Nashville Golf

[Craig Van Egmond]

Sorry about starting yet another travel related post, but any recommendations for public golf courses in Nashville? I will only have 1 day to play and I want to make it count.

[ddavid426]

As far as public goes, try the Legends Club.  They play an LPGA event there and it is your best bet if you can't get on The Golf Club of Tenn.

[Mike Hendren]

Craig,

I'm a member at Legends Club, which is somewhat unique in that it has two eighteen hole courses, one of which is private and one public.  Both were designed by Bob Cupp with Tom Kite getting credit also.  Please see my instant message to you.

Nashville has surprisingly little, if any, classic architecture.  Belle Meade is a tremendous Ross routing, but little work of his remains after two renovations.  I would place it and Fazio's Golf Club of Tennessee at the top of the list.  Other notable privates include Richland CC, which relocated from the in-town Ross design that hosted the Women's Open aorund 1980 to a hilly Nicklaus layout in the suburbs.  Palmer's Governor's Club is rather bland, but a course of surprising interest is Nashville Golf & Athletic Club, a monstrous Devlin/Von Hagge 70's layout with a unique set of greens.  The course was so long at inception that the tips are presently located at the front of several long runway tees.  Hillwood CC is a solid, traditional layout in a parkland setting without any significant architectural lineage.

On the public side, three courses stand out:  Legends Club Roper's Knob (the LPGA event has been held on the private course), Springhouse - a Larry Nelson design affiliated with Opryland Hotel that hosts a senior tour event, and Hermitage Golf Course, which has two courses, one of which hosted the LPGA tour for years.  I believe the newer course is better and is a Denis Griffith design.  The older course was designed by Gary Roger Baird.  

Hope this helps.  Of interesting note, there is a new nine-hole course west of town built by a farmer who never played the game.  I haven't seen it but must get out there soon.

Regards,

Mike

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike Hendren;

I should point out that although Springhouse at Opryland pushes the "Larry Nelson design" connection, the real architectural work was actually done by our own Jeff Brauer.

I'm not sure where Jeff would rank this one in his pantheon of courses, but he may want to weigh in himself here.  

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mike,

It was my first high profile design, and I have done better since.  

It's a narrow, flat site, with flood problems that we had to mitigate with earthmoving.  I overdid the separation mounding, envisioning a links design for the practical reason that trees stopped air circulation on that low lying site.  But, they have alway mowed it wall to wall for speed of play. That golf course isn't comfortable being what it is, or should be!  It looks nondescript on TV.

I understand they just redid the bent on the greens, and a few years ago I helped them to convert the fairways to Zoysia from bent. It probably stands up to many courses in Nashville, has some good holes, and if Craig plays it, he can compare notes when the tournament comes on tv.

[Mike Hendren]

Jeff,

I recalled there was a GCA connection with Springhouse, but not exactly who.  You were indeed handicapped by a difficult site, but have absolutely nothing to apologize for.  I hear conditioning has improved dramatically, but there will always be an air circulation problem below the bluff.  

I particularly like the fairway contouring on the second, the volcano green on the third, and the two short par fours, 14 and 16 (I hope that's correct since they re-route the back nine for the senior tournament.)  I am a sucker for short par fours - perhaps a reflection of my game, or lack thereof.  I also like the shaping near the green on the par-5 12th.  

Please let me know if/when you're in Nashville.

Regards,

Mike

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mike,

Yeah they reroute it.  For me to acheive the quirk of consecutive par 3 holes, it took some gallery concerns of the PGA tour to acheive.

I have always liked the steep fall off left of twelve, and the little narrow run up ramp.  Truth be told, the runup ramp to the mid length par 5 may be Larry's biggest contribution to my architecture.  I was always impressed with his game as a shorter and accurate (but still sneaky long) player after watching him demolish the long Seve at the Greenbriar Ryder Cup in 79.  He told me that he could compete on par 5 holes with the Normans of the world if he had "just a little gap" to run up a fairway wood, when they were firing 2 irons.

So, I put that kind of ramp on most designs.  I also like the look of the steep shelf and fairway area left.

On 2, I presume you mean the drop off?  I get critisized for that, because the seniors hit if further now, and they move the tees up so it come into play.  We needed dirt in that area, and near 3 to raise greens to 100 year flood level, hence the low areas.  3 was inspired by a similar perched green at Gleneagles (the fifth?) and necessity.  They couldn't get scrapers in there, so we pushed the dirt up with dozers, changing the design on the fly.

[Mike Hendren]

Jeff,

The drop off on the 2nd was precisely what I had in mind.  The shaping is stiking without being artificial.  I think it's the best piece of ground on the golf course.  Put the tees back and pinch the fairways, and any tee ball into the bermuda rough could yield an unpredictable lie after the second shot - a good half-shot penalty.  

The golf course set-up for the seniors (some of which are Champions) is absurdly easy.  

For what its worth, the last time I played the course was in a charity scramble.  I was partnered with Vince Gill, who hits it a mile, and straight.  We were sixteen under on the last fifteen holes  Vince was every bit the good guy he appears to be in the media.  

Regards,

Mike