Tom Clasby: Golf Magazine Panelist of the Year

The following was published on Golf.com on October 10, 2009. Nice article, but Tom broke the cardinal rule. And people think I'm obsessive!

By Joe Passov, Senior Editor, Golf Magazine.

Call it a hobby, a passion, or even a quest. GOLF Magazine is fortunate to boast no fewer than 12 Panelists who have played at least one version of the Top 100 Courses in the World. In the case of Panelist Tom Clasby, however, it's more accurate to label it an obsession. At least that's what his wife calls it.

In early 2009, Clasby knocked off Singapore Island Country Club, Malaysia's Royal Selangor Golf Club, Taiwan Golf Club and Wack Wack Golf Club in the Philippines. In doing so, Clasby became the only man in history to play every course that's ever appeared on any GOLF Magazine ranking list since the lists first appeared in 1979. Opinion is divided as to whether we should reward Clasby with a silver plaque or a session with a shrink. Either way, his accomplishment is remarkable. Understandably, the journey hasn't been without its perils. However, the affable 58-year-old Southern Californian takes it in stride.

"I started my quest 20 years ago," says Clasby. "My first wife didn't get it. My second wife got it." These days, Clasby takes his wife and 11-year-old son on as many excursions as possible. His job as an engineering business development consultant and his Olympic Club membership have provided Clasby with flexibility and access, but most of his conquests are born of sheer will — and boatloads of networking. He estimates he's flown 280,000 miles and spent roughly $230,000 to play them all. In the psycho-travel department, perhaps his 1999 trip to play Japan's Naruo C.C. stands alone: He left for Japan from L.A. on a Wednesday at noon and was back in L.A. on Friday at noon. Another nightmare itinerary took him to play Ireland's Old Head, South Africa's Durban Country Club and New Zealand's Paraparumu — in one trip. It amounted to 55 hours of flying in eight days, ten flights on five different carriers.

In all of this, Clasby is the perfect dinner companion, conversant on a wide variety of topics. Most of the "Clasbys" of the world are pretty one-dimensional. Not this Clasby. He's also visited 52 baseball parks in the U.S., sports real estate and professional engineering licenses and has successfully completed an Ironman Triathlon.

Best moment on a Top 100 course? "Getting engaged to my wonderful wife Ginger on the 18th tee box at Pebble Beach in 1993 was one of my all-time highlights." Toughest course to get onto? "Augusta National, by far! I got on because I was lucky enough to work the Masters as a forecaddie, which is almost equally impossible to playing the course itself. Some of the nicest, most understanding people helped, but it took five long years of begging and hounding everyone I ever met to get to these people." Courses he would not need to see again? "Royal Durban, which was surely mistaken for Durban Country Club in the early listing, and Marbella in southern Spain."

So what keeps Clasby going? We've got a dozen new courses on our World and U.S. Top 100 lists, so he's got a few trips to make to stay current. Kudos to Clasby, however: He's already played nine of them. Hey, what can you say — he's obsessed — and he's a great panelist.

The Golf Club

"Hit 'till you're happy."

Not a bad way to start a round of golf. These were the instructions from our host as we stood on the first tee at The Golf Club. The Golf Club (ranked #48 in the world) is probably the highest ranked golf course in the United States that few people have ever heard of. Located in New Albany, Ohio, near Columbus, the course was designed by Pete Dye in 1967. It is a very early Pete Dye design and he used local Jack Nicklaus, then twenty-seven years old, to help him verify some of the potential shot selections as he was designing the course.

The course was the brainchild of Fred Jones, who wanted a course where he didn't have to wait for tee times. F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he said that the very rich are different than you and me. I have to wait for tee times and accept it as part of the game. It must be nice to have enough money to build your own course when you don't want to wait. The Golf Club doesn't get a lot of play, thus the local custom is to hit until you're happy on the first tee. I have the feeling I'm going to like The Golf Club.

In his book Bury me in a Pot Bunker, Pete Dye says, "When I began sketching ideas for The Golf Club, images of two golf courses built in the 1920s came to mind. Along with the Scottish courses and Pinehurst No. 2, the design features at Seminole and Camargo influenced many of the characteristics prevalent at The Golf Club." I haven't played Camargo yet, but I really didn't see similarities to Pinehurst or Seminole, particularly regarding the greens, which are key aspects of both courses.

The third green with railroad ties in the background

A key design element of Pete Dye golf courses is his use of railroad ties. Their use here was while Dye was just getting started as an architect and still experimenting. Dye used railroad ties on the third hole like a teenage girl uses text messaging.

Extensive bunkering around the third green

Blacklick Creek meanders the property and comes into play occasionally. Pete Dye again: "The Golf Club has incorrectly been labeled a "links" course. I call it 'Old English,' similar to Sunningdale and Wentworth." The course is on relatively flat land and has wide fairways. I would agree with him that it does have more of a feel of a heathland course. The course is spread out over 360 acres on a plot of land encompassing over 440 acres. At times it feels like a park that just happens to have a golf course running through it.

The par four tenth hole has an interesting design feature; it has a slightly raised green that prevents the golfer from hitting a bump and run shot to the hole. Many holes have raised greens; this one is only about a foot high and creates a grassy transition from the fairway to the green.

The approach to 10th hole

There really isn't a bad hole on the course, but the stretch of holes from twelve through sixteen are the most brilliant. The 369 yard par four thirteenth is a world-class hole that doglegs to the left off the tee. Dye made extensive use of sawed off telephone poles in the bunker right of the green. As with many great short par fours, it is a classic risk-reward hole where the further to the left you hit the ball the more you will be rewarded, but it also brings the flowery hazard to the right, seen in the picture below, into play.

The par four thirteenth looking back from the green

The par five fourteenth is a big hole in all respects. It is 639 yards from the back tees, the fairway is big (100 yards wide) and uneven; the bunker on the right side of the hole is mammoth, and the green is challenging.

Sixteen is a challenging 200 yard par three that plays over a gorge to a relatively small, well-bunkered green. As the number sixteen stroke index hole, it's a doozy. After failing several times to finish the hole, Fred Jones installed a full size hangman's noose on the branch of the magnificent 270-year-old white oak that overhangs the green.

The hangman's noose high up in a tree by the 16th hole

Like Garden City Mens Club, Pine Valley and Augusta National, the Golf Club is an all-male club. I came away with a very favorable impression of The Golf Club, and I think that these lesser known courses by Pete Dye such as this and the Honors Course in Tennessee surpass his better known courses such as Whistling Straits or the TPC Stadium course. Also, I'm getting too old to be beaten up by a golf course. The Golf Club is challenging but is easily the type of course you can play every day and not tire of because it is a great walking course. The locker room at The Golf Club is in a similar style to that at Seminole and Ocean Forest, with lockers ringing the room and seating in the middle.

The bridge over Blacklick Creek on the sixth hole has an old railroad box car as a bridge. My picture shows what the bridge would look like if you had a half dozen beers before teeing off.

Box car bridge on the sixth hole

The club history states that The Golf Club, "...was not founded as a family recreation or amusement center. It was founded as a men's club without the need for starting times and with the excitement and turmoil which too frequently results from the crowds attracted to a multipurpose sports or recreation club." Translation: leave the women and children home.

If I had to give The Golf Club a grade, I would give it an "A". There is really nothing lacking and it is a great place to spend a day playing golf and hanging out in the locker room.

I ♥ Maidstone

I have previously written about Maidstone as part of my write-up of Golf in the Hamptons but I don't think I did the course justice. In the category of lucky bastard, the two world ranked courses I have played the most are Merion and Maidstone (M & M). My latest round at Maidstone was in a brisk wind, and it inspired me to post more pictures and write more as the course was shining in all its glory.

The neighborhood Maidstone is located in is impressive, with its manicured hedgerows and deca-million dollar homes.

A hedgerow near Maidstone

In my original writeup of Maidstone, I mentioned how the membership was ultra-wealthy and referenced their private jets. I received this comment recently, "you sound like a complete asshole. the g4s will be irs prop and the members will be locked up." Although the comment was anonymous, it was no doubt from a fellow New Yorker due to its directness, and was clearly written by someone who is pressed for time, since he couldn't take the time to capitalize any words and spell out the word "property."

Well, I may indeed be an asshole, but at least I'm not angry at the world. While there are a lot of 'For Sale' signs in the area and tough economic times are palpable even here, I'm rooting for my friends at Maidstone to recover so I can keep being invited back to play.

It's too bad that Maidstone is always compared to National and Shinnecock because of where it is located. I'm as guilty as anyone of doing this; the fact is, the course stands on its own as a world-class course. Situated between Hook Pond and the Atlantic Ocean, what makes Maidstone so good is the variety of its routing, the continual change in direction, the quirkiness of the layout and more than a half dozen spectacular golf holes. A course like Maidstone probably will never be built again, at least in the United States. The environmentalists would not permit building holes in the dunes right next the ocean. And, an architect would have to have guts to route the course the way Willie Park did, with tee boxes and greens so close to each other and a couple of awkward tee boxes. In the brilliant, but bizarre way the course is routed, the second hole is detached from the rest of the course, across a road with an out-of-bounds down both sides. It's not a throw-away hole by any means, in fact, this 537 yard par five is the #1 stroke index hole.

One of my favorite holes in the world is the short par three eighth hole (151 yards) with its blind tee shot and a green set behind the dunes. Par threes don't come much better than this one.

The eighth hole from the tee

The green is a challenging one with a sharp fall off short, right and left, and a big dip in the middle.

The eighth hole from behind the green

You hardly have time to recover from the exhilaration of the eighth hole when you walk to the next tee, but the next hole is even better. Standing on the ninth tee box is one of the most beautiful places in the world of golf. In my view, it rivals walking up the 9th fairway at Royal County Down or standing on the 16th tee at Cypress. As you are perched on top of a hill, the par four ninth hole sits among the dunes below you with the Atlantic Ocean in full view.

The ninth hole set within the dunes

Once your tee shot is in the fairway you have a tricky uphill shot to a green that is set at an angle to you. There is a severe drop off to the right of the green and you don't want to miss there.

The par three fourteenth is another one of the brilliant par threes at Maidstone. Only 148 yards from the back tees, it is in an awe inspiring setting among the dunes with the Atlantic Ocean in the background.

The world class par four 14th hole at Maidstone

Another design feature that makes Maidstone such a good course is that most of the greens are set at an angle to the fairway. The seventeenth should be an easy hole since it is only 328 yards from tee to green. If you bite off the appropriate amount of the pond, it is not that hard to hit the fairway. You should have a wedge to the green, but it is not a particularly easy shot, since the green is set at an angle, and if you hit long or right you're on the road. The approach to the green is like a mini version of the St. Andrews Road Hole. Park had the foresight to design many of the short holes like this: the first, fifth and seventh are designed similarly. He also interspersed both short and long holes and easy and difficult holes in a way that you rarely see.

The 17th green at Maidstone

Having played Maidstone now in a variety of conditions, I have really come to appreciate that no two holes play in the same direction.

When I originally played Maidstone I thought it had a weak start and a weak finish, but I have now changed my opinion. The first, second, seventeenth and eighteenth holes are more strategic than they first look and require you to place the ball in the appropriate place in order to score well. When the wind is up, 6,423 yards is all Maidstone needs to be a stern test of golf.

This is one of a half-dozen clubs I have played that I would love to join, although its not happening. When I grow up I want to live in East Hampton and be a member of Maidstone.

Muirfield Village Golf Club

Muirfield Village Golf Club (ranked #37 in the world) is a Jack Nicklaus design located near Columbus, Ohio, not far from where Jack grew up. The course is named after Muirfield in Scotland, where Jack won his first Open Championship in 1966. One key difference between Muirfield and Muirfield Village is that the one in Ohio, like almost all of Jack's courses, supports a large housing development, while the one is Scotland sits on open land between a farm and the water. Most golfers are familiar with Muirfield Village since Jack's Memorial Tournament is played there each year, more often than not when it is raining. Although the course was co-designed by Desmond Muirhead and Pete Dye, the club history states that the final product was 90% Jack and 10% Dye and Muirhead. The course opened in 1974. Muirfield Village is Jack's baby, and he has continued to tweak the course ever since it was built, often making the course more difficult if he felt the shots the pros hit were not hard enough at the Memorial.

Aside from Muirfield Village, Columbus has two other distinctions: It is the home of Ohio State University, and the horror film The Silence of the Lambs was filmed nearby. The film features Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer who is incarcerated. I can't prove that the movie's producers chose to shoot near Columbus because of Muirfield Village, but they certainly may have. I think the movie is an apt metaphor for the course since I was often in jail and at times the course seemed to eat me alive.

Muirfield Village was designed from the beginning as a course to host professional tournaments and, like many Nicklaus designs, was built to suit Jack's style of play, which requires the golfer to hit the ball long and shape his or her shots. The course was built so that every hole has an amphitheater viewing area. The use of the amphitheater preceded even the TPC Stadium course in Ponte Vedr,e and Jack says, in a manner that would make The Donald proud, "It's a unique golf course. I don't think there's ever been a golf course built in the United States like Muirfield, or anything even close to it." The course has water actively in play on nine holes, normally both alongside the fairway and fronting the greens.

The first thing that struck me when seeing Muirfield Village is that it looks like Augusta. I have seen the course on TV and, just like Augusta, which I have walked several times, the terrain is much more dramatic in person. Muirfield Village is a very hilly course. One of the key design principles of Muirfield Village is that most shots play downhill. Jack's design philosophy about the course: "I believe golf is a much better game played downhill than uphill." You drive from elevated tee boxes or into a valley on the vast majority of holes, and your second shot is uphill only a handful of times. You can see the downhill terrain in this photo below looking back from the second green.

The downhill par four 2nd hole looking back from the green

There are several courses in the world that stand out for having a great collection of par three holes: Cypress Point, Augusta National, Pine Valley, Woodhall Spa. In my view, Muirfield Village stands out for its par fives. Muirfield Village has a greater collection of par fives than any other course in the world I have played. The par five 5th, 11th and 15th are all world-class. Each uses Deer Creek, which snakes through the course, very skillfully. The 527 yard fifth hole begins with a tee shot from an elevated tee box (of course) to a fairway that slopes from right to left. The optimum play is to the right, since all balls naturally feed down to the left. On your second shot you have a choice of fairways to lay up to. The fairway on the left is safer and offers one of the few flat lies on the course.

The par five 5th looking toward the green with fairways left and right

The fairway on the right is effectively very small since it continues to slope severely right to left and feeds balls not struck well into the water. This fairway on the right will leave you a shorter shot to the green, but also an uneven lie.

The fifth hole looking back from above

The fifth green is fronted by water. If you hit the ball long off the tee and fade it, you can try for the green in two, but there is a big penalty being in the water if your shot is not well struck.

The fifth hole looking back from the green

The hole is both strikingly beautiful and offers fabulous risk-reward options. As with most holes at Muirfield Village, a shot hit over the green leaves you in jail with a downhill sand shot to a green that slopes back to the water.

The conditioning of Muirfield Village is lush. The club history goes to great pains to say it was not modelled after Augusta, but I'm not so sure. The routing, use of water, hilly terrain and greens are similar to Augusta. Also, the par three 12th hole looks a lot like the par three 12th at Augusta, requiring a tee shot to be hit over a pond to a similar green. It is also hard not to think that Deer Creek is the substitute for Augusta's Rae's Creek. The greens generally were in excellent shape and were fast, although they are not the defining characteristic of the course; the hilly terrain and snaking creek is. Many of the greens are set at an angle to the fairway and have water in front of them, requiring precise control on both distance and location.

The 412 yard par four ninth is typical of the par fours at Muirfield Village. It plays from an elevated tee box, downhill (sound familiar). The fairway slopes hard from the right to the left and there are many uneven lies. Your approach shot has to be hit crisply from an uneven lie. If you are over the green, you will be faced with a penal downhill sand shot to a green sloping back to front and toward the water. This is a common design element at Muirfield Village.

The approach to the green at the par four 9th hole

The 567 yard par five eleventh hole is somewhat similar to the par five fifth and is also a world-class hole. You again hit from an elevated tee box (I warned you) down into a valley with a fairway that again slopes right to left.

The world-class par five 11th from the fairway

Your second shot is over Deer Creek to another fairway, and then finally another shot over water to the green. Once again, long hitters can certainly try to reach the green in two, but the shot has to be precise, or the ball will be repelled back into the stream that fronts the green. The split fairways reminded me a bit of the 17th and 18th holes at Carnoustie, both of which have patches of fairway intermingled with a snaking burn. The creek snakes through the 11th at Muirfield Village so much that the hole has seven bridges that you can use to cross in different places.

Par five 11th hole toward the green

The use of multiple islands of fairways on this hole is also reminiscent of the par five 15th hole at Hirono Golf Club in Japan, which uses a similar design.

Deer Creek snaking through the 11th hole with its split fairways

I liked the fourteenth hole quite a bit. It is a 363 yard par four where you have to hit a tee shot through trees into a valley with an amphitheatre. The green is large, but long and narrow and set at an angle to the fairway. I was worried about my approach shot to the 14th green and was about to yell "bite", but I had sudden visions of Anthony Hopkins simmering his fava beans, so I yelled "sit" instead. The ball landed in the middle of the green.

The 14th hole from the tee

Muirfield Village is a course suited to professional golfers. The co-designer of Loch Lomond, Jay Morrish, probably had me in mind when he said about Jack, "I've always felt Nicklaus really doesn't understand how bad people are. To him, a bad player is a two-handicap. If you're a 15-handicap, you're hopeless. There's no sense of you even being out there." Bingo.

Although his courses in general, and Muirfield Village specifically, are hard, I am not in the Nicklaus-design hating camp. I do find many of his resort courses unappealing and too difficult. However, I am a fan of his Mayacama course in Sonoma, California and of Cabo del Sol in Mexico as well as his co-design with Tom Doak of Sebonack on Long Island. I would make a distinction between Muirfield Village being very difficult, and thus hard for a mid-to-high handicapper to play, and the course not being good. It is a good course, has an interesting routing, is in superb condition and has excellent greens. I just wish I wasn't in the slammer my entire time there. Aside from all the other difficulties, there is a big penalty for being off the fairway, as the rough is tough and the ball nestles down into it.

Par five 15th hole playing through a narrow valley

On the negative side I thought there were a half-dozen average holes on the course including the par three fourth hole and the par four sixth and eighth holes. The course is very hilly, and it is as difficult a walk as any course I have played; it is the toughest walk I can remember since playing the Addington in England about five years ago. I played my favorite way, walking with a caddie, which saved me from a complete flop sweat. Carrying your bag at Muirfield Village would be a real burden. Jack's design philosophy of almost exclusively downhill golf shots means that the walk from the green to the next tee is sharply uphill all day long. Although a very private club, the course gets a lot of play and there are groups going off all day on most days.

In my view, Muirfield Village deserves to be ranked in the top 100 because it has the best collection of par five holes I have ever seen. It will be Nicklaus's legacy and as such should be treated with respect. He's probably not the first of golf's historical figures I would want to have a beer with, but you have to respect everything he has done for the game. If I may digress, those I would love to have a beer with, in order, are Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and Ernie Els. The ultimate prize, however, would be to have a couple of scotches with Colin Montgomerie because, in keeping with today's theme, he is a psycho. You'd probably have to block out a day and a half to just sit and listen if you just ask him, "Colin, tell me a couple of stories where you argued with people for putting you off your game." I can't wait for next year's Ryder Cup with Monty as captain.

For Columbus, Ohio especially, Muirfield Village is quite formal. There is a guard gate at the entrance like at Pine Valley, and if your name is on the clipboard you are buzzed through the gate. After you drive up to the clubhouse an entourage comes out and greets you by name, and they valet park your car, which is very nice. The people and service at Muirfield Village are first class all the way, and they manage to make you feel at home. They change the spikes in your golf shoes to new spikes to protect their greens, and there is an attention to detail that's 'kinda hokey in a midwestern 'sorta way, but makes a difference. Their wine list is excellent and they have a large selection of Chiantis.

Nicklaus on Muirfield Village, "Certainly it's a tough, tough golf course. But it's a fair test." To keep this comment in context, it is a fair test of golf the same way that swimming from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco is a fair test for a swimmer.

From the back tees, the course plays 7,366 yards and has a slope rating of 149. Be prepared for a stern test of golf if you ever play Muirfield Village and make sure you don't play it by yourself. Go with somebody to lessen your chances of being eaten alive. There's safety in numbers.

Whippoorwill Club

I am lucky enough to live within driving distance of thirteen clubs ranked in the world's top 100. I try not to take this for granted, rather, I try to take advantage of it every chance I get, particularly if I can play on weekdays instead of working. It was in this vein that I recently played the Whippoorwill Club in Westchester County, New York.

Westchester County is chocked full of good golf courses. There are the well known ones ranked in the top 100 such as Quaker Ridge and both the east and west courses at Winged Foot. There is the 36 hole Westchester Country Club which hosts PGA tournaments. There are also a whole host of below the radar private clubs built long ago by famous architects during the golden age of course design. A small sample: The Apawamis Club (Willie Dunn, 1899), Blind Brook (Macdonald/Raynor 1916), Century Country Club (Colt & Alison, 1926), Fenway (A.W. Tillinghast, 1924), Old Oaks Country Club (Tillinghast & Alison, 1925), Siwanoy (Donald Ross, 1901, site of the first P.G.A. championship), Sleepy Hollow (C.B. Macdonald and A.W. Tillinghast, 1911), Knollwood Country Club (Tillinghast and Banks, 1921) and the Whippoorwill Club, founded in 1928 and originally designed by Donald Ross with revisions done by Charles "Steamshovel" Banks.

The heritage and tradition of the Whippoorwill Club dates back to the mid 1920’s when Donald Ross designed the course which lay entirely on the east side of Whippoorwill Road. At that time Ross was at the pinnacle of his career and was the most recognized architect of the day. Everything changed in 1928, when Fred Ruth, developer of the Mid Ocean Club hired Charles Banks, with whom he had worked at Mid Ocean, to redesign the Ross course. Banks is credited with the design and remodeling of more than thirty golf courses from 1921 until his death in 1931. It is said that he believed Whippoorwill to be his masterpiece.

Whippoorwill took on its most unique characteristics when Banks was brought in and when holes four through nine were built on the west side of Whippoorwill Road. Steep terrain, tree-lined fairways and no parallel holes characterize this section of the course. These holes play in roughly a semi-circle on dramatic, hilly terrain squeezed in between large rocky outcroppings left from the last ice age.

The first three holes play near the clubhouse on open terrain and are very good. All three are dog-leg holes with challenging greens. However, when you cross Whippoorwill Road to the par three fourth hole the course becomes exceptional. They should put a warning sign up near the road crossing as you walk from the third green to the fourth tee that you are entering a unique set of golf holes.



The next six holes have an originality and distinct appeal that you find only rarely on a golf course. Banks put extra polish on the holes across the road. Thus far in my worldwide travels I have been dazzled by a unique stretch of holes only rarely: Cypress Point holes 14-17, Crystal Downs holes 11-15, Morfontaine Valliere holes 3-8, Pine Valley holes 2-6.

The stretch of holes begins with the fourth, a prototype "Eden" hole and plays 157 yards downhill with dramatic, deep bunkering surrounding it. A shot hit over the green results in serious trouble.

Par three 4th hole

The fifth hole, a par four of 455 yard is the #1 handicap hole. You drive the ball through a chute of trees into rugged terrain. If you hit long and left, the ball will run down the hill leaving you a shorter shot to the elevated green.

View from the tee on the par four fifth hole


Approach to the fifth green

The approach to the green plays uphill with a large, deep bunker protecting the left hand side in the front.

The sixth hole was my favorite on the course, a par five of 538 yards where you also have to hit through a chute of trees into a valley with large rocks on both sides. Your third shot plays downhill to an elongated green that slopes back to front and has a dramatic horseshoe shape in it similar to the green on the third hole at Yeamans Hall.

Tee shot landing area on the par five sixth hole

When the pin is in the back of the green, as it was on the day I played, the effective landing area you have to hit to is a flat surface of about ten feet by twenty feet. If you don't make it up on that plateau, the ball rolls back to the front of the green.

Approach to the green on the par five sixth hole

The seventh hole is a 425 yard par four that is a sharp dogleg left. The tee shot plays over a pond. Allegedly a steam shovel rolled into the pond during construction and is still there. The second shot plays up a narrow valley between big rocks to a well protected green set down in a hollow. Notice how narrow the fairway area is and also note the large boulders, which hems in the hole on both sides.

The second shot on the par four 7th hole

The 8th is a "Biarritz" hole with a big swale in the middle of the very long and tough to hit green.

The eighth green as seen looking back from the 9th tee box

The ninth hole is 379 yards but plays close to 479 since it essentially plays straight uphill. The ninth is known as "Cardiac Hill". The hole is to steep that when you get to the green, you are at the highest point in Westchester County at 740 feet. It is a challenging small, elevated green. The ninth caps off one of the most exciting stretchs of holes a golfer can play and really define the experience at Whippoorwill. I found them exhilirating. A very interesting characteristic of the front nine is the sequence of shots that you have to hit into the greens. The fron nine alternates between uphill shots and downhill shots. The 1st hole plays to an uphill green, the 2nd to a downhill, the 3rd to an uphill, all the way through the 10the 10th hole. I don't know if this "roller coaster" effect was by design or by accident, but it creates a nice varied routing.

The back nine has more of the Ross influence and feel to it, although Banks re-did the greens. The back has more open vistas and rolling hills rather than dramatic hills and does not have many of the large rock outcroppings. The course has a nice selection of short par fours that require precision iron shots and good putting such as the 347 yard 2nd hole and the 320 yard 13th. While the rest of the course isn't as exciting as holes four through nine, the 14th hole stands out as a good hole on the back nine. It is a 440 yard par four that plays uphill to the green and has a split fairway, leaving the golfer with a nice strategic choice depending upon how far you hit the ball and the wind.

Approaching the 14th green at Whippoorwill

Whippoorwill is a fantastic course that, along with Piping Rock, Myopia Hunt Club and the Seaside Course at Sea Island are under-rated courses in the United States. In my view, they are better than several courses ranked in the top 100 such as East Lake, Scioto, Ocean Forest or Medinah. I played Whippoorwill with a learned friend who has also played a lot of good golf courses. We both independently felt that Whippoorwill at times reminded us of Merion. Partly, this has to do with similar terrain in some places and with the general overall short nature of the course. Like at Merion, the course is split in two by a road and you have to be able to hit the ball to the correct side of the fairway or the correct side of the green in order to shoot a good score. A strategy of playing to the middle of the green won't work here due to the green shapes, slopes and severity. You must be on the right quadrent of the green depending upon where the pin is to shoot a good score.

Why is Whippoorwill overlooked and under-rated? Perhaps because the course is only 6,636 yard from the back tees. Perhaps, because it doesn't get much press or outside play given that it is a very private course in a very affluent area. Whatever the reason, I believe the front nine is worthy of cult status. Golfweek Magazine comes closest to recognizing the genius of Banks' work here, ranking the course as #73 in its list of the top 100 classic courses in their 2009 rankings. I have enjoyed all the Banks courses I have played, especially his course in central New Jersey at Forsgate, which has similar green complexes to Whippoorwill and a truly spectacular par five hole (the 8th) that also uses very hilly terrain as artfully as he does at Whippoorwill.

Aside from the great golf course Whippoorwill has a great clubhouse, a nice relaxed feel to it and great caddies. Play it if you ever get invited.

Many thanks to Robert Mercer Deruntz for allowing me to use his pictures of Whippoorwill.

Cherry Hills Country Club

The Cherry Hills Country Club (ranked #90 in the world) is located on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. Cherry Hills proved to be a very difficult course for me to play, as it is a private club. It limits guest play and was hard to access since you must play with a member. It recently reopened this past May after being closed for renovations for eight months. The original 1922 William Flynn design has been modified by several architects over the years including some changes by Arnold Palmer. The most recent restorations were done by Tom Doak and his firm and were intended to bring the course closer to Flynn's original design. Doak and his team rebuilt several greens and most bunkers, among other changes. Cherry Hills is the only world ranked top 100 courses located in the Rocky Mountain region.

"The shot heard around the golf world" occurred during the epic 1960 U.S. Open held at Cherry Hills. The 1960 U.S. Open featured Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer vying for the lead. In the final round, as 'Arnie's Army' watched, Palmer uncorked a 346 yard drive to the par four, 1st green to start the greatest come-from-behind charge in Open history. Palmer moved up 12 players and 7 strokes for a final round 65 and a 280 total for his victory. The 65 was the best final round ever produced in an Open. In addition to the 1960 U.S. Open, Cherry Hills also hosted the event in 1938 and 1978 and the P.G.A. Championship in 1941 and 1985. Among the changes Palmer made to the course was to lengthen the first hole from 345 yards, presumably so no one could drive the green.

The iconic shot of Arnold Palmer throwing his visor after winning the 1960 U.S. Open

Cherry Hills also hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1990, won by 20-year-old Arizona State golfer Phil Mickelson. It will host the Amateur again in 2012. Former NFL great John Elway is a current member of Cherry Hills and the current club champion, with a 1 handicap index.

The Golf Course

The golf course starts on flat ground and the first four holes are relatively straight forward. The green on the 3rd hole, seen below, is new. The hole is 315 yards long but the green is now elevated and difficult to hold as it is crowned and balls not hit precisely will roll off.

The elevation on the course begins at the fifth hole and basically gets progressively more hilly as you play on. The par five fifth hole plays as the #1 stroke index hole at Cherry Hills. The green is elevated, hard to hold and fronted by a swale. The 518 yard hole has interesting terrain and the fairway slopes right to left and the hole dog-legs to the right at the end.

The par five 5th green

The course really begins to pick up steam on the ninth hole. The 434 yard par four ninth hole plays up a big hill back toward the clubhouse. From the landing area of your drive to the green, the hole slopes severely from left to right, following the natural contours of the land beautifully. The difficult green is perched on a slope on this dog-leg right hole.

The dog-leg right, uphill 9th hole at Cherry Hills

The 428 yard par four 10th hole is a mirror image of the ninth except it runs away from the clubhouse and slopes from right to left. They are an excellent pair of holes that use the hilly terrain very well.

Cherry Hills original designer, William Flynn, was also involved in the design or renovations of several other top 100 courses including Shinnecock Hills and the Country Club at Brookline. There are some similarities between The Country Club and Cherry Hills in terms of course routing, the use of large sloping hills in the terrain and the style of approach shots required to get to the green.

The par three twelfth hole of 194 yards plays over water. Cherry Hills has a stream that meanders throughout the property and comes into play often, especially on the back nine.

The par three 12th hole

The thirteenth hole is a 381 yard par four that has a new green. You have to hit over the stream on your second shot to a green that slopes back to front.

13th green as seen from behind

The fourteenth is a 381 yard par four with another tee shot that you have to hit up onto a big hill. The second shot plays downhill and to the left to a green that has the stream snaking around it and a large tree protecting the left side. It was my favorite hole on the course and presents several good risk-reward decisions on both the tee shot and on the approach shot.

The fantastic 14th hole at Cherry Hills

The par three fifteenth plays 188 yards downhill to a relatively receptive, flat green. Cherry Hills has four sets of tees. The championship tees (which are 'cherry' red) play 7442 yards, the back tees play 6817 yards and the member tees 6400 yards. I like playing a mile in the air because the ball travels an extra 10% further than it does at sea level, so Cherry Hills is not a particularly long course by today's standards once you adjust for altitude. I hit a couple of shots in a less-than-ideal fashion and was yelling for them to get going while at the same time my caddy was yelling for them to get down. That extra 10% helped me more than once.

The par three 15th hole

The par four sixteenth is a good risk-reward hole as well and typifies the back nine, which is much stronger than the front nine. The hole is 402 yards and is a slight dogleg right. Your approach shot plays over the burn/stream to a green set at an angle to the fairway.

Approach to the 16th green

The course finishes with back-to-back par fives that both have water in play.


The green on the par five 17th hole

The seventeenth hole is where Ben Hogan famously went for it during the 1960 Open and ended up in the water. The hole is 588 yards and has an island green. The eighteenth hole is a fairly easy par five at 458 yards. It is rated as the #16 stroke index hole, although it plays longer because the hole runs up the hill back toward the clubhouse and the entire landing area is bordered by water on the left, making an accurate tee shot of paramount importance.



The club has nice memorabilia on display in the clubhouse. Dwight Eisenhower had his "summer White House" in Denver and used to play at Cherry Hills where he was a member and at one time served at club president. Ike's heart attack in 1955 occurred after he played a round a Cherry Hills. It actually probably started while he was playing, as he complained of indigestion during the round. There is a nice signed scorecard and other mementos from his tenure in the clubhouse. During Eisenhower's eight years in office he played over 800 rounds of golf. If I'm doing my math correctly, that's almost one hundred rounds a year. This is clearly enough to vault Eisenhower ahead of Ronald Reagan as the greatest president of the 20th century. He had his priorities straight, and was obviously obsessed with golf. I am going to begin a letter writing campaign to the World Golf Hall of Fame to have Ike inducted for this worthy feat.

Loch Lomond Golf Club

Rossdhu House, Loch Lomond's clubhouse

Loch Lomond Golf Club (ranked #56 in the world) is located in Luss, Scotland, not far from Glasgow. As those that have been following my quest know, I have been critical of the approach that Loch Lomond has taken to visitor play.

Organized in 1994, Loch Lomond was set up in the tradition of Augusta National and Pine Valley; it has an international membership which doesn't serve as a local golf club in the traditional sense. In fact, Loch Lomond is constituted as a 'destination' club to be 'savored' only a few times a year. Membership is organized around specific geographic regions. The club has appointed specific 'Club Captains' to assume leadership and membership responsibilities for these geographic regions and to ensure a particular geographic mix of members.

Apparently I got it all wrong. The club markets itself in a pompous fashion, but once behind the gates, I found Loch Lomond to be delightful and not the least bit pretentious. After hearing my pleas for access, I was contacted by a member who wanted to prove that Loch Lomond is a down to earth kinda' club, even if it is for people in the über-privileged class. After my visit I was better able to appreciate what they have here and separate out the pomposity of the marketing from the actual membership and club operation. Bottom line, I immensely enjoyed my first visit to their 'private and discerning international golf club' and hope to return to play again.

The third hole ("Garden Cottage")

The golf course was designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Moorish. When one of the course designers almost dies by sinking into a bog while building the course, that should tell you something about the terrain it is built on. Near the thirteenth and fourteenth holes, Weiskopf went out to survey the land one early morning and started to sink into the bog. He almost died and saved his own life by clinging onto a nearby tree limb for several hours before being rescued.

The course is atypical of most of the top ranked courses in the British Isles in that it is neither a links course nor a heathland course. It is a parkland course more akin to those found in the U.S.

As you can see from a picture of the third green above, one of the design elements of the course is the shaved areas around many greens. This picture shows the severity of the slope. The fourth, twelfth and thirteenth holes also have severe shaved areas such as the one seen here.

The par three fifth hole ("Creinch")

The course opens up with a relatively easy set of holes and then turns toward the loch at the fourth and fifth holes. The short (150 yard) par three fifth hole shows the beauty of the setting at Loch Lomond.

Similar to Royal County Down, the terrain at Loch Lomond is idyllic, with the mountains rising up behind the water to create a dramatic backdrop. This part of Scotland is the beginning of where the lowlands meet the highlands and is breathtaking. As you can see from the pictures, I hit Loch Lomond on a near perfect day. One of the things I love about Scotland is the degree to which the outdoor environment is so vibrant and clear. Due to its blessed geography and lack of pollution, the air is cleaner and crisper in Scotland than virtually anywhere I've been. The vibrancy of the colors is stunning on a clear day and the diffused nature of the light hitting the leaves makes them appear translucent. When the gorse is in bloom, with its canary yellow color, contrasted against the lush greens and purple-hued hills, it creates an unparalled environment in which to play golf.

The par five sixth hole ("Long Loch Lomond")

The 625 yard par five sixth hole is the #1 stroke index hole on the course and plays along the loch from tee to green. As we played this hole, a small boat went up the middle of the loch past where we were playing. It was the mail-man out delivering mail on the lake. Norman Rockwell couldn't have imagined a more serene scene.

The short par three eighth hole ("Inchmoan")

The short par three eighth hole plays away from the loch and back toward the clubhouse. On the day we played Loch Lomond, the course was quite wet, which is a frequent occurrence here. Those familiar with the Scottish Open, which is played at Loch Lomond every year the week before the Open Championship, will know that the course is usually wet. They have been working on improving the drainage situation ever since the course was built, but I think frankly, since it was effectively built on a bog, it will be a nagging problem. The scorecard clearly states a local rule: the embedded ball rule, which makes sense. Because of the wet conditions, being able to lift, clean and place your ball is of paramount importance here.

The lovely downhill par four tenth hole ("Arn Burn")

The front and back nines at Loch Lomond are quite different. As my caddie described Loch Lomond: the front nine is for tourists and the back nine is for golfers. That is, the front is an easier test of golf and plays along the water. The back nine is a sterner test of golf and plays inland, closer to the mountains and through the bog. The tenth hole is a 425 yard par four that plays down a hill and offers many hazards including a burn, a water hazard and many well placed bunkers.

The par five thirteenth hole ("Gallow's Hill")

The 560 yard par five thirteenth hole is a downhill par five that offers the golfer plenty of risk-reward options given its myriad bunkers, water hazards and changes in direction. Look at the photo above and try to figure out the best route to the green. What makes this hole even more difficult is that the stunning beauty of the mountain backdrop is a constant distraction as you play the hole.

In keeping with the high-end nature of the club, Loch Lomond prints custom scorecards each day, adjusting the yardages for the actual pin placements. On the day we played, the cards were not accurate, which is frankly no big deal. It is easy enough to just look at the green and figure it out. After the third hole, the caddies knew something was wrong. In classic Scottish fashion we heard from the various caddies in succession, "The scorecards are rubbish today," "These sheets are all shite," in a way only a Scotsman can pull it off. It is one of the endearing charms of Scotland that without intending to do so, almost everything the Scots say is tinged with humor and sarcasm. The Scots use their words sparingly, but always with maximum impact.

The short par four fourteenth hole ("Tom and Jay's Chance")

The 345 yard fourteenth hole is a classic risk-reward short par four. From the tee, it is a 245 yard carry to drive the green on this sharp dogleg right hole. Going for the green and missing will penalize you, as you would expect. Hitting an iron off the tee leaves you an easier shot, but it is not an automatic par given the uneven fairway, the fact that you have to hit over a wee burn, and the difficulty of the green.

The photogenic seventeenth hole ("The Bay")

The 215 yard photogenic par three seventeenth hole is set in a spectacular setting near the loch.

Loch Lomond excels on its short risk-reward par four holes. There is great variety in the routing and unique and imaginative shaping of bunkers. The course is manicured perfectly with the beautiful gently rising mountains as the backdrop and the crisp blue water at their base. The burn snaking around several holes adds to the charm of Loch Lomond. The glens, with their gentle sloping, the trout streams and ponds, peat bogs, thirty-five feet of elevation change and the old trees make this a remarkable setting for golf.

Most would agree that Loch Lomond is one of the finest and most scenic places in the world to be at and to play golf on. But how is the course? Certainly, to rank a parkland course in Scotland this high in the world rankings it must be special. To be honest, the course on its own right probably is like a lot of other high quality parkland courses in the United States. What makes it so charming is the combination of having a very good course set in this breathtaking location, the exclusivity of the club and one of the best clubhouses in the world. It is impossible to separate the course from its environment. Looked at in total, I agree that Loch Lomond is roughly one of the top fifty places in the world to play golf.

Loch Lomond looking up toward Ben Lomond from the 17th green

If someone knows of a finer clubhouse in all the world than Rossdhu House at Loch Lomond, please let me know. The clubhouses at the National Golf Links, Winged Foot, Garden City and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers impressed me as being world-class. Rossdhu House takes it to another level. The similarities between Loch Lomond and The White House in Washington D.C. are striking. The club has a fenced exterior gate around the property with a guarded entrance. Your movements on the property are perfectly orchestrated. When you arrive and leave they track your progress with walkie talkies through a command center. The interior of this 18th century Georgian mansion has a series of interconnected, themed rooms, each decorated with original, high-quality large oil paintings. Rossdhu House has a green room, a red room, a library, a formal dining room, a reception area, and a series of additional rooms for a variety of specialized purposes that I lost count of them. Like at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the club has its own helicopter here. Each has a Rose Garden and perfectly manicured grounds. Rossdhu House even one ups The White House with clearly superior views out of the large windows, and I doubt that the White House has an amenitized spa!

In the end, I was won over at Loch Lomond by the setting and the Scottish charm. The club is not pretentious, and I've decided that I like being pampered. I had an 'A' caddy and a great day at Loch Lomond. I have been playing some local municipal courses this year to try to cut back on expenses, and the experience here was the polar opposite of public golf. I didn't find lots of broken tees laying on each tee box, nobody was walking around with their shirt out, there were not a lot of unrepaired pitch marks on the greens, and we didn't have to wait to hit every shot. While playing the round, I was asking the member how far it was to Dundonald, the other course associated with Loch Lomond. "About 10 minutes by helicopter." It must be nice.

It's official. I've become a golf snob. The problem is that, once you experience this level of golf, it's tough to go back. I apologize to all of you hackers out there for leaving the fraternity of regular guys and moving over to the dark side. I have indeed gone native. It did strike me as a bit odd that they served us Kool Aid at Loch Lomond after the round in the walled garden. I should have paid more attention, as it didn't seem right at the time, but now there is no going back.

Loch Lomond was the last of the twenty-seven courses ranked in the top 100 in Europe that I set out to play. As such, I finished on a very high note indeed, but hope to be invited back to Loch Lomond again.

Valderrama

The side wall of the clubhouse at Valderrama

Valderrama Golf Club (ranked #77 in the world) is located between the Sierra Blanca mountains and the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Spain, not far from the Rock of Gibraltar. Valderrama is a very formal club; while it allows visitors, it also has a lot of rules, restrictions and protocol. Many areas are restricted to members only and you must wear a jacket indoors. In this regard it reminded me of Muirfield in Scotland. I was able to play Valderrama recently on a trip through Europe and was thrilled to do so. The course is private, but if you arrange it far enough in advance, following their rules, it is possible to play without too much hassle.

My journey to Spain

In keeping with my new lower net-worth, and being sensitive to the sudden era of frugality we find ourselves in, I'm economizing and being very austere. Conspicuous consumption is out, hard knocks are in. Going budget is the new black. As such, I'm now in the back of the plane and have to suffer through the indignity of the masses. While flying, I have previously been seated next to someone who has had to suffer the humiliation of the flight attendant handing them a seat belt extender. Flight attendant discretion and a barely audible voice are a prized characteristic when dealing with the porcine passenger. My flight over to Espana included a new travel experience for me.

I could see the big man coming a mile away. I caught him out of the corner of my eye. Please, I whispered to myself, I hope he's not next to me. As he approached my aisle I pretended not to see him in the hope it was a bad dream. "Excuse me sir, these are my seats." Hmm. I looked at the big boy with a puzzled expression and pulled out my boarding pass to look, while simultaneously saying a couple of quick Hail Mary's. "I have 15D and E, the aisle and middle," he said. I didn't see him with anyone else. Alas, I had taken my seat on the wrong side of the aisle and moved. Low and behold, he lopped into both seats, rather uncomfortably in my view. He was absolutely large enough to warrant two seats, but it is still a shock to the system to see this type of spectacle first hand.

I dozed off during taxi and takeoff and was awoken by a major ruckus underway in the plane. The case of the missing roll. Where was the dinner roll? Apparently his gourmand cuisine was missing a roll (wrapped in plastic for both sanitary reasons and for dramatic effect no doubt). Passengers in front of us and behind us had gotten rolls, but mysteriously, his roll was missing. You'd think that the crown jewels had been stolen. It's a four day-old, stale roll for gods sake, not a priceless possession. I have a new found respect for the flight attendants who handled his inquisition with grace and not a tinge of sarcasm as they made a valiant, yet unsuccessful effort to find another roll. I almost chimed in during the dispute to suggest to Mr. Arbuckle that he was playing the wrong card. Since he bought two seats, he should have demanded two full meals instead of obsessing about the damn roll, which was a side-show.

The poor woman in the window seat will probably never fly again she was so traumatized. I miss first-class, where an unlimited supply of freshly baked rolls are complimentary.

The Golf Course

Valderrama was originally designed in 1975 by Robert Trent Jones Sr., but the original design was compromised by having to fit into the wishes of the then owners to accommodate a housing development. In 1985, a new owner Jaime Ortiz-Patino reacquired more parcels of land around the course so that it could be lengthened and redesigned. Jones was brought back in to redevelop and remodel the course and he did a masterful job. Much credit goes to both Jones and Ortiz-Patino for sticking with the project and devoting so much effort to realize their collective vision. Ortiz-Patino has followed the benevolent dictator model at Valderrama that worked so successfully at Pine Valley (Crump), Oakmont (Fownes) and Augusta (Roberts).

Jones' design philosophy of "hard par, easy bogey" works well at Valderrama, although in the end it is quite a difficult course. The defining characteristic of the place, as you soon find out, is the over 2,000 old cork oak trees that are everywhere.

The 1st hole at Valderrama

It becomes clear quickly what makes Valderrama an interesting and unique course: the cork trees are in the way. The first hole is a good example. The tee shot on this 'S' shaped fairway looks simple enough to hit. The problem is not so much hitting the fairway, but being able to hit it in the proper place. If you don't drive the ball far enough to the left, your shot to the green will be blocked out by a cork tree. This is a consistent design philosophy at Valderrama, the overhanging tree, which Jones terms his 'bunker in the sky'.

Approach shot to the 1st green

As you can see in the picture above, the approach to the first green is narrow and well guarded by overhanging trees. Valderrama is not a course where you just bomb the ball off the tee and hit a wedge to the green. It requires you to hit shots that you normally don't hit, and to hit them all day long.

Approach shot to the 2nd green

The second hole, a 345 meter (for yards, add 10%) par four that requires a drive all the way to the left in order to avoid the trees seen above, which sit in the middle of the fairway. It is such a narrow landing area that it is highly likely that you will have a big decision to make on your next shot. Either try to hit over the tree or try a punch shot under the tree. Plain and simple, if you don't want to try out a variety of shots, you are not going to like Valderrama. If you think it's not fair to have a tree in your way after you hit the fairway, you also will not like Valderrama, since ten holes have an overhanging tree as a hazard.

The elevated 4th green

Notice the tree overhanging the elevated green on this par five 470 meter fourth hole. Both when going for this green or when laying up, you have to thread the needle to put the ball in the correct location. Too far to the right and you risk the water. However, you also can't bail out too far to the left, because if you do, then the overhanging tree will block your shot to this multi-tiered, narrow green.

The fourth is a highly rated hole, and is ranked among the 500 Greatest Golf Holes in the World, in George Peper's book of the same name. It plays down a contoured, uneven fairway hemmed in by cork and olive trees. It reminded me of the isolated third hole at Durban Country Club, which winds its way through the bush.

Short par four 8th green

Valderrama excels on its short par four holes such as the eighth (296 meters), tenth (333 meters) and thirteenth (341 meters). Each requires you to hit to the appropriate side of the fairway in order to have a clean approach to the small, elevated, well-bunkered greens. The eighth is seen above with the encroaching trees hemming in the green.

8th hole looking back from the green

You can see more precisely in this picture, which looks backward off the eighth green, how tricky the trees are, and how small the greens are.

Elevated 10th green

The tenth hole is a 333 meter sweeping dog-leg par four that requires your tee shot to land on the left side of the fairway to avoid the big cork tree that guards the hole on the right. There is a pond right of the fairway and shots on the right side of the fairway tend to run down the severe slope and feed into the water. In this regard, I found Valderrama to be similar to Merion, in that you have to be in the correct position on each fairway or your approach shot is much more difficult. I am not suggesting the two have a similar visual feel, simply that the way you have to approach playing each course is similar, with precision in putting a shot where you want to being of paramount importance.

The difficult par three twelfth hole

It's not often that a par three represents the #2 stroke index hole on a golf course. At Valderrama it is ranked as such. The downhill twelfth hole plays over 190 meters. The entire right side is O.B. and the left side falls off down into a ravine. The 'bunkers in the sky' are omnipresent as your ball flys toward the green. The green is small as is typical of the entire course.

The iconic seventeenth hole at Valderrama

When most people think of Valderrama, they remember the 1997 Ryder Cup and think of the seventeenth hole. The seventeenth is a 410 meter par five hole that requires your approach shot to land well onto the green to avoid the tragedy of rolling back into the water. The hole is short enough for a par five to temp you to go for the green in two, leading to a wet ball unless the shot is struck perfectly. The area in front of the green repels balls, slopes toward the water and is shaved. Seventeen is a good hole, but I found it odd that it is actually the most out-of-character hole on the golf course. The cork trees don't come into play on this hole and the shots you have to play are relatively straightforward. It actually stands out for being a hole almost unlike every other one on the course.

17th looking backward

Above is the view looking from the green backward at the shaved area on seventeen. You will remember the balls trickling back down the slope into the water from the Ryder Cup. The Rock of Gibraltar is visible looking to your left when you stand on the seventeenth tee. You can also see the Rock from the elevated eleventh green.

The dogleg left 18th hole

Valderrama doesn't offer a let-up throughout the round and certainly not on the eighteenth hole. The cork trees are a constant presence on the course right up until the end. The eighteenth is a 397 meter dog-leg left. If you can cut the corner and hit over the cork trees on the left you will have a shorter shot to the green. The hole offers a safe option playing to the right, but your remaining shot to the green will be much longer. A pull off the tee is deadly since the rough and waste area left of the trees penalize such a shot.

I liked Valderrama a lot. It is one of the best conditioned courses I have played and I was blessed with a charming and experienced caddy (Vincente) who helped me by suggesting shot shapes and types throughout the round. At times, the course also feels like you are in a bird sanctuary, which is due to a conscious decision on Ortiz-Patino's part to designate many natural areas expressly for such purposes and because the location of the course near the Straits of Gibralter puts it in a natural migratory pattern for birds.

I would describe the course as a cross between Augusta (its conditioning, bunker style and the terrain) and Harbour Town (the overhanging trees and narrow fairways). Rather than finding the trees to be a gimmick, I thought it was a good design characteristic. I had to punch five irons and hybrid clubs, had to hit wedges over tress and attempt to use all clubs to start the ball low, land on the green and then stop. Or I had to try to hit a big hook or slice, mostly without success. It can certainly be frustrating to hit a fairway and not have a clear second shot; but the decision to hit over, under or around a tree is part of Valderrama's charm.

In all my travels, there have only been three courses where I went right from the 18th green back to the first tee: Sand Hills, Cruden Bay and Pine Valley. I liked Valderrama so much, that I went around again very late in the day after playing eighteen holes in the early afternoon. Sometimes it all comes together for you when playing golf, and it did for me at Valderrama. Teeing off at around six in the evening and playing in 2 1/2 hours at twilight was an uplifting experience that I will remember for a long time.

Cork tree with its gnarled bark inside a bunker near the 9th green

While I obviously loved Valderrama, my traveling companions had an almost visceral dislike of the course. While acknowledging that the course was visually beautiful and well-conditioned, they thought is was too tricked up, the drunken fools that they are. Their primary complaint was that too many well struck balls were not rewarded. They felt that it was not a fair golf course, because if you hit the fairway repeatedly as they did, you shouldn't have to hit around trees all day. While I saw this as part of Valderrama's charm, they viewed it as patently unfair. Jackasses.

Barcelona

The last time I was in Spain I passed through Madrid, so this time I arranged my travels so that I could visit Barcelona. I stayed on La Ramba, which is in central Barcelona and offers one of the most delightful areas in the world to go for a stroll down a tree lined boulevard. The architecture of Barcelona is beautiful, especially the iron railings on the exterior of all the buildings. There is much to be said for the slower, more relaxed Spanish way of life.

My only letdown was the well known church in Barcelona, the Sangrada Familia, designed by Gaudi. It is in an out-of-the-way neighborhood, is weird and is covered in scaffolding. It is to churches what Medinah is to golf courses: a big disappointment.

I felt fortunate to have an uneventful and quiet flight home. Luckily, there were enough rolls for everyone flying back to America.

From the Rough - Another view of Valderrama

As one of the traveling companions with the blogger, I feel compelled to write a rebuttal to the above, well-written but misguided review. I appreciate and respect the author’s unbridled enthusiasm of his review of Valderrama. I too had that enthusiasm as we pulled into the resort and golfing complex. When there is an individual in uniform controlling the entrance gates to approve (or disapprove) of your playing privileges, you usually are in for a special day. And once inside the gates of Valderrama, you truly believe something special lies ahead. The place is immaculate. It feels like hallowed ground. History was made here. And history will probably be made here again. In short, before you put a tee in the ground, the excitement level is high.

It must be noted that my blogger colleague and I did not play in the same group. He was invited to play with a special, elite traveling group. I played with the third member of our trio of friends, each of whom is on a quest to play the world’s top 100 courses. My golfing partner and I flew into Madrid the day before and drove almost 10 hours south to Spain’s southern coast. Spain is a beautiful country – it is very dry and much more mountainous than ever imagined. Our drive took us through the city of Granada, which is home to the famous Alhambra palace. What shocked us most about Granada was the snow capped mountains that framed the city. These are the Sierra Nevada mountains, not unlike the Sierra Nevadas found in this country. Another highpoint of our day-long trip were the roads in Spain. They are real and spectacular. Perfect condition. No potholes, no traffic. Truly a pleasure to drive in this country. We passed seemingly miles of nothing but olive trees. There are more olive trees than people. Kind of like Scotland where sheep far outnumber humans. Refreshing.



Golfing Letdown

So where did things go wrong? First, as we were about to tee off, we asked the starter if it ever rains in the southern part of Spain. It’s probably a question he doesn’t get too often. After all, they don’t name it the Sun Coast for nothing. But it was a very cloudy this day and it looked darker on the horizon. “No, it never rains in Spain,” he confidently said. I was both pleased and relieved as I had left my rain suit and umbrella in my hotel room. By the third hole, the rain was pelting down. So much for Al Roker sitting in the starter house.

Although the rain was an unwelcome surprise, the bigger let down was the Valderrama golf course itself. This is where the big differences between my blogger colleague and I exist. My second shot on the first hole was my first clue. My drive was on the left edge of the fairway with about 160 meters to the green for a second shot. Not a great drive but certainly playable and acceptable to my level of play. But the second shot would require either a low stinger beneath the cork trees that would have to stop suddenly on a tiny green or a high lofty shot that would have to, by luck, ricochet off the cork trees and drop onto the green (see blogger pictures). It was then that I realized this course was built for Seve, not for Steve, Joe or Jim and their 8 to 14 American handicaps.

The second hole was a bit more ridiculous – cork trees in the middle of the fairway. My drive was where it was supposed to be – in the fairway. My reward for hitting the fairway? A punch shot to advance the ball under the trees. I couldn’t get near the green. And of course there was cork trees overhanging parts of the putting surface.
A quick comment on cork trees. They are fascinating. Never saw them before. Yes, they are spongy like a cork. I like cork, especially when it is released from a lovely bottle of Bordeaux. I don’t like cork when it unfairly obstructs my approach shots to green after green.



By the third hole, I said to my playing partner and traveling companion, “I’ve played this course before. It’s called Harbour Town. Hated that tricked up place and it isn’t worthy of being in the top 100.”

As we reached the fourth hole, the rain didn’t let up but the flow of the round did. We were delayed by the slow play of the two groups ahead of us. This gave us the chance to meet up with a lovely married couple and we joined their twosome. He was from Scotland, she was from Ireland. Golf was obviously in their blood. Money was obviously in their pocket as they were members of both Valderrama and Loch Lomond. Both had game but more importantly they were truly informative about their courses in Spain and Scotland. As for the fourth hole itself, it was more of the same. The picture looks nice but even the blogger admits that part of the green is blocked by overhanging trees.

By the time we got to the ninth hole, the rain was teeming down. Kind of like Octomom when her water broke. It was so intense and unexpected, the rain actually sent our Scottish/Irish friends packing. They had had enough. However, after we shook hands to say goodbye, the Scot, seeing my pathetic frame as if I were in a wet-tee shirt contest, offered me his rain suit. I’m not yet comfortable to jump into another man’s trousers but I quickly seized his waterproof jacket. All I had to do at the end of the round was to return it to Al Roker, who would put it in the Scot’s locker. Another reason to love Scotland, I declared.

The rain on the back nine continued. Admittedly, the golf course improved somewhat. But I think you get the idea that trying to bend and shape shots into covered greens gets old fast. My comments and rebuttal, however, wouldn’t be complete without a note about the “iconic seventeenth hole.” Yes, history was here during the 1997 Ryder Cup. My blogger colleague is correct in saying this is an uncharacteristic hole compared to the others because of the lack of overhanging cork trees around the green (perhaps there was an emergency corkage need for some Contador 2005 Benjamin Romeo). But what was most shocking about the 17th hole was the man-made pond in front of the green. Actually, calling it a pond is an injustice to ponds. If you look closely at the blogger’s second picture, you see the “pond’s” pool liner that is covered by sunken green algae. It’s kind of like the neighbor who has an in-the-ground pool but never cleans it. All that was missing was a diving board and a slide.

19th Hole

I didn’t hate Valderrama. As noted, I was very excited to visit Spain for the first time and play this historical course. I was pumped for a course that I thought would exceed expectations. But with the rain in Spain not staying on the plain and a course that doesn’t reward good shots, my Valerrama golfing experience was disappointing. Plus, and this cannot be ignored, at 300 euros plus 60 euros for a cart, the golf set me back about 480 large. Ouch!

What did I like about Valderrama? I like small greens, and small areolas and Valdy had about 18 of them. Plus the course was in beautiful shape. The scenery was just average – there was a lot of real estate. Keep in mind that this is a resort course. Think Harbour Town, Doral, Palm Desert. If you look really hard, you can see the Mediterranean Sea and the tip of the Rock of Gibraltar. Frankly, the views found within the low country of South Carolina (Yeaman’s Hall), cliffs of Bandon Dunes or windmill at Long Island’s National excite me much more. The biggest plus, as it is with all of our trips, was my playing partner. We were soaked yet thirsty. We reveled in our disappointment of the course yet had a lot of fun. The pops we consumed during and mostly after the round are and will always be a key component of any of our trips.

Finally, perhaps the best way to judge a golfing experience is to ask yourself if you would return. This doesn’t mean a second round in a day – that would be too easy, especially if, like my blogger colleague, money is not an issue (his idea of hard times is no salt on his peanuts or drinking 12-year-old Macallan instead of 15-year-old). Would I make another transatlantic flight to Spain just to play Valderrama? I would do – and have done it – for Scotland, Ireland and England. Spain, despite its rugged beauty and the extreme courteousness of its people, is not a place I would return for another golf experience. There are way too many other places I’ve got to play and re-play.

Galigolf Blogger

Surfing the web recentlyI stumbled across a blogger on the other side of the world that attracted my attention: Gilagolf. Gilagolf is a malay term meaning “Golf Crazy” and this kindred spirit plays golf courses in Malaysia and blogs about them.

There is a real art to writing a critical review, and he has it down. I'm a big fan of this genre and appreciate that not everyone loves every course. He gets an A+ for honesty. Also, him and I philosophically agree that many courses are over-hyped. His writing is very opinionated and is also laugh out loud funny.

Commenting on Fraser's Hill Golf Course: "It’s impossible to recommend this course to anybody, except people who intend to commit suicide. Terrible, terrible experience." On the courses amenities: "No card, no balls, no lockers, no maintenance, no nothing." You won't believe the pictures of the course he has within the post, it looks truly awful. His description of the dog following him around the course is hilarious.

The full write-up of Fraser's Hill is here.

I love his rating system of courses, especially his lowest rating: "Absolutely Astoundingly Crap", which is one rating lower than, "Waste of time and money."

His pictures are truly interesting; While they are obviously playing the same game we play, it looks a lot different. I was particularly struck by the narrowness of most of the courses and some of the geographic land formations (like the one at the top of this post). Malaysia is a mountainous, hot and tropical country that gets a lot of rainfall and the pictures and descriptions show this to great effect. I also like his maps and scorecards within the blog. Getting to courses here looks more like trying to deciper a treasure hunt map than anything else.

His reviews come with warnings on getting to the courses, like this one, "The idea is, DO NOT SPEED in a kampung area unless you have a death wish. Kampung people are very communal so if you mess with their chickens, cats or family, they will likely surround your vehicle and overthrow you."

His descriptions of playing on courses torn apart by wild boars, quicksand and some ridiculously poor course maintenance will offer the armchair traveler much enjoyment.

His write-up of the Selsa Hills Course, also gets extra style points: "The worst fairway in the whole world can be found here, in Selesa Hills Golf Course," and "Please don’t even think about this course. You’re better off standing in a driving range and have people hit their driver straight at you." He pulls no punches, "Make the turn and it descends into being plain, boring and crappy again. The first nine is a like a girl before marriage. After the turn, it’s post marriage, she becomes lazy, fat and hideous."

Like him, I am also always struck by the raving reviews you see in magazines and on web-sites, especially where the actual experience can be so different. In this vain, he re-writes a marketing piece done for the people at Bukit Unggul, replacing the original flowery prose with his own version below:

“Very few golf courses in Malaysia leave a lasting memory… Bukit Unggul Country Club is NOT one of them. Craved into a 65-hectare valley, the par 71 5,858-metre long 18-hole course is an unnatural piece of crap mutated by renowned American architect, Ronald Fream, who is also a suspect in the latest crime of defacing golf courses around the world. Golfers who play here for the first time instantly realize how screwed they are with each hole of wrong yardage and sadistic treelines that eat your balls. Golfballs, that is..”

“Playing he (sic) sadistic course demands a beretta 9mm and a precise shot to the head to end all misery. Here, a non existent fairway and green maintenance programme by the management ensures a muddy, dirty experience for all golfers, and especially for beginners, remind them just how lousy and useless they are and that they should stay home and curse the day they took up a golf club. Its un-maintained Bermuda Tifways fairways and tees, and bouncy Tifdwarf (do we actually give a darn what Tif actually is??!) greens exist harmoniously among a luch, majestic tropical rainforest, filled with wild boars and monkeys who will not hesitate to attack and kill golfers, simply to make play a true test of agony, like middle age torture, or wearing a corset at your crotch.

Bukit Unggul Country Club is simply an forgettable experience. However it will often return randomly as a nightmare that will revisit you night after night until your dying day.”

There, now that is what I call truthful advertising. Enjoy!

Gilagolf blog