Round #31: Massachusetts - TPC Boston

The contrast in driving up to the TPC Boston clubhouse after having played at the  Newport National Golf Club one day previously was quite striking. A large, beautiful clubhouse was surrounded by well-maintained flowers and landscaping. The roads and parking lot were paved - - - no dusty, gravel lots. The practice facilities were first class: driving range, chipping green, sand traps, and large putting greens. Several staff members attended to the clubs, carts and the practice facilities. Julie dropped me off early to provide her with ample time for quilt shopping on nearby Cape Cod (if you consider a 1-hour drive to be near-by!). 

Originally designed by Arnold Palmer, with renovations in 2007 by Gil Hanse, TPC Boston was named by Golf Digest among the “Top 10 Best New Private Clubs in the U.S.” when it debuted in 2002. The club hosts the annual Deutsche Bank Championship, one of only four PGA Tour Playoff events for the FedExCup. Previous winners of the tournament include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, and Steve Stricker. Steve seems to do quite well on TPC courses, having won the John Deere Classic tournament the last 3-years running at the TPC Deere Run course.  

Round: #31

Location: Norton, MA

Golf Digest Best-In-State Rank: #10

Date: 23 Jun, tee off at 3:00 PM

Conditions: partly cloudy, 5 MPH wind, 81 degrees

Yardage: 6,442
Lost balls: 1

Score: 81 on a par 72

In spite of my early arrival, the club had guest rules that the staff was strictly adhering to. Unaccompanied guests and TPC passport holders (members from other TPC clubs) were not allowed to play until 3:00 PM. In spite of any potential to be thrown in with an earlier group, I was sent out at 3 PM with two passport holders. It became quite obvious that playing TPC Boston was worth the wait once we started the round. 

 339-yard par 4 hole #1 (view of approach shot to the green from the fairway)

506-yard par 5 hole #2 (view of approach shot to the green from the fairway) 

 254-yard par 4 hole #4 (view of the green)

 375-yard par 4 hole #5 (view of approach shot to the green from the fairway)

505-yard par 5 hole #7 (view of approach shot to the green from the fairway)

Both of the men I played with were from the Washington, DC area. Albert Lee is an economist who had traveled to Boston to attend a conference starting on Monday. Although he works in the private sector, his customers are U.S. government agencies who contract with him. He was born in Hong Kong but grew up in New York City after his parents immigrated from China. Mark Cottrell was the other member of our group. Mark was just taking a short holiday to play golf in the Boston area with his friend and golfing partner. Both men are members of the TPC Potomac at Avenal Farm club in the Washington area. Mark is a tax attorney employed by the U.S Treasury Department. He was born in Buffalo, New York.

We were accompanied on the round by a fore caddy named Windsor. He began working at the course 3-weeks ago after his recent graduation from Northeastern University where he majored in business and political science. While discussing Albert’s Chinese heritage, Windsor shared with us that his father was of Chinese descent and had also been born in Hong Kong. That was a surprise since he did not look Chinese at all, he must take after his mother in that respect. Windsor was the polar opposite of Tyler, the fore caddy who accompanied me I at Mystic Rock in Pennsylvania. Where Tyler moped around the course in a depressed mood, Windsor was happy to be helping us as he literally jogged the entire course. He ran ahead of us when we went up to a tee box and would find the balls and inform us of the remaining distance to the green when we rolled up on the golf carts. Although he could not insert himself into our conversations, I did it for him since his ambition was to work in the policy making arm of the government. It was too much of an opportunity not to get him into a conversation with Albert and Mark regarding his future career.

 Windsor jogging ahead up the fairway

Albert, Windsor & Mark

It was interesting to watch Albert prepare for his shot on the tee box. He was very methodical in his approach, perhaps it was the influence of his training as an economist. One element of his approach was to use the head of his club to measure the height of the tee before placing the ball on top of it for the shot.

Albert measuring the height of his tee 

Our golf round started out under ideal weather conditions. The threat of an afternoon thunderstorm appeared ready to dampen the round on hole #13 when the winds picked up with dark clouds headed our way. At one point the storm front completely surrounded us with the exception of blue skies directly overhead. I thought we had a 100% chance of getting wet before we finished playing but the rain never fell.

 185-yard par 3 hole #11

 369-yard par 4 hole #13

 495-yard par 5 hole #14 (view of approach shot to the green from the fairway)

 144-yard par 3 hole #16

502-yard par 5 hole #18 (view of approach shot to the green from the rough)

One interesting feature on the course was a mound on the 17th green; it looked like someone dropped 2-cubic yards of dirt by mistake in the middle of the green and forgot to smooth it out before planting grass seed. Naturally, my approach shot landed on the green with the mound directly between my ball and the hole. It was virtually impossible to par the hole since the ball gained tremendous speed on the downside of the mound; making an easy 2-putt par into a 3-putt bogey for me. According to Windsor, 2-time Deutsche Bank Champion Vijay Singh also hates the mound on the #17 green with a passion.

 389-yard par 4 hole #17 (view of approach shot to the green from the fairway)

 The "mound" on the 17th green (the picture does not do it justice!)

We drove into New Hampshire after leaving the Boston area. The hour was growing late when we approached New Bedford. We were not sure where or if we would eat any dinner until we drove by the Homestead Restaurant. We have been relying reviews from the Yelp iPhone app to find good restaurants, but a quick U-turn in the car can sometimes be just as effective.

The Homestead Restaurant occupies a barn built in 1790 on a property that was a working farm for almost as many years. The building was renovated by Mark McDonough and his brothers, who have previously renovated five historic homes and buildings in New Hampshire. Refurbishment of the barn & silo was a little tricky, given that the old building was showing its age: worn out red paint, sloping floors, and a leaning silo that resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The renovation succeeded in creating great atmosphere for the restaurant and tavern; the kitchen staff made it a great place to enjoy broiled haddock, loaded baked potato, and creme brûlée. 

 Homestead Restaurant & Tavern

View of the old hay loft (the new tavern)

Round #30: Rhode Island - Newport National Golf Club (Orchard Course)

First impressions at the Newport National Golf Club were not very good. Apparently the club ran into financial problems which resulted in a curtailment of plans to build a clubhouse; the pro shop and snack bar were in temporary buildings. The parking lot was gravel which extended onto the course where all of the cart paths were also unpaved. When I asked to be directed to their practice range I ran into one more reminder of their financial problems.

The BYOB practice range at Newport National (bring your own balls) 

Luckily, it appeared the course had been completed before the financial problems arose. Aside from clumps of grass clippings, the course was in great shape for play.

Round: #30

Location: Middletown, RI

Golf Digest Best-In-State Rank: #7

Date: 22 Jun, tee off at 9:30 AM

Conditions: sunny, 4 MPH wind, 82 degrees

Yardage: 6,553
Lost balls: 3

Score: 89 on a par 72

The starter paired me up with four other people, three of whom were playing and one who was riding along on the cart. Chris Kennedy was a member of the golf club and had played the course on numerous occasions. She was a good person to have in the group whenever we encountered hidden obstacles during the round. Chris is the Chair of the Math Department at Bryant University. She was the former coach of the women’s golf team for 16-years until the program was dropped with her encouragement. The University was preparing to increase funding for the women’s golf team, but Chris thought the money could be better used elsewhere. She was speaking from her experience in dealing with girls who complained when out of town matches took them away from their boy friends. What was more amazing was that the girls would return to school for the Fall semester without having touched their clubs all summer, claiming they just not have the time. I did not understand why they wanted to join the golf team in the first place!

Riding with Chris was Beverly Chell, a retired executive from a New York City media firm named Primedia. Beverly has been retired  for 6-years from a business that revolved around trade & consumer magazines. She spends summers in Rhode Island and the winter season at their home in Palm Springs, California. Beverly & her husband have visited all of the Presidential museums as they have traveled cross-country between their two homes.

The 3rd player on our group was Lee, a recently retired executive from Nonni’s Food Company. His wife Karen accompanied him on the golf cart. Both of them were familiar with Iowa; Lee was a former resident of Chicago and Karen lived in Fairfield, Iowa when she was married to her first husband. They currently reside in Belmont, Massuchusetts - the home town of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Mitt’s children now live in his former home within a few blocks of where Lee & Karen live. When I asked Lee if he supported  Mitt he told me he was an Independent. Karen works as a psychiatric therapist. She was expecting to hear next month if she will be traveling to Germany under a 3-month contract working with USA military personnel and their families. Karen has been to Germany before but did not leave with a favorable impression; I tried to change that by sharing some of my favorite memories of visits to Germany.

Karen, Chris, Beverly & Lee

The golf swing I had been enjoying for the past 2-days was gone. I had troubled scoring well; my iron shots were missing the greens and I had troubled finding any consistency putting. Hole #9 was a good example; after landing my tee shot 130-yards from the green my short game came up quite short. I ended up with a double bogey.

 168-yard par 3 hole #3

348-yard par 4 hole #9

This was the first time I have encountered a rectangular green on a golf course. It was an unusual aspect of the course that just seemed weird. Rectangular, round or oval, it did not seem to make any difference to my game on the back nine. I lost 3-balls in hazard areas with shots that flew straight - but at the wrong angle. Some of my best shots of the day occurred on holes requiring a tee shot to be hit at the correct angle over a hazard into a narrow fairway, the wrong angle would result in either the ball dropping in the hazard or rolling through the fairway into the rough. The long rough was not a good place to hit out of.

 444-yard par 5 hole #7

 396-yard par 4 hole #15

 439-yard par 4 hole #17

381-yard par 4 hole #18

Karen mentioned that Chris’s husband was also a golf coach at Bryant University. He was not just an ordinary coach. Since Arthur "Archie" Boulet began the men’s golf program at Bryant in 1964, his numbers have been remarkable and his records speak for themselves. His teams included 23 Division II All-Americans, seven New England Players of the Year, 10 national top-20 Division II finishes, 11 New England Division II titles, 31 NCAA tournament appearances, one ECAC all-divisions title, four New England all-divisions titles and 24 players who have become head or assistant pros at golf courses across the nation. He retired at the end of the 2011 season after a remarkable 47-years as the only coach in Bryant golf history. I could have used some of Archie’s coaching during my round at Newport National.

 148-yard par 3 hole #13

523-yard par 5 hole #14

After playing golf we drove north into Bristol where we stopped for lunch at Quitos Restaurant on the water front. Fresh sea food could be bought over the counter in their fish market or served up in the restaurant. 

 Quitos Restaurant

Fresh crabs in Quitos fish market

The town was already preparing for the 4th of July celebration in a big way.  Their annual celebration began in 1785 when Rev. Henry Wright, a Veteran of the Revolutionary War, conducted the first Patriotic Exercises. These Exercises are observed each year on the morning of July 4th. It is not known exactly when the parade started but it is thought that it evolved from the procession of community members walking to Patriotic Exercises. 

The festivities officially start on June 14, Flag Day, beginning a period of outdoor concerts, soap-box races and a firefighters muster at Independence Park. The celebration climaxes on July 4 with the oldest annual parade in the United States, an event that draws over 200,000 people from around the world. These elaborate celebrations give Bristol (population: 22,954) the nickname, "America's most patriotic town".

Red, white & blue striping clearly indicates the parade route

Round #29: Connecticut - The Course at Yale

The shortest route from New Jersey into Connecticut was on I-95 along the Jersey shore. It was not necessarily the fastest route with heavy, stop & go traffic the entire route. You understand why the traffic is congested as you pass within eyesight of the ship loading docks in Jersey and the New York City skyline. We drove over the George Washington Bridge, crossing the upper end of Manhattan Island, and cutting through the Bronx as we traveled north toward Connecticut.

The next morning I was reminded of my past life while I sat eating breakfast in a New Haven hotel. A group of business men were eating breakfast near where I was sitting. The Top Dog in the group was dressed in a sport coat and tie, even though the afternoon temperatures were predicted to reach 95 degrees. I assumed he was not THE top dog in the company or he would be wearing a suit. The 2nd Dog in Command was wearing dress slacks and a dress shirt with no tie. He introduced the rest of the group to the Top Dog. The 2nd Dog Wanna-Be was wearing kaki slacks and a dress shirt with no tie. The Pack Dogs were wearing kaki slacks and polo shirts. The group dynamics suggested the Top Dog does not spend much time running with the pack, as he acted  uncomfortable during breakfast. I was dressed in my standard uniform: dress shorts, a Nike Dri-Fit golf shirt (tucked in), and tennis shoes. My suitcase does not contain any dress slacks, dress shirts or leather dress shoes. Those days are in my past; but many of the golf clubs I play at have dress codes that require collared shirts (tucked in); shorts are permitted must can not be denim or cargo pants. It is a dress code I can live with.

The Course at Yale sounded interesting when I looked at the Top 10 list for Connecticut. With my first contact I learned that I would be allowed to play the course if I were  “introduced” by a Yale alumni. I just happened to know such a person: Glenn Baker. I have known Glenn for over 35-years but did not enjoy a close working relationship with him until we were together on Pat Pinkston’s Staff in 2005. What makes that even more unusual was that Julie & I used to live a short distance from Glenn’s brother in Port Byron, Illinois at the same time Glenn lived down the block from my brother Joe’s family in Moline. With one phone call from Glenn to the pro shop, I was set with a tee time. I never knew he possessed such power; he did not have to accompany me on the round or do anything aside from dropping his name. I was impressed.

Round: #29

Location: New Haven, CT

Golf Digest Best-In-State Rank: #6

Date: 21 Jun, tee off at 9:00 AM

Conditions: sunny, 5 MPH wind, 85 degrees

Yardage: 6,122
Lost balls: 0

Score: 77 on a par 70

I arrived early for a 10:00 AM tee time. With no driving range to warm-up on, I proceeded to the first tee where three men were getting ready to tee off. They asked if I wanted to tee off ahead of them; I offered to join them which turned out to be a wise decision. I teed off with the group and we proceeded down the first fairway.

383-yards par 4 hole #1

Although none of the three men were Yale graduates, Paul Johnson was a former Dean of the Law College. That made for a fairly strong tie to Yale and I suspect he did not require an “introduction” to obtain a tee time. Paul was retired from a career that included positions as a bank president and the CEO of a hospital. He spends winters in Florida but returns to the New Haven area for the summer season. 

Riding on the golf cart with Paul was Bill Crain. Bill spent 35-years in the consumer products business before retiring. His experience was varied as well: food, toys, leather goods and apparel. 

Noland Murphy was driving the cart I rode on. He retired 9-years ago from a Bell Telephone subsidiary. Like Paul, he spends his winters in Florida and the summer season in Connecticut. His son works for the phone company today; one of his daughters works in massage therapy and his 2nd daughter teaches yoga. Noland has 9 grandchildren, the oldest of which is 27-years old. With a name like Murphy you might think I was playing with an Irish man. In spite of what his name might imply, Noland’s ancestry was more American Indian than any other nationality. 

Paul and Bill employed a “side saddle” approach to their putts. Instead of standing beside the ball and swinging the club side-to-side when making a putt, they placed the ball between them & the hole before swinging the club away from their body toward the hall ( I missed getting a picture of their side saddle putting technique). Both men were quite effective with their putts. At one point in our round, the topic of wedding anniversaries came up. I thought I was doing well having been happily married for 41-years. I was just a youngster in the company of these men: Paul has been married for 50-years, Bill for 51-years, and Noland for 52-years.

Paul, Bill & Noland 

As we began to play it was very apparent the golf gods were still helping me on the course. I shot 3-pars in a row before carding the first bogey. After my tee shot on the par 3 hole #5 stopped 3-feet from the cup, I dropped the birdie putt to go back to even par. I finished the front nine with 3 more pars to shoot my lowest score ever for 9-holes: a 1-over par 35 on the par 34 front nine. We encountered plenty of water hazards, wet lands and tall grass on the front nine that I managed to avoid with good tee shots. 

 View of the green side bunkers on the 344-yard par 4 hole #2

 379-yard par 4 hole #3 tee

 426-yard par 4 hole #4

138-yard par 3 hole #5

Hole #9 had a pond in front of the green. This is not an unusual obstacle to encounter on a golf course. As we walked out onto the tee box, Paul made this hole more memorable than most after remarking: “it is said this pond contains thousands of golf balls, hundreds of golf clubs, and one golf cart”. I am quite familiar with such ponds that can absolutely ruin a good round of golf. All four members of our group safely landed over the water with our shots, none of which landed on the huge rolling green.

 196-yard par 3 hole #9

The green extends beyond me to the bottom tip of the Yale flag (note the huge valley in the green!)

Paul was very consistent in hitting tee shots in the fairways. We all got a good laugh when he finally hit one off-line, only to have it hit a rock and bounce back into the fairway. On a course that possessed some of the most severe elevation changes I have encountered, it was nice to rely on Paul for his knowledge of the course. 

 360-yard par 4 hole #10 (view of the approach shot to the green from the fairway)

340-yard par 4 hole #11 (view from the green back toward the tee box)

 196-yard par 3 hole #13

395-yard par 4 hole #17

I did fail to take Paul’s advice on the par 5 hole #18 tee box after he suggested I hit my 3-wood off the tee. I hit my driver and the shot looked to be in trouble after landing on the far right side of the fairway leaving little room for the 2nd shot over a steep hill. Lady Luck was still with me as the next shot landed in the fairway atop the hill. As if that were not enough, I experienced Paul’s type of luck after sending my 3rd shot long over the green headed toward the practice green across the road. The ball struck a tree along the roadway and bounced back onto the front edge of the green. I 3-putted for a bogey. I consider any final score below 80 as phenomenal for my level of ability. I walked off the 18th green with a record round for me. My luck began when I paried up with a fine group of gentlemen on the 1st tee box and lasted through a lucky bounce on the 18th green. I fell in love with Yale!

 542-yard par 5 hole #18

View of approach shot to the hole #18 green from the fairway hill top

Round #28: New Jersey - Plainfield Country Club

Rain always poses the threat of changes to my schedule. The shower that moved in late Sunday as I completed play at Mystic Rock continued into Monday. Luckily that was an off day and it did not impact us. We drove into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where we visited the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War. The fields surrounding the town of Gettysburg are well maintained with wooden fences, artillery guns and statues that help the tourists visualize battles that took place on 1-3 July, 1863. Causalities from both sides of the 3-day conflict totaled 53,000 men killed, wounded, captured or missing in action. You could spend days in Gettysburg absorbing all of the details of the battle that at one point claimed 5,000 lives in 1-hour alone. Our visit to the museum and a short drive were enough to put us in a somber mood. We did enjoy some battlefield fries at a local diner before leaving town; I should have asked how they differ from regular french fries because they sure tasted the same.

Abe Lincoln holding his "Gettysburg Address" speech 

The hillside battlefields surrounding Gettysburg 

 Evergreen Cemetery

Battlefield fries at Hunt's Cafe

The next destination was Lancaster, Pennsylvania; home to the Old Order Amish and Mennonites, also known as the "Plain People". The Amish have been employing horse-drawn power since the days when horsepower had a whole different meaning. We drove through Lancaster to the smaller town of Intercourse, where Julie found a quilt shop on every corner. In addition to the beautiful quilts for sale, the shops were also selling humorous post cards with a central theme involving the town’s name.  Julie shopped while I watched the horse drawn buggies pass by on main street. Before we left town, I noticed several Amish boys pass by with baseball bats tucked in the basket of their 2-wheel scooters. I drove around a few blocks before finding them practicing baseball in a dusty, dirt-bare barn yard. They stopped playing ball as I approached them to take a picture; I took that as a sign to just turn around and leave well enough alone. 

Sign at the edge of town (to prove I did not just create a fictional account for your amusement!)

 Log Cabin Quilt Shop (Bird in Hand, PA)

  Log Cabin Quilt Shop (Bird in Hand, PA)

  Log Cabin Quilt Shop (Bird in Hand, PA)

The Old Country Store (Intercourse,PA)

We drove through the countryside before leaving the Amish area. It was a throw back to early Americana, with small farms dotting the landscape. The presence of livestock and gardens were a stark contrast to what we see in present day Iowa with the large corn & soybean farms. There are various degrees to which the Amish people adhere to the old ways; some farmers were starting to utilize motorized equipment.

These steel tires might be a little hard on the paved roads

 Unhitching the horse after returning home

 Traveling down "Old Philadelphia Pike" in Intercourse, PA

 Back yard herb & flower garden

Customer parking for the local meat market

Before I start to write about golf, there is one more tidbit of interest from our road trip out of Pennsylvania. Julie stopped at a quilt shop just outside of Gettysburg.  Across the road was a home that landscaped their yard with several new varieties of maintenance-free evergreen trees. 

I am thinking artificial turf might be the next step before selling the lawnmower

The Barclays is a golf tournament on the PGA tour that generates millions of dollars for local charities in surrounding communities. It began in 1967 as the Westchester Classic. The name of the event evolved to the point that by 1990 it no longer contained the name of its host course or location. Starting in 2007, the tournament took on its current name and was played in late August, to lead off the PGA Tour's new playoff system for the FedEx Cup. Beginning in 2008 it left the Westchester Country Club and began a rotation amongst different clubs in the New York metropolitan area. The Plainfield Country Club was the host site in 2011, and will again host the event in 2015 & 2019.

The main course at Plainfield was designed in 1916 by Donald Ross. The Club has hosted two U.S. National Championships as well as a number of State and Regional Championships. Over the past 10 years Plainfield Country Club has undergone an extensive restoration and renovation program under the direction of architect Gil Hanse.

Round: #28

Location: Edison, NJ

Golf Digest Best-In-State Rank: #3

Date: 20 Jun, tee off at 10:40 AM

Conditions: sunny, 5 MPH wind, 90 degrees

Yardage: 6,616
Lost balls: 0

Score: 82 on a par 72

Every so often the swing gods look down upon me and just make everything look very easy. Today was one of those days. Plainfield Country Club is a walking course which helps keep me loose, as does the high temperatures. I was hitting some great shots and scoring well with two birdies within the first three holes. With two birdies and four pars, I carded a  2-over par 38 on the front nine (a double bogey on hole #7 was the only problem I ran into). 

164-yard par 3 hole #3 

 141-yard par 3 hole #6

 Lady Luck kept me from rolling into this deep bunker at the backside of hole #6 (the white spec is my ball)

457-yard par 4 hole #7 (view of the green from the left fairway approach shot)

The starter sent me out as a single player, accompanied by a young caddy named Austin. This was the 6th year of caddying for Austin, but his first year at Plainfield. He will be a sophomore next year at the University of South Carolina where he is majoring in accounting & finance. The front nine holes were played at my own pace, after a foursome let me play through them on hole #5. I caught up to a two-some and joined up with them on hole #11  for the remainder of the round. 

 136-yard par 3 hole #11

Caddies Jeff & Austin

Matt Michallow and Josh Basinger were from Columbus, Ohio. They were on a golf trip trying to hit four courses on the Golf Digest Top 100 Courses list. Josh has played 38 courses on the list with plans to further increase the number when he visits California later this year (Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and the Olympic Club). Both men are PGA professionals who teach at the GolfTEC Columbus facility. They promised not to tell me all of the things I do wrong - which I am sure would have taken a long time! It is always a pleasure to watch players who hit the ball really well. They played from the back set of tees, and both hit their tee shots on the par 3 hole #14 green (248-yards from the back tee box). Their tee shots on hole #16 were within 10 feet of each other in the middle of the fairway. It was quite evident that they could not only teach golf fundamentals, but also execute them on the course. They were accompanied by a caddy named Jeff, who was quite adept at reading the greens.

Josh Basinger & Matt Michallow

 411-yard par 4 hole #13 (view of the green from the left fairway approach shot)

 186-yard par 3 hole #14 (played 248-yards from back tee over a small pond in front of the green)

554-yard par 5 hole #16 (view of the approach shot to the green)

My game began to wilt on the back nine as the heat of the day wore me down. I chunked several shots on hole #15 to produce a double bogey. Luckily, the halfway house was located just off the green where I bought a Gatorade to help get me back on track. 

 409-yard par 4 hole #17 (view of the approach shot to the green)

380-yard par 4 hole #18 (view of the approach shot to the green)