Yeamans Hall Club - Photo Tour, with write up too :) All 18 holes posted!!

[Bill McKinley]

#15 Lido.  Par 4 458/444

The 15th is a strong par 4 that bends from right to left.  I've heard this hole referred to as Raynor's Prize Dogleg before, but referring to the back of the YHC scorecard, they refer to this as Lido.  As many of you know, Lido refers to Lido Golf Club, a CB MacDonald design in Long Island that unfortunately is NLE.  I'm not sure what hole at Lido this could be compared to but I have not researched it enough to make a stab at it.  Side note, after talking to Tom Cecil the HP at Camargo, who also worked at YHC and Fishers Island Club, said that many people have told him, including Claude Harmon that Lido might have been the best of all of CBM and Seth Raynor's work.

Now back to business.  This hole starts out with a wide tee shot, but with the length and direction of the hole, you would like to hit it down the left side to bite off some of the distance.

Here's a view from the tee...


If you hit a good tee shot, you will have a longish shot into an open front green with bunkers protecting the left and right.  If you are forced to lay up with your 2nd, you will probably encounter one of these two bunkers, pinching in the fairway shown below.  Also these bunkers make the depth perception tricky from the approach area.


I might sound like a broken record here, but this is an awesome green complex at the 15th. Starting with a tiny pot bunker on the front right of the squared off green which would be almost impossible to get a normal stance or lie in.  The green features a spine, some may refer to it as a hogs back, down the middle which demands a precise approach from most likely a long distance.  More often than not, the golfer will find himself on the wrong side of this spine, making for a tough two putt.


The look back showcases this large green and wide playing corridor on this difficult two shotter.

[Bill McKinley]

#16 Biarritz. Par 3 225/208

The final par 3 at YHC is the demanding Biarritz template.  This hole measures 225 yards from the back tees and its defining feature is the giant swale in the middle of a giant green.  This, like a good percentage of other Biarritz holes does not have the full length green anymore.  Others at Chicago Golf Club, Fishers Island Club and Camargo Club have also lost the full length green, now the original front part the green and the swale are fairway as opposed to green.  I have played 3 other Biarritz holes, 2 of them with the full length green and they are tremendous fun!  It is a shame that the 16th at Yeamans could not have the kept or full length green.  But, that being said, this is still a wonderful par 3.

Here is the view from the tee...


From about 40 yards short of the green.  Deep bunkers left and right demand a well struck approach from a long way away


Taken from the fairway swale short of the squared off green, it's probably about 3 feet worth of a dip...


Here you see the golfer walking in the swale to give you a decent idea of the scale of it...


From right of the green and behind...


From behind the green.  You can see the severity of the swale.  The current green is still pretty big, i could only imagine how big the green would be if they had it at full Biarritz length.

[Bill McKinley]

#17 Punchbowl.  Par 4 419/401

The penultimate hole is a wonderfully designed mid length par 4.  The tee shot is straightaway with maybe a little right to left in it.  The ideal line is just over the inside edge of the right side fairway bunker.  This will leave a mid iron or maybe long iron if its into the wind, into this well protected punchbowl green.

Here's the view from the tee...


From the approach, you can see the green is a very large target and the punchbowl characteristics of the green are kind of hidden from view standing 170 yards away.


But as you get closer to the green you can see it take shape.  You can see the bunker in the corner of the picture and how much room there is from it to the green.  A visual trick for sure that plays into the difficulty of this approach.


From the right side of the green, very severe slope down into a bunker.  You can also see the tilt from right to left inside the punchbowl.


Very cool long, sweeping wrap around bunker...


From behind the green...


Very cool hole, the 17th at YHC.  One of my favs on the course and a great use of bunkering and placement of bunkers to create depth perception issues and doubt on relatively flat terrain.

[Bill McKinley]

I told a friend of mine who was asking about Yeamans to check out my photo tour on gca. Then when I searched for it I realized that I didn't finish it!!  Sorry to keep the entire golfing world waiting 

#18. Home. Par 5, 524/517

A wonderful finisher. Definitely a chance for a final birdie is there, but there are potential pitfalls out there that can ruin your score even more than the difficult 16th and 17th holes can. I didn't get any shots from the tee, but its a very wide open tee shot where you would like to favor the right side to avoid the large left bunker and to give you a better angle into the green.

Here's a shot from the tee shot landing area...


The decision a player has to make is whether or not they want to try and carry the two long snaking fairway bunkers or to lay up short of them. Here is a view of those bunkers...


A look from behind the green shows the beauty of the design and shape of this hole as well as the false front, which makes getting close to this front hole location just a little tricky.


I really enjoyed my round at Yeamans Hall and I really want to have another one! It's a place you can play again and again and never grow tired of it.

[J_ Crisham]

Bill,   Nice pictures of Yeamans- I just returned Sunday from spending a long weekend at the club. I agree with your initial statement that it is very private but also relaxed. The staff and members could not have been more engaging. The director of golf Claude, was a great storyteller of his early days as a pro in Chicago and also his years at Pine Valley. This is an excellent layout where the green complexes are devilish and the primary defense of the course. I wish you could have displayed pictures of the many cabins that are there- very similar to ANGC. Elegant but simple.The food was outstanding. Looking forward to a return visit this Fall.
                                                          Wish you well,   jack

[Tom Fagerli]

We all have our favorites, and I have not played many of the great old courses, but of the golf I have played, given one place to play the rest of my days (may they be considerable) Yeamans Hall would be my choice. The conditions, location, design are an unbelievable combination. I was lucky enough to play there three years in a row, three days in a row and from the time I left after the first round until today I impatiently await my next round, should I be lucky enough to play there again.

[Thomas Dai]

Bill,

Very nice pictures and narrative.

I'm not particularly familiar with Raynors work so it's interesting to see features like squared-off greens and his approach to using dead-ground for depth perception reasons. Some fine, tough looking green complexes as well, notably at the 10th (per Brian's added photo) and the 14th, although I couldn't help but notice that the tiny pot bunker front right of the 15th green seems rather out of character with the the bunkering seen elsewhere.

Many thanks for posting this.

All the best.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Lovely to see and an informative commentary. Thank you for taking the trouble.

[Bill McKinley]

Thanks gents for the kind words on my post. I'd go as far to say that considering the terrain, very flat and not adjacent to a large body of water, aside from a few views of the savanna, it is the most interesting course I've played.

Thomas,

Good eye on the little pot bunker on #15. I agree that it's out of character from what I've seen of Raynors work. Most of his bunkers are long, flat and deep. I wonder if came from Lido? Which is the name of the hole.

Jack,

I completely agree. And Claude is the man. I could listen to that guys stories all day. He's a perfect fit for YHC.

[Tom Fagerli]

I am lucky enough to be sitting in my room overlooking the practice field at Yeamans. Played yesterday and course is marvelous as usual. The greens nice and speedy! Two tournament days ahead. Those templates are calling!

[Jerry Kluger]

Tom: I am playing as well.  All I can say about those greens is -WOW! I haven't been that impressed since I was fortunate enough to play NGLA.  I was told by the golf shop that they are running at 11.5 and man that is fast for those contours.  Bunkering is also wonderful and I could play YH every day for the rest of my life and be more than happy. 

[Jeff Bergeron]

Thank you, Bill. Superb.

[ward peyronnin]

I believe the #15 pot bunker was added recently by the super

[JC Urbina]

Ward,

I built the little pot bunker about 15 years ago when I reshaped the greens.

[Tom Fagerli]

Yesterday I put my second shot about two feet left of that devilish pit! Thankfully there isn't a feeder slope into it! Greens yesterday at YHC were really fast- heard talk of 13 stimps and I used the 12 charts in my AimPoint book but they were super smooth and a riot to play. The rough is up this year and although you should not be missing fairways at YHC when you do it is really tough. Had a wonderful three days despite my seven three jacks in the two tourney rounds! Fun, fun, fun.

[Bill Crane]

The Land That Time Forgot!

What a charming community and club.   When you enter the grounds through the guarded gate, you really feel like you are being transported back to 1928.

Played the course in March this year and the same month the year before, driving  up the coast from C 3 - Chechessee Creek Club.  I was immediately struck by how much movement there is in this land FOR THE LOW COUNTRY - especially on the drive in.
 
While it is an essentially flat course, there is nice movement in the land, with even slight hills to about half the holes, including 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16.   Even 18 goes a little downhill through the hole (a par 5), then back up hill to the green by the clubhouse.

Charming , interesting and good shot values.  Like Yale – I feel like I am playing golf in a living golf architecture museum.
 
Ironically, both my children in college managed to develop friendships with students whose parents or grandparents are members at YHC.

A year ago it was quite firm and fast while the Bermuda was still dormant.

Wm Flynnfan

[Joe Bausch]

I recently reprocessed (read:  culled the herd, re-cropped, retouched, etc) my photos of YH from a late 2010 visit.  And I added some hole diagrams.  This album is a nice addition to the wonderful thread from Bill:

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/YeamansHall/

[Joe Fairey]

Spent the day at Yeamans yesterday...playing with the son of Keitt Hane Sr, who served as the greenskeeper
from the mid 30s until the 60s...having grown up on the property, the knowledge that Keitt Hane Jr has of the course,
the membership, and the facility itself is second to none...

right now, the course is unbelievably firm and fast...

[Richard Hetzel]

What an awesome course, I always wanted to play there when I lived in South Carolina….Maybe someday!