...under Architecture Timeline and Courses by Country.
In this age when few people have the time to consistently devote to the playing of 18 holes (and not everyone has the skill to close Pat Mucci out at the 14th hole like One of Golf's Most Beloved Figures
), 9 hole courses make GREAT sense. If anything, they should be gaining in popularity.
The United States possesses several very fine ones, scattered from southwestern Michigan to a (former) nine holes outside of Pittsburgh to one in Massachusetts.
One of the very best can be found in the middle of Indiana at The Culver Academies. In this case, the great - and often underappreciated - design talents of Langford & Moreau are on display. Culver is 'untouched' in that all the tees, green pads and bunker formations (albeit with no sand in them) remain intact. The bold green contours are much in evidence. Despite the putting surfaces having shrunk ~35%, one gains a sense as to the fun that these greens provided for W. Hagen, B. Nelson, and all the others that have challenged this course.
Photographing courses with stunning bunkers and great contrast/texture in their grasses is easy. Such attributes are absent in this case but who doesn't think its great design attributes still don't shine through in the photographs in its course profile?
Some students of golf course architecture struggle to want to play/see a course like Bel-Air that has had so much lost/altered with time. Not me, as it still retains the brush strokes of a master architect. Few courses are ever blessed with a great routing/features and though such features may be covered up or obscured, give me that course any day to a so-so design in great shape that is perfectly 'fine' yet ultimately unmemorable.
Culver is such a course - a great architect was given great property and all the features remain today. The greens 'stimp' at 6 (yes, I cringe too but feel forced to use that horrible expression in this one case) and it is a great joy to play. If anything the green speed coupled with no modifications/modernization (like irrigation!) to the course gives one a true feeling as to how the game was played in the 1920/1930s.
The Culver Academies is a leader in education in this country and perhaps like Yale, it too (or one of its powerful alums) will realize it possesses a treasure. The course deserves to be treated accordingly.
Cheers,