Two bits of golf news today: First, Liberty National, just across frpm Wall Street in New Jersey got their wish and landed the 2009 Barclay’s tournament. Many of the old guard mourn the loss of Westchester from the schedule, but hey, the PGA gets much closer to the deep pockets of Wall Street. Follow the money. I reviewed LibNat (as she is affectionately...
[Author’s Note: This piece was supposed to be published as my 2007 Hootie at Bulls Bay wrap up, but between work at both jobs, tax season and other articles, it fell by the wayside until tonight. I hope you like it.] The members of Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, South Carolina are blessed with a privilege unique in the world of golf. They belong to the only...
AWENDAW, SC – Charles Dickens wrote in his classic novel A Tale of Two Cities:  Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away.             Dickens was wrong. ...
Golf and rock and roll frequently work well together. Granted, they are not meant to be fused at the hip or married at the altar. Quiet, solitude and relaxing commune with nature are the essential therapeutic attributes of the game. Nevertheless, like a great rock concert, golf can also be exciting, electrifying and euphoric. The “roaring on the pines”...
Since it’s the holidays, it’s time to wind up the year with the Annual “Jay’s Golf Awards” a.k.a. the Jazzys. Today – Best New Private Course. This one was easy. At Ballyneal Golf and Hunt Club, Tom Doak built the O’Neal brothers a brilliant rejoinder to nearby Sand Hills and a terrific sister course to Pacific Dunes. The...
BALLYNEAL GOLF CLUB One Ballyneal Lane Holyoke, CO 80734 970.854.5900 info@ballyneal.com Architect: Tom Doak Par – 71 Excitement Level – 12/12 Difficulty – 9/12 Cost – NA/Private Memberships – start at $50,000, but will increase. Call Ballyneal for more details. Design – Seven stars (all ratings out of seven) Conditioning –...
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...