Ahh, yes. We've traveled so far together, 'tis a pity we must bid farewell. The road is marked with our successes and failures; let time not judge them too kindly nor too harshly, simply just.
The 3rd hole is a nasty bitch, a dogleg right par five that finishes on an almond sliver of a putting ground. Miss it left or right and you are truly (out of) lucked. Walter J. Travis reached the height of twisted fortune when he gave birth to this sweetheart of a hole at Lookout Point, Fonthill, Ontario, 473 yards;
The 6th hole, until 18 hours ago, was to have been a wondrous par three from Donald Ross. JNC_Lyon, that cold, calculating, heartless Colgate University student, cleaved it from my grasp in a maddening fit of desperation (or at least that's how I see it.) What JNC doesn't know is that Donald Ross tested that hole before building it at CCB-New. Donald Ross came to Buffalo after the 1912 USGA Open to see if anything could be done to save CCB-Old, now the Grover Cleveland municipal course. Ross built a few new holes, including what is now the 17th, a 145 yard par three with nearly the same green as found in the Williamsville quarry of CCB-New. Enough about "J." My selection for 6th hole is a diabolical reverse redan etched by the hands of Seth Raynor. Measuring 193 yards with a saucy fronting bunker, I travel to suburban Pittsburgh to Fox Chapel Golf Club, 193 yards;
Riddle me this: what do you get when you throw Travis and Raynor in a blender and press GRIND? You get a Strantz Smoothie (actually, I have no idea what that means.) I could not complete this exercise without selecting an 18th hole whose drive will never be questioned as undoubtedly the greatest measuring device for a man's hood (or manhood; you choose.) 420 yards, par four, Tobacco Road.
This was a blast, better than the first draft, Olympian in nature.
Hilarious Card of the Course: OUT 5-4-5-5-4-3-5-5-4=40 (about 4128 yards) IN 3-3-4-3-4-3-4-4-4=32 (about 2563 yards)
(about 6700 yards) PAR=72
To quote Bill Murray, it was the cough medicine
Here's my list:
1 530--Cal Club—Medium par five
2 390--Bethpage—Medium par four
3 473--Lookout Point--Short par five
4 600--Merion—Long par five
5 390--Macrihanish—Medium par four
6 193--Fox Chapel —medium par three
7 575--Pine Valley —Long par five
8 513--Dunes Club—Medium Par five
9 464--Pebble Beach —Long par four
10 173--Pac Dunes –medium par three
11 175--St. Andrews Old—Medium par three
12 425--Arcadia Bluffs—Medium par four
13 125--Merion—Short par three
14 320--Bandon Trails—Short par four
15 140--Pasatiempo—short par three
16 325--Bandon Dunes—Short par four
17 460--St. Andrews Old—Long par four
18 420--Tobacco Road—Medium par four
Given the unbalanced skeleton of the course, I believe that an appropriate clubhouse would be a Fullerene Geodesic dome.
Signing off...Ron M.