Lives
Vero Beach, FL
Handicap
0-4
Age
25-34
Gender
Male
Skill
Advanced
Plays
A few times a week

About

GolfPass Senior Writer, covering courses, travel and more. // Born and raised in Connecticut; schooled in Virginia at Washington & Lee University; now living in Vero Beach, Florida // Lefty by birth (10/10/1989) // +2 handicap // Favorite courses include Yale, Mid-Ocean Club, Mountain Lake (big CB Macdonald/Seth Raynor fan), Secession Golf Club, Old Town Club, Lawsonia Links, St. George's Hill, The Old Course // I have a broad palate and a big appetite for golf courses, and I look forward to discovering them and sharing them with you.

Review Statistics

Average Rating

4.3
4.3
Total 335 Reviews

Rating Breakdown

335 Reviews
5 Stars
134
4 Stars
178
3 Stars
21
2 Stars
2
1 Stars
0
Recommended Courses
333
Not Recommended Courses
2
Helpful Votes Count
137
Not Helpful Votes Count
40
First Review
08/11/2017
Last Review
11/29/2023

Reviews Map

Reviews

4.3

Reviewer Photos

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Keney Park Golf Club

Played On 11/19/2023
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Walked

City municipal golf nirvana

Golf is a public good. The existence of obnoxiously expensive resorts and needlessly snooty private clubs can obscure this fact, but the game’s physical, psychological and even metaphysical benefits speak for themselves, and ultimately have no correlation with expense. Great municipal golf courses like Keney Park are radical and positively disruptive. Keney’s architectural sophistication, easy walkability, superb conditioning and surpassing parkland beauty, combined with the modest expense of a round, make it one of the best golf places in America. But because few outside of Hartford know about it – it has no PR agency and hosts no televised events – it flies under the radar.

But the secret is getting out. On a Thanksgiving-Week round with my father, we were paired with two relative newcomers, who had both driven more than an hour to see what the fuss was about. They walked away as smitten as Dad and I already were with a special course that both embodies the local flavor and nods confidently toward the great golf courses of the past.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Walked

A lot to like at Pawleys 2.0

Golfers get emotionally attached to golf courses they’ve played many times. For me, Pawleys Plantation is such a course.

I was thrilled to learn of plans to renovate the course in 2023 – they were long overdue for a variety of reasons. The biggest sign of the course’s de-evolution was considerable shrinkage of the greens, which were never overly large to begin with. This made a tough course extremely demanding – often overwhelming for golfers of higher than middling handicaps.

The summer-long renovation project, which restored the greens to their original size, was overall a significant positive step for an always-underrated course. The removal of hundreds of trees has let the sun shine on more turf than ever before. My only quibble is with some of the changes to the bunkering – namely, the removal of several large sand areas that I always thought gave the course a distinct character – but I am confident that as things mature, the course will remain distinctive, demanding and more fun than ever.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Extremely Challenging

Wellman Golf Club

Played On 10/18/2023
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

After a dozen years dormant, a fun, countrified muni reawakens

Golf’s recent popularity surge has reversed the fortunes of many courses, and at the reopened Wellman Golf Club, that means a brand-new-feeling, affordable option within reach of Myrtle Beach.

After a 12-year closure, the summer of 2023 saw golf return to Johnsonville, S.C., thanks to Florence County, the City of Johnsonville and the golf course architect team of Rees Jones and Bryce Swanson. Using Ellis Maples’ original routing, they turned Wellman into a stately, enjoyable South Carolina take on parkland golf. The routing is walkable and the holes move through broad, pine-lined corridors that enjoy some gentle, broad elevation changes.

Thankfully, Jones has left behind his 1990s penchant for copious mounding and excessive bunkering; Wellman lays on the land better than most other courses under his name, with thoughtfully contoured greens that will keep regulars’ interest as they see a variety of hole locations over time. The risk-reward par-5 11th, which swings around a lake, is a stunner, as is the long par-3 18th, which plays across a corner of that same lake to the foot of the humble, cozy clubhouse.

Wellman will reward Myrtle Beach-bound golfers who are willing to travel a little out of the way to play a, well-maintained sub-$50 course with a down-home local feel.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Palmer at Woodlake Country Club

Played On 10/17/2023
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Cold weather
Walked

A home-run golf course “resurrection” close to Pinehurst

Not every disused golf course deserves to be revived, but when the bones are as good as Woodlake’s, the effort to put things back together again can yield stunning results.

Thorough mismanagement by prior ownership left both the Ellis Maples-designed course and surrounding community’s eponymous body of water in a sorry state. Fairways were grown over and the 1,200 lake had been drained. The refill is still to come but in the meantime, the fall of 2023 marked the reopening of the golf course, care of architect Kris Spence, who is an expert in the work of Maples and his mentor, Donald Ross. Spence restored Maples’ brilliant routing, which starts and ends lakeside with an enjoyable forest hike in the middle, and improved upon the course’s existing features while also bringing some of his own ideas to bear, especially in Woodlake’s bunkering and green design. The result is a first-rate members’ course where visitors may also be able to secure access via stay-and-play packages in the future. When that happens, Woodlake will vault up the Sandhills’ accessible golf course rankings.

Conditions Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Tot Hill Farm Golf Club

Played On 10/16/2023
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

Just-in-time revival of Strantz’s ‘other’ N.C. design is a revelation

For many golfers, the public courses of Mike Strantz – two each in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia – are a bracing introduction to the creative possibilities of golf course architecture. The most eccentric of these is Tobacco Road, whose love-it-or-hate-it reputation makes for entertaining 19th-Hole debate. About 50 minutes northwest, Tot Hill Farm has flown under the radar in large part because it struggled with conditioning and limited resources. That all changed when the course came under new ownership, and its 2023 restoration has given it more promise than it had even on its original opening day.

Key to that revival was the removal of 1,500 trees, which have given the holes – and their turf valuable room to breathe and sunlight in which to do it. New zoysia grass on the greens will mature and improve each year. The course finally has a clubhouse, a restored 19th-century farmhouse that is a great hangout spot and compliments the course beautifully. In the wake of this home-run of a project, Tot Hill Farm’s best days are yet to come.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Hot weather
Used cart

A more laid-back, fun-forward alternative to the East

Knowing a major championship host was being built simultaneously next door, West architect Beau Welling was equal to the task of building something for the rest of the golf world to truly enjoy at PGA Frisco.

The West differs from the East on two fronts. The first is the West’s more rambunctious terrain; it tackles the property’s large central hill three times where the East’s routing features two climbs, both somewhat more gradual. As a result, carts are the norm at the West, as opposed to the East’s mandatory walking caddies.

Whereas the East’s undulating greens are generally convex (and vexing), the West’s putting surfaces are more whimsical, though plenty challenging in their own right. The abrupt ridge that bisects the par-3 3rd green is an early indication of the West’s different approach. It works; many weekend visitors who blow into town for three rounds will play the West twice and the East once. That’s a high compliment to Welling’s design sensibilities.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Fields Ranch Golf - The Swing

Played On 10/10/2023
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Walked

Hanse and Welling’s 10-hole lighted par-3 course is the latest example of amusement-golf

Enthusiasm around short courses has been one of the most encouraging recent developments in golf, and while The Swing doesn’t necessarily break new ground, it ably miniaturizes the experience found at PGA Frisco’s big courses.

It’s maintained to a similar standard as its siblings, but its sub-90-minute playtime helps make the experience feel breezy. So, too, do the milder evening temperatures in which it can be enjoyed, thanks to its forest of floodlights. Like most courses of its ilk, it’s best enjoyed with one or two wedges, a putter and a beverage.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Hot weather
Walked

A major championship course for the 21st century

As professional golf becomes more and more alien to millions of recreational players, the requirements of championship golf design have become more and more challenging. At Fields Ranch East, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner mostly succeeded in building a course that will test the best and beguile the rest.

The East typifies contemporary golf architecture’s two main focuses – on bunkering and green design. Some 90-plus large, deep bunkers lie in wait at seemingly every strategic turn, and the large, firm and fast putting surfaces lean on considerably contour to defend par. Golfers with a shaky short game may find themselves picking up on several holes, but should also be enough birdie opportunities to keep them interested, especially if they play the correct tees. Good thing, too; because the average pace of play (walking, with mandatory caddies) tops 5 hours, you wouldn’t want to be out there getting beaten up for that whole time. There are no weak holes until the awkward par-5 18th, but the run from 13 through 17 – long par 3, shortish par 5, short par 4, long par 4 – is the star here.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Mystic Creek Golf Club

Played On 09/28/2023
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Hot weather
Used cart

A hidden gem and a contemporary throwback to architecture’s meaner days

The spirit of adventure requires a certain tolerance for hardship. Going off the beaten track often means working a little harder to wring the most out of a travel experience.

Mystic Creek’s middle-of-next-to-nowhere location in dense south Arkansas timberland is not reached by accident; you’ve got to expend some effort to get there. Similarly, once you’ve arrived, you’ve got to work a little bit to really enjoy it, because the golf course – scenic, immaculately maintained, impeccably run, yes – is one of the toughest you’ll encounter anywhere. The first six holes can be torturous if your approach play isn’t on point; water borders each and every green. Things lighten up a little bit from there on out, but not by much, as more water comes along sporadically and the forest tends to swallow errant shots around the perimeter of the appealing property. The excellent modern clubhouse, which looks almost cantilevered out onto the 18th green, is appropriately welcoming. Mystic Creek is a good reminder that it doesn’t need to come easy to be enjoyable.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Extremely Challenging

Streamsong Resort - Black Course

Played On 09/15/2023
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Benign conditions reveal a dependence on firmness, wind

Having played the Black in both peak-winter and deep-summer conditions over the last several years, it’s clear that it needs a little help from Mother Nature in order to be at its very best. My latest round, in mid-September, found the heat index screaming-hot and barely a breath of wind to be found. As a result, the turf at Streamsong was softer (but by no means soft) than it would be in cooler, breezier months. This took a bit of fire out of the Red and Blue courses, to be sure, but it had the biggest effect on Black, whose enormous fairways and humongous greens were somewhat neutered by the mild speed and firmness of the ground, to the point where most tee shots and several approaches lost a significant amount of their edge-of-glory intrigue.

It’s an enjoyable play no matter what, but anyone who enjoys the course at its crispy peak will likely leave feeling a little unfulfilled when it’s softer and slower.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Fairly Easy

Streamsong Resort - Red Course

Played On 09/14/2023
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Genteel and intriguing through and through

Streamsong Red, my second-favorite of the resort’s three “big” courses, is a masterclass in executing enjoyable golf holes, one by one. There is not a pedestrian test in the bunch, and with three bona fide half-par holes in the first four – capped off by the world-class short par-4 4th – it establishes a high standard, and proceeds to maintain it. The only real demerit I can find with Red’s design is that the back nine begins with three par 4s that are all defined by a pronounced right-to-left fairway tilt. A fine hair to split when comparing it to Streamsong’s other first-rate layouts.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate

Streamsong Resort - Blue Course

Played On 09/13/2023
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Still Streamsong’s best

The lower the stakes, the more fun arguments tend to be. It’s hard to think of a lower-stakes debate than “Which of Streamsong’s golf courses is the best?” My latest round on the Blue confirmed its status as my favorite. Because it shares land so closely with the Red, the Blue wins out by a few hairs on the variety of its par 3s, the complexity of its par 5s and the fact that it has the best hole on the property: the sublime long par-4 11th.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate

Indian River Club

Played On 08/24/2023
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Hot weather
Used cart

Solid 1990s members’ course

Once golf design broke away from the need and/or the inclination to do as little as possible to a given piece of land in order to build a golf course on it, architects spread out in several different stylistic directions over the latter half of the 20th century. That period unleashed earthmoving equipment on a grand scale, and as a result, we see courses like Indian River, where mounds of varying sizes join bunkers and water hazards in defining the main playing corridors, along with real estate developers’ needs. If you keep the ball down the middle at IRC, you will encounter relatively little resistance. It’s when you stray left or right that the intrigue comes along. Some unexpectedly nice natural elevation changes on the front nine spice things up a bit, as do a trio of short par 4s at the 2nd, 7th and 14th.

Conditions Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Hot weather
Used cart

Excellent addition to Florida's short-course scene

Short courses are in the midst of a multi-year moment, and Florida’s newest one is an 18-holer courtesy of Nicklaus Design at the edge of a mixed-use mega-development. Associate Chad Goetz spearheaded this effort, which comprises a fun mix of hole lengths and green concepts, including some Macdonald/Raynor template interpretations. Until the closing holes, the water that comes into play flanks greens, minimizing forced carries. As the place matures, the ground game will become more of a factor. That’s when The Nest will really start to show off. A spacious brand-new range with golfertainment elements and a large putting courses adds to the list of useful amenities.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Well-priced, late-20th-century mountain golf

Tucked into the valleys that bracket its namesake lake, Rumbling Bald is a lovely middle-end resort an hour south of Asheville. The newer of its two courses, Apple Valley, is a prime example of mountain golf: a mix of thrilling and occasionally head-scratching but overall good-natured golf holes. Two split-fairway par 4s (5, 12) add some decision-making to the round, while the gorgeous par-3 8th brings the type of scenery that courses like this promise, but don’t always deliver. With green fees topping out below $100, I found Apple Valley to be one of the better values I have encountered in resort golf lately.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate

Alpine at Boyne Mountain Resort

Played On 06/29/2023
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Like skiing on grass…kind of

Boyne Mountain was a ski resort for decades before its two golf courses were built, and it shows. Both the Monument and the Alpine start after lengthy uphill cart rides before zigzagging down the [north] face of the eponymous mountain like some enormous complicates slalom setup. Playing an open-jaw golf course is an occasionally disorienting but overall enjoyable experience, especially as the lakeside clubhouse finally comes back into view. Along the way, the Alpine is an exercise in gradual downhill golf, playing shorter than its yardage but still throwing enough long rough, bunkers and trees at players to keep things interesting.

Boyne Mountain is also the domain of one of America’s great beer cart attendants: Jerri Lee, who is a burst of sunshine to every golfer who visits. If you can’t be persuaded to buy at least a beer and a frozen candy bar from her, yours must be a cold, cold heart.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Lovely lakeside fun

Mighty Lake Michigan has its share of bordering golf courses. That list is understandably topped by Whistling Straits’ two layouts and the original Arcadia Bluffs 18, but Bay Harbor should not be overlooked, with two of its three nines supplying plenty of arresting water views. Draped on an up-and-down parcel of land and incorporated into a housing development, some holes are a little on the fiddly/narrow side, but not onerously so, at least as long as the wind isn’t howling.

The Quarry nine is the highlight here, with a run of holes that reminded me of some of Mike Strantz’s work – a compliment to Bay Harbor architect Arthur Hills. Greens wedged between ponds and rock formations make for some thrilling set-piece shots.

Bay Harbor’s clubhouse is excellent and well worth lingering in for a drink. You can even heckle the groups behind you from the deck perched high above Quarry #9 green.

The only major question mark around Bay Harbor is its green fee, which can surge past $440 at peak summer times. Incorporating a round into a stay-and-play package can take s good bit of the sting off the cost, though.

Conditions Excellent
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Extremely Challenging
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Advisor
Perfect weather
Walked

Stout mid-century golf at its near-finest

As modern golf design tastes shift away from the boom-decades of the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, I find myself looking for examples of that era’s golf that remain relevant even today. I believe the Heather, the best of the three courses I played at Boyne Highlands, to be one.

My admiration starts with the course’s enjoyably walkable routing (an unfortunate rarity among its contemporaries) and extends to the mix of meadow, wetland and parkland settings it traverses before climbing up to the climactic elevated 18th tee overlooking the base of the resort’s ski hill and plunging toward the pond use to produce its snow. Along the way, par 5s at 5 and 9 and par 3s at 4 and 6 build momentum, while the inward half has its own enjoyable mix of holes.

The Heather plays out of its own, quaint clubhouse across from the resort’s main Lodge. Walking across the street to prepare for my round as the sun came up over Northern Michigan will remain a highlight of my golf year.

Conditions Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Walked

Ongoing renovations seek to add luster to an early tribute course

Tribute golf courses are tough to pull off. Transplanting the concept of a particular golf hole hundreds or even thousands of miles, to a totally different environment, can lead to an uncanny-valley feeling. On top of it all, taking inspiration from a dozen or more distinctly different golf courses complicates matters exponentially; such a course risks feeling like a hodgepodge rather than a coherent unit.

The Ross Memorial is a bit of a mixed bag. Its namesake architect’s work is world-renowned, so the impulse to pick the greatest holes from his oeuvre is understandable. In the end, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The course is currently undergoing a multi-stage renovation, and naturally, the holes that have received the most work are the most enjoyable – the par-4s 1st (Seminole) and 15th (Aronimink) holes are especially striking. But then there’s the par-3 8th (Charlotte Country Club), which has no discernible Ross character and just looks like a pleasant but mundane hole that could exist on thousands of other courses. None of the holes are offensive by any means and there are plenty of genuine highlights (in addition to the same pristine conditioning that Boyne Golf guests know and love), but I left wondering whether the best tribute to Ross here would have been more interpretive than 18 attempted straight-up replica holes.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Pure, modern Northern Michigan cart-centric resort golf

They may not quite challenge the Bandons, Kohlers and Sand Valleys of the world for total supremacy, but the three Boyne Golf resorts of Northern Michigan represent some of the America’s pleasantest summertime destination golf at a relative bargain. The most scenic of the four golf courses at The Highlands, the Hills leans into its spread-out, thoroughly unwalkable routing by taking golfers on a meandering journey through deep woods, scenic wetlands and up to some impressive hilltops. The plunging tee shot on the mammoth par-5 13th is a highlight, but don’t overlook some of the quieter holes, like the long par-4 5th, which plays alongside dense rows of foreboding pines.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
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