The Hardest Course to Get On

My learned readers have spoken and agree that Augusta National is the hardest course in the United States to get on because you have to play with member and only fifteen or so live locally. Also, a member can only have three guests on the property at one time. For added difficulty, take a look at the list of members, half are CEOs or ex-CEOs and it's not particularly easy to wiggle an invite from the likes of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates or Lou Gerstner, Jr. 61% voted Augusta National as the most difficult course to get on.

I'm still trying to get on Augusta and have two leads I am pursuing. A friend recently played and send me a long email about the experience, which sounds better everytime I hear a new story. "My bed in the Berckman's Cabin was merely a place to lay down, the ability to sleep was impossible," pretty much sums up the experience.

Cypress Point came in as the second most difficult at 15%. Again, a small membership of 250 members, only 75 of whom live locally. Chicago Golf Club came in third at 8%, because there are only 125 total members. Fishers Island came in 4th at 7%, Seminole at 4% and Shinnecock at 1%. Let's keep the list in perspective, though, all six courses are exceedingly difficult to get access to.

Thank you for all those that took the time to vote. A new poll question regarding the best architect of all time has just been launched.

My next post is my ever popular year and review with reader comments, followed by Camargo.

Tiger Woods Rumors Lure the Tabloids to Golf...

The tabloid media has grown in prominence dramatically over the last several years. Gossip around the private lives of celebrities has overtaken actually substantive topics across America's water coolers. Nothing is more telling than the simultaneous explosive growth of TMZ and PerezHilton.com in contrast with the near bankruptcies being faced by legitimate news stalwarts such as the New York Times.

But golf has seemed to be immune to this tabloid pandemic. Unfortunately, Tiger Woods' enormous popularity placed him under its greasy microscope. All it took was something minutely unusual in the petri dish for them to pounce. That indeed occurred over Thanksgiving when Tiger drove his Caddy around like a carnival bumper car with his wife going all Nicholson on it (let's just hope it wasn't with his priceless Scotty Cameron putter!). Like a herd of great whites drawn to a drop of blood, the media descended upon Tiger's Isleworth sanctuary with dollar signs in their eyes. Could this be evidence of a domestic issue?!

So friggin' what? A couple of years ago on my Bandon Dunes golf vacation, a friend of mine told us he knew a person close to Tiger's entourage. According to him, Tiger was quite the Casanova who was not opposed to "stepping out" and playing much more than just 18-holes. He also emphasized that it was more about quantity rather than quality. I didn't entertain the discussion because I didn't really care. Lots of people step out and it's almost a given amongst pro athletes. Big deal.

It turns out that it is a big deal to many. The Chinese have gone so far as to create a CGI re-enactment of the whole incident. Not quite Pixar, but way too polished than it should be and just another sign that the end is near (I wonder if they actually mocapped Elin swinging that club!):



But why all this attention? My guess is that people somehow build up a fanciful notion that famous people lead perfect lives. When anything surfaces to dispel these fantasies, it devastates them. It's just absurd. In the case of Tiger Woods, why should we think that he is better than us commoners at anything outside of playing golf? As a society, we need to come to the realization that all people suffer from faults. No amount of fame can make them go away. If anything, fame does the opposite. It would be naive to think otherwise. Accept it and move on. There are many more important things in the world be concerned.

To those who still think that most famous people stay on the straight and narrow, just remember that a wise man, Chris Rock, once said, "A man is only as faithful as his options." Ponder that for a minute. It's probably safe to assume that virtually all famous people are cheating. Certainly that's a better assumption for us as a whole than to deitize them if we want to put an end to the tabloid fascination. Lastly, for the record, I'm an extremely faithful guy by choice, not due to a lack of options!

P.S. Check out some of my blog friends' posts on this topic:

Hooked on Golf Blog

Mike Pederson Golf

The World's Top 100 Photo Montage

The winter months always present a challenge to post new write-ups. Over the next couple of months we will present our year end review and some other interesting posts that will no doubt dazzle my readers. The year end review is always one of my favorites because I recount reader comments from throughout the year. I have a trip planned to Australia in March so the spring and summer should be filled with a rich line-up of new course postings.

At great sacrifice to my family and work I have been traveling the world in the service of my faithful readers to report back my view of the top golf courses in the world. I've been toting my digital camera for the last four and have accumulated a nice collection of photos from the far corners of the earth. Here for your viewing pleasure, I have assembled my own favorites together in one place. Alfred Hitchcock has also inspired me to insert a cameo appearance in one of the photos.

Like the lovely lass in Seinfeld, there have been no touch-ups. All my pictures are real and they're spectacular. Enjoy!

Cypress Point's par three 15th hole

Cypress Point's par three 3rd green

Cypress Point's 17th along Monterey Bay

The approach to Valderrama's second with the ubiquitous cork trees

The beauty of Loch Lomond's par three fifth hole

Rossdhu House, Loch Lomond's world beating clubhouse

The par three 14th at Crystal Downs in Michigan

Maidstone's par three fourteenth along the Atlantic Ocean

The 9th hole at Myopia Hunt Club, Massachusetts on a fall day

Sweeping the dew at Somerset Hills 6th hole, site of a former race track

The view from the elevated tee on the 15th at Friar's Head, New York

Inside the clubhouse at The National Golf Links of America, New York

Sebonack's 11th hole at dusk, Southampton, New York

The exciting Entry drive at Yeamans Halls, Charleston, South Carolina

Seminole's pink clubhouse, Juno Beach, Florida

Sunrise at Cabo del Sol, Mexico

The desert meets the ocean at the 6th, Cabo del Sol, Mexico

The "horseshoe" third green at Yeamans Hall, South Carolina

The 11th, "Short" hole at Camargo Club, Cincinatti

The mystical approach to Morfontaine, north of Paris

The wild par three 4th hole at Morfontaine's Valliere Course, France

The magical par three 17th hole at Chantilly, France

Durban's 3rd hole routed through the bush, South Africa

Durban's 17th hole with wild-undulating fairway, South Africa

The narrow first tee shot at Naruo, near Kobe, Japan

The automatic traction system that shuttles clubs around Naruo, Japan

The massively sloping 14th fairway at Japan's Hirono Golf Club

The mist lifting on the 17th hole at Kawana Golf Club, Japan

The world-class par five 15th hole at Kawana, Japan

The uphill dog-leg, wavy fairway on the 8th hole, Prairie Dunes, Kansas

Whad'Ya Know? Wie Actually Won!

Well, it finally happened. Michelle Wie actually won a legitimate professional golf tournament. It occurred at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational over some of the top women golfers in the world.

While I've always thought that Michelle would win on the pro circuit someday, I didn't think that it would take this long. I had some serious doubts a couple of years ago when her pursuit of distance to compete with the dudes led to some questionable swing changes. But her Ernie Els-like swing of old returned last year and she was able to go flag hunting. She was competitive in many tournaments before her breakthrough win.

So what now? Obviously, it is a tremendous weight lifted off of her shoulders. The kind of pressure to win this kid must have built over the years must have been absolutely maddening. With every loss the PSIs were raised a notch. But the relief of winning must have been equally euphoric.

I think that the boost to her confidence from her first win could propel her to multiple win seasons in the near future. LPGA majors are certainly part of the picture. Why not? Have you seen the names of the recent winners of LPGA majors? Since Annika left, it's a who's who list of "who?". Over the last 3 years, the World's #1 Lorena Ochoa has taken only 2 majors. The rest are players likely to be unrecognized at my local muni. Clearly, there's plenty of opportunity for Wie to win majors in the current competitive landscape. We'll see what happens, but I'm sure that it will interesting to watch regardless. Good luck Michelle!

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.

Save Money on Vacation Golf

I’m a big Troon Golf fan.  Among the Troon courses I’ve played include Bahia Beach in Puerto Rico, Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Florida, Camp Creek, Watercolor, Florida, Palmilla Golf Course, Los Cabos, Mexico, Westin La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio, The Grove in London, England and Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort in Savannah, Georgia.  Superbly maintained and managed, Troon Courses are high-profile and reliable in all phases.

Recently, Troon announced the launch of the 2010 Troon Card Program, offering green fee discounts of up to 50 percent. With more than 40 participating facilities, the 2010 Troon Card offers discounts at more luxury golf courses than ever before. Additionally, this year’s Arizona TwoSome card is priced at $375 until November 6, 2009, offering a $150 savings compared to last year’s price. The National Twosome card is priced at $500, saving cardholders $175 on purchases made prior to December 7, 2009.

Returning to the Troon Card Program is the “Unlimited Golf” offer that allows cardholders and qualifying guests replay rounds for just $10 per player. The card’s “Best Rate Guarantee” ensures that cardholders always receive the best rate by extending $5 off promotional rates at participating clubs. Card choices include the Arizona TwoSome and FourSome, accepted at 11 courses across Scottsdale, Phoenix and Tucson, as well as the California/Nevada Troon Cards accepted at eight courses in Las Vegas and Southern California. The National card option extends rate privileges at more than 40 courses located in 15 states and in Mexico.

 “With six different card choices to choose from, golf enthusiasts are able to play more golf at world-class venues at better prices than ever,” stated Guy Sugden, director of the Troon Card Program.

Currently on sale, the 2010 Troon Cards are valid November 1, 2009 until December 31, 2010. Card purchases prior to December 7, 2009 receive an “Early Bird” discount. To view a list of participating courses, gather more information about terms and conditions or to purchase a Troon Card online, visit www.troongolf.com (select the “e-store” link) or call 1.888.TROON U.S. Cardholders who purchase at a participating facility, online or by mail, save an additional $25 off the Early Bird price.  

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. Where else can you play three par fives in a four hole stretch? And five holes in a row without a par four? At Maidstone, where the brilliant stretch of holes from twelve through sixteen make up a full house of golf holes, with a par 3,5,3,5,5.

The course has gone through many changes since its inception in 1894. The course as it exists today was designed by Willie Park, Jr. in 1922.  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 holes routed in the dunes (the 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th green and 14th) can compete with any holes in the world in terms of both beauty and the brilliance of their ability to test a golfer. The falloff behind the 10th green is simply frightening.

The world class par four 14th hole at Maidstone

No matter the weather conditions or the state of your game, it is hard not to be happy when playing the fourteenth hole.

The 14th from the tee box

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.

When Maidstone was built a fair amount of earth was moved. From David Goddard's history of Maidstone, "It was therefore necessary to fill a large area of marshland to provide sufficient fairway for the seventh hole which borders Hook Pond. It is estimated nearly 65,000 loads of sand, gravel and topsoil were hauled by wagon and narrow truck. The entire tee and the entire green for this hole is built into Hook Pond. Sand and gravel moved in building the ninth hole was used to build the fairway of the seventh hole. To build the sixteenth hole nearly four acres of swamp land was filled with sand and gravel. "

 

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.

The grass tennis courts at the Maidstone Club

New Waldorf Astoria Orlando Golf Club Opens

I attended the star-studded opening of the Waldorf Astoria Orlando earlier this month. Political luminaries like Florida Governor Charlie Crist and golf course designer Rees Jones were in attendance for the ribbon-cutting.

In between a lavish dinner at the Bull & Bear Steakhouse, cocktails at Peacock Alley and breakfast at Oscar's, I didn't have time to play a round of golf on the resort's new course. I did, however, take a cart tour and spoke briefly with Jones. I was very impressed.

I'm itching to play the 7,108-yard layout. The course weaves through giant stands of pine and cypress trees and Jones did a great job of utilizing the land's existing contours. Winding through a large wetland preserve, the courses has a par 72, slope 139 and 74.6 from its professional tees. There are five sets of tees so all playing abilities will find it challenging as they want it to be.

Jones is a master at designing courses for the ultimate user. I believe Waldorf Astoria Orlando Golf Club will easily take its place as one of Orlando's top resort layouts.

The Waldorf Astoria Orlando and the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club have put together a special introductory offer for golfers. The WA Golf package includes accommodations in a golf-view room at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando, two rounds of golf, and a $20 dining credit per person with rates beginning at $329 per room, per night, based on double occupancy. The offer is good to December 24, 2009. Cal 1-800-925-3673 or book online at www.waldorfastoriaorlando.com