I’m a new registered member here; I was very interested to see this old thread on Camden. I’ve been a member of CCC on and off for 40 years and dearly love the “old lady”. Most of what’s been written previously is correct, but for anyone who’s interested, here’s a thumbnail sketch of Camden Country Club’s history (and some personal observations).
The club was chartered in 1899; the members were to (among other activities) play golf on the Kirkwood Links. The Kirkwood Links was a course owned by the Kirkwood Hotel, one of several resort hotels in Camden catering to wealthy Northerners who wished to winter in a warmer climate. Camden was, and is, an active horse training center, and attracted many with an interest in horses. The original architect of the Kirkwood Links is unknown; the course consisted of 27 holes (18 on the current site and 9 a short distance away).
In 1923, Walter Travis was engaged to renovate the Kirkwood Links. To my knowledge, there’s no documentation showing the extent of his work but contemporaneous accounts indicate extensive rerouting and green design. The Travis greens were sand, and the #1 Tee was adjacent to the Kirkwood Hotel (a short par 5, now #13).
In 1932, Donald Ross was retained to further renovate the course, and convert the greens to bermuda grass. The club has copies of Ross’s drawings and notes for this renovation (the originals are owned by a member), the bulk of his attention was given to green shaping and bunker placement with some alteration of tee sites and elevation. The Travis routing was retained virtually intact, though I’ve been told (with no documentary evidence) that Ross did create one par 3 from scratch. I’m somewhat dubious on this, as the person that told me this has, at different times, told me that hole was the current #12 and #16. The notes seem to indicate that the greens are probably 90% Ross, with a strong Travis influence. Generally, the slopes are pretty severe, but with little undulation within the green complexes.
After World War II, the Kirkwood Hotel closed and the golf course was purchased by a group of wealthy residents (including William F. Buckley) who leased it to Camden Country Club for a nominal amount. The clubhouse was an annex to the old Kirkwood Hotel, and the routing remained as originally set by Travis (with #1 being the current #13).
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out
Tee 4 380 179 546 422 320 230 407 140 370 2994
Tee 3 340 172 531 382 305 208 365 135 328 2766
Tee 2 310 149 414 346 271 188 333 125 307 2443
Tee 1 270 127 375 304 240 122 303 103 284 2128
Par 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 3 4 34
Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 IN Total
Tee 4 434 382 172 483 503 423 186 402 379 3364 6358
Tee 3 416 353 158 462 471 407 175 387 344 3173 5939
Tee 2 364 316 144 427 420 352 163 348 317 2851 5294
Tee 1 327 210 105 393 380 281 125 282 285 2388 4516
Par 4 4 3 5 5 4 3 4 4 36 70
Hole Sequence
Travis/Ross 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Current 13 14 15 16 17 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 18 10 11 12
In the mid 1950’s, DuPont built a large installation in Camden largely changing the makeup of the local population. New members wanted swimming and other amenities, so the clubhouse was moved to an existing house sited above what was then # 7 green. Unfortunately, a portion of the old #13 fairway was used to accommodate the swimming pool and the hole was shortened from a par 5 to a par 4 with a new tee adjacent to the clubhouse and putting green. To maintain a par of 70, the current #7 was arbitrarily changed to a par 5 (which, at approximately 400 yards, it never was though it’s a very strong par 4).
In 1999, the club undertook a renovation overseen by Rick Robbins, with the intent of restoring the course as faithfully as possible to Donald Ross’s vision. Using the Ross sketches, the greens were restored to their original sizes and shapes (encroachment had claimed approximately 25%, more in some instances), were rebuilt to USGA specs, and were grassed with TifEagle. #7 was returned to a par of 4, and #14 received new tees and lengthened to a par 5 (apparently not a very strong one as I made an albatross shortly after the reopening!).
Generally, I think the renovation was successful though not without shortcomings. For budgetary reasons, Robbins was selected over other architects who had experience with Ross course renovations. For the same reason, Robbins was not extensively involved in overseeing the construction phase (probably the worst “economy” ever). Finally, the selected contractor had no previous experience with Ross courses and had only one qualified shaper (who quit prior to completion of the project). In spite of these problems, the finished product looks (to a totally unqualified armchair archie) to be very close to that drawn up by Mr. Ross. One unfortunate alteration made by Robbins (in my opinion) was elimination of the sole “convex bunker” on the course, the only “trademark” characteristic we had of Walter Travis. This was replaced by two poorly sited fairway bunkers which don’t come into play for low handicaps but are very penal to weekend players.
Post-renovation, the layout is pretty much as designed by Mr. Ross, with the exception that the current #1 is a 380 yard par 4 as opposed to a 547 yard par 5, and #14 is a 503 yard par 5 instead of the designed 430 yard par 4. Hopefully, when the pool requires replacement there will be support for relocating it and undoing these changes. It's interesting to note that the original routing had par three holes as both #9 and #18.
Camden has hosted the Carolinas Golf Association Four Ball for 50 of the 55 years it’s been held, and has hosted numerous other CGA and SCGA events. As others have noted, recent events have included the CGA Senior Amateur (winning score of +5), US Am Qualifying (medalist was even par), and SC Match Play. Without resorting to “tricking up” the course, the “old lady” has defended herself quite well. The every-day course record is 60 (held by a former touring pro who grew up in Camden and plays it more or less daily), the competitive record is 64.
Brent Hutto wondered about Lefty Flynn and Bob Chapman:
Bob Chapman is a (now) retired judge who lives in Camden and who was a long-time outstanding amateur (he still plays a pretty mean game).
Lefty Flynn was an early tour player who settled in Camden and ran a driving range and Par 3 course adjacent to the Country Club (the driving range is that now used by the club, the Par 3 course unfortunately gave way to tennis courts).. In the 50’s and early 60’s, he hosted a pro-am at the club immediately following the Masters; participants included Bob Goalby, Julious Boros, Art Wall, Gene Sarazen, and Ben Hogan (Gene Sarazen had two comments about #5… That it was the best short par 4 he’d ever seen, and that it was the shortest par 5 he’d ever seen!)
Having now droned on forever, I’d like to extend an invitation to anyone who’d like to play. Our conditioning isn’t always quite what we’d like to see, but we think it’s a pretty good test of golf (and getting a game is never a problem).