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Myrtle Beach Remastered

March 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

A couple weeks ago I went to something pretty cool right in the heart of Myrtle Beach.

The Burroughs & Chapin Co, one of MBs biggest companies, probably THE biggest, did something good. Pine Lakes CC has had a few lives. It was originally the golf component of The Ocean Forest Hotel, one of the super-swanky spots that popped up in the roaring twenties. When the hotel finally met its demise the golf course carried on, although not known as one of the areas must plays.

An interesting sidenote is Sports Illustrated was first discussed by Time Inc execs in the bar at Pine Lakes, pretty neat.

Two years ago B&C closed the “Grandaddy” and rather than pop up a few hundred houses in this most desired area, resurrected the golf course. So an old standard, the oldest among 100 in Myrtle is back and better than ever.

Categories: Courses · Myrtle Beach

Just Hangin’ Around

February 14, 2009 · 3 Comments

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, prepared me for what I witnessed Wednesday night inside the Cameron Arena at Duke University.

I don’t have to tell you the Duke/UNC rivalry is maybe the biggest in sports, college or professional. I’ve been to Packers-Bears, Notre Dame-USC, Cubs-Cardinals, and they all looked like a Girl Scout cookie sale next to this madness…but more on that in a minute.

I was on this trip, then off, then on, off, and finally, thankfully on. I was third alternate and that might be pushing it. My stock rose and fell as the days approached but that’s OK…I made the cut in the end. After all, how many Majors have been won by someone “just hangin’ around?” And this was a Major.

Now regular followers of B.I.G. know what a lucky cuss I am when it comes to playing golf and hanging at good spots…no doubt about that. And I know it’s luck, not deserved. But what I am about to describe to you, at The Pinehurst Resort and surroundings, may go down as the Best 24 Hours In Golf…and I’ll be brief in fear that when you read about this I might lose you forever.

It started with dinner at The Magnolia Inn, a creeky old tavern in the Village of Pinehurst with two great pals…a couple hours on the porch outside the recently ruined, I meant renovated, Ryder Cup Lounge and off to bed. Then the fun began.

Next morning it was biscuits and gravy followed by golf on course #4, Tom Fazio’s terrific rewind of a D. Ross underachiever.

We met at 5:00 and motored north for an hour or so to Durham, NC, home to the Duke Blue Devils, Coach K, about 100 banners hanging from the rafters, and last but not least The Cameron Crazies. These are the students and they are all painted blue…and I mean they are ALL painted blue. They never sit or stop chanting in one very loud voice from before tip off until the end of the game.

Some of it is a little unseemly, like when they repeat the announcers introduction of a Tarheels player with a “you suck,” but the rest is just good college mayhem.

PA Announcer: “Welcome 5-11 guard, from Clinton Maryland, number five…Tyyyyyyyy Lawson”

Cameron Crazies: ”Ty Lawson, you suck!!!” Guess you don’t really need to hear the rest of the roster.

Our fourth was none other than author Jim Dodson (I won’t call him golf writer because his subjects are much more diverse than that) which was a true treat for me. I’ve read almost all his books on golf from Final Rounds, to Hogan (best Hogan biography by a lot in my humble opinion), to his latest, A Son of The Game…this is a good one that I’ll post more about when I’m finished. You’re going to want this book either as a Dad, for your Dad, or just if you really like good golf writing. It comes out just before Father’s Day, trust me.

It’s 80 degrees and 90% humidity in the arena…everyone looks like they’ve had a shower at the end of the night. Krzyzewski on one bench, Roy Williams on the other, not 20 feet from each other…an unholy place…and something I’ll never forget.

Then the trip turned back to golf on B.I.G. personal fave, and home of the Best Par Four to Ruin a Round Early, the #2 course at Pinehurst. The last time I was here was at a very high quality road trip to the 2008 US Amateur, watching eventual champion Danny Lee treat the Deuce with the utmost disrespect…birdieing half the holes and showing enough fear to fill a small grape.

Along for the walk were great friends and customers Jeff Fiorini and Wright Chandler from GolfPride. We had a match under a sky that North Carolina fans would say proves God’s loyalty to the Heels…just as blue as it could be.

After my good partner and I lost the first two holes to the Grip Boys it looked bad…actually it looked a little like a handicap miscalculation…but we won the third and no one was more than one-up until we lost the match and 10 bucks on 18…money well spent to say the least.

Our caddies were great as usual and included Hall of Famer Eddie Mac, who spends the same amount of time talking about the latest poetry he’s reading as he does 10-footers for bogey. He likes to hear what you think the putt will do before he expresses his opinion and even has his own unique way of doing this.

“What say you knave?” is a typical Eddie Mac question…now I ask you who says knave?

That’s it for now and maybe forever for the reason listed above…I hope this happens to you some day, I really do…now what say you knave?

Categories: Amateurs · Caddies · Courses · Friends · Pinehurst · Travel

Looper Chronicles

January 18, 2009 · 3 Comments

Pete McDaniel, Willie McRae, Eddie MacKenzie

Pete McDaniel, Willie McRae, Eddie McKenzie

On Thursday night I was in Charlotte for a unique presentation to say the least. Long time Golf Digest editor and Tiger Woods collaboroator Pete McDaniel was there to ask questions of two Hall of Fame caddies from Pinehurst Resort.

The idea was sparked by EVP Marketing, we just call him “E”, Tom Pashley to keep the Model A tradition of the caddie alive in a Brickyard 500 world. Good for him.

Walking anywhere is not just more fun and the only way one can call golf exercise, but more importantly the way the game was designed. Old Tom, Donald Ross, McKenzie…they never planned on you necking your drive 211 in the air and racing to your ball like DE used to get to turn two…no, they meant you to neck your drive 211 and saunter up to your ball with enough time to think about how you were going to mess up your second.

There are of course countless places where walking the course adds everything to the experience, but nowhere more so than the short grass at Pinehurst #2 . Not to sound like an ad but you literally can hit it into Hogan’s divot…and if you have the right looper, he can show you where that is exactly.

That right looper was there Thursday. Wille McRae slung his first leather Wilson Staff over his skinny shoulder at age 10 in 1943. Here are a few highlights of his 65-year career…and by the way he’s not retired.

He estimates he caddied for Donald Ross 10 times
He estimates he caddied for Pinehurst founding family member Richard Tufts 100 times
He shot 67 on #2 as a teenager with 8 clubs…think about that one the next time you lace up your G-Shox and flail away with your 460 cc at a nuclear powered Pro V
He caddied in the ’51 Ryder Cup at Pinehurst in a four-ball match. In his group were Ben Hogan and Jimmy Demaret. According to Wille, Hogan said two things on the way to a sporty little 32-34. “Have a nice round” and “Have a nice day” was the sum total. I wish you were there to hear Willie tell it

He’s had literally thousands of loops over his long life and says that there were only 10 he wouldn’t want to caddie for again…”and they were all from New York City.” I think he pulled this one out for a crowd with a lot more y’alls than yous guys, but it was funny just the same.

When he reminds us one reason to take a caddie is “you can ask a golf cart which way a putt breaks all day long and he won’t tell you” it just reminds me of why I hate the mechanical mule so much…other than to allow the old-timer the chance to still make doubles on the course he loves, carts should be as illegal as grand theft auto…my opinion only.

Eddie “Eddie Mac” McKenzie is a toddler compared to his friend. He’s only been reading putts at the Deuce for 20 years. Before that who knows, but I think in the great tradition of the Super-Looper, he rode his bike to a dark bar looking for a decent buzz and a little companionship…this may be totally false but after all this is my BLOG and I had to let my fact checker go because of the economy…plus Eddie doesn’t own a computer so he’ll never see it anyway.

He’s a man of letters. Over the course of two hours we talked mostly about writers and books. I took notes…he didn’t.

He knows jazz, wine, food, and literature…but most of all he knows the ball will break in the opposite way that it looks…and you would save more than a few Nassaus if you do as he says.

In the end golf has so many good things going for it. Two of those I was lucky enough to spend a couple hours with last week in Eddie Mac and Wille McRae…I can only hope I listened more than I talked.

Categories: Caddies · Courses · Pinehurst

The Most Underated Things In Golf- Part IX

November 14, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I hope some day you have the chance to play the Donald Ross gem just refurbished in Charlotte, NC as I did this week. Charlotte CC, home of the Best Fried Oysters In Golf, is one of the greats…and a place for one of the Most Underrated Things In Golf.

Fall golf is without a doubt one of the true small pleasures in life. Teeing off at nearly 2:00 allows for a late twilight finish which comes with it’s own special bonus…it’s already cocktail time!

My friend John “Isn’t it Wunnerful?” Corder hosted us for this walk in the park with two superb caddies, Dave and Box Car…the latter got his name when he used to ride the rails to work and one day the train was moving too fast for him to jump off at the construction site where he was working…so he had to ride it to the end and walk back the 30 miles…good Sherpa lore.

I remember working at the golf course as a kid in the fall with the smells of burning leaves in the air…stealing a three hole loop before dinner and riding my bike home in the dark. No way I’d let my kids do that but that’s another story for another day.

But the fall is a time for some of the best things in life. We move too fast, especcially in these times, to really enjoy them. Football, Thanksgiving, fireplaces, and maybe the best of all…golf.

Categories: Caddies · Courses · Food · Friends · Underrated

Askernish

August 23, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I’m not in the habit of posting other sources, but this is just too classic to resist.

Askernish, an Old Tom Morris designed golf course located in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, has been rediscovered and renovated…open for play today.

From reading the report, it would be akin to finding Oakmont or Pine Valley in the middle of a field in Wisconsin

The best part is the sheep farmer mad as hell that a golf course would disrupt such fine grazing land…must be the only tennis player in the country.

Read about it here and here.

Categories: Courses

The Most Underrated Things In Golf Part VIII- Night Chipping

August 23, 2008 · 1 Comment

I’ve posted about Pine Needles before. It is without a doubt one of the most underrated golf courses and golf experiences in the country.

For a variety of reasons it’s not on the short list of avid golfers looking for a high quality vacation but it should be. This week we played Pine Needles during the National Amateur held a few thousand pine cones down the road over at The Amazing Deuce…Pinehurst #2…a little on that in a minute.

“Buddy Trips” as they’ve been coined, are among the most sacred events in the game. It doesn’t take much to make one a success. The elements are good friends, good or great golf, a nice but not too nice place to stay, and a little beer. But the best part was none of the above. The thing that made this 36 hours The Best In Golf was, you guessed it, night chipping.

Since we were staying next to 18 green the lure was too great. We had to hit a few lobs in the dark, not quite sure where the flag was…then again who cares about that anyway. I’m pretty sure I lost.

Then over to the US Amateur for a couple hours. If you ever want to have a great getaway, find a golf course near the Am to play, then go watch college kids hit it miles and putt 13.5 greens with all the fear of a US Marine.

The fun part is you get to do all of this from the middle of the fairway. It takes a hole or two to get used to this…big major chamoionships are supposed to be mob scenes, with all the intimacy of a fall Saturday at Death Valley…but not here. These amateur championships have got to be the last best secret in the game.

Strolling up a perfect fairway behind two great golfers is a treat…take it from me. And the best part? You don’t have to ruin the experience by playing.

Categories: Amateurs · Courses · Friends · Travel · Underrated

“I’m Not Dead Yet” – The Best Locker Doors In Golf

August 15, 2008 · 2 Comments

This from friend Michael Scott. He has sent the attached photos of a locker room recently visited in England with partner Nick Green. This is one of a million things that make you chuckle about the game…at least it made me chuckle…borderline chortle.

Dear Rick,

I’d like to nominate something for your Best In Golf Blog.

A few weeks back I was in London and had an opportunity to play golf on a Monday morning. As you know, there are several great heathland courses around Southwest London that we’ve all heard of: Sunningdale, Wentworth, Walton Heath, The Berkshire. Truly amazing golf.

We end up at New Zealand Golf Club just about a mile from Sunningdale. New Zealand was built about the same time as these others but is truly one of those hidden gems.

So the three of us (me, my business partner Nick Green and one of his friends who lives nearby) show up at 9am as “visitors”. No introduction is necessary here. It is a private club. But like most in Britain, they keep their monthly dues low by taking money off of visitors like me. In America, we pay to keep the unwashed masses off our private clubs. There they like to keep the dues low. Different strokes and all of that.

Anyway, we have a fantastic round with some really fun holes. Finish in 3 hours toting our own bags (the way golf should be played). We don’t see anyone out on the course. Afterwards we head into the clubhouse and order lunch (3 Shepherd’s pies please with a pint of lager), and then head into the lockerroom to change shoes.

It was there I discovered what I have never seen.

Their lockers, which are original from the 1920s, have been passed down from member to member…with the previous occupants all listed above. When a member dies, his name is scratched out and the next guy inherits the locker. I know at Deepdale on Long Island there’s a similar tradition, but I don’t believe they scratch the guy’s name out!

Anyways, chalk this up as the Best Locker Doors in Golf.

And I highly recommend the Shepherd’s Pie.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Scott

Thanks Michael…sounds like you better not miss too many Saturday morning games at New Zealand or you just might lose your locker. I can hear the board meeting now:

”Anyone seen Purlmutter lately? No, not for some time. Scratch him off then and be quick about it.”

Categories: Courses · Locker Rooms · Travel

The Best Par Threes in Golf

July 25, 2008 · Leave a Comment

This weeks golf is just like the time of year…the Dog Days. The national championship of Canada is on…but nobody’s there. The Evian Masters is OK but it ain’t the Safeway.

This weeks best golf is the Sr. British Open…why? Because it’s at he home of our first in the series, Best Par Threes in Golf…The 8th hole, The Postage Stamp at Royal Troon.

The first in the category will most likely be the shortest at 123 yards from the championship tees. If it plays downhill, and if it’s downwind that day, with a foot in the rough it’s a pitching wedge.

But if it’s playing into a gale off the Firth of Clyde, and you can’t see the 7th fairway a few yards away, load up the surface-to-air missile and let it rip.

Either way is daunting with a green just wide enough to stand on and the “coffin bunker” guarding the left…don’t need to tell you why it’s called that I don’t think.

Pictured right is friend Andy wondering just how he is going to get himself out of the coffin…can’t talk this one out Big Pine.

Has Linda Hartough ever painted a one-shotter at your club? Yeah, mine either.

Categories: British Open · Courses · Par Threes

Boys On Tour Scotland Edition

May 29, 2008 · Leave a Comment

There are two things I am sure of about Scotland. The bad weather is a lie. I’ve been twice for a total of 16 days and have never reached for the Gore-Tex. The first time was in July and the average daily high was 80 which made the average daily low in the non air conditioned hotel 84.

The other thing I’m positive of is the beer tastes better than here…a lot better.

This go ’round, for the first three days, we were in The Land of Black Faced Sheep and Single Malt Whiskey, north of Juno and Moscow in the Highlands region of this great golf country.

The “we” this time were eight members of the Blue Elephant Golfing Society (B.E.G.S.) headed to Scotland to play golf and drink lager until we a) ran out of money or b) fell over from exhaustion.
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Our primary purpose was to play a match with the soon to be 50 year-old organization which holds our charter, The Pink Elephant Golfing Society (P.E.G.S.). That didn’t work out so well for our side due to several questionable handicaps on the other side…most notably John Morrison’s 8…but I digress.

Days 1 & 2

Two golf courses that should be on your Things To Do Before You’re a Loose Impediment list are within an hour of each other. They are Nairn GC and Royal Dornoch. Our first day was spent at Nairn in weather that felt more like Florida in March than Scotland in May…sunny with just a slight breeze.

Nairn sits hard by the Moray Firth, a lovely little water hazard connected to the North Sea. It’s generally gray and kicked up but this day it was blue and calm. The gorse, normally a Titleist swallower and the quick death of every golfer, blooms bright yellow every spring and we hit it at its peak…a little like the azaleas at Augusta in early April.

We started the day at Nairn Dunbar which might be termed the muni in town but that’s no dig…it was really good and very difficult. We met some really nice people…like these two ladies who asked “if they could pick up a man” from our group.

We were afraid they would hold us up…the reality was we saw them on the first tee and not again until the bar…where they were already eating lunch. Women are slow…right.

We had dinner with our hosts at Nairn GC and it just happened to be the night of the Chelsea/Manchester United soccer final. This is kind of like stumbling into a bar in Boston during game 6 of the World Series…only louder.

A pool was going around the room. We all threw in our 2 quid for a chance to win 50. Of course the winner came from our group which the members thought was hilarious…since most of our guys thought football was played on Saturday in Athens and Clemson…here’s Leon with his take.

The next day we rode up to Dornoch where we got our only real taste of Scottish weather all week. The boys were scrambling to the pro shop for a stocking cap or two but the day turned out perfect.

Dornoch is a magic golf course laid out by Old Tom himself. This place would be on the British Open rota in a heartbeat if it wasn’t driver driver from the middle of nowhere. The fun part, other than all the doubles, is being where Donald Ross grew up and seeing the inspiration for Seminole, Oakland Hills, and Pinehurst #2…just great and the consensus favorite for the week.

Dinner that night at our usual 9:00, a cocktail or three, and nighty-night.

Next Up : Doon The Coost To Troon and The Match With The Pinks

Categories: Courses · Friends

Briar’s Creek

January 26, 2008 · Leave a Comment

There’s a club near Charleston, SC…more accurately driver-driver-driver from Kiawah….called Briar’s Creek. Rees Jones took a green bean farm and made it into a really fine golf course.
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The last five holes are stunners… two really good Par 4′s (14 and 16), two impossibly difficult Par 3′s (15 and 17…went XX there today…nice!), and a muti-option Par 5 in #18. The experience is pretty pure…good staff, mostly walking although you can ride if you like, and a small clubhouse about to open… small at least by today’s standards.
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In other words, they “get it”
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I’ve wanted to post something about BC on Best In Golf for some time, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. They have a terrific group of people working there who remember you even though your visits are infrequent, the food is way above average with a lunch menu that goes miles beyond the club sandwich with chips, and the course itself is really fun to play.
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But Best In Golf? That takes some doing…until now.
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Behold the snack line-up at The Creek.
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Popcorn, peanuts, and pretzels?
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Not quite….how about Wasabi Peanuts, Marcona Almonds, Spanish Cocktail Mix, Deluxe Mixed Nuts with Giant Macadamias, Pickled Okra, Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans, Country Marinated Olives, Sourdough Cheese Crisps, Blue-Cheese Stuffed Olives, and Survival Trail Mix.
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And if that doesn’t get-er-dun for you try a little Rum Raisin Nut Coffee Cake or a freshly baked cookie…all they have in the cupboard here is Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Oatmeal Raisin or my personal fav…the Heath Bar Crunch.
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That’a Baby.

Categories: Courses · Food

The Best In Golf