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.

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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