A Fan's Photo Tribute to Kingsley Club - 18th hole commentary now in progress

[Bill Seitz]

No matter where Dan builds a tee on #4, I'm pretty confident that I'll find a way to dump it in the bowl on the right side.  Now we just need a flood proof road to the River Camp.

[Tim Bert]

Thanks for that flagstick video.  It looks completely fake!  I'm guessing there's a good reason you were filming and not playing at that moment.

[Jud_T]

Dinner and drinks for anyone who posts a picture of another 14 year-old (or younger) playing original left-hand Tom Stewart hickories:

[Terry Lavin]

I see from the baseball cap that the young lad suffers from The Affliction.  Other than that, this is a winning entry in next year's photo contest!

[Chris_Hufnagel]

Dinner and drinks for anyone who posts a picture of another 14 year-old (or younger) playing original left-hand Tom Stewart hickories:

Love that...it doesn't get much better than Kingsley, a bag of T. Stewart's, and Trues...

I am hopeful that Ralph was looking down that day - I am sure he would have had a huge smile on his face...

[Jud_T]

Love that...it doesn't get much better than Kingsley, a bag of T. Stewart's, and Trues...

I am hopeful that Ralph was looking down that day - I am sure he would have had a huge smile on his face...

Chris,

I am sure Ralph was smiling as David was carrying one of his niblicks in the bag!

[Matt Schmidt]

Chris,

I am sure Ralph was smiling as David was carrying one of his niblicks in the bag!

Jud, looks great! 

My son is 13, also a lefty, also has the same pair of TRUEs but has only 2 hickory clubs - how/where did you find a lefty set?

Summer is very busy for us, but let's try to get the boys together at the KC before the season is done!

[Jud_T]

Matt,

It's a work in progress.  Basically I scour the web and any time I find a lefty TS I buy it.

[Howard Riefs]

This has GCA get-together written all over it, IMHO.

It just took a few years...

[JC Jones]

One of my all time favorite threads.  Great bump.

[Bill Seitz]

No need to start a new thread, but my girlfriend and I were up at Kingsley over the weekend to do some snowshoeing.  In case anyone wonders what Kingsley looks like under four feet of snow....

First hole


Looking back at the first tee from the fairway


Fouth green with the second in the distance


12th hole


Looking back at the tee from the 12th green


15th hole


17th hole and cottages


Patio and Fire pit


Somewhere down there is the famous 18th tee mailbox, with the 17th green in the background

[Bart Bradley]

Nice photos...Kingsley really is a beautiful place all year long.  My streak of Kingsley visits may end this year at 6 years .

Thanks,

Bart

[Ken Fry]

So what does Jamieson that's been kept in a freezer for four months taste like Bill?

Ken

[Bill Seitz]

So what does Jamieson that's been kept in a freezer for four months taste like Bill?

Ken

Try as we might, Ken, we just couldn't dig all the way down to that thing.  If we'd tried at the end of our trek that day (about two miles in some very deep snow) instead of the beginning, we may have been a bit more motivated.

[Josh Tarble]

Great photos Bill.  Did you bring a sled for the 17th?

Hope you're surviving the Chi-town winter.

[Jason Thurman]

Even under all that snow, it still looks like Kingsley.

If you have more pictures, you should post them without captions and let us guess what holes we're looking at.

This winter in Cincinnati has been worse than one of the winters I spent in Wisconsin. I can't imagine how rough it's been on you Chicago guys. I'm a bit surprised you were even able to make it to the club. Stay strong. Just a few more weeks and it'll be tornadoes instead of snow!

[Bill Seitz]

Josh, the sled we brought wasn't very good, and as it was, the snow was so soft and deep that it would have been tough going.  Some local members showed up on Saturday to do some sledding on 17, and it looked fun, but even they said it was slower than normal.  And as hard as it was trudging up those hills in snowshoes, it was a hundred times harder doing it without snowshoes.  I walked from the bottom of the 17th fairway to the cottages without snowshoes and thought I was going to have a heart attack!  With snowshoes, you'd sink about 4-8 inches in really soft stuff.  Without snowshoes, I was up to my hips.  

If you have more pictures, you should post them without captions and let us guess what holes we're looking at.

Great idea, Jason!  Here ya go.

Photo #1


Photo #2


Photo #3


Photo #4


Photo #5


Photo #6


Photo #7


And a couple tough ones that maybe only the members will get.
Photo #8


Photo #9

[Matthew Sander]

All right Bill, I'll play...

1 - 5 green looking back toward the tee
2 - Near the clubhouse looking toward 9 green (you can see the top of the flag) with the elevated teeing grounds in the distance
3 - Looking down 14 from the left hand side
4 - Approach on 12
5 - 11 green from 18 tee
6 - short of 16 green looking down toward 15 fairway
7 - 18 from fairway

[Jud_T]

#8 is sand pit behind 15?

[Bill Seitz]

Well done, Matt.  Seven for seven.  Jud is correct as well, though it's more to the left of 15 than behind it.

[Jud_T]

#9 is the maintenance road next to #1?

[Matthew Lloyd]

awesome pictures, thanks for posting.  i'm sitting here in LA in 75 degree weather yet kingsley covered in snow and 5 degree temperatures seems more appealing.

[Anders Rytter]

Isn't #1 hole 15 green towards 16th

Almost as good looking as it was when i was there in september. Hope to make it back one day.

Edit: missed that Matt was 7/7

[Jud_T]

Look from the new 4th tee box.  This is left and down the hill from the original tees.  This image is from the normal back tees.  (This image is zoomed in on my Iphone and the rough you see in front of you had not been mowed yet given the cold spring we've had).  There are 4 or 5 boxes down there. There's a tournament tee behind that stretches to 470 and a very front box the distance of which I forget but which is temptingly driveable (you can barely make it out on the hill on the left just to the right of the first bunker you see).  While we will have to circle back in a year or two after the novelty factor wears off, my first impression is that it's a much better hole from down here.  You are hitting across the valley and into the major fairway slope instead of bounding either side of it somewhat indiscriminately.  Fairness advocates will prefer the fact that you can see the landing area instead of being totally blind, although this is a marginal benefit to me personally but it sure is a cool looking hole from down here.  Additionally, this green is very receptive of long running approaches.  The only possible negatives I can see at first blush are that it's a longer walk down to these boxes and a front pin becomes potentially less attractive with the longer approach generally required.  

[Zack Molnar]

Jud,

I am with you that I think the 4th becomes a better hole from over there. I think one of the negatives is that the tee shot loses some of its ability to make the golfer uncomfortable on the tee and really make the golfer think about where he wants to hit the ball. On the old tee, you really had to think about where to hit your shot, knowing you would be penalized if you did not execute (either by pushing it right into the gully, or left down the hill into the rough). Now it is a tee shot where the player just takes driver and hits it into the hillside, removing some of the benefits to those that were able to control their tee ball

That said, I still think it is a better hole from the new tees. The green is perfectly situated to accept longer approaches, although front pins might not be usable. I think at the longer length it becomes a perfect compliment to the 15th, with the course having a long par 4 with a forgiving drive and second shot, and another with high demands for both shots.

Also the new front tee measures about 230, perfect for a long par three into that green.