My day at Idle Hour Country Club

[Joe Sponcia]

Gentlemen,

Lawrence Largent and I had the opportunity to play Idle Hour Country Club in Lexington, KY a few weeks ago on our way to play in a two man tournament at NCR Country Club (South) in Kettering, OH (which is an excellent Wilson design).  Idle Hour is the only Donald Ross designed course in the state.  

When we arrived around 2 pm, the course was completely empty.  We left from Knoxville, TN and literally drove through wind and rain the entire three hours.  The temperature was a balmy 42F with 20-30 mph wind gusts.  The Head Professional, Mr. Pete Garvey was very cordial, and a bit surprised (I believe) in our willingness to play on such an...interesting day with regard to the weather, but speaking for both of us, IHCC is worth the walk in any weather.  

IHCC is a unique place.  The course is very expansive, which is rare for the Ross designs/routings I have studied.  My guess is, there is room for 27-30 holes on the property.  Since the restoration and modernization some years ago, the course (to me) has a classic feel in places mixed with a little modern flare.  On a sunny day with no wind, this would be a challenging course!  The first 4.5 holes was played in sideways rain and heavy wind, but again, nothing could dampen the joy in being able to play this amazing place.

#1 Par 4 - 451






Easily one of my favorite holes on the course and a tough hole with a back pin placement.  Slight left to right leaning green.

#2 Par 3 - 217



Longish par 3 to an elevated green.  No bailout!

#3 Par 4 - 462



The landing area looks small from the tee, but is plentiful.



View from the fairway.





Nice view of the enormous green, perfectly sized for a run up 3 wood/hybrid.  This green reminds me of #1 at Holston Hills and #4 (I believe) at Biltmore Forest.

#4 Par 3 - 168



We had maybe 155 to the front and both hit hard 5 irons and were short of the green with the wind blowing every bit of 30mph.  

#5 Par 4 - 317



One of the most unique Ross holes I have ever seen.  Visually intimidating from the tee and the fairway.  





#6 Par 4 - 444



Another tough tee shot, on this lengthy par 4.



Push-up well guarded green, which in my opinion, is a bit small for an uphillish tee shot, long iron.



#7 Par 5 - 461



Intimidating tee shot, but you actually have more room than you think.  This is the most "modern" looking hole in my opinion.



#8 Par 5 - 503

Another favorite hole.  Smallish landing area will test your heart, dogleg left.  







Approach to one of the best designed greens on the course.

#9 Par 4 - 409



Slightly uphill tee shot, fairly generous landing area.

[Bart Bradley]

Joe:

I played Idle Hour earlier this Fall.  The course has a nice mix of holes and some nice greens.  I particularly appreciated the firmness of the approaches.  Glad you highlighted this little known quality course.

Bart

[Joe Sponcia]

Mr. Bradley,

Lawrence has played it a couple of other times in the Mid Am, but the times he played the weather was tough.  It is really all you want length-wise.  The par 4's just wore us down towards the end.  I will try and post the back nine tomorrow.  Do you agree that it feels modern in places (like 7 green) and very classic in others?

[Bart Bradley]

Joe:

I did not have the same initial reaction.  I felt the course to be appropriate to its roots.  I'll have to give it some thought.  Do you have other examples besides 7 green?

Feel free to call me Bart...

Best,

Bart

[PCCraig]

Looks really interesting, thanks for posting. Who did the restoration/renovation work??

[Dean Stokes]

I had the good fortune of playing in the member guest here this summer.....what a treat. Unfortunately the last day was rain shortened but what a great 4 days I had. Again I have some photos to share but do not have the ability to post them!!!! I am extremely glad we did not play all the way back as it would have been a brute!

[Pete Garvey]

Looks really interesting, thanks for posting. Who did the restoration/renovation work??

Ron Prichard did the restoration.

[Will Lozier]

Joe,

I hope you at least got a look at Moraine when you were at NCR!  Both of NCR's tracks are very good courses on good property.  But...Moraine is a real throwback and well worth a return visit to Dayton if you ever get a chance!

Cheers

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Thanks for the pictures. I can see why it was empty that day though.

[Joe Sponcia]

Joe,

I hope you at least got a look at Moraine when you were at NCR!  Both of NCR's tracks are very good courses on good property.  But...Moraine is a real throwback and well worth a return visit to Dayton if you ever get a chance!

Cheers

Mr. Lozier,

We actually drove into Moraine and looked from the road and then in front of the clubhouse.  The fourth hole on the South Course at NCR backs up to a par 3 here:



It looked like a really neat layout!  NCR was one of the tougher courses I think I have ever played! 

[Joe Sponcia]

#10 - Par 4 - 372



Great short (for IHCC) par 4!  Fantastic view from the tee.







Check out the flag!  Great pin position options on this hole.

#11 Par 3 - 208



Downhill shot, that plays about 12 yards short.  I felt this added/newer tee box was a bit much for the size/shape of the green, the 180ish tee looks so much better in my view but still a nice hole.



The view from the 180ish tees



Another shot of 11 green

#12 - Par 5 - 532



Tightish tee shot for a par 5.  I wondered if the landing area used to be a bit larger here?  Really well designed hole.







One of the best green complexes on the course, very subtle.



#13 Par 3 - 187





Very demanding tee shot.  Tough to stop a 5 iron (for me).

#14 Par 4 - 437



This par 4 demands a good power fade.  Nice flowing design here.



#15 Par 4 - 477



Par 4.5 BRUTE.  Uphill tee shot, but fair green right-sized for the approach.



I think we had a thousand yards after our tee shots!

#16 Par 4 - 434



Tight tee shot, slightly uphill.



A little right leaning from the fairway.  Great green!



#17 Par 5 - 487



The fairway actually looks a little bigger then it appears from the tee.  I wonder if this was originally a 460ish par 5 or a long par 4?  





This hole dares you!

#18 Par 4 - 460



My hybrid was almost a nub at this point!





Among the toughest approaches on the course with a very severe green!



Overall a very unique Ross design.  The par 4's have to among the most demanding on any course you will ever play.  I would have liked to see at least another short 4 par risk/reward hole, but that is my preference on every course:)  The fairways are pinched in spots and wonder if they were always this way since many Ross designs have larger fairways to plan an appropriate approach.  You really need straight long drives to score.  I would love to have another crack at this design on a calm day, but still believe it to be a stout challenge.  The fairways were tight compared to my home course (zoysia), so hitting the ball with a proper strike is a must.  I really liked this course and would consider it a must play!

After our round, we again met Mr. Peter Garvey, to discuss our round.  He seems to be a kindred spirit with regard to course architecture and I sensed he knew how special IHCC was.  The pro shop is well-stocked and spacious.  I picked up a nice Peter Millar shirt and shoe bag.  Great day!

[PThomas]

thanks Joe...I hope i can get there next year

[Will Lozier]

Joe,

I hope you at least got a look at Moraine when you were at NCR!  Both of NCR's tracks are very good courses on good property.  But...Moraine is a real throwback and well worth a return visit to Dayton if you ever get a chance!

Cheers

Mr. Lozier,

We actually drove into Moraine and looked from the road and then in front of the clubhouse.  The fourth hole on the South Course at NCR backs up to a par 3 here:

Joe,

Given that I turn 40 in May and my students call me Mr. Lozier every day...please, call me Will!   Any view you got from the drive or clubhouse doesn't begin to reveal the charm of Moraine.  Do make that phone call next time...you won't regret it.

Cheers

[Mark McKeever]

Thanks for the tour!  I will have to keep them in mind!

Mark

[Pete Garvey]

Joe,

Excellent tour.  Thanks for your thoughts and kind words.  You need to see it in late spring and summer.

PG

[Brad Klein]

Idle Hour is an unusually expansive Ross course and, as far as I can recall, though not exactly the original Ross routing. Some holes in front of the clubhouse were shifted to make room for pool, country club amenities, and tennis. Some of what appears to be modern, including that water-laced 7th hole, was added to the north. Having said that, many of ts original holes are in tact and, since Prichard's impressive restoration, really bulked up in terms of boldness, side slopes and vertical lift. No holes fared better in the process than the long par-3 2nd and the short, uphill par-4 5th -- the latter in the class of such other Ross, short uphill par-4s as the 2nd at Brae Burn, the 4th at Plainfield and the 13th at Franklin Hills.   

The pictures above of Idle Hour obviously do not come close to conveying the character of the place. Frankly, the club seems to prefer to lay under the radar and shies away from promotion. I doubt they have ever even hired a professional photographer or allowed themselves to be profiled in a national magazine. Too bad, as it is a very strong classic design in an area that does not otherwise have a strong tradition of traditional club golf.

[Joe Sponcia]

Mr. Klein,

I am curious (and maybe Mr. Garvey can shed light) which holes were altered the most with regard to original bunker placement/routing?  The uphill par 4 driving holes were tough, but wonder on a dry day if the bunkers would be as in play as they were for me?  I only hit 265 or so by the way.  Also, do you know if the fairways at one time were larger?  Many Ross routings I have seen (original/published) seem to have wider fairways than IHCC. 

I look forward to your response.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I played Idle Hour within the last week (they're wrapping up some mild renovation stuff, which may just be re-sodding the green surrounds), and I'm not sure about how expansive the property felt. It sits on 160 acres, and that includes the tennis courts, clubhouse, etc.

I had a question, too, as I didn't like the high back lips of all the fairway bunkers. I found that it didn't often matter to the play, except that they acted to obscure the fairway or rough behind them. Even when the bunkers were easily carried… you couldn't see your ball land, even though you knew it was pretty safe. Sometimes you'd see it bounce, but still not where it landed or finished.

Why? Is this true to Ross, or was this done later? It felt like it was more recent… not from the 20s or 30s. It appears that a lot was done between 2003 and 2006, so were these style of bunkers added then?

[Jason Thurman]

Erik, the Prichard renovation mentioned in Pete Garvey's earlier post deepened the bunkers considerably and added quite a few as well if I remember correctly. RE: high faces, I do recall Tim Liddy once explaining a favored Ross bunker building technique of depositing dirt to the face as you dig.


One of my favorite things about Idle Hour is its unique blend of classic Ross work with some dialed-up modern elements. The bunkers might be a good example - they feel relatively true-to-period in terms of basic shaping, but I do think they may be exaggerated in dimension.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Erik, the Prichard renovation mentioned in Pete Garvey's earlier post deepened the bunkers considerably and added quite a few as well if I remember correctly. RE: high faces, I do recall Tim Liddy once explaining a favored Ross bunker building technique of depositing dirt to the face as you dig.

One of my favorite things about Idle Hour is its unique blend of classic Ross work with some dialed-up modern elements. The bunkers might be a good example - they feel relatively true-to-period in terms of basic shaping, but I do think they may be exaggerated in dimension.

Thank you, Jason. I've not really studied Ross a bunch, in part because I'm not sure how much one can study Ross given you never seem to know much about how much time he actually spent on each of the four million courses he is credited with creating, and how many remain somewhat true to form versus having been "modernized" or "renovated" or whatever. The tall backs that obscured very little but rough/fairway behind them didn't seem to have much purpose except to (needlessly) hide the golf course behind them. They weren't even very good at providing depth perception issues like the bunker set 20yds. short of the green or whatever. And many of the Ross courses I've played don't seem to (by my memory) have high backs like they did at IH.

Thank you.

[John Emerson]

IHCC is a very private and exclusive “old money” club. In the past they have excluded just about every race under the sun and women. Not sure their policy now. They even had some legal trouble over their policies. Average member age a few years back was late 60’s to mid 70’s if I recall correctly. I also want to say they average around 7-8,000 rounds per year so it is always empty. It is a bit sad because it is a highly underrated golf course. IMO it is head and shoulders above everything in KY.

[John Mayhugh]

John Emerson,
Your comments about discriminatory practices and legal troubles are irresponsible unless you have actual knowledge and proof. Saying "not sure their policy now" implies that you had actual knowledge of prior policies. You were on the board there?

Between 1994 & 2004, IHCC was part of a lawsuit in Kentucky about whether several private clubs had to open their membership records to a government agency, but I don't think that can be fairly characterized as "legal trouble." I doubt you can find documentation of any proven claims of discrimination.

You really should modify your post.

The thing in your post that I do agree with - Idle Hour is the best course in Kentucky by a large margin. I don't have any affiliation with the club, but I do hate to see a discussion about architecture get diverted by comments like yours.