Durban Country Club - Golf in the Zulu Kingdom

Looking back from the 2nd green at Durban Country Club

I have found the ideal antidote to having your in-laws over for the holidays. A golf trip to the southern hemisphere works wonders for both parties. In what can only be described as an ideal situation I was able to go to South Africa while my in-laws were staying at my house.

Travel to South Africa

I have previously written that getting to Royal Dornoch and Sand Hills was difficult. Well, my latest experience, golf in sub-Saharan Africa, takes the travel experience to an unprecedented level. The Durban Country Club (ranked #70 in the world) is located in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. This area of South Africa, now called The Zulu Kingdom, formerly known as The Zululand, took me more than 24 hours to get to once I left my house. I took back to back red-eyes with a change of planes in London. I arrived in Gatwick, then took the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station, took one of the world's great remaining institutions, the London taxi, to Paddington Station for the trip to Heathrow. As you already know I love all things British. I opted for British Airways instead of a direct flight from New York because I was told that the plane stops in West Africa and can be a bit dicey, plus this itinerary allowed me to bypass Johannesburg in favor of Cape Town. Also, the direct route is eighteen straight hours, and stopping in London allowed me to break the trip up a bit, although terminal four at Heathrow is a poorly designed corrugated-tin disaster.

I also forgot how much better a wide-body jet is than a narrow-body. I fly a lot on 737s and regional jets and it was nice to have a two-tiered 747 with a more open feeling. Our flight flew over the continent of Africa all night and there can't be a much better view from the air than approaching Cape Town with the sun rising on a new day. You get a full panoramic view of the ocean, the city and Tabletop Mountain behind the city, which is both larger than it looks in pictures and closer to the city and water. It is a soul-stirring scene.

Cape Town - worth the long flight

Durban

Finally, a two hour flight to Durban on South African Airways and I was there. Durban is Africa's largest and busiest port city and also is a beach resort that reminded me of a cross between Miami and Mumbai. Picture it as 1950s South Beach with saris instead of bikinis and you get the idea. A sub-tropical city, Durban grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when its main industry, sugar cane, was booming. Many laborers from India were imported to South Africa during this period as indentured servants. Remnants of this historical period remain within the fabric of Durban today. The city still has a very large Indian population, the largest Indian population center outside of India. The city remains a major working port and is still a center for sugar. As you drive in from the airport the road is lined with warehouses, sugar processing plants and grain elevators. Durban is a much different city than the more polished and cosmopolitan Cape Town.

Durban Country Club

Durban Country Club has several unique aspects among the top 100 golf courses in the world. It is the only course on the Indian Ocean, the only on the continent of Africa and the course located closest to the Tropic of Capricorn. The course is located ten minutes from the city center between a rugby stadium and the Indian Ocean. The Durban Country Club was shaped from the bush and dunes of the KwaZulu-Natal coast during the early 1920s by a local golf professional George Waterman and Laurie Waters. Colonel S.V. Hotchkin who also worked extensively on one of my favorite courses in England, Woodhall Spa, made changes to Durban in 1928 and these are evident when you play this gem of a course. Additional changes were made by Bob Grimsdell in 1959.

In vestiges of its British colonial heritage, local rules at Durban indicate what to do should balls inadvertently come to rest on one of the two grass bowling greens.

The Golf Course

I liked Durban Country Club as a golf course, although it does not have 18 strong holes. It has a particularly strong start, especially the first five holes that are narrow, hilly holes that play in the bush. The middle holes, 9-15 are average at best, but the course has a strong finish with the last three holes. The front nine are near the Indian Ocean and thus are more impacted by the wind. The course is not directly on the ocean; there is a busy and loud highway that runs between the course and the ocean. On the first day I played there were many windsurfers and parasailers out on the water enjoying the strong wind, which usually isn't a good sign for golf, but it turned out ok. The back nine is away from the water and not as impacted by the wind. The massive Durban Stadium towers over a couple of holes on the back nine.

So how is it that a course with seven average holes wedged between two concrete structures is ranked in the world's top 100? The answer is because the good holes are so good that they more than compensate for the weak holes. Plus, the attraction of playing in the bush really makes it unique.

Rough/bush at Durban Country Club 1st hole

One of the defining characteristics of Durban Country Club are the massive undulations in the fairways, especially the 5th, 8th and 17th. The course was built on sand dunes and they are large and interesting. At Durban, you don't have trouble in the traditional sense we find it in the U.S. or British Isles. Off many of the fairways is thick sub-tropical vegetation. This bush is pretty much unplayable if your ball goes in it.

View from the second tee box

The par five third hole is one of the best in the world I have had the privilege to play. It has a high elevated tee with a view of the Indian Ocean. You hit down a narrow valley surrounded on both sides by thick bush. When you are down in the fairway you can't hear any external noise, including the ocean or the highway. You can hear the wildlife and birds chirping away, though. I saw several exotic birds, including the brilliant black and red scarlet-chested sunbirds flying back and forth between the trees on this hole. This hole and its environs are a miniature bird sanctuary. The wildlife here is so rich that the Country Club allows visiting bird watchers to tour the course when they want.

Once you putt out from the elevated green on this hole you walk through a path in the bush to climb to the next tee box. This same scene is repeated on the next tee to green walk as well.

Durban's world class third hole - Par 5 in the bush

Durban is a shot makers course that you have to think your way around. My caddie didn't hand me a driver until the 8th tee due to the narrowness of the opening holes.

The 8th hole is a very good par five that requires a long and straight drive. The hole then turns sharply to the left and the approach to the green is uphill and to the right. The beauty of the hole is that unless you are on the far right side of the hole, you have no shot at the green. After your drive, the hole requires back-to-back well struck short iron shots over two large dunes to an elevated green.

12th hole par 3 - "Prince of Wales" hole

There is a half-way house with seating between the 9th and 10th tees. The custom at Durban is to stop at the halfway house and have some beverages and food, which every group did both days I was there. Since you are in the tropics, the need to cool down and take a break from the heat and humidity trumps the need to keep playing and complete a round quickly.

The 12th hole, pictured above, caused Edward, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales to card a 16. In return, for posting his score honestly, he was rewarded with his name on the hole in infamy.

While playing the 16th hole, I experienced a uniquely Durbanesque experience. I hit my tee shot into the left rough on this par four, near the bush and under a tree. As I walked over to assess my lie a monkey dropped from the tree, to look both me and the ball over. The look on his face (captured below), tells me he wasn't particularly impressed with my tee shot. He sat nearby and watched me hit my second shot fat, or as my caddy said in the local parlance, "it was a rank shot". In my defense, it is hard to concentrate with a monkey as your gallery. I ended up making a double bogey, or as it is called in South Africa a "double drop".

My gallery at Durban about to watch a "rank" shot

The 17th, pictured below, is a particularly good example of how wild and crazy the undulations are at Durban.

17th hole approach to the green

I drove the 270 yard par four 18th hole (below) with a three wood. The feat actually wasn't that impressive since the hole played downwind, which is the prevailing wind. It seems like a good risk-reward hole for match play since pulling the ball would leave you in the bush and slicing it runs the ball down a steep bank toward the practice range. Along with Prestwick and North Berwick it is among the shortest finishing holes anywhere in championship golf. Personally, I would change it to a par three and make the course a par 71. It would make one hell of a par three. The finishing hole has yielded eighteen holes-in-one according to the plaque in the clubhouse.

I was quite proud to have played the same ball at Durban for all 18 holes. I kept my ball in play with irons off many tees and did not lose any in the bush.

18th hole looking back from the green

My caddie the first day at Durban didn't wear shoes, as many of them here do not. They carry your bag around bare foot. There is also no automated ball machine at The Durban Country Club driving range. On the narrow range, you hit balls and a caddie stands in the range and picks up and cleans each ball as you hit them. Durban is a unique golf course and the course was in exceptionally good condition when I played there, especially the umgeni grass greens.

Bunkering on the 7th hole

Sewsunker "Papwa" Sewgolum

One of the unexpected things I am finding on this quest is some of the lost stories in the history of golf that I have stumbled across. Sewsunker Sewgolum, whose nickname was Papwa, is one of them. In 1963, Sewsunker, a 5-foot-4-inch, 150 pound caddie and self-taught golfer of Indian descent became the first non-white to compete in a white only tournament in South Africa, the Natal Open, played at the Durban Country Club. He had the temerity to actually win the tournament, beating a field of 113 white golfers. During the awards ceremony, Sewsunker was presented the trophy in the pouring rain while the white club membership was snug inside the clubhouse watching in dry splendor. The white runners-up were awarded their prizes in the clubhouse. Sewsunker played and won under great adversity. He took his meals during the tournament with the black caddies and had to change his clothes in a car. The South African Broadcasting Corporation, which was government owned at the time, cancelled coverage of the tournament once Papwa entered and did not report the results on its news program. All this occurred at the height of the apartheid period in South African history. When the picture showing Sewsunker receiving the trophy in the rain (image below) was shown around the world it caused an outrage and put pressure on the South African government to change its apartheid policies.

The Durban Country Club's 1982 club history includes a comical explanation of why he was slighted - The laws of the day were such that Indian people were not allowed inside the clubhouse. An infraction of those laws could have resulted in the club losing its liquor license and being closed down. They also state that if they had moved the ceremony inside Sewsunker's fans wouldn't have been able to see him receive the trophy. To quote, "It certainly was not a slight to Papwa - rather one of consideration to enable his fans to see him in his moment of victory." I don't know, does that sound like consideration to you?

In 1965, in the same tournament, Sewsunker played again and won, beating Gary Player, who won the US Open in that same year. Unfortunately his success was short lived - the following year he was banned from all local tournaments and the apartheid government withdrew his passport, preventing him from playing internationally. He could not even enter courses as a spectator. Prior to banning him, Sewsunker played in the South African PGA tournament while two Government agents followed him around the course to make sure that segregation laws were enforced. Under the laws at the time, non-whites could play only among themselves before spectators who were also non-white. The crowds at the tournament were segregated. During this period, security police regularly followed him around and harassed and threatened him frequently. He had to apply for permits to play in white tournaments and sometimes they were granted but often times they were not.

In another highly offense remark in the club history they say, "Sadly, brilliant golfer that he was, Papwa seemed to lack the determination and discipline to remain at the top." What an absolutely disgraceful statement. Ban the poor guy from playing and then say he lacked the will to play?

Prior to the ban, Sewsunker competed internationally with great success. While he was not caddying, Sewgolum worked in an Oil of Olay factory putting the tops onto filled bottles. He was befriended by the founder and owner of Oil of Olay who took him to Europe to play. Prior to his going on the first trip in 1959, however, they had to teach him how to write his name so that he could sign his scorecards, since he was illiterate. They also had to teach him how to use a knife and fork since previously he had only eaten with his hands. Before he was banned, Sewgolum won the Dutch Open championship in 1959, 1960 & 1963. He played in the British Open Championship a handful of times including at Muirfield in 1959 and Royal Lytham in 1963, where he made the cut. He shot 71 in the first round, the same as Jack Nicklaus. Through 36 holes he was tied with Gary Player and two strokes ahead of Arnold Palmer.

What makes Sewsunker's story even more amazing is that he played the game with a back-handed grip, hands positioned the opposite way to the traditional grip. The unorthodox grip is now known as the Sewsunker grip - named after Sewgolum because he used it with such success. Imagine for a minute a back-handed grip or kack-handed grip as it is also sometimes called. How is it even possible? The game is hard enough, could you imagine holding the club wrong, with your left hand beneath your right?

There are those that would prefer we only recount the great history of the game and let incidents like this fade away, but I think stories like these are worth re-telling. I offer no apologies to those that think I am besmirching golf and its reputation. Unfortunately, golf has had a history of excluding people of race, and while not a proud chapter at many of the country clubs on the top 100 list, it is a chapter none-the-less. Stories like this also remind me that what golfers like Lee Elder and Tiger Woods have been able to accomplish are all the more impressive given the history of segregation and apartheid.

To their credit, The Durban Country Club recently honored Sewgolum, creating a memorial plaque in honor of him, unveiled in 2005. Club Chairman Ray Lalouette described the 1963 Natal Open awards ceremony as, "an ignominious debacle that must have been the source of much embarrassment and humiliation for a fellow human being at a time when he should have been experiencing joby and jubilation."

"No matter what the background, or the rules of the land, it must have been an experience that caused hurt and shame for him and his family."

"It is therefore fitting and appropriate that I, as the current chairman, take this opportunity on behalf of the members of The Durban Country Club, to apologize to Mrs Suminthra Sewgolum and to Mr Sewgolum's Son, Rajen, and his family for the suffering you have endured as a result of that most unfortunate incident."

"We have commissioned this plaque to serve as a permanent reminder to all those (and especially golfers) who walk this way, that 'Papwa' Sewgolum was a remarkable man."

Remarkable indeed. Good recovery on the part of Durban Country Club, in my view.

South Africa

In a sign of full progress, I played on the first day at Durban with an Indian member who was proud to show off his course and he was a delight. He bought me several beers afterward and even drove me back to the Royal Hotel where I was staying. If your travels ever take you to this fascinating continent, I recommend visiting Durban Country Club, to experience this unique golf course and to honor the memory of Papwa Sewgolum.

Although a former British colony and Western by many standards, Durban at times feels very African. There are lots of white mini-vans plying up and down the streets with music blaring and each is packed with people. Designed to carry at most ten people, they usually had about twenty people packed in. They stop every few blocks and serve as local taxis. They make the city chaotic since they seem to stop and start at will. There are also still vestiges of apartheid present - blacks and whites still don't mingle and there are strong undertones present; wherever you go you notice race. An afrikaner cab driver I had was ranting against the ANC, now the ruling party, about how they have ruined the country. On the other side, my caddie praised the ANC for restoring equality and moving the country in the right direction.

The rugby stadium from the back nine

Several people including the hotel staff and members of the club told me to be careful, that parts of the city are quite dangerous. At times, it was a bit uncomfortable, but honestly, no more so than in certain parts of Los Angeles, New York or Miami. I did note that parts of the golf course were discretely surrounded by barbed wire around the perimeter. Parts of Durban are seedy and raffish, but it's the real world my friends. It helps me to broaden my perspective to get outside my comfort zone every now and again and visit cities such as Durban.

Playing at Durban is something I will never forget. Playing the world's top courses sometimes gives you a myopic view of the world since you get to visit some of the world's most beautiful and premier locations. In an eye-opening experience, on the drive from Cape Town airport to the city center, you drive past the second largest "township" in South Africa after Soweto. The tiny, hand-made shacks that make up the township look unfit for human habitation. Their scale and magnitude is hard to take in, they go on for miles and are tightly clustered in a very high density. South Africa is a land of extremes that is hard to convey in words or pictures; the extreme beauty juxtaposed with the crushing povery. The great wealth and natural resources opposite such large scale suffering.

A Strong Finish

During my trip I never quite figured out the local currency, the South African rand. The exchange rate is obscenely good, however. I ate breakfast for US$2 and the golf was only US$60 including rental clubs. A very good bottle of wine at a vineyard in South Africa is US$10.

Like Ben Crenshaw at the 1999 Ryder Cup, I am a believer in fate. In what I take as a good omen for my quest, I bumped into Nobel Peach Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu coming out of the lavatory on my flight back from Cape Town to London. Although my hair was sticking straight up after ten hours in a coach seat, he gave me a big smile and a friendly hello.

By the way, my little in-law experiment worked out so well that I'm already planning another trip to the Southern Hemisphere for the next holiday season, this time perhaps a trip down under to play in Tasmania?

2006 The Year in Review

It has been exactly one year since I began writing my blog. While I have been playing the courses for a much longer period of time, actually writing about them began on New Years Day 2006. It has been a rich experience, forcing me to think hard about what makes a course unique or great as opposed to just writing that I like it or not.

I have included hyperlinks in this post on courses played in 2006 in case you missed a writeup on the course you can just click.

2006 turned out to a very strong golf year. One of my personal goals is to always play 50 rounds of golf a year and I achieved it and then some this year. I was also able to play fifteen new courses on the top 100 list and play golf on three continents. I was also surprised to see that I have readers in sixty countries including such far-flung places as Azerbaijan, Mauritius and Kazakstan (could it be the famous lover of the U.S. & A?). I was also surprised to see how many people appreciate my idiotic sense of humor.

I was fortunate enough to be able to play Maidstone again this year and this time brought my digital camera. The 14th hole, a par three along the Atlantic Ocean is one of my personal favorite holes and I have included two pictures of it in this posting.

The world-class 14th at Maidstone

During 2006 I also completed (again) the perfect trifecta of playing Maidstone, Shinnecock and The National all in the same year. Standing on the 17th tee box at The National, it is hard not to feel on top of the world. You stand at the highest point on the course with the windmill behind you, the Shinnecock clubhouse on the hill in the distance, the National clubhouse on your side, a view of the Sebonack Golf Club to your left, the punchbowl green below you, Peconic Bay stretching out below you and one of the great holes in golf awaits you. Mountain climbers strive to climb Everest. You've reached one of golf's summits when you climb out of the punchbowl green to the 17th tee at The National. It was made even more special this year playing with three new friends in the brilliant sunshine.

As the year began, I thought it would be remembered for playing the Open Championship courses in England. I planned on playing the four courses in England on the Open rota - Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Royal St. George's and Royal Liverpool. I did indeed play all four and came away forever changed by my experience. Royal Liverpool and Royal St. George's in particular, were out of this world, despite my little incident at Royal St. George's.

When the year began I hadn't anticipated playing any courses in the U.S. heartland. As fate would have it I ended up playing five - Southern Hills in Oklahoma, Prairie Dunes in Kansas, Crystal Downs in Michigan, Inverness in Ohio and Sand Hills in Nebraska. Amazingly, three of them are ranked in the top 25 in the world. All of this is chalked up to serendipity. I'm very flexible when presented with the opportunity to play a top golf course. It's a good lesson to extend to your life beyond golf as well; be flexible and see where it takes you. Undertaking this quest has changed my whole outlook on life. For example, when flying previously, I never, ever spoke to passengers around me. I flew in quiet isolation; in solitary reflection; in peace. Now, I actually embrace the chatty seat-mate and most people I meet. You never knows who you'll meet. I have come into contact with a gentleman on the waiting list to get into Augusta National, several members of clubs on my list and several other interesting golf related characters.

14th at Maidstone from behind the green

The bad news for me in 2006 is that playing Sand Hills has actually dampened the experience of playing all the other courses, just a little bit. Every course played is now compared to Sand Hills. Sand Hills is such a good course and unique place that in the back of my mind a little voice keeps saying, "this is great, but Sand Hills is better."

Low-lights for the year include Medinah, being pulled over in the middle of the night by army troops in the Dominican Republic after playing Casa de Campo and being hit up on at Prairie Dunes. The year was capped off with a once in a lifetime golf trip to Africa (my next post) that featured monkeys as my gallery and a brief visit with Bishop Tutu.

I have also completed another major milestone in 2006, having completed over half the world's top courses. To celebrate this feat I have taken at crack a ranking the top courses, broken down into U.S. and non-U.S. listed below. I have added in other courses I have played that are not ranked, just to give them perspective relative to the others. The list is obviously not complete, I will provide a complete personal integrated list when I complete the top 100.

I tentatively have lined up another 10-12 courses for the new year, hopefully included in there will be my aspirational French course Morfontaine. Perhaps I will see some of you on my planned travels.

Happy New Year, looking forward to a strong 2007!

Non-US Ranking

1. Carnoustie
2. Sunningdale (Old)
3. Royal St. George’s
4. Royal Portrush (Dunluce)
5. Royal County Down
6. Woodhall Spa
7. St. Andrews (Old)
8. Kingsbarns
9. Cruden Bay
10. North Berwick (West)
11. Royal Dornoch
12. Ballybunion (Old)
13. Turnberry (Ailsa)
14. Royal Liverpool
15. Muirfield
16. Prestwick
17. Ganton
18. Walton Heath (Old)
19. Old Head
20. Casa de Campo
21. Durban
22. St. Andrews (New)
23. Lahinch
24. Ballybunion (Cashen)
25. Royal Troon (Old)
26. Ballyliffin (Old)
27. Portmarnock
28. Royal Aberdeen
29. Machrahanish
30. Royal Lytham & St. Annes
31. Crail (Old)
32. Gleneagles (Kings)
33. Wentworth (West)
34. European Club
35. Royal Birkdale
36. Royal Portrush (Valley)
37. Crail (Craighead)
38. Lossiemouth (Moray Old)
39. Tralee
40. St. Andrews (Jubilee)
41. Nairn
42. Dunbar
43. Waterville
44. Gleneagles (Queens)
45. Druids Glen
46. The K Club
47. Western Gailes
48. Gullane #1
49. Brora
50. Addington
51. Skibo Castle
52. Royal Troon (Portland)
53. Turnberry (Arran course) - now defunct

United States

1. Sand Hills
2. The National Golf Links of America
3. Merion (East)
4. Bandon Dunes
5. Pinehurst #2
6. Shinnecock Hills
7. San Francisco
8. Maidstone
9. Pacific Dunes
10. Crystal Downs
11. Garden City
12. Prairie Dunes
13. Bethpage (Black)
14. Oakmont
15. Pebble Beach
16. The Country Club (Brookline)
17. Inverness
18. Southern Hills
19. Los Angeles (North)
20. Myopia Hunt Club
21. Shadow Creek
22. Riviera
23. Winged Foot (East)
24. Winged Foot (West)
25. Olympic (Lake)
26. Kiawah (Ocean)
27. Baltusrol (Upper)
28. Baltusrol (Lower)
29. Bel-Air
30. Oak Hill (East)
31. Peachtree
32. Piping Rock
33. Whistling Straits
34. Fishers Island
35. Pinehurst #8
36. Aronomink
37. Torrey Pines
38. Blackwolf Run
39. Portland Country Club
40. TPC at Sawgrass
41. East Lake
42. World Woods
43. Troon (Scottsdale)
44. Bighorn
45. TPC at Summerlin
46. Pine Needles
47. Mayacama
48. Country Club of North Carolina
49. Medinah #3
50. PGA West

Whose the Richest of Them All?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the richest of them all?

I have just come into possession of the golf club equivalent of Snow White's mirror and it is very revealing regarding the U.S. based courses on the world top 100. The list shows the assets on the balance sheet of the top courses in the U.S. Unfortunately, the mirror only works for clubs in the United States so we can't do a complete world ranking. You can let your breath out now over at the R & A and Honourable Company, your secrets are still safe!

Pine Valley and Cypress Point may be #1 and #2 in the world rankings, but The Olympic Club of San Francisco puts them to shame in the asset department. The Olympic Club boasts $122 million in assets on its balance sheet. It exceeds the next richest club by almost a factor of four, with Congressional Country Club coming in at $31 million. Southern Hills in Oklahoma at #5 with $22 million? Things seem to be going pretty well in the in the oil patch these days!

After some detective work and sleuthing I found this interesting information. Most golf clubs in the U.S. are organized as non-for-profit enterprises. As such, they are required to file information with the US government each year and it is publicly available information if you know where to look. The list above excludes municipally or corporate-owned entities such as Bethpage Black, World Woods, Pinehurst and Pebble Beach. Sand Hills was too new to be included in the list.

Augusta is excluded from the analysis because it was formed as a Georgia corporation from its inception. Since their intent from the beginning was to host the Invitational Tournament as it was called, they (correctly) figured it made more sense. Little did they know it was a good thing too, since Martha Burke and her PC crew would have created a bigger stir if it was a non-profit entity.

The asset values listed also exclude the current market value of the land the courses are on, which in some cases would be in the mid-eight-digit range.

Just like trying to get on the course, some of the clubs did a good job of making it very difficult to obtain the above information (Pine Valley, Seminole, The National Golf Links, Baltusrol, Medinah, Merion, Shoreacres and Inverness). But, like trying to play the course, my persistence paid off and I was able to obtain it after jumping through an additional layer of red tape.

The list is below:

1. Olympic Club $122 million
2. Congressional C.C. $31 million
3. Medinah $29 million
4. Brookline $24 million
5. Southern Hills $22 million
6. Baltimore $22 million
7. Winged Foot $20 million
8. East Lake $20 million
9. Merion $20 million
10. Los Angeles C.C. $18 million
11. Baltusrol $15.5 million
12. Oak Hill $15 million
13. Scioto $13 million
14. Oakmont $11 million
15. Pine Valley $11 million
16. Garden City $10 million
17. Wade Hampton $10 million
18. Inverness $10 million
19. Maidstone $9 million
20. Cypress Point $9 million
21. Prairie Dunes $9 million
22. Seminole $8.8 million
23. Muirfield Village $8 million
24. Fishers Island $7 million
25. Shinnecock $6.8 million
26. The Valley Club of Montecito $6.5 million
27. San Francisco $6 million
28. Peachtree $6 million
29. Quaker Ridge $5 million
30. The Golf Club $5 million
31. Chicago Golf Club $5 million
32. Shoreacres $5 million
33. Camargo Club $4.4 million
34. Somerset Hills $4.3 million
35. Crystal Downs C.C. $3.5 million
36. National Golf Links of America $2 million

When you think about it the list isn't that surprising. Those clubs that are low key and don't host championships generally have a smaller balance sheet. Those at the top of the list are generally larger clubs, host major championships and are in large metropolitan areas. If you ever wondered why courses let the U.S.G.A. or P.G.A. take over for six months and disrupt the club and environs, here's one of your reasons why.

The only club that I could not obtain the information for was Oakland Hills. They have apparently found a way to keep this information away from nosey fools such as myself. And, I still haven't been able to play the course.

To them, I say, touché. Our golf hats off to you. Well done, boys.

Top 100 Golfer Podcast

Top 100 Golfer had the opportunity recently to be interviewed by Fred Greene who operates a golf podcast GolfSmarterPodcast.com, which is the #1 amateur sports podcast in the world.

Click below to listen to the interview which runs about 30 minutes. Once the main screen appears click on List of Podcasts and you will see the interview.


Top 100 Golfer Interview

You can listen to the interview either on your PC or download it from the iTunes Store download section.

Hopefully, I didn't give away too many secrets during the interview.

Inverness Club

18th hole and Inverness clubhouse at dusk

As I was driving from Detroit Metro Airport to Toledo, Ohio a friend called me on my cell phone. He asked where I was and I told him and started laughing with joy. He thought I should be in a rubber-padded room being excited about driving between two rust-belt cities. Obviously he's not a golf fanatic.

Playing the top 100 has really given me a new perspective on life. Yes, I am truly excited to travel to Detroit and Toledo to play great golf. It really has forced me to have a more open mind. The Inverness Club (ranked #58 in the world) is located in a lovely neighborhood of Toledo not far from the University of Toledo.

Inverness is a Donald Ross gem originally designed in 1919. The course has been changed over the years by Arthur Hills and Tom Fazio as well. Byron Nelson served as the pro at Inverness at one time. Inverness has played host to six major championships - the U.S. Open in 1920, 1931, 1957 and 1979 and the P.G.A. Championship in 1986 and 1993. It also hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1973 won by Craig Stadler. Although the winners of the Opens at Inverness are not exactly household names (Edward Ray, Dick Mayer, Hale Irwin and Billy Burke) it is unquestionably a championship golf course.

If I had to sum up Inverness in two words: small greens. Inverness has the smallest greens of any golf course I have ever played. Almost every green is a postage stamp green.

The approach to the 2nd green

Not only is each green very small, but the predominant design feature of the course is well guarded greens with narrow openings that require accurate approaches. Each green has either mounds on both sides or bunkers with high lips as you can see in the pictures above and below. It is a fairly easy driving course, with wide fairways. The trick at Inverness is getting on the greens in regulation. It requires very precise iron play.

Approach to 8th green

I liked the layout and routing at Inverness. I especially liked the 7th hole, which is the #1 handicap. You play your tee shot from an elevated tee. The ideal tee shot favors the right side of the fairway, but in shades of Carnoustie, you have to flirt with a burn that snakes subtly throughout the entire course. The second shot is straight uphill and really favors an approach from the right as opposed to left side of the fairway since a big sycamore tree sits at the top of a plateau protecting the green.

The approach to the 7th green

As is customary in Ross's designs, Inverness has its fair share of holes with shaved areas around the small greens such as the one below on the 4th hole.

The 4th green

Sorry to disappoint, but no jokes about Toledo. It seems like a perfectly nice middle-America city to me. I very much enjoyed playing Inverness, although I didn't hit many of the greens in regulation. Inverness is another good example of how technology is ruining tournament golf. This gem of a course can no longer host professional tournaments because technology has made it too short, which is a shame.

Inverness is a private club and you are required to play with a member.

The club's web site

North Berwick and Prestwick - The Cradle of Golf

North Berwick

Two of the unquestionably best golf courses in the world, both located in Scotland, are curiously not ranked in the world's top 100. North Berwick, located a couple of miles south of Muirfield on the east coast and Prestwick, located immediately adjacent to Royal Troon on the west coast.

Perhaps it is because the courses are too short - Prestwick is 6,554 yards and North Berwick 6,420. Or perhaps because they don't host championships any more, they are overlooked. Or perhaps those that rank the courses for the magazines sadly underweight history and tradition.

Both courses were clearly great 100 years ago. The famous British amateur champion of that era, Horace Hutchinson, wrote at the time - "A man is less likely to be contradicted in lauding Prestwick than in singing the praises of any other course in Christendom." The question is, are they still great courses today?

If you like courses with a lot of cement cart paths or if you like Donald Trump over-hyped golf courses, you won't appreciate these so you can stop reading now. If, however, you are a student of the game, appreciate tradition and want to have some of the best golfing experiences of your lifetime, I highly recommend both courses.

Prestwick Golf Club

Prestwick Golf Club, founded in 1851 is the birthplace of the Open Championship (British Open). The first Open was held at Prestwick in 1860 and was won by Old Tom Morris. Prestwick hosted the first 12 Open Championships and in total has hosted 24 Opens, second only to The Old Course at St. Andrews.

Playing at Prestwick is like going back in time. The course has a timeless feel to it and is hallowed ground for golfers.

One of the best opening holes in golf

The first hole at Prestwick is one of the world's great starting holes, even to this day. It is a short par four at only 346 yards. The name of the hole is Railway, and it is aptly named. You tee off about 10-15 steps from the clubhouse, usually with caddies or other players watching. It is also not uncommon to have members sitting in the smoke room who are also watching through a large picture window. As is typical in Britain, since there is no driving range, you have to hit your tee shot without warming up. The right side of the hole is out of bounds from tee to green since a railroad line runs down the coast toward Turnberry. Between you and the railway there is a stone wall the entire length of the hole. Making the hole even more difficult is the fact that the left side of the fairway is protected by a large swath of gorse bushes, taking away the potential strategy of playing to the left. It is a good test to see if you are on your game, hitting an iron under these conditions. I rank it among the top three first holes in the world (the other two being the opening tee shots at Merion and The Old Course at St. Andrews).

The British golf writer Henry Longhurst has said of the first at Prestwick - "A tremendous wind is blowing and the slightest letting up will see your ball sailing away like a seagulls feather across the down platform of Prestwick station."

The first green at Prestwick

Horace Hutchinson also wrote extensively about the first - "The crime against which we have to chiefly be on our guard is that of slicing. There is apt to be an engine snorting loudly on the other side of the wall just as we are playing a critical and curly putt and the said putt is none easier from the engine having liberally besprinkled the green with cinders."


Fortunately, the trains are now all electric so we don't have to contend with cinders. But the sensation of playing the first hole remains with the modern golfer. Dell Leigh wrote eloquently about Prestwick's first hole in 1925, "Caddies, who have carried the clubs of champions, lean on the iron railings of their pen behind, taking stock of you. All along your right (or slicing hand), in terrible proximity, runs the railway line, over which rush whistle-blasting engines. Was it not Vardon who put his first two balls out of bounds on these same railway lines, and won the championship in spite of that?. Even if you play warily to the left here you have a grimly narrow opening to the green, and you are off the line of entry."

Detractors of Prestwick will tell you that they don't like the course because you can hit an iron off too many tees and granted, the eighteenth hole is a weak finishing hole. They will criticize the blind par three fifth hole, named Himalayas. The critics are wrong in my view. The place is worthy of being ranked among the top golf courses in the world. I will guarantee that you will think about Prestwick long after the memory of other courses fade. The sixteenth green, "Cardinal's Back":

It is interesting to note that when early American golf aficionados came to study the courses of The British Isles, among the courses they studied were Prestwick. Charles Blair Macdonald replicated two of the holes at Prestwick in his ideal golf course - The National Golf Links of America: the third hole, Cardinal, and the seventeenth, Alps. While some holes at Prestwick haven't stood the test of time, these two most certainly have. Both are excellent risk/reward holes that demand well played shots over difficult and massive bunkers.

The Alps hole is built on such a massive scale, it remains better than all attempts to copy it around the world. The seventeenth is seen greenside, below:

Pete Dye was also influenced by Prestwick where apparently he was inspired by the railway sleepers (ties as we call them in America) used to shore up bunkers. The course remains an important place in the history of the game and for this reason architects continue to study it.

Prestwick also allows you to appreciate its history to the fullest extent possible. If you book in advance, you can have lunch in the member dining room, shown below. You must wear a jacket and tie, and the hastle of changing into them is worth the trouble. You sit at a long table that seats 32 with dozens of pictures of past club captains in the dark green room. After lunch you can enjoy a Kummel (nasty) and a cigar as you contemplate your afternoon round and subliminally think - don't slice off that first tee.



North Berwick Golf Links

Similar in many respects to Prestwick, the West Links at North Berwick is an old, traditional golf course in the links style, founded in 1832. It is home to the most copied golf hole in history: the 15th hole at North Berwick is the original Redan hole. A Redan hole is a long par three (this one is 192 yards) that has a large bunker in front of the green and a deep bunker beyond the short side of the green. The green generally slopes from front-right to back-left. It is a hole that is approached diagonally and is quite difficult. At least 15 courses ranked in the top 100 have a Redan hole and I have heard often about how various Redan holes are better than the original. I don't agree with any of it. The original is the best.



One of the defining features of the North Berwick West Links are the stone walls that are throughout the course. In several instances you have to hit your shots over the stone walls. On the 13th hole, a stone wall protects the green. If you hit your shot to the right (wrong?) spot on this hole you will have to either chip or putt off the green through an opening in the stone wall. It is a lot of fun.



The sixth hole is also a very good one. It is a short par four where more likely than not you will be hitting your second shot from a downhill lie, over a small burn to a green that slopes down to the burn.

The 16th hole, close to The Marine Hotel, which looms over the course from a promontory nearby, has one of the most interesting greens you will ever encounter. The green is bisected by a gully which creates two distinct tiers that are separated from one another. If your ball is on the wrong side of the gully, you will have a miniature-golf style putt. Think it's silly? It's not, it's a blast.

Hutchinson captured the essence of North Berwick and it still rings true today - "It is an exceptionally good school in which to learn the art of approaching." Clearly, at 6,420 yards, driving is not of paramount importance, but hitting good and often creative approach shots, is.

North Berwick, like Prestwick, does have some weak holes, most notably the first and finishing holes. Its detractors will tell you that it is not a good test of golf. No doubt, these detractors have never played the course when the wind is up, which is the real defense of links courses. There are few places in the world to play like North Berwick that are magical and will inspire you to keep going out again and again to play.

North Berwick Golf Club Scorecard

North Berwick Golf Club Web Site

Prestwick Golf Club Web Site

Credits: The sensational pictures in this posting that capture the spirit of North Berwick are from Golf Club Atlas.

المدينة المنورة‎ (Medinah Country Club)

I flew to Chicago for this?

The Club and Clubhouse

Medinah Country Club (ranked #52 in the world) is located in suburban Chicago. Medinah is a private member owned country club which has three golf courses featuring 640 acres of property and 18,000 trees. Medinah was founded in 1925 by the Shriners, who thought it would be interesting to build a clubhouse with an unusual style of architecture. The clubhouse is certainly one of the most unique in the world of golf at 60,000 square feet. It has an eclectic style evocative of the near east and contains elements of many architectural styles including Italian, Oriental, Louis XIV and Eastern. The club was named after the holy city of Islam in Saudi Arabia by the same name. Medinah is the second holiest city in Islam after Mecca and is famous for the presence of the shrine of Mohammad, known as the Green Dome, thus the likeness to the Medinah clubhouse. Like Mecca, Medinah permits only Muslins to enter. You can enter Medinah Country Club, however, if you are the guest of a member.

I am always excited about finally being able to play courses that have hosted major championships and that I have seen on TV. The clubhouse at Medinah displays its history to very good affect with memorabilia from Tiger's victories and many other historic pictures and collectables. The interior of the clubhouse is striking and it does impress, as you can see below.

Under the Green Dome

The Entry Foyer

At 60,000 square feet, it has room for everything. The pictures below were taken in the ball room of the clubhouse that is quite grand; it even has a stage for performances.

I especially like the architectural detailing of the pilasters in the ball room seen above and below.

History of A Championship Course

All three courses at Medinah were designed by Tom Bendelow. The course has hosted the US Open three times (1949, 1975 and 1990), the PGA twice (1999 and 2006, both won by Tiger Woods) and will play host to the Ryder Cup in 2012. The #3 championship course is one of the longest in championship golf at 7,500+ yards. One of the key features of the course is the man-made Lake Kadijah that comes into play several times, including early in the round on the second hole, seen below.

The par three second hole

I can see why Medinah hosts major championships. The world's best players like to bomb the ball and Medinah definitely has length. In addition, the greens are fast. There is plenty of room for tents, parking, concession stands, etc. The clubhouse, locker room and practice facilities are all world class and it is close to a major airport, actually quite close to one of the biggest in the world - O'Hare.

Holy Shit!

Unfortunately, hosting a big tournament and a great golf course are two separate and unique things. Medinah is not a great golf course and is completely overrated. It suffers from the same thing Wentworth does - it's a great course to host a professional tournament - it can handle large crowds, etc., but the course has no personality and requires no imagination to play it. I am not taking anything away from the club and the PGA and USGA for hosting tournaments there; no doubt it's a great choice for what they are trying to achieve. The problem is, the course is weak. Certainly long, but weak when compared to the world's other great courses.

I found the par threes to be BORING. Holes 2, 13 and 17 are almost identical par threes. All require you to hit a tee shot over the man-made lake to an uninteresting green. By the time you get to the 17th tee you think to yourself, "This looks familiar." Actually, it is familiar since you've played near identical holes at #2 and #13. These are the signature holes?

The 10th hole is the least idyllic hole I have ever played in my life. At Maidstone you experience the Atlantic Ocean lapping along the sands. At Casa de Campo, the waves crash around you. At Crystal Downs you have the beautiful view of the countryside and lake below. At Medinah, you get the noise of US-20, which runs down the entire left side of the hole. The lovely tee box is shown below.

While playing this hole, it was so loud I couldn't even hear my playing partner when he spoke. The same din from the highway is present on the 15th green and 16th tee. The hole is actually a pretty good par five; you just can't appreciate it with all the noise.

Like Wentworth, the other issue I found at Medinah is that there are a lot of jets flying over head. It is apparently directly over a landing pattern for O'Hare. O'Hare has parallel runways and often times you will see not one, but two low-flying jets. Sometimes, planes can be charming when near a golf course. I have played both the Old Course at St. Andrews and Royal Dornoch with the sounds of RAF jets taking off and landing and found it actually added to the ambiance. At the Moray Golf Club in Scotland, a runway from RAF Lossiemouth. It is at the end of one of the fairways. I found it exhilirating to have a fighter jet take off occasionally. I didn't find that here, probably because a plane flew overhead about every 30 seconds all day. I took the picture below from the 12th fairway. Notice the landing gear down and the passengers waving to us below.

I found the course to be shitty the day I played. Not shitty in the figurative sense. Shitty in the literal sense. To be precise, shit from Canadian geese was everywhere. I'm sure there are times when the course is in immaculate condition. Unfortunately, I was not there during one of them. I'm sure I will be accused of being unfair, but I can only call it by what I see firsthand. If you will allow me the liberty to repeat myself for emphasis: There were turds on every tee box, there was feces in the fairways and there was poop on the putting greens. Lest I be accused of making this up, through the wonders of my digital camera I present as exhibit 'A' the 8th green seen below.

Why doesn't the course invest in some border collies and be done with the geese? We played this green at about 1:00pm, so there was plenty of time for the greenskeeping staff to clear it off. Perhaps they were pre-occupied with the squirrels. Several of the greens had fairly significant holes in them, apparently from squirrels who thought they would be a good place to bury acorns. I kid you not.

While I am not a golf course architect, I can sum up what's wrong with the course with an analysis of the 15th hole. A 392 yard par four, it has a large stand of trees on the left side of the fairway, some of which overhang, making an approach shot from the left side of the hole difficult. The bunkers were also put on the left side, under the trees, leaving the entire right side of the hole open, with no hazards. A drive to the right leaves a clear shot to the slightly elevated green. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is not brilliant design. It would probably have been better to put the bunkers on the right side of the fairway to cause the golfer to hit the ball left and thus have a more restricted shot at the green. Or to require a precise shot in the middle of the fairway. All you have to do is aim right and you're fine. My point is, when a layman notices stuff like that, it's probably not a sign of brilliance in architecture.

In the interest of fairness, the trees at Medinah are beautiful, and they do create a park-like effect overall. I found the 12th hole interesting; it has a big slope from the left side of the fairway to the right side the entire length of the hole as you can see if you look at the cart riding toward the green. The picture was taken from the green looking back.

The 14th is an interesting par four with good use of the hilly terrain and a challenging shot to an elevated green. The 16th and 18th aren't bad and again are routed in an interesting fashion as are some of the elevated greens on the course, as pictured below.

As you've probably guessed by now, I didn't like Medinah. I was actually so taken aback after playing that I actually had to double check that I indeed had played the championship course - #3, since Medinah has multiple courses.

Indeed, I had.

To make my day even more special, we were paired up with a "gentleman" who had gotten on the course as an unaccompanied guest through "a friend of a friend of a friend," as he put it. The "sausage king of Chicago", he was a local purveyor of fine meats stuffed in animal intestines. He did a perfectly good impression of Tony Soprano on the golf course. He rode in a cart, although he could certainly have used the exercise. He had a cell phone strapped to his belt and would occasionally talk into it walkie-talkie style to provide color commentary to his friends "Joey, I'm on the 14th tee at Medinah, you know what I mean?" He wore a button down shirt with the first six (of seven) buttons un-buttoned so you could see his lovely white tee shirt. And the shirt was intentionally not tucked in all day. Call me a snob if you like, but this pretty much sums up everything in golf I don't like in a playing partner. Thank goodness, at least he played fast.

If you go to play Medinah I suggest doing so during baseball season. Go to Wrigley Field and see a Cubs game so the trip won't be a total disappointment.

And be sure to scrub your hands very good after playing to remove all the fecal matter.