TimGavrichGP

Of the half-dozen or so mid-higher end daily-fee courses in Martin County, The Florida Club is by far the most enjoyable. Architect Dick Gray helped Pete Dye build Crooked Stick in the 60s, and he channeled his mentor’s calmer early period here.

The routing meanders coolly through a housing development, making up for relatively modest length with a nice mix of elevated greens, flat-bottomed bunkers and just enough (not too much by any means) lost-ball potential to keep players on their toes. The reconfigured 16th, Dye-special angled par-3 17th and clever two-shot 18th comprise one of the area’s strongest closing stretches. The place is always in very good to excellent shape, too; it might be a bit of a splurge in the peak winter season, but it’s likely to be worthwhile. The rest of the club’s facilities – clubhouse, bar, practice facility – are on point, too.

River Highlands is one of Connecticut’s best golf courses. Architecture geeks may turn their noses up at its TPC designation, but the variety of holes, combined with its rare member-playability, makes it as fun to experience in person as it is to see the pros battle on TV. Although runaway driving distances have made it play quite short for the pros, in years when the weather cooperates, it is seldom a total pushover, despite barely clearing 6,800 yards from the tips.

I have relished every opportunity I’ve had to play River Highlands over the years, but my last couple of rounds have left me a little nostalgic. Unfortunately, the course’s comprehensive bunker renovation in [2016] knocked it down a notch. While the impulse to reduce the amount of bunkers was understandable, the complete change in their style – from flashed faces to flat bottoms banked by steep walls of turf – was not a welcome one. The muscular new look of the bunkers is totally at odds with the more gradual movement of the terrain on which the course sits. A bit of a bad nosejob. What’s more, the pros have far less trouble from sand nowadays because the flat lies are far more predictable than they were when the bunkers had steep sand faces and yielded occasionally awkward stances. It is still a wonderful golf course, but I would hope any future work brings it back to its pre-renovation peak.

Connecticut is an underrated golf state as it is, and the courses around Hartford fly well below the radar. With a first-rate superintendent (Scott Ramsay, formerly of Yale), talented consulting architect (Matt Dusenberry, whose transformation of nearby Keney Park is was magical) and passionately history-minded members pushing for it, Farmington has tremendous potential that will be realized if the ongoing gradual restoration of Devereux Emmet’s inventive and appealingly idiosyncratic design can be completed.

Bunkering on several holes has been adjusted to look more Old-World and recent green expansions have elevated the intrigue on several front-nine holes, including the sensational drivable par-4 1st and reachable par 5s at holes 3 and 6. Back-nine highlights include the improved curb-appeal of the par-4 13th and the par-4 16th, as well as a brand-new putting course alongside the Farmington River, which frames the beginning of the inward nine. With continued TLC, Farmington will step out of the shadows and stand out as one of New England’s most appealing inland courses.

This 1969 Robert Trent Jones, Sr. original is a nice middle-ground Firestone’s famous South Course and its more mild-mannered Fazio Course. Like its companions, it provides fairly straightforward meat-and-potatoes parkland golf, with an added bonus of the Firestone Reservoir, which comes into play at the beginning and end of each nine. These holes are flatter and by far the most water-involved of any on property, with all-carry par 3s like the 8th, 11th and 17th adding considerable bite.

The upland section of the course features nice elevation changes; the sidewinding par-4 14th, with a fairway and green perched above forest, serving as one of the property’s most interesting holes. Maintained to an exquisite standard like its companions, the more moderate challenge of the North Course, plus the water holes, makes it the overall favorite of many members and visitors.

One could be forgiven for writing Firestone’s inexpensive, public-facing 9-holer off as an afterthought, but it is a pleasant spot for locals and an underrated amenity for members and stay-and-play guests. Located at the very northern edge of the property, it’s by far the least punishing golf on property, with a refreshingly quirky run of par 4s from hole 4 through hole 8. The 7th hole is relatively short on the card but plays about 70 feet uphill and jukes right at a large tree, culminating with a skyline green. In similarly pristine shape as the club’s three main courses, the “Firestone 9” is a lovely diversion that pairs well with a beer or two.

(ALSO: Firestone 9 is home to an outpost of Big Shots Golf, a worthy competitor to Topgolf and other “golfertainment” options. Firestone 9 visitors warm up on Big Shots’ range.

When golfers think of traditional championship golf, they are likely to picture Firestone South, which for decades was a pillar of the PGA Tour schedule, as well as a three-time PGA Championship host. Narrow, tree-lined fairways guarded by dense, lush rough and well-bunkered, smallish greens – that’s the South to a T.

Popular tastes among traveling golfers are be shifting away from the rigorous challenge that the South offers, and more toward courses with generous fairways and huge, lumpy greens accented by rustic bunkering. Such courses are indeed more player-friendly, but there will always be a place for the likes of Firestone South, especially among golfers who value competition and want at least an occasional unflinching assessment of their playing abilities. Besides, the rest of the Firestone stay-and-play experience – the dorm-style lodgings in the men’s locker room, the on-site villas, the wonderful sleepaway-camp-for-golfers vibe – provides a blessedly soft landing after a day spent battling a course in perfect condition and could host a PGA Tour on a day’s notice if needed.

Previously known as the West, this layout, which horseshoes around the fearsome and famous South, is emerging as Firestone’s most player-friendly course. It’s still no pushover, as thick rough, undulating greens and plenty of overall length make it plenty challenging. One factor that has been mitigated in recent years, though, is the sand; a mid-pandemic project removed the majority of the bunkering and simplified what remained. The club traded out the pre-Recession scheme – profuse and expensive to maintain – for shallow, smooth-edged, mostly accenting bunkering with bright white sand.

After a parkland start, the long par-5 9th brings golfers onto an open tract that overlooks much of the rest of the club, with holes running parallel to one another and back and forth for a while. The long, downhill par-3 16th is the most scenic hole on the property, overlooking the iconic water tower, clubhouse and large portions of all three courses.

The overall traditional historical bent of the golf community, especially in the United States, has caused the country’s courses to skew a little safe and formulaic in their design, especially in the decades since World War II. That’s why it is so refreshing to play a course like Royal New Kent, which architect Mike Strantz used as a vehicle for thumbing his nose at the establishment. Inspired by the wildest Irish links, Strantz confronts golfers repeatedly with holes and set-piece shots that on first appearance look unplayable. From the ingenious first hole – a blind tee shot over heathery mounds followed by an approach up a steep hill to a huge two-tiered green in the sky – Strantz is bluntly saying that the meek need not apply; “Self-Confident Only Golfers Past This Point.” The rest of the front nine brings similar outlandish challenges, but those who embrace it will find that the fairways are wider than they often appear and there is practically always a side to miss on. No one would call Royal New Kent easy, but it is playable from the right set of tees, especially as the back nine eases off a bit.

Strantz’s confrontational approach to design here was ahead of its time; Royal New Kent alienated so many golfers in its first decade-plus that it eventually declined and closer for a period. Under new ownership and amid a climate where traveling golfers are increasingly adventurous – and likely more forgiving of its conditioning, which is a work in progress but continues to improve (the greens are particularly nice), it is poised to come into its own and continue to stand out. It’s worthy of a spot on any open-minded golfer’s bucket list.

It is appropriate that Golden Horseshoe’s Green course sits at a mile-and-a-half remove from its older sibling. Juxtaposing its high-1990s styling with the traditional architecture of Colonial Williamsburg might have created too strange a contrast.

Few golf courses are purer expressions of Rees Jones’ mid-career vision. More than 100 bunkers – both flat-bottom circles and meandering amoebas – line fairways and greens that wind through dense forest and wetlands. They mingle with ever-present containment mounding that most plastic surgeons would consider ambitious. The putting surfaces themselves feature mostly distinct decks and subtle overall tilts. While the par 4s are rather monotonous, the course does draw strength from its par 5s, particularly the 15th and 18th, which aims straight at the clubhouse for a stately finish well in line with the cacophony that precedes. Challenging and well-kept, with particularly smooth putting surfaces, the Green is best viewed as a modern museum-piece golf course, and best by erring on the shorter side when choosing your tee box.

Located across the street from historic Colonial Williamsburg, a living monument to America’s 17th and 18th century roots, the Gold course is also a trip back in time, albeit to an era a couple of centuries closer to the present. The routing of the course and the arrangement of the excellent clubhouse and smallish driving range feels like it’s more from the 1920s than the 1950s.

The design of the course itself, though, places it very much in a transitional era between the Golden Age and the midcentury mien which architect Robert Trent Jones helped define. Bunkering flanks flowing the fairways and tiered greens, rather than interrupting lines of play, and water comes into play a considerable amount, especially on the one-shotters, which are tough as nails and capped off by the 16th, America’s most famous pre-Sawgrass island-green par 3. Even so, when it hosted the 2007 NCAA Championship, the course yielded up some very low scores, including a 60. If you play the right tees, it shouldn’t beat you up too badly at all.

This private club is to Kingsmill what many backcountry areas are to their respective large ski resorts: secluded and open only to those in the know. Unless you have connections or happen buy the right member a drink and score an invite, you’re not likely to find your way onto this pleasant, pristinely-kept members-only retreat, but if you do, you’ll get to enjoy a nice variety of holes with some of the property’s most adventurous greens; the tilted boomerang at the end of the par-5 5th hole is a particular highlight.

After a flattish parkland meander on the front, things ramp up when golfers cross through a deep ravine on the way to the 11th tee to play a run of holes that heave up and down a bit more and offer some attractive views (the entire course benefits from being unencumbered by homes). For those with full access, it’s a nice middle-ground between the tough River Course and the more relaxed Plantation.

Kingsmill’s Plantation course doesn’t look like much on first blush, but little reminders of there being more than meets the eye float by golfers often enough to make it an enjoyable secondary experience on property.

In addition to the pleasant off-course vista of the ruins of the resort’s namesake’s original 17th-century manor house to the right of the par-5 2nd hole, the Plantation’s greens provide most of the interest. Though on the smaller side (due in part to moderate shrinkage over the years), they house a nicely varied palette of ridges, tiers and gathering and shedding slopes, turning many of the shortish holes into something a little more potent than expected. Recent resort expansion has turned the 18th into a very drivable par four, which can send players off with a smile.

There’s a certain melancholy one might feel playing a course that used to host big-time professional golf but is no longer on those schedules. But even though both the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour have ended their runs at the River Course (for now), it has maintained its pride very well. Despite tipping out around 6,800 yards, the course plays a bit longer and tougher than one might expect, with several uphill approaches, small targets flanked by trouble and a reliable wind off the James River that makes holes like the already long par-4 9th downright bearish.

The golfer’s introduction to that body of water has been compromised somewhat in recent years by the construction of large homes down both sides of the par-4 16th, but it is still a good golf hole and the one that follows, the famous par-3 17th, remains one of the most picturesque holes on the Eastern Seaboard. The typical Dye hallmarks – pot bunkers, subtle and overt visual deception, abrupt slopes, angled fairways – come together here to amuse open-minded golfers and frustrate those with more conventional appetites, and a typically tough set of hole locations sends golfers away thinking that the course could still test the best golfers, especially with a future rolled-back ball.

In a world with more than 30,000 golf courses, there are few true originals. Those one-off unique experiences tend to be a bit on the wild and weird side, with moments of awe and others of “Huh?” Stonehouse is no exception. Architect Mike Strantz’s artist-first background and iconoclastic perspective led him to take some wild swings with his courses. Some of them are brilliant and some leave us scratching our heads. That’s the case at Stonehouse. The four par threes, in particular, are terrific. Three of them require forced carries to greens that look like faraway stages. The other one, the 8th, has one of the largest single contours on any green you will ever see.

Stonehouse was saved from decrepitude a few years ago by a local businessman, and conditioning is coming around nicely. For open-minded golfers, it is an absolute must-see.

There’s a lot of money floating around the Palm Beaches, and PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh and several wealthy friends have brought a great deal of it to bear in totally revamping the former West Palm Beach Golf Course into a totally new municipal golf experience for the 21st century. Think more country-club-for-a-day than cheap-and-cheerful – the Gil Hanse/Jim Wagner/Dirk Ziff-designed big course is one of the best public plays in the Sunshine State: open and sinewy with attractive bunkers, sandy waste areas and very large, firm, fast, undulating greens.

City residents pay as little as $60 while out-of-staters get charged a premium – potentially $200 or more depending on the time of year. This sounds like a hefty tariff, but with a golf course that blows away the vast majority of the competition in South Florida, it’s worth a splurge if you’re in the area. Be sure to hang out a little extra and play the 9-hole, lighted par 3 course and enjoy the putting course as well as the outdoor Cabana bar.

A lot can happen in 20 years. Grande Dunes opened at the height of pre-Recession golf mania, when the majority of courses were built to be big and extroverted. Last year, after years of typical course evolution, its large, jagged-edged bunkers and huge, amoeba greens were restored, with some reductions in sand square-footage as a sop to playability. The project was a success, and now Grande Dunes is ready to continue to stand as something of a museum-piece of a bygone era in course development, and one of the top options in Myrtle Beach’s central district. The newly-renovated clubhouse restaurant, Terrazza19, is one of the beach’s best, too.

I have played Pawleys Plantation more times than any other golf course in my life, logging some 500 rounds there over a quarter-century. I have an emotional connection to the place. So it’s with a mix of trepidation and excitement that I prepare to see it renovated this summer. Some things will be altered – the huge 80s bunkers will be naturalized in some cases, grassed over in others – while others will be restored, including the greens, to their original specifications. Overall, though, the Lowcountry scenery, especially on the marshy back nine, will continue to compliment Nicklaus’ thoughtful, challenging design. I have loved the past at Pawleys and can’t wait for the future, when the course reopens in the fall of 2023.

The first time I played The Palmer was a few months before its 2017 renovation. Honestly, it was a very forgettable golf course with no real distinguishing features. Having played it twice since that Arnold Palmer Design Company project, I think it’s my second-favorite of PGA National’s “big courses,” behind The Match and ahead of the brutal Champion. Thoughtful rolls, decks and bowls within The Palmer’s putting surfaces have turned it into a charming resort play.

The Staple is a key part of an exciting trend in golf: small-acreage, high-creativity experiences that can be enjoyed in a modest amount of time and by the widest possible variety of golfers. After playing it on its opening day, I was thrilled to return with one of the world’s newest golfers: my not-quite-two-year-old daughter. While my wife and I strolled around, she toted her Little Tikes plastic club, alternating between whacking a wiffle ball around and picking it up and dropping it in the cup.

Sure, appreciating the wild and fun greens and attractive bunkering weren’t top-of-mind for a toddler, but for me, The Staple’s appealing figure-eight routing and mix of engaging golf features took an already wonderful experience – my first time roaming an actual golf course with my daughter – and made it perfect.

Living half an hour away, I am lucky to get to play this golf course at least once or twice a year, and every time I play it, I like it more and more. It hits sweet spots for both inspiration (how much it makes you want to play more golf) and aspiration (how much it makes you want to play better golf). The variety of holes, shots it calls for and green complexes it throws at you makes it as thorough a test as you will find among publicly accessible courses in the Sunshine State. With very few forced carries and big corridors, it won’t beat you up too badly and will leave you wanting to turn right at the fork in the path and, instead of returning to the clubhouse, just head back to the first tee.