The BEST Course You've NEVER Heard Of

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Sorry to reopen old sores, but I missed this originally.

In defense of Mr. Young's reputation I have also read the Dean's Creek story (in fact I think I have a copy of it somewhere) from some regional GA golf magazine I believe.  So Phil did not just write this himself and send it off to you John.

Having said that I also took it upon myself to try to find this place. I have cruised the GA coast quite a bit, and have gotten off the interstate a couple times to take some back roads to see if I happened upon it.  I did not.  I did however find another place that is pretty remote and has some interesting holes on a great piece of property.  It is not well marked, or advertised, but it is not Dean's Creek as it is a housing development course called Sapelo Hammock.  The conditions were not great when I looked around the place as I dont think the development ever took off (important note to marketing types if you build a golf course community you might want to invest in a couple signs to tell people you exist).

Back to Dean's Creek, I also have asked a couple of people who are the most knowledgeable people I know about golf in the SE, and they do not know anything about it.  Therefore I have had to conclude that it was nothing more than a wonderful story.

[Keith Williams]

Turboe,

Sapelo Hammock has been on my "to play" list for whenever I make it down to the Ga. coast.  I haven't unearthed very much information about it so far (they have a pretty basic website), do you care to share any of your thoughts on it?  Is it worth taking a visit to?

Thanks,

Keith.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Keith,

Sapelo Hammock is an interesting place.  I didnt actually play it, and here is why.  This place sounds more and more like Deans Creek when I explain this.  I had heard of Sapelo Hammock and started driving back roads as directed by my golf map on my laptop.  By the time I found the place finally it was getting late in the day, but not so late that I thought I wouldnt be able to get out to play the course, there was still plenty of daylight.  

When I got there the clubhouse was locked up and dark, and there wasnt a person to be found around the cart barn, or maintaince people or anything.  There were a few cars in the parking lot, but other than that it was deserted.  I wandered out onto a couple holes to look around and contemplated just grabbing my clubs and heading out.

Then a cart with some golfers came rolling off of the 18th hole.  I asked them about where everyone was they said they thought the pro might be out playing.  So when they left their cart by the building and left I jumped in it and just headed out to see the course.  About the 13th hole I saw a solitary guy hitting some shots out of the bunker.  I stoped to talk and found out it was the pro.  He was a nice guy and said it was a slow night so he went out to play.

Back to the course.  There were some great looking holes, and the course is on a wonderful piece of property along the lowcountry tidal marshes etc, back in the middle of nowhere.  There are some nice homes but not many, as I said the development obviously never took off like they expected.  The course was not maintained very well at that time (you could tell the fairways and tees hadnt been cut as often as they should have, and the grass was growing into the bunkers in places), but I still think it is worth the trip.  If you dont know exactly where it is let me know I can probably look it up on my golf map again and see where it is.  I want to go back someday and actually play it.  Someone told me it is in a little better shape now.

[Keith Williams]

Turboe,

Thanks, it sounds like a neat place.  I had originally heard of it just after it opened from one of the pros at my club, but it hasn't made much of a splash since.  I believe I have got the location pretty much identified from using the courses website and Terraserver aerials which appear to show the course under construction.  Terraserver's images show the back nine as complete, but portions of the front nine were still unfinished.

Also of note:  while the location is remote, the courses annual membership fees sure seem great for someone living in the area.

Keith.

[John_Conley]

Daryl:

How on earth could you read Dean Creek and think the place existed?

Keep looking and let me know when you find it.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

John,

I actually had not seen the article when I did my searching and asking for it.  It was relayed to me by a friend who had read it, and I doubted it (and so did he), but wanted to find out for myself.  I have since gotten a copy of the story and it is a good read, and one can dream, but alas I dont think you will ever find it.

I will however keep looking, and let you know if I ever do.

[John_Conley]

Daryl:

That I can see.  Someone read the article and didn't really question it.  Then they told you about it and you thought it was worth looking for.  (I know, D-Boe is trying to play ALL of America's courses - not just the great ones!   )  I can see that.  Anyone who read it would have to wonder, why hasn't the place done 100 rounds yet?

I loved the way the radioactive soil actually helps grow golf course grass.

I can say this... go see Eau Claire (not where Jermaine O'Neal is from) if you get to Wisconsin.

All the best,
JOHN

[Mike Hendren]

I have played Dean Creek.  

Turbo, I will IM you the directions.  You skeptics?  Don't bother to ask.

Back into exile,

Mike

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Got your note, thanks Mike.  I am leaving early tomorrow for vacation so dont know when I will have any time to look at it closer.  It will be a couple weeks before I am back home for a while.

[Mike Hendren]

Turboe,

Glad to hear you've played Great Dunes (fka Oceanside) on Jekyl Island.  I'm having trouble downloading pics but hope to post some of the Travis' cool Alps hole there that I took on our St. Simons vacation last week. $19 for this little 9-holer is tough to beat, but for the $7 replay rate.  

Regards,

Mike

[Cory]

Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Links style with a number of beautiful holes that play into a constant wind.  Public golf course that goes way up in my book because it is affordable.

[John_Conley]

Bump for JP Morgan.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Links style with a number of beautiful holes that play into a constant wind.  Public golf course that goes way up in my book because it is affordable.

Thanks for the supportive comments about one of my lesser discussed designs.  It certainly fits the bill of a solid affordable muni.   Of course, I wish it wasn't quite so obscure, but if it was, it wouldn't be mentioned on this thread......

A few years ago, George Williams and I noodled on talking at length about the best unknown course in Texas, Tumbleweed Hills, and to see how long we could keep it going before someone actually caught on.

[John_Conley]

Has it been four years already!?  And two since this thread was "up"?  I read it out of curiosity, but now that I have I regret reliving the drama of Dean Creek.  

I'll see if I have any photos of Eau Claire.

Better question... what is JP doing in Eau Claire!!

[Evan Fleisher]

     The BEST Golf Course You've NEVER Heard Of

Like being named "the best player never to be called the best player to win a Major", there's a chance of losing this award as soon as you earn it. However, if more people find out about Eau Claire G&CC in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, I think that's a good thing.  

The club itself is 101 years old, celebrating its Centennial last year when it hosted the Wisconsin Amateur. The golf course has been in existence - with some changes - since the Depression, making it about 70 years old. Designed by an architect you've never heard of, it still has a pedigree. Tom Vardon was the golf pro at White Bear Yacht Club (recently profiled on this site by the Naffer) near St. Paul and the brother of Harry Vardon of Vardon Grip fame. A Scotsman who was a golf pro designing courses on the side?    Sounds like Donald Ross, and it isn't much of a stretch to think he could have had a full-blown career in design if he hadn't been so unfortunate to start that career in the midst of the Depression.

A Parkland course alongside a river, the site is blessed with hills big enough to be used for sledding in the winter and is bisected by a stream that never directly affects play. Like most great courses of its era, ECG&CC has better variety for hole lengths than Modern courses. While unique, comparable (remote, underheralded) courses may be found at Longmeadow (MA) or Teugega (Rome, NY), the latter of which I've yet to play.  

A quick run through some of the best holes:

1. A strong par 4 of 431 yards to start. Great drives will run down a steep hill making for a much shorter approach.

3. 432 yards, dogleg right, this par 4 features a slightly downhill teeshot and uphill mid- to long-iron approach to a green guarded by a tree on the left.

4. Just 481 yards, this par 5 is almost impossibly tight through a passage and then uphill and right to a small green. Pulled tee shots wind up in a hazard while a stand of trees blocks pushes. (Photo of approach from about 190 yards.)

7. Arguably the best hole on the course, the 406 yarder plays severely downhill to a flat fairway, then up an incline to a dicey green. Doglegs slightly right and plays across a stream on the second.  Par 4. (Tee shot, approach, then look back to the tee from fairway.)

13. Christened the 25 hole because it is as easy to make birdie on as it is to double-bogey, at 134 yards it seems inconspicuous on the card. A little uphill to a plateau green that's twice as wide in back, misses on either side are repelled from the green site and become increasingly tough to chip up as you get further from the green and further down the hill.  Par 3. (I made the 5.  )  (View from back of green.)14. A brute of a par 4, Vardon drew upon inspiration from a Scottish links when he placed the back tee slightly lower than the mound in front of it. You can't see much, but can infer from the cavernous look between the trees that the fairway is wide. The green on this 449 yard par 4 is perilously close to the stream on the right. (Approach of about 185 yards downhill.)

The only negatives I can find to point out are that a) the course finishes on two of their easier holes (more on this later), and b) parts of the property are a little over-treed. Conditions are terrific and the greens are exceptional. My gracious host, club pro Jim Julsrud[/i], spun around in a tidy 69 with his lone bogey on #15 where I made my only birdie. (Like Tommy Aaron boasting about all the home runs he and his brother combined for in their careers, I can talk about the day Julsrud and I partnered for 67 best-ball!    Hank Aaron actually began his professional baseball career as a minor leaguer in Eau Claire.)

Now about the club… it seems a little peculiar to someone from a more populated area. My lunch of Trout-on-Toast and cup of Clam Chowder ran just $5.50.    Which brings me to the club's economics.  How much do you think the initiation is for a club with a golf course of this caliber? Guess again, you're way too high. Guess again, still too high.

Nope, it is just $750 to join with $300 per month dues.    They are presently a little short on members and anticipate the initiation returning to $4,000 soon, but that's still only 1/20th the reported downstroke to join storied Interlachen CC less than two hours away. Because of these economics in a small Middle America town - one with another private club and SIX daily fee options - reason trumps tradition when making decisions for the club. One example is that three or four holes were moved away from the low-lying riverside to higher ground. Around 1980 it was deemed necessary to plant trees to better delineate the line of play on these new holes. Naturally these trees grew up together and now it is not only defined, but a little cluttered as well. (Almost sadly  , rounds are down from about 28,000 annually in the late 80s to more like 18,000 today.)

Another example is found in a change the club is undergoing in the next two years that will radically alter hole sequence. First, an additional par 3 is being built between the present 6th and 7th holes. Once completed, construction on a new clubhouse will commence on a site that includes the present 5th hole. When that is finished the club will sell the valuable land (on a major thoroughfare) where the obsolete clubhouse sits and move the entrance road to the other end of the property. Because of the value of the land being sold, the club will somehow pay for the cost of a their new clubhouse without going deep into pocket. Pretty hard running assessments through on a club that's letting in members for less than a grand! It all makes perfect financial sense, but I'm guessing you would never hear a similar project at Shinnecock. (Don't know if I can say that with certainty, though. Pebble Beach's addition of New #5 isn't an unfair comparison.)

(Construction has just started on the new par 3 - August 2002.)

Personally, I have no qualms with the changes that have been made or those just starting. However, some purists will no doubt object to them and clamor for a total restoration to the original Vardon design, even though I've never heard anyone singing the praises of Vardon like they may for Ross or Raynor.

Despite a reputation that doesn't extend to St. Paul to the West or Madison and Milwaukee to the East, Eau Claire is a delightful course that embodies low profile, Classic design philosophies. A stealth candidate for national recognition, it is entirely possible that the club goes another hundred years remaining undiscovered.  (For those wondering if it is worth a trip to Eau Claire to see the course, be aware that the Wild Ridge course at the Mill Run club is a terrific new daily-fee option you could also visit while in the area.)

EAU CLAIRE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
431, 144, 432, 481, 189, 372, 406, 518, 408
414, 204, 396, 134, 449, 371, 529, 335, 361
6574 yards, par 71


John Conley, August 2002

JC,

Not sure if this is the BEST course you've never heard of...but Jeff Shelman and I did the Eau Claire "double" this past weekend playing ECG&CC in the am and Wild Ridge GC in the pm...a solid day of golf.

ECG&CC was indeed a very comfortable and challenging place to play...but seemed to be just a very nice members course and little beyond that.  Granted, they have (and are scheduled) to play Wisconsin state events there, so the course has teeth especially from the "way backs", but I've played many of these Midwestern "comfortable" member courses.

I would definitely say that Wild Ridge has much more interest and entertainment for your golfing dollar based on what I saw there...a nice incorporation of the natural ridges the site had to offer, a very intriguing set of par-3s with very different looks and lengths, and tons of movement on the course and within the green complexes.

Overall a great 36-hole day that I would recommend to anyone who makes it up to that area...well worth the time and effort.

[Craig Sweet]

Crystal Lake near Troy, Montana...

[Willie_Dow]

How about Golspie ?

[John_Conley]

Evan, thanks for your comments and I'm glad you got there to play both.  While you found Eau Claire less of a standout, I'd argue that Wild Ridge is the "dime a dozen" cookie cutter course.  It is like so many modern courses.  I really like it, but I think I'm most impressed by the fact it is in Eau Claire and not some heavily trafficked area.

I think Eau Claire holds its own versus more heralded Classic courses in places like the Twin Cities or Chicago.

Did you hear the dues structure!?  Almost makes me want to move to Eau Claire.

Almost.