It has taken me a couple of years, but I finally played Seminole this past winter. Very few golf clubs have the reputation that Seminole has and I was very happy to finally play it. A discretely took some pictures.
The Seminole Club House and pebble courtyard.
We all know that Seminole has the best locker room in the world, so the obligatory picture of it below:
I had heard from people that have played Seminole that the locker room is better than the golf course. I would disagree on that. The golf course is spectacular. In particular, the routing was done very effectively by Ross and the greens are world-class. I found that unless you hit to the correct spot on the green, and below the hole, you are in real trouble. Due to the tilted and elevated nature of the greens, a less than ideal shot will roll off into a bunker. The 18th green, is below:
The relatively short par three fifth hole:
Hogan's favorite hole, the sixth, with an elevated green set at an angle to the line of play:
As you can see, the course is not beautiful to look at, it is wide open, it is not lush and the course runs hard and fast. I suspect for some, it is hard to look past these elements and see the genius of the course. My favorite hole was #12, seen below.
It is a moderate length par four that plays downhill. The tricky part is the size of the green (small) and the angle it is set at (diagonal to the fairway). And, like all holes at Seminole, well bunkered around the green.
The fourth hole (below) is the #1 handicap hole and has an oblong crowned green similar to Ross's work at Pinehurst #2.