On Monday I was fortunate enough to play an outing at Ross' White Bear Yacht Club. I knew it was quirky (which I love) but it was not until I got a peek at the 9th hole that I knew I was in love. I have only played a few Donald Ross courses (Pinehurst, Plainfield and Montclair) but this was very
unique. It looks like Donald Ross meets a combination of Stanley Thompson and Perry Maxwell. The green slopes and fairway contours were very much reminiscent of all of Cape Breton Island or roiling seas like the 8th or 17th at
Crystal Downs. Green complexes were superb. I think of the 12th hole green complex at Plainfield as one of my favorites with a hogback ridge running through the green. Well, WBYC has several holes of this type of complex with ridges running at angles bisecting greens and making for delicious putts. It is obvious that Ross left all of the features of the property (
a hill abutting White Bear Lake) alone and the fairways are a serious of bowls, plateaus, ridges and humps and hollows. While the course only plays 6400 yards on the card I found myself hitting drives that would land at the
top of a bowl and would roll back down lower into the bottom of the bowl (taking 30-40 yards off my drives) and leaving me with blind approaches. So the course plays much tougher than you think. Usually these bowls are on the par 5s (which are short 552, 457, 514, 483) and make them play
longer than the card. In short, the course is wild and woolly which makes it glorious and lovely. My favorite holes are probably on the back 9 but the opening 9 has some unique ones..
#1 A great feature on this tough opener is a mogul which partially obscures the green and makes approach shots hard to judge. There is also a big bunker left below a 25 foot steep drop off from the green. Quite an opener.
#3- A wee hole..Only 133 yards but very memorable for a pitch and putt hole. Two moguls guard the front. The right mogul extends out to make the tiny green have an amphitheater type setting and a bunker lurks right. One
can bounce a pitch off the right mogul and the ball will roll back on the green. Oh and left? Nothing but a 30 foot drop off and one heck of a recovery shot.
5th hole..At 441 yards the hardest handicap hole. Your tee shot goes over a road which cuts the some of the course off from the rest. There is OB right and a huge bowl in the landing area which slopes left to right..It takes a
300yd+ drive to carry the bowl..If you get your ball right enough and challenge the rough you have a hook lie with a semi view of the pin. 2 big bunkers right capture wayward approaches.
9th hole-Is this the roiling North Atlantic or something out of the 17th at Crystal Downs. Tee off out of a chute and another hogback ridge slopes left to right on this short par 5-514 yards. The ridge at the top of the bowl is
penetrable with a 260 yard drive..If you don't you have a blind lay-up or you can go for it but another bisecting ridge lies at 100 yards. If you clear that, there is a nice run-up area in front of the green that gives you a good shot for it in two. A deft pitch from here to a green that slopes left to right makes the hole eminently par-able.
13th 514yards-Drive over a hill which then briefly flattens out and then undulates like a wave towards the green at 150 yards..Reminds me a lot of the 16th at Cape Breton in parts.
14th-Only 332 yards but what a hole!. A big sweeping dogleg right par 4. This is not your average sweeper, it is almost a right angle! There is a fairbit of movement in the fairway and mounding in the landing area for the drive
and there are trees down the right that block you from cutting off the dog leg. Farther down three large bunkers lurk a pushed shot but the beauty of this hole is the green. Like the 12th a Plainfield an angles ridge cuts the green
at an odd angle. It is a tiny green to begin with and a front pin placement in an inglorious place for any flagstick as it will frustrate the living daylights out of you. Luckily our pin was back but everyone I talked to 3 putted here.
#15- Second hardest hole on the course and another dogleg. This time a 423 yard swinger to the right that is blind to seeing the pin from the teeing area. At 280 yards a sweeping right to left ridge collects tee shots and gives a hanging hook lie to a back to front green with great contour due to another
ridge in the lower left part of the complex. I thought I was putting at Crystal Downs and the ghost of Perry Maxwell was laughing at me.
Overall, this was one of the unique courses I have ever seen. So much fun and quirk. I can't say it is superior to Plainfield as that course is much more "classic" in character. White Bear Yacht Club should be on everyone's hit list, it is its own kind of classic. One in character of the Cyclone at Coney Island. A lot of fun and gets the adrenaline flowing.
Two fun facts: F.Scott Fitzgerald played here in the 20s and White Bear Lake (originally a summer area for the rich, well to do of St. Paul) was the setting for the precursor to the work that became The Great Gatsby. This is in Brad Klein's book as well.
The name White Bear came from an Indian legend of a polar bear that walked into the region and was killed by an Indian boy.