Lives
Winter Park, FL
Handicap
0-4
Age
25-34
Gender
Male
Skill
Advanced
Plays
Once a week

Review Statistics

Average Rating

4.8
4.8
Total 6 Reviews
1 Featured Reviews

Rating Breakdown

6 Reviews
5 Stars
5
4 Stars
1
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Recommended Courses
6
Not Recommended Courses
0
Helpful Votes Count
12
Not Helpful Votes Count
0
First Review
01/16/2014
Last Review
06/24/2015

Reviews Map

Reviews

4.8
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Chambers Bay

Played On 05/21/2015
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Golf Channel
First Time Playing
Excellent weather
Walked

US Open preview

This was a special day no matter the enjoyment of the course because I was able to share this walk with my colleagues and friends, Cara Robinson,Daman Hack, and Charlie Rymer.Our goal was to learn every inch of Chambers Bay in preparation for Us Open week on Morning Drive. Consider that it took us 6 1/2 hours to complete our round because we were filming and taking a lot of notes between shots. We were given a three hour buffer from the next tee time so we did not have to rush and that helped with gaining knowledge but it did have an affect on concentration. This experience is special for several reasons. First, there is nothing really like it in the United States and the views are breathtaking. Bandon Dunes is the best retail golf experience Ive ever had because of the variety,quality of golf,and unmatched service. Chambers Bay stands alone with no other course options so you must really commit to this trip. Chambers is very generous off the tee with extremely wide fairways but its visually intimidating because the areas you see clearly off the fairways are so penal and domineering. Listen intently to a local caddy and trust where they tell you to hit your shots based on your skill level. The fescue greens really distinguish this course from other "links" style offerings in the United States. They are firm, difficult to get your ball to spin and depending on the time of year you play they may be spotty. The ground is very firm and the walk is 7 1/2 miles up and down this converted gravel pit and you also play along the perimeter of the bluff on the par 5 8th hole. The challenges are blind second shots to several holes with extremely contoured greens with huge banking on many of them and extreme false fronts that penalize even the slightly missed target yardage. The best holes in my opinion are the ones that run through the valley and I prefer the inward 9 to the outward 9 for that reason. I would recommend playing the right teeing ground on the 9th hole if possible because I think its a much better hole from that angle. The greens as a whole have enormous contour that are not consistent in how they slope. Very few greens are pitched from back to front and I dont think there is enough area between the massive bunkers that front many of the greens to consider it a truly great links because you still have to play the ball in the air long enough to carry the bunkers and then rely on the slope of the greens to give yourself a reasonable putt. I think the overall design would have been better with less bunkering fronting the greens and allowing more use of the areas in front of the green to run shots onto the putting surfaces. The closing stretch is all you want in beauty and drama and hopefully you time your playing of the 15th, 16th and 17th to see a train roll by against the Puget Sound. Chambers Bay is a great story of a county committing to building something their towns people can be proud of and they should be. The golf experience is tough, rugged but unique. The staff is world class with every person insuring you have the best time possible. They really embrace and value that you have made the trek to their lone golf experience at Chambers Bay.

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

St. Andrews Links - Old Course

Played On 10/08/2014
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Channel
Previously Played
Good weather
Walked

There's No Place Like Home

There is no better combination of town and course than St. Andrews. One of the most charming towns in the world sharing the landscape with one of the most enjoyable and fascinating golf links makes for the ultimate combination of golf and culture. Ive been fortunate to have this experience with the company of members of the R&A, which includes lunch and a thorough tour of the R&A clubhouse. It is mind blowing to see history on full display and then set out to play the Old Course. Some have admitted that the Old Course is an acquired taste but since my first round in September of 1995 to my most recent in October of 2013 I loved every hole, every step and every moment. A local caddy is a must to navigate it for the first time. You must know your ideal line based on your skill level and that can be uncomfortable unless you have a trusted looper to guide you thru the trip.
Teeing off in front of the R&A building is daunting and there are always towns people or tourists walking along the rail that serves as a boundary for the golf course on 1 and 18. You play out of town starting on the 1st and you turn for home from the 12th hole on in with the steeples and chapels growing closer with every step. There are several drivable par 4's and reachable par 5's as long as you are playing the proper tees which is demanded of you from the starter. Don't expect to play it "all the way back" unless you can prove you are an expert. You will notice immediately that a left miss or favoring the left side of most of the fairways allows you to avoid the most trouble and the fairway bunkers with the exception of holes 10-11 and to a lesser degree the road hole 17th. Speaking of which, the tee shot on the road hole is unique and cant be duplicated. You will find yourself with 150 foot putts with the double greens and also using putter from well short of the green because the lies can be very tight but most every hole is not front by any bunkers and few forced carries and you have many creative options around and in front of the greens. This walk is unmatched on earth and you MUST play the Old Course if you love golf. When its over, dip into the Jigger Inn and the Dunvegan to re live the experience with a pint. History on the walls and the best post round haunts in town. If the old course doesn't rival the best experiences you've had in golf Id be shocked. There is no place like the home of golf.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Channel
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

The Monster is back in the Blue

Its always an unusual experience when you play a course with the owner and a former champion of a tour event played on the course but such was the case for me and Charlie Rymer when we played the new Blue designed by Gil Hanse. being hosted by Donald Trump and Rocco Mediate meant it was going to be an interesting day but the review of the course was a central focus of the day. I had not played the blue in decades and from the outset it was clear that the course was all new despite maintaining the general routing of the previous incarnation. Immediately you saw a far more pleasing looking course with the vistas created and the removal of dense vegetation that never factored into the design of the course. The land is very flat and there is simply not much you can do about changing that however Hanse and Jim Wagner, his chief shaper, created mounding away from tees and greens that will greatly enhance the pleasure of the fans at the World Golf Championship without contriving design features that influence the playing of any holes. The massive soil movement was to create brand new holes and we they created is sturdy, strategic, and as dramatic to the eye without being artificial they could be achieved on the property. From the opening hole to the final green the most prevailing feature are the pearl white sand bunkers that are visible across the landscape. Hanse has restored several of the great works of AW Tillinghast and their key features are the facings of their bunkers that give the player a very clear idea where the trouble lies while visually creating a dramatic scene for every golfer to enjoy across the entire course. The facings of all the fairway bunkers on the new blue are pushed up and they are not homogenized. They are singularly unique to each other and are practical to the strategy of each tee location. The course has a clever ebb and flow with short, medium and long amongst all the par 3-4 and 5's. Pay particular attention to the contouring of the greens on the short par 4's. More severity and potential run offs because Hanse understands a short club should require more precision. The dramatic pushing of the 9th green 75 yards closer to the 18th green produces a massive viewer area and also a beautiful scene to end your round. The finest stretches in my estimation are 3-4-5, 8-9-10 and 15-16-17-18. Players will thoroughly enjoy the 150 yard, from the back, 15th and the drivable, for the elite player, 16th that has the best example of Hanse's superior bunker work. The Blue Monster is an expensive proposition, one of the highest green fees in the country, but it has clearly reclaimed its status as one of the best in Florida and Gil Hanse has proven that he can take a tired old dame and restore her to a challenging yet glamorous beauty.

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

Augusta National Golf Club

Played On 12/12/2013
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Channel
First Time Playing
Average weather
Walked

Field Of Dreams

Let me begin by saying this is simply not a fair fight. There is not another golf experience on the planet, including the Old Course and Pebble Beach that conjures up the memories of great moments in golf history more than Augusta National. Every hole, every fairway, and every green have a scrapbook of images that race to your mind as you experience ANGC for yourself. I was fortunate to stay in the Butler cabin and get the full treatment from our host. Champions locker room, Crows Nest, Wine Cellar, etc. Youre so overcome with an overload of golf nostalgia that sleeping is a difficult exercise. Thankfully when you stay on the property they have an internal feed of past Masters on the televisions in your room, I stayed in the Arkansas room, that you can watch past Masters broadcasts. I woke up at 3 am and watched 1975,84,86,95,and 97 before we ate breakfast.
The golf course from the members tees is very manageable and the sight lines from the tees is pleasing and straight forward plus we all have our own memory bank to rely on with respect to the proper way to play each hole. The caddies are fully aware of the gravity of your experience and they do everything they can to enhance your experience. Lean on them on the greens. They are simply 18 wonders of the world and a lifetime of experience and acumen will never allow anyone to solve them. Make a point of viewing each hole from the green back as far as possible to the tee. The beauty and genius of ANGC is seen in full by looking at it in reverse. For example, the 3rd hole is simply one of the finest designs of terrain marrying length and green countour you will ever see and the best viewpoint is at the high part of the back of the green looking back toward the tee.
Holes that demand extra attention on the first nine, because you told see them as much in coverage, are the 3,5,7,and 9th. The 7th has been affected almost as much as any with respect to added length and tree placement as the 11th and 15th. It is simply to hard to describe the feelings you get standing on the tenth tee. It has always been the first place I would go to upon my arrival for the Masters for many years. Look off in the distance at the Loblolly Pines behind the green leaning across each other, towering 75 feet in the air, and try to imagine a grander cathedral in the game. Walk slowly down the hill to 11 and really do a 360 panoramic from the 12th tee. It is simply the most menacing 150 yard shot in golf. Trust the yardage of the caddies on your approach into 13, the further right the hole location the greater the carry and it is significant, Rae's creek runs in front of the green on a diagonal route that greatly affects the carry from left to right. Walk every step of the 14th green. Ben Crenshaw believes it is a marvel in green complex design and he is beyond correct. If you hit quality shots you will have birdie putts but it is a virtual impossibility to avoid a couple three putts because of the green size, undulation and speed. Make a point to get the perspective from the back tee on 18 and imagine how narrow that corridor would feel with a one shot lead on Sunday. As far as the food and dining experiences, its whatever you want and how much of it. I would recommend, um...everything. The bottom line is that the golf experience at Augusta National is mecca.

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

Charlotte Country Club

Played On 05/01/2013
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Golf Channel
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Walked

Restoration Very well done

Charlotte Country Club is a wonderful parkland style course originally designed by Donald Ross. It was restored by Ron Prichard in 2008-09 and his work is extremely well done. The removal of a great number of trees allows the golfer to enjoy a number of great views across the golf course including the only true view of the skyline of downtown Charlotte of any Charlotte proper course. Charlotte CC has great history with a US AM in 1972,Senior AM in 2002, and Womens AM in 2010. The strength of the golf course is in the variety and choices an advanced player has from the tee. The reward for hitting driver on 2-5-6-8-9-10-14-15-16-18 and challenging the various turning points on the course will consistently put short irons in a players hand to the green complexes that have considerable contour to them. Charlotte CC is also blessed with enough elevation change to provide unique character to many holes not to mention club selection on holes 4-5-6-7-8-10-11-13-18 will be influenced by the topography of the land. The course has really fine balance between short and long holes with the best examples being the contrast between the 4th and 5th hole and the 13th and 14th holes, all being par 4's.The par 3's are very difficult with the 11th being the finest playing downhill over water. The one hole that confounds me is the 17th. In the restoration the green was moved and the new green is simply too severe not to mention it is slightly raised from the tee, one up from the back, so you struggle to see much of the surface particularly if there is a middle to left hole location. The other minor issue I have with Charlotte CC is the commitment to Bent grass greens. The golf course is always in tremendous shape however there is a need to water there greens a good bit in the summer months because of the stress of the temperatures in the Carolinas at that time of the year. Im a huge believer in champion bermuda being a game changer and think it is a practical and great alternative, especially for a club of CCC's ilk. An experience at Charlotte CC is all that an avid golfer can hope for. The professional staff is lead by one of the finest PGA of America members in the country, Andrew Shuck. The overall staff is outstanding and the service is as good as you will get at a top private club. Making guests feel like members is the finest compliment I can give to a staff and Charlotte CC has always accomplished that with every visit. If you get an invite, expect a great experience on a stern, fair and straightforward golf course in terrific shape

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

Seminole Golf Club

Played On 03/26/2013
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Featured
Golf Channel
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Walked

Seminole Golf Club

The Seminole golf experience is memorable from the moment you pull your car onto the pink gravel on the entry way round about. Every guest gets the very same royal treatment starting with registration with the club secretary. It's protocol reserved normally for the Royal clubs of England and Scotland. As soon as you walk into the majestic mens locker room you realize you are basking in golf history. It is by my measure the best locker room in golf. Domineering, nostalgic, and the essence of masculine comfort. The professional staff led by Bob Ford has the finest stocked pro shop and Bob is simply the best merchandiser in the golf industry. Every caddy has caddied at top clubs and likely has carried for heads of state, tour players, and captains of industry. Since my seasons as an assistant professional at Seminole back in the mid nineties Seminole has always had the best Bermuda greens in the world. Nothing has changed, they've actually gotten better. Wind is the greatest defense the Donald Ross design has and you want it to blow to get the full treatment. One of the charms of Seminole is the culture of speedy play while not losing any of the memories of the walk. Rarely will you see elevation change on an ocean front golf course but Seminole has it and it was used expertly by Donald Ross. The Sandy Ridge that runs thru the property effects holes 2-3-4-5-11-12 and from the highest point on the western side of the golf course you get stellar views of the Atlantic. Seminole has not been stretched for modern technology because they dont have an abundance of excess land and by virtue of that it is playable from the back tees for the quality amateur and manageable for the mid to high handicapper. Each hole has subtle features that require focus to notice and appreciate and the par 3's are as fine and stern a set of 3's you can find anywhere. Driver is not demanded on all the par 4's and the key to playing Seminole is to stay underneath the hole. Rely on your caddy for club selection, driver lines and intended targets into greens. The routing of Seminole never allows you to get comfortable in one wind direction as you are changing direction every 3 rd hole at the max. The stories of Hogan are all true and his love of the sixth hole is totally understood when you look at the hole from the green back to the tee. Angles of genius and a green complex that defies the thoughts of one man. The 17th green, par 3, may simply be one of the hardest greens to hit and hold in the world regardless of the wind direction and a 3-4 finish is one to boast about to anyone who will listen. There are better golf courses in America but there is no better experience if you love, golf history and appreciate a true celebration of it on a daily basis. It is a day to cherish.

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