Top 36 hole private clubs

[Mark Chaplin]

Brian - do French clubs do lunch in the style of the classic British clubs?

[Andrew Bertram]

brian

i have experienced many lunch venues you have listed,

RSG and Swinley stand out in my memory

last summer we played paris

fontainebleau provided a wonderful 3 course lunch including wine and was the equal of any i had experienced before

st germain, chantilly and morfontaine had a "bar" menu of varied and typical french fare

siltting on the terrace overlooking the course at either was extremely pleasant

[Sean_A]

I haven't seen many of these 36 hole clubs.  Of what I have seen my favourite for golf has to be Portrush.  The two courses are completely different and both very good to great.

From the house side of things Sunningdale is tough to beat.  I thought it was a far better lunch than I had any other club and the ambience ain't bad either.  Granted, I am not overly keen on the typical nursery food clubs serve so Sunny was a big surprise.  The two courses are great as well.  Not quite to my liking as a 36 hole package as Portrush is, but all in, Sunny is the best I have seen.   


Ciao

[John Ezekowitz]

I'm surprised The Berkshire has only been mentioned for its lunch (which is undeniably outstanding) and not the quality of the Blue and the Red.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Devil's Pulpit and Paintbrush should also enter the conversation - they are both profiled on this site as well.

[Scott Warren]

Any list of top golf course lunches would be England-dominated. Sandwich, Berkshire, Swinley all extremely difficult to challenge. Impossible to challenge, really.

Would the free scones at Royal Melbourne get it into the top 10? Almost, but probably not.

National would get a guernsey thanks to the lobbie, and PV's turtle soup/cheesesteak double is worthy of inclusion.

Riviera - one of maybe three times in my life I have ordered a salad (!), and it was magnificent. From memory it had apple and nuts in it, but it wasn't a Waldorf. I figured I was in California and ordering a salad was the thing to do based on the schooling I had received courtesy of US television shows!

The lunch at Prairie Dunes is certainly elevated by the fact that with judicious table selection you can see both golfers teeing off on #10 AND milfs tanning by the pool while you sit and eat. That's unique in my travels and needs to count for something!

[Mark Chaplin]

Scott a fine choice of eyelines. National is a proper lunch so gets good points. Curry when we played The Country Club was pretty special, our host wanted to give us traditional English food!! He even matched the wines with aplomb.

I'm a big fan of lunch at Rye which like everything there is classically understated. Tandridge is one of the most popular golf day lunches, must get back there sometime.

Whisper Rock has superb food and milkshake to die for.

Lunch at the R&A and kümmels after in the big room is as special as it gets.

Back to the original question The Berkshire has two great courses although there is less love for the Blue course. Best and worst must go to Woodhall Spa!

[Sam Morrow]

I dunno about you guys but If I have 2 great courses on site I'm not worried about lunch, I grab a Coke and some crackers and head to the next course.

[Philip Caccamise]

NCR CC in Dayton, OH has the outstanding South course (parkland) and the very fun North course (links style). Whether it's better than the pair at Olympia Fields, I don't know, but it certainly deserves a mention.

Winged Foot, Bethpage Black/Red, Oak Hill E/W, Baltusrol U/L, Merion E/W, Oakland Hills N/S, LACC N/S are definites in my opinion.

[Scott Warren]

Sam,

I dunno about you guys but If I have 2 great courses on site I'm not worried about lunch, I grab a Coke and some crackers and head to the next course.

With plenty of sunlight hours in the English summer and rounds taking 3.5hrs or less at the good clubs, you can easily play 36 and enjoy a decent lunch without running out of light.

[Bob_Huntley]

Bill Vogey started a very good thread on the best 36 golf holes of any one club. I thought it might have something to do with the caliber of the courses in general and not whether it deserved a Michelin three star rating for the cuisine.

Do we always have to highjack a very interesting thread?

Bob

[Kenny Baer]

MPCC is as good as I have ever seen. I am surprised there hasn't been more mention of it. Everyone here talks up the Shore and rightfully so but the Dunes is very very good as well. Tough to beat a 36 hole day at MPCC.

[Tim Leahy]

How about Olympic Club Lake and Ocean with a burgerdog in between? Add the warm up course on the cliffs and that is hard to beat.

[Brett_Morrissy]

where is the 'like' button on this DG ?

[David_Elvins]

Anyway, I am laying the blame for this hijack squarely on the shoulders of David Elvins!

Brian,

When I wrote, "We really need to see your list of "Top 10 golf course lunches someday", the word 'someday' was hinting at a future time , not immediately in a thread about the worlds top 36 hole private clubs.  Because that would be off-topic.   

Interestingly, about 22 of the world top 50 courses (golf Magazine) are part of multi course facilities.  This is a lot higher than I expected.

[Sven Nilsen]

Back to the topic at hand, here's one vote for OFCC.  It offers the perfect mix of divergent yet complementing styles in the two separate 18's, and the South course may be the most underrated course in Chicagoland.

[HarryBrinkerhoffDoyleIV_aka_Barry]

I think the courses that should be in serious consideration are the following (in alphabetical order):

Baltusrol
Dismal River
LACC
MPCC
Medinah
Merion
Oak Hill
Olympic
Olympia Fields
Winged Foot

Regarding west coast clubs - I would vote that Olympic as the best 36 hole course/facility on the left.  The new greens and bunkering @ Olympic Ocean really has raised the level of that course to more on par with Lakeside.  It is a really fantastic second course, and is no longer the "step child" to Lakeside.  It is a treat to play either course, IMO.   And of course you have the sensational par 3 on the ocean cliffs. 

[John Handley]

No one has mentioned Pumpkin Ridge in Portland.  Witch Hollow is very good and totally private while Ghost Creek is very solid and semi-private.  Both course are well maintained, challenging and fun to play.

[Joel_Stewart]

Regarding west coast clubs - I would vote that Olympic as the best 36 hole course/facility on the left.  The new greens and bunkering @ Olympic Ocean really has raised the level of that course to more on par with Lakeside.  It is a really fantastic second course, and is no longer the "step child" to Lakeside.  It is a treat to play either course, IMO.   And of course you have the sensational par 3 on the ocean cliffs. 

I disagree completely here but I was only a member at Olympic for 20 years.  I would take LACC and MPCC in a second over Olympic Club. 

Another west coast private club that has 36 holes that may be the most over the top plush luxury club would be Vintage Club.

[HarryBrinkerhoffDoyleIV_aka_Barry]

Fair enough, one member thinks it is great, the other doesn't.  Who would have thunk it?

Exactly what do you disagree with?  The statement that it is the best on the west coast, or some other part of the conversation?  Have you played the Ocean since the remodel?  What does MPCC or LACC have over Olympic?

Regarding west coast clubs - I would vote that Olympic as the best 36 hole course/facility on the left.  The new greens and bunkering @ Olympic Ocean really has raised the level of that course to more on par with Lakeside.  It is a really fantastic second course, and is no longer the "step child" to Lakeside.  It is a treat to play either course, IMO.   And of course you have the sensational par 3 on the ocean cliffs. 

I disagree completely here but I was only a member at Olympic for 20 years.  I would take LACC and MPCC in a second over Olympic Club. 

Another west coast private club that has 36 holes that may be the most over the top plush luxury club would be Vintage Club.

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