[Ronald Montesano]

Step one: Pronounce it properly (Tay-OOH-Juh-Guh)

Step two: Find it on a map~https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5570962,-76.09972,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1szvTpwkLjY-q4.ksUEv-jZz8VM

Step three: Visit the Barry Jordan restoration site and view some images of what Teugega became: http://www.jordangolfdesign.com/historic-restorations.html

Step four: Break it down!

Teugega Country Club is located in Rome, New York. The club was established in 1899 and opened for play at its present (second) site in 1921. Donald J. Ross drew up the plans for the course. Business brought him to Rome, but love kept him coming back. The 2014 NYSGA Mid-Amateur championship (won by Jamie Miller, son of former tour pros Cindy Miller and Allen Miller) was held at Teugega.



What you see on the way in, if you take the proper route



Clubhouse with Lake Delta beyond



Gate



Sign



Clock



Ross Plaque



Scorecard and Souvenir Orb

[Ronald Montesano]

And here we go!

Hole #1: Par 4 from the back and middle, Par 5 from the front. Despite what you read on the scorecard (423-409-409), there is a discernible difference between the middle and front tee decks. The hole is a great opening bogey, as it plays to a landing zone that slopes away (to the left) from the dogleg turn (to the right), just as the hole really heads uphill. I would suspect that multiple plays are required to know precisely where to cut the corner on the drive, although a miss in the right rough nearly guarantees a pitch-out into the fairway. Perfect example of hole you play to the front of the green, then play up the fall line.

First tee, from the rear:



First tee, toward the front of the deck:



About 100 yards off the tee (in the top-shot range) you earn this view:



Your view from the landing zone, as the hole turns to starboard:



A bit farther up the landing zone:



You're reached the front of the green:



From the second tee, looking at the green from back-left:



Teugega Website First Hole Description: http://www.teugega.com/course.asp?id=1

[Tom_Doak]

Ronald:

When were your pictures taken?  When Bogey and I were there this fall -- just a week before a big N.Y. state tournament -- it sure didn't look anywhere near as good condition-wise.

That first hole is one of the harder opening holes I've seen lately.  The green is quite severe, and the short hitter has to play awkwardly away to the left.

Also, I had intended to buy a golf shirt, but couldn't bring myself to do so.  The club logo is not at all appealing.

[Ronald Montesano]

Kev and I made the Adirondack Skip in late June of 2014, I recall. I wrote this bit:

http://buffalogolfer.com/wordpress/a-wee-review-of-teugega-country-club/

When you and the Boges were through, the area had just been annihilated by torrential rains. I was somewhat surprised that they got the NYSGA in at all. Kudos to the grounds crew for their work.

[BCowan]

Great photos.  Can you see all of the green from the right half of the fairway?

[Ronald Montesano]

You can't. That hillside obscures it as you get closer to the dogleg. I don't believe that golf balls will get hung up on the right side of the short grass.

I recall that the native grass on the right was wispy and the cut of rough was manageable.

Balls that get down left might encounter tree trouble, although the pines are spaced far enough apart to allow for a punch. If they would cut them up higher, they would serve the purpose of protecting the fairway from the second tee, while still forcing a golfer to execute a proper recovery shot.

[Dan Boerger]

A wonderful course with a couple very severe greens ... that I played many years ago and again just a year ago this past summer. I don't recall any condition issues, but as I (and others to be sure) have said, some tree removal is in order IMO.

[Tyler Kearns]

Also, I had intended to buy a golf shirt, but couldn't bring myself to do so.  The club logo is not at all appealing.

There is a little too much going on in that logo.

TK

[Ronald Montesano]

Also, I had intended to buy a golf shirt, but couldn't bring myself to do so.  The club logo is not at all appealing.

There is a little too much going on in that logo.

TK

I think it's the silhouette version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

[Ronald Montesano]

Hole Number Two at Teugega is a par four. It measures 391, 376 and 367 from the three decks. The hole is essentially straight, although the fairway cut jogs right, then left, then back to center. There are bunkers on the left in the drive zone, and front left and right at the green. I'm missing images closer than 150 yards, so I've resorted to an overhead that gives an idea of that portion of the hole. From my recollection, the green is very interesting for its place on one of the flatter parcels of land within the course confines.

Tee shot from the very back



Tee ball from farther up



A few, rogue chocolate drops in the rough up the left



The fairway bunker, a mid-iron away from the green



Overhead view of the run-up to the putting surface



Teugega Website Second Hole Description: http://www.teugega.com/course.asp?id=2

[Tom_Doak]

The tree in the right rough on #2 short of the green distracts you from how severe the right side of the hole is.  There is a big drop-off at the right of the green, obvious from the 3rd tee, but it isn't at all obvious when you are playing the approach to the 2nd because you are out away from it, or else the tree is right in your way. 

If they would take the tree down and shift the fairway to the right, it would be a much more dramatic hole.

[Ed Homsey]

Ron--Your view of the second hole from the tee exaggerates the influence of the pines on the left.  Standing at the tee, those pines to the left are barely, if at all, in your line of site.  Migod, how can I disagree with Mr. D?  Hard for me to imagine that hole without the big, lone tree on the right side of the fairway. I think that it is crucial to the hole.  The green is very severe, and I think that become obvious from wherever you hit your approach shot.

I'm looking forward to the complete photo tour of the course.  It is one of my very favorite courses.  One that I can replay in my mind very easily because of the distinct character of each hole. 

Thanks for the great photos.

Ed

[Ronald Montesano]

Tom and Ed are both spot on with their assessments of the missing space. In the 4th image, you can see the drop peeking over the rise in the rough, just shy of the front, right bunker. That bunker sits below the surface a good bit, I recall. If memory serves a wee cup more, the green has a lower front-right and a higher back, offering a good bit of segmentation. You wouldn't go after a back-right hole location, given the sand and the drop off.

In the overhead shot, all the brown grass to the right is precisely where the drop off lies.

It's an interesting thing with specimen trees. Sometimes a membership just won't give them up. It happened on #17 during the restoration of CCBuffalo, preventing a true return of the fairway to its Ross origins. I suspect that trees like this one on #2 at Teugega are less than 90 years old, so they weren't part of the original plan.

[Ronald Montesano]

The third hole at Teugega is a par three. It measures 223, 210 and 210 from the three decks, although there is a lower deck that brings the yardage to around 165. I didn't think I could get a hybrid there, so I opted for a 3-metal. I pured the shot and bombed it five yards over the green. In retrospect, the play was to the front-left of the green with the hybrid, for a pitch up or across the slope. No need to mess with a miss to either side or long.

Overhead shot of hole



Tee ball from the back of the upper deck



Tee ball from front of upper deck



A peek through the fuzzy drops at fairway level



A view from before the front right bunker



A view from behind the green, where my 3-metal ended up



Teugega Website Third Hole Description: http://www.teugega.com/course.asp?id=3

[Mike Hendren]

This is quentissential Ross - routing from high point to high point and a muscular one shotter requiring driver or 3-wood back then. Perhaps a sister to Beverly's 17th, Holston Hills' 11th and countless others.   This though with a little quirk thrown in - the chocolate drops and sweeping banked turn to access the right rear of the green.  I don't envy your pitch back.  First in a series of cool one-shotters at Teugega.  Thanks for the tour.

Bogey

[Ronald Montesano]

I don't know that I'd call the green a "high point," boges. I think of Tillinghast going over broken ground when I think of high point to high point, especially at Bethpage Red.

[Ed Homsey]

Ron--I cannot remember the species of the right fairway tree on #2.  But, keep in mind that Ross's design was done less than a hundred years ago.  It that's a white or red oak, it was there when Ross designed the hole.  An interesting thought, eh?  There is an original Ross golf layout displayed at Teugega, isn't there?

[Ronald Montesano]

Ed, that is enlightening. I should dig a little and see if that tree existed then (or what species it is, which might also tell us. As you know, they can't go left with the hole, as the trees protect from their wee driving range on that side. It would be an interesting hole out to the right. Perhaps they could keep the tree and mow the area down left as fairway. If you receive a proper bounce around or under it, you have an interesting angle in.

[Ronald Montesano]

The fourth hole is the first three-shotter (at 535, 471 and 425) and also the first example of the broken, roiling ground you'll encounter in spades on the inward half. Kevin and I began our tour of Teug on the back nine; if afforded the same opportunity, politely decline (even if you're behind the Haverkamps.) This novel reads in proper chapter order, no exceptions.

And then, I deleted all the notes I wrote on hole #4 as I was formatting hole #5 (don't ask, as I have no plausible rationale.)



Perfect example of how a straight hole can play like a dogleg, with the proper ground movement. The membership likes its trees, so there is no way to eliminate all of the ones we'd like to lower.



Left is really the only play on the tee ball. Even a ball center or center-right fairway forces your hand with the second shot.


















There is a comment farther down on mowing the low-left rough into fairway that I agree with. It would be a challenging play to come in from down low, over that front-left green bunker.




Teugega Website Fourth Hole Description: http://teugega.com/course.asp?id=4

[Mike Hendren]

Ron, here we find the first of hundreds of trees that need to be removed.   In my opinion there's a top 150 classic golf course underneath.  The hole would be enhanced if all single trees to the  right off the tee were removed back to the tree-line and if at least the first two (shown below) of the clustered trees right of the second shot landing area were taken down.  Also, the left edge of fairway opposite those trees could be extended another 10 yards or so as seen in your photo:



The expanded left side would be a sucker play, however as the pitch from there is blind and over the bunker.  

[BCowan]

Ron,

   I think i see a grass bunker?  love it... .  Also do you know if the course have single line irrigation or double

[Mike Hendren]

While we're at it, mow the area behind the right hand bunker as fairway and take out the cart path so the better player can sling a big draw in there for his second shot.  



Good thing Tom didn't have a chain-saw in his rental car - I fear he would have dropped everything and started cutting.  He might still be there.

Bogey

[Ed Homsey]

I am fairly certain that their irrigation is a single line system.  It has not been that many years since they installed the current system.

Ron--I can't think of the name of the architect who has worked with Teugega the past few years.  Wonder what input he had regarding tree removal/management?

Regarding suggestion to take out cart path that is visible in the picture of the 4th green, I'm thinking that the picture makes the cart path appear to be much closer to the green than it is, though it is pretty tight quarters between the first green, second tee, and 4th green.  Don't think there is any room for that cart path to be put on the other side of the 2nd tee.

I am enjoying these pictures, and commentary, Ron.  And, I agree completely with your caution about starting your play on the 10th hole.  The 10th, 11th, and 12th holes would be a tough introduction to the course and not as much a part of the flow of the course as when played in natural sequence.

[Ronald Montesano]

I believe it is Barry Jordan, who is really low-profile when it comes to the GCA brethren.

[Mike Hendren]

Ed, as great a router as Ross was there are at least three places on the course that are tighter than a tick:  1) the 2nd tee squeezed between the first and fourth greens as you noted; 2) the 18th tee that all but encroaches on the 11th fairway (I find it hard to believe Ross would have designed/built it that way; and 3) the confluence of the 9th and 18th greens with the 10th tee.  Only at Ross' Memphis CC have I seen the nines finish so tightly.

Bogey

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