Rutland Country Club
Rutland, Vermont
Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek, 1928
6134 yards, par 70With thanks to Ran Morrissett and in memory of Bob Labbance.
I was lucky to get a warm day and peak foliage at Rutland this week. This course had been described in glowing terms by all who had played it and I came away having fallen hard for the scenery, the impeccable and appropriate maintenance, and most of all the death-by-1000-cuts difficulty.
Holes of noteThird - 170 yardsPartially obscured by a shaggy mound, impossibly steep from left to right, and sculpted just so, this iconic hole kicks the golfer into full alert after a modest start.
Fourth - 481 yardsThis hole could be overpowered or badly botched by a long hitter, and provides great interest for everyone from tee to green. A blind tee shot into a sloping fairway may impede a free swing with the driver. The second shot is again blind, but an extreme drive may have come to rest on a handy upslope. The green is small, very steep from back to front, guarded by bunkers, and abutting six backyards.
Sixth - 415 yardsThis hole begins a sequence of remarkably diverse and enjoyable par-fours. The tee shot is to a target that is confused by a bunker, a boulder, a mountain range, and a couple of hairy patches, the latter being a feature that is used wonderfully on this short course. At 260 yards the fairway plunges steeply downhill, so the approach may be blind or off a testy lie. Anything to the right of the generous green will probably end up in East Brook.
Full concentration is required, as many shots at Rutland do not reveal an obvious target.Back over the river and steeply uphill. The bunkers on the right serve in interesting dual purpose, saving the bomber from a lost ball while ensnaring a leak from others. Yet another approach where you can't see the green, of which I encountered eleven, and it is always difficult to score when you can't see what you are doing.
Eighth - 372 yardsOne of the most unlikely green sites I have ever come across. After a drive down the plain fairway, this pushed-up green is almost like an oasis.
Stiles and Van Kleek were always able to convert the simple into the sublimeThis hole is oozing with charm from tee to green and encapsulates all that is great about Rutland - insistence on precise play, a disregard for total yardage, scenery that slowly unfolds as you walk around a corner and up a slope, and, yes, maddening putting surfaces. The fairway indicates that you can draw your ball or let the ground do it for you, but other than that offers nothing at all for a target. The green at the top of a ridge is just fifteen yards wide.
Twelfth - 205 yardsLook out, it's the signature hole, a stunning one-shotter. The clever play is to bounce it in from the right, but the line of charm is a full twenty yards off-base and extends all the way to Bald Mountain.
Fourteenth - 393 yardsThe kitchen sink - a panoramic spectacle from the tee box, a fairway that is fifty yards wide with most of it leading to a bogey, an enormous ledge that attracts the eye and the ball into a terrible spot, and a nerve-wracking approach that is even harder than it looks. Just about a perfect golf hole.
Eighteenth - 398 yardsA compelling finish, with a blind tee shot and, after a day of them, the most outrageously tilted green on the course.
Sure, there are a few awkward transitional holes around the brook and the high point of the property, but otherwise this course was a joy to play. Every mistake will cost you a bogey, and mistakes are easy to come by, including and especially from three feet away. It almost goes without saying that this course is playable for all and meant for walking. With the possible exception of Prouts Neck, after Taconic this is surely the second greatest eighteen holes that Stiles and Van Kleek turned out.