Having cancelled my planned visit ten years ago, I recently visited Princeton Golf & Country Club. In the intevening years I had received several pages of information about the course's history which were the victim of a residential cleansing. I recall that school boys had been employed in the construction of the original nine and that the second nine was added when property became available in the late 50's. Hopefully Chris Clouser will see this thread and chime in.
My visit was curious. No one had picked up the phone in my numerous attempts to troll for access. As any red-blooded access hound would do I simply showed up on a weekday. Late morning and not a car in the lot. Curiously, several groups carting it around, often consisting of a foursome each piloting his own ride. The definitive sign of a true "country" club. I checked every door to the clubhouse and they were all locked. A pristine concrete swimming pool was similarly unmanned and unoccupied. I would later learn that the de facto start and end of the course is at the confluence of the 13th and 16th greens and the 14th and 17th tees, hard by a gravel parking lot and two rows of cart-barns with corrugated plastic sheeting for doors. It felt like home. Notwithstanding my highest respect for property rights, I am embarrassed to admit I proceeded to the first tee and got on with it. I'll make them a check and hope that it will clear the bank some time in the next month or two. Fortunately I had the Ping Moon bag in tow. I repeatedly drew stares from other players once on the course, likely attributable not to my unfamiliarity but rather the fact that I was likely the own grown man to walk and carry seen in the past several years.
On to the golf course. There no fairway irrigation - exposing the likes of Pinehurst #2 as wannabees. Decent fairway turf was mixed with bare spots and common bermuda, playing firm and fast. I had hoped to readily determine the Maxwell holes but it wasn't that simple. Sometimes the farmers are up to the task. Given the locale of the clubhouse, I concluded that one nine consisted of the 1st and 11th through 18th holes. They lacked the antiquity one would ascribe to Maxwell's work in 1931. Coupled with the clubhouse architecture, I'm purely speculating that those holes and the clubhouse were constructed after the original nine. The greens were also quicker and firmer and the teeing grounds were narrow pushed up runways for what that's worth.
The remaining holes - 2 through 10 had much more interesting greens and a more curious and compact routing. Very sharp doglegs at the two shot 3rd and 4th, though likely more graceful in the absence of large trees on the inside of the doglegs. A relatively large break in the routing occured between the 9th and 10th greens perhaps suggesting an original clubhouse in this location. The greens generally sloped from front to back with the 4th and 5th greens having interesting contouring. The pond shared by the 2nd and 9th looked a little too big for its britches so I'm guessing it was not original or likely was much smaller.
Nonetheless a nice 2:45 walk and decent variety of holes, interupted by clumsy and perfunctory bunkering on occasion. No more than a Doak 4 for those of you who like to keep score, maybe less if you didn't grow up playing country golf.
As for the barbecue, Heaton's did not disappointed. It is in a Marathon gas station/convenience mart. I drove by it 3 times but knew I was in the neighborhood from the aroma. Thankfully, it was pulled pork, not the mutton the Owensboro colonels swear by. $6.50 for a plate plus a drink from the cooler. I hold pulled pork to a high standard, choosing to rate it without sauce. This was a 6 but actually improved to a 7 with a very unique sauce that I quite liked.
Overall, a good day.
Chris, please weigh in and let me know how absolutely wrong my assumptions are.
From the road,
Bogey