On Course — 400 and Counting

     I was recently invited, for the second time this spring, to visit my friends Bonnie and Paul at their condo in Ludlow, VT. This, of course, provided me with yet another opportunity to add a few new courses to my ever expanding list and reach a notable milestone – my 400th different course. I’m hopeful this is noteworthy enough to get an invite from the White House and am reserving my best golf shirt for the occasion. 

     I headed up early on a Tuesday morning for my first stop, the Eastman Golf Links in Grantham, NH. (Grantham – isn’t that where Batman lives?) It was another long haul but the rolling countryside in New Hampshire, especially along the back roads, is exquisite – almost like driving back through time to a simpler, quieter existence. I wouldn’t have been surprised to catch a glimpse of Ethan Allen readying himself for a Revolutionary War skirmish (assuming he wasn’t working on one of his beautiful bedroom or dinette sets!) 

     I arrived around 11 a.m. and was planning to go off as a single when I discovered a couple teeing off just before my scheduled time. I asked to join them and Marge and Bob kindly agreed. It’s always nice having someone with you who knows the layout. The Izzos are a retired couple from the Boston area who had recently purchased a second home at Eastman, only an hour and a half from their Boston home. Bob and I played from the white tees at 6300 yards and a 127 slope rating. Marge played from the rough! I have never seen anyone miss as many fairways as she did and wow, was she annoyed. The majority of her shots out of the rough either crossed the fairway into the opposite rough or found a bunker. Frustration, thy name is Marge! 

     The course is lovely and challenging and hosted the 2010 New Hampshire Men’s State Amateur Championship last year. Despite some decent elevation changes, it is very walkable and a fair test of your game. What I liked best about the course is the isolation of each hole. With few exceptions, each hole is totally separate from every other, giving your group the feeling that yours is the only one on the course. There are some modest homes lining the course but set back in the woods and barely noticeable. 

     My favorite hole was the par four twelfth, a 443 yarder straight downhill from the elevated tee box and reachable in two, even for moderately long hitter like me. There are three nearly identical holes on the back nine – straight ahead par fours of about 380 yards but each has a large pond smack dab in the center of the fairway, starting at 210 yards. All three require layups, leaving a very long second shot to the green. There was one hole that seemed to be an afterthought. The par three fifteenth is freakishly short. It’s listed at 113 yards from the white tees but the green is long from front to back and with the flag in front, as it was when we played it, the pin was barely 65 yards from the tees. I could have tossed the ball on the green underhanded. Still, it was a very enjoyable round of golf and the three of us had a blast. 

     I then headed over to Ludlow, VT where Bonnie had a great dinner ready for me. There is nothing better than good golf friends, except good golf friends who cook! 

     The next morning, we headed down the mountain from the condo to the Okemo Golf Club at the bottom of the hill. We had the first tee time at 7:15 a.m. and again had the course all to ourselves. Despite the early start, it was a steamy day but always a joy to play this gem, one of the finer courses in New England. 

     I have to interrupt here and give “props” to my wife, Betsy. (But this will be the last time. If I gave her any more props, I could enter her as an exhibit in the Wright Brother’s Museum.) She has been amazingly understanding and supportive of my frequent travel to play new courses. She is invariably kind and selfless, sort of like Mother Teresa but with a better fashion sense. In fact, she’s on my all-time top five list of great women, along with the aforementioned Mother Teresa, Madame Curie, Rachel Carson and Angela Jolie. (The criteria for my list is that the nominee has to a) have made an important humanitarian contribution to society or b) have starred as Lara Croft in a movie. Hey, it’s my list!) 

     Anyway, on Thursday, we were up before the sun and at 6:15 a.m. headed north to the bustling town of Rutland, about 30 miles away. This was to be my 400th different course played and I was hoping it would be a special experience. Golf Week has rated this course this fifth best public access course in the state for 2011 and we teed off in unseasonably cool temperatures with a bit of a breeze. 

     The course dates from 1901 and proved to be a revelation. An easily walkable tract, the course is divided in half by a beautiful, rushing stream. As with most old courses, the distance from the green to the next tee is very short but the layout never seemed cramped. And the layout is superb. The course generally requires a straight drive on the tree-lined fairways to smallish greens. There is a certain aura about the course, a stately sense of serenity and permanence that makes you feel welcome and excited to be there. And there are a lot of great holes. 

     We played “the tips” at only 6156 yards. The par three third requires a 170 yard shot from an elevated tee to an elevated green, with a large mound in front of and to the left of the putting surface that masks most of the green, making it a semi-blind shot. It was a thrill for both Paul and I to find our tee balls on the green and two-putt for par. More impressive still is the second par three, a 223 yard beast over a rushing stream, uphill to the green set on a plateau - virtually impossible to reach even with your best tee shot. I had three pars on the front side and a very acceptable 43. 

     The back side really upped the ante as the fairways got narrower and the greens slicker and more tilted. Holes ten and eleven barely exceed 300 yards but I couldn’t keep my ball in play and double bogeyed both. In fact, I double bogeyed five of the first seven holes- talk about frustration – but was able to par three of the last four to salvage a 46 and barely break 90. Seventeen is another shorty, only 336 yards, straight downhill. A good drive leaves you a wedge into the green. The finishing hole is a 400 yarder, through a narrow corridor of trees over the ubiquitous stream then doglegs left and downhill to a large green. Great finishing hole. This is a wonderful golf course and though on the pricey side ($75), well worth the cost. 

     After a quick stop at the condo, I headed home only to find myself after an hour or so starting to get quite drowsy – a poor state of affairs with 100 miles to go. So, naturally, I stopped off for nine more holes of golf. The Northfield Golf Club is located, not surprisingly in Northfield,  just five miles from the superb Crumpin-Fox course in Bernardston, MA. I somehow missed the sign to the clubhouse and ended up driving my car on the paved cart path through the middle of the course. What a bonehead move! After a mid-course correction, I arrived around 3:30 and had the place to myself. It’s a fun layout, despite mediocre conditioning, and has a couple of great holes. Both the sixth and seventh holes are par threes, one with a large pond bordering it and the next requiring a tee shot over it. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, shot a 42 in an hour and a half and drove back to Simsbury in a happy state of mind, having started on the road to 500! 

     Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment on my blog. I really enjoy hearing from all of you and will respond when I can figure out what my password is.