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I think I played the fewest number of golf courses that I've played in several years in 2020, due to a variety of factors you'd guess easily. But, it was a great golf year, nonetheless.
A thread
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A thread
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A friend is a member at Traditions GC in Hebron, KY, one of my favorite championship courses (it hosted the KY Mid-Am several years ago). Heavily wooded, draped over steeply rolling terrain, it's a bit of a thrill ride, but solid architecture and big fun.
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The GC at Stonelick Hills has been a revelation of the past two seasons. Halfway between Lexington and Columbus, it's the perfect place for my golf crew to meet in the middle for a fun round on interesting, almost severe terrain. Great reachable par fives are a highlight.
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Kearney Hill GL in Lexington is one of the greatest value municipal courses you will find. One of two "home" courses for me, this Pete & P.B. Dye gem is thoughtful, tough, and fun, and a great walk, to boot. It was the sight of a big win for me in 2000 (see smile above).
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Lincoln Homestead State Park GC is one of my true hidden gems. Tucked away deep in the central KY countryside, this Perry & Press Maxwell designed course boasts excellent green complexes on a routing that feels night & day different from front to back nines.
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Lakeside GC in Lexington, pressed beside the reservoir of Jacobson Park, oozes that 60's & 70's design and mechanical construction. It has NEVER suited my eye, and on a windy day, I find it as tough as anywhere. Gigantic, hard to read greens.
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Gay Brewer Jr. Course at Picadome, a gem that is creeping up on is centennial, is where I found my love for golf. Tight, short, twisting, with tiny greens and interesting features, it's my definition of parkland golf, in a good way.
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Keene Run Course at Keene Trace is a course that I can't decide if I love (or loathe). It's a diverse mix of really interesting holes that I should play better than I do. Several holes invite creative, non-aerial attacks that I never get correct. A wonderful walk, too.
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Mid Pines GC - my 1A favorite American golf course. No other golf course so compact has such great semi-blind shots and great reveals of what's next during the walk. Greens hide behind bunker faces and small rolls; I absolutely love it.
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Hyland GC was a pleasant surprise in the Pinehurst area. A vibrant "locals'" course, 14 of the 18 holes play on, over, around or across the singular interesting land movement. The greens are a bit repetitive: bunker left, bunker right, clover shaped surface, but it's fun.
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Tobacco Road is my favorite golf course that I don't need a passport to visit. The visuals, the greens, the variety of shots, I just love it. It's presents as an aerial golf course, but you can get away with bouncing and rolling the ball around quite a bit. Nothing like it.
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Oyster Reef is one the better, most low-key strategic golf courses on Hilton Head. Twisting and turning, Rees Jones put great care into producing choices through the routing and hazards, natural or imposed.
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Palmetto Hall - Arthur Hills Course is the most quintessentially Hilton Head course on the highland. Bobbing and weaving thru wetlands and houses using doglegs and tight corridors, it presents a surprising number of fun shot opportunities.
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Shaker Run GC used to rate highly on Ohio's "Best of" public course lists. So much for rankings. As the housing component continues to fill-in, the routing & playing corridors get tighter and angles goofier. Wonderfully conditioned, but once was enough.
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Tates Creek GC is the beginner's course in Lexington, a place to knock the ball around, figuring out how to hit it without many forced carries (but a decent amount of out-of-bounds). I can't putt the greens, despite 20+ years of trying, but a vigorous walk in the urban core
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Gibson Bay is a municipal golf course that is destination quality. Hulking, draped over great, rolling hills, this Hurdzan design never disappoints. If it were 20 minutes closer, I'd play it a couple of times per month. Big greens, tough sight-lines, brilliant.
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Pinehurst #1 feels like what I imagine Mid Pines may have been like before the Franz renovation. Compact, sharp angles, and some of the most impossible greens to putt I've ever played. The grain of the Bermudagrass was the strongest I've ever seen.
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The New Course at Talamore in Southern Pines is a smart Rees Jones renovation that moves up, down, left, and right, puts bunkers where they are in the way, and paired with greens of every shape, size, and contour. Doesn't feel like the Sandhills, but nice nonetheless
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Southern Pines is a local favorite in the Pinehurst area. The Donald Ross routing largely remains, with modern, bentgrass greens still in play. The vertical movement and tough angles render the short scorecard yardage irrelevant. It's fantastic, and it's getting a facelift
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Pine Needles gets the Sandhills aesthetic more correct than even Pinehurst, for my money. It's a beautiful canvas draped over a challenging course that pushes one to limit of their game: long, with big greens and big trouble if you miss those greens. And that closing stretch!
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Lake Forest GC is peak "Signature course" to sell housing. An Arnold Palmer name plate adorns this testament to a bygone era. Tough tee shots, with out-of-bounds and containment mounding lurking everywhere, makes for a long day if you're not striping it.
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Woodford Lakes, formerly The Brook and Cabin Brook, wrapped up it's most recent run at success, closing down after the 2020 season. For me, it was a course of last resort, as the routing was a bit goofy, the greens a bit too flat and round. But it was golf. RIP.
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Cherry Blossom grows on me with each successive round. It starts a little bland, but gets moving about the 3rd hole, with some really interesting holes and movements in the middle of back nine (the 17th tee shot is an abomination, but I digress). Worth an annual visit.
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Dormie Club, which will soon be exclusively private, is an exercise in distance control and angle management. With fairways as wide as Kapalua, the course is all about the greens, and being on the right section and tier of the green. I'll miss this course, it's fun-centric.
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Longview is a place to go knock it around when you want to swing hard. Swing, swear, repeat. Fairly wide open, and in need some serious tree management, it's a place to go have fun. Though, the par threes are brutally difficult, so beware. This kind of place warms my soul.
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Shipyard Plantation will always be special to me now because it's the first "big course" where my son joined me. Typically Hilton Head in presentation, it's a perfectly fine course with big, subtly contoured greens.
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The perfect place to end the day, and end a thread, The Cradle is pure joy. Get the ball on the green by any means necessary, and then the REAL fun begins. I don't know how you could visit Pinehurst and not play those wonderful 9 short holes.
And that was 2020.
27/FIN
And that was 2020.
27/FIN
