Noteworthy Courses

Chambers Bay

After a rather soggy day at Sahalee Country Club I pointed my rental car south and headed for the Tacoma area where I was scheduled to play a round at Chambers Bay the next day. Chambers Bay is located in a town by the name of University Place, which, interestingly enough, is NOT the home of a university. The town was named in the 1800s after the University of Puget Sound purchased a tract of land with the intent of building a new campus there. Even though the new campus was never built and the university sold the land back to the city, the name University Place stuck and it has been used ever since.

Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club

The Sandhills area of North Carolina is well known for Pinehurst Resort and Donald Ross’s famed Pinehurst #2 course, but let’s not forget that there are numerous other opportunities to see great Donald Ross designs in the area . . . and at a fraction of the price of #2.

Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club officially opened for business in 1928 and the golf course here is widely considered to be one of Donald Ross’s most celebrated designs in his portfolio of over 400 courses. The U.S.G.A. must be in agreement with the general consensus as they have selected Pine Needles three times to host the premiere women’s golf event in America, the U.S. Women’s Open (1996, 2002 and 2007). That’s quite an endorsement from the U.S.G.A., especially considering they returned to the site that many time in just a sp

Pinewild Country Club (Holly Course)

Location: Pinehurst, NC Architect: Gary Player Year: 1989 March 16, 2013 The second day of our Pinehurst trip started out with a round at Pinewild Country Club’s Holly Course. We were the first tee time off so we were there bright and early to check in with the proshop. We had planned to walk the course which didn’t go over very well with the staff member working the pro shop. After questioning our ability to walk in less than 4 hours and 15 minutes no less than three times we got out of there and headed to the practice

Country Club of Whispering Pines (Pines Course)

Location: Whispering Pines, NC Architect: Ellis Maples Year: 1962-1969 March 15, 2013 After our morning round on the River Course at CC of Whispering Pines we had a little lunch in the grill room before heading to the 1st tee of the Pines course for our afternoon round. Before I get to the course I want to point out that the experience we had here was great. This club is semi-private which means that they although they have members, visitors are welcome as well. I’ve been very fortunate to have visited a lot of private clubs throughout my Top

Country Club of Whispering Pines (River Course)

My annual visit to Pinehurst kicked off with what has become a typical dramatic flare. In previous years we’ve had late and missed flights as well as a faulty condo key that forced us to drive all over Pinehurst at midnight trying to find a hotel room. This year I somehow managed to lock the keys in my car in the parking lot of UNC’s Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill.

Streamsong Resort (Blue Course)

After playing the Red Course on the previous afternoon, my second day at Streamsong Resort started bright and early with breakfast in the restaurant at 6:30am. For the morning game Hans and I would be joined by Fred who was another early arrival from our group. The three of us were going to be the first group off on Tom Doak’s Blue Course at 7:35am, so we were being extra attentive to stay on schedule and make sure we didn’t start the resort’s day off on a bad foot. By time we finished our breakfast, found our clubs and rolled a few putts it was time to hit the first tee. The yardages below are from the 6,698 yard black tees that we played.

Streamsong Resort (Red Course)

The hottest story in the golf nerdosphere for the last 12 months has been Streamsong Resort in Polk County, Florida. For those who may not have heard about it – have you been living under a rock??? – I’ll give a brief background on the project. Streamsong Resort is a development venture with the goal of repurposing a phosphate mining site that has been owned and operated by The Mosaic Company for over 50 years. Apparently The Mosaic Company, or someone in their organization, thought the terrain created by their mining operation was ideal for golf and would make excellent use for the site once the mining was complete. I’m no golf course developer, but it sure seems logical to me that already owning great land is a big part of the golf course riddle . . . and one that makes things significantly less expensive.

Cap Cana (Punta Espada)

Typically my golf travels are wrapped up each year by early to mid-November. Once the cold weather hits I usually hunker down and stay home for a few months to relax and unwind from the vagabond existence I tend to lead during golf season. I thought this would be the case for 2012 but just as I was putting my golf travel bag into storage for a few months I got an email from my friend Hans who loves to tempt me with opportunities to play great golf. Upon reading his email I found that Hans was up to his usual antics and this time he was enticing me with a trip to the Dominican Republic for a little golf excursion disguised as a couples trip.

Sage Valley Golf Club

I first visited Sage Valley back in early 2008 at which point I had played less than 10 courses on my Top 100 Quest. I absolutely loved the course and the profile I put up from that visit can been seen by clicking here. I was excited to play the course again to see if my feelings would hold up after having visited roughly 80 courses that are currently on the Top 100 or have been in recent years.

The Greenbrier Sporting Club (Snead Course)

This year my buddy Jay, who has been on many of my Top 100 adventures with me, turned 40 and wanted to make a little celebratory trip. What started out as a guys golf trip to Scotland evolved into a golf/sightseeing trip to Ireland with the ladies, then changed to a week in Napa without golf, and finally landed on a weekend at The Greenbrier Resort with one round of golf. I suppose that’s the way it goes when trying to please a large group.

The Greenbrier has come under new ownership in the last few years and the resort has experienced a bit of a rebirth. Among other upgrades to the facilities, there is a new casino built underground that has received a significant amount of press.