Truely the Sand Hills couldn't have two finer embassadors than Dick and Adam. I've just returned home from a cross counrty drive, Mass. to San Diego, which allowed my wife Janice and I the opportunity to sample different areas of our great country and play some pretty fine golf courses too.
We started in the beautiful Berkshires and played a living relic: Taconic. Our next detination was French Lick, where an infusion of money has revived Larry Bird's home town in what is one of the poorest counties in America. The West Baden Springs Hotel has been completely remodeled and one can certainly imagine why it was dubbed the "8th Wonder of the World" when it opened. The French Lick Hotel has been upgraded as well, no doubt the addition of the Casino is the wheel that drives the economy here. But I was most impressed the sympathetic restoration of the French Lick GC by Schmidt. This place sings Donald Ross and after a little while longer to completely grow in visitors can tackle the Indianna hillocks just as The Haig did in the 1926 PGA.
No trip across country could bypass Nebraska and for a life long public golfer the chance to make his pilgrimage to Wild Horse is a dream come true. Dick has always sung the praises of this prairie layout and I was expecting good golf at a reasonable price. My expectations were vastly exceeded: this is a great golf course with maybe the finest green surfaces I've ever encountered on a public golf course. It has everything else I like to see on really great course: a really short par 3, a short par 4 on each nine, a bunkerless hole and a great balance of holes of variuos lenghts, orientataions and direction. It is also on the most well though out courses for women to enjoy that I've seen. My wife and I have played many top flite layout and Wild Horse gave her the chance to both be challanged but more importantly to have fun too! She beat me straight up with a nifty 85 and finished the round with the same ball she started with; the "wouga" was no problem for this little lady. The locals in the 19th hole took a genuine interest in our thoughts on the course and how we enjoyed the experience. Thank goodness the Red Sox were playing that night or we might have had to sleep in the parking lot due to a hospitality overdose. I really see now why Dick holds this palce so near and dear to his his heart. Don't pass up the chance to play here!
Our next stop was the Chop Hills of Colorado where the O'neil brothers took the Keiser like risk of building an all walking, fescue covered playground that's sure to thrill the kind of golf nuts that inhabit this web site. Tom Doak was surely the right man to pull this feat off with a course that is as much fun as I've had with my clothes on in a long long time. There is a Brigadoon and it's located about 8 miles south of Holyoke! Some have wondered about the severity of some of the greens but I think the course is just the perfect compliment to the geography of the region. We had steady 30 mph winds on our second day, stiff enough to make us lay our stand bags on the ground. The ball only blew off the tee about 5 or 6 times and although the ball did oscillate on the putting surfaces the course was completely playable. The flexibility allowed by the lack of tee markers made the golfers feel not a pange of guilt about moving to the spot that would make each individual hole play fairly that day. We both finished the round with the same ball we started with and on a course bordered by native vegitation that is no small feat. It's obvious that a great deal of thought went into tailoring the irrigation system to not encourage ball gobbling growth just off the fairways. As good as the golfing experience is the Lodge is just the perfect combination of great food, drink and atmosphere with not a single iota of pretense. I suspect a microphoned bag handler here would be flushed and shot quicker than the local pheasants! As Tom mentioned just the other day we can all be secure in the knowledge that Ballyneal will stay on track with Rupert guiding the ship. Adam is justifyably pround of his playground and to have him share the secrets of the course with you is truely an epiphany!
In summary I definetly fell lucky, and just a bit spoiled; not the least bit jaded though. I only hope the oportunity to return to that area comes soon. The idea of public golf seems as if its a ways off in the distance, but who would have predicted the successes we've seen at Bandon, Sand Hills and Ballyneal just a few decades earlier?