Number 12: The Country Club

Ceiling: 95

Rating: 92.5

Trend over Time: 5.5

The Country Club is one of my favorite sites for golf in the US. Setting aside the Cypress, Shinnecock, and Augusta sort of class of land, the unassuming nature of the site on arrival that turns into this amazing hike through the rolling hills of Boston is hard to beat. Around the clubhouse, range and first hole, you could easily think the round is going to be played on a flattish piece of property, but by the 3rd hole you are fully introduced to what the day will really hold. Variety in topography, massive rock outcroppings, and beautiful stands of trees. The course is relatively playable on a day to day basis for members as if the rough is kept tame enough and the greens are closer to a 10 on the stimp meter, it’s not crazy, but the difference between those conditions and US Open stuff is slim, very slim.

Culture:

The Country Club is an old school club that generally keeps out anyone with a high profile. They aren’t looking to fill out their membership roster with the Red Sox and Patriots’ starting lineups. Not only is the culture of the place steeped in old school golf club vibes, but moreover, old school New England vibes. The other club activities on offer beyond tennis and swimming include paddle tennis, curling, skeet, ice skating, and hockey… no mistaking it for a Texas or Carolinas Country Club. As per usual, the best places have a supreme sense of place and by this metric, The Country Club is top of the line. One of the USGA’s 5 founding clubs, it’s definitively an OG, and it feels like it to this day.

Competition:

I can’t say whether it’s by design from the club or oversight by the USGA but I am surprised by how few events TCC has hosted. They’ve had 4 US Opens, most recently 2022 and most famously 1913 (Francis Oiumet v. Ted Ray and Harry Vardon) but the other 2 were 1963 and 1988. I can’t fathom why they waited 50 years, 25 years, and 24 years for each return. The place is so dialed for the open. Not surprisingly, they are already teed up for the 2038 Open, so we only have to wait 16 years for number 5. The course has 3 nines and for events they use a composite routing featuring a couple completely made up holes and a routing very different from the standard couple nines that the lion’s share of holes come from. Like an Oakmont, Shinnecock, or Winged Foot, it’s all there at TCC. Plenty long, tight enough, wonderful and challenging greens, all it takes is a little time off from the mowers for the rough and some extra attention on that front to the greens and you have a US Open setup. And not a middle of the pack venue at that…

Architecture:

Brookline has no one architect to which is credits its design. 3 members allegedly laid out the first 6 holes and both William Flynn and the club’s first professional Willie Campbell also receive credit for the course’s design. Most recently, Gil Hanse has overseen the ongoing restoration process of the course. Part of what makes the course so wonderful is the flexibility in the routing, ordering, and selection of holes for the big events. For example, this year’s US Open implemented the short par 3 12th for the first time in the US Open, playing as the 11th hole between 105 and 142 yards. Further, the course features a plethora of long par 4’s with devilishly small greens but also a few with larger, more challenging greens. The par 4 5th is drivable, yet not easy, and the par 4 15th played as long as 510 in 2022. I believe the reason I like TCC so much is it completely divorces the all too often trend of a bunch of par 4’s falling in the same 430-460 yard range that creates all too much monotony. In the 2022 US Open, there were 3 par 4’s shorter than 375 and 6 above 475. While there is nothing less interesting than hitting about a dozen 7-9 irons throughout the course of a round, there is nothing better than constant change in distance, lie, and shape of shot required. By that measure, few do it better than Brookline.