Mid Ocean Club (Bermuda) -- the island course by which all are judged

[Abe Summers]

Am I the only one who has watched the Grand Slam of Golf being played this week and just been admiring every hole of the Mid Ocean Club?  What a wonderful C.B. MacDonald design.  The members there are really privileged to play that every day.  Wow!!

This is Golf Club Atlas' review:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/midoceanchicago1.html

[BCrosby]

Abe -

Agreed. Mid-O is indeed a special course. I have had the good fortune to play it a number of times. It's a bit short now. The pros hitting 7/8 irons into the Redan 17th was a shocker. But it is still a treat to play. Even the holes you don't hear much about are a delight (the 6th and 11th). I wish there were a way to make the 18th more interesting from the regular tees.

As a bonus, Mid-O has the best Halfway House in the world.

Bob

[Kalen Braley]

Abe -

As a bonus, Mid-O has the best Halfway House in the world.

Bob

Better than MPCC Shore?  I'd love to see that one. 

[Mike Sweeney]

It was fun to see them play that course, and the wind made a short course long on a few holes that I saw. They should break the players into 2 twosomes because the pace of play is just crazy slow.

Too bad they are leaving Mid Ocean for Port Royal next year. Who is doing the Port Royal renovation?

[BCrosby]

Kalen - Never seen MPCC, but MId-O's is perched on a coral cliff overlooking the Atlantic, surrounded by palms and trees. The tenth tee is just out the door. I've sat there and let other groups play through just to take in the isolation and beauty.

Bob

[Bill_McBride]

Kalen - Never seen MPCC, but MId-O's is perched on a coral cliff overlooking the Atlantic, surrounded by palms and trees. The tenth tee is just out the door. I've sat there and let other groups play through just to take in the isolation and beauty.

Bob

Bob, it's been fifteen years since I've played that wonderful course.  I wish I had known more about C.B. Macdonald then.  Do I remember correctly that the halfway house is pretty much a big screened porch?

[Matt_Cohn]

Abe -

As a bonus, Mid-O has the best Halfway House in the world.

Bob

Better than MPCC Shore?  I'd love to see that one. 

MPCC Shore's isn't halfway. It's next to the 6th and 10th greens.   

[Kalen Braley]

Thats the brilliance of it....you can hang out there twice if you like and I can't imagine many other spots on the planet that I would much rather hang out than there.   

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

What a course and I am envious of those who have played there.

[Eric_Terhorst]

Hats off to Ian Baker-Finch on the TV commentary, repeatedly calling attention to "Charles Blair Macdonald" (he insists on calling him by full name) as the designer, giving RT Jones and Tom Doak credit only for "touching up" the course.


Ian also features the "famous" holes in his commentary, like the Cape, and  mentioned NGLA, Chicago, and Lido as Macdonald's other work.  He said yesterday about a cart path in the middle of the fairway that would cause "Charles Blair Macdonald to roll over in his grave."  How often do you hear a golf commentator disparage a cart path?? Nice, Ian!

[JLahrman]

I even heard Ian use the term 'Biarritz' and describe how the area in front of the gully was once part of the green.

This course does look like fun, only saw the back nine but I particularly liked the look of the 16th up the hill, and the par 4 where you only see the side of the hill on the tee shot (11 or 12).

[Abe Summers]

Bob,

Although the Redan was only a 7 or 8, thee players were only a net -2 after two days of play, so the course was not that easy; two players at -4, others a combined +6. 

Did you like the players being miked?  I actually enjoyed that too.  Nice job all around.

- Abe

[JMorgan]

Anyone know anything about the Riddles Bay restoration?

[JLahrman]

I liked the players being miked, but noticed that Goosen still only said about two words...

[Jerry Kluger]

I only saw a bit of the coverage but Harrington's whining about how the bunker on 18 was raked shows just how spoiled they are.  He does appear to be a nice guy who appreciates his success but a guy from Ireland surely knows how to deal with that.

[JLahrman]

I don't blame him...$300K between first and second place, I'd want to take luck out of it too.

[Deucie Bies]

Does anyone know how difficult it is to play this course?  Is it like many of the courses in Ireland or Scotland where we can play as visitors or do you need to be sponsored by a member?

[Kenny Baer]

Deucie,

I have heard it is pretty difficult; I think you have to know a member but I don't think they have to play with you, they can sponsor you.

[Bill_McBride]

Does anyone know how difficult it is to play this course?  Is it like many of the courses in Ireland or Scotland where we can play as visitors or do you need to be sponsored by a member?

Hotel or cottage colony concierges can arrange outside play a couple of week days each week.

[Bob_Huntley]

Abe -

As a bonus, Mid-O has the best Halfway House in the world.

Bob

Better than MPCC Shore?  I'd love to see that one. 

Kalen,

Good call on Mid Ocean's shelter but I prefer the Dunes at the back of the  11th green.

Bob

[Bill_McBride]

Some brief observations:

Thank god for the digital video recorder.  Anyone who had to sit through those endless and repetitive commercials has my sympathy.

I really don't like the Biarritz that's not cut to green length in the front and in the swale.  It looks like just another long par 3.

The Redan needs another tee 40 yards back, maybe on the balcony of that house.  Six irons into a great Redan green kind of defeat the strategy.

#18 should return to being a long par 4, but par 69 is not a popular number I guess.

Maybe it should be like Elie, with no par 5s.  The par 5s were no challenge at all for that foursome.

Mid-Ocean is just a wonderfully beautiful place.  I didn't appreciate much of it the one time I played there.  There was a pretty serious squall that came in while my partner and I were on the first fairway, and I remember huddling together with the caddie as it blew through!  The first four holes are indistinct in my memory, but I loved the fifth hole, Cape. 

They still need to cut down all the vegetation along the waterline and behind the green, it spoils the look of the hole.

Let's raise our Rum Swizzlers to Mid-Ocean, lovely course.

[JNC Lyon]

I only saw a bit of the coverage but Harrington's whining about how the bunker on 18 was raked shows just how spoiled they are.  He does appear to be a nice guy who appreciates his success but a guy from Ireland surely knows how to deal with that.

I agree, It's a freakin' hazard--deal with it.  Now he knows what its like to play real golf courses.

[Tim Leahy]

I even heard Ian use the term 'Biarritz' and describe how the area in front of the gully was once part of the green.

This course does look like fun, only saw the back nine but I particularly liked the look of the 16th up the hill, and the par 4 where you only see the side of the hill on the tee shot (11 or 12).

Anyone know why they didn't keep the Biarritz as part of the green? Just too hard to cut it short?