Best school-owned (NOT college) course

[Jim_Kennedy]

Brad,
Aw Geez, nothing is ever free. At least wait until late May when the snow melts.  

Seriously, call me anytime after the 15th of April.

[Craig_Rokke]

I'd be surprised if there are many out there that better the
Course at Glen Mills. I know at least one publication regards it as the best public course option in PA. The front nine in particular is quite good, with the back nine being solid, but
more limited by the land constraints.

They had a second course planned a few years back, but I don't believe anything has gotten underway with that yet.

[ChipOat]

Dan Callahan:

Woddberry Forest's Donald Ross course is very much intact and essentially unchanged since it's circa 1906 genesis excepting some new tee boxes.

THE critical part of that is the saucer greens.  While the routing is, literally, in a former cow pasture (and next to a current one), the greens are authentic mini-Pinehurst.  I've not played Hotchkiss post-Bahto (although I did stop by to meet Jim), but Woodberry's 9 holer is the real deal and way better than the pre-Bahto Hotchkiss of my youth.  The conditioning is about what you'd expect from a prep school budget augmented by member activity (Hotchkiss, too), but the Donald Ross Society has authenticated the course as having grass greens before Pinehurst did.

Like Hotchkiss, I'd sure make it my business to play it if I was nearby.

[Ronald Montesano]

Resurrection Sunday for this thread.

Looks like I'll be at Taft for a week in June, for an AP workshop. Anyone have info on the Watertown GC/Taft School course? Any other courses in that Central-West area of CT worth checking out?

[Jim_Kennedy]

Watertown GC will be in excellent condition, as usual. The original 9 was built in 1915, Geoffrey Cornish built what's there today back in 1970.   

All within 30 minutes of Taft:
 
Best in the area:  Waterbury CC (Ross), Waterbury, Ct.- south of Taft 

Fun 9 holes, and very old: Litchfield CC (possibly Bendelow) - Litchfield Ct. - north of Taft

Very good, very fast greens:  CC of Torrington (O.E.Smith) -  Goshen Ct.- north of Taft

....and you're welcome to stop up if it works for you.

[Jay Flemma]

Sadly, when I was at Deerfield, we had to play out of Crumpin-fox...the back nine (which was the only nine when I was there.

It was about as unplayable a golf course as I've ever seen.

[Travis Dewire]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=lakeville,+ct&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Lakeville,+CT&gl=us&ei=qRuyTffANsXf0QHHlc3ZBg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q8gEwAA

not sure if this is zoomed in or not....what a place !!!

[astavrides]

Sadly, when I was at Deerfield, we had to play out of Crumpin-fox...the back nine (which was the only nine when I was there.

It was about as unplayable a golf course as I've ever seen.

Has it changed since then?  It's highly rated.  I played there once, 5 years ago and i thought it was good.

[astavrides]

I think Millbrook school in NY has a course.  I haven't played it.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Millbrook School plays at Millbrook CC, but the club is a separate entity that's about 8 miles or so from the campus.

[David Lott]

Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh has a common border with both Fox Chapel and Pittsburgh Field Club. Does that count? When I graduated from Shady Side in 1961, there were the rough remnants of the school's old 9 hole course, which they mowed but nothing else. Our golf team practiced there. I seem to remember hearing that the SSA golf team now gets to practice at Fox Chapel and PFC. Back in the day, matches were played at Fox Chapel, Field Club and Oakmont, among others.

[V. Kmetz]

Jim, Brad K,:

Building on what you fellows posted, Hotchkiss is a treat.  Litchfield is a pleasant go and Torrington is a newer find (for me) that re-invigorated my exploratory tendencies.

One other:  I think Trinity-Pawling plays at nearby 9-holer Harlem Valley, which is an arcane and fun bit of hilly wildness heavy on antique charm and ridiculous features. 

Most course near former mental institutions (as HV is) end up being pretty good.  Funny that.

I think there is a plan underway to have HV come under the Marriott umbrella as a conference retreat, be expanded to 18 holes and, most likely, utter ruin of what is there.  Cheap as hell too!  Play it quick, before it goes!

cheers

vk

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

I am also a New England Prep school degenerate out of the Kent School in Connecticut.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe Charlie Banks was a professor at Hotchkiss when Macdonald and Raynor came to the campus to engineer a nine hole course for the school. Banks became enamoured with golf course architecture as an observer and left academia forever to join up with them.

The rest is History.

Also, I live in Princeton and can say without hesitation that the Lawrenceville School golf course is not worth a deviation. to play. Blah!

[V. Kmetz]

MMK,

That is the Banks story as I know it.  I did not know that CBM was part of this engagement, I thought it was only Raynor - but I am not sure.

cheers

vk

[Bill Hyde]

I played a lot of these courses while I went to Canterbury. Hotchkiss was not a highlight of the golf season for us...lineage or not, it was terribly short and in lousy shape. Taft's course was one of the better ones - quite a bit of elevation change at Watertown and in good condition. Berkshire played out of Wyantenuck Country Club, a Banks course that was always fun to visit. Hopkins played out of some course in New Haven, it was really hilly, full of blind shots and had this funky 9th green...oh yeah, Yale! At that time, Yale was in dismal shape...Van Cortlandt Park dismal...really bad. Trinity Pawling played out of Quaker Hill in Pawling, a fun 9-holer. Avon played out of Tunxis Plantation, a public track in Hartford which held the big year-end tournament which I actually won my junior year. Other courses we played were Lake Waramaug, Hopmeadow, Wallingford and others. Litchfield is not school-owned, I don't think it ever was. I played the member-guest there a bunch of years and it is the quintessential New England 9-holer. Small, unpretentious, fun and full of people from those with money who don't flaunt it all the way down to the local teachers, tradesman and others. Southeast New England may not be golf-rich, but it is a beautiful part of the world with a lot of quirky little courses.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Bill,

Hotchkiss isn't long, but it's just about the same yardage as Quaker and Waramaug, slightly longer than Litchfield, slightly shorter than Watertown's back nine, and we do have 3 par 3s.

Robert Pryde is credited w/Wyantenuck, Banks did some remodel work there (3 holes).

I don't know when you played for Canterbury, sounds like the mid or late 80s from your Yale comment,  but the course has improved steadily over the past 15 years.

Southwestern New England is a beautiful part of the world and it does have a lot of quirky little courses to play.

[Bill Hyde]

Jim, I am sure that today I would love Hotchkiss. Back then, we wanted longer (or more scenic) courses given that our home track - Candlewood - was the biggest dump on the circuit. Plus, I think we all just looked at the Hotchkiss girls and campus with a lot of jealousy and didn't pay much attention to the golf. It really is a spectacular school, I wish I could afford to send my kids there! I did graduate in '85 and I yearn to play Yale in its current state, but it's not very convenient to Detroit!

[Dan_Callahan]

Although not school-owned, the school with the best home course has got to be Pingree, which plays out of Myopia Hunt Club.

[Jud_T]

Hotchkiss is a fun old-school track.  Used to play there when we had a place in the area...I'd recommend it to anyone here as much for it's history and uniqueness as anything...

[Rory Connaughton]

I believe Brookside CC in Pottstown, PA is owned, at least in part, by The Hill School.

[Tim Martin]

Watertown GC will be in excellent condition, as usual. The original 9 was built in 1915, Geoffrey Cornish built what's there today back in 1970.  

All within 30 minutes of Taft:
 
Best in the area:  Waterbury CC (Ross), Waterbury, Ct.- south of Taft  

Fun 9 holes, and very old: Litchfield CC (possibly Bendelow) - Litchfield Ct. - north of Taft

Very good, very fast greens:  CC of Torrington (O.E.Smith) -  Goshen Ct.- north of Taft

....and you're welcome to stop up if it works for you.

Jim- Highfield Club is a 9 holer in Middlebury(O.E. Smith). Although there are only 9 greens they use different tees to mix up the inward nine. Very good course that you can`t find without an indian guide. The White Deer Rock Land Trust owns over 600 acres of land yet it was never expanded to 18 holes.

[Tim Gavrich]

I'm amused that this thread has come back up!

How is the golf course at the Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey?

[Kevin Jackson]

My best friend went to the Peddie School. I'll ask him more about the course specifics, but he has mentioned several times how great it was to finish classes in the afternoon, walk over and play until dark.  Sounds as close to perfect a school experience can get.

[Travis Dewire]

i love this thread!

[Carl Johnson]

I haven't played there but The Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ has a 18 hole course. www.peddie.org/community/golf/

I wouldn't call Glen Mills School a prep school but the course is an excellent public course with a good program for the students to work there.

Glen Mills School is what one used to call a "reform school," and later a "juvenile correction facility."  Today it describes itself as "the oldest [1826] existing residential school for court referred young men in the country" and as "a private, residential school for court adjudicated male delinquents between 15 and 18 years of age."  My understanding is that the school was founded by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), but is now independent.

The golf course is used for training in maintenance and so on for the "students."  The school also participates in sports against other schools and fields a golf team in the fall.  Otherwise, I'm not sure how much other students use the course.  I played the course about six years ago and it is a fairly nice public course.  I also understand that the guards no longer carry guns, unlike in the 1950s when I played basketball there (on a visiting, for the afternoon, team).