Belle Meade - Nashville

[Matt Ingraham]

Belle Meade CC in Nashville came up today during a discussion at lunch.  It is my understanding that it is very exclusive and it may or may not have discriminatory policies in place when it comes to admitting new members.  Its exclusivity is now causing problems for its members who are judges, public officials, ect.

I have not been able to find out very much about the golf course online, other than it is a Donald Ross design.  Does anyone know anything about the golf course?  If it is an amazing course it would take a lot of public scorn for me to resign my membership.  For instance, I doubt very many ANGC members resigned their memberships as a result of the Martha Burk matter.   

[JMEvensky]

Belle Meade CC in Nashville came up today during a discussion at lunch.  It is my understanding that it is very exclusive and it may or may not have discriminatory policies in place when it comes to admitting new members.  Its exclusivity is now causing problems for its members who are judges, public officials, ect.

I have not been able to find out very much about the golf course online, other than it is a Donald Ross design.  Does anyone know anything about the golf course?  If it is an amazing course it would take a lot of public scorn for me to resign my membership.  For instance, I doubt very many ANGC members resigned their memberships as a result of the Martha Burk matter.   

When you become a member of Belle Meade,or ANGC,perhaps you can help them fix all the things they're doing wrong.

[Mike Hendren]

Redesigns:

Robert Trent Jones, Sr. 1951
Gary Roger Baird 1980
Rees Jones  2004 including re-routing the 3rd, 6th and 7th.

Bogey

[Howard Riefs]

The course:

http://www.elitegolfcourses.com/bellemeade/


The judge's issues:
"The Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville has about 600 voting members. None of them are women, and none of them are black. But one of them is a federal judge. In a confidential 10-to-8 decision last month, the Judicial Council of the Sixth Circuit, which hears misconduct complaints about federal judges in Tennessee and three other states, said the judge could keep his membership at Belle Meade."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/us/17bar.html
 

[Sven Nilsen]

Matt:

My grad school roommate grew up playing at Belle Meade and I had the chance to play it a couple of times while living in Nashville.  Its a pretty fun course with a good mix of holes (some long par 3's, short par 4's, etc.) and is kept in great condition.  I wouldn't describe the property as the best I've seen for golf, but there is a bit of elevation.  On the whole, any up or down movement is pretty gradual.  There are a couple of holes that are across one of the bordering roads, requiring a crossing to get to.  The clubhouse is very old school, with a great men's grill that could cause many a golfer to miss the dinner bell.

Located in the heart of a very old and established neighborhood, its no surprise that the club is considered exclusive.  Its probably had the same family names on its roster since its inception. 

Sven

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

It must not be that exclusive. They let me play there. lol It was in every way an old school exclusive club like one finds in any big city in the United States. Bogey gave the architectural history. Howard gave the recent political history. No one gave the church breakdown of the Membership. That usually is not an issue in the south though. We are too poor to discriminate beyond race. As you can tell by who is winning the Republican primaries in the south, women are still in the maybe citizens or maybe not category in the minds of many.

[Alex Miller]

I enjoyed the Harpeth Hills, the muni down the road. It's laid back, fun, and while not inspiring architecture it uses the land well and was better than the other Nashville munis I played.

[Greg Tallman]

Is Dr. Gray a member at Belle Meade?

[Matt Ingraham]

Matt:

My grad school roommate grew up playing at Belle Meade and I had the chance to play it a couple of times while living in Nashville.  Its a pretty fun course with a good mix of holes (some long par 3's, short par 4's, etc.) and is kept in great condition.  I wouldn't describe the property as the best I've seen for golf, but there is a bit of elevation.  On the whole, any up or down movement is pretty gradual.  There are a couple of holes that are across one of the bordering roads, requiring a crossing to get to.  The clubhouse is very old school, with a great men's grill that could cause many a golfer to miss the dinner bell.

Located in the heart of a very old and established neighborhood, its no surprise that the club is considered exclusive.  Its probably had the same family names on its roster since its inception. 

Sven

Thanks, Sven.  Hearing that a judge got a public reprimanded from the federal judiciary over his membership even after the Sixth Circuit found in his favor piqued my interest in the club and course.   
   

[Sven Nilsen]

Matt:

I did a double take when you started this thread.  The "Ingram" name is just about as old Nashville as it gets.

[Mike Hendren]

Tiger, I'm not sure but I believe you and I are the only Democrats ever invited to Belle Meade.  I still regret I had to bail on you that day.  I won't comment on the club's reputation or perception.  There are four members just down the hall and you couldn't ask for better fellows to golf your ball with.

Bogey

[John_Cullum]

It must not be that exclusive. They let me play there. lol It was in every way an old school exclusive club like one finds in any big city in the United States. Bogey gave the architectural history. Howard gave the recent political history. No one gave the church breakdown of the Membership. That usually is not an issue in the south though. We are too poor to discriminate beyond race. As you can tell by who is winning the Republican primaries in the south, women are still in the maybe citizens or maybe not category in the minds of many.

Because as we all know, there are no "all male"clubs or other discriminatory practices in the lands of the annointed.

[Doug Lindahl]

Matt,
I worked at Belle Meade in 2007 and played it roughly 25 times.   I played most of my rounds in the afternoons with George Creagh who won two Tennesse state amateurs in the 1970's.  Anyway, he is a lifelong member and gave me the impression that he has always wanted to go back to the original Ross course.  If I remember correctly, the original routing crossed the creek on the 3rd hole as did the par three 6th.  I think the changes were made to prevent flooding of those two green sites.  George always talked about how much better those old holes were.
BM has staged several state amateurs and the likes but I would rather play Harpeth Hills if it were maintained in the same manner. BM is a very old school club and I don't think anyone is a member there for the merits of the golf course, with the exception of Mr. Amy Grant.

[Sven Nilsen]

Doug:

Was Brad Fabel still playing out of Belle Meade when you were there?

Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's a link to a fairly comprehensive description of the course, with some pictures:  http://www.elitegolfcourses.com/bellemeade/.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Bogie, I did miss the opportunity to grace Nashville with a day of us being us at Belle Meade. Fortunately we did get to do so at Golf Club of Tennessee. I enjoyed the course as much as one can enjoy one that has several personalities of architecture in one course. It is otherwise the nicest of golf experiences in a most dignified setting. I am pleased to hear that a good Democrat still can walk those hallowed grounds. I am pretty sure the friend and client of yours which I spent the day with was a Democrat as well. He was the best of guys and had worked for a past Governor of Louisiana when he was a Congressman. In the small world of it all I served under him when he was Governor. I need to improve on the health and golf front soon or my nickname may well be Double Bogie. I am sorry to see Belle Meade is struggling with membership issues. Frankly I make light of these things as long as clubs in New York still have membership restrictions as to women(yes they are people), church affiliation and nationality. I am sure there are a few race ones out there but that seems to be a southern thing. Although all the clubs in Louisiana or Texas I have or am a Member of have minority and female members as well as no other restrictions I know of. I frankly would not let anybody who went to the University of Alabama in any club but that is just me.

[Doug Lindahl]

Sven,

No, and I don't recall anyone ever mentioning him playing out of there.