My Fall 2022 Golf Trip With See-Drick

[iacas]

I've been planning to watch my daughter @NatalieB play in a golf tournament in Rome, GA for most of the fall, and so when @cedrictheo asked me "fall golf trip?" I quickly realized (after saying "no, I'm going to watch Natalie play") that we could probably "play our way south."

I messaged another pro and friend in Cincinnati, and shared a rough idea of the route with him, and he took that ball and ran with it! Our itinerary was:

• Thursday, October 20: Depart, pick Cedric up in Cleveland, play NCR South near Dayton, OH.
• Friday, October 21: Tour the recent renovations at Camargo Club (Cedric had never been there), then play Idle Hour (a Donald Ross) in Lexington, KY.
• Saturday, October 22: Play Holston Hills near Knoxville, TN.
• Sunday, October 23: Play Sweetens Cove in the morning (South Pittsburg, TN) and then the Course at Sewanee in the afternoon. Both are nine hole courses, though both have multiple tees and/or flags per hole.
• Monday, October 24: Watch Natalie play golf, with a round snuck in the morning if possible (it was) at Coosa Country Club in Rome, GA.
• Tuesday, October 25: Watch Natalie play and begin to drive home. Not-so-spoiler-alert: I ended up driving all the way from Rome, GA to home that same night. I got in this morning at 2:30. Thanks to @DeadMan for the phone call that helped keep me awake and alert, and thanks to P!nk, Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Billy Joel, and a few others for giving me music to sing quite loud to after hanging up with Dan.

Some brief notes follow.

Thursday, October 20: NCR South, 1:15pm

It was cold (the type of weather that, in the spring, you wear shorts, and in the fall, you wear four layers). It was windy. It was grey. But we had a good time anyway. We played from about 6700 yards, and the holes were good. The course is, like many we played, older, so fairways were narrow and the greens had a lot of little fingers with or near some steep slopes. Eleven-foot putts that broke 5'+. That sort of thing. Very few greens were in the middle, and even though we occasionally had shorter clubs, they were in areas that are smaller than PGA Tour average proximities.

For example…

NCR is a Dick Wilson design, so our joke all day for some of the hole locations was "man, what a dick!"

Two other photos from the course include the third, an uphill (eventually) par four that doglegs to the right:

And the tenth, a dogleg right par five that ends with a relatively steep green (though one without many fingers).

Friday, October 21: Camargo Club (Tour) and Idle Hour Country Club, 1:24pm

Camargo Club is one of my all-time favorite courses. It's a Seth Raynor that may have the best set of template par threes in the world. Recently, they've re-grassed the greens for the first time in about a hundred years, reinstalled all new drainage and irrigation. They re-contoured the 17th (and enlarged it), did a little work (not much) to a few other greens… and expanded about 7 more acres of fairway (nearly 25% or so), which will often just let the ball roll into worse spots than when it was rough (so, fairway expansions don't always mean the course will play easier).

We drove to Lexington, KY then to play Idle Hour Country Club. It's a Donald Ross course that was being renovated a bit (green surrounds, mostly). In fact, holes 5 and 13 were closed, so we skipped 5 and played to an alternate green on the second hole after playing 17 to get to at least 17 holes played.

Idle Hour is the only Ross course in Kentucky, in fact. It didn't have the big overturned saucer greens (though many of those are a result of topdressing, etc.), but it had plenty of push-up greens, and the greens were often small with slopes to the sides.

One of the standout holes was the third, a par four that plays downhill with one of the few water hazards on the course: on both sides and across the fairway with a narrow connecting creek/burn/whatever.

The course has its fans, and I can see why. I can't entirely place my finger on why I didn't like it quite as much as others seem to, but my main issues are twofold:

• The backs of almost every fairway bunker were pushed up two to four feet. This obscured what was behind it… which often meant they obscured nothing but fairway or rough. Bunkers present enough of a challenge, so I found the raised backs of the bunkers only served to obscure landing areas and make the golf course look "smaller" than it truly was.
• The greens were often quite small. I'm good with a challenge, and I've looked inwardly at whether I'm just expecting to hit more greens, but some of them are so small it takes an insanely good shot to hit them. The fourth is a 165-yard par-three that plays into the wind… with a green width that's about 16 yards. PGA Tour players average nearly 30 feet from that distance in the fairway.

The routing was a little awkward in the area of 1 green, 2 tee, 17 green, 18 tee, 14 green… but the entire property (including tennis courts, the clubhouse, maintenance, etc.) fits onto 160 acres, so I can overlook a weird area or two. Standout holes in addition to the third include the eighth (an uphill sharp late dogleg left par five) and the 12th, an over-the-hill-and-down reachable par five set in a wide part of the property.

Also, the fairways were striped… but not in the way you'd think:

I feel like they used to mow the fairways in stripes, and so the grass has "learned" to grow that way, and now it's branching out and spreading unevenly, creating this weird (not in a bad way) rippled striping.

Saturday, October 22: Holston Hills, 1:15pm

Wow.

Loved this one. Though the Bermuda is nearly fully dormant, I think dormant Bermuda can be a fantastic playing surface. Holston Hills managed to feel "big" and "wide" while fitting on about ten fewer acres (albeit not counting the tennis courts) as Idle Hour. The fairways were wider, the trees were spaced apart significantly more so the views were larger, and the greens certainly felt a good bit bigger.

Holston had a lot of what I love about golf. It presents a challenge without tricks or gimmicks. It had variety - holes that moved left or right or played different lengths. It had elevation - uphill and downhill tee shots and approaches. It had dramatic features like the quasi-cape second hole. The course is supposedly the world's most untouched Donald Ross, and I agree with much of what Andy Johnson says about the place (including the issue with the tree on the second hole - if it was 20 yards right or left, it'd be fine).

I particularly agree with the conclusion: Holston Hills would be a fantastic course to play every day as your home course. I would love to get back here some day. This was my favorite course of the trip by far.

Sunday, October 23: Sweetens Cove and the Course at Sewanee, 1:15pm

Sweetens Cove

Sweetens Cove is a social media darling. Andy Johnson loves it. No Laying Up loves it.

I did not love it. I put it firmly in the "overrated" category. From the tee to about 20 yards short of the green, the course is great. I loved that part. It was firm, fast, pretty wide, with a variety of options off every tee… and then when you get to the greens, well, it can get a bit silly. Some of the landing areas, or indeed, the spots at which a ball will stay at rest… are quite small. Most (not all) of the severe slopes on the greens are away from the hole, away from the green — there are very few "helping" slopes. I'll fully admit that the hole locations the day we played seemed to be extra severe. I holed out for eagle on the 7th hole, but had my ball gone two feet left… it would have ended up 30 yards off the green. The "touch" required to putt from 8' below the putting green and stop your ball in the 8' radius near the hole (or smaller!) at which the ball will stop is obscene. After you putt up to and off the green (either short or long, and occasionally left or right), it can get old.

Both of the par threes are essentially blind. You can walk way to the side to see King, the fourth, but the tee shot is blind. The ninth is also relatively blind as you can't see much of the green. I hit a shot to the right pin that used the slope and funneled my ball to about eight feet. @cedrictheo hit an almost identical shot that carried a few yards farther… and rolled about 35 yards away to the left (close to the other hole cut on that green). And we couldn't see either shot, because the green is elevated. How exciting and agonizing might it have been to watch those balls do what they did? But we couldn't see them land let alone roll.

Also, if you're not a part of a six-some… I recommend you make friends quickly. We played 15 holes in just over four hours because it's inevitable that you'll get stuck behind an eight-some or a seven-some or a something-some. Not great, Bob.

P.S. I also wasn't particularly pleased by the half-hour-long speech to start the day, or the fact that we didn't begin playing until about 90 minutes after the assumed time. Both played a role in why we were only able to play 15 holes in about 4:15. Hrm.

Sewanee

Except for having two somewhat similar holes (par threes), the Course at Sewanee is an incredible golf course. The course has three or four tee markers… times two, for 18 holes if you want. The first and second holes are par fives, but the second becomes a par four when it's the 11th and the ninth becomes the par five when it's the 18th.

The par threes (#3 and #5) both play to the edge of a massive ridge, and from the back of both greens you've got a tremendous view of the valley (the same valley in which Sweetens Cove sits).

Though it's obviously easier to do on a nine-hole course, Sewanee provides eight unique holes of varying length and form (as noted earlier, #3 and #5 are similar par threes). The first/second and 10th/18th are par fives that all feel different. The 11th and 9th are the par four versions and even though they go in the same direction and are separated only by the 1st/10th, play very differently.

The fourth is a drivable 265-yard par four with a quasi-Redan kicker fairway. Despite hitting my tee shot to about 10 feet, it's not even my favorite hole on the course. The sixth is a good dogleg left with a NASCAR style banked fairway and a green that sits just perfectly on the land along the same general slope. The seventh is called the "Valley of Sin" because of a steep slope in front of the green. I hit one of my all-time shots here where, from about 160, I punched a 6I out of the fairway bunker, under the trees halfway between me and the green, to about 15 feet. Eight is a shorter par four with a centerline bunker to a green set once again just perfectly on the land. Nine is a strong hole with a great green complex. It's not too much, or too little. It's just right.

The site has tremendous flyovers. Here's the eighth, and I think you can see what I mean about the hole design and the way the green lays upon the land.

Sewanee is fabulous, top to bottom.

Monday, October 24: Barnsley Resort, 1:15pm

I don't have much to say about this place. It's a Fazio course. A JIM Fazio course. It's pure cart golf. It's long green-to-tee drives, often up hills or down hills. It's… resort golf that somehow fails to deliver great mountain views. It's… a course we chose because it was the only one nearby that had open tee times (we were first out among non-members) early enough that we could still watch my daughter play the first round of her tournament (her team won, and she finished T9 out of 70 or so players).

Though a few holes were quite good, on balance, meh.

P.S. All of the images that I took (I'm not great at remembering to take photos) are in my gallery here:

[Phil McGleno]

I went with a few members to Sweetens.-They can put the flags in easier or harder positions. It sounds like they were not in bowls often but up on top for you.

I agree it is overrated.

I have played Holston from your list-It is great. You are right that it does not feel as compact as it is.-Maybe that is because you can just drive it into another fairway and the lack of trees makes the property feel expansive.

[bkuehn1952]

Sounds like a great road trip, although the marathon drive home would have killed me. Were the Bermuda greens dormant?  I don’t think I have played dormant greens; they have always been over-seeded.

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Sounds like a great road trip, although the marathon drive home would have killed me. Were the Bermuda greens dormant?  I don’t think I have played dormant greens; they have always been over-seeded.

No. To be honest I'm not sure if they were overseeded or not yet dormant. I have to assume overseeded, seeing as how the rest of the course was starting to brown up nicely. It's been dry, but not super cold lately in the more southern courses.

[iacas]