As I have a 15 year old that is a freshman in high school and he will soon enough be off to college, we scheduled a “Sports Tour” of the Southeast on our way to Disney for the holidays. The first part of the trip started in Bethesda, MD outside of Washington where Dylan has a junior squash tournament. No golf in DC but the previously mentioned Georgetown Prep Golf Course was observed between matches:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46818.0.htmlNext we were off to Charleston, SC and Dylan took the lead here too as squash at the Charleston Squash Club. GCA logo approval was granted:
If you like architecture, see Chip’s thread on the Charleston courses:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46634.0.htmlor take a walk along the waterfront of Charleston:
Finally the golf portion of the trip started and it was on to Chechessee Creek Club located between Charleston and Hilton Head. Chechessee was the perfect type of course to start a father and son trip, especially when you have a son that can hit the ball but he can get a little wild and scoring is still tough. We took a caddy which also took some of the pressure off of Dad as the caddy (an LSU fan in South Carolina!) could focus on Dylan. Much has been stated about the charm of CCC and this thread best describes the club and course:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,43348.0.htmlIt was a great day at CCC.
Next it was the ultimate in contrast. We went from the quiet low country features of Coore and Crenshaw at CCC to the built-up manufactured architecture of TPC Sawgrass. Again rather than recreate the views that have been stated here about TPC Sawgrass:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,42215.0.htmlI will focus on the Father-Son aspect of the experience. TPC Sawgrass is a real show from start to finish. We stayed at the Marriott on property and the sporting aspect started with a 8 ball competition on the pool table at the tap room style restaurant. The staff is very nice and all were very gracious to us. After grabbing Starbucks in the morning before head to the course (no Starbucks for miles around CCC!) it was off to the monstrous clubhouse of TPC Sawgrass to check in:
Again, the staff at TPC Sawgrass is very nice. We checked in and headed to the practice tee for an 8:10 AM tee time. Again the contrast is remarkable as we had no tee time at Chechessee, our member host simply told the club we would be there “around 9:00 AM”. I arranged for a fore-caddy as I wanted to try and play the course while the caddy focused on Dylan. We hit balls and as the first group of the day was late, we teamed up with a twosome of local golfers that had played the course before and were good golfers.
First hole, 3 wood, 7 iron, from the white tees, and two putts! What is the big deal?? Well as many know, the course plays tough in benign conditions, but in 20+ mph winds, TPC Sawgrass is a real bear from any tees. I have never been a big Pete Dye fan but I kept an open mind. However, the playing experience is just not a great one. Even with a great caddy and two pretty good playing partners, it is just a very hard course to get into a rhythm for with dad or son. Cart paths only in the winter make for awkward exchanges and there is always one player that is “out of play” looking for a ball, especially in the wind that we experience. Side hill lies to a green going away from you towards water just gets to be too much after time for both of us.
However, Dylan loved the course! At the end of the day, he loved playing a “famous course” as he recognized the obvious holes from TV. He had the right attitude for the day and was just trying to make shots rather than make a score. TPC Sawgrass is sort of like a Disney theme park for me. Not my first choice but the kids love it so I was glad we did it once. At this time of year it was $225 per person which included the caddy fee but not his tip. Pebble Beach was more expensive, but I felt it had better “experience value” for me when I walked off the course.
Okay, onto the 17th hole. It a nutshell, the wind was whipping from right to left by this time and it was a really tough shot. I missed two, and Dylan got his third on the green. The other two players fared similarly.
The clubhouse is a pile of TPC Tour and Players Tournament displays. My son loved seeing the winners clubs that were on display.
Courses to follow:
The New at Grand Cypress
Sugarloaf Mountain
Palmetto Golf Club