Moraine CC - photo tour

[John Mayhugh]

Recently, Bill Steele & I played Moraine County Club in Kettering OH (near Dayton).  Moraine opened in 1930 and hosted the 1945 PGA Championship, won by Byron Nelson.  The course was designed by Alex “Nipper” Campbell.  Dick Wilson made alterations in the early 50s when he was building Moraine’s neighbor, NCR. 

Cornish & Whitten credit Campbell with over 30 designs, but Moraine is the only course that they list.  “Nipper” was a native of Scotland and came over to the US to be the professional at The Country Club in Brookline, where he is credited with having “discovered” Francis Ouimet.  His nickname supposedly came from a fondness for a “nip” or two of whisky to get his day started.    According to Labbance’s “The Old Man,” Campbell was the original choice to design Cape Arundel, but when he didn’t show up, Walter Travis was hired instead. 

Campbell was brought to Dayton by Ohio’s governor to serve as professional at Miami Valley.  After Moraine opened, Campbell served as the club’s professional until his death in 1942.  There were supposedly very few trees on the interior of the course when it opened, but over the years it sounds as though the trees and brush took over the corridors between holes.

In 2006, Moraine hired Jason Mahl, who was the first assistant superintendent at Pine Valley.  Mahl convinced the club to hire Keith Foster to develop a master plan.  Over the past few years, the maintenance staff has worked to remove trees and brush growth to open the course up.  Thus far, they have not actively implemented the rest of the master plan, which is described on Foster’s website: elements will include tree removal, green pad work, drainage, bunker, and tee programs. 

On to the course:
Hole 1 – par 4.  401/376
The first tee shot is pretty straightforward.  The fairway is 35-40 yards wide, with still more room between the trees so there is plenty of landing area (though still not enough for me).


Beginning around 260 yards from the tee, the fairway starts to be more rumpled. 




The first green is one of the most difficult ones.  There is a pretty significant back to front slope, and being above the hole is is a good way to start out with a three-putt.  This photo from the second tee does not do the slope justice.  Also, note the drop-off on the left side of the green – most greens have something similar on at least one side.



Hole 2 – par 3.  224/204
The green on the second hole also slopes from front to back.  It is also tilted from right to left, which is confusing as the fairway goes the other way.







Hole 3 – par 4.  419/365
I thought the tee shot on the third was a comfortable one.  The fairway slopes from left to right, with enough slope that the OOB did not concern me. 


The original third tee was recognizable behind the second green.  Both the tee and green for this hole have been moved to the right.


An uphill approach that is pinched in by bunkers in the front.


From the fourth tee.

[Phil McDade]

John:

Hope you post more. Although I have never played it, Moraine has always seemed a somewhat "obscure" course well-known among folks really interested in golf architecture. Heard good things about it from friends living in the area.

[Mike H]

I would like to hear what your impressions of Moraine CC are.  I am a member of NCR did you have a chance to play there also?

[John Mayhugh]

Phil,
I will post all 18 holes, but generally just do three at a time.  That's partly to allow discussion and partly due to laziness.

Mike,
The closest I got to NCR was looking at the tee shot on the third hole (which is behind the par 3 5th at Moraine).  I should have planned better, but I figured walking 18 was enough in July - who knew how nice the weather would be?  Will share my thoughts on Moraine after I've posted all the holes.

[Richard Hetzel]

John,

Moraine looks great. Was it playing as fast and firm a it looks in the pictures?

Rich

[JLahrman]

Here are pics I posted two years ago:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,34421.msg691560/

One big change is that when I posted those pictures, the club had just cleared out a lot of the undergrowth that had produced a very cloistered look and feel to the course, and gave many of the shots a hallway aspect.  The bare patches were playing as ground under repair.  Looks like the areas have grown in quite a bit.  John, I will be interested to hear your review of the course.

I've played Moraine several times, only managed to play NCR South once.  It was in an event where the tees were all the way back, you have to bring your game to play the course when it's set up that way (I didn't bring my game, by the way).  I enjoy both courses quite a bit, and both deserve more attention than they receive.  NCR is a very big test.  Moraine has its challenges for sure, but is a little easier to manage.  Impossible not to compare the two as they are literally right next door to each other.

[David Royer]

I played Moraine for the first time about ten days ago. I was very impressed with course since the tree removal program.  I found the course to be interesting with great flow.  The course seems to flow nicely from one hole to the next.  The use of the long fescue allows you to enjoy the beauty of the course throughout the walk. I've played it's neighbor NCR South a few times.  NCR is a wonderful big test.  Moraine is much more than just the next door neighbor. 

[John Mayhugh]

Was it playing as fast and firm a it looks in the pictures?

Fairways were firm enough that you could play shots on the ground.  Greens were not soft but receptive. 

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 4 – par 5.  529/513
The tee shot on the fourth is a tough one to figure out.  From the white tees, it’s about 250 yards to the top of the hill.  The fairway is only about 20 yards wide at the top of the hill. 


From the fairway.  This won’t be the last blind shot on the course.


This is from the top of the hill looking back towards the tee.


The green is barely visible from the fairway after a layup.  The land movement provides a lot of interesting lies at Moraine.  The approach feels pretty narrow between the trees.


A bunkerless green, well suited for a run-up approach.  The large flag is located at NCR, Moraine’s neighbor.





Hole 5 – par 3.  155/142
This has to be one of the most photographed holes on the course.  I like this sort of island green.









Hole 6 – par 4.  358/324
After the fifth, the routing turns and heads back down towards the clubhouse.  The bunker on the left is about 220 yards off the tee.


Uphill approach, with deep bunkers on both sides of the green.  I visited both of them.

[JLahrman]

Good pics John.  On the tee shot at #4, I can't tell if you mean "tough one to figure out" in a positive or negative way.  Personally it is my least favorite tee shot on the course.  I don't mind a par 5 that makes the player wonder if shelving the driver is the right play, but there is very little reason to consider hitting a shot of more than about 220 yards.

I do agree with you on 5, I love the island aspect of that green.

Will be interested to see your take on #7, another short par 4.  #6 and #7 individually are decent holes, but having two holes of less than 350 yards back to back makes it a bit of a weak spot on the course to me.

[John Mayhugh]

Good pics John.  On the tee shot at #4, I can't tell if you mean "tough one to figure out" in a positive or negative way.  Personally it is my least favorite tee shot on the course.  I don't mind a par 5 that makes the player wonder if shelving the driver is the right play, but there is very little reason to consider hitting a shot of more than about 220 yards.

I do agree with you on 5, I love the island aspect of that green.

Will be interested to see your take on #7, another short par 4.  #6 and #7 individually are decent holes, but having two holes of less than 350 yards back to back makes it a bit of a weak spot on the course to me.

Tough to figure out in a decision making way. I think the natural inclination is to get it as close to the opening at the top as possible, but if the ball stays up on the fairway (doesn't run back down the hill) then the lie you end up with might be a tough one. 

I didn't mind the back to back short par 4s as they played differently.

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 7 – par 4.  329/316
Another short par 4.  Unlike the 6th, this one plays downhill and seems like it could be reachable, though not for me.  The fairway also slopes from left to right. 


Position off the tee is important, as the approach is a tough one.  Uphill to a plateau green with deep bunkers on each side. 




There is enough movement short of the green to make it tough to run a tee shot up onto the surface.  This green is also pitched from back to front and left to right. 







Hole 8 – par 5.  642/547
I was tempted to walk back and check out the back tee, but didn’t want to walk that far.  Nearly 100 yards difference on this hole. The tee shot isn’t one of the more compelling ones on the course.  A little bit of left to right slope in the fairway, but this one lacks movement for the most part off the tee.


There is enough rise in the fairway to hide the green for the second shot.




The green is fairly well protected.  Difficult to run the ball up if you can’t work it right to left.  I failed to take a photo from up close, but this green is somewhat different from the others as it has two distinct levels.



Hole 9 – par 4.  465/420
This fairway seems to slope a little right to left.  Interesting how holes 7-9 are all going back north, but the slope of the fairways varies direction from the previous hole.

[JLahrman]

Long hitters can definitely take a hack at #7 if they like, but it's a tough target to hit.  The greenside bunkers aren't the worst place to be, but the easiest up and down is short of the green.

642 for #8? When did they put that in?  I'd guess just recently, but with that much of a gap in yardages I suppose that tee could just sit back there and people might not even notice.

[Jin Kim]

Thanks for this.  After graduating from college in 1991, I and a couple of fraternity brothers went on a road trip and stopped by in Dayton along the way to visit the parents of one of them and they belonged to Moraine.  It was the first private club I ever played on and I was mesmerized by the carpet like fairways.  May have been my first experience with bent grass.

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 10 – par 4.  448/437
The land for the next few holes has much less movement than on the previous holes, and the holes are not quite as interesting.  The tee shot on the tenth is a tough one due to the length of the hole and the need to carry a hazard with your second shot. 


If you find the fairway off the tee, it shouldn’t be too tough to avoid the hazard.  It’s probably 370 yards from the tee to the opposite side.



The bunkerless green makes a run-up shot possible.  Quite a bit of tilt from right to left.  I really liked the short grass on the right side of the green (sorry for the lousy photo). 





Hole 11 – par 4.  436/393
The tee shot here is not quite as narrow as it looks.  The tree on the right that leans in is a bit intimidating.


This photo is from the center of the fairway.  A tee shot up the left side (avoiding the leaning tree off the tee) may leave you with a second that also has to contend with trees on the line of play.





Hole 12 – par 3.  232/221
The green and the tee are at pretty much the same level, with the green protected by two bunkers to the front/side.  The green sets in something of a bowl.




I thought these three holes were some of the weakest on the course.  It sounds as though these fairways had been flattened some over the years, and the lack of movement affects the level of interest the holes provide.  The holes to come make up for that!

[JLahrman]

John, I agree with your characterization of the land in this part of the course being flatter which lends itself to less interesting holes, but I really like 10.  I think the shallow trough around the green really makes the approach interesting.  I agree that 11 is not a strong hole.  12 is at least a demanding par 3 at its length, and I do like the bowl shaped green.

13 - 15 is the highlight of the course to me, looking forward to those.

[Billsteele]

When John and I played Moraine, neither one of us were a big fan of Number 10. However, for me, that might have been a function of two things. First, playing it poorly after a decent tee shot. Second, that it was our starting hole because a group of women were on the front nine when we began. Since the round, I have thought quite a bit about the hole and it may be one of the most challenging tee shots on the course. You really have to challenge the bunkers on the right to have a proper angle into the green. Also, the tree just inside the left rough (prominent in John's second photo) is really a "tree with a purpose" (a Mayhughism) in that it can impede a tee shot played too short or too far left. A well placed tee shot is rewarded (in theory) with the opportunity to swing away with no bunkers complicating the approach. After giving it some thought, to me, it is the best hole in the sequence of 10-12 (the flatter, less interesting portion of the course). The only interesting feature on Number 11 is the false front protecting the green. Number 12 is just a brutish par three. When played out of sequence, the revelation of seeing the tee for Number 13 and the dramatic shift in the character of the land from that point on is rather stunning.

[JC Jones]

When John and I played Moraine, neither one of us were a big fan of Number 10. However, for me, that might have been a function of two things. First, playing it poorly after a decent tee shot. Second, that it was our starting hole because a group of women were on the front nine when we began. Since the round, I have thought quite a bit about the hole and it may be one of the most challenging tee shots on the course. You really have to challenge the bunkers on the right to have a proper angle into the green. Also, the tree just inside the left rough (prominent in John's second photo) is really a "tree with a purpose" (a Mayhughism) in that it can impede a tee shot played too short or too far left. A well placed tee shot is rewarded (in theory) with the opportunity to swing away with no bunkers complicating the approach. After giving it some thought, to me, it is the best hole in the sequence of 10-12 (the flatter, less interesting portion of the course). The only interesting feature on Number 11 is the false front protecting the green. Number 12 is just a brutish par three. When played out of sequence, the revelation of seeing the tee for Number 13 and the dramatic shift in the character of the land from that point on is rather stunning.

Bill,

Has Mayhugh really reached the status where we can start attributing him with "ism's"?

[John Mayhugh]

Hole 13 – par 5.  562/541
The 13th is pretty much a straight hole, but the feeling from the tee is of a dogleg to the right. It really doesn’t make sense to hug the tree line on the right side, especially with the bunker on the right about 230 yards away.


The green is not visible for your second shot.  The last of the bunkers on the left is around 400 yards from the tee, so if the tee shot wasn’t solid these can be very much in play for your next shot, especially with the right to left slope of the fairway.  Note the way the fairway rises around the second bunker, increasing the chances of having a long approach shot.




Deep bunker on the right side of the green.  A safe play left could leave you with a difficult recovery as the green slopes quite a bit from left to right.




From behind the green.



Hole 14 – par 4.  451/402
The 14th offers one of the most intimidating tee shots at Moraine.  The fairway heaves and rolls and there are bunkers on each side.  From the whites, it’s about 220 yards to get past the bunker on the left and 240 to pass the one on the right. 


The approach shot is all uphill, with the approx 4000 square foot green appearing as a very tiny target.




From behind the green.  Very tough recovery if you miss long or right.  I really liked this green site.



Hole 15 – par 3.  160/143
Somehow I ended up without a photo from the white tee.  The first photo was taken from the back tee.  Another wonderfully located green.


The regular tee is to the right and lower than the back tee. This photo (borrowed from Moraine’s website) was taken from the white tee, where the hole plays uphill.  You can also see some of the improvement made by tree removal.



The green is surrounded by bunkers that are spaced to provide few safe plays.  Short left is about it. 

[Phil McDade]

John/Bill:

Nice work on the photos and commentary. Question: would the backside of the 14th green -- and thus the hole -- be enhanced if that was mown to fairway heighth? Looks like the rough actually helps the wayward player, as it seems a recovery shot from down below, as you mention, would be difficult.

[Michael Taylor]

That's exactly what I was thinking Phil.

Great minds..

[JLahrman]

It might, although the 14th is already the toughest hole hole on the course.  Balls will run down the slope in front of the green, you can see the bunker short right, and the left leaves a downhill chip.  With the approach being 200 yards uphill, I'm not sure the greensite needs to be more protected, also just not sure that a lot of balls are going long on that green.  It would only serve to make a pitch from short of the green more difficult.

[Phil McDade]

"It would only serve to make a pitch from short of the green more difficult."

One of the reasons I thought it should be mown. If it's unlikely on a long uphill par 4 that the better player won't be long with the approach, why not keep the toughness intact for the marginal player, who may very well attack the hole as a three-shot par 4 that he hopes to chip and putt his way to a hard-par/easy bogey? If this -- as it appears -- is one of Moraine's tough par 4s, why not make it that way for all range of players?

[John Mayhugh]

The recovery might actually be easier if the back/right of the 14th green were mowed more closely.  Then there would be the added options of putting back up the slope or bumping a chip into the bank. 

I think it works ok as-is.  I was over this green and wasn't exactly rejoicing at the easy pitch shot.

[Mike Hendren]

I believe it was Gib who years ago commented that "a golf course doesn't need to be any better than this" when discussing a particular course.

Based on these photographs, I'd say his wisdom applies to Moraine as well.  

Artisan bread and home-churned butter.

Mike