In sum, Seminole is fun, strategic, sporty, intoxicating, stimulating, perplexing, invigorating, frustrating, amazing and fantastic.
I never thought I could sum up my experience at Seminole in any concise way but I think Jason just did. Amazing.
After promising to let the winner post a summary first, I've been impatiently waiting for Jason to make the first post. I've felt like a dam waiting to let go of all my pent up thoughts. (It then took me a while to get this post up. Guess I waited too long.)
Oh boy where to begin? I'll just try to retrace it from the beginning. Coming into the round the three best courses I had ever played were Interlachen, Pasatiempo, and Calusa Pines. Growing up caddying at Interlachen I was excited to see what most consider Ross' best. I also was interested to compare it to Calusa as I had caddied for a number of people who were unimpressed by Seminole and said that Calusa was clearly better.
Because there aren't a ton of pictures of the place and the reviews are all over the board I wasn't sure what to expect. My expectations were high however after reading some more of the Seminole threads here on GCA.
You pull down a long private street from the main road with houses on the right and the course on the left blocked by hedges. When you finally get to the end you pull into the circle with the Seminole head and the caddies take your clubs and they valet your car. You then sign in with a very nice older lady at the front desk and she directs you to the locker room.
The locker room is everything anyone's ever hyped it up to be. Jason and I probably could have spent a week in it and dorked out taking everything in. I'm not sure what was the coolest part was. Seeing some of the famous guest names who had won tournaments (for ex: Dan Quayle, Sean Connery, Pat Mucci, etc.), or the setup of the lockers being set behind a bench to sit on in front of it and put your shoes on, or the aerial photo of the course showing a shot by shot diagram of Claude Harmon's low round of 30-30 60 with each club he used, or the table full of classic golf course and teaching books (just about everything besides a copy of the Confidential Guide). Not to mention an ash tray next to every couch and chair in the middle of the room.
After leaving the locker room and passing the pool you walk down the stairs to the putting green and the tent where the caddymaster and caddies are with all the bags. You get your first glimpse of the course here with #9 green, #1 and #2 going up the hill behind it, #10 and #11 going up the behind it, and the driving range. Seeing the elevation change from there really got me excited. I was surprised how open it was.
U-turning back into the clubhouse (now lower) you walk into what has to be the coolest inch-for-inch pro shop in the country. I'd say it was maybe 10 feet by 25 feet. They packed every crevice with so much cool stuff it's hard to even explain. In the bathroom in the back of the shop is where they had a couple of sets for clubs for sale hanging on the wall just to give you idea of how small it is.
After heading out we met our two caddies, Jason and I's who had been on the senior tour for 10 years with Ed Dockerty, and another guy who had moved from South Africa 19 years ago and been at Seminole ever since.
Just as we finished hitting balls the rain started and we all huddled under either the tent or the half-way house which is right between the range and #1+#10 tee. Jason ate an entire jar of ginger snaps. After an hour of on and off dumping we decided to make a go for it. I was so distracted by both rain and trying to take everything about the course in.
Little did I realize until the 5th hole that I had just started with 4 straight pars. Of course I needed to as Jones brought his A+ game to our little match and I wasn't even up a hole after those 4 pars to start. This ended up being the way the entire match went as I played well on my way to an 83 with 1 biridie and I still lost 4 and 3.
Here is the hole by hole breakdown
#1 is kind of the classic Ross warm up into the round hole. It's a benign dog-leg right at 370 yards with bunkers on both the inside and outside of the turn that for me played driver-pitching wedge. Jason made 5 so I was up 1. It was pouring walking off the hole. I think some of the greatness of this hole is that it can sneak up on you while you see #2 climbing up the dune behind it and you want to get there. Almost like a sports team that looks ahead to the next big game and the team under .500 beats them as a result.
#2 gets you right into the meat of the golf course with a par-4 380 yard dog-leg left that turns to go right up the dune to an elevated green probably 50-70 feet or so high. The tee-shot is over a small pond to a fairway again with bunkers on both sides of the turn. I hit driver-7 iron (my 175-180 club) up into the wind and hit the green but rolled off the back into the rough. I hit a nice bump chip with my 7-iron to 2 feet only to have Jones drop in a down hill 10 footer for par and his 4 for 3. Back to even. At this point we could not have been any wetter had we jumped into the pond.
#3 is par-5 and what some consider to be a classic Ross, tee shot high into a valley then back up to a high green. The hole actually bends to the right pretty good as it works its way back up the dune to the two-tiered elevated green. It was raining so hard the group in front of us walked off. I hit driver-4-iron-gap wedge (all 3 into the wind) and hit the middle of the green but it spun back to the front leaving me with about a 75-foot putt up to the top tier the hole was cut on. I made a great two putt but not as good as Jason's miraculous up and down from the back bunker. Still even. Really cool green I thought and it was clear by my dad's struggles that short left was death.
#4 is the 440 yard par 4 #1 handicap hole that some say is the best/toughest hole in FL. When we got to the tee the rain stopped and the sun started to peak out as we all took our rain jackets off. I hit a great drive that faded with the help of the wind to the right side of the fairway 180 out. As I was sneaking my one picture other than the group one we took on 17 (will post it when I get it from my dad) Jones hit the shot of his life out of the left waste bunker. 220 out with a hybrid in his hand and the man puts it on the green in two out of nowhere. Unbelievable. I calmly hit my 7-iron onto the front of the green and two putted for my par. As for Jones, well apparently he had used up all his good shot juice because he hit the worst putt I've seen in quite some time and pushed it hard right (opened up the flange on the putt) about 10 feet right of the hole. I needed it thought just to halve the hole. Still even.
Walking off the #4th green you now have one of the prettiest views in FL. From here you can see almost every hole on the course and just over the opposite dune along the ocean so that you can just see the ocean peaking out above it. Very cool.
#5 is a 188 yard par-3 that you already heard about with the 6-iron that wasn't meant to be. Neither was mine as I chunked it short (did this on 3 of the par 3's actually) and then hit a nice flop shot that was about half a foot short and caught the lip of the huge bunker cut into the front of the green. After another decent effort out that landed short and rolled back to my feet I hit it out to 3 feet and my double bogey 5. This is when I finally looked at the scorecard and saw I had started with 4 straight pars. Down 1 after Jason made bogey.
#6 is a 373 yard par-4 that runs along the west side of the property. Jason knows this well as he tried to hit some cars on the other side of the hedges. The caddie instructed us to hit the left-center of the fairway as the fairway cants left and the approach is to a green angled left to right with bunkers front right and back left. I put my best anti-right swing on my drive (after Jason pushed it right) and pulled it a hair left into the waste bunker. I missed my approach shot right into the front bunker and chipped out to 5-feet. Jones made 6 after his lost ball but he had a stroke so I had to make my putt to win the hole. Alas I was a hair soft after the caddy told me to "just stroke it" and it just broke right of the hole on the last roll. Still down 1.
#7 is a 409 yard par-4 that has a downhill tee-shot off the dune down into the middle of the property. There is water that cuts across the fairway about 300 yards out. When the caddy told me it was 300 and the wind was right behind our back I asked if I should hit 4-wood instead. He said no hit the driver. So I did and crushed it into the water on the fly. Jason meanwhile blasted his dead right onto the 8th hole. Of course he had an open shot and was able to play it to the front of the green from which he got up and down for his 4 for 3. I chipped on and two putted for my 5. Down 2.
#8 is a 224 yard par 3 which the caddy said they call the shortest par-4 in the world. It was 209 to the pin but dead into the wind. My dad hit driver and was the only one on the green. I hit hybrid just short of the green. Jason meanwhile having not played the 7th fairway yet decided to push it right again and check it out. Of course I missed my par putt and he made his 5 for 4 for the halve. Still down 2.
#9 is a very underrated par-5 imo and is 485 yards long. About 300 yards from the tee the fairway narrows to about 10-15 yards wide with two bunkers to the right and a small pond and trees to the left. Further right as well is out of bounds. This tee-shot really messed with me as I really wanted to get it into the smaller neck for a chance to hit the green in two especially with the wind helping. Instead I missed it right and it ended up with a funky lie on the finger of the bunker. Off my slice lie I pulled it left onto another edge of the bunker left of the green about 70 yards out. Jason's drive left him with a shot to the green but over the trees that block the left side. As a result he pulled it left. I chunked my third while Jason chipped his on and two putted while I left my 4th shot short and just missed my par putt. Down 3 at the turn.
Back 9 to come...