University/College Golf Courses

[Daniel Jones]

I have not played it since it was renovated last year, but the University of Florida course, an original Ross, is always worth a visit in my book. Though it would surely benefit from the removal of a few many trees.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

A few years ago I went to a cousins wedding at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. Not only do they have their own course, its in the middle of the campus. Buildings and dorms dot the course.

I've seen university courses but never one where it was the centerpiece of the college. It was a sporty Florida-type course. Nothing special, but between that and Southern girls I realized I missed out going to school in the Midwest.

[Bill Crane]

If your wanderings bring you to New Jersey come and see Springdale Golf Club in Princeton, NJ.

Springdale is one of the earliest golf clubs in the USA. A Historic routing which was renovated by William Flynn in 1926/27. Flynn took great interest in the project as his mentor Hugh Wilson was a Princeton graduate and former captain of the Princeton University Golf team before going on to route the golf course at Merion East.

I am a member and you can contact me if interested.

Malcolm,

I am a Princeton grad, but actually a lot more familiar with the Yale golf course. How good is Springdale?

Tim:                                         { fyi;  partially edited from another post }

Springdale is a fun members course to play on a regular basis. The site is beautiful - abutting portions of Princeton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, the Institute for Advanced Studies and P U Graduate college.  It looks downright British. The symbol of the club is the Cleveland Tower that looms over the course, and provides an aiming focal point on several holes, . named after PU Trustee and US President Grover Cleveland.  We have a walking culture and you can sling your bag or grab a trolley whenever you want and play a nine or a few holes.  The William Flynn layout is just great, while compact, it is strategic and rolls nicely while still being pretty easy to walk, and at 6,400 yards is long enough to test all your shots without beating you up.  The greens are special, interesting, tight, mostly small with quite a bit of break, and some interesting features including the bunkering.  Missing greens wide can be really tough on the scorecard.
 
Come on a weekend and I may be able to have someone play the carillon bells in Cleveland Tower.  All sorts of tunes will resonate over the course, classical, pop, I even played one Halloween Sunday and out came the  theme from The Addams Family !

The club is traditional yet unpretentious.  Hats off inside, no cargo pants, but we are not obsessive about rules compared to many clubs.  Our  new clubhouse is comfortable enough without being stuffy, and the view of the course and Tower from the grill room and porch is the best in town.
 
Enough bragging, I won’t even get into our history with connections to Hugh Wilson, Woodrow Wilson, Bill Campbell, or tell you which or our stone bridges has an asteroid rock.   I will tell you the course is worth getting to know.

It is however - diametrically opposed to Yale.  Somewhat short, in town, small greens, land rolls gently, and we are separate from PU.  Also - Seth Raynor went to Princeton, but Colin Sheehan tells me he did not graduate.

Give Malcolm and/or I a call or send PM if you want to play, or join the Alumni event Friday of Re-unions.


Wm Flynnfan

[John Nixon]

Also don't forget the Kampen course at Purdue University.  It is a links style course designed by Pete Dye and has hosted a lot of collegiate golf tournaments including Big Ten and NCAA championships. 

As an alum, I highly recommend visiting Kampen, but suggest waiting until 2016 when Pete Dye's renovation of Ackerman Hills (Purdue's other course) will be complete.  They'll be two very different courses, but they're both public and will probably be worth making a weekend out of it (especially if you can build in a nightcap at Harry's Chocolate Shop).

More info on the renovation: http://www.purduegolf.com/ackerman-hills-renovation-update.html

Maybe some day Pete will, out of the goodness of his heart, donate some time and effort to that university down south in Bloomington and blow up, err, redesign the IU course.

And I hadn't heard about the work at Ackerman, I look forward to seeing it.

[Scott Wintersteen]

Also don't forget the Kampen course at Purdue University.  It is a links style course designed by Pete Dye and has hosted a lot of collegiate golf tournaments including Big Ten and NCAA championships. 

As an alum, I highly recommend visiting Kampen, but suggest waiting until 2016 when Pete Dye's renovation of Ackerman Hills (Purdue's other course) will be complete.  They'll be two very different courses, but they're both public and will probably be worth making a weekend out of it (especially if you can build in a nightcap at Harry's Chocolate Shop).

More info on the renovation: http://www.purduegolf.com/ackerman-hills-renovation-update.html

Maybe some day Pete will, out of the goodness of his heart, donate some time and effort to that university down south in Bloomington and blow up, err, redesign the IU course.

And I hadn't heard about the work at Ackerman, I look forward to seeing it.

He wouldn't want to do that.  This is just another reason Purdue is superior to IU.

[Brian Colbert]

Kentucky has a few solid ones.  U of L Club (formerly Cardinal Club) was just acquired by the University of Louisville and has always been private.  They have hosted a number of big state events.  I don't remember who routed the course, but was never impressed.  They have one of the best practice facilities around.

I played U of L (formerly Cardinal Club) in a US Open qualifier a couple years ago and found it to be ghastly. Three or four holes (particularly one of the par 5s on the front) that were simply unforgivable.