Unexpected Finds

[Tom_Doak]

While Brandon Urban has a current thread on "the one that got away," I'd like to try to identify some hidden gems ... courses you didn't see coming.  [One of the sad things about this internet site is that it's so hard now to find a cool little course that hasn't been discussed to death.]

My most memorable such experience in recent years was while driving back home from a visit to Evansville, Indiana when we were looking at building Quail Crossing.  [I guess it really isn't THAT recent.]  There aren't any good interstates heading up toward Michigan from there, so we were using the old back roads, and on our way through the sleepy town of Attica, Indiana we passed a golf course and I looked up and saw a couple of green sites with deep bunkers and wild-looking mounds, and said, whoa, stop the car!  We had discovered the original nine holes of Harrison Hills, by Bill Langford.

My other most unexpected finds over the years are Crystal Downs, Cruden Bay [which wasn't nearly so well known in 1982], and Pennard.  But at least I'd seen something about each of those three which prompted me to seek them out.  Harrison Hills was a true stumble-upon success.

What's your favorite unexpected find?

[Jim Franklin]

Even though I am a golf junkie, I had never really heard anything about Northland CC in Duluth, Minnesota. Thanks to my rude treatment at White Bear and the kindness of one of our own Minnesota GCAers, I played Northland instead. It was fantastic. Frim, fast, and brown and I loved it.

[Matthew Petersen]

It's far from any kind of hidden gem, but certainly more than I expected to find was New Mexico Tech Golf Course, in Soccoro, NM (a tiny town about an hour south of Albuquerque). I stopped for the night there on a drive between Denver and Tucson when I was in college. Didn't even know they had a golf course but I pulled into town with plenty of daylight and noticed some signs. The area in general wouldn't leave you to expect anything that could even grow ... but the course had more interest than you'd have any right to expect out in the middle of nowhere. Interesting variety of terrain, used pretty well, and lots of doglegs with decision to make. I played there a couple time on trips over the years.

[Brad Tufts]

Harrison Hills is a great one...played that one in 2009 on a whim.

4 Mile Ranch fit this bill for me in CO about 5 years ago.  Jim Engh certainly is a heralded architect, but this layout near Canon City is definately a neat course in an out-of-the-way location, with a prison across the street!

CC of Greenfield and Wahconah in MA and JP Larkin (9) in Vermont have also been similar.

CCoG is a neat old course with quirk, rock outcroppings, railroad tracks through the course, with many lay of the land holes.  Near the jct. of Route 2 and I-91 in Mass.  You won't hear this often, but I prefer it to Crumpin-Fox.

JPL is a fun little course near the Connecticut River played on three distinct elevation levels, with one mind-bending downhill par three where the slopes create a fun optical illusion that makes the green look impossible to hit.

Wahconah is a Stiles course that approaches the Taconic level in quality.  Add an ever-improving Waubeeka and CC of Pittsfield (accepting greens fees off-season), and you have a great foursome of courses to play in Western MA.

[Mac Plumart]

So far, this is my most exciting discovery.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46424.0.html

[Mac Plumart]

Tallgrass actually was something special as well.

[Ronald Montesano]

Putterham Meadows~http://www.brooklinegolf.com/
Webhannet~http://webhannetgolfclub.com/
Taconic (same as Tom~not so well known in 1980)~http://www.taconicgolf.com/
Winston Lake~http://www.cityofws.org/Home/Departments/RecreationAndParks/Golf/Articles/Golf

[Mike Wagner]

SkyRidge in Sequim, WA.  Most Seattle folks have never heard of it.  Aside from Chambers, my favorite (definitely most fun) course in the state.

[Jim_Kennedy]

I think the Stamford GC in Stamford, NY, would be one that lay hidden until a couple of seasons ago. The first green (#16) I saw while driving along the road intrigued me, and after playing the other 17 it was pretty clear that a good amount of thought had gone into them.  

[Adam Clayman]

Even though I am a golf junkie, I had never really heard anything about Northland CC in Duluth, Minnesota. Thanks to my rude treatment at White Bear and the kindness of one of our own Minnesota GCAers, I played Northland instead. It was fantastic. Frim, fast, and brown and I loved it.

Jim, Why did you treat them rudely?

[Tom Ferrell]

In random order...

Western Gailes - Knew next to nothing about it coming in and was absolutely BOWLED over by this unique and fun Ayrshire track.
Dunbar Links - Knew less about Dunbar than I did about WG.  Not much of a beginning, but then WHAM!  Great stuff and great club.
Wine Valley - Was there before opening.  Pulled up, got out of the car and practically ran to the first tee, I was so entrhalled.
Pacific Grove - I know others have felt the same
Highlands CC (NC) - Man, if you want to see what Ross could do with a mountain site.  An absolute classic.
Longshadow - Hi, Mike!  What a great round we had, my Dad frequently talks about it!

[Adam Clayman]

I spent a two month stint in Palm Springs. One day while crossing one of the bridges, that traverses one very wide Wash, I saw in the distance what looked like Mackenzie bunkers. I drove around for 45 minutes one day tot find Cimarron. A John Fought, design that was choked full of classic elements. Double greens, deep bunkers and even a Hell Bunker. The course was partially (if not completely) built in that huge Wash. The tees and greens were mostly elevated and were apparently outside the 100 yr flood mark. They had a par 3 course that even Tommy Naccers liked a lot. I have to say, it was my first Fought. And now, having thought about it, i've been fighting the feeling that my first Fought was the finest, of the few i've finished.

[Scott Sander]

Summer of 1992.  My college sweetheart broke my heart at a mid-summer meet-up outside South Bend, Indiana.  
I'd driven two hours to get there and had, ahem, planned to bunk there for the night.  

If 'd driven straight home, I'd have had some explaining to do to my landlor...er, Mom.  (She thought I was on a getaway with Da Boys.)

All I had, aside from my shattered dreams, was an '83 Civic, a basketball, and a set of sticks.  

Through the night, I took roads less traveled at every turn, and stopped to shoot some hoops at any square backboard I spotted.  Then, at sunrise, I pulled into a truckstop, ordered some "chopped steak" and eggs and commenced to scanning an atlas - hoping I was somewhere near one of those light-green boxes on the otherwise pale yellow page that -might- signal a field of play.

What luck - I was.  On the outskirts of Brazil, Indiana.  (Which is, in fairness, probably too small to actually have skirts, much less outskirts.) The green box read "Forest Park Golf Course".
 
I went, and I played.  I'd like to have said I loved it, but that would be a lie.  Frankly I don't even remember it.  But what I only learned recently that I wish I'd known then:  It was one of Pete Dye's first designs - built in the years prior to his rise to prominence.  

I ought to get back there; it's not that far a drive.

And I probably won't even think of Jill.  At least not very much.

[Ronald Montesano]

Adam, are you assaulting alliteration at all?

[Steve Strasheim]

Muriwai Golf Club in Muriwai, New Zealand.

Had made some local friends at a nearby winery. They lived at the beach and told me about the course. Wasn't a very seasoned player at that point, but I absolutely loved the little course along the black sand beaches of Muriwai.

Every trip after that the first thing I would do when I landed in a new place would be to go to the book store and look up golf courses in the area. This was 20 years ago, before the Internet made course research easy.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Tom

Thanks, you have answered a question that has been bugging me for years. That was where did I put Cruden Bay. I remember its location through the late 1960’, the 70’s and the begining of the 80’s but lost it from 1980 to 82, when you must have found it.

Thanks for that, it was really getting me worried, but since you found it I am pleased to say it does not seem to have gone missing.

Tom, as always you have done a great service for golf and to a certainly Anthony G now a guest on GCA.com – do you think he is searching for another course that has gone missing, hence why he does not post anymore?

Melvyn 

[Matt MacIver]

I "discovered" Carolina Lakes just outside Charlotte when my parents considerd moving into an empty-nesters community: great collection of holes, options of the tee and around the greens, doglegs both ways, elevation changes, firm fairways, fairly wide, became one of my favorite locals. 

[Michael Watts]

Biggest and most pleasant surprise was Cedar Crest in Dallas.  It's a little muni and as such expected a typical, poorly conditioned and boring muni.  Instead, it's a classic Tillinghast on one of the rare undulating pieces of land in Dallas County. 

I also found Western Gailes a surprise.  Heard it was good but had no idea it was that good.

Same with Narin and Portnoo.

[Sean_A]

I have stumbled across a lot of gems.  Most recently CLEEVE CLOUD.  The only person I heard talk about this course was a guy in my village.  After a few years of him talking about the course every six months or say we made the trip and it knocked me out. 

I never heard of MINCHINHAMPTON OLD (although a few GCAers knew about it and never mentioned it for some reason) before CK emailed me that he had a look at the course to do some work and that there was some cool stuff there.

Down near Winchester is a neat course which my bro-in-law used to be a member of  - HOCKLEY.  It sort of grew on me and now I would dearly love to go back. 

Not too far away, near Southampton is STONEHAM.  I never heard of it when I first played there many years ago, yet another club my bro-in-law used to belong to.  I didn't think much of it until I returned years later (maybe 6 years ago?) and it blew me away.

By far the best of these hidden gems I came across is KINGTON.  I had no idea what was in store when I played in my first Worcester Businessman's Society meeting about 10 years ago.  After that initial game I didn't know what to think.  It took me a good few years to get my head around Kington and now I think its my favourite course on the planet.  Nobody in the mainstream golf world talks about this course even now and this is a great pity because Kington is a brilliantly innovative design. 

Ciao

[Cristian]

Ballyliffin Old course. Travelled here for the Glashedy but was more impressed with the old course. The contrast of the micro-undulations with the bulldozered contours of Glashedy were unbelievable. Some spectacular holes along the sea and 'the Tank'!

[PCCraig]

Even though I am a golf junkie, I had never really heard anything about Northland CC in Duluth, Minnesota. Thanks to my rude treatment at White Bear and the kindness of one of our own Minnesota GCAers, I played Northland instead. It was fantastic. Frim, fast, and brown and I loved it.

Jim,

Northland is very, very good. Great choice.

Duluth is a pretty remote place for most of the country (~2 hours north of Minneapolis-St. Paul) with a very short golf season therefore I'm not sure how many people outside of Minnesota travel there just to see it. Driving up there is really quite an experience...after heading north on I-35 and Minnesota farm/lake land for most of the drive you come across scenery that wouldn't look out of place in the Pacific NW. A massive bluff on your left covered in evergreen/pine trees, huge shipping and material handling equipment next to what would appear to be an ocean but what is Lake Superior. The golf course sits on a dramatic bluff overlooking the Lake. Since almost the entire course sits on the side of a hill, Donald Ross routed the course in a "Z" formation taking the golfer up the hill on the front nine, and down on the back. There are some really spectacular holes there, and GCAer Chris Tritabaugh does a fantastic job keeping the course playing fast and firm.

It's certainly worth the trip north to see if you can:

[Will Lozier]

Wawenock in Maine - on the way to meet my girlfriend (at the time) whose family owned a small 2 acre island off Christmas Cove, I drove by this little 9-holer and must have played it 3 or 4 times while living in Maine.  Save for one poor hole, it is one of the most fun courses I've set foot on and HIGHLY recommend it.  #1, 2, 6, 8, & 9 are particular highlights on this 1928 track.  Anyone else lucky enough to have played it?


Cheers

[Brian_Sleeman]

I had a similar experience to Tom's in the tiny old logging town of Iron River, Michigan, near the Wisconsin border.  The Iron River Country Club is a nine-holer that I am sure is also a Langford, and was a very pleasant surprise.  Sure, some of the features have eroded and evolved over time, but the bones of a classic are still there.  Highly recommended if you're headed from Wisconsin to the UP of Michigan and would like a little change of pace.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Richmond Pines is another course that not too many folks see. It's in Rockingham, NC and just far enough from Pinehurst to escape notice.

Donald Ross 9 w/9 more by Gene Hamm.  

[Phil McDade]

Long ago -- something like 25 years ago, right when I first actually started playing golf, and knew nothing about golf architecture or its history -- I was visiting my father on the north shore of Long Island during the early fall. With him away for a day on business, I decided to drive out to the farthest end of the island, see a bit of the Hamptons, and stop in Montauk for dinner before turning back home. Along the way I encountered two pretty cool-looking golf courses, side-by-side, not resembling any of the ones I'd ever played -- not many trees, interesting bunkers, turf that looked fast. I thought....hmmmm -- wonder if I can get on those?

Shinnecock Hills and NGLA.