Favorite Muni (Non well known course)

[John Cowden]

As yet unmentioned DeLaveaga in Santa Cruz.

[RJ_Daley]

Since the Greater Milwaukee Open is no longer a tour stop, it seems that Milwaukee county course, Brown Deer, is slipping back under the radar.  It was good enough to host a tour stop.  It has some interesting holes.

[Phil McDade]

Since the Greater Milwaukee Open is no longer a tour stop, it seems that Milwaukee county course, Brown Deer, is slipping back under the radar.  It was good enough to host a tour stop.  It has some interesting holes.

Some, but not a lot. There's always been a lot of "sameness" to Brown Deer -- not much variety out there. And at $70 a round, I think I'd opt for Riverside twice.

[Kirk Gill]

The City of Denver has a terrific set of municipal courses that provide a wide variety of golf holes at a reasonable price. Most of the courses are "Golden Age" courses by age if not always by pedigree. Each has its own charms and challenges. The Evergreen course is a little mountain course with short holes and small greens and nasty hillsides and woods. Overland is a pretty basic layout that has hosted play since 1895. Wellshire was designed by Donald Ross, and a walk through the course with the original plans shows that Denver doesn't have that incredibly much to do if they want to restore it to original design specs. Willis Case is a personal favorite, even though the back nine was hugely changed by the construction of an interstate highway. I've played more of my life's rounds there than anywhere else. None of them great courses, though. That's true enough. But good solid municipal courses.

[Matt Neff]

Matt,

I would say RM is adequate at best and frankly usually too crowded to enjoy. I have played it about 15 times over the years and never considered the word awesome, but respectable and a pleasant walk. As I looked at the website I don't remember the par 3 holes having two tees and two greens to allow for faster play.

"Mr. Jones thought outside the box in designing this delightful facility which includes twin par 3 holes. Each par 3 hole is actually two parallel holes complete with tees, fairways and greens. The idea behind this feature was to allow play to move at a more reasonable  pace by allowing faster players to advance ahead of the slower foursomes. Raymond Memorial was the first course in the United States to have such a feature"

I don't remember this at all and not sure if it would actually work. I would say Champions or Blacklick are better architecturally.

Like I said in an earlier reply, Blacklick is good but I don't really think it's significantly better architecturally.  You're 100% right about pace of play though.  It can be brutal.  I think they took the extra par 3's out - I don't think I've ever seen them either.

[Jim Nugent]

Since the Greater Milwaukee Open is no longer a tour stop, it seems that Milwaukee county course, Brown Deer, is slipping back under the radar.  It was good enough to host a tour stop.  It has some interesting holes.

My memory is that back in the 1960s, the golf mags (Digest or Magazine) ranked Brown Deer among the top ten or twenty public courses in the nation. 

Is West Palm Beach a muni?   

[Sean_A]

I live in Floirda and have yet to play a great Muni.

I did play Kensington in Michigan a few years back and it was pretty good.

Plan on playing a bunch of muni's this year , so will get back to you guys.

I've played Kensington many times and it's OK. There are a few just plain weird holes and needs bunkering but the land, especially near the lake and the southern area near I-96 is good.

I'm not as big a fan of Rackham as many here as each time I've played it was slow as molasses. 18 is a gem and there are some nice short par 4's but the first few hole that were altered by the freeway are totally lacking in imagination.

Also in SE Michigan I'd recommend Dunham Hills in Hartland (needs some tree clearing) and a course often mentioned, Leslie Park in Ann Arbor.

Its difficult to be disparaging about courses which are cheap as chips, but Rackham was never one of my favourites around Detroit.  Mind you, the muni selection is quite slim.  I mentioned Leslie Park previously (which I would sooner drive 45 minutes for than Rackham), Huron Hills has some excellent golf up the hill.  In a way its a shame the course is 18 holes - would make for a terrific whatever number of holes.  Both are very reasonably priced.  

I like Dunham, but is it a muni?  Plus, it used to be about twice the price of Leslie - not worth it considering how trees cramp the course.  It used to have good quality greens though - something Leslie always lacked.

Pierce Lake is okay.  A bit of a jarring routing, but a handful of good holes.  Don't drive too far, but if convenient, give it a go.  

Ciao  

[Mike Schott]

I live in Floirda and have yet to play a great Muni.

I did play Kensington in Michigan a few years back and it was pretty good.

Plan on playing a bunch of muni's this year , so will get back to you guys.

I've played Kensington many times and it's OK. There are a few just plain weird holes and needs bunkering but the land, especially near the lake and the southern area near I-96 is good.

I'm not as big a fan of Rackham as many here as each time I've played it was slow as molasses. 18 is a gem and there are some nice short par 4's but the first few hole that were altered by the freeway are totally lacking in imagination.

Also in SE Michigan I'd recommend Dunham Hills in Hartland (needs some tree clearing) and a course often mentioned, Leslie Park in Ann Arbor.

Its difficult to be disparaging about courses which are cheap as chips, but Rackham was never one of my favourites around Detroit.  Mind you, the muni selection is quite slim.  I mentioned Leslie Park previously (which I would sooner drive 45 minutes for than Rackham), Huron Hills has some excellent golf up the hill.  In a way its a shame the course is 18 holes - would make for a terrific whatever number of holes.  Both are very reasonably priced.  

I like Dunham, but is it a muni?  Plus, it used to be about twice the price of Leslie - not worth it considering how trees cramp the course.  It used to have good quality greens though - something Leslie always lacked.

Pierce Lake is okay.  A bit of a jarring routing, but a handful of good holes.  Don't drive too far, but if convenient, give it a go.  

Ciao  

Huron Hills is not a favorite of mine, defeated by the flat holes east of Huron River Drive as you infer. I guess Dunham Hills isn't a true muni and I agree about the trees. They tried to go upscale some years ago but that failed and the weekend green fees are $43.00 to walk so not bad. Rouge Park in Detroit is a cool routing but it's been years since I've played and I'm not sure of the conditioning. Of course there was the (NLE) Rogell Golf Course. My local muni, Farmington Hills GC is very good for what it is. On the short side for the better player but a decent layout with a nice set of par 3's. A sentimental favorite is Hilltop GC in Plymouth with some of the craziest greens you will see on a muni. The ninth hole is an uphill 215 yard par 3 with a wild green. Wear a hard hat on the back nine.

[Michael Felton]

Neshanic Valley in NJ is pretty good I thought.

[John Percival]

Jim,
WPB is a muni and what they did to it in the reno was brutal

As far as Rackam, they run it very poorly. Some students of mine paid a premium for a saturday morning reserved timed. Well, they had a time, but the club put out walk-ins at every turn, so these guys had to guess how late their 'reserved' time would be (from 45-1hr 15 min late).

[Adam Warren]

I really love the municipal golf system in Lexington, KY.

Picadome is my personal favorite. At about 6600 yards, it's short and a bit jammed onto its property. Built around 1932, it suffers from the same issues of a lot of Golden Age designs - its greens have shrunken and it has too many silly evergreens lining its fairways. It's nothing spectacular, but it subtly throws one interesting hole after another at you, including a pair of wonderful short par 3s in the 4th and 7th holes. It has a lot of variation and some nice rolling terrain made more interesting by a handful of sinkholes on the property that give some visual flair and make shots like the approach to the 18th a little more treacherous. It's also kept in wonderful condition - fast and smooth greens and very nice Bermuda fairways. I think a lot of GCAers would really find it interesting. The 6th and 14th holes are among the better par 4s in the state, and the 17th is an excellent short par 5 with some really cool mounding around the green that's a bit reminiscent of 8 at Augusta.

Kearney Hill a bit further out of town is the crown jewel of the Lexington system. It's a PB Dye design that received debatable input from Pete. A good, stout course for tournaments, it has hosted the PubLinks and has a few really interesting holes. It would be a fabulous course with better bunkering (it has a lot of fairway bunkers, but most are outside the preferred lines of play and therefore not very strategically interesting). As it stands, it has a really strong set of par 3s and the stretch from 14 through 17 is one of the better four hole stretches of public golf in the state. Like Picadome, it typically stays in very good condition. It's also one of the best routed courses for walking I've ever played, with very short green-to-tee transitions and a very natural routing. I think Picadome is a slightly better design, but Kearney is a much better property and consequently a better golf course overall.

Agree about enjoying Picadome.  Very solid secret there in Lexington.  Do you know the designer J?  Not sure I have ever heard who it is.
I enjoy Kearney, but wish it were kept in the conditions that would most benefit the course.  It is always fairly soft out there at my visits.  It has been a few years though.

I thoroughly enjoy Wasioto Winds in Pineville, Ky., a state park owned course.  If you don't like water hazards it isn't for you, but it holds a special place for me and is quite the Michael Hurdzan design.  It is another course that could benefit from more firm conditions, but because of where it is built and the heat the area gets with the bent grass, it is somewhat difficult to do.  It is a very walkable course with length and a mostly flat, low lying terrain in the valley of the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.

[Tim Leahy]

Ancil Hoffman, in Sacramento designed by Bill Bell Jr., parkland course near the American River.
Mather GC near Sacto designed by Jack Flemming who worked with Mac, rolling parkland course.
Harding Park in SF.
Santa Anita near the racetrack in Arcadia.

[Max Sternberg]

Cleveland definitely has the best collection of great no-names, particularly Manikiki and Sleepy Hollow.

West Palm Beach is a muni again and I think really benefitted from the recent renovation

Pleasantly surprised to see Bonnie Brook mentioned. Have grown up playing both leisure and tournament rounds there and have never understood how it has remained so inexpensive and yet relatively uncrowded at the same time. Green complexes are really unique and conditions surpass the normal "muni" experience, amazing especially when you consider the surrounding neighborhood.

Although the pace of play negates the enjoyability of both, I have to mention Rancho Park and Los Verdes in the LA area. Rancho is still a great layout even though its best days are behind and Los Verdes might be the best layout/view combination in the world for less than $50. Ocean views on 14-16 holes combined (also great views of Santa Monica Bay and Catalina Island) with a solid Willy Bell layout. Of course everyone knows how good a deal LV is and since the management is inept at maintaining pace (and allows 5-somes), 18 holes takes upwards of 5.5 hours

[Chris Mavros]

Jeffersonville: Norristown, PA (Donald Ross)

Cobbs Creek Olde: Philadelphia, PA (Hugh Wilson)

Los Verdes: Palos Verdes, CA (Billy Bell)

Inniscrone: Avondale, PA (Gil Hanse)

[Mike Hendren]

I enjoyed Fossil Trace in Golden, Colorado.  In limited doses Engh's work is a blast.

Bogey

[Patrick Kiser]

Great call on Santa Anita.  Special place.

I like the San Clemente Municipal as well.  Some outstanding holes.

[Matt Bielawa]

Cobblestone, outside of Atlanta, is another one I like.

[Bill Hoyle]

Formerly well known is the Tanglewood Championship track in Clemmons, NC.  When tobacco money left big time golf the support for keeping Tanglewood as an A level track stopped as well.  The 'spend less' attitude of the local government makes golfers suffer, but it is still a wonderful, though increasingly short layout.

Bill,

Are both courses still open, plus the par-three layout? In what way (I know it should be obvious) are they shortening the course?

Yes Ron, they are both still open plus the par-three.  My shortening remark is in reference to how PGA length courses of the 1960's-70's are now considered too short for solid amateurs, an unreasonable consideration for many of us.  Interesting about "shortening" note - This summer I played the blue plates and not the blue tees and Tanglewood and found it added significant distance, sometimes back a full tee.

Bill

[Bob_Garvelink]

Hampshire Golf Club in Dowagiac Michigan is a hidden gem.  Although the course has seen better days its a blast to play and its a course I grew up on.   It hosted the Western AM Qualifier for many years and I try and play it at least once a year.

[Greg Ross]

Wilmington Muni (NC).
http://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/community_services/recreation/golf_course

[Matt Day]

one of the best international set ups, Kau Sai Chau in Hong Kong is a great public facility

http://www.kscgolf.org.hk/index-e.asp

[Amol Yajnik]

Others have already brought up the 2 courses that come to mind, which just so happen to be where I've played most of my golf in the past 10 years.  The Charleston SC municipal course is an easy walk and a very easy trip from downtown Charleston, and I loved going out there when I lived there from 2001 to 2008.  Since I've moved up to Boston, George Wright is my favorite public course around here.  I'll admit, I didn't know much from an architecture standpoint when I lived in Charleston, but I definitely recognize some of the Ross features at George Wright.

It doesn't hurt that the City of Boston has taken an active role in improving George Wright just about every year since I've been up here.  I'm actually considering getting an annual pass for that course this year for the first time.

[Ronald Montesano]

I only played it once, back in 1984, but I'd love to see Winston Lake in W-S, N.C. again.

[Bill Crane]

Best first:

The Captains Golf course – Brewster, Mass.  (on Cape cod – played it many times. Now 36 holes in the summer, and only 18 open in the off season).

Champions – Columbus, Ohio   ( only played once 18 years ago, but it seemed like a really good course.  Was originally a private club I am told).

Makefield Highlands – Yardley , PA

Neshanic Valley – Neshanic, Somerset County, NJ

Cranberry Valley – Harwich, Mass.

[Ronald Montesano]

The Captains Golf course – Brewster, Mass.  (on Cape cod – played it many times. Now 36 holes in the summer, and only 18 open in the off season).

Cranberry Valley – Harwich, Mass.

I played Captain's Starboard and Cranberry Valley in August and enjoyed them immensely. Cranberry has a very interesting back nine that demanded every club I carry (and not because I played poorly!)