(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.
Discount golf equipments on igolfyoo.com:
Callaway Diablo EDGE Irons
As you probably will notice from the answers to the trivia quiz, I like the unusual, eclectic and esoteric. It's no wonder that most people walk away from me when I talk to them at cocktail parties. And I always thought it was my breath.
Congratulations to Pete Blaisdell from New Hampshire who answered all but one question correctly (Royal Adelaide), but received extra credit on two questions. He wins a copy of The Life and Work of Dr. Alister Mackenzie, who had his hand in the design of more courses in the top 100 than any other architect.
1. What course was Winston Churchill a member of?
Walton Heath (#82), Churchill was a member from 1910-1965. Notice how upright Churchill's stance is. He also uttered one of the greatest lines about the game, "...a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose."
2. What course is also its own self contained township?
Pine Valley (#1). Pine Valley is incorporated as a township in New Jersey and has its own self contained miniature town hall and police force.
3. What course has held Olympic events on its property?
Riviera (#36) played host to equestrian events as the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
4. On what course will you find wicker baskets?
The flag pins at Merion (#13) are made of red wicker. Half credit if you answered Sea Island (Seaside) as it also has wicker baskets, however, it is not ranked in the world top 100.
5. What is the closest you will get to the Playboy Mansion while playing the top 100?
Off the 13th green at Los Angeles Country Club, North Course (#59), although don't expect to see much cleavage during your round as there is a big hedge between the course and the mansion.
6. What course do you have to drive through Sherwood Forest to get to?
Woodhall Spa (#36) in Linconshire England. When you drive east from Manchester to Woodhall Spa you drive through Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire.
7. What course do you travel past a nuclear submarine base to get to?
Fishers Island (#29), New York. To access Fishers Island you take a boat or ferry from New London, CT, down the Thames River where General Dynamics has a naval ship yard for nuclear submarines.
8. At what course will you enjoy the lobster lunch?
The National Golf Links of America (#20) in Southampton, New York is famous for its lobster lunch which includes shepard's pie, fish cakes, macaroni and cheese and steak and kidney pie. Below is a picture of the dining room where the lobster lunch is served.
9. What course will not let women anywhere on the property?
Garden City (#55). Although Augusta National, Pine Valley and The Golf Club allow no women members, women are allowed on the property.
10. What is the most copied hole in the world? Where did it originate? For extra credit, how many of them are there in the top 100?
The Redan hole, which is the 15th hole at North Berwick. A redan hole is a par three 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. There are at least 16 Redan holes in the top 100 courses including Los Angeles's #11 which is a reverse-redan hole: Bethpage Black #3, Cabo del Sol #6, Camargo #15, Chicago #7, Country Club #12, Fishers Island #2, Los Angeles #11, Merion #3, Muirfield Village?, National #4, Ocean Course at Kiawah #8, Pacific Dunes #17, Shinnecock #7, Shoreacres #14, Somerset Hills #2, Southern Hills #8, Yeamans Hall #6.
11. What course features a cemetery as a hazard on the first hole?
Ballybunion (#13), County Kerry, Ireland
12. What course has no pro shop?
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Muirfield (#3) in Scotland because they have no golfing professional. I also didn't see a pro shop at Morfontaine on my memorable visit there, so extra credit was given.
13. What course features a Squirrel as its symbol?
The Country Club at Brookline (#33), although if you guessed Medinah, we'll give you half credit given their problem with squirrels burying nuts in the greens. Oakmont also features a squirrel.
14. What course served as a training ground for spies during the Second World War?
Congressional (#96), outside Washington D.C. The OSS, the forerunner of the C.I.A. used it as a training ground.
15. What course's 13th hole is named 'Loch Lomond'?
The 13th hole, a par 3, at Hirono (#35) in Kobe Japan, built in 1932. Loch Lomond, located in Scotland was built in 1994, and while the holes do have names, none are named Loch Lomond. The sixth hole is named Long Loch Lomond.
16. What is the northern-most located course on the top 100 and the southern-most?
Royal Dornoch (#16) in Scotland, which is located 4 degrees south of the Arctic circle and Paraparaumu Beach (#99) in New Zealand which is located 2,000 miles above Antarctica. For those going off the current Top 100 list, the answer would have been Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand.
17. Which course has cops guarding several holes?
Royal Liverpool #72 (Hoylake). 'Cops' are earth walls that mark internal out of bounds, as seen on the first hole, below.
18. What course did Dwight Eisenhower suffer a heart attack on while he was President?
Cherry Hills (#90). Ike used to spend extended periods of time in Denver where he would locate his 'summer White House' and played Cherry Hills often, as he was a member.
19. What course features a full-size hangman's noose on its 16th hole?
The Golf Club, New Albany, Ohio (#48)
20. What course do you begin the day by hitting a (basically) blind shot over a hedge row?
Cypress Point (#2) has a large hedge you hit your tee shot over on the first hole. The hedge is there to protect cars riding through the 17-mile drive, which bissects the hole.
21. What course has a train running through the middle of it? Extra credit for a list of courses with trains running along side the course.
Royal Adelaide, Australia (#50). The grey line running through the map below indicates an active train line. Courses with trains running along side: Carnoustie (near 18), Prestwick (along the 1st hole), Pine Valley (near 13 and 14), Royal Troon, Hoylake and Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
Pebble Beach Golf Links (ranked #7 in the world) is an iconic golf course located on California's Monterey Peninsula. Fact is, anyone associated with golf probably knows all about Pebble Beach, so only a light course description this go around. Because of its high profile stature, Pebble Beach is a difficult course to analyze and put in its proper context. I have changed my view of the course several times as I have been exposed to more of the world's great courses. I have ruminated for the last three years over how good a course it is and have now crystalized my thoughts enough to offer my view.
One of the defining characteristics of Pebble Beach is its small greens. They are, along with Inverness and Harbour Town, some of the smallest to be found among the world's great courses. The first three holes at Pebble Beach are inland and serve as a good warm-up for what's ahead. I think the course routing makes sense at the start. That is, start with some less-than-dramatic holes to get the adrenaline under control and allow a golfer to get into a rhythm before tackling the challenge along the cliffs that lie ahead.
The 7th at Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach has some very dramatic scenery and some wholly interesting golf holes. In particular, I liked the short (less than 100 yard) par three seventh hole which plays downhill with the majestic vista of Monterey Bay in the background. I would be hard pressed to find someone that doesn't like this hole.
I also think that the eighth hole is one of the best in the world. It is a 416 yard par four that is a dog-leg to the right and plays along precipitous high cliffs. From the tee you have no real sense of how difficult the hole is going to be. Your view off the tee is blocked by a slight hill. The eighth hole falls off dramatically on the right hand side where the edge of the hole meets the cliffs and produces vertiginous views if you get too close to the edge. Unfortunately, two people did drive their golf cart off this cliff once and met their demise. Shots that go too far right will find a similar fate. A safer tee shot is down the left side. Your second shot has to carry 170 yards over a giant chasm to the tiny green, with a safer play being to the left. Pebble Beach is such a good course because it offers many of these risk/reward choices during the round.
The next three holes, seven, eight and nine, are some of the most beautiful in the world. We'll get to the middle of the course in a minute as we jump ahead to the finish. The seventeenth hole is a bit disappointing and looks better on TV, since, in reality, it's not actually set that close to the water, and the figure eight green shape is a bit tricky.
The 8th at Pebble Beach
The par five eighteenth is a spectacular hole. This is the ultimate heroic hole in golf, which asks the golfer how much risk they are willing to take hitting over the water and thus potentially they can be rewarded with a shorter shot to the green. I can't think of a better finishing hole in all of golf.
The Other Pebble Beach
One of the reasons why I hesitate to unequivocally pronounce Pebble Beach as one of the absolute top courses straightaway is that the holes away from the water - eleven through sixteen - are not very good or exciting holes. They are in marked contrast to the holes along the water. To emphasize my point I quote Robert Trent Jones from The Complete Golfer: "Unfortunately, the 'inland' holes at Pebble Beach are not in the same class with the holes that follow the bay. The course is, in fact, a complex of ordinary holes and thrilling stretches. The first three holes are adequate. After the tenth green, the course leaves the bay and becomes somnolescent again, for none of the next six holes is above average and their difficulty is not organic. While the architects of Pebble Beach deserve acclaim for the intrepidity with which they seized the opportunities the headlands afforded, it remains an enigma to me why they did not invoke the same shot values for the interior holes."
Jones sums up the weaknesses of Pebble Beach perfectly, getting extra credit for using the word 'somnolescent,' and ten points of extra credit for using it in the same paragraph as 'intrepidity.' His ivy-league repertoire of expressive prose is as vast as his body of work designing courses.
17th at Pebble Beach
Thus, you can begin to see the dilemma of rating Pebble Beach. Is Pebble Beach overrated, or are the water holes so good that even with nine weak holes, it still ranks as one of the top ten courses in the world?
Is Pebble Beach Overrated?
You hear often that Pebble Beach is the most beautiful setting in the world for golf because of the dramatic views. I have found in my travels that there are many courses that have as good or better views than Pebble Beach. I can name ten courses that are as scenic without much thought: Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, Kauri Cliffs, Old Head, Cape Kidnappers, Turnberry, Kingsbarns, Sand Hills, The National Golf Links of America and Royal County Down. As you can see from the pictures here, the scenery is breathtaking. My point is not to disagree with this obvious fact, but simply to point out that it is not unique in this regard; and thus, beauty alone is not justification for a top ten world ranking.
14th at Pebble Beach
Saying that Pebble Beach is the most beautiful course in the world is like saying that the best looking girl in your home town is the best looking girl on the planet. As far as your world goes, it may be true. The problem is, once you get out and see the wider world, there are prettier girls and dramatically more beautiful golf courses. So it is with Pebble Beach; once you've seen Royal County Down or Turnberry, it's hard to go back and say that Pebble Beach is the prettiest in the world.
My view of Pebble Beach has evolved over time. I used to think that Pebble Beach rates so highly because for many people it is the greatest course they have ever seen. If only more people had seen some of the other world-class scenic courses, Pebble Beach wouldn't rank so high. I used to think that my well-honed view gave me a superior position to judge these courses appropriately, since I have seen a lot of the world's top public and private courses. Essentially, my view is more informed than the un-educated swine masses who have only seen one dramatically beautiful course, Pebble Beach, and naturally think it's the greatest in the world. The problem with this position is that once you actually put it down on paper, it is intolerable. Since my aspirations in life don't include sounding like Prince Charles, I have moderated my position.
8th hole looking backward
One gaping hole with this "pompus ass" theory of Pebble Beach is that the Golf Magazine rankings, which are done by some serious, learned and experienced people, including many professionals and architects, rank it the seventh best in the world. This group has seen the world's best and have a good basis for comparison, so it's hard to argue the point and have a sense of superiority over this group. One's upper lip can only be so stiff, after all.
I used to tell people, when asked, that I thought Pebble Beach was overrated. However, when I actually put pen to paper and try to rank courses myself, it's hard not to put Pebble Beach near the very top. In fact, looking at the top 100 list, I would move only Merion, Royal Portrush, The National Golf Links and Sand Hills ahead of Pebble Beach, but not many others. So, ok, maybe it should rank as #12 in the world, but the basic point remains, despite its flaws, Pebble Beach is one of the best places on the planet to play golf.
The reason the course is so highly ranked is that the holes along the water are so well designed and strategic, in addition to being so visually dramatic. By way of comparison, the land at Old Head in Ireland is equally as dramatic as Pebble Beach; however, the design and routing of the course puts Pebble Beach ahead of its peers.
The Pace of Play
It can be difficult sometimes to separate out the experience of playing the course from the course itself. Pebble Beach is not the fastest place in the world to play golf, and it is a bit touristy. Pebble Beach used to be famous for its annoyingly slow pace of play, with a six hour round being not uncommon several years back. It now has the opposite problem: an annoyingly fast round. An annoyingly fast round is one where a marshal tells you to play fast every two holes even though there are groups all around you. It does help improve the pace of play to a more tolerable level, but it is annoying. The problem here is everyone wants to stand around and take pictures, and that slows down the round. This is not the type of golf I like. Because I have a grandiloquent and boastful manner, I much prefer playing in isolation at a place like Somerset Hills, Morfontaine or Woodhall Spa, where you are playing fast because you are exhilarated and because you can, and not because someone is pushing you.
To separate out the course from the experience, it can be helpful to imagine for a minute that Pebble Beach is a private course. Visualize yourself teeing off at 7:00 am in the mist and you are one of only a handful of groups playing the course that day. It completely changes your perspective of the place. Now, it takes on an entirely new view. Also, to fairly judge the course's place in the golf world you also have to understand the history of the the epic struggles contested there (go, Tom Watson!) and the quality of the champions that have played on it, and how this impacts its ranking. For this reason, when you collectively look at Pebble Beach on a variety of criteria, it truly is a special place to play golf.
9th at Pebble Beach
The lodge, food and resort at Pebble Beach are all world-class, especially the Tap Room overlooking the bay. It would be tough to argue there are many better places for an apres-round cocktail. I note that in the November/December issue of Links Magazine, 43% of the respondents in a survey said that if they could only go to one golf destination for the rest of their lives, they would go to Pebble Beach. This ranked ahead of the other three choices offered: St. Andrews, Pinehurst and Bandon Dunes. No surprise to me that I'm again in the minority.
If you are planning a golf trip to the Western United States my advice is to go to Pebble Beach if you haven't already, and if you want to stay in plush surroundings, eat well and be pampered. If you're really into great golf and want to experience the game as it was meant to be played, walk at a good pace, and be surrounded by beautiful scenery and solitude, I suggest a golf trip to Bandon Dunes instead. Bandon is closer to the soul of the game, and its less commercial feel appeals to me more.
Muirfield (ranked #3 in the world) is no mere golf club. It has a name that distinguishes it from all the rest of the top courses. There is no swimming pool here. This is not a Country Club in the American sense. No kids in the pool. No tennis courts. Just golf. This is the most formal course of them all; with a name that speaks volumes about the seriousness of the endeavor. The name of the golf club is The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. The course they play on is known as Muirfield.
Unless you are fully educated in the traditions of the game it is hard to appreciate how the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is different. The Honourable Company drew up the original 13 rules of golf in 1744. They are thus entitled to some amount of privilege. They were organized ten years before the governing body of golf in Britain - The Royal and Ancient. It is not like some of these newer ostentatious American clubs that try hard to give themselves history. The Honourable Company has real history.
Arranging to play at Muirfield is quite a chore. Getting on the course requires a precision in its planning closer to a military operation than booking a tee time. You don't just call and simply arrange a tee time on short notice. Such a dignified club guards their privacy and makes it difficult to get on. Most of the Open Championship courses in Great Britain aren't too difficult to get on if you plan ahead. In truth, it took several years to get a tee time at Muirfield, and even then, we had to book it over a year in advance and then built a golf trip around it. The good news is that once you get to play Muirfield they let you make a day of it and play 36 holes, provided you follow their rules. You can play your own ball in the morning if you'd like but in the afternoon you play alternate shot only.
Truth be told, Muirfield is now much easier to get information about in the last few years. It used to be very hard to even get their phone or fax number. Now, alas, they have entered the 21st century and even have their own web-site for bookings. They even have an email address. Check out their web-site for essentially a list of the word 'no' next to every available date.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers does not have a professional's shop where a visitor can buy merchandise because the club has no professional. This suits them quite well since selling items would introduce an element of crass commercialism into the club that they quite suitably don't want. In fact, they really don't want visitors at all, but the prospect of charging (largely) Americans is apparently too much to resist. And we pay it willingly. It allows the members to essentially belong to the club for a low cost and invest the money back into the course. Visitors are only allowed to play on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8:30 and 10:00 in the mornings, and then only off the tenth tee. Members and two-balls play off the first tee. They have a very distinct hierarchy of play and it must be adhered to.
Tee times are arranged through the Secretary of the club. Secretaries at Muirfield are legendary. Many have been former military commanders and thus they have a great deal of respect for rules and structure. Although the Secretary is appointed by a committee of the members, Muirfield Secretaries have traditionally behaved like it was their course. In their defense, they are trying to maintain order and structure. You have to be cautious when requesting a tee time not to overdo it. Like courting a woman, you have to go slow and judge each step carefully. Overdo it and you are shut out. Follow their protocol closely and look carefully for clues to get you to the next step. Booking a tee time is more like a master chess game.
One previous Secretary was known to use binoculars to monitor the golf course for any infractions. From his office, he could see most of the course. It is said that if you didn't rake the bunkers, he would be watching you and you would be reprimanded when you finished the round. It was something that all members feared. Members of Muirfield are important and powerful gentleman. They are leaders in the business community, the legal establishment, the government and the military. Yet, they all fear the Secretary of the Club.
There is another famous story about a Secretary at Muirfield where a group of non-members appear at the course one day. They are publicly recognizable figures, quite distinguished in their field. They ask for permission to play. The Secretary looks over the obviously deserted course and then replies that it would be impossible for them to play because the course was too busy. It is against this backdrop that you try to get on to Muirfield. It is no ordinary course to get on.
In any event, we had booked our tee time, and as luck would have it, it was on my birthday. As soon as you get a date reserved, I suggest calling the Greywalls hotel, which is immediately adjacent to Muirfield. It fills up quickly so you should book it right away since they don't have that many rooms. The Greywalls Hotel is symbiotic with Muirfield. Originally an Edwardian manor home for the Weaver family it was converted into a hotel in 1928. Since it was still affiliated with the aristocracy they provided it with a measure of privilege that has long been a tradition in Britain. To let you in on one of golf's great secrets, we learned while staying, that on Monday and Friday mornings there are an undisclosed set of tee times that are given to select guests of the Greywalls.
The Greywalls and Muirfield are hard to tell apart. There is even a secret doorway that connects the Greywalls to Muirfield. You can walk directly out the back door of the Greywalls and through a discrete and un-assuming door right into the clubhouse. You can see the Greywalls on TV when the British Open is held at Muirfield. It is right off the 10th tee. It effectively serves as a high-end dormy house for Muirfield. The walk from the hotel courtyard to The Honourable Company is less than 100 yards.
It was with great anticipation that we traveled south from St. Andrews to play Muirfield. As you are leaving the village of Gullane on the A198 traveling South you have to know where to turn left or you will not find Muirfield. You turn left onto Duncar road, yet there is no sign. Once you get the invite to play, you are informed of the situation and you are told where to turn. It looks like an alley-way or a service road. You have no idea you are next to one of the greatest golfing Meccas in the world. Once you make the left, you enter a road of about 500 yards in length. A sign halfway down the road warns you to turn away if you have no business related to the golf course. It doesn't say which golf course, as they don't want to give any clues so as to keep away the curious. You don't know it yet, but you are also being watched on a security camera.
Slightly further down the road on the right side of the road, hidden behind tall hedges are covered parking stalls. There are four small buildings hidden into the landscape. Car parks. Very discrete. It is befitting the majesty of the place not to have open car parks that would ruin the atmosphere. If there is a polar opposite to the public parking lots of a municipal course such as Bethpage, this is it. The extravagance of the parking lots tells you a lot about what is to come. About 100 yards further down the road are the discrete yet majestic stone entrance gates to the Greywalls. As you turn into the Greywalls, the crushed stone underneath the car adds to the feeling of grandeur. Once through the main gate you enter a courtyard with a further set of narrow stone gates that lead you through to the final entrance.
Our foursome awoke early the next morning. We had a full Scottish breakfast and were off for the short walk to the club. You approach the Muirfield gates and again notice a warning sign to step away if you have no business at the course. The black entrance gates are imposing and convey the appropriate sense of decorum. You unlatch a small gate and you enter on foot. You can't see the security cameras that are watching you, but you are being watched. You walk in and immediately see the first tee on the left, guarded by the caddy master. The course unfolds in front of you in a straightforward manner. The front nine forming the perimeter and organized in a clock-wise fashion. The back nine running counter-clockwise inside the back nine. And you begin to see the beginnings of what makes Muirfield so difficult - its bunkers.
There are no cameras or cell phones allowed on the property. The members jealously guard their privacy and their course. Ladies may only play if accompanied by a gentleman player and may not lunch in the Clubhouse.
You are required to arrive at Muirfield in a jacket and tie. You walk past the clubhouse and into the drawing rooms, smoking rooms, etc. You are greeted as you walk by an Assistant Secretary who escorts you to the appropriate place within the clubhouse. You leave your bags outside the entrance and enter a foyer with an office on the left. Glancing in (you have to be careful not to stare) as you walk by you see one of the most imposing sights in golf: The desk of the Secretary of the Club at The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. It is a desk befitting the position. As imposing as anything you would see at #10 Downing Street or the Oval Office.
After you pass the Secretary's desk you come to a hallway that ends. To the left is the locker room, to the right a reception window and further on a smoking room and dining room. You stop at the reception window and have your credentials checked. Not unlike going through the customs process. No idle chit chat. No time for one-liners. Keep a somber look on your face and speak only when spoken to. You present your credentials in a business-like manner when you are asked. You must offer proof that you are worthy enough to play at the H.C.E.G. Your home golf club has previously provided a letter of attestation that you are not an inexperienced golfer off the street. You present your handicap cards and certificates to the women behind the counter. She verifies it against her log sheet to verify who you say you are. No computer generated lists here. A manual log, written in perfect script lettering. No substitutions allowed. You show up with the four golfers whom you said would play with or you don't play. No singles, no three-somes. You do as you are told and you're happy about it.
After being checked in you proceed to the locker room and change into your golfing attire. At the appointed time you proceed to the tenth tee and meet your caddies. Four balls (as a group of four golfers playing their own ball is properly called at Muirfield) proceed off the tenth tee only. The standard game at Muirfield is foursomes. Foursomes is a format where four golfers play with two balls only, alternate shot. The Honourable Company plays this format both because of tradition and because it is efficient. You can get a group around in two and a half hours.
After we played the 10th hole (our first) we were about to tee off on the 11th when our caddies became very flustered. Since we were the second group out that day, we were fortunate to have seasoned caddies. One of our caddies had noticed that the group behind us was four women. Women are not allowed to play without a gentleman at Muirfield. Their husbands were behind them on the 10th tee, planning to play as a group. 'If the Secretary sees this he will throw both groups off the course and fire the caddies', 'This is shite', 'No, No, No', were among the more polite things the caddies said. True to tradition, our most senior caddie went up to the group on the 10th green and made them split up. They had to mix up the two groups so that women were accompanied by men. At Muirfield, a rule is a rule.
After completing the morning round we proceeded into the locker room and changed back into jacket and tie to make our way to the member's dining room for a proper lunch.
Although the Scots are more properly famous for their full breakfast, lunch at the Honourable Company is an experience in indulgence. The dining room is oblong in shape and contains a series of long slender tables where you eat cafeteria style, although this doesn't capture the appropriate sense of decorum. It's rather like the prep school dining hall seen in the Harry Potter movies. Only with a lot more class. At the end of the room are giant glass windows overlooking the course. The walls are lined with pictures of every past captain of the Honourable Company.
The food is organized into five distinct sections, each representing a separate course: drinks and spirits; soup; carvery; cheeses and sweets. You sit at the galley tables and gorge yourselves. The room is quite steamy as the water baths from the vegetables and heat lamps from the carvery exude their heat. You wouldn't dare take off your jacket or loosen your tie for fear of being scolded. No matter how hot it gets, and it gets hot, you remain calm. Stiff upper lip. Never let them see you sweat.
It is the custom at the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers that the captain of the club wears a red jacket. Much like you see a member of Augusta wearing their green jackets, at Muirfield, the tradition is old. The tradition evolved from when they originally played at Leith Links. At that time, all members had to wear their red jackets or could be fined. It subsequently evolved into only the captains wearing them.
After lunch we retired to the smoking room and sat in sumptuous leather chairs, again overlooking the 18th green. You sit and have more drinks and enjoy cigars and appreciate the splendor of both the room and the scene outside. At the far end of the room above the chimney piece is a painting of William St. Clair of Roslin painted in 1771. It is the centerpiece of the room and is sized proportionally for the large space. It is about 20 feet by 30 feet, painted in oil. William St. Clair of Roslin served as Captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in 1761-1766, 1770 and 1771. The portrait reminds you more of a portrait of Mozart or George Washington than it does of a golfer. This is clearly a portrait of the 18th century. As you think that members of the Honourable Company were playing golf here before the time of the American revolutionary war, the history of the place begins to bear down on you. You don't need to be told about tradition sitting in this room. A moron could figure it out. Even most Americans.
Mounted and framed in the smoke room they have a copy of the original thirteen rules at the club. Framed on the wall is also an original membership certificate for a member of the Leith Links, a predecessor club to Muirfield. The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is the name of the golfing society that has been in existence since 1744. The Honourable Company originally played at Leigh Links until they outgrew it. They then moved to Musselburgh, but soon outgrew that as well. Their third course is Muirfield and they are justifiably proud of their heritage.
Once you complete your relaxation you are back into the locker room to change back into your golfing attire and then you are off to your afternoon match. You are allowed to play your afternoon match off the first tee. The mandatory format is foursomes. As was typical given the unstable state of most golfers after the big lunch and drinks, so it was with our group. The first two shots were nowhere near the fairway and ended up in the knee high rough. The alternate shot format we played turned out to be one of the most fun and rewarding golfing experiences all four of us has ever had. What a great tradition. It is a shame that is has largely been lost.
And oh yea, the course was ok. Nothing spectacular when compared with dozens of other top ranked courses. Certainly, the bunkering is a defining characteristic. The scenery is honestly kind of bland; none of the holes are that memorable. You're not that close to the water. But the overall experience is one of the best you could have in golf. The history, tradition, respect, etc. In terms of the golf course itself, does it deserve to be ranked #3 in the world? Certainly not. But when you throw in the whole scene, you can begin to understand its esteemed place in the world of golf.
And while I normally don't like to recount shots and scores, I am particularly proud of my birdie at the #1 handicap hole. The 8th is a 443 yard, difficult par 4 dogleg with severe bunkering. It's Jack Nicklaus's favorite hole on the course, and now mine. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present.
Oakmont and the Pittsburgh area have come a long way since playing host to their first major championship in 1919, the U.S. Amateur. American Golfer magazine, which covered the championship extensively wrote at the time about, "The Smoky City" and said, "Golf balls last a far less time in Pittsburgh than elsewhere, for the grass is covered with soot and the ball, as it rolls along the ground eats it up. Then when the clubhead smashes against the ball, the soot is driven into the cover and the ball soon becomes black."
Sometimes I come back from a course immediately inspired to write about it. I got no such inspiration after playing Oakmont (ranked #15 in the world) because I was so worn down. I played Oakmont about three years ago, before I owned my digital camera, so I have no brilliant shots to show. The recent US Open provided my needed inspiration to write up my Oakmont post.
I also find it difficult to write about courses that people know so much about and that get so much TV exposure. The thing I took away from Oakmont is that it is a very difficult golf course. As you saw during the US Open, it is extremely difficult. The thing is, the course is pretty much always like you saw it on TV. Some courses need a lot of preparation to host a major championship. Oakmont could really host a major at a moment's notice. A lot of top courses boast that they could host a major at any time without a lot of preparation. At Oakmont, it is not a boast, but a legitimate claim. I have found it to be the most difficult of all the courses I have played - harder than other arduous courses such as Bethpage Black, Pine Valley, Winged Foot, Olympic Club or Carnoustie. It no doubt has the fastest greens of the top 100. It's debilitating.
Pittsburgh
I had never been to Pittsburgh before going to play at Oakmont. Pittsburgh is one of those cities that has a rust-belt image and has a reputation as being rough and gritty. The reality of visiting Pittsburgh was quite different. It is a very nice city situated around three rivers. There are a series of narrow valleys all around the city going in all directions with rivers at the bottom of each. It is hard to get a clear vista in any direction because of all the hills and valleys, but it has a certain uniqueness to its topography that makes it an attractive city in its own way. There are about a dozen vintage (not surprisingly, mostly steel) bridges that cross the rivers at various points around the city. Collectively, I found they are architecturally very interesting. Not only is Pittsburgh also a big college town, it sort of has a retro-feel to it that I like. Pittsburgh is an under-appreciated city.
Getting to Oakmont
When you drive east out of the city to get to Oakmont you drive along various narrow river-valleys with vestiges of old Pittsburgh visible. One of the defining features of the area as you get out of the city proper are the narrow valleys with railroad tracks running parallel to the river, and old steel factories squeezed between the roadway and the mountains. When you get to the Oakmont exit you then cross back over the Allegheny River and drive through a not-so-great neighborhood and up a long hill. At the top of the hill turn left, and you are at one of golf's historic masterpieces. You know the place is special as soon as you turn in, with the old tudor style original clubhouse. The locker room is original and very impressive, so steeped in history with pictures of past champions all around. I just liked the ambiance and feel of the place. There is a sign as you walk past the clubhouse that states that you have to walk the course unless you have a note from a doctor. It is one of those places like Winged Foot or Merion where you really can feel the history as you walk around the course.
The Golf Course
It you can define a course by the quality of the champions that have won there, then Oakmont is unquestionably great: Tommy Armour, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazan, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Ernie Els.
Both Johnny Miller and Ernie Els call the first hole the hardest opening hole in championship golf and it's hard to disagree. Along the right-hand side is O.B. the entire length of the hole. If you don't hit the ball far enough on your tee shot, you have a blind downhill shot to the green. The green slopes right to left and back to front and is lightning quick. Many golf course architects believe in a moderately easy hole to open with and then the course gets progressively more difficult. The father and son designers of the course, the Fownes', did not share this philosophy. Their design philosophy of, "A shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost", was executed with precision when they designed Oakmont.
After playing the first hole you cross over the Pennsylvania Turnpike on a foot bridge and get to the second tee. Holes 2-8 are cut off from the rest of the course by the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The third hole is the one with the famous "Church Pew" bunkers on the left side. They are, by far, not the most difficult part of the hole. I found the green to be very tough. It is an elevated green, ala Pinehurst #2, is inverted, and quite difficult to hold, and like all the greens is lightning quick. After finishing the par three 8th hole, you walk back over the busy Turnpike and play the 9th hole, which has a beautiful vista of the clubhouse in front of you as you walk up the hill.
I am making a big leap of faith here that most of my readers don't suffer from a certain dementia characterized by a joy of repetitiveness and thus I will spare you an analysis of the remaining holes because they are all hard and the greens are all lightning fast.
History
As hard as Oakmont is today, it used to be even harder. They used to use deep-toothed rakes in the bunkers to create furrows, making it quite difficult to get out of. Golf Illustrated in 1919 wrote about Oakmont, "...one of the most difficult courses in America. It is one of the most closely and scientifically trapped courses in the world and woe betide the erratic player".
Bobby Jones was worn down by the Amateur held at Oakmont in 1919. Over six days he played 36 holes a day and lost eighteen pounds. Jones rarely criticized things, but in a 1926 article he criticized the furrowing of bunkers as being unfair. He wrote, "I was afraid, after Oakmont, that any criticism I might make of the sand hazards there would be interpreted as an ill-natured grumbling against the course, because I had made such a miserable showing in the tournament." Below is a picture of Bobby hitting out a furrowed bunker at Oakmont. Thankfully, they no longer furrow the bunkers.
Trying to play the top 100 courses in the world, it is inevitable to run into weather troubles along the way. The first time I went to Oakmont, I was only able to play nine holes due to a severe thunderstorm that came through in the afternoon. We had to retire to the men's grill and had a grand time amicably talking golf until dinner-time. If you have to be stuck in a clubhouse, there are worse places in the world to get rained out. My host was gracious enough to invite me back to play a full eighteen holes two months later.
I have no real criticism of the golf course itself. The routing is world-class, varied and there is enough elevation change to make it interesting. There is good reason why Oakmont is on the National Register of Historic Places. The issue I have with Oakmont is that for the average player it's too long, the rough is too high and the greens are too fast. As Johnny Miller says, "Oakmont's mean". I am glad I made the pilgrimage to see this shrine of golf, but I am in no hurry to go back.
After seeing Oakmont, I would have to agree that Johnny Miller's 63 in the final round of the 1973 US Open to win, has to be the best single round of golf ever played.
