One of the great things about Twitter has been the way that like-minded people have been connected and are able to enrich the experiences of others.
When it comes to the small corner of the internet that is Golf Architecture, Michael Wolf (@bamabearcat) is approaching legendary status.
Michael is someone who simply loves the game. He is both well-read and well-travelled and loves sharing his knowledge and discoveries. If you have even a passing interest in the history of golf and golf courses then he is a must follow.
In his role as President of 288 Sports Michael is an agent to several professional golfers and his posts often show an appreciation of a golf course from the perspective of both the top professional and enthusiastic amateur.
Michael’s Top 10 list below is great, but I would really encourage you to scroll down the page to read his thoughts on why he has picked these courses. If you have the time, you should also listen to his recent appearance on the excellent ‘Good-Good Golf Podcast’ where he talks about his trip of a lifetime to Australia. It is another great insight into Michael’s enthusiasm for the game.
So thanks a lot Michael for you contribution, over to you!
Answering a request to list one’s ten favorite golf courses can be a simple, straightforward task that takes a few moments to complete. My ten favorites are:
1. ST ANDREWS - THE OLD COURSE
First, and still the best.
UK Golf Guy Review
2. AUGUSTA NATIONAL
The anticipation, the experience, and the memory from playing it just once will last a lifetime.
Masters.com, Planet Golf, GolfClubAtlas.com, Augusta Chronicle
3. CYPRESS POINT
Robert Louis Stevenson was right, it really is the most felicitous meeting of land and sea.
Graylyn Loomis, Golf Digest, Playing the Top 100
4. ROYAL MELBOURNE
Maybe the best golf course in the world for my game.
UK Golf Guy Review, No Laying Up Tourist Sauce, Golf Channel Analysis
5. ST GEORGE’S HILL
England’s Augusta National.
St George’s Hill website, Planet Golf, Playing the Top 100
6. CRYSTAL DOWNS
My idea of a perfect summer club.
Top100golfcourses, Crystal Downs website, The Alister MacKenzie Society
7. VALLEY CLUB OF MONTECITO
What I imagine golf in heaven would look like.
Golf Digest, Golf Club Atlas, The Alister MacKenzie Society
8. NATIONAL GOLF LINKS OF AMERICA
Maybe no better example of a club that’s stayed true to its creator’s vision.
UK Golf Guy Review, NGLA website, 1968 Sports Illustrated Article
9. CLOVERNOOK COUNTRY CLUB
A hidden gem that might not stay hidden much longer.
Clovernook website
10. OHOOPEE MATCH CLUB
Sandbelt golf finally makes it to the Deep South.
Hanse Golf Design, Fried Egg Youtube Guide, Golf Digest
The difficult part comes with explaining why those are my ten favorites, the assignment would become impossible if I had to justify why courses numbers 11 through 200 aren’t on the list. Why is Sand Hills number 13 instead of 8? Personal taste can be a useful defensive phrase, but it’s a poor informer.
If I was asked to name my favorite architects, Simpson, Doak, Ross, Alison and Coore/Crenshaw would all be high on my list, however none of them designed a course in my top 10. My favorite place to play golf is in the UK, but only one Scottish and a single English course appear on my list. Ireland is nowhere to be found. Nor anything from Japan, France or Canada. Why? I’ve played great golf courses in all of those countries.
What is it about the ten on my list that makes me think about them more than any of the other six hundred golf courses I’ve played. Why are these the ten that I’ll scheme, beg or borrow the most just to play one more time?
Perhaps it’s best to explain my list by explaining myself. I’m a middle-aged former caddy turned accountant who hits it pretty far, very often crooked, but with just enough of a short game to not go broke playing off of a 10 handicap. That probably explains why five of the courses on my list were built by MacKenzie - I definitely use every last yard of his wide fairways. I appreciate the need to think from the hole backwards before every single swing. Some of my favorite shots in golf are the well executed layups following a wayward drive, leaving myself with a good angle for a better chance at an up and down for par.
I always walk - and I don’t carry a rangefinder, so I’ll rely on sprinkler heads when playing a course for the first time. I find the yardage books for great golf courses only reveal a fraction of the story. More than half of my favorite courses are really easy walks. It’s true there isn’t anything easy about walking Crystal Downs or Augusta National, but for those I’ll excuse the hike.
None of the ten have much in the way of long walks from green to the next tee - 16 green to 17 tee at Crystal being the exception that proves the rule. But the common thread is you keep moving forward. I derive a certain intangible pleasure from courses like Royal Melbourne or Cypress Point where I can still play from the back tees; I find that my enjoyment of a course is often in direct opposition to the number of tee boxes it has.
Unless I’m employing a caddy, I usually only carry 10 or 11 clubs on my bad back. I’ve only owned 3 sets of irons in 35 years of golf. Caddying as a kid quickly teaches you it’s the knight and not the sword. Besides, I’ve noticed that fewer clubs are needed on the courses I enjoy the most.
Every one of the names on my list has a great short par 3, and most of them have great par 5s as well. But what makes these ten names really stand out is that most of them also have several great par 3.5s and 4.5s. Are there ANY really good golf courses where all of the par 4s are between 350-450 yards? Are there any great golf courses that don’t have unique short and long holes?
Another common theme is challenging greens and bunkering. Making it around any of them without a single three putt is a pretty rare occurrence, even for a scratch golfer. I enjoy having my short game and my mind tested. But the flip side is a 27 handicap could make their way around the majority of the courses without losing more than a ball or two. In fact, the likeliest places to lose a ball would be on the 16th or 17th at Cypress Point, or in the beautiful heather of St Georges Hill and those are two challenges I’m always happy to take on.
Finally, I love golf history. I enjoy learning how the unique places in the game came about - who founded them, built them, how they’ve been stewarded over subsequent decades. How have their memberships, traditions, local customs, weather and agronomy conspired to make them stand out?
Sand and wind are usually the building blocks. And employing the experience of a Harry Colt or CB Macdonald certainly helps. But pull back the curtain, and every one of the truly special places has a long list of people who have simply cared. Employees and members who have made the effort to educate themselves on what’s been entrusted to them, and have dedicated their time to passing along these treasures to the next generation. They gave a damn.
A few last words on what may seem to be my outlier - Clovernook CC in Cincinnati, Ohio. It’s a 1927 Langford and Moreau where I started caddying at age 12. Nostalgia of course plays a part in my choice but there’s more to this choice than you might expect. The golf course still has its original routing, and 16 or 17 fantastic original greens that with a little love could rival Lawsonia's. So I’m thrilled that Brian Schneider from Renaissance golf has recently signed on to giving Clovernook some long overdue attention. And I’m optimistic that Clovernook will be making appearances on the lists of future generations of golfers.
It’s been a great blessing of my life to have played so many of the worlds great courses, there’s certainly nothing I’ve done to deserve such good fortune. I wish more than four of the ten that I’ve chosen were easier for more golfers to play at least once in their lives. But I wouldn’t be fooling anyone who knows me if I didn’t acknowledge that part of the thrill of playing an Augusta or Cypress is just making it to the first tee. Getting a chance to see for myself what I’ve already read so much about has almost always exceeded my expectations.
So while these are my favorite ten that I’ve already played, I’m tempted to say that my true favorite is whichever course is next on my play list - the Morfontaines and Tara Itis and Falsboros that I haven’t seen yet. After all, it’s always best to keep moving forward...
