have ever played in a single year...and remember, I played zero new courses for the first 87 days of this year and the year still has 47 days to go!  

Still have some Blog Posts to catch up (64 more courses to be precise...plus some replays that have never graced the Blog.  Thanks for your patience!

 

 151.  How I Spent the Months of April and May 2021

Word to the wise…do not get behind…it gets very hard to catch up!

 

 

My last entry was posted November 14, 2020 and at that time I had played (most of) course #1262, Bright’s Creek in Hendersonville, NC on November 5, 2020…and that was a time limited 14 holes.  Between November 5 and March 29, I played CCNC’s Dogwood andCardinal a total of 13 and 6 “complete round equivalent” times respectively and once each at Forest Creek-South, Pine Needles, andDormie (all of which I had played numerous times previously).  Something to do with something called COVID I think.  

 

I also graduated from my Cardio Physical Therapy class.  That program was a huge help and it pushed me to extend my walking routine.  Walked nine holes with an electric pull cart on January 7, eighteen holes with electric pull cart on January 19, and carried my “Sunday bag” for 18 holes on March 5!!  I will be the first to tell you that walking up the sharply uphill par 5 18^th on CCNC’s Dogwood course was not exactly a picnic, but I did make it without crawling!

 

I tried to play some private clubs near Charlotte, NC but COVID is keeping golf tee time demand at record levels and many clubs have so much member demand they simply do not have the capacity to allow Panelists to play.  And this is a world-wide phenomenon; similar tales have emanated from places as varied as Great Britain and China.

 

During this period, I also kept busy working my spreadsheet and a new effort, entitled “Fescue”, developed and maintained primarily with a good friend from Los Angeles, Tom Brown.  It came about as I was looking for a list of new courses being developed around the world as well as important renovations/restorations…and we quickly ascertained that no such list existed.  I started a spreadsheet which at first had 9 projects on it.  Tom built todays’ version of Fescue and did the majority of the research; the list now totals over 720 projects in about 75 different countries with completion dates of January 1, 2020 forward.  Go to https://fescue.github.io

 

Received my first Moderna shot on February 4 and second in March making me ready to go by around March 18 and allowing me to return to my crazy travel routines in full force.  To summarize, from March 29 through August 27 (152 days by my count) I have played 87 different courses (69 for the first time and 18 that I had played before) in some 25 different states.  I now stand at 1330 courses played in my lifetime and have made some serious progress towards completing my crazy bucket lists.

 

During this time, I have failed to keep you informed and/or bored…and for that I apologize.  No way I can catch up in the detail I have used in the past…problems with memory and lack of typing skill are just two of the reasons.  But I will try to give you some highlights as well as interesting details where I can.

 

Texas Trip March 28-April 2--Trip #1: 

 

My assault on various bucket lists commenced with a flight to Dallas the evening of Sunday March 28.  I flew out of Charlotte and the flight arrived DFW at about 12:30am on Monday.  Fortunately, I had rented a car early enough otherwise I would have been SOOL (sxxx out of luck) with no car.  As it was it was impossible to secure a car for a one-way rental.  Squeezed for cash during the pandemic all the rental car companies cancelled order for new fleets and sold as much of their older cars as possible.  With the vaccine program going well and people feeling safe enough to travel, there just ain’t enough cars out there (and the current semiconductor industry issues will keep things tight for a while).  

 

The morning of March 29 I played Maridoe Golf Club with good friend Dave W. and his brother Paul (most of this trip was with Dave W. and either his brother Paul and/or their good friend Leigh E.).  Dave had been a long-term Golf Digest Panelist (which is how we met), but in April he accepted a position on GOLF Magazine’s Panel and resigned from Golf Digest’s.  I will keep it simple with Maridoe…it is super hard…right up there with the likes of Oakmont, Carnoustie, Winged Foot-West, etc.  From the back tees (which I did not play…otherwise I would still be trying to finish 18 holes) it plays to a course rating of 80.5 (I cannot recall previously seeing any course that high) and slope of 155 (the maximum allowed).  I had a 41 – 45 = 86 and felt “beat-up” after the round.  While I would not characterize the courses as unfair, it sure is close…and IMHO the 10^th hole crosses that line.  It hosted the 2021 US Women’s Four Ball Championship in April.  Its site was previously home to Columbian Golf Club and Honors Golf Club and then was purchased by oil/gas billionaire Albert Huddleston who retained Steve Smythers to build an all new course (hoping it will someday host a US Open…good luck with that).  It is known as the “in” course for professional jocks in Dallas.  I cannot imagine why a mere mortal would want to join…but in golf egos explain a lot.

 

Next course for me was Coore & Crenshaw’s Trinity Forest.  As you may recall, since I conquered the World Top 100 from All Sources (EVER) list in 2018 for the second time, six courses (3 in the USA and 3 overseas) that I never played have made new World Top 100 lists.  Trinity Forest was one of these six so playing it brought that task list down to 5.  I had heard very mixed reports regarding Trinity Forest…some loving it and others hating it (might even be the new “king” of the “high standard deviation in ratings” category).  It very much reminded me of The Old Course at St Andrew’s and was VERY firm and fast.  Loved the greens (especially #17) and the angles/options.

 

At the start of the round I had a real scare.  Went out with a caddy and a cart but half way through the first hole I felt exhausted and a little short of breath.  The caddy called for a cart to get me, I went back and rested in the clubhouse for 20-30 minutes and by then felt fine.  So I told the caddy let’s give it another try (this is a walking only course)…and I was perfectly OK for the rest of the round and the months since. 

 

The afternoons after the above two rounds were very special.  Caught up with Tim Cusick, my long-time swing coach who is now working to help launch the PGA’s new headquarters in Frisco (some 40 miles north of Dallas).  Tim is also teaching part time in Dallas and was able to quickly spot some of my latest swing flaws and get me headed in the right direction.  The second afternoon included a tour of the Frisco construction site where a future PGA Championship site designed by Gil Hanse is growing in alongside another interesting course designed by Beau Welling (in its later stages of construction).  Both should open in 2023 and are highly anticipated.  The PGA and its partners are investing some $500 million on this site which is expected to totally change the economy of Frisco, TX.

 

Wednesday March 31 was spent playing Las Colinas Country Club (opened 1963 and designed by Joe Finger), a classic example of what was wrong with the architecture of the 1950’s through 1980’s, and The Vaquero Club, completed in 2001 by Tom Fazio and Discovery Land (champions of “over-the-top” concept in golf clubs).  Las Colinas hosted the US Women’s Amateur in 1969 and Vaquero made one appearance (2007 where it placed #163) on my Merged version of Golf Week’s USA Top 100 Classic and Top 100 Modern.  Vaquero is a fabulous facility…but the golf course did not get my juices flowing.  My architectural preferences run in different directions…but hosting a Women’s Am is not small potatoes and making any USA Top 200 list (given there are some 16,000+ courses in the USA) also ain’t small potatoes.

 

That evening Dave and I drove past Austin deep into Hill Country.  Thursday would be centered around Boot Ranch and Escondido.  I had an interesting reaction to Boot Ranch.  It was designed by Hal Sutton and opened to acclaim in 2006.  As I hit balls on its vast (34 acre) practice range waiting for the overnight frost to burn off, I marveled at the huge expanse of land they had to work with.  While I really liked almost all of the course’s 18 holes (best being #2, 10 and 11), it was too hilly to walk and the great distances from green to tee also discouraged walking.  The “flow” of the course and the overall design suffered because of that.  Somehow it may well be that too much land can “spoil” a course.  The best counter example is of course, Merion Golf Club’s East Course which sits on a mere 110 acres and sits well within almost everyone’s World Top 10 or Top 20.  My “interesting reaction”: limited land forces an architect to go deep and think hard about alternatives…excess land availability can promote sloppy and careless design.

 

I generally enjoyed Escondido (designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 2007) and played it well (41-39 = 80) but found too much repetitiveness among the holes.  Both courses have only appeared on Golf Week’s USA Top 200 Modern (and thus my merged Golf Week Top 200 or 400 lists).  Boot Ranch has appeared seven times (most recently at its best position ever…192 on the Merged list) and Escondido has appeared eight times, most recently in 2021 at #336 on the merged list and having hit it best position in 2015 (#328).

 

Dave and I then drove back to Houston (a long haul after 36 holes) and had to get ready for Houston’s River Oaks Country Club the next day.  Although I played poorly at River Oaks, I really really liked the course and it was a fun day.  First, as we arrived at the club’s parking lot, I realized we would be playing with Andres P., Scott W’s (Alan W’s son’s) father-in-law whom I met at the wedding in Buenos Aires almost 20 years earlier.  Andres is a superb player (was Senior Club Champion at Pine Valley a number of years ago) and a wonderful guy.  Second, the course is much better and tougher than I expected.  The greens are very tough as are the slopes close to the greens (being a yard or two off here can extract a big punishment).  In that way, it very much reminded me of Augusta National…and the entire facility is magnificent…much larger than I expected.

 

While River Oaks hosted the 1940 Western Open, it has never hosted a USGA Championship.  And shockingly, its only inclusion on a “Top” USA or World list was in 1966…that very first list of “200 Toughest” published by Golf Digest.  Never again.

 

After a couple of drinks, it was off to the airport to get home.  This brought me to 1269 lifetime but more important, got me back interested in getting some of the lists done!

 

 

Savannah GA area…April 5 and 6—Trip #2

 

This one could be called a quickie.  On Monday 4/5 I drove down to Sea Island to play the new Plantation Course designed by Davis Love III.  Sea Island now has 54 holes and I have played 36 (Plantation and Seaside) including all of the holes (or restorations thereof) that have hosted a USGA Championship (6 Senior Women’s Ams, the 2004 Mid Am, and 1963 Senior Am).  The Seaside 18 (which I played in 2011 has been included on 36 USA lists…with a high of #76 on Top100golfcourses.com’s 2010 listing) is a regular stop for the PGA Tour.  Its highest current listing is #176 on Golf Digest’s 2021 USA Top 200.

 

While I generally liked the course (good greens create interesting angles on approach shots…and require fairly extensive course knowledge), I found that on four of the holes it was difficult to understand overall hole design and the direction the fairway moved.  Not sure that is a plus.

 

Early the next morning, I quickly played Savannah Country Club, which hosted the 1985 US Women’s Senior Am.  This track has seen better days and I was pleased to have it in my rear-view mirror.

 

While there were other courses I need to play in the Hilton Head area, they were not available due to member demand.

 

Scottsdale, AX, Las Vegas, NV, and SW UT…April 19-21—Trip #3

 

Hitting three different cities in three days to play 5 different courses was a tough schedule.  I left on an early nonstop from Charlotte to Phoenix and played the Chiricahua Course at Desert Mountain in the northern part of Scottsdale.  Desert Mountain has seven golf courses, six of “regulation” length and one par 3 course (“No. 7”), all of which were designed by Jack Nicklaus.  I had previously played Apache and Renegade in 1966, and Cochise (2017..Post #75).  In 2013 Chiricahua was rated #195 on Golf Digest’s USA 100 Greatest, which placed it within my bullseye.

 

I played with three members who could hardly believe my stories…especially since I played like a dog (a wounded dog, actually) and shot 44 - 46 = 90.  As I have said many times (especially since my recent surgery), these course visits are to see the courses, not my game!  A few good holes (best being 12 and 14 IMO) but if it wasn’t for the Golf Digest listing, was not worth the effort.  After the round I headed back to the airport to fly to Las Vegas.  The trip went smoothly except the LV airport was packed when I arrived and I waited some 45 minutes for the bus to car rental, but eventually reached my hotel.

 

In the morning on April 20, I played Las Vegas National, which might shock those of you who have played it.  But the history of this place is astounding.  It was one of the Rat Pack’s primary hangouts…yes, I mean Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr.  Plus, it hosted 6 Women’s PGA Championships (1961 through 1966) and the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions twice (1981 and ’82) when it was part of the Stardust Hotel or Stardust CC.  Suffice it to say it has seen better days.  But I did shoot a 43 – 39 = 82 which was encouraging.

 

That afternoon it was over to the Wynn Hotel which now includes the Wynn Golf Club…designed by Tom Fazio and his son Logan and constructed on the acres previously occupied by the Desert Inn’s golf course (which was totally bulldozed prior to the construction of Wynn).  I had to play it because of my self-made rules…it is occupying land that previously hosted The Tournament of Champions from 1953-1966.  While this course is certainly superior to Las Vegas National, it rates highest in the “over-the -top” category…which is a negative indicator in my book.  But I got it done…and sank perhaps the longest putt of my life with a 102-footer on the par 5 third hole.  Other than that tidbit, I have no highlights worth reporting (and I refuse to describe the waterfall behind #18 green as a highlight).  But…this day completed my course requirements in southern Nevada.

 

Following the round at Wynn, I drove 135 miles (2:10) to Sand Hollow Resort in southwestern Utah.  I was scheduled to play Sand Hollow the morning of 4/21 and then play Coyote Springs in NV on the way back to LV for my red eye flight back to Charlotte, NC.  Now, remember how I started the description of this trip…about it being a “tough schedule”?  Truth is I overslept on 4/21 and missed my tee time at Sand Hollow.  I was able to secure another time for Sand Hollow later in the morning, and would not be able to play Coyote Springs.  I needed to play Sand Hollow as it had made my merged Golf Week Top 400 list in 2019, 2020, and 2021, while Coyote Springs had never been on a “Top” listing and has not hosted an important event.  Would have liked to play both but it was not “necessary”.  Instead, I had a couple more hours of necessary sleep!  I very much liked Sand Hollow.  Not as great as Gamble Sands in WA but very good and certainly should be included in a USA Top 400.   I had a 44 – 41 = 85 and then drove back to the LV airport and headed home!  

 

Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri…April 26-28—Trip #4

 

The following Monday I was off to Nashville early and that day was able to play the North Course at the Legends Club of Vanderbilt University, which had hosted the 1997 US Girl’s Junior Championship (back then North was called “Ironwood”).  I played with 3 members and had a 43 – 44 = 87 on a difficult course in excellent condition.  It is one of a growing number of outstanding US college/university golf facilities available to the best young golfers in the world (as they attract students from throughout the world).  Given the state of the US education system today, one can question the use of these funds for athletic facilities…but on the other hand they usually are fully funded by wealthy alumni for this specific purpose.  Opened in 1992 and designed by Tom Kite and Bob Cupp, this is a very good course but IMO not deserving of a place on a USA or World Top 200.

 

On Tuesday 4/27, I first played Hillwood CC, which had hosted the 2015 US Senior Women’s Amateur.  Hillwood opened in 1953 and was designed by Dick Wilson.  In 2011 it underwent a major restoration under the watchful eye of Bruce Hepner, who spend 17 years working for Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf before starting his own firm in 2010.  After dealing with the subtle but difficult slopes of the second green (enhanced I would guess by the conversion of their greens to Bermuda) and playing the wonderful par 4 dogleg left par 4 fourth hole, it was clear this is a superb track and worthy of the title: Hidden Gem.  I shot a 43 – 40 = 83.  IMO for sure a USA Top 200 and perhaps even Top 100.

 

After a quick lunch it was over to Belle Meade CC, which hosted the 1955 Senior Amateur, and was included in Golf Digest’s “USA 200 Toughest” listings in 1966 and 1967 (the start of the “Top 100” listings phenomenon).  The course was originally designed by Donald Ross in 1921 and then renovated by Rees Jones in 2003.  Hillwood and Belle Meade lie some 2 miles apart and I would guess they are strong rivals (Belle Meade people made a specific point about their greens still being bent grass…and IMO they were not as good as Hillwood’s)…and while I enjoyed Belle Meade I must say Hillwood seemed IMO to be far superior…despite Belle Meade’s link to Donald Ross.  Most likely a function of a Hepner’s work compared to Rees Jones’…but I will leave it at that.

 

Having been able to play both fairly quickly, I then drove about 125 miles in 2 hours to play another Golf Digest 1966/1967 200 Toughest listing…Kentucky Dam Village.  Since first pursing these two lists I have always wondered about this course because of its unusual name and its generally unknown history.  Then last year I learned that it was designed by the late great Perry Maxwell (think Southern Hills, Old Town Club, Prairie Dunes, all built after spending years as a partner of Dr. Alister MacKenzie…and renovations at places like Augusta National, Pine Valley, Merion, Colonial, and National Golf Links of America).  I arrived with about 2 hours 15 minutes left before sunset and was able to play it in about 2 hours.  Clearly the maintenance efforts of the State of Kentucky (where Maxwell was born and raised) over recent decades leave much to be desired…but this was built on an interesting piece of land and has wonderful “bones”.  Given its condition it is not deserving of a USA “Top 400” status…but worth visiting for Maxwell admirers, of which there are many.  Had a 42 – 41 = 83 with a few “gimme” putts and was very glad to have played it…it is covered with Maxwell’s fingerprints.

 

Ended the long day with a 95-mile drive to Cape Girardeau in southern Missouri.  On Wednesday morning I played Dalhousie Golf Club, completed in 2003 and designed by Jack and Gary Nicklaus.  This is a high end very private club and it is hard to believe it is part of the same sport as Kentucky Dam Village!  While I liked Dalhousie…I would vote for Maxwell’s creation if it could get just 5% of the TLC that places like Dalhousie get regularly.  Dalhousie is a tough course and I had a 43 – 44 = 87 but would hate to add my score without equitable stroke control.  Not sure I would want it as a steady diet.  In any case, Dalhousie hosted the US Women’s State Team Championship in 2015 and has been on my Merged GolfWeek USA Top 400 list four times between 2014 and 2019 with a high rating of #270 in 2014.  I then had a long trip back to Pinehurst (driving and flying) but overall was glad I knocked off some hard-to-reach tracks.

 

Arizona...May 4-8--Trip #5

This was to be a trip that by all rights should have never worked out as it did, but I got lucky.  I left our home in NC early on Monday 5/4 and flew to Phoenix after connections in Chicago.  Upon arrival in AZ, I drove a few miles south to San Marcos Golf Course in Chandler, AZ.  San Marcos opened in 1913 the year after Arizona gained statehood in the United States.  It was the first golf course in Arizona and therefore the state’s oldest course today. Sixty years after its opening, San Marcos hosted the 1973 US Women’s Senior Amateur.  The course was fairly empty and after an ugly double bogey start, I ended the round with a 42 -42 = 84, completing play in about 2 hours (partly by hopping back and forth on the back nine).  But got it all in with sufficient time to perhaps play Moon Valley CC, sitting about 35 miles northwest of San Marcos.  

 

I had called Moon Valley’s pro shop and they said I could play so long as I finished before sunset (at 7:12pm).  I arrived at 4:30pm and was able to convince the gentleman cleaning carts that I had the pro’s permission to play (and did not even have to use a half-truth).  Moon Valley opened in the early 1960’s and was originally designed by Dick Wilson, and later renovated by Bob Cupp.  It was for many years owned by Ping Golf and for almost 20 years hosted the LPGA’s Standard Register Ping event.  In 1966 and 1967 Golf Digest included Moon Valley on its “USA 200 Toughest Courses” lists, hence my need to play it.  Beat sunset by a good 15 minutes and even shot a very good 40 – 38 = 78 playing from 5285 yards (remember that these days I am playing at yardages of about 5200-5500 yards).

 

Felt great about having played both, but not so good about a late-night drive north to Sedona, AZ (about 100 miles and two hours).  Drive went well despite a huge cow that somehow partially blocked the frontage road on Interstate 17 (fortunately I saw it just in time).  

 

First thing the next morning I was scheduled to play Seven Canyons Golf Club, a Tom Weiskopf design.  Sedona is a beautiful town dominated by huge red rocks and the course sits very close to these monster boulders.  Somehow, Weiskopf was able to shoehorn 18 holes into very limited acreage and the course is interesting and fun, if a bit confining.  In 2013 the course was rated #200 in the USA by Golf Digest.  My game was awful and I had an ugly 49 – 46 = 95.

 

After the round I had to hustle north to Forest Highlands to play its Meadow Course.  I had played Forest Highland’s highly rated Canyon Course in early November 2012 (just before it closed for the season) and was now playing Meadow at the start of its 2021 season.  I played with one of the assistant Pro’s and enjoyed the course, but IMO, while Meadows is good it does not compare with the superb Canyon Course.  Canyon is very dramatic and Meadow feels “quieter”.  Both were designed by Tom Weiskopf and opened in 1988 (Canyon) and 1999 (Meadow).  Meadow was rated #362 on my Merged Golf week list for 2011 but that was it only appearance on a “Top XXX” list.  Canyon has appeared on 52 Top XXX USA lists and was as high as #32 on the 1999 Merged GW list (its current highest rating is #125 on Golf Digest).  Meadow has hosted the 2014 US Girl’s Junior Championship and the 2019 US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship. 

 

After the round I drove south to Scottsdale (about 135 miles taking 2:10).  I would be staying for two nights at the home of Dave and Elena F.  Dave was admitted into our Global Golf Centurions Club last year and has been making huge progress towards finishing more extensive lists such as the Golf Magazine World 100 EVER.  They live in Toronto and Scottsdale and are wonderful folks, even if Dave is almost as certifiably crazy as moi. 

 

The morning of Thursday May 6, Dave and I played Silverleaf…another high-end club in Scottsdale with a member who is a close friend of Dave’s (Dave is a former member of Silverleaf).  Silverleaf was designed by Tom Weiskopf and opened in 2002.  While I liked the course, there were some aspects that I found questionable.  In particular, on a number of holes the greenside bunkers were located a good 5-8 yards from the green’s edge.  I asked our host member who said they had shrunk some greens but had not redone the bunkers at that time.  Normally, such changes would be made as part of the same project and was not aware of any plans to move the bunkers.  But the course is in excellent condition and has a good number of wonderful holes…but in a place like Scottsdale it takes more than that to stand out.

 

In any case, I had a 41 – 40 = 81.  Silverleaf sat at #352 on the 2020 GolfWeek Merged USA Top 400, which is the only list it has made.

 

After the round I went back to Desert Mountain, this time to replay Renegade (which I had played in 1996).  It had recently been renovated by Jack Nicklaus and the person responsible for dealing with panelists had asked me to take another look at Renegade when he set me up to play DM’s Chiricahua course on April 19.  I was very glad I played it as I came away very impressed with Renegade.  Each hole has two sets of greens and one can play the “regular” greens or the “Nicklaus” greens.  In total, playing the Nicklaus greens increases the course’s overall length by 711 yards to a monstrous 7933 yards!  Additionally, the Nicklaus greens are better protected and more difficult to putt.  I really liked the course (though it is way too difficult for this 76 year-old)…but would thought it would be better if Jack would eliminate some of the bunkers guarding green fronts to give players the option of using their ground game to reach the green.  I played well and had a 41 – 43 = 84 (playing a total of 5344 yards to the regular greens!!).

 

That evening I had dinner with two couples who were old friends from my NY days…one from Citibank (Richard and Sally L.) and one who were neighbors in Purchase, NY from around 1988-1993 (Chip and Daryl W.).  They are very good friends here in Phoenix and it was wonderful being with them and sharing old war stories.  Would have been even better if Pat could have made this trip and met them.

 

Friday May 7 was the final day of this trip and I was scheduled to play Scottsdale National Golf Club’s “The Other Course” in the morning followed by its now infamous “Bad Little Nine” par 3 course with Dave F.  In 2014 David Parsons , founder of Go Daddy and Parsons Xtreme Golf (“PXG”…you must have seen the ads) purchased The Golf Club of Scottsdale for $600,000 and has since invested another $250 million on the property including:

 

                  --renovating the original course called The Mine Shaft (designed by Jay Morrish and Dick Bailey) which now is a 7579 yard par72 course occupying some 290 acres;

                  --building The Other Course designed by Jackson Kahn Design…which has opened to almost universal acclaim;

                  --building The Bad Little Nine, without question the most difficult par 3 course in the world (total yardage…972 yards…with holes ranging from 79 to 153 yards and averaging 108 yards/hole).

 

Obviously the latter two projects necessitated the purchase of additional land.  

 

If you really want to understand these two new courses, I suggest you go to https://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/scottsdale-national-golf-club/ to read Ran Morrissett’s description…far better than anything I could ever write.

 

I loved both Scottsdale National courses.  TOC is simply brilliant and fun…and it is astounding to think that the land was dead flat because its rolls, bumps, and slopes seem so natural.  And the finishing touches and details and nothing short of outstanding.  While I certainly would not want to play the Bad Little Nine every day, it was fun to try this one time and I hope to have another shot at it.  And I could absolutely play TOC every day!!  

 

I had a 39 – 42 = 81 on TOC and probably triple digits on the Bad Little Nine!  TOC was ranked #79 on Ran Morrissett’s 147+1 World Custodians list this year, and #35 on that lists USA candidates.  This brought me down to 4 courses to re-complete the World Top 100 from All Sources (EVER) list and only one course (Sheep Ranch) to complete the USA Top 100 from All Sources (EVER) list.

 

Late that night I flew back to NC on a red-eye, and attempted to recover from this adventure over the weekend.  Eight courses in less than 4 days, plus about 600 miles of driving ain’t easy on this old body.  But I am making progress and having fun. 

 

Wichita, KS…May 12-13-Trip #6

 

The following Wednesday morning I was back at Raleigh-Durham Airport for a two-day (one night) trip to Wichita, Kansas.  There were two courses in Wichita I had yet to play that had hosted important events.  On the afternoon of 5/12 I played Rolling Hills CC, which hosted the 1950 US Women’s Open.  I shot a 41 – 45 = 86 and the course was good.  

 

The club was started in the 1920’s as a group of men started to play regularly at Westlink Golf Course.  By 1948, Rolling Hills had been formally incorporated and had purchased a new property and build a golf course.  Two years later the 1950 US Women’s Open was hosted there and won by probably the greatest woman athlete in history, Babe Zaharias.  During that event, the LPGA was founded!!

 

In 1963 the course was renovated under the direction of Floyd Farley and further improvements were made during the 1990’s.  

 

The following morning I was at Crestview CC’s North Course which sits about 15 miles east of Rolling Hills.  Crestview hosted the 1980 and 1991 US Girl’s Junior Championships. The club was founded in 1921 and in 1969 moved to a new course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. It also hosts the Korn Ferry Tour’s annual Wichita Open.  This part of Kansas is loaded with good golf including Wichita CC and world-renowned Prairie Dunes and Flint Hills, all of which I had previously played.

 

This was my last trip prior to driving north to Milton, Mass. May 20-23.

 

Trip from Pinehurst, NC to Milton , MA…May 20-23—Trip #7  The morning of Thursday, May 20 I left our house on my annual drive north around 9:30am.  This would be another long day.  I would drive from Pinehurst to Charlottesville, VA (256 miles or 2:15), play one regulation 18 hole course and a 6 hole par 3 course, then get back in the car for a drive to my hotel in Malvern, PAS , just outside of Philadelphia (250 miles or 4:30).

 

My golf for this day was at the Boar’s Head Resort at the University of VA in Charlottesville.  The course had recently been renovated by Davis Love III and was in very good condition.  It is built on an excellent piece of land that rolls and pitches beautifully and Love made great use of the land’s movements. 

 

Many of you may recall my email after that round…from which I will quote below:

 

I played it alone and went off the back nine, followed by some skipping around the front nine (playing the front in the following order: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 3, 4).  In summary, I did it, but I didn’t!! Explanation follows.

 

I was hitting it very well and had a 4 over 40 on after nine.  Because of the hopping around I did on the front nine, I basically lost track of how I was playing…but kept my score as the nine progressed.  As I finished at the 4th green (note order of play above), I checked my score on the back and it added to 36…giving me a 40-36 = 76….equal to my chronological age.  

 

It was then that I realized that on two holes on the back nine there was a group on the next tee when I approached a green…wanting to play my round quickly (I had a 4:30 drive left to get to Philadelphia) I quickly took my first putt and in both cases that left me with a putt of about 5’ for par…which I “gave” myself in order to get to the next tee before the group ahead finished teeing off.  This enabled me to play the round in about 2:45…but also means that I really did NOT shoot my age (I did it, but I didn’t!!).  As the old saying goes, “haste makes waste.”

 

No question not knowing where I stood on my last few holes help me score very well yesterday!

 

No question that I was hitting the ball very well.  

 

After the round I played the 6-hole par 3 course then drove up to Malvern, PA.  At 7:50am on 5/21 I was playing Applebrook GC in Malvern, designed and nurtured by its long-time member Gil Hanse.  I simply loved this course and it showed in my scoring.  Had a 2 over 38 on the front (with two 3-putt greens) but then followed with a 6 over 41 on the back for a 79 with birdie 2’s on three of Applebook’s five par 3’s.  Was great to follow up on the day before.  The course is built on an excellent piece of property and sits beautifully on top of the land.   No question this one deserves the title “hidden gem.”

 

After the round, I drove to my brother’s home in Philadelphia for dinner with Dave and Rosemary, which was a wonderful evening, even if I was a little bit tired.  All is well with them and Dave at age 78 continues his teaching efforts at U of PA Law School and handing cases for the law firm he co-founded.  For the most part we both avoided politics so the dinner was quite civil.  Was great to see them and hear that all are in good health.

 

Finished the day with a 100-mile (1 hr 40 min) drive to Westchester to get some sleep after two long days.

 

Saturday morning 5/22 I was at my old haunt and club, Quaker Ridge playing with an old friend Dr. Mark S.  It was special spending a few hours with Mark.  The course was in magnificent condition and the renovation of its clubhouse was proceeding well at this point in history (more on this topic in a later post).  Hit the ball OK but could not score…amazing how tough this track is in a very subtle way. Had a 44 – 43 =87 and more importantly caught up with some other long-time friends including playing with Brad F. and seeing Steve S. and Michael F. (who I would be seeing the following week at Brookline).  Love coming back to this place.

 

After finishing up at QR, I drove backwards to Monclair NJ.  Montclair Golf Club consists of 4 nine-hole courses; in 2015 I had the pleasure of playing the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th nines (which had hosted the 1973 US Women’s Am and the 1985 US Amateur).  I wanted to play the 1^st nine mainly to “complete” this club which also hosted a Metropolitan Open and two Met Am’s.  Setting this up became much easier when I learned last year that our new neighbors, Mark and Cindy S. were members of Montclair for years.  For sure the 1^st nine is Montclair’s weakest but it is still good (the others are excellent) and had superb lineage having been designed by Donald Ross.  I was able to quickly play the 1^st nine and the staff at the club treated me as if I was a very special guest.  Good way to end the day, and had a good 41 for 9 holes.

 

Spent the night at a hotel in NJ and then on Sunday morning drove into northwestern Connecticut to play Tom Fazio’s Bull’s Bridge, which I had been reading about for two years…but because of COVID had not been able to play.  John Steinbrenner, who writes for the virtual golf magazine Global Golf Post, and I had been talking about playing sometime in the northeast and I suggested Bull’s Bridge which he had not seen yet as well.  Bull’s Bridge is located in Northeast Connecticut (South Kent). It opened for play in 2004 and was designed by Tom Fazio.  The site offers some phenomenal views and natural beauty but has a few questionable (IMO) holes dictated by the hilly terrain.  In particular, I found the first two holes too downhill for my taste in golf courses…but from that point on, the courses is really very very good.  I would guess that in mid-October, this place is s sight to be seen.

 

After the round I drove the rest of the way to our house in Milton, MA.  Pat had flown north and arrived as couple of days earlier. 

 

This seems like a good place to complete this post.

 

On a year-to-date basis I had played a total of 38 courses, of which 32 were for the first time for me, and 6 were replays.  All of the 32 new courses were played between March 29 and May 23 (56 days).  Brought me to a lifetime total of 1293.  Good progress but lots more work to be done…

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!!