Four for Twenty-Four: The 4 Golf Courses I Most Want to Play This Year

Intro:

There are 3 categories I look at when it comes to courses I haven’t played and what truly entices me to want to play them.

Category 1: The Instagram model.

There are those courses out there that are highly photogenic, and we have all seen a million pictures of. While to some degree this waters down the experience of actually playing them, in my opinion, it doesn’t take away from my desire to see them for myself. Have I seen every angle, aerial, crack, and crevice of Augusta National? You bet I have. Does that take away from my desire to see it for myself? Nope.

Category 2: The unheralded banger.

There are several courses out there that I have heard many great things about but for reasons of geography and reputational desirability, it doesn’t feel like enough people go out of their way to go find out just how good a course is. I love these places because you truly feel the ability to decide for yourself what you think of a golf course, which these days feels all too rare. With social media and people doing exactly what you and I are doing right now (writing and reading about golf courses), many places seem to be covered such that your opinion is strongly informed prior to showing up on property. The rare opportunities to avoid this are ones I cherish.

Category 3: The enigma.

This takes 2 things. One, a club culture that opposes a course being in category 1. i.e. don’t take and post a million photos. And two, a conscious effort on your end to not seek out what is out there on a golf course. Almost every course I know of probably has at least a good number of photos of it out on the internet that you can look at. Honestly, because for a guy like me, and probably you too if you’re reading this, I love when I haven’t seen anything on a great course I’ve yet to play. And when this is the case, I make an effort to keep it this way.

So, with that, I will now break down my 4 courses, which category they fit within, and why I choose these courses over the many others I want to play.

Course 1: Hollywood GC

This Walter Travis gem falls somewhere between category 1 and 2 for me. Category 1 because I have seen a good manyphotos of it, but also try to not spoil the whole thing for myself. And category 2 because I have had a number of trusted voices in the game tell me this is one of the more underrated places out there. It’s not even a consensus top 100 course in the US, yet I have heard people put in conversations of top 100 in the world. That interests me because it allows me to go and form my own opinion on just how good it is.

The pictures I have seen of Hollywood are just beautiful. I love Walter Travis and consider his work to be some of the most underrated of the Golden Age. Zany is the word I think of when I hear the name Walter Travis. He did some wild stuff with greens, bunkers, and features on his golf courses and provided wonderful contrast to some of the formulaic architecture of the AW Tillinghast and CB Macdonald/Seth Raynor work that there is so much of in the northeast. For the record, that formulaic work I mentioned is a formula I love. But, I love someone who doesn’t use recipes either. One example of this is the Heinz 57 hole at Hollywood. Not sure which hole it is, and I’m not looking it up because I want the course to reveal as much to me as possible, but the hole gets its name because it has 57(!) bunkers on it. THAT is provocative stuff, and stuff I want to see.

Course 2: The Creek

The Creek is a category 1 course if there ever was one. In the core part of the course that people like to photograph (middle of front nine), I feel like I have seen thousands of pictures of The Creek. While this takes away from its novelty when I end up having the pleasure, it doesn’t change the fact that I have full confidence that I will love these golf holes as much as the pictures would make me think I will.

Patrick Koenig (podcast with PK drops tomorrow!)

I love the fact that my first two courses are both greater NY area bangers, yet they contrast each other in many ways as well. Hollywood is the zany, unheralded Travis, and The Creek is the highly covered Macdonald/Raynor banger that everyone knows and loves. Dubbed “The Million Dollar Club” when being a millionaire was a big deal 100 years ago, The Creek has always had the grandiose and allure to it that it’s 21st century social media fame substantiates. Saying I really want to play The Creek is no hot take. But neither is it to say I want to eat pizza at Sally’s in New Haven, and you know damn well Sally’s is high on my hit list.

Course 3: The Harvester Club

Harvester is a firm category 2 for me. Maybe the ultimate category 2. I feel like I’ve only ever spoken with a handful of people who have played Harvester, but they have all said they have thoroughly enjoyed it. This was a 2000 design by Keith Foster, who has been better known for his renovations than original work, but the word is that the traditional principles and architectural features he sought to bring to Harvester were quite the success. The landscape looks awesome, and the features are certainly interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if I loved it, I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t. That’s why this is an ideal category 2 for me. Not enough people who I really trust the opinions of have I spoken with about the course and so I would be going in with eyes wide open. Which is awesome.

Another reason I would love to make the trip to Des Moines is because I never have. In fact, I’ve never been to Iowa. Apologies to any Iowans reading this, but I reckon there are worse states to have not been to. But, I still would love to go. Of the many things I love about golf, it being an outlet to explore new parts of the country and world is perhaps chief among them. The land looks awesome, the architecture looks cool, I’ve never been to Iowa, and I hear they have great steaks. Count me in.

Course 4: Milwaukee Country Club

This is THE category 3 for me. I know nothing about Milwaukee. I have heard that it has the reputation of being one of the most hyper private, non-guest friendly courses. Which is sick. In good and bad ways. I have no clue who designed it. I’ve never seen a picture of it. And as I mentioned above. I’m going to keep it that way. I don’t want to see a picture. I don’t want to know who designed it. All I need to know is that it’s in Wisconsin, another state I’ve yet to see, and that it’s supposed to be a banger. Only thing left now is to find a host, find a time, and fill out the ole PTO form!

Conclusion:

Those are 4 of my top courses I want to play this year. Different places, different geographies, different reasons for my desire to see them. The common thread is always to experience as many cool golf courses and places as possible, but layered within that passion is a plethora of reasons as to what gives each individual spot a different form of desirability. While some may have guessed this would just be the 4 highest rated courses I’ve yet to play, I don’t think about it that way. I want to play those too, but there is so much more to experiencing new courses than just how good the golf is. That, at least, is my opinion.

- HS