[Mark_Rowlinson]

Royal Worlington & Newmarket is often said to be the best 9-hole course in the world.  In a recent post Darren Kilfara has sung the praises of Reigate Heath.  I am particularly fond of Knutsford and Hale in Cheshire and Ruthin in North Wales.  I suppose my only yardstick by which to judge them is that when I get to the 9th green I am already eagerly anticipating playing the same nine as much as I did when I set off for the first time.  Which other 9-hole courses elsewhere in the world should we consider, and how (given that few of them are going to be well-known) might we set a standard by which we might compare them?

[Willie_Dow]

Mark

My best way to evaluate a course is my ability to recall, and that is getting harder every day.

Marion Golf Club is still in my mind.

Willie

[michael j fay]

I depend a great deal on the Willie Dow method for rating a course. If I can remember a good deal of the layout say a year later, it receives higher marks.

This being said, I played Whitinsville Golf Club (9 holes-Ross 1929) three years ago and still remember every hole on the course. My memory of the fabulous 9th hole will probably never fade.

[wsmorrison]

Never having been there (hope to remedy that this year) so I cannot say that I know anything first hand about this course, however, I have heard from people I highly regard that have been there that Headwaters in Cashiers, NC (across the street from Wade Hampton) a nine-holer by Tom Fazio is absolutely fantastic.

I have been to Marion golf course by George Thomas (his first design) at Willie's recommendation and found it a charming throwback kind of course.  I think Tom Paul called it a steeplechase course and it certainly has some old stone walls and hedges that need to be negotiated.  Anyone going to Kittansett should check out Marion, it is up the street from Kittansett.  This first design by a member of the "Philadelphia School" represents an early style of golf in America.  

[Tom_Doak]

Mark:

I have not heard of the other nine-hole courses you mention.  Where are they?

I did a list of the best nines I had seen for The Confidential Guide a few years ago.  Since then, sadly, two or three have built a second nine, none of them as fun to play as a second go around the original nine.  [As I wrote years ago, Donald Ross did not stop at nine holes at Rolling Rock Club because the Mellon family had money issues.]  I hope Whitinsville never makes this mistake.

Those that are left include:

Mike Keiser's Dunes Club in New Buffalo, MI
Reigate Heath
Wawashkamo, an Alex Smith 9 on Mackinac Island
Phoenixville CC in PA, one of Hugh Wilson's only other designs
Uplands GC in Toronto, nine surviving holes from a Stanley Thompson 18-hole course
Culver Military Academy in Indiana, by Bill Langford
and the Musselburgh Old Nine

[ForkaB]

I'd never call it a great course (although it does have one world class hole), but Anstruther is a superb segue between Elie and Crail.

[Dan_Callahan]

There are two great 9-hole courses in Massachusetts at opposite ends of the state. Highland Links in North Truro sits high on the Cape Cod bluffs and plays like a links course. The course was built in the late 1800s and is sometimes in rough shape, but with a stiff ocean breeze it is a very challenging layout. Far to the west, Greenock Country Club in Lee is a Donald Ross design that opened in the 1920s. It recently had extensive irrigation work and should be in fantastic shape this summer.

[michael j fay]

Dan:

I've played both the Highlands Links and Greenock.

Highlands Links is outright magical stuck out on the ocean. It is a return to golf of yesteryear mixed with invigorating salt air and willowy winds.

Greenock is a hidden gem, beautifully contoured and enhanced by devilish deceptions caused by elevation changes.

This being said, I'll still vote for Whitinsville.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Willie,

Your method of evaluation is obviously sound.  The trouble is that my memory is not so sound and I'm afraid I cheat, writing an account of each course new to me in the car before I even leave the car park.  If I didn't there would be a complete blank, I fear.

Knutsford is a charming 9-holer in Tatton Park on the outskirts of Knutsford in mid-Cheshire.  If you take off from Manchester Airport into the prevailing westerly wind you will almost certainly fly over it.  In fact it is 10 holes, with completely separate 10th and 18th holes.  It was designed by two (obviously well informed) club members (C.W. Taylor and Lawrence Speakman) in 1909 when the club was forced to move from its original home of 1891.  They called in George Lowe to have a look at their plans and his suggested layout more or less agreed with theirs.  There has only been one alteration (apart from some lengthening) since then, the moving of a single tee to a new site.

Hale is a rather secluded course hidden away beside the River Bollin even closer to manchester Airport and the busy M56 motorway, yet when you are on the course you would never be aware of either.  It dates from 1903 (and I have no idea who the architect, if any, might be) and there's still a vintage feel to many of the shots.  The bunkering is serious and good use is made of the natural rise and fall of the land.  There are a couple of cross-bunkers on the 298-yard 8th on the far side of a punchbowl over which the drive is made and it is nice to see them left there, even though to clear then is no longer a problem even to the elderly.  That shallow, raised green, too, is cunningly protected with a grassy ridge cutting in front on the left and a seriously deep bunker on the right front and a drop away into a wooded valley beyond.  It is a thoroughly good short par 4.

Ruthin is inland in North Wales, a charming little town once of great strategic importance to King Edward I's supply lines into mid-Wales.  Its golf course is laid out on what was once an army training ground and the clubhouse was the officers' mess, so it is a somewhat distinguished-looking (if also dilapidated) pavilion.  It looks out over a ten-hole course (alternative par 3s for 9th and 18th) and the hilly ground makes for some interesting golf in beautiful surroundings.  It's not an architectural masterpiece (none of these courses begins to challenge Royal Worlington) but it is the combination of some quite challenging golf on a course which is lovingly maintained and is home to a wide variety of wildlife (particularly birds and flora) - one of those places where the course is at one with its surroundings which, for me, is always uplifting.

Richard,

Yes, Anstruther is good fun.

Mark

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Never having been there (hope to remedy that this year) so I cannot say that I know anything first hand about this course, however, I have heard from people I highly regard that have been there that Headwaters in Cashiers, NC (across the street from Wade Hampton) a nine-holer by Tom Fazio is absolutely fantastic.
 

Wayne,

I recently posted a couple pictures of Headwaters, but for the life of me I cannot remember which thread they were on.  It might have been the Top 100 in NC thread from a few weeks back.  If I were smarter or better at the search feature here I would find out where they were, and if I knew how I would link to them.  But alas I cannot, and I dont know how to link them anyway.

Maybe you can find them, or I might be able to post them again if someone wanted, but it is spectacular.

[Jimmy Muratt]

Daryl,

Here is a link to your recent post regarding Headwaters.  It is post #46 on the attached link.  Headwaters indeed looks very interesting and isolated.  

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=12344;start=msg209367#msg209367

[BCrosby]

Headwaters is a very nice par 3 course.

My guess is that it has the highest initiation fee to par ratio in the world.

Bob

[Michael_Choate]

The Dunes in Michigan without a doubt.  Each hole is distinct  and presents a varitey of options and shots.  I wish the course had a range but that is the only drawback.  I  could play the course every day without being bored.

[Paul Perrella]

      Although I have not played the course, I have heard some very good things about the Seth Raynor 9 holer at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut.
      I would certainly agree that the Highland Links in Truro is a classic.

[Bob_Huntley]

One of the best nine holers I have played was the Shabani Golf Club in Southern Rhodesia. The town was off the beaten track in the Midlands of the country and owed its existence to the nearby asbestos mine.

In gently rolling terrain with acacia, thorn bush trees, and a fair amount of wildlife, it was idyllic. The greens were superb and with a geat deal of water pumped from the mine, even in the driest months the course was in fine condition.

[wsmorrison]

Daryl
You posted some pictures on 3/14/2004.  The pictures are very intriguing and I'll have to visit my friend Adam there sometime.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how to bring the pictures back up.  I also missed a previous discussion on Headwaters, but I copied it:

From Jim Lewis  7/20/2002
The best, and most unusual, par 3 I have played is the Headwaters Golf Club in Cashiers, NC. The club is very private and is located just accross the road from Wade Hampton. It is not affialiated with any other club and has only a small number of well-to-do members. It was designed by Tom Fazio and would compare well to most of his better courses (including Wade Hampton) except that is short and has only nine holes. Each hole is actually a good par 3 in its own right and most could hold their own on most top modern courses. The greeens are well designed to receive the required tee shot and they are contoured to provide plenty of exciting putts. The yardages are 113, 184, 100, 149, 105, 129, 167, 114, and 147.  The place is maintained in remarkable condition and has a practice tee that is among the best anywhere.  I think it is much superior to the par 3 at ANGC because it has more variety in design and terrain.



From Adam Messix 7/21/2002
Jim--
Thanks for putting the plug in for Headwaters.  It sure is a neat place, isn't it?  
As far as short goes....remember that 7 will play 222 yards when the secret mat tee is replaced a grassed tee probably next year and that when you stick the tee back combined with a back pin, #2 has played up to 212 yards to tournaments (I think it played 202 yards for the Savannah Cup this year for instance)  I think the real neat thing about the place is that it is so flexible given the size of the greens and teeing grounds that it can change so much from day to day.  
You are also right in that the greens really make the place...although they were pretty soft for the first two months of the year, they have recently regained their firmness and speed and are really interesting now.  An unnamed touring pro after finishing one day said that Headwaters was the "home of the misread putt"  Tom Fazio put a lot of personal attention to the place and Tosh Belsinger deserves kudos for the job he did (it was his first major job with Fazio I believe).  
It's a shame that very few people get to see Headwaters because it's a neat course (we get about 900 rounds a year)...I think people get caught up in the flowers and the beauty and forget that it's really an intersting course.  I hope you've enjoyed your previous visits and hope to see you next year.

[Dan_Callahan]

Paul,

Hotchikiss is a great course and unique in the way it weaves through the school campus. As you may know, it has a very interesting history. Charles Banks was an English teacher at Hotchkiss School and he became close friends with Raynor during the construction of the course. He ultimately left Hotchkiss to join Raynor's (and Macdonald's) firm and would go on to supervise construction of the courses at Yale and Mid Ocean. It's funny how a small course in a remote part of Connecticut is responsible for such an important relationship in the history of golf architecture.

[michael j fay]

Hotchkiss is a nice little venue and I bet that at the time it was built it was as good as they come. Unfortunately, over the years the course has come in second to expansions of the school and now plays around and through the campus. Some of the holes have been fairly drastically changed and it has lost a grat deal of appeal.

I will say that Hotchkiss has four or five of the best designed greens that I have ever seen.

[Kye Goalby]

Annapolis Roads in Maryland- the course was mentioned  here previosly.  

The Banks design  could use a bit of TLC and green expansion, but a lot of the charm comes from its minimal greenskeeping, lack of irrigation and being almost untouched (one green redone) since being built.  It was always my favorite place to play in and around DC.  I had to make a hour and half trip there for one last round the day before moving last summer.

[Joe Hancock]

Shadow Ridge (formerly Ionia CC) in Ionia, MI is a very fun nine hole course. It happens to be for sale too! I take my maintenance crew there for a round (or two or three) every year. It's a fairly intact Ross course.

Joe

[Gerry B]

There is a pretty good 9 hole course on Skyline road in South San Francisco -unfortunately all the holes are Par 3's - but is a great warmup to its sister course(s) across the road -The Olympic Club.

   

[ChipOat]

Some other candidates:

Woodberry Forest School (VA): one of Donald Ross' very earliest (circa 1906); literally built in a cow pasture but really good "inverted saucer" greens.

Hay Harbor Club (Fishers Island, NY): pretty basic but 3 really good holes including the 2nd?? - (arguably) one of the best on the whole island.

Dorset Field Club (VT):  Built a 2nd nine about 5 years ago but the old/new holes are so different that it's like 2 different courses.

[Ken Fry]

Joe Hancock,

Where exactly is Shadow Ridge around Iona?  What details about the course being for sale do you have?

I wouldn't consider our course to be in the company of the others mentioned here, but if anyone does make it to The Dunes Club in New Buffalo, MI (a real treat to play) our course is located 45 minutes east.  A Robert Bruce Harris 9 holer with dual tees and two flags in each green.  Fun little course.  E-mail me if you're in the area and would like to check it out.

[Tom_Doak]

Joe:

My former associate, Tom Mead, was superintendent at Ionia for a couple of years before moving on to Traverse City and then Crystal Downs.  He loved that little course although he said it was quite dangerous in spots because it was so small.

[Jim_Kennedy]

michael j.,
Be honest, you just don't like #9.    George Bahto recently did some fine work on the fairway, from 150 to 100 yds. in.

Raynor's routing at Hotchkiss hasn't changed but yes, building expansion has had an impact, but that has mainly been confined to two holes, the second and fourth.
Originally #2 was a par 4 Leven hole. It was shortened for a gym but still played as a short 4 on the back nine. It was most recently turned into a par 3 due to the building of a new athletic complex.
The fourth was a par 4 with an Eden style green. Dormitories were built along the left side in the late '70s so a new fairway was built to the right of the existing one. We still use that fwy. and George Bahto built a new green for the hole as  building expansion once again claimed the old.
I totally agree about the greens and George has said that the benign neglect shown them was providential. They are a highlight of the course, along with the opportunity to play an Alps, a Short, a Road, amidst beautiful scenery and all in less than 2 hrs for 9 holes.  
Conditioning should improve as we will have an intern from the Stockbridge school helping out this season, hopefully it will become a regular hire.  
 

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