HOLYOKE, CO – Life sure looked good through Eddie Peck’s rose-colored glasses today. After setting down his trademark Connecticut wrapper cigar and taking that Iron Byron swing of his, Steady Eddie, owner of Black Mesa Golf Club outside Sante Fe recorded the first hole-in-one of his life. He aced the 5th hole, a 171 yard par-3 with an 8-iron. What a...
Here’s the breakdown for the Fall tour. I’ll be reporting live from three different areas of our great golf nation. Part 1: Denver – Red Hawk Ridge, Pradera, Fossil Trace – The “Jim Engh” leg of the tour. Happily, he’s been building in a more expansive area of the country now, so people are getting to see his work. His design...
BAYONNE GOLF CLUB One Lefonte Way Bayonne, NJ www.bayonnegolfclub.com Architect: Eric Bergstol Par: 36-35=71! Excitement: 10/12 Difficulty: 7/12 Design: Six stars (out of seven) Natural Setting: Five and 1/2 stars Conditioning: Six stars Value: NA/Private, $125,000 Initiation Overall: Five and 1/2 to Six stars Eric Bergstrol is a real estate developer in the Tri...
We’ve already reviewed Liberty National. Later today I’ll have visited and reviewed its neighbor and rival, Bayonne Country Club, designed by Eric Bergstrol (the genius behind the $85 twilight fee and $125 public rounds at Pine Barrens, Twisted Dune and others.) This time Bergstrol wisely skipped over having Roger Rulewich design the course. Perhaps its a...
Competition is tough this year for the awards for best new courses – both public and private. Let’s take a close look at some of the favorites and dark horses. 1. Private Remember this name – Ballyneal. You will see it again for a long time. Word on the street is that this course is the strongest design of this year’s crop of private courses...
YALE GOLF COURSE 200 Conrad Drive New Haven, CT Architect: Seth Raynor! Difficulty: 11/12 Excitement Factor: 10/12 The rest of the ratings are below this article. I am reprinting the thought of my golf architecture expert colleague, Jim Keever. Jim is spot on. Boola Boola. ONe editorial note, some of the hole descriptions are excerpted by Jim from Bahto and...
Here are some pix of Lederach and Baltimore CC, West Course. The Lederach review is here: Above and to the left, the first fairway is a harbinger of things to come, as Kelly Blake Moran cants his fairways severely here. Above and to the right, you see from the 2d tee, the rear of the blind fairway bunker of the par-5 third. Its blind from the tee of 3 and fairway, so...
Baltimore Country Club (West Course) 4712 Club Road Baltimore, MD 21210 Par 72 Architects: Bob Cupp and Tom KIte Design: Four stars (all stats out of seven) Natural setting: Four stars Conditioning: Excellent for spring Value: Six stars – (when combined with east course) the initiation fees are reputedly a fraction of those asked by clubs in the northeast and...
Normally, this site is about great public courses, but let’s take a quick look at some great private clubs for your family to join. Boston: Black Rock G.C. – Brian Silva’s collection of terrfic designs for golf holes is a living, breathing encyclopaedia of golf architecture. Plus the members are uniformly friendly. If you live in Boston, this should...
Remember this name: Liberty National Golf Club. You will see it again. Reebok CEO Paul Fireman envisioned a private club just minutes from Manhattan where wall street execs could play nine holes after work or cut monumental business deals in an opulent club setting in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Oh…and of course there’s that pesky PGA/USGA...
Author’s Note: While this site is primarily about public courses and golf course architecture, we will spend some time over the next month or two reviewing some courses up for this year’s Best New Private Club award. The author’s views are his own and are in not meant to be impugned to either GolfObserver.com or the monthly periodical to which I contribute, unless my...
AUTHOR’S NOTE: There will be a longer piece forthcoming, but I owe it to you to satiate your appetite and to share this treasure with you. I’m in Pebble Beach, CA, but even in this mecca of superlative golf, both public and private, the golf takes a back seat for now. There are many wonderful human interest stories to tell about this small patch of Heaven...
I’m thrilled to get the privilege to be invited by the club and designer to play Mike Strantz’s redesign of Monterey Peninsula Golf Club (Shore Course) It was hailed by the attendees at the American Society of Golf Course Architects as a triumph. Many have predicted it will host a major soon. Also…a very happy birthday to my mom, Jeanne Flemma. I...