Most Underrated Courses in your City/area

[archie_struthers]

 


IN Philly.....Lehigh CC     every time I have played it seemed to find a nuance that was intriguing  Been away from it for too long!




At Shore


            Gotta be Greate Bay...Know it's a homer choice but the combination of resistance to scoring by the expert while seeming
            benign to the  higher handicapper is a unique quality few designs possess

[mike_malone]

IN Philly.....Lehigh CC     every time I have played it seemed to find a nuance that was intriguing  Been away from it for too long!







At Shore


            Gotta be Greate Bay...Know it's a homer choice but the combination of resistance to scoring by the expert while seeming
            benign to the  higher handicapper is a unique quality few designs possess

Archie,


I think Lehigh is well regarded. We’re fortunate to have an arrangement with Huntingdon Valley and Lehigh to play anytime. Lehigh keeps growing on my boys as you said.

[Eric Smith]

Now if we expanded the list to the rest of Tennessee, then the list could go on for a while...

Golden Eagle?

[John Kavanaugh]

Lehigh had a brief stint in the Golfweek top 100 back when redanman ruled the roost.

[Tim Martin]

IN Philly.....Lehigh CC     every time I have played it seemed to find a nuance that was intriguing  Been away from it for too long!




At Shore


            Gotta be Greate Bay...Know it's a homer choice but the combination of resistance to scoring by the expert while seeming
            benign to the  higher handicapper is a unique quality few designs possess

Greate Bay is terrific for both the golf course and the atmosphere. Archie gets high marks!!

[John Crowley]

I'm not all that versed in Minneapolis Courses but I thought Minikahda was terrific. It got very little love in the MSP and the Ross rankings here. I know its got a great pedigree and can't be a hidden gem but it still seems underappreciated.

Right Buck,
Also Minneapolis Golf Club does not get enough love. Willie Park Jr. (1916) Donald Ross etal (1920). Probably 3rd best “Ross” in Mpls.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I'm not all that versed in Minneapolis Courses but I thought Minikahda was terrific. It got very little love in the MSP and the Ross rankings here. I know its got a great pedigree and can't be a hidden gem but it still seems underappreciated.

Right Buck,
Also Minneapolis Golf Club does not get enough love. Willie Park Jr. (1916) Donald Ross etal (1920). Probably 3rd best “Ross” in Mpls.

I know that much of Raynor has been "renovated" out of it but I love Somerset. It might be a little disjointed in places but it is nonetheless a great place to spend a day.

[Bernie Bell]

I was a member at Four Streams outside DC for fifteen years. I does ok in the state rankings but I have always felt it doesn't get the notoriety it should. Smyers showed restraint in his bunkering and designed some really good greens. Besides that, it is just a great club. All individual memberships with a great caddie program and golf culture. I miss it like crazy since I moved away.

I hate to just reiterate Tommy’s post but I agree. 4 streams is the most underrated course in the mid Atlantic area.   Fun, challenging and ( at one time ) a quality membership.   In the dc area Columbia is good, congressional a drag and Chevy Chase could be so much better.
.

I wouldn't say Four Streams is underrated; it's usually rated quite highly, at least in the past.  I think Manor and Montgomery are under-appreciated in MD/DC.   

[Jeff Schley]

An eclectic mix from some places I have lived.
Chicago would be Kankakee Elks (liberty of an hour south), Onwentsia.
LA area would be Oak Quarry, Cross Creek, La Quinta Mountain
Middle East would be Trump Dubai and I like Saadiyat Beach in Abu Dhabi

[Ira Fishman]

I was a member at Four Streams outside DC for fifteen years. I does ok in the state rankings but I have always felt it doesn't get the notoriety it should. Smyers showed restraint in his bunkering and designed some really good greens. Besides that, it is just a great club. All individual memberships with a great caddie program and golf culture. I miss it like crazy since I moved away.

I hate to just reiterate Tommy’s post but I agree. 4 streams is the most underrated course in the mid Atlantic area.   Fun, challenging and ( at one time ) a quality membership.   In the dc area Columbia is good, congressional a drag and Chevy Chase could be so much better.
.

I wouldn't say Four Streams is underrated; it's usually rated quite highly, at least in the past.  I think Manor and Montgomery are under-appreciated in MD/DC.   

Burning Tree is underrated but that may because so few people play it...or admit to doing so.


Ira

[Bernie Bell]

I was a member at Four Streams outside DC for fifteen years. I does ok in the state rankings but I have always felt it doesn't get the notoriety it should. Smyers showed restraint in his bunkering and designed some really good greens. Besides that, it is just a great club. All individual memberships with a great caddie program and golf culture. I miss it like crazy since I moved away.

I hate to just reiterate Tommy’s post but I agree. 4 streams is the most underrated course in the mid Atlantic area.   Fun, challenging and ( at one time ) a quality membership.   In the dc area Columbia is good, congressional a drag and Chevy Chase could be so much better.
.

I wouldn't say Four Streams is underrated; it's usually rated quite highly, at least in the past.  I think Manor and Montgomery are under-appreciated in MD/DC.   

Burning Tree is underrated but that may because so few people play it...or admit to doing so.


Ira

The GCA crowd too embarrassed because the course has been touched by RTJ, Ed Ault and Arthur Hills?

[mike_malone]

Lehigh had a brief stint in the Golfweek top 100 back when redanman ruled the roost.

Mark Fine as well

[Terry Lavin]

I was a member at Four Streams outside DC for fifteen years. I does ok in the state rankings but I have always felt it doesn't get the notoriety it should. Smyers showed restraint in his bunkering and designed some really good greens. Besides that, it is just a great club. All individual memberships with a great caddie program and golf culture. I miss it like crazy since I moved away.

I hate to just reiterate Tommy’s post but I agree. 4 streams is the most underrated course in the mid Atlantic area.   Fun, challenging and ( at one time ) a quality membership.   In the dc area Columbia is good, congressional a drag and Chevy Chase could be so much better.
.

I wouldn't say Four Streams is underrated; it's usually rated quite highly, at least in the past.  I think Manor and Montgomery are under-appreciated in MD/DC.   

Burning Tree is underrated but that may because so few people play it...or admit to doing so.


Ira

A lot of epic tales out of Burning Tree, with my favorite involving a great caddie nicknamed Fishcake.

[JReese]

In Chicagoland, I agree with Lake Shore and would add Oak Park CC. 

[Joe Bausch]

I’ll give 4 courses in the Golf Association of Philadelphia:


Running Deer
Bellewood
Berkshire
Lebanon CC


None of them will beat you up but gosh are they fun.

[Terry Lavin]

In Chicagoland, I agree with Lake Shore and would add Oak Park CC.

Haven’t played Lake Shore but agree with the addition of Oak Park. Very solid golf course.

[Andrew Harvie]

In Toronto I'd say Islington, Scarboro and Uplands are underrated. Anything else that's underrated in Ontario within the country comes from outside Toronto, such as Lookout Point, Kawartha, Cataraqui, Tarandowah, etc as most people don't think there's golf outside Toronto/Muskoka

[Peter Flory]

I've played Lake Shore several times this year since the renovation and it is much improved.  The tree removal was extensive and it makes the course feel a lot bigger.  It has more of a Skokie aesthetic overall now than it used to. 

[Terry Lavin]

I've played Lake Shore several times this year since the renovation and it is much improved.  The tree removal was extensive and it makes the course feel a lot bigger.  It has more of a Skokie aesthetic overall now than it used to. 

Well that’s impressive. I’ll get up there before the season is done.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Greater Chicagoland, in no particular order:


Knollwood
Edgewood
Flossmoor
Onwentsia
Midlothian
Exmoor
Medinah 1
Medinah 2
Glen View
Bryn Mawr

I would add the recently restored Lake Shore CC , Elgin CC, and Westmoreland

WestMo indeed...could not believe it. Played in the Senior Illinois Open there last year and was impressed.


Heard that Lake Shore looks great. Have never set foot on their property but it's smack on the lake and heard their beach club is phenomenal.

[Mike Hendren]

Now if we expanded the list to the rest of Tennessee, then the list could go on for a while...

Golden Eagle?

Parker and Eric, I'm hard pressed to name a TN course that fits the bill.  Please do so.


Mike

[Tommy Williamsen]

I was a member at Four Streams outside DC for fifteen years. I does ok in the state rankings but I have always felt it doesn't get the notoriety it should. Smyers showed restraint in his bunkering and designed some really good greens. Besides that, it is just a great club. All individual memberships with a great caddie program and golf culture. I miss it like crazy since I moved away.

I hate to just reiterate Tommy’s post but I agree. 4 streams is the most underrated course in the mid Atlantic area.   Fun, challenging and ( at one time ) a quality membership.   In the dc area Columbia is good, congressional a drag and Chevy Chase could be so much better.
.

I wouldn't say Four Streams is underrated; it's usually rated quite highly, at least in the past.  I think Manor and Montgomery are under-appreciated in MD/DC.   

Burning Tree is underrated but that may because so few people play it...or admit to doing so.


Ira

A lot of epic tales out of Burning Tree, with my favorite involving a great caddie nicknamed Fishcake.

Not sure this is the one you mean.

Ernest Harris.  On Dec 7 1941 Ernest got to the club to caddy. Ernest was 10.  Ernest was caddying for the Secretary of War that day. They got to the 12th green and someone had come out to greet them. Urgently. " Ernest... we have to go in now. Something has come up. But don't worry. I will pay you in full for your service"   The Secretary had just learned Pearl Harbor had been attacked.  This was about 1 o'clock. A 5 hour time difference from Hawaii.
Another caddie, Fishcake (9 years old) was scheduled to go on a loop that afternoon with the Japanese Ambassador. The ambassador was on property having lunch.  When news came they got him off property and to a security detail.  Fishcake never got out. The following week he received a check from the Embassy of Japan for 50$. He also got his 1 dollar from the shop for a missed and paid for loop.  I asked him one day..  "what did you end up doing with that check?" It was dated Dec 7 1941.  " I cashed it! What you think I did with it?"

[Tim Leahy]

In or near Sacramento, CA:
Private:
Del Paso CC
Granite Bay CC
Winchester CC


Public:
Yoche de he at Cache Creek
Apple Mountain
The Ridge
Dark Horse

[John Nixon]

Underrated by whom? Local players? Raters, reviewers and rankers?

[Jerry Kluger]

I lived in the DC area for a very long time and Columbia was my favorite of those close in while I would always be willing to take the drive up 95 to play the Five Farms course at Baltimore CC.  To me what was unfortunate was that so many clubs in the area brought Arthur Hills in to do a renovation and to me they all wound up being very similar, very green and very soft.


I now live in the Raleigh, NC area and to me the most underrated course is Chapel Ridge which is public.  It is said to be a Fred Couples course but whoever did the design created a really good course which unfortunately today is not in very good condition.  It has 4 excellent par 3s, really good risk/reward par 5s, a couple of drivable par 4s and a really good flow through some really hilly land.  Seniors can play it for $35 including cart.