I had but one goal for my trip to The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee. The sole thing I wished to accomplish for this trip was to simply not drive past the entrance to the club. That's all . . . see the turn, make the turn. No u-turns . . . no mulligans. Easy, right?? Beautifully simple, yet inexplicably complex.
Every person I had talked to about The Honors Course had told me two things. First, that I must turn left at the giant propane tank and second, that I would miss the turn and drive right past the entrance. I really don’t see what is so difficult about this. Giant propane tank, left turn. Really, a six year old could handle this. I called Vegas before I left my hotel and the odds on me making the trip with NO u-turn was 45-1. Not very good.
Now that I’m nearing the halfway point on my quest to play the Top 100 golf courses in the U.S. things are beginning to get a little more interesting. The low hanging fruit is starting to vanish and I’m beginning to see just how difficult a challenge I have set myself up for.
One of the questions that I get asked regularly is “What are the toughest courses to gain access to”. The few public courses on the list are the only bona fide easy ones, and the rest vary in degree of difficulty when it comes to arranging play. Certainly there are a number of standouts that far exceed the others in their difficulty.
Located just outside of Philadelphia, Aronimink Golf Club was incorporated 1896. In the early years the expanding club outgrew a couple of sites in Philadelphia before eventually settling in their current location, Newtown Square, in 1926. With 300 acres of freshly acquired land, the club hired well known golf course architect Donald Ross to lay out their new golf course. Legend has it that Ross was upset from having one of his course designs rejected by another Philadelphia area club and vowed to create a masterpiece at Aronimink that could not be duplicated. Talk about being at the right place at the right time!
For over a century the mountains of North Carolina have served as a summertime oasis for those who wish to enjoy the cool temperatures found here during the peak of summertime and the beautiful changing of the seasons in the fall. Ever since George Vanderbilt constructed his world famous Biltmore Estate in 1895 the mountainous areas of North Carolina have been synonomyous with leisure activities. A number of decades after Mr. Vanderbilt began entertaining guests in Asheville and several hours away in the Sandhills region of North Carolina a young man by the name of Ellis Maples was quickly developing a reputation for himself in the golf community.
For the last 3 years I have made an annual pilgrimage to New York for a summer golf trip. The first year I played one Top 100 course, the next year I played two and this year I was going to try for three. Quaker Ridge was one of the places I really wanted to play but I didn’t have any contacts. Unlike some of the other New York area Top 100 courses, Quaker Ridge keeps a very low profile. There have been no majors contested there and it is considered a bit of a hidden treasure - so much so that the course’s nickname is “Tillie’s Treasure” after the architect A.W. Tillinghast.
Sebonack Golf Club opened in 2006 to considerable hoopla from the press. Located in the golf mecca Southampton, Sebonack is just a pitching wedge away from National Golf Links of America and not much further from Shinnecock Hills which made it controversial from the start. The course itself was an unprecedented collaboration between two architects, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, each bringing distinctly different styles to the project. The press also had a field day reporting on the costs associated with the new club. The numbers being bandied about to buy the land, build the course and join the club were astronomical by normal standards.
So there I was in New York’s Westchester County, sitting on the couch at my friend Jay’s house watching the rain come down outside as I wondered if I would be playing at Winged Foot Golf Club later in the day. This was a serious case of deja vu. Exactly 1 year and 12 days prior I had been sitting in the exact same spot watching rain come down outside the exact same window and wondering if I would be playing at Winged Foot Golf Club. Last year the rain came down in a monsoon style downpour and then stopped dead.
“Love reading your blog. Now is the time to go to Kohler for Blackwolf Run and the Straits courses with the rates being very, very low. I'm a member at Olympia Fields so if in town give me a buzz. Best wishes on your quest.”
Back in April of this year I received the above email from Al, a visitor at my website. As I have mentioned in other posts about Chicago courses, when I started this quest I did not know a mortal soul in the Chicago area and playing the six Chicagoland Top 100 courses was something I was concerned about. This email was as good as striking gold as far as I was concerned! .
Chicago was one of the cities that caused some concern for me when I started the Top 100 quest. At the time I did not know one single person that lived in Chicago and six of the Top 100 courses are in the Chicagoland area . . . That made me more than a little worried that this was going to be difficult. I slowly started asking around and eventually stumbled onto a couple of leads. Hayes, my roommate from college and friend since the 7th grade had grandparents in Chicago so I contacted him to see if they might know anyone who belonged to any of the clubs. Unfortunately they did not.
If I were to start my own golf club today I would hope it came out looking exactly like The Golf Club in New Albany, OH. The Golf Club was founded in 1967 by Fred Jones with the simple goal of having a private club where he and his friends could play golf and enjoy themselves. Mr. Jones managed to piece together a 400 acre parcel of land and then took a chance on a virtually unknown architect by the name of Pete Dye to build his golf course. When the project was finished a world class golf club was left as a monument to their partnership.
Thanks to my fellow Top 100 golfer Larry Berle I'm playing The Golf Club today with his friend Bob.
Columbus, OH is one of America’s great golf cities and, at the time of my visit, home to four Top 100 courses. My friend Larry Berle who has played the Top 100 himself and wrote a book about it was kind enough to arrange for both of us to play at Double Eagle Club and The Golf Club with one of his friends who happens to be a member at both places.
I arrived in Columbus on Friday night and the weather forecast was pretty iffy for Saturday. For once I was prepared and brought my rain gear in the event that it was needed. Upon checking into my hotel I got on my computer I found emails from both Larry and from our host telling me that Larry was unable to get a standby flight out of Minneapolis and was going to miss the weekend. Air travel is always an adventure.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I headed to Wisconsin to play Whistling Straits. Despite its high ranking of #22 on the Top 100 list, I wasn't overly excited to play it. From what I could tell about the course from my research on the internet and from watching events played there on TV it was probably not going to be my kind of course. I was hoping to be surprised. After a huge debacle getting from Richmond, VA to Wisconsin I was eventually rerouted to land in Milwaukee instead of Madison. While Milwaukee is closer to Kohler it caused a bit of a logistical problem for my other plans on the trip.
After finishing up my morning game at Whistling Straits I hopped in the car and drove about an hour south to Milwaukee where I would be playing Milwaukee Country Club. The Milwaukee Country Club was founded in 1894 and was strictly a social and family club at the time of its birth. Just about a year later golf was introduced to the club and land was leased for a 9 hole course. In 1909 the club found out that their lease on the land would not be renewed and they moved to the present day location. In 1929 the new course designed by H.S. Colt and C.H. Alison was opened.
When I tried to research it on the web, Laurel Valley is one of those courses that I simply could not find much info about. Located just about an hour from Pittsburgh and 10 minutes from Latrobe, this is the heart of Arnold Palmer country. Laurel Valley is one of the numerous courses that is considered home for Mr. Palmer.
This course opened in 1959 and was designed by Dick Wilson. Since opening it has hosted the 1965 PGA Championship, 1975 Ryder Cup, 1989 U.S. Senior Open and Senior PGA Championship in 2005 as well as numerous other events not as highly publicized.
West by God Virginia! Thats where I am today and the Pete Dye Golf Club is where I’m playing. Pete Dye is of course one of the most famous architects of modern times and has multiple courses on the Top 100. I’ve played a good number on the list as well as several of his other courses so I felt like I had a decent idea of what to expect. Pete Dye can be downright diabolical and with the rugged mountain terrain in Bridgeport, WV I had a feeling this course might be Pete Dye at his worst . . . or should I say best . . . I’m not really sure.
My club pro arranged for me to play here with my friend Fred from Philadelphia.
I’m back in Texas for the second time this year - this time playing in Dallas at Dallas National Golf Club. This is another one of Fazio’s designs on the Top 100 list. I did a little research on the web about this club and my expectations were high based on what I read on the club’s site. Fazio himself said “If Dallas National were the only course I ever designed, I feel I would have had a great career.” My research indicated that the unique quality of this course is the terrain. Texas is mostly flat and Texas golf courses are usually victims of this topography. DNGC is situated on high ground and the routing wanders through valleys, up hills and across ravines.
My Baltursol experience began the day prior to my scheduled game. My host at Somerset Hills has a friend who not only graciously agreed to host me at Baltusrol but also made arrangments for me to spend the night in one of the rooms in the clubhouse. I was pretty excited about having the opportunity to stay in such a great club's historic clubhouse. Because I had been rained out earlier in the day at Somerset Hills I spent the afternoon visiting the USGA Museum in Far Hills, NJ. If you find yourself in the area this is well worth a hour or so of your time. Its great to see all the original trophies for the USGA tournaments and there is an exhibit that documents the history of U.S. golf that is top notch.
As has been the case many times in my Top 100 Odyssey, a stroke of blind luck put me in contact with a member of this club. Prior to playing there I knew little of Somerset Hills other than it was one of several Tillinghast designs on the Top 100 list located on the outskirts of New York City.
It turns out that my blind stroke of luck was quite fortunate as Somerset Hills Country Club has only 200 members so if not for the good fortune I would have found myself facing another needle in a haystack drill. Amazingly for a club so small they have outstanding facilities.
Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. No, I’ve never won the lottery, discovered a hidden treasure or bumped into a rebound eager Jennifer Aniston fresh off her latest breakup, but I’ve had countless times where I’ve stopped myself and thought “How did a hayseed from Nebraska wind up here?” The day I played Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course was one of those days. Here I was playing golf at one of the world’s great courses on a day with PERFECT weather and with fantastic playing companions. On top of all that I was playing pretty well!
I was surprised in the weeks leading up to my trip to Pine Valley Golf Club how many golfers I ran across who were not familiar with the club. The most common question I get these days from my golf friends is “Where are you off to next?” When I would respond with “Pine Valley” more often than not I would receive a blank stare and the question “Where is that one?” To answer that question once and for all, Pine Valley is in Clementon, New Jersey right outside of Philadelphia and it is, at the time of this writing, not only the #1 course in America, but also the #1 course in the World.
I cheated at Bethpage Black. Those of you who know me well know that if I am nothing else I am a die hard purist follower of the rules of golf. It is true though, I played the Black Course at Bethpage State Park and I cheated. As anyone who followed the stories about the U.S. Open’s groundbreaking visit to this municipal golf course knows, the only way to get on Bethpage’s Black Course is to park in a numbered spot and sleep in your car the night before you want to play. At about 4:30AM each morning tee times are distributed to the overnight campers and that is how golfers get on Bethpage’s Black Course. Its the local rule.