[Kyle Harris]

I had the pleasure of playing Beechtree last week with Cory Lewis and Doug Braunsdorf. Thanks to Cory for hosting a great day.

This was my first Doak course, and while I understand it may not be his best course, I was subtly impressed.

The greens were remarkably simply and effective. I particularly liked the location of the first green, and how the left side is hidden from the fairway. Also, where I believe other people would have put a bunker on that left side, there was none. The simplicity and elegance of the green site made the hole a good starter.

Same goes for the third. With an open left side inviting the golfer to bail out there and a interesting bunker complex that is more in play than it looks, I felt the green was perfect for a short par 4.

Beechtree may also have the best selection of par 5s I've played all year, with the 8th being the standout.

I was also enamored with the ninth and fourteenth holes. Both are stout par 4s with wonderfully simple strategy and good bunkering.

The par 3s were interesting and varied, with shots ranging for me from a 4 iron to a 9 iron. Great green on the short 16th as well.

I liked the idea of having a brutal 15th hole and then a closing stretch were birdies and bogeys are equally attainable depending on execution and thinking. Made for a great closing.

I also liked the feel of the course, especially between the nines. It was amazing to me that you feel surrounded by golf, yet each nine is somewhat independent of the other in terms of views.

Not too many negatives yet, I tend to think positively until I've played a course a few times. I played well too, so that may be influencing my thoughts.  

Hope to play some more Doak courses in the future.

[Mike_Cirba]

Hey Kyle,

Glad you got down to Beechtree.  I like a quite a bit and have even ventured that I'd much rather play it 7 times out of 10 than Bulle Rock, but that's also probably affected by my having seen it all before in playing Blackwolf Run River course about a month prior.

But, I only have a minute, so let me ask a more pertinent question;

When is Penn State going to play a school that has a football team?  How did Joe Pa setup that early cake schedule?  

[Kyle Harris]

You're the second person on here to ask me that, here is my response to Sean Arble's same question:

Sean,

Not quite, the Big Ten and the MAC have an agreement to play at least one non-conference game with each other. The Big East and Big Ten have a similar agreement. Also, this season is something of an anamoly as the proposed Alabama home and home needed to be moved to the 2010 and 2011 seasons because of financial difficulties following Alabama's probation. Therefore, we needed to fill a schedule on a relatively short notice for PSU.

Penn State has been establishing some of the traditional rivalries in its Out-of-conference schedules. It was supposed to be:

2002, 2003: Nebraska
2004, 2005: Alabama
2006, 2007: Notre Dame
2008, 2009: Syracuse
2010, 2011: Not determined

However, Alabama asked to be moved to the 2010, 2011 slot so PSU had to fill the schedule with Central Michigan this year and Central Florida last year. All other games went, or are going, as scheduled.

With the addition of the 12th game, Penn State added a 2 and 1 with Temple, which is something as a knock against Pitt, who did not accept a similar agreement three years ago.

USF is a school on the up and up, much like Louisville was in the mid-90s when we were playing them regularly. They should be a bowl team by the end of the decade, if not BCS calibre.


I sent this out sometime on the weekend of the 20th.

Now... after this weekend's USF/Louisville game... am I good or what?  

Having never played Bulle Rock, and only having seen it a few times. I am inclinded to agree. There are some other courses of interest in the area to me as well. Always hear good things about the Baltimore public tracks.

[Matt_Ward]

Kyle:

I second what Mike said but have to say this -- Beechtree is Doak-lite. You need to see / play the others that are located in and around the Northeast. Stonewall (the original 18) is clearly a bit better IMHO.

I'd say you would need to travel to Bandon to see Doak at his best.

Ditto on the Nittiny Kittens -- how do they expect to raise their profile playing variations of the Three Stooges football teams they have played. This will likely be a dark year for Big Ten football so who knows.

[Kyle Harris]

Matt,

See above  

Stonewall is first on my "next-to-play" list. Hope to get out there sometime early next season.

[mike_malone]

 Kyle,


   You expressed much of what I like about Beechtree. But the idea that one can design 18 holes and not once give into the temptation to "catch your eye" is remarkable. That it is a public access course helps to spread the gospel of understatedness. It is all about "golfing" there.

   My favorite aspect is the "approaches". They are varied and interesting to play.

[Kyle Harris]

Mike,

Heard about your birdie on the 12th. Almost had one of my own, but missed the 5-footer.   Had a bunch of similar chances but only could make three.

I definately liked the approaches to the greens. They allowed a well struck and well placed shot to get to the hole. On the aforementioned 12th, I ran a five iron up from the right rough and it tucked itself right next to the flag.

Same goes for the fourth, where a narrow funnel exists to get shots to the back teir, but anything left or right is repelled to a less-than-optimum position.

[mike_malone]

 Kyle,

  I guess you heard that from Cory. I had forgotten all about that since I do that kind of thing all the time.

[Dan Herrmann]

I totally agree with the Beechtree comments.  In the two years I was unattached to a club, I used to make the trek across the Mason-Dixon line at least twice a month to play Beechtree.  

To me, it's what a daily-fee course should be.  The golf course is first rate, pace of play is great, they don't have bag attendents wearing silly uniforms, they treat their customers like friends, and they have a great practice facility.

Oh yeah  -  no GPS either.

And, the last time I checked, they shut down in the winter to give the course time to heal.

Pretty darn classy folks down there!

[wsmorrison]

Kyle,

Glad you made it down to Beechtree for your first plunge into Doak's architecture.  I thoroughly enjoy the course.  Got rained out halfway through my last trip so I look forward to the return visit shortly.  Cory, the head pro, GM and the rest of the staff do an excellent job running the golf course.  

I give the very highest marks to the person who hires the wait staff there.  I know this is way OT but the girls that work at the halfway house and the dining room are knockouts!  Ok, the course is excellent and the facilities first rate, but the local talent in Maryland is amazing.  Have I turned into a dirty old man?  Maybe so.

I wouldn't call Beechtree Doak-lite at all.  It is a daily fee course on good but not great land that is very well used.  It is what it is and can be judge on its own merits without ranking or contrasts to other Doak courses 3000 miles away.  Comparisons are interesting to determine design tendencies but you don't need to see any other Doak to appreciate this course.  Of course, you'll want to see more as his work is extraordinarily good.  

I was lucky to walk the Sebonack course with Tom Doak last week and that was a real treat to tour the course and learn the design process and the behind the scenes progress from Pascucci dream to reality.  It is a way to get an insight to the creative process and that can be invaluable and carries over to the way you look at any course going forward.

By the way, it couldn't hurt to keep in mind that Doak is a really good putter...I mean really good.

[Dan Herrmann]

Wayne, you dirty old man!

Thanks for the laugh about the Maryland talent  

Also be sure to check out http://www.golfclubatlas.com/beechtree2.html

(reminds me - I've gotta do a 'my home course' now that the lighting is good for photography!)

[wsmorrison]

Dan,

That's right my friend, get your act together and get those photos.  I want to see a French Creek MHC before year end!  

By the way, we should have the Scott Anderson interview finished and posted sometime next month.

See you at the Crump Cup?

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

  I guess you heard that from Cory. I had forgotten all about that since I do that kind of thing all the time.

Hit 3-wood approaches into medium length par 4s?  

[JohnV]

With the addition of the 12th game, Penn State added a 2 and 1 with Temple, which is something as a knock against Pitt, who did not accept a similar agreement three years ago.

Kyle, let me get this straight.  Pitt and Penn State used to play home and home for years until Pitt started to get pretty good and kicked Penn State's butt a few times so Joe-Pa quit scheduling them.  But people still wanted to see them play so pressure kept being applied.  Eventually Penn State said, "Sure we'll play you, but you have to come up here 2 out of 3 years since you don't have a decent stadium down there for us to play in.  After all, it is barely good enough for the Steelers."  And you seem surprised that Pitt turned them down?  

Please excuse any errors in the history of this "rivalry" but I've only been here 3 years and that is how I've been told it was by the Pitt alumni I know.

[Kyle Harris]

Funny, Pitt beats PSU once and suddenly we don't want to play you.  

We fill the Ketchup Bowl with our fans and you guys get to reap all the benefits? You don't even sell out your own stadium unless we play you. Same thing will happen in Philly and Lincoln Financial Field.

The two for one was most fair for PSU, since playing at Pitt is basically a PSU home game on Pitt.

[George Pazin]

If Pitt playing at home against PSU was a home game - and I attended enough of them to know this isn't entirely untrue - wouldn't 2 out of 3 the other way may more sense?

Hope I make it to Beechtree before Pitt-PSU resumes. It's a shame the series died out, it was one of college football's best in the 70s and early 80s, when both programs were on top.

[Kyle Harris]

George,

I agree, I grew up with the PSU/Pitt game being second to the PSU/ND and the bowl game. I still have my Shitt on Pitt shirt. HOWEVER, I've been to many a game at Pitt Stadium (I was born in Magee, across the street by the way) and Three Rivers, and there was a decided preponderance of PSU fans at each. Why else hold them at Three Rivers?

Penn State wanted two games at Beaver Stadium and one game at Heinz Field/Old Pitt Stadium with each team keeping what it made on the home game and some form of split on the extra home game at Beaver Stadium for Pitt (so they'd make something on the game).

There's always talk about the series, but it seems Pitt is more bitter about it than PSU. It'd be nice to see Pitt in the Big Ten, but Notre Dame is a far more logical fit thatn Pitt.

[Kyle Harris]

Back on thread: I thought Beechtree's Putting Green was superb as well. Lot's of interesting hole locations and putts to try out.

I'd have fun putting on that for hours.

[George Pazin]

Pitt's more bitter, because Pitt needs PSU a helluva lot more than PSU needs Pitt. In every relationship, there is always someone with the upper hand. With its tremendous alumni support, PSU clearly has the upper hand. It would just be nice to see someone do the right thing as opposed to the most money making thing. Having said all that, it's PSU's choice. But if they're gonna be honest, I'd like to hear them fess up to being all about the money.

It's sad to me to hear of Beechtree being described as Doak-lite. It says a lot about the people saying this, if you think about it. Tom D once said on here that Riverfront was the same course as Pac Dunes, just a different piece of property. I think there is something interesting hidden in this comment, but the vast majority of people would never understand it.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Kyle,
I'm surprised you haven't seen Stonewall yet.

I think the original is a really good golf course, and would go so far to say that the 18th might be a REALLY GREAT golf hole. GREAT as in GREAT.

Plus its also neat to see the early work of what would become two GREAT modern designers: Tom Doak AND Gil Hanse.

The proof there is in the ground. They were given a site that was routed by Fazio, and changed it all for the better.  Don't listen to people's complaints about the 5th. It's a really good golf hole.

[Kyle Harris]

The course fills its niche perfectly. I was amazed by the price ($70) as well.

If this is indeed "Doak-Lite" I want to see Doak's Porter. This was quite filling.

More on this later when I get the exigency, but I thought this was one of the more inspiring places to play in terms of thinking my way around the course.

[PThomas]

describing those greens as "remarkably simple" seems way off to me....I thought they had some pretty wild slopes to them

[Kyle Harris]

Paul,

Some of them did, but the surrounds were quite simple as compared to some other courses.

To me, for example, a naturally rolling site with flat greens would not be simple, but complex. When the greens were wild (ie the 16th) it seemed that the contour severity and frequency matched the hole, leaving a very simple and natural feel.

Same goes with the 14th, the green is quite contoured, but in the scope of the hole... it's very simple.

[mike_malone]

 Paul,
    I thought of "simple" to describe the course but agree it is not at all the right word for me. "Understated" works better .

 Kyle,

  First of all, I am a senior golfer and secondly it seemed pretty long to me . More than likely I hit my trusty 20 degree Titleist.

[Kyle Harris]

Mayday,

Understated might be a better word to describe what I am thinking.

And I am just picking on you.. come on  

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