Best Locker Room in Golf?

[Lester George]

There is no better locker room than Seminole. End of discussion.  There are some really good seconds, but none better.  

[Slag_Bandoon]

   The LADIES locker room is the best locker room in golf! Criminy! You guys are scaring me with talk of sheep, cows heads, 35 minute showers and eating in your underwear.    

Carradale on Kintyre is nice.  Just a bench, some wooden lockers, four walls, and an honesty box. And co-ed! The showers are outside on the links.

[Impressed Reader]

Check out the credit for the Seminole photo in Golf The Greatest Game -- it's Robert Walker's.  I don't know whether I am more impressed with the classic B&W photo or just the fact that it was taken and published!

[Mike Bozymski]

Seminole, perfect
Adios GC, upstairs with Seminole like ceiling
Cypress Point, quaint, small
Champions, bar in center is a hoot
Palmetto, reminiscent of CP, Stanford White design

[Paul Perrella]

  1. The Golf Club-Plaques on the fireplace showing the       deceased members. I thought this was a nice touch.

  2. Pete Dye Golf Club

  3. Indian Creek- Archie beat me on this one.

[Lester George]

Now that we are in it, the new locker room at Kinloch Golf Club is extremely impressive.  

Alot like Seminole, except the US and British Amateur trophys (won by Vinny Giles) in their own built in showcase make it really cool.  

Lester

[W.H. Cosgrove]

I love Merion because they refuse to change it!!

But as a truly lovely lockerroom Seattle Golf Club must be near the top.  Vaulted ceiling, historic photographs, Stained glass and beautiful wood!  It's old and it wreaks of class (a rarity in the great NW).

[Matt Dupre]

In my view, locker rooms fall into two categories - those you only spend time in to change your shoes and shower, and those you want to spend all your time in (to the exclusion of going home or wherever else you're scheduled to be).

In the first category:
 Merion (and any other club with waterfall showerheads)
    - the tradition is palpable
 Garden City
    - there is no finer collection of ratty sport coats in the US
 
In the second:
 Castle Pines
 Desert Mountain
 Butler National
 Champions

After all the previous posts, I (and all others who haven't had a chance to visit, I think) would appreciate it if someone could provide more detail on Seminole.

[ziggy1]

Not sure your GCGC comment is accurate.

You need to visit Seminole to understand how fine the locker room is.......it's rather beyond words.

[ziggy1]

Lester,
When I was a boy in Richmond playing at Hermitage (late 50's)
I would occasionaly play the River Course at CCV with one
Kinloch Nelson. Is he involved with Vinnie,et al, in your club??

Regards,

Rick Short

Now that we are in it, the new locker room at Kinloch Golf Club is extremely impressive.  

Alot like Seminole, except the US and British Amateur trophys (won by Vinny Giles) in their own built in showcase make it really cool.  

Lester

[Matt Dupre]

My GCGC comment, while somewhat tongue in cheek, was based on a guided tour given by a member who essentially said the same thing about the need (or lack thereof) to impress...which goes straight to the beauty of that particular club.

[Steve_L]

Castle Pines is the best I've seen...  The Locker Room at Sea Island Lodge (Plantation & Seaside Courses) is unbelievable too...  

[ed_getka]

Garden City locker room and clubhouse is my favorite, particularly the creaky floor. Don't know about the showers but they have those huge dinner plate size heads like I've heard Merion has.

The unpretentiousness of the place is what I liked the best, along with the quirky jacket rule.

[TEPaul]

You may want to consider Fishers Island. Maybe I kept missing it but the only lockerroom I seem to have ever used was like a chair in the pro shop!

Actually, if truth be told, my favorite lockerroom is the back of my station wagon.

[Forrest Richardson]

I am surprised by the rather lame answers here, especially among such wonderfully thoughtful people. The answers given only apply to a very small percentage of people and are therefore as useless as "what is the best campground in all the world?"

The answer of course is..."the locker room you happen to be in at the moment". After all, a locker room is made up not of wood and walls, but of people and the cheers they share.

[Yancey_Beamer]

P.V.

[TEPaul]

Forrest:

Obviously, you've never been in the back of my station wagon!

[Forrest Richardson]

Actually I have been in the back of your station wagon. The steward let me in on a Monday.

[Tom_Egan]

In no particular order: Seminole, Garden City, Champions, Indian Creek, The CC (Mass.), The CC (Ohio), Kirtland, Baltusrol, Los Angeles CC, Bel Air, San Francisco, Olympic, Winged Foot, Fox Chapel, Pine Valley.

Pick whichever of these you like the LEAST and I'll be happy to live there the rest of my life!

[Dunlop_White]

The best I've seen are as follows:

Ocean Forest - Sea Island, Georgia
Eagle Point - Figure 8 Island, North Carolina
Seminole - W. Palm Beach (area), Florida

But add a new one to the list:

Augusta National - Augusta, Georgia: 135 days were spent    during the off-season rebuilding the locker room. The result embodies subtle and simple elegance.

[Will E]

hate to say it...
Bighorn beats Seminole
almost as bad as making a comment about not liking the second shot in on 3 at NGLA

[Leslie_Claytor]

For an unabashed trunk slammer with relatively little experience in private locker rooms, I was fortunate enough to view the locker room at Muirfield in Scotland.  I can't imagine a more historic room with all the red coats hung up in the old wooden lockers.
Architecturally it was a very impressive space with vaulted ceilings dressed out in wood panels, elegant beams and clerestory windows.  I didn't experience the locker room as a player, but it was one of the more memorable spaces I've experienced.   Frankly, it ranks with my favorite room, the rotunda room at Monticello, that I was lucky enough to view as an architecture student at UVA.

[Robert_Walker]

Leslie,
You are so right about Muirfield, and the Rotunda for that matter.
One of the neat things about Muirfield is that they have a mirror in front of the bay window overlooking the course, so that as you are combing your hair, you have this great look out over the course, and it is a private look at that.

[Lester George]

Rick Short,

Kinloch Nelson is not involved with us at Kinloch Golf Club.  I have never had the opportunity to meet him.

The name is scottish for "by the lake" and was chosen after consideration of many.  

You should make a trip to Richmond to see it.  Also, you should see what has been done to all of the CCV Courses, River Course (renovated by Rees Jones mid 90's), Tuckahoe Creek Course (renovated by me, 1999) Westhampton Course (renovated by me, 2000).  

Hermitage has also gone through some major renovations over the past few years with Arthur Hills.  

Let me know if you are coming, I'll call Vinny for the reunion.

Regards,

Lester

[ted janeczek]

seminole, castle pines and the golf club in ohio, a modern version of seminole.fyi: dave miller: the last time i was at jupiter hills ( about a year ago) they were redoing the entire clubhouse. you'll need to reconsider.