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Terry Lavin

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Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« on: January 20, 2011, 11:32:52 AM »
Just throwing out the hook to see if others would create a quick guide to private clubs in areas other than Chicago. 

How about any of the following:

New York
Long Island
Philly
Western PA
Ohio
Boston
the Carolinas
Georgia
Florida
Los Angeles
San Francisco
etc. etc. etc.


Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

John Kavanaugh

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2011, 11:43:02 AM »
Terry, buy The American Private Golf Club Guide by Daniel Webster.  Or lets start a secret society where we pyramid the rubes with artificially high access fees.  Damn, there went the secret.

Jason Topp

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2011, 11:59:21 AM »
Wexler's book does this about as well as it is possible to do.  I thought his descriptions of clubs with which I have some familiarity were very good.

Terry Lavin

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2011, 12:00:30 PM »
Terry, buy The American Private Golf Club Guide by Daniel Webster.  Or lets start a secret society where we pyramid the rubes with artificially high access fees.  Damn, there went the secret.

I already have that book, I was hoping for something more informal, anecdotal and, of course, interesting.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Keith Phillips

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2011, 12:24:58 PM »
i think wexler's book is terrific...but curious are those all the opinions of one man?  has he played all those courses/clubs? of not, what is the basis of the opinions/rankings, if so, wow!

Travis Dewire

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2011, 01:36:56 PM »
Terry,

I can comment a bit on the Boston area courses, any in particular that are of interest to you?

IMO, the Golf Digest ranking of the state's 20 best, are not to be trusted

George Pazin

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2011, 01:45:49 PM »
It would be great if a few posters could offer list guides for their own areas such as Terry's excellent list on Chicago golf:

Terry Lavin - Quick Compleat Guide to Private Clubs in Chicago

I'll ask JohnV if he can now offer his experiences on Pittsburgh clubs, now that he no longer has any conflicts.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Terry Lavin

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2011, 02:15:29 PM »
Terry,

I can comment a bit on the Boston area courses, any in particular that are of interest to you?

IMO, the Golf Digest ranking of the state's 20 best, are not to be trusted


That would be great.  I haven't played there yet, but a friend is head pro at Turner Hill, which is supposed to be very good.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Travis Dewire

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #8 on: January 20, 2011, 08:16:27 PM »
Terry,

I had the chance to play Turner Hill in 2005 in a MA Open qualifier, got to play a practice round as well. Range, and practice are nice, set down below from the club house, kind of need to be driven or take a cart. Clubhouse is a beautiful old estate - red brick (I believe might not be brick). The 17th green plays to one side, then the par 3 18th, pretty much plays within the length of the estate house. The hole plays over a pond that is in play on the approach on the 17th, and as a downhill carry on the par 3 10th. Actually I could describe every hole to you in pretty accurate detail if you would like. The course is in great, great shape. You could make putts, didn't need any hit in the stroke, and could really just feel the ball around. Like most newer courses, I find the ball to take "hollow" lands on chip shots, and run out a little more, this being the case there. But the greens are the topic, they were fantastic. The course is also extremely long, playing I think just about 7,000 yards from the tips, with a course rating of around 75, high slope too. In the tournament there were some tees that were actually played UP! the holes was so long!!!!! I typically am very cynical of newer designed courses, but I'd have to say that the course was very enjoyable to play, and very fun. It is also very possible to score well at Turner Hill given the scorecard's difficulty. Your friend is lucky to be at such a great place.

In addition, there are houses built along the course. It is not an overwhelming amount but they are in view and close sight on just a few occasions on the back nine. I do not recall exactly hot they look, but I seem to think they are a modern aged split level ranch made of a stoneish material. Nice homes.

Ipswich is located on the North Shore of MA, about an hour from the city. It is a very old town, est. pre 1650, famous for GREAT!!!!!! FRIED CLAMS!!!!

I hope that I have not given Turner Hill insufficient praise.

Mike Sweeney

Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2011, 09:48:05 PM »
Matt is many things, but he is not a 100% wrong:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35151.0.html

TOP TEN
 
Bayonne (NJ)
Bethpage / Black (NY)
Fisher's Island (NY)
Garden City GC (NY)
NGLA (NY)
Plainfield (NJ)
Sebonack (NY)
Shinnecock Hills (NY)
Westchester / West (NY)
Winged Foot / West (NY)

 
SECOND TEN
 
Essex County CC (NJ)
Fenway (NY)
Forsgate / Banks (NJ)
Hollywood (NJ)
Montclair #2 & #4 (NJ)
Piping Rock (NY)
Quaker Ridge (NY)
Sleepy Hollow (NY)
Trump National / Bedminster (NJ)
Winged Foot / East (NY)
 

THIRD TEN
 
Atlantic
Baltusrol / Lower (NJ)
The Creek Club
Engineers (NY)
CC of Fairfield (CT)
Maidstone (NY)
Metropolis (NY)
Ridgewood / E&W (NJ)
Wykagyl (NY)
Yale (CT)


FOURTH TEN
 
Baltusrol / Upper (NJ)
Deepdale (NY)
CC of Fairfield (CT)
Meadowbrook (NY)
Mountain Ridge (NJ)
Old Oaks (NY)
Somerset Hills (NJ)
The Stanwich Club (CT)
Wee Burn (CT)
Whippoorwill (NY)

 
FIFTH TEN

Alpine (NJ)
The Bridge (NY)
Canoe Brook / North (NJ)
Hamilton Farm (NJ)
Hudson National (NY)
Manasquan River (NJ)
Metedeconk National / 1st & 3rd Nines (NJ)
Morris County (NJ)
Seawane (NY)
The Tuxedo Club (NY)

Jonathan Cummings

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2011, 06:02:28 AM »
Mike - no Friar's Head??

Daniel_Wexler

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2011, 06:06:39 AM »
For what it's worth (and that's not much until perhaps mid-2012), it is my intention to publish some regional/area guidebooks that will be comprehensive in scope (i.e., including all private/resort/public facilities in a particular metropolitan area).  Unfortunately, I'm committed to getting the Resort book (which should be available by Feb 1) and a Public course volume out first, so it may be a while....

Keith Phillips:

No, I haven't played them all (for which, quite honestly, I'm grateful).  The Collectability Ratings are very deliberately designed not to reflect my personal opinions (which I don't consider to be of unique merit) but rather to reflect a number of components which, since I'm too tired to type them out at this late hour, can be viewed here:

http://www.danielwexler.com/collectability-rating/

DW


Mac Plumart

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2011, 07:51:18 AM »
Terry...

If you want some inside scoop on the Atlanta private clubs (and some other private clubs in GA), pop me a PM.

Sportsman/Adventure loving golfer.

PCCraig

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2011, 08:32:19 AM »
Yale in the 3rd ten? Really?
H.P.S.

Mike Sweeney

Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2011, 09:42:07 AM »
Mike - no Friar's Head??

It is Matt Ward's list. Sure I disagree with some of the positions (see the thread link), but he has pretty much every course that I would list. Not sure if it has been corrected but Matt has not plaaaaaaaayed Friars Head.

Pat,

Matt has not played Yale in years. The heavy lifting does not apply to New England for Matt!!

« Last Edit: January 21, 2011, 09:44:35 AM by Mike Sweeney »

Brad Tufts

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2011, 09:46:24 AM »
CC of Fairfield listed twice...
So I jump ship in Hong Kong....

Adam Clayman

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Re: Private Club Guide Volunteers Needed
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2011, 09:47:59 AM »
If Daniel didn't see everything, how did he come up with his star ratings on courses he didn't see? Valued opinions of others?

 
"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing your whole life." - Mickey Mantle

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