[Nick Campanelli]

A recent post mentioning The Ranch Golf Club in Southwick, MA got me thinking (not the first time) about this relatively new, high end layout in contrast to Southwick CC, an older, rarely maintained layout that literally sits right across the street.  

I pose the question…what other courses throughout the world share their property lines, but have little else in common?  I am talking drastic contrasts, not simply design philosophies.  I am also not referring to facilities with more than one course.  See below for minor descriptions of each course mentioned above.          

Further, do situations like this usually drive the smaller courses into the ground (a.k.a. the Walmart effect)?  Or does each course draw their own type of repeat player (i.e. high end players at The Ranch and locals at Southwick CC)?  I have been waiting for years for Southwick CC to close as a result of The Ranch’s success, but Southwick CC continues to stay manage, albeit in a lowly state.  

Bing Map Showing Aerials of the two layouts…The Ranch on the West side of Sunnyside Road, Southwick CC on the East…
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=42.08272646328102~-72.77314245700836&lvl=16&sty=h&sp=Point.r0d88s8y23dp_The%20Ranch%20vs%20Southwick%20CC____

The Ranch Golf Club
High end Damian Pascuzzo design from 2001 set amongst the forests, hills, and wetlands of Western MA…and slowly being engulfed by housing developments.  Everything from the routing to conditioning to the clubhouse to was designed and is maintained with great care.  The course is continually ranked among the top public facilities in New England.        
  
More information can be found about the course by scrolling to the bottom of the following link….
http://www.theranchgolfclub.com/about-the-course.php

Southwick Country Club
If ever a golf course shouldn’t have the “Country Club” tag linked to its name, this course is it.  I played three times for High School matches, and felt bad that Windsor Locks, CT High School used this facility as their home course.    

The course was built in 1920 (architect unknown).  The layout is flat, monotonous, and has fallen into decline over the years.  It’s a course that creates little strategy and imagination for those “lucky” enough to play it.  This course lacks the character and quaintness often associated with older layouts that have survived under family or town ownership.

More information….there isn’t much…
http://www.southwickcountryclub.com/course1.htm

[jonathan_becker]

I see what you're saying Nick, but off the top of my head I can't think of any 2 publics right next to one another.  However, I can name 2 instances of a public/private, but that doesn't necessarily answer your "Wal-Mart effect" question because I guess it doesn't apply.  

So, to give you two examples that don't necessarily fit your criteria (sorry  ) are....

-Tartan East GC and The Golf Club (divided by a road, but you can't see either course from one another)
-Oak Brook and Butler (which are on the same piece of land and the parking lots run into one another)

[John Moore II]

Well, this can be seen a few times in Pinehurst. The Pit abutts the property with both CCNC and Pinehurst Resort. The Pit falls well short of any of those layouts.

[Doug Ralston]

What about two on the same site, like Marquette v Greywalls? Huge contrast in feature.  How has Marquette's traffic varied since Greywalls was added.

Doug

[Bill_McBride]

For the Chicago guys, what is the public course across the fence from Butler?  I've played the public several times, never Butler.  I guess that would be quite a contrast.

Oakbrook something?

[Anthony Fowler]

Nick, what about Putterham Meadows literally across the fence from The Country Club?  Putterham is a fun little course (with serious maintenance problems), but it sure is depressing to look over at TCC.  I can't image that the members at TCC are as bothered by the relationship as the locals playing Putterham, but who knows.

[Nick Campanelli]

Anthony, That combo actually crossed my mind, but I felt The Ranch / Southwick CC would be a better example for starting this thread.

[jonathan_becker]

For the Chicago guys, what is the public course across the fence from Butler?  I've played the public several times, never Butler.  I guess that would be quite a contrast.

Oakbrook something?

Bill,

Look at the first reply....

[Bill_McBride]

For the Chicago guys, what is the public course across the fence from Butler?  I've played the public several times, never Butler.  I guess that would be quite a contrast.

Oakbrook something?

Bill,

Look at the first reply....

Missed that, Jonathan!  But glad to see we were on the same wave length.

I'm going to make a wild guess that Butler is a whole lot more strenuous and demanding.......

[Nick Campanelli]

Bill / Jonathan, is that 4 consecutive holes with near 90degree doglegs on the northern portion of Oakbrook?...and one for good measure on the southern part of the property?

[Anthony Fowler]

That's pretty funny looking at the layout of Butler and Oakbrook.  It appears that another 90 degree dogleg is there to accommodate Butler's driving range; ouch!  Butler looks like it has a pretty cool practice facility by the way.   

[Matthew Rose]

Augusta CC and Augusta National comes immediately to mind, although both are obviously private. But I guess if you want to talk about a golf club living in the shadow of another, well, there may not be a more textbook example.

Some of the private clubs in Melbourne have public courses which butt up against them. I know Royal Melbourne does, and Victoria GC might as well. Plus I think Huntingdale and Metropolitan actually border against each other, if I'm not mistaken.

[CJ Carder]

This might be stretching it a little, but Anthony took my idea of Putterham and TCC so I'm going to offer up Robert Trent Jones GC and Stonewall GC in Northern Virginia.  The entrances to each club are about a mile apart but the courses themselves are largely separated by a small finger of Lake Manassas.  On the west side you have Stonewall, a reasonable public course that was originally built with next to no houses but now seems crammed in to a neighborhood.  Even the neighborhood seems tightly laid out.  Next door, on the east side of the Lake, you have RTJ, one of the higher-end, well respected clubs in DC that has hosted 3 or 4 President's Cups.  You can see RTJ from the 14th green at Stonewall but that's really about it.  To me, the use of land on each side of the water is intriguing.  However, I imagine it should be noted that RTJ was there for quite some time before Stonewall - I think Stonewall only opened in 2002 or 2003.

[Peter Ferlicca]

A pretty big contrast between Essex County Country Club and Francis Byrne Golf Course which sit right next to each other.  One is a REALLY nice Seth Raynor, Tilly, Banks private country club, and then Francis Byrne was designed by Charles Banks but has become a run down muni.

[jonathan_becker]

Bill / Jonathan, is that 4 consecutive holes with near 90degree doglegs on the northern portion of Oakbrook?...and one for good measure on the southern part of the property?

Nick,

I went to the range about 20 times at Oak Brook but never played it.  I believe you are correct with your dogleg assumptions.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Worthing (private) and Hill Barn (public) adjoin and both seem to flourish. Royal Liverpool and Hoylake Municipal are separated by a road. Again, both appear to be flourishing.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill / Jonathan, is that 4 consecutive holes with near 90degree doglegs on the northern portion of Oakbrook?...and one for good measure on the southern part of the property?

Nick,

I went to the range about 20 times at Oak Brook but never played it.  I believe you are correct with your dogleg assumptions.

There's a good sized lake in the middle of Oak Brook, with several holes playing around it counter clockwise.

[Mark Pearce]

Moor Park (Private) and Rickmansworth (municipal) adjoin on a few holes and share common access.  BOth are doing fine, so far as I know.  Gullane 2 and 3 live fine side by side with Gullane 1 and Luffness New (I don't know what the connection between the Gullane club and Nos 2 and 3 is, I must admit).  I haven't played The Renaissance Club but I imagine there's a fair contrast to Muirfield.  I'm not sure RC has much effect on Muirfield but I guess proximity to Muirfield helps sell RC.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I think it more likely in the UK that the inexpensive pay-and-play courses are damaging the private members' clubs rather than up-market clubs making it hard for the municipals and pay-and-plays. Many city clubs are finding it difficult to recruit members and have had to drop joining fees. many members are leaving because they do not want to pay £1,000 a year for membership at a course they perhaps don't play more than ten times a year. Even though the maintenance standards at the pay-and-plays is not generally high, it doesn't seem to put off the ex-private members.88

[Rory Connaughton]

Oakmont and Oakmont East (is it even open anymore?).

[Mike Cirba]

In the Philadelphia area, abutting courses include;

Cobb's Creek and McCall Field (this is actually a 54-hole deal as the Cobb's complex also has the 18-hole Karakung course)

Manufacturers & Lulu   (not sure if they actually touch, but they are a chip shot apart)

Rich Maiden & Pleasant Hill (perhaps Kelly Moran has played?) in Fleetwood north of the city about an hour.

[Matt_Davenport]

Mike,
Oh Pennsylvania doyen... Yes Manny's and Lulu are only separated by a road.
But how about a modern spin of two PA tracks, Whitetail and Southmoore, both located in Bath. Two courses couldn't be more inherently different in their features while being designed by the same person, Jim Blaukovitch. Whitetail was first out of the blocks with an ownership group which had an earthmover as a principal partner. It was the earthmovers personnel who constructed the course which has extremely mild features (imagine that, a grader operator is pushing the limits at 3 ). At some point in the planning process, one of the ownership group gets peeved and decides to develop another course on an opposing ridge within view of Whitetail. So Southmoore is fast-tracked from the start and a golf course Contractor is awarded the project with bonus incentives for time of completion. The features on Southmoore are Whitetail on steroids. Two totally different courses by the same architect due to two totally different construction crews.

[Mike Cirba]

Matt,

Forgot about those two courses!

Thanks for the inside skinny on their genesis.

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