Around the Top 100 World – Home to Augusta

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About The Trip Synopsis

Obviously, to make this trip work I needed the help of at least 100 people. In the following trip description I have mentioned the names of all the people involved to acknowledge their participation and to highlight how many it took to get the job done. (At the courses where I did not have a direct contact I tried to find a member to make the arrangements instead of going direct to the pro shop.) In order not to be repetitious in using  superlatives for all those who were helpful, I am going to just mention each name and the date we first met. From this you can surmise whether they are old friends or new. In other words, please hold your applause until everyone has been mentioned. This approach will also be used for the private houses that I had the honor of staying in. They were all lovely, warm, and cozy.

One of the best parts of the trip was seeing these old friends again. Unfortunately, the nature of the trip meant that the hard part was saying goodbye almost as soon as I said hello. It was certainly here today, gone tomorrow.

Unless otherwise noted, I played from the middle (member’s) tees, which were usually in the 6,500-yard range. I am not long enough off the tee to enjoy playing from “the tips.”

The strategy for this blow-by-blow (definitely not stroke-by-stroke) account of the trip is to give you an indication of how I arrived at each course, who was involved in the arrangements, and any interesting anecdotes. I thought it would be useful to mention world ranking, course age, designer, and my playing relationship with each course. Most of the courses are not being discussed in any detail. Individual detail for many of the courses can be located in that “O” where the year last played is indicated in the following daily diary. (My book will cover many of the significant aspects of each course.) Also mentioned are names of eating establishments and places where I slept. This should give you a taste of the quality of my travel, hotels, and meals, which rose and fell like a barometer.

So here we go:

Every golfer’s dream to walk over the Swilken Bridge at St. Andrews

Day 1  Sunday April 27

Drive Naples/Miami     Fly Miami/Ft. Worth     Play Colonial    Fly Ft. Worth/Miami

The trip was originally supposed to start with the Dominican Republic (Casa de Campo); Colonial in Texas was to come two weeks later. Unfortunately, my Texas contact was too laid back about my project, and it was not until March that I learned of a big problem with Colonial. Absolutely no guest play is allowed three weeks before the PGA Tour Colonial Invitational held May 22 through May 25. In talking to the sympathetic head professional Dow Finsterwald, Jr., I realized the only practical approach was to start the trip a day early with Colonial and therefore finish a day early. I was committed to 100 courses in 100 days, but the starting date was not set in stone, and the last day on the original schedule was my home course, Baltusrol, which could easily be moved into a more convenient slot as the trip progressed. I was initially hoping for a grand finale at Baltusrol with family and friends, but minimizing disruption to the schedule came first. On the new day chosen for Colonial there were to be a members’ tournament in the morning and a 1:45 pm shotgun in the afternoon. Dow reserved a spot for me in the shotgun.

At 5 am a threesome of Dan Turner, traveling companion, and yours truly left Naples by zooming eastward across Alligator Alley and then south to the Miami International Airport in my fully loaded Cadillac Fleetwood. The drive covered 127 miles and one wrong turn, where we were greeted by a  madhouse 7 am airport crowd. Dan dropped the two of us and luggage at American Airlines for our 1,121-mile 7:45 am flight to the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport. After landing (watch set back one hour) a Hertz car was rented and there was a 30-mile drive to just south of downtown Ft. Worth. Once at Colonial we took each other’s picture beside the imposing life-sized Ben Hogan statue near the clubhouse.

Heavy rain had fallen for all of the 48 hours preceding our arrival, so no electric carts were permitted on the course. This caused cancellation of both the originally scheduled members’ morning tournament and the afternoon shotgun. Told the course was available, we slung our bags over our shoulders and set off for the first tee. There were only a few players, and we basically had the course to ourselves.

At about noon the weather was raw on this early-spring Texas day — 55 degrees, overcast, dark clouds, and very windy. Colonial (rated 56, designed by Bredemus 1935 and remodeled by Maxwell)(played one round June 1976) is a busy full-service private country club in an urban/suburban setting. The course is fairly compact and mostly flat with a few small hills. Despite the previous rain, the course was playable although the turf was heavy under foot. I did not keep an official scorecard but calculated a legitimate 79 when the round was over.

Not having had lunch, we stopped at Macaroni’s, an Italian restaurant, to celebrate the successful completion of the first course. Then the 8:20 pm return flight brought us back to Miami, where Dan was there to greet us at midnight (watch set ahead one hour back to where it was when we started). The pillow at the nearby Courtyard by Marriott was reached at 1:15 am. Thus the first day involved 21 hours, 140 miles of driving, and 2,242 miles of flying. It was not an ideal starting schedule but was typical of what had to be done to accomplish the mission.

Day 2  Fly Miami/Dominican Republic                         Play Casa de Campo(Teeth of the Dog)

This day was fairly easy compared with Day 1. Dan left my companion and me at the Miami airport for an 11:30 am 886-mile American Airlines flight to La Romana in the Dominican Republic (watch set ahead one hour). Casa de Campo is on the southeast coast and 90 miles east of Santo Domingo. Before 1995 the only way to get to Casa de Campo was to fly to Santo Domingo and be driven two hours to the resort. Now the tiny runway at La Romana has been expanded,  and there is one commercial 727 flight each day. Because the flight is almost always fully booked you are well advised to make reservations early.

Even though there was only one arriving flight, passport control seemed to be as slow and cumbersome as previously experienced in Santo Domingo. After registering and being shown our casitas we walked over to the golf shop and discovered that the course was available for play. Although the official round was not scheduled until the next day, there was no point in passing up an opportunity to play a top course in beautiful weather.

At 3 pm it was 88 degrees with  bright sun and a slight breeze. The Teeth of the Dog (rated 20, designed by Dye 1971)(played May 1988/2 rounds) is part of a resort/real estate development and is bordered by private homes, three-story condominiums, the beautiful aqua-blue Caribbean Sea, and the airport. The runway extends into the ninth fairway, and on the twelth tee there is a forced carry of about 140 yards over the runway with the airport terminal to the right of the tee. Because there were only a few people on the course a gas-powered cart enabled us to finish at 7:15 pm in total darkness. An acceptable meal was had in the resort’s informal dinning room, and we were back in our rooms by 10:15 pm.

Day 3  Play Teeth of the Dog    Fly Dominican Repub./Miami    Drive Miami/N. Palm Beach

Following a quick breakfast we were off the first tee as a foursome at 7:30 am. My bag was on a gas-powered cart, but I was walking. There was a bright sun and a bit of a breeze. The temperature started in the 70’s and soon reached the high 80’s. The pace of play was slow as we helped our typical resort players look for their wayward shots.

After golf  we had a long and informative talk with the busy golf director Gilles Gagnon. After lunch we were driven the short distance to the terminal for our 3 pm departure to Miami. The outgoing passport control was even more chaotic than the incoming. A long single line snaked throughout the small and primitive open-air hut. After some time had passed it was learned that there had been an electric power failure and all the lights had gone out. In sweltering temperatures a government official finally appeared to “accelerate” the process. He took the long single line and created a much shorter double line. However, there was no increase in processing speed. When we turned a corner the problem became painfully apparent; there was only one person in a dark corner reviewing passports via a small flashlight. So forming the double line made absolutely no sense and even exacerbated the problem by creating more crowding in a hot and tiny area.

The only other time I had been to the Dominican Republic I had returned home and been terribly sick for almost a week with a wicked intestinal problem. With this in mind I even contemplated scheduling Casa de Campo toward the end of the trip. Needless to say, I was ultra-cautious during our 24-hour stay and am happy to report that I came away unscathed.

At 5:30 pm we arrived in Miami (watch set back one hour), where much security, including dogs sniffing people and luggage, was evident. Passport control was thorough and efficient. Dan met us, and we three drove 90 miles north to North Palm Beach (stopping for dinner at the Red Lobster in Boca Raton) and the Holiday Inn Express.

Day 4  Play Seminole                                                 Drive North Palm Beach/Orlando

At 7 am we took advantage of the complimentary cold breakfast at the motel. By 8 am we were ushered through the guard gate at Seminole and were greeted by members Tom Keresey (1973) and Ollie Havens (1977) at the entrance to the pink Spanish-architecture two-story clubhouse (one of the most distinctive in the world). The locker room is the most renowned in the world, and its layout has been copied by The Golf Club (Ohio) and Shadow Creek (Nevada). Basically it is an enormous room with a very high ceiling and wooden-door lockers along the outside walls. Thus, a friendly and open atmosphere is created in this extremely private and high-status club (rated 19, designed by Ross 1929)(first played February 1977 and last played January 1996/total 4 rounds).

On the first tee at 8:45 am Tom, Ollie, traveling companion, and I had caddies. Dan walked with us and provided enthusiastic support. The weather was perfect — bright sun, 75 degrees, light breeze. A few of the holes at Seminole border the ocean, but the sand and water never come into play.  The elevated fourteenth tee backs up to the beach, and you can look over the sand dunes to the pounding blue surf close by. As I stood there I was thinking of the very similar ambience 1,200 miles up the coast at Maidstone on Long Island, where I would be in 87 days if all went well.

The new element at Seminole is the shaving of greenside rough to fairway height so that there is now much more opportunity for chipping, as at Pinehurst #2. This is appropriate because Seminole and Pinehurst #2 are the best courses designed by Donald Ross. However, the shaved grass can also cause some poorly hit shots to roll a considerable distance into severe trouble. For instance, on the short par-5 third hole, a shot missing the left of the green now will race down the sharp slope to heavy vegetation. Thus a player has to think twice before blasting away at the green with a possible wild second shot.

At the turn Tom introduced me to the club president Barry van Gerbig. I was delighted to be able to tell him how pleasing it was to play the course with this new strategy that he had been responsible for instituting. When the round concluded we had a pleasant lunch in the main dining room, where the menu featured delicious bean soup and was capped by tempting cookies.

We then drove 165 miles north and west to Orlando and the La Quinta Inn. Dinner was at the adjacent Orlando Steak House, which had just opened for business and was rough at the edges. So in just a few hours we went from the penthouse (Seminole) to a greasy spoon. This abrupt shift in ambience would be typical of  the entire trip.

Day 5  Play Lake Nona                                                                     Drive Orlando/Brooksville

At 9:30 am we were at the Lake Nona golf shop, where we were greeted by the director of golf Gregor Jamieson (1989). Then the three traveling gypsies went out on a vacant course. Dan and my companion rode in the cart, which also contained my clubs, and I walked. The temperature was 70 degrees (eventually reached 85), the sun was shining, and there was a light breeze. Lake Nona (rated 95, designed by Fazio 1986)(first played May 1989 and last played January 1990/total 7 rounds) is a private course within a high-end real estate development. It was certainly private that day because no one else was playing.

After lunch we drove to the Orlando airport, whose actual name is McCoy International, and put Dan on a plane to Alabama. Between then and day 21 the traveling team consisted of my companion and myself and will be referred to as we. From the airport we drove 50 miles northwest to the Holiday Inn on Interstate 75 just east of Brooksville. The Inn’s buffet dinner was way below average.

Day 6  Play World Woods (Pine Barrens)                                                Drive to Lecanto

Teeth of the Dog, where the golf trip was scheduled to start but moved to #2 slot

Play Black Diamond (Quarry)                                               Drive Lecanto/Jacksonville

At 6:30 am we drove 20 miles west to the remote World Woods complex. They are still operating out of temporary quarters because the long anticipated resort hotel and clubhouse have yet to be built. However, a new road is being built, which means Tampa will be only 40 minutes away. On-site accommodations are expected in the winter of 1999.

At present World Woods (Pine Barrens Course rated 66, designed by Fazio 1993)(played January 1995/2 rounds) is a daily-fee public course with a well organized method of checking in, obtaining a cart, paying greens fees, and going to the practice tee and then to the first tee. Before play we had a brief discussion with the director of golf Stan Cooke. He had played golf at Ohio State with Gordon Dalgleish’s brother Colin (see section on Loch Lomond).

We had the first tee time at 7:30 am and played as a twosome at an unhurried pace. My companion drove the cart while I walked. It was 70 degrees, overcast with a light fog and no wind. The sun eventually came out, and it became a hot and humid 85 degrees. The course is totally isolated because there is no real estate development. The terrain is somewhat hilly, but there are some substantial distances between greens and tees, so I experienced a fairly vigorous walk. As the first out we had the course to ourselves, but friendly and efficient rangers were ever present. World Woods takes speed of play seriously.

After the round we had a longer conversation with Stan and then drove 20 miles north to Black Diamond. There we were met by a club member Terry Inslee and the head golf professional Joey Rassett. Terry is an extremely active member on the Golf Digest panel for rating  courses in the U.S., and we have been corresponding for a couple of years. At 1:30 pm Terry and my companion were on a cart and I was again on foot.

The weather was sunny, very humid, in the high 80’s, with no wind. Black Diamond (Quarry Course rated 78, designed by Fazio 1987)(played one round June 1991) is a private country club within a real estate development community (Forest course designed by Tom Fazio to open in 1998). The first 12 holes of the Quarry Course are somewhat hilly; then come the famous holes. They play mostly on the rims of two quarries 80 feet above water. The fifteenth hole goes from the top of the rim straight down to the floor of the quarry. The walk down the steep cart path was easy, but the walk out on the other side was a challenge. From the green the only way out is via the steep and winding cart path. In the hot and humid weather, especially because this was the thirty-third hole of the day, the climb took on the appearance of Mount Everest and was a real tendon stretcher. This proved to be the second-toughest walk of the trip (see Wentworth for the toughest).

Harbor Town Golf Links, South Carolina

After putting out on 18 Terry announced my score as 74, which has repeatedly been mentioned forever after because I am constantly being asked my lowest score of the trip. After refreshments, we were on the road 185 miles north and east to Jacksonville. The worst traffic jam of the trip was experienced on Interstate 95 just south of Jacksonville. An accident delayed our arrival at the Courtyard by Marriott by 1 ½ hours.

The most convenient hotel for the next day’s play is the Marriott Resort, which is just off the thirteenth tee of the Stadium course. In addition 80 percent of the tee times on this course are controlled by the resort. The problem is that room rates are in the $250-a-person area, making the weekend rate of $70 a person at the Courtyard decidedly more attractive. After checking in, we stumbled on to Paesano’s Ristorante, a nearby Italian restaurant, where we had a decent 10:30 pm dinner.

Day 7  Play TPC  at Sawgrass (Stadium)                           Drive Jacksonville/Hilton Head, SC

After a generous buffet breakfast we drove a short distance to Ponte Vedra and the guard gate of the TPC. The extremely rude lady attendant was a precursor of what was to come for the rest of the day. At the pro shop there was a discussion as to our greens fee. Over the previous ten months I had written several letters and made many calls in order to pin down the arrangements, and I thought I was going to be extended “the courtesy of the course.” However, the desk clerk was insisting on the full $180-a-person fee. Finally someone came down from the main office, and we were granted the concession of paying the PGA rate ($64).

Before play I sought out the very busy head greens superintendent Fred Klauk. He was extremely friendly and informative about the changes that had been made in the course over the past 17 years. The land is below sea level and was a total swamp before construction. The main change since opening  has been to clear the dense Florida underbrush in the out-of-play areas so that the average player here with a 20 handicap could find most wayward shots and keep play at a reasonable pace.

Outside the pro shop there was a beehive of activity with a sea of people and golf carts along with the constant blaring of the loud speaker announcing tee times for the two courses. The TPC at Sawgrass (rated 83, designed by Dye 1981)(first played December 1981 and again December 1982/total 2 rounds) is a mixture of resort guests, dues-paying members, and the general public. It is the ultimate golf “factory” with a total emphasis on maximizing greens fee income. The weather was overcast with a definite threat of rain. The temperature was in the mid 80’s, the humidity was high, and the wind was strong as well as swirling.

We were on the first tee as a foursome at the appointed 10:07 am starting time. However, because there were a group on the fairway and another group on the green we did not actually get our golf balls into the air until 10:15 am. My clubs were on the motorized cart, and I was walking. For the first four holes there was a long wait on every shot with the two groups in front continually visible. No ranger made an appearance. After an interminable wait on the fifth tee, when we reached our second shots the group in front had just cleared the green. At this precise moment a ranger materialized out of nowhere and spotted me on foot. He became incensed, accused me of holding up the whole field because I was walking, and demanded that I immediately get in the cart. Although I had a  great urge to tell him about having waited on every shot until now, it was apparent he did not want to listen to any excuses. Fortunately he left before we finished hitting our approach shots so I never got into the cart. Upon reaching the next tee we were back in order with the foursomes in the fairway and on the green.

After putting out on the ninth green we were met by the chief ranger and informed that it had taken us 2 hours and 40 minutes to play the front nine, as if it were our fault. Furthermore he told us that we would be kicked off the course if we did not clear the fourteenth tee by 2 pm. This demand seemed so bizarre we asked for an explanation and were told a shotgun start was to commence at 2 pm on holes one through 14. The ranger then assured us that we would not have a problem moving faster because he had warned all the groups in front to play faster. As you might surmise, this assurance proved to be an absolute joke, and play continued at a snail’s pace.

As we went down the tenth fairway the skies grew darker, and  thunder claps were audible as we played the eleventh hole. On the twelfth tee the skies opened up, and a severe 15-minute downpour ensued. Play came to a screeching halt. At this moment I was thinking that I had tried to plan for every possible contingency and here I was about to be thrown off the course because of a shotgun start. The rain did stop, and we left the thirteenth green just as the armada of golf carts for the shotgun start appeared. We raced to the fourteenth tee and just barely hit our tee shots before possible eviction.

We played the last holes under threat of rain and with strong, swirling wind. As we left the eighteenth green a torrential downpour began with gale-force winds. After  I retrieved  the car it was discovered that my golf bag had somehow been misplaced, and it took the staff about 15 minutes to locate it. This was an appropriate ending to a “day from hell.” Not having  played the Stadium course for 14 years, I had forgotten how hard it can play. Even though some of the most difficult edges have been smoothed, it is still Pete Dye at his diabolical best. Combining the design  with strong and swirling winds, oppressive humidity, excruciatingly slow play (five-hour round), and ranger distractions produced one of my highest scores of the trip. I was too exhausted to add up the number of strokes, but I am sure it was in the high 80’s. So within 24 hours I went from what would prove to be the lowest round of the trip to the next- highest (see Wentworth for the highest score).

I know I have been spoiled by excellent treatment at many fine clubs and should not complain about the occasional troublesome situation. However, how would a person feel who had stayed at the high-priced Marriott Resort, paid the full greens fee, and then been evicted from the course before finishing the round? I cannot believe that the PGA Tour, which owns the operation, needs to be so greedy that squeezing for the last dollar comes before providing a decent golfing experience.

We then drove north for 205 miles through some terrible weather to Hilton Head Island and the Red Roof Inn, with a decent dinner at the adjacent Crabby Nick’s Seafood restaurant.

Day 8  Play Harbour Town               Play Long Cove              Drive Hilton Head/Augusta, GA

The original schedule was to play one course a day on Hilton Head and then have an unhurried drive to Augusta. However, Long Cove is closed on Mondays, and they had a mixed member-guest the day before. Because I did not want to waste half a day sitting around, I opted for another doubleheader with an open day to follow. This proved to be fortuitous because play at Augusta had to be moved up a day.

So at 7:54 am we were part of a foursome on the first tee at Harbour Town in sweaters. The bad weather of the previous afternoon had been so severe that all the Hilton Head courses had been  forced to close in the early afternoon. The morning of Day 8 the sky was clear blue, there was a light breeze, and the temperature was in the 60’s. Our sweaters came off by the time we reached the tenth tee.

Harbour Town (rated 45, designed by Dye 1969)(first played November 1983 and last played May 1986/total 3 rounds) is a fully mature real estate development, but most of the houses are set back in trees and are unobtrusive. About three-quarters of the players on this very busy course are resort guests, and the remaining play comes from members who have retired to Hilton Head. Despite the stream of wall-to-wall golfers, the pace of play moved smoothly, the rangers were friendly and demonstrated restraint, and we were relaxed. It was a totally different atmosphere from the battle of the day before, which was interesting because we were on another heavily played Pete Dye course.

We then drove a short distance up the road to Long Cove and were met by the head professional Bob Patton (1993). The club (rated 80, designed by Dye 1981)(first played November 1983 and again April 1993/total 2 rounds) is private with a large membership coming from the fully built-out real estate development surrounding the course. The temperature was 70 degrees with bright sun as we stood on the first tee with Bob joining us in a threesome. We had  the course to ourselves, and Bob was the perfect host — an excellent and pleasant player who was  knowledgeable and articulate about the design of the course and the Pete Dye philosophy.

Bob’s last duty was to provide directions because you cannot go directly from Hilton Head to Augusta on the Interstate system. Fortunately Bob originally came from Augusta and was able to provide perfect “local” directions. There were 11 specific turns going on back roads and through such towns as Coosawhatchie, SC; through the U.S. Government Savannah River nuclear facility; and onto Magnolia Lane, which was reached by 9 pm.

To make the trip function smoothly a few luxuries had to be sacrificed such as dinner at Augusta National. As the final schedule worked out, we had to play the Hilton Head doubleheader and then get to Augusta for play the next morning. This meant not leaving Long Cove until a little after five for a four-hour drive. Thus, instead of a beautiful dinner at Augusta National there was a  quick McDonald’s meal along the way in Hampton, SC. There was not even time to say hello to old friend Charlie Drawdy, who lives in Hampton.

We were shown to our quarters, the new Clifford Roberts suites. The club  recently converted the old press building, which is just off the first fairway and down the slope beyond the pro shop, into rooms accommodating four groups. Each suite is exquisitely furnished and has four single bedrooms with complete facilities, a dinning room, and a large living room.

Our host was Buck Mickel (1980), and we were joined by one of his friends, Barton Tuck. Buck and Barton are partners in GolfSouth (a company based in Greenville, SC, that controls or manages 23-golf course projects). We spent the next couple of hours on general conversation before hitting the hay.

Day 9  Play Augusta National                                                      Drive Augusta/Pinehurst, NC

You might think I would have been  tired after walking 90 holes in the three previous days and driving 600 miles. Nothing could be further from the truth; I was all charged up with the adrenaline really flowing and felt light on my feet. Augusta National (rated 4, designed by Mackenzie and Bobby Jones 1932)(first played May 1976 and again May 1991/total 2 rounds) is a very private golf club and a most difficult course to which to gain playing access. It is one of my very favorite places in the world, and there I was on the first tee at 9:15 am in the most perfect weather possible. It was the best weather day of the trip. On a scale of 1 to 10 it was a 12 — no clouds, bright sun, blue sky, no wind, soft Georgia air, birds chirping. The temperature started at 65 degrees and rose to a delightful 75.

Each of our group had a caddie and we seemed to have the course to ourselves despite a fair number of players spread throughout. With great companionship in this exquisite setting I did not want the day to end. But it did end and in a memorable way. On the par-4 400-yard seventeenth hole I have yet to unsheathe my putter during my last two rounds. In 1991, again with Buck as the host, I had holed out my second shot for an eagle two. On Day 9 my approach shot came up short of the front bunker, but off a tight lie I holed out the pitch shot for a birdie three!

After a leisurely lunch in the grill room we sadly bade goodbye to Buck, Barton, and The National. Barton gave us excellent directions for the 200-mile drive northeast to Pinehurst, which involved a mixture of  Interstate and back roads. We arrived at the Holiday Inn in Southern Pines at 5 pm. Dinner was at Applebee’s in Aberdeen (never again).

Pinehurst #2 – next on schedule

Day 10              Open

Buck had asked me to move up our date at Augusta because he was leaving for Europe the next day, and thus this was the first open day of the trip. Noticing that we were going to be in Pinehurst, Buck had asked me to play his new course, Forest Creek, while we were in the area. Now how do you say no to your Augusta National host? Before the trip started I had never envisioned playing more than 100 courses, so I promised Buck that I would come back in the fall to play Forest Creek.  Instead we drove out to the site, had lunch with the head professional Waddy Stokes, and rode around the Fazio-designed course in a cart.

Most of the day was spent in getting organized because the inside of the car was a mess. The week before the trip started had been frantic, and I had just jammed all my course files and correspondence and other boxes of material into the car. We also arranged to have the first batch of laundry done. Dinner at the Lob Steer Inn in Southern Pines was somewhat above average (sensational compared with what we had experienced over the past few nights).

TO BE CONTINUED

About the Author: Gordon Dalgleish is the Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations. You can find him on Google+

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Around the Top 100 World Golf Trip

TRIP REPORT

Around the Top 100 World – Home to Augusta

Around the Top 100 World – Day 11 to Day 20 / Pinehurst to Cabo

Around the Top 100 World – Day 21 to Day 30 / Cabo to Kawana

Around the Top 100 World – Day 31 to Day 40 / Tokyo to Adelaide

Around the Top 100 World – Day 41 to Day 50 / Adelaide to Ayrshire

Around the Top 100 World – Day 51 to Day 60 / Ayrshire to Ascot

Around the Top 100 World – Day 61 to Day 70 / London to Long Island

Around the Top 100 World – Day 71 to Day 80 / New York to Ohio

Around the Top 100 World – Day 81 to Day 90 / Ohio to almost home

Around the Top 100 World – Day 91 to Day 100 and reflections

I have long thought that the ultimate travel experience is an around the world vacation…select your favorite and most desired destinations and over an extended period of time visit each of them as you circumnavigate the globe. A recent article reminded me of the sheer luxury of such a trip. While the article did not mention it, an RTW ticket is one of the bargains of luxury air travel if you fly in Business or First Class as the fares charged bare little resemblance to round trip fares. As an example you can secure an RTW Business Class ticket on Star Alliance for approximately $10,000 with multiple stops. First Class is $15,000.

As I was pondering the idea I was reminded of a friend, Bob McCoy who achieved, in many golfers eyes, the ultimate RTW golf trip. He played the Top 100 Golf Courses as selected by GOLF Magazine during 100 consecutive days. Yes, you read correctly. Some other points to consider if any reader wishes to match this journey;

  • The journey must start on day 1 from your home…no head start!
  • All air travel via commercially scheduled flights…leave the private jet in the hanger!
  • All courses must be walked (caddie permitted)…but no carts!

Bob has kindly agreed to let me serialize his experience from the planning to the trip and I shall post over the weeks and months ahead. So here is Bob’s unedited story; (please note this is the first of eleven parts to this posting. You may view the condensed trip schedule with detail here.) You may want to subscribe to our blog to ensure you do not miss any of the installments.

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100-in-100

Why?

How did the idea of playing the top 100 courses in the world in 100 consecutive days get started?  In November 1988, while on a trip around the world to complete playing the Top 100, I began to wonder what to do for an encore. After completion of the Top 100 the obvious sense of accomplishment was mixed with a sense of disappointment that there were no more worlds to conquer. The fun of planning and executing the various trips was like a drug; once a high had been reached something more powerful had to be tried to hit an even higher high. Furthermore, I had a group of friends around the world that I wanted to visit again.

During the November 1988 trip, while being interviewed for an article in a Japanese golf magazine, I was asked what I was going to do after completing the Top 100. I casually said I was going to play them in 100 consecutive days. Subsequently I established a relationship with the famous golf writer Herbert Warren Wind. This very articulate and thoughtful man was kind enough to write in February 1994:

“…For all your entertaining accounts of the clubs and courses you visit each year, I find myself musing: This guy is not only a fountain of golf knowledge, he is one of the great travelers of all time. Planes may be cancelled, his precise meetings with old and new friends may need adjustment, and the courses he has arranged to play may be in terrible shape because of freakish weather, but this guy can adjust to any and all conditions. He is one of the great travelers of all time, like the hero of Jules Verne’s Around The World in Eighty Days.”

Valderamma in Spain, venue for 1997 Ryder Cup Matches

The other major influence was the evolution of the idea of writing a book. In 1987 I began to publish a brief newsletter called “The Odyssey,” which was sent to my friends as a way to keep them informed of my golf travels. Before 1987 the normal routine was to play a course with one, two, or three interesting members; have some refreshments afterward; quickly travel on to the next course; and then write thank you letters at the conclusion of the trip. However, because many of these people expressed a genuine interest in my travels I thought a brief yearly review might be of some interest.

The first “O” was a simple, crude, and totally candid four-page effort sent to about 100 friends. A much longer version was mailed out at the end of 1988, and a curious thing began to happen. I began to receive letters from strangers thanking me for creating the annual travelogue and saying they had received a photocopy from so and so. Well, I did not know the author of the letter and did not even know so and so.

This phenomenon was both pleasing and a source of concern. Obviously I was flattered that I was creating a document worthy of a written response from total strangers. On the other hand, I was concerned that I had lost control of the distribution. Because I did not want to offend in any way any of the kind people who had afforded me the opportunity to play their courses, I felt I had to be circumspect in what I said. Thus, the totally candid direction of future “O’s” was curtailed, with negative comments kept to a minimum.

The unsolicited letters keep rolling in and their content, plus encouragement from old friends, leads me to believe that I can make a contribution to golf  by writing a book. The book will discuss all the World Top 100 courses, why they deserve to be on the list, and the noteworthy features of each course.

Thus, the reason for the 1997 trip was to create a challenge and to do something no one else has accomplished. However, it also developed into an in-depth field trip to gather information and impressions about each course. I asked the contact at each course to provide someone who was knowledgeable about the architectural evolution of the course. Many responded positively; a few could have cared less.

Creating The Itinerary

In May 1996 I purchased three large magnetic boards on which was written each of the 100 days. Also purchased were 100 magnets with a clip at the end to hold a piece of paper containing each course name. Thus it was easy to move the names around.

The most logical time to start the trip was late April. My business is seasonal, with the heavy work over by late April. Thus I was in the enviable position of being able to tell my clients that the office would be closed for 100 days without upsetting them. In fact, one company sent a gift of balls, gloves, and a hat.

Other considerations were Seminole’s closing for the summer on Mother’s Day (usually the second Sunday in May) and Augusta’s closing in mid-May. Because both hemispheres had to be visited, it was best to find the most temperate winter climate and that certainly was the southern hemisphere (palm trees in Sydney, Australia and Durban, South Africa).

No time for sightseeing on the trip!

At that point the question was the order of play. It was desirable to do as many as possible of the U.S. courses during their optimum weather season. This meant the southern part first and the northern part last. I also wanted to drive my own car as much as possible to avoid short-haul airplane flights and rental-car expense, including drop-off charges. As you can see, the schedule started with the southeastern part of the U.S. (including the Dominican Republic), followed by the rest of the southern and western parts of the country (including Mexico). San Francisco was a good overseas jumping off point to Japan, New Zealand,Australia,  and South Africa.

Then it was on to the British Isles and Ireland, followed by Portugal, Spain, and France, and finally back in the U.S. to do the northern part of the country as well as Canada. Doing this part of the U.S. in July had the added benefit of missing the complications created by the many three- and four-day member-guest tournaments, which traditionally are held in June.

The next stage in creating the itinerary was to consult with Gordon Dalgleish (1992*) of PerryGolf (travel agent based in Atlanta, GA specializing in golf trips to Scotland and Ireland). Many hours were spent on the phone with Gordon consulting his travel-agency computer to locate airline flights that would link all the courses. With his help a viable program based on a British Airways round-the-world special business class fare was created. The cost of this ticket was $10,800. (The actual international ticket had so many pages with so many countries that the agent in Wellington New Zealand asked me where I was not going.) The domestic flights cost an additional $3,500. I was able to keep the airline cost down by using my own car for three major U.S sections of the trip.

In creating the schedule I programmed buffer days in anticipation of possible delays due to bad weather, late flights, or even missed flights. If these buffer days turned out not to be needed then there was also alternative flights picked out to get me to the next destination one day early. Obviously to play 100 courses in 100 days and travel around the world meant that two courses would have to be played in one day on several occasions. Geographically, there were plenty of possible opportunities. In the end 16 doubleheaders became part of the program.

Having already been to each course at least once, I knew how to get there and move on to the next course in the speediest manner possible. For instance, I knew the fastest way from San Lorenzo (near Faro, Portugal) to Valderrama (at Sotogrande, Spain) was to rent a car in Faro, drive five hours to Sotogrande, and finally leave the car at the Malaga airport, paying a substantial drop-off charge.

By late July 1996 the ideal schedule from my standpoint was developed.

The next stage was to determine how well my ideal schedule would fit with the 1997 schedule of the 100 courses involved. A personalized letter was written to my contact at each club. In most cases this was a friend of many years; in a few cases the letter went directly to the club. This was Plan A. Also enclosed were a standardized form and a reply envelope. Everyone was asked to check the 1996 club schedule and try to guess if the 1997 schedule might produce a significant conflict. An early starting time was also requested (preferably the first one of the day).

Over the next two months 92 specific and positive responses were received. For the eight no or too vague responses, Plan B was activated. That meant calling on friends who might know someone at the problem club or writing the club direct.

When moving my base of operation from New Jersey to Florida in late October I debated whether to bring the three bulky magnetic boards because the schedule seemed to be in good shape. Bringing the boards South proved to be a very wise decision.

In February 1997 reconfirming letters were sent to all concerned. At that point the schedule looked firm. However, as you will read, the deck had to be reshuffled twice more before lift-off day, and further revisions had to be made as the trip progressed. It was obvious at the outset of the project that flexibility was the magic word in planning and executing the trip. At this point the single most valuable piece of equipment was the fax.

I am a firm believer in spending as much time as possible on the planning stage of a trip. I have learned the hard way that no matter how much you try to anticipate every eventuality there will always be some unexpected hurdle or hurdles. The goal is to keep the unexpected to the absolute minimum. The final itinerary for the trip was a single-spaced seven-page document containing 150 names of individuals along with 250 phone and fax numbers. PerryGolf, used as the contact point, was extremely helpful in coping with the changes that came up during the trip.

Course Access

Helicopter travel also not permitted on this trip!

As most of you know, just getting on some of the Top 100 courses is almost impossible, to say nothing about trying for a specific day and a specific hour. Having friends all over the world made my trip a possibility. Unless otherwise noted in the blow-by-blow account of the trip, all the course played are private. On 45 courses you must play with a member. On another 30 private courses you can play at certain times without a member (mostly in the U.K. and Australia) but need a proper introduction, such as being a member of a private club. On modern-day real-estate related courses you have to play with a member. There also are eight resort courses and three public-access courses. Finally, there is one course (Shadow Creek) that falls into the “other” category (basically you must be a high roller or friend of  the owner) (subsequently available for $1,000 greens fee).

Possible Publicity

In the early stages of planning the trip I envisioned all sorts of possible related activities. To defray the expense of the trip I thought of corporate sponsorship such as Titleist/Foot Joy/Cobra Golf (clubs, balls, gloves, shoes, socks, and bag), AT&T (demonstration of worldwide communication capability, including nightly updates on the Internet), and an airline such as British Air.  Other possibilities were a fund-raising program for the Multiple Sclerosis Society (with donors paying so much per mile traveled) or a contest to guess the actual itinerary.

All these ideas quickly evaporated because of the need to respect the privacy of all the clubs involved. A few of them wanted absolutely no publicity. Sports Illustrated contacted me in February expressing a desire to run a three-page article (including a map) to be published in April. Golf magazine also thought about running articles during each month of the trip. I had to ask both to hold off until the trip was concluded. Thus the trip was conducted in an inconspicuous fashion. The privacy issue also meant the trip could not be mentioned in the 1996 “O.”

Going on one airline exclusively made no sense; the optimum flight had to be chosen in all instances because of the need for speed. I had to take the most direct flight possible and not be tied down to a hub-city connection just to stay on one airline.

Traveling Companion

I have learned over the years that traveling alone on an extended trip is the only way to go because problems rise exponentially with the addition of each person. However, because the book was such an integral part of the trip I asked someone to join me. I wanted this person to act as another set of eyes and help write up the key aspects of the course played that day as we traveled to the next site. I thought I had such a person (63-year-old gentleman from overseas), and he did accompany me on the early part of the trip. Unfortunately, the pace was too fast and my friend retired from the fray after the first 20 courses.

Actually my first choice for a traveling companion had been Dan Turner (1992) who had been doing yeomen service as a researcher for the book. Dan is the head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Alabama. In December 1996 Dan’s new boss decided he was indispensable at work and thus was not free to spend 100 consecutive days away from the campus. Dan did join my traveling companion and me on the first few days of the trip. Then he joined me on the Monterey Peninsula, in Ireland and Scotland, and during the concluding 10 days. During these periods we accomplished a great deal of work, and it is a shame that Dan was not along for the entire trip.

Wardrobe

A few years ago I decided to simplify my life by traveling only with white golf shirts. This eliminates all agonizing color-coordination decisions while packing and on the morning of each golf day. With the need to do my own laundry without having conquered the iron, I have discovered all-cotton golf shirts do not come out of the dryer wrinkle-free. To supplement my current supply of white golf shirts for the trip I purchased a dozen Pickering 60% cotton/40% polyester white shirts. Following the trip my closet now contains a lifetime supply of white golf shirts.

I also purchased four drip-dry dress shirts, as well as two pairs of blue long pants and two pairs of blue short pants made of a new type of microfiber that was light in weight, washable, permanent-press, and wrinkle-free.

I also packed two pairs of middle weight blue golf slacks; one pair of blue corduroy slacks; one pair of gray dress slacks; one blue blazer; four ties; two blue cashmere sweaters; one gray Gortex-lined sweater; a 14-day supply of socks and underwear; and normal toiletry items supplemented by vitamins, Kaopectate, and Lomotal.

Of course, no trip complete without visit to St. Andrews

Luggage

How do you pack to circumnavigate the globe starting in Atlanta, Georgia, and ending in New Jersey 55 days later and encountering both spring, summer, and moderate early-winter weather? It meant one heavy central piece of luggage on rollers. How heavy would this suitcase become? At check-in an attendant attached an extra tag that said “HEAVY-Bend your knees”; the weight was listed at 28 kg (61.7 lb.).

Gordon produced a reasonably light and sturdy golf travel bag, also with rollers. Because the bag was not tall enough for my standard long putter one with a collapsible shaft had to be purchased. The putter head was ugly, but the collapsible shaft made it worthwhile.

My carry-on bag was bulky and heavy. To record as many thoughts as possible during the trip I purchased a Toshiba laptop computer that operated on all electrical systems. Because the battery is only good for 90 minutes of usage per full charge and there were going to be some ten-hour flights, two extra batteries and a battery charger kit were needed. This whole system added considerable weight to the carry-on bag, but it was necessary.

A portable printer was purchased, but it and the related supplies such as paper proved to be too bulky and too heavy. Also purchased (from Radio Shack) were two packages of international  adapters, one for electrical outlets and the other for telephone outlets.

The fourth piece of luggage was a lightweight hanging bag for a sport coat and slacks to avoid wrinkling these items by packing them tightly in the big suitcase. I also purchased a small two-pocket zippered travel purse to hold my passport, travelers’ checks, airplane tickets, regular wallet, some bank checks, and a minicalculator. This purse was never out of my sight and went into the golf bag while on the course.

Because it immediately became apparent that the carry-on bag was really heavy I bought a set of detachable wheels to roll the bag on and off airplanes and down long airport corridors. However, it quickly became clear that it was impossible for one person to roll more than two pieces of bulky luggage at the same time. Thus, the detachable wheels were abandoned, and I put the carry-on bag back on my shoulder. Actually, moving the four pieces simulanteously was not a big problem except in Japan.

One or more cameras would have been desirable additions. However, not only were weight and space considerations in the decision note to include them, but so were the lack of  freedom to take pictures at appropriate times. The priorities were to play golf and write down observations. I have found that doing these two tasks makes it impossible to take pictures too while maintaining a reasonable pace of play. The choice is to take notes or to snap pictures, and I opt for note taking. In this regard 30 pocket-sized spiral notepads were purchased. One question was which spiral location was best — on the side or on top. Extensive field testing indicated that the clear choice was spirals at the top for ease of taking out and replacing in the right-hand back pants pocket.

Physical Conditioning Program

I am not a physical fitness freak, but I did not want to have the trip fail because some part of my body fell to pieces. That meant a fairly serious exercise program had to be performed on a 58-year-old body. Actually I have been on a semi-regular exercise program for the past few years, so I just became more dedicated to following it at least three times a week starting in the summer of 1996. The program consists of extensive stretching, 10 to 15 minutes on a stair climber, 10 to 15 minutes on a stationary bike, and 20 to 25 minutes on a treadmill whose elevation can be adjusted. I also spent the winter season carrying my bag in order to increase my stamina. Clearly the program worked because no body part failed, even for one day. I certainly would not characterize myself as an “iron man,” but for at least 100 days of my life I can modestly put myself in that category.

McCoy Power Reports (MPR)

Most of my friends think I am fully retired, but in fact I run a successful business, McCoy Power Reports (MPR). I publish nine formal reports a year, plus some interim reports, on worldwide market shares for electric power generating equipment and services. It is a $100 billion-a-year industry, and my paying customer base includes such companies as GE, Siemens (Germany),  ABB (Switzerland), GEC Alsthom (France and England), and Mitsubishi (Japan).

In early April the following notice was sent to all my customers:

“Please be advised that I will be out of the country from late April through early August. Therefore, the MPR office will be closed at the end of the day on Friday April 25 and will not reopen until Thursday August 7. There will be no way that I can respond to any requests during that time period. Thus, if you have any special requests please contact me by April 25.” Not only were there no complaints, but no one canceled. In fact, during the three weeks after reopening, three new companies signed up for the full subscription service. Maybe I should go away for 100 days every year.

Luck

Despite a full year of planning and preparation, I was going to need a lot of luck for the trip to be successful. Before blast-off I received a card and good luck charm from my older daughter Elizabeth. The card said “Enclosed is a good luck rock for your journey! May your goals and dreams be accomplished. May this green rock, illustrating different geological ages, bring you luck and happiness while you travel. The rock is from Alaska and Canada – the Tatshenshini River. It traveled a long way to bring you luck. Don’t forget to put it in your golf bag.”

I did as instructed, but then forgot about the rock. Fortunately I cleaned out the golf bag in Atlanta just before embarking upon 53 days of flying. It was then that I discovered the rock and realized why the trip had been going so well so far. For the rest of the trip, every time I thought about how lucky I was that everything was going so well I also thought of the rock. And these thoughts occurred daily. On the eighteen hundredth green at Merion I took out the lucky rock and had my younger daughter Jane take a picture of me kissing it.

Miscellaneous

There were several day-to-day items to cover before lift-off. To cover the normal monthly bills, organizations such as the electric and phone companies had to be sent enough funds to cover at least four months’ worth of charges. The June installment to the Internal Revenue Service was prepaid, and the credit-card company received a substantial advance payment to avoid not exceeding my credit limit and thus being refused credit in Adelaide, Australia.

Ground Rules

As the first person to attempt playing the Top 100 in a given number of days, I have the discretion to determine the ground rules for anyone who wants to play them in fewer than 100 days. These ground rules are:

  1. 1.     Start from your official residence on day one.
  2. 2.     Fly commercially.
  3. 3.     Walk all 1,800 holes.

TO BE CONTINUED

About the Author: Gordon Dalgleish is the Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations. You can find him on Google+

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Video #5 / King’s Course,Gleneagles, Scotland

The great James Braid won five Open Championships before he designed the King’s Course at Gleneagles which opened in 1919.  Of the more than 200 courses he would go on to design, the King’s is considered to be Braid’s parkland masterpiece. You’ll find links-style pot bunkers, heather and gorse combined with inland characteristics like trees and forests, a generally slower surface;  plus numerous elevation changes several of them considerable.

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Video #4 / Castle Stuart Golf Links, Scotland

Treasure hunting links golfers will be pleased to find new loot in the Highlands at Castle Stuart.  It was Golf Magazine’s “Best New International Course of the Year” in 2009.  It was ranked World 56 and selected to host the Barclays Scottish Open in 2011.  Better still, if you’re the type that likes to hit the ground playing, the first tee is but 2.9 miles from the airport!

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Video #3 / The Castle Course, St. Andrews, Scotland

Although opened to a flurry of some controversy, The Castle Course at St Andrews will begin its fourth year of play in 2012 with some well considered modifications.  Several greens including 15’s enormous false front have been “tempered” for less slope plus the club plans to keep the surfaces softer than in the past.  Secondly, there are fewer blind “hummocks” – those large, hay covered, well- struck-drive-eating mounds to avoid.

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