The Mother of All Golf Trips (Days 1-3)

A blog covering the first three days of a nine day trip the Gurus took back east (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania) where we played many of the most historic and renowned golf courses in the world.

Blog by: Mike Sutorius

May 26, 2009 - Bethpage Black and Atlantic Golf Club

In an attempt to minimize time away from home, limit costs, maximize playing time, and reduce our hotel stays by one night, we had booked a “redeye” leaving out of SLC at 11:55 pm on the 25th, and arriving at JFK at 6:17 am, with our first tee time scheduled at Bethpage at 9:03 am, which required us to be at the registration counter at 8 am. Did you get all of that? When we booked the airfare, we used SkyMiles, and miraculously and seemingly inexplicably were upgraded to First Class. As you can imagine, this ended up being a critical bit of sleep to start the trip. Once at JFK, things started to fall into place. We ran into a guy from Utah at the baggage claim that flies to New York every week for business. He allowed us to follow him on the quickest route to the rental cars. Having beaten the rush we were the first in line at Budget Rental cars. They actually had the size of car that we had requested, a Chevy Impala, didn’t try to talk us into an unwanted upgrade, and allowed us to be quickly on our way. When we arrived at Bethpage, we expected throngs of golfers, weary from multiple nights of sleeping in the famous tee time parking lot, all crazed by the thoughts of playing The Black as close to The Open as possible, and all willing to pay top dollar for our available 2 slots in our reserved foursome. Instead we found almost no one. The only 2 guys that we even had a chance to talk with, we offered the 2 slots, but were told that they wanted to play the Blue Course, so “no thanks.” As it turned out, we found no one to claim the spots – even for free, so we gave them up and it looked like we would just play as a 2-some. 5 minutes before were set to tee off the starter got a call informing him, though, that two guys had just walked up as singles and were being sent to join us.

Bethpage Black lived up to its billing. It was massive, the rough was brutal, the routing was exceptional, and we recorded our worst scores of the trip – a brilliant pair of 89s, from the tips. More than anything else, we were introduced to US-Open-caliber rough. The stuff was nasty. Even the first cut was beyond penal. It actually took us longer than it should have to discipline ourselves not to try to advance it unless it was in the fairway. We played with a couple of locals named Nels and Sal. Nels was a single-digit handicapper and didn’t fare any better than we did, and Sal, who was about a 15, was a beaten and broken mess by the eighteenth green – about 5 ½ hours after we teed off – which apparently, is very typical for a round at The Black. Great holes included the par 5 4th, the par 4 5th, and the par 3 17th. All of the holes were good, though, as a poor hole cannot be found on the course.

Our second round of the day ended up being more of a challenge to schedule than we would have ever imagined. As a Tuesday, following a 3 day Memorial Day weekend, we found that almost every private club in a 2 hour radius around Bethpage was closed for maintenance. We tried 12-15 clubs without any luck, and having been forced to wait until the last minute to book Bethpage, we had left ourselves with almost no time to schedule the day’s second round. However, mid-day on Monday I got a call from the Long Island golf legend, Rick Hartmann, head pro of the Rees Jones designed Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, telling me that he would be glad to have us, and was very willing to be flexible with our schedule. When we finally arrived at the course that afternoon, it was apparent that we would have to hurry in order to finish. We had a great caddy, a guy named Eddie, who was a good balance of good caddy traits, without being overbearing in any one area. Atlantic was great. A very good Rees Jones offering; one that lived up to its Best New Private Course accolade given by Golf Digest in 1992, as well as its Top 100 recognition in 1997 – 2001, and again in 2005. Bill nicknamed me "The Magician" after a great escape from the sand at Atlantic, click here to view a video.

At the end of a very long first day – which technically started quite early on Monday, with a little bit of sleep on the redeye flight – we decided that we still had enough energy to eat. We decided on a TGI Friday’s that was an exit away from our hotel. Once there, we were informed that a promotion was underway for 2 more nights that all salads and sandwiches on the menu were on sale for $5 apiece. That made the decision of what to order fairly easy; we each ordered a full salad and a full sandwich, and each ate every bit of it. That night we slept in the first of three decent motels on the trip – a Fairfield Inn that was part of a Marriott hook-up that we were turned on to by one of Thursday’s playing partners, Chip Gaskins. Needless to say, we slept quite soundly.

May 27, 2009 - National Golf Links of America and Sebonack

Day 2 had the perennial all-star National Golf Links of America and rising star Sebonack on the menu. We started at The National, as it is called by those lucky enough to be closely associated with it. Our caddy, Justin, was a self-proclaimed “Kiwi” from New Zealand – a friend of Steve's (friend from Virginia), and a vital link to our access to Shinnecock Hills on Thursday. Justin was full of great information on the history of the course, from C.B. Macdonald’s original architecture, to some of the great stories of great players who have played there since. The course was remarkable, with terrific hole after terrific hole. Some of the most recognizable styles of holes are represented at and epitomized at The National. Sahara, Alps, Redan, Cape, Eden, Punchbowl, and others can all be found in exemplary form. Fantastic bunkering, change of elevation, design variety, and backdrops that included the famous windmill as well as the Peconic Bay, were experienced throughout the round. What a treat to play! The only setback of the round was that my brand new camera – one that I had purchased specifically for the trip – quit working on the 2nd hole!

The second round of the trip took us to the only course in the world that can boast a collaborated design effort between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak . . . Sebonack Golf Course – another Golf Digest Best New Private award winner, this time in 2007. Additionally, it made its Top 100 debut in 2009 at #39. As one would expect with such accolades, Sebonack did not disappoint, in fact it was better than expected, and easily held its own with immediate neighbors National Golf Links of America and Shinnecock Hills. Synergistic design excellence was experienced throughout the round. A strong Doak influence was observed from a visual aspect. A strong Nicklaus influence was exerted from a shot-making aspect. In fact, there existed a strong and positive Pascucci influence as the owner of the course had realized from the beginning that while he faced sensational competition, he had a tremendous piece of property to work with, and only one chance to “get it right.” What could have been an egomaniacal disaster, however, resulted in a very impressive golf offering, even by Southampton standards.

Our playing partner for the round was a guy that we will remember for a long time – Mike Finney. Mike was beyond upbeat, never stopped talking, and had an audible style that combined elements from Mickey Mouse, Marty Moose, and a machine gun. With that said, however, he was great! He was full of information, very complimentary, and really enjoyable to be around for 5 hours. Our caddies for the round were Wayne and Steve, a couple of locals that couldn’t have been much different from each other, but all in all were good caddies.

That night we made another trip to TGI Friday’s for the final night of the $5 salad and sandwich promotion, again ate more than we should have, and spent our last night in the Fairfield Inn.

May 28, 2009 - Shinnecock Hills and Maidstone Club

Thursday’s round began at Shinnecock Hills. We had networked our way to accessibility through Steve, and our National caddy Justin. Justin caddied regularly for a member at The National who was also a member at Shinnecock who was willing to allow us to play as an unaccompanied foursome – a very rare occurrence with the club’s reputation for extreme exclusivity. However, it came with a hefty price, which we decided was worth paying once in a lifetime in order to play a perennial Top 5 course, and one that many declare is the best in the world. Our playing partners were contacts of Steve’s from the D.C. area, Chip Gaskins (mentioned earlier as the hook-up for improved Marriott property rates) and his buddy Kevin Klym. Our caddies for the round were Dave Conte (one of the few times we have ever known a caddies last name) and Dan. Bill shot one of the memorable rounds of his life with a 76 from the tips. My score, unfortunately, is not worth mentioning. Chip decided to declare Shinnecock the best course of all time on the 12th hole, and even though Chip has played a great selection of courses, I couldn’t agree with him – even after having played all 18. It was great, no doubt. It had one of the best Redan holes in the world on #7, one of the coolest front nine finishers anywhere, one of the most difficult short holes in the world on the 154 yard 11th, a great natural hole on the 14th, and a menacing par 5 16th that tore up the Tour (and that Bill had a short eagle putt on). With that lineup, it is going to be a world-class course, but I don’t think it is the best in the world. To check out Bill's eagle putt, click here to view a video.

Upon finishing our round at Shinnecock, we headed further east to Easthampton and the Maidstone Club. On our way we tried to find a quick, cheap place to eat. We stopped and checked the menu and pricing at several different options, walked out after being seated at one, and ended up eating at Burger King – our first stop at Burger King for the trip. We then wound our way through the only east/west road on that end of the island, a narrow and very traffic-laced road, all the way to the club.

Maidstone Club has one of the great settings in America for golf. It is right on the Atlantic Ocean, separated from it by only a few feet of beach and big sand berm. The weather was cold, rainy, and a bit windy to start the round. It was evident our caddies, JJ and Frederico, and our playing host, Justin, would have rather not played in the inclimate conditions. For us, though, it was a playing experience that we do not often get – one that felt very much like we imagined we would find on the coast in Ireland or Scotland. In fact we experienced for the first time the wet, sticky, salty feeling on our skin that was an almost instant result of the wet, salt wind blowing off of the Atlantic.

The course starts and finished a little slow, with a couple of holes at the beginning and the end that are bit ho-hum. However, there is a stretch of holes in the middle that hold their own in comparison to any in the world. This stretch begins by playing across and around wetlands to the coast, then playing through some unbelievable dunes, and finishing back across and around the wetlands. The dunes holes are spectacular – ones we will never forget. It was a great experience.

At the end of the round it was almost dark, and we had a 3 ½ hour drive to Philadelphia ahead of us. So, I remotely popped the trunk on the rental for the caddies to put away the clubs, we got a recommendation from Justin on a local pizza place to eat, and hit the road. The pizza ended up being good – our first and only authentic “New York Pizza.” We got an extra large with everything on it, and ate it all. The drive to Philadelphia was fairly uneventful, we got our first real exposure to endless tolls, forgot to have the SpeedPass open on our windshield once, and found ourselves at the Motel 6 in King of Prussia, Philadelphia very close to midnight.

• The opinion that "backdrop" is not a factor in the assessment of a golf course - Hype
• The difference between "rough" and "U.S. Open-caliber rough" - Not Hype
• Long Island golf's reputation as the best in the world - Not Hype
• Find dining (and its associated cost) vs. fast food . . . once you are "full" - Hype

Continue reading about the Gurus' experience at Philly CC, Somerset, Baltusrol, Yale, and Fishers Island: (NY Trip Days 4-6) >.

Read about the Gurus' experience at Oak Hill, Oakmont, Laurel Valley, and Winged Foot: (NY Trip Days 7-9) >>>.

Read about the Gurus' experience by reading the intro to this blog: (New York Golf Trip) <.

Read about the Gurus' experience at Bethpage Black, Atlantic, NGLA, Sebonack, Shinnecock, and Maidstone: (NY Trip Days 1-3).

You can also click on an individual course name to read the review posted on that particular course.