For over a century the mountains of North Carolina have served as a summertime oasis for those who wish to enjoy the cool temperatures found here during the peak of summertime and the beautiful changing of the seasons in the fall. Ever since George Vanderbilt constructed his world famous Biltmore Estate in 1895 the mountainous areas of North Carolina have been synonymous with leisure activities.
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For the last 3 years I have made an annual pilgrimage to New York for a summer golf trip. The first year I played one Top 100 course, the next year I played two and this year I was going to try for three. Quaker Ridge was one of the places I really wanted to play but I didn’t have any contacts. Unlike some of the other New York area Top 100 courses, Quaker Ridge keeps a very low profile.
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Sebonack Golf Club opened in 2006 to considerable hoopla from the press. Located in the golf mecca Southampton, Sebonack is just a pitching wedge away from National Golf Links of America and not much further from Shinnecock Hills which made it controversial from the start. The course itself was an unprecedented collaboration between two architects, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, each bringing distinctly different styles to the project.
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So there I was in New York’s Westchester County, sitting on the couch at my friend Jay’s house watching the rain come down outside as I wondered if I would be playing at Winged Foot Golf Club later in the day. This was a serious case of deja vu. Exactly 1 year and 12 days prior I had been sitting in the exact same spot watching rain come down outside the exact same window and wondering if I would be playing at Winged Foot Golf Club.
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“Love reading your blog. Now is the time to go to Kohler for Blackwolf Run and the Straits courses with the rates being very, very low. I’m a member at Olympia Fields so if in town give me a buzz. Best wishes on your quest.” Back in April of this year I received the above email from Al, a visitor at my website. As I have mentioned in other posts about Chicago courses, when I started this quest I did not know a mortal soul in the Chicago area and playing the six Chicagoland Top 100 courses was something I was concerned about.
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Chicago was one of the cities that caused some concern for me when I started the Top 100 quest. At the time I did not know one single person that lived in Chicago and six of the Top 100 courses are in the Chicagoland area . . . That made me more than a little worried that this was going to be difficult. I slowly started asking around and eventually stumbled onto a couple of leads.
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If I were to start my own golf club today I would hope it came out looking exactly like The Golf Club in New Albany, OH. The Golf Club was founded in 1967 by Fred Jones with the simple goal of having a private club where he and his friends could play golf and enjoy themselves. Mr. Jones managed to piece together a 400 acre parcel of land and then took a chance on a virtually unknown architect by the name of Pete Dye to build his golf course.
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Columbus, OH is one of America’s great golf cities and, at the time of my visit, home to four Top 100 courses. My friend Larry Berle who has played the Top 100 himself and wrote a book about it was kind enough to arrange for both of us to play at Double Eagle Club and The Golf Club with one of his friends who happens to be a member at both places. I arrived in Columbus on Friday night and the weather forecast was pretty iffy for Saturday.
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After finishing up my morning game at Whistling Straits I hopped in the car and drove about an hour south to Milwaukee where I would be playing Milwaukee Country Club. The Milwaukee Country Club was founded in 1894 and was strictly a social and family club at the time of its birth. Just about a year later golf was introduced to the club and land was leased for a 9 hole course.
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I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I headed to Wisconsin to play Whistling Straits. Despite its high ranking of #22 on the Top 100 list, I wasn’t overly excited to play it. From what I could tell about the course from my research on the internet and from watching events played there on TV it was probably not going to be my kind of course. I was hoping to be surprised.
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