BILL AND LISA VISIT A QUARTET OF RHODE ISLAND ROSS COURSES

    On Friday May 10th, we bid an early morning farewell to Newport's Ivy Lodge, and drove north to Rumford, an eastern suburb of Providence. Our  destination was Metacomet Country Club, a 1925 Ross design.  Metacomet, like the other Ross courses we visited in Rhode Island has a  storied past. The likes of Gene Sarazen, Bobby Jones, and Glenna Collett Vare strode these fairways in the "Roaring 20's."  Metacomet (named after an Indian chief who befriended the Pilgrims) reminded  Lisa and me  of Granville Golf Course in Ohio which is one of our favorite Ross courses.  Like Granville,  Metacomet features lots of undulation with  significant elevation changes on the shots into the greens making club selection difficult.
     The highlight of our game  was playing with a delightful couple from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Karlton and Staci Creech. Karlton is the Assistant Athletic Director at the University of North Carolina  while Staci teaches. Karlton is a solid 7 handicap but it is Staci who is the star player in the family. One look at her textbook  swing (honed by fomer tour player Jim Ferree) confirmed   she had indeed played college golf with the Tarheels.  I cannot  recall a missed shot by Staci during her round.
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Staci and Karlton Creech

On Saturday, we played venerable Rhode Island Country Club designed by Ross in 1911. We were greeted by a thundershower, and we donned our rain suits. We were  beneficiaries  of another great pairing: former Ohio Women's Amateur champion Alison Reifers (and mother of Kyle- a current tour player) and Steve Kress.

Rhode Island C.C. clubhouse

Bill with Alison Reifers and Steve Cress

   

                                                                

                                               Yawning fairway bunker at R.I.C.C.    

     The rain did not adversely impact our enjoyment of this immaculately groomed course. RICC features a mix of parkland, woodland, and seaside holes. The final four are hard by Naragansett Bay. I snapped the picture below of  Alison who with her classic swing  played an  excellent shot on the par 3 17th.

The Society's annual meeting followed at the club after dinner. The Society has a relationship with the Tufts Archives which houses many of the original Ross course design drawings at its facilities in Pinehurst, N.C. Audrey Moriarty, the Archives' executive director brought the Society up-to-date on the ongoing effort to digitize the archives.

       Our Sunday game was played at Little Compton's Sakonnet Country Club. This area of Rhode Island is chock full of visual appeal. Charming seaside cottages, many held by  families for generations, are in evidence here. One of those cottages was Donald Ross's summer retreat.  A current generation of the Ross family still owns the cottage, and they were gracious enough to host a brunch for the Society prior to our round at Sakonnet.

                                                    
                                                                Ross cottage

We loved all of the Ross courses we played in Rhode Island, but Sakonnet C.C. was particularly special. Another great combination of seaside holes coupled with bucolic marshland characterized this Ross design. The clubhouse was Lisa's favorite on this trip. Our convivial foursome was completed with Tennessean and Society president Mike Miller,  who played to a very low handicap, and Shawn Pierson from Sarasota.

Lisa on Sakonnet's putting green

As was the case with   Point Judith, we encountered several stone walls flanking the fairways on the holes close to the water.  We faced strong breezes in our face when playing toward the water as was certainly  the case on Lisa's windblown tee shot below on the par 3 2nd.

The  drivable  par4  17th  was a noteworthy hole with its rocky outcroppings threatening any off-line shot into the green. The mix of Sakonnet's s entertaining and scenic holes proved testament to the fact that a course's  lack of length  is no barrier to a wonderful and challenging golf experience.

Outcroppings on the 17th

Bill, Lisa, Shawn Pierson, Mike Miller

Shawn Pierson

                                                                 

                                                     Bill tees off on Sakonnet's 3rd hole

Sunset at Sakonnet C.C.

                                                                             

     A distinct  advantage of joining the Donald Ross Society (www.donaldross.org ) is that its  members are afforded the opportunity to play courses that would otherwise be extremely difficult to access. Also, you meet kindred spirits who share your love of the game.

     Our final game was held at the 1914 Ross design, Wannamoisett C.C. in East Providence.  This club held  the 1931 PGA Championship, and still hosts the Northeastern Amateur, previously won by the aforementioned Kyle Reifers. Wannamoisett  presents  a scorecard anomaly. Despite the fact that I played it at only 6400 yards, there were 8 par 4s measuring over 400 yards on a par 69 layout. We played with Marla Flinn, a fellow Ohioan who is a fine player.

Marla Flinn at Wannamoisett

                                                                                                                                                            

  

LISA AND BILL JOIN UP WITH THE DONALD ROSS SOCIETY- Newport Country Club

    Lisa and I have enjoyed some memorable  times at events sponsored by  golfing societies including the American Seniors Golf Association (ASGA) and the James Braid Society in the U.K.. When we got wind of the Donald Ross Society's  planned May excursion to five notable  Ross courses in Rhode Island, it was time to join this society too. The mission statement of the Ross Society states that its purpose generally  is "to recognize and safeguard the integrity of courses from the 'Golden Age' of golf course architecture," and in particular those of Donald Ross- arguably  the greatest of all golf  architects.
     May 9th marked the first day of this event. A brief five minute drive from the Ivy Lodge  brought us to  historic Newport Country Club's entrance.  This is the ultimate blueblood club. The Astors and Vandberbilts were among the founding members. To say that the 1895 Whitney  Warren designed Beaux Arts clubhouse is an eye catcher  does not remotely  do it justice. It is really an architectural jewel box!

Jongleux, Case, and Callahan into the mist

We  explored  the interior of the clubhouse. Many relics from the club's early days were on display. The club has every right to be proud of its history as the  first U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur were  played here in 1895.  Our golf professional at Brookside in Columbus Brad Zeitner,  who has visited the course many times,  points out that you could actually watch the America's Cup races from the second floor locker room. After getting our bearings, we met our two assigned  playing partners for the day, Jack Callahan from Easton, Pa.  and Dave Jongleux, a CPA  from Indianapolis  and a strong player. The daily rounds we played with the Society had a friendly competitive aspect  in which  we counted the two net better balls of our four players on each hole. The heavy fog rolling in from Narragansett Bay enveloped the course during our front nine. After a brief rain delay on the back nine, the fog burned off and we finished our game in brilliant sunshine. The beauty of the venerable layout was finally  revealed in full.  Seascape views of the bay  coupled with rolling meadowlands satisfied our visual appetites.

The privilege of playing Newport would have sufficed to make this a memorable day. But there was more! One of the Society members treated us to  a sumptuous luncheon and cocktails at his mansion "High Tide," also built by Whitney Warren in 1900. This afforded us an opportunity to make friends with the other members. We encountered  an interesting array of folks including golf writer and historian Michael Fay, a couple of refugees from hickory golf club societies, and former Ohio Women's Amateur champion Alison Reifers.

  

High Tide Mansion

Our stellar day was concluded with a tasty lobster dinner at the Bristol Yacht Club. After dinner,  member Shawn Pierson  made a pitch for assisting the renovation of the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Sarasota, Florida- a muni course designed by Ross. This is the type of project in which the Ross Society takes great interest. Our stint with the Donald Ross Society was off to a flying start!

Bristol Yacht Club 

                                Newport C.C. provided us  all the amenities       

BILL AND LISA VISIT NEWPORT, R.I.

After our round at delightful Port Judith. we journeyed along the coast to historic Newport.  We did not have time to tour the  magnificent mansions that are the city's hallmark, but did manage to hike the Cliff Walk Trail which features striking vistas of Newport Harbor to the west of the trail and the backyards of  the mammoth homes to the east.  With the brisk sea breeze and mist in the air, Lisa and I felt transported to Scotland's  Firth of Forth.  

 

Cliff Walk Trail

 

 

The most imposing of the breathtaking Gilded Age homes found along the trail is "The Breakers," shown  below.

 

 

 

The Breakers 

 

We had good luck with our B & B in Newport. The Ivy Lodge was happily situated  close  to the attractions and restaurants,  while at the same time  offering a peaceful and secluded respite on the tree-lined Clay Street. Darlene, the innkeeper,  made us feel most welcome. When we entered the lodge's front door, we were blown away by the 33 foot high oak-paneled hall. Our quarters in the "Victorian Room" proved to be sumptuous. We were tired from our full day, but eagerly anticipated our 8:30 game with the Donald Ross Society at Newport Country Club on May 8th.

 

 

Ivy Lodge