The Mother of All Golf Trips (Days 4-6)

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 29, 2009 - Philadelphia Country Club and Somerset Hills

Friday morning we woke up and hustled to Philadelphia Country Club, classically foregoing any breakfast plans and arriving 20 minutes before an 8:00 am tee time. Once we arrived, however, we found that we were quite early for what had been scheduled by our host as a 9:00 am tee time. With that news, we decided to take a self-tour of yet another incredible clubhouse. As the host to the 1939 US Open and as the country club of one of the most history-rich cities in America, Philadelphia Country Club’s clubhouse was thoroughly impressive . . . and we walked through it like we owned the place, eventually ending up in a lounge area with tables, newspapers, and a plateful of breakfast muffins . . . which we devoured entirely, again as if they were ours.

Having obtained some sustenance, we headed back to the bag drop area to meet our host, Mr. Warren Deakins. Bill had initially contacted Warren after learning that he was a member at the very exclusive Pine Valley. Warren suggested that we get to know each other over a round at the less exclusive Philly CC, which could lead to a future chance to play the great Pine Valley. While we were waiting for him to arrive, I had a chance to glance at my golf bag for the first time since leaving Maidstone the night before. When I did, I noticed something a little different . . . the headcover on my driver was not at all familiar . . . it was for a Titleist 905 – much different in appearance than my Taylormade Super Quad. I soon realized that the caddies at Maidstone had swapped my driver for Justin’s, had put our clubs in the trunk for us, and allowed us to get 3 ½ hours away without noticing the error. This simple mistake would ultimately result in me playing someone else’s driver for the final 10 rounds of an 18 round trip.

Playing Philly CC was a treat. Warren had arranged for us to play as a foursome with him and his buddy, Dick Smith. Warren and Dick set up a side game with us from the beginning – apparently an absolute standard when they play, but a relative first for us. We played a rotating Best Ball competition that had each of us paired with everyone else for 6 holes apiece. We also found that we could “press” throughout the round, and that they were serious about winning and playing by the rules – as evidenced when Bill mistakenly hit Dick’s ball out of the rough, and was immediately declared to be disqualified for the hole. Bill, though, ended up winning the event.

The course was one of the pleasant surprises for the trip. An unexpectedly great piece of parkland property, allowing for great design variety, water features, change of elevation, varied hole lengths, and great conditioning made for a very sweet round of golf. Warren and Dick were great. Not only could they both play (with Dick hitting it from the tips with us in his 70’s), but they were great ambassadors for the course, filling us full of historical information, pointing out spots and shots that Ben Hogan had made famous, and showing a passion for a great course that they had really gotten to know.

After the round, we declined the invitation to have a drink with Warren and Dick, and instead hit the road, bound for our 9th course, Somerset Hills in Bernardsville, New Jersey. Once we were on the road, we realized that we really owed it to ourselves to eat a Philly cheese steak while in the area. We let Nikki (our Australian accented GPS) tell us what was around, and we rolled the dice on an on-the-way place called Otto’s just outside of Philadelphia. It was good. It wasn’t incredible, but we now felt legit, having eaten pizza in New York and a cheese steak in Philadelphia.

Once we arrived at Somerset Hills, after having wound through 80 miles of the slowest, most non-freeway-like route that we have ever experienced (our average speed had to have been 30 mph, and I have the over-under at 60 stoplights), we realized that we again had not left ourselves with a lot of time to play the round. As always, though, we were committed to making it happen.

Again, the course was better than anticipated. The greens and green complexes were sensational – some of the most fun and most unique that we have ever played. The course is an A.W. Tillinghast design (1 of 6 that we would play on the trip), but it is one of his most unique offerings ever. The front 9 was built over an old racetrack, and portions of the original track can be seen crossing fairways and disappearing into the trees. Additionally, one of the best Redans in the world can be found on the 2nd hole of the course. The back 9 began where the front ended with great green complexes, including a Biarritz on #13, 2 great par 3s, and two of the better par 4s of the trip on #11 and #15.

As good as the course was, the staff at the course may have been better. We were initially greeted, checked in, and asked if we would mind walking the course without a caddy. We were completely prepared to do this when we were informed that we would be assigned a caddy named Trevor who had already completed one loop earlier in the day. He ended up being a very nice kid, but was a little short on golf knowledge and was completely worn out – carrying both our bags on a very hot and muggy evening. We met the club pro at the turn, a very young and energetic guy named Adam Machala. The best host of all, though, was the club’s general manager, Liz Grant. She introduced herself when we first arrived, said hello again at the turn, and insisted that we find her after the round and take some time to enjoy the outdoor dining at the clubhouse. After the round we decided to take her up on her offer, and ended up being treated like kings. The veranda overlooking the course was incredible. The evening’s weather was perfect. Liz and the dining staff insisted that we have all the drinks we wanted, that we sample the wontons and the shrimp, and that we top it off with our dessert of choice. It was pretty sensational.

That was where the lovely evening ended, though. We were scheduled to play both sides of Baltusrol Golf Club the following day, so we had made reservations to stay at the airport Howard Johnson motel, in nearby Newark, NJ. Wow! Newark, near the airport, may as well have been a different country for two guys from Southeastern Idaho! First we had to pass through 2 security gates just to get to the parking lot for the hotel. Next, we observed the quality of people in and around the facility – they were all a very scary bunch. Then, we dealt with hotel personnel who spoke only very broken English, and who seemed to have several unspoken priorities other than checking in hotel guests. Finally, when we reached our room, we found it to be one of the most run-down rooms we have ever stayed in. Overall, it was one of the most ghetto hotel experiences of all time. We agreed that if either of us had arrived with our wife, our kids, or even alone, we would have forfeited the cost of the reservation and found something else. Welcome to Newark, New Jersey, I guess.

May 30, 2009 - Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower and Upper)

Saturday morning we arrived at Baltusrol Golf Club, site of 7 US Opens, ready to walk 36 great holes of golf. Our member host for the day was great guy named Chapin Durling, and we were reunited with Chip who we had played with at Shinnecock. Our caddies were two of the best that we have ever had, Andy and Ozzie. Andy could read putts better than anyone that I have ever met before.

Baltusrol was terrific. The clubhouse, pro shop, caddy program, and the general feeling on a busy Saturday morning was no less than what you would expect from an established course, with a such a long history of golf excellence. Stiff par 4s were the theme of the morning round. Chapin really added to the experience by giving us insightful details of the course throughout the day. He told us of the shot-by-shot drama the he had personally witnessed during the 2005 PGA Championship, and other poignant facts of the overall history of the course. Our play could have been better, but I made a big excuse for myself since I was now on my 4th round without my driver – which I had requested to be “overnighted” to Baltusrol, and was hoping to pick up at the end of the day.

After 18 holes, Chip called it quits for the trip, citing sore feet. Bill and I opted not to mention that the second round of the day would be our 10th walking round in 5 days. (One note I should mention was the condition of my right heel. I had injured it the day prior to leaving on the trip while doing a crazy and spontaneous dance for Marissa (my six-year-old) and Anisa (Bill’s six-year-old). I actually could not believe the pain than I had incurred. Consequently, I had worn a sandal on my right foot for the entire round at Bethpage and Atlantic, and had been taking Hydrocodone before every round since). Chips departure left us as a three-some for the second round of the day.

After having a great lunch with Chapin in the clubhouse, we headed out for the Upper Course. Initially, Chapin had secured a cart for us, but when we realized on the first hole that he and the caddies would be walking, we ditched it and walked the rest of the time. Early in the round, Ozzie noticed that I had a Bushnell Range Finder, and asked if he could use it during the round. Throughout the round he asked a lot of questions about it, and I worried a couple of times about making sure that I got it back at the end of the day. At the end of the round, however, (which concluded with 2 massive drives by Bill and me – and a subsequent pulled 9 iron approach to the green that I thought was either going to hit the wedding party on the clubhouse terrace, or find the bag drop area between the clubhouse and the pro shop – I had my thoughts on finding my driver. Over the next half an hour or so, I made multiple trips in and out of the pro shop, found time to pay the caddies and to thank Chapin for being such a great host, but ultimately was faced with the information that my driver had never arrived. So, after leaving my information with a helpful assistant pro so that he could forward it to me when it did arrive, we grabbed our bags to head for the car. I immediately noticed that my Range Finder was mssing. After a quick search of the whole facility, it was determined that Ozzie was also missing. He and the Range Finder had left the premises!

At this point, I was pretty frustrated. While expecting some minor setbacks on a trip of this size, I felt like I was getting more than my share. I had a severely injured right heal, no camera for the trip of a lifetime, someone else’s driver, and no Bushnell. Chapin, though it was absolutely no fault of his, shared in my distress and assured me that he would personally ensure that my Bushnell would be returned and that he would make sure that it was included with my driver and that they would both be forwarded to me as soon as possible. So, we loaded in the car for the trip to Connecticut. As we were driving out of the parking lot, suddenly Chapin appeared, running toward us with a box. He had personally made one more trip into the clubhouse and happened to see a box that was the right size for a driver. When he checked it, it was the one that everyone had been looking for. What a circus!

At this point, we were now too late in the day to try to find a Costco to replace my broken camera – and based on our schedule, today was our last chance to replace it. So, we were off to Connecticut. When we reached Greenwich, we decided to look for some Mexican food. In classic golf trip fashion, we tried 3 or 4 locations without any success – either there was no longer a Mexican restaurant at the location or the food or prices were unappealing. Finally, we ran into one of the most authentic Mexican restaurants that we have been to . . . in Norwalk, Connecticut! Who would have thought? Only one employee spoke a little bit of English, but the food was pretty great. Finally, pretty hammered from a long day, we pulled into our motel in New Haven, another Marriott property, and a very welcome change from the now infamous Newark Airport HoJo.

May 31, 2009 - The Course at Yale and Fishers Island

Our first round of the day was at Yale University Golf Course. We were extremely excited to play the course, but were maybe even more excited to be playing our first round of the trip from the comfort of a golf cart. Without a ton of detail, Yale was one of the Top 5 most fun-to-play courses we have ever experienced! It was an absolute blast from start to finish! It featured perhaps the best inland par 3 that we have ever experienced with the famous #9 and its signature Biarritz green. Unbelievable! Additionally, it had hole after hole offering great shotmaking, unreal green complexes, sensational changes of elevation, a good mix of water features, and all of the other features that are typically attached to a Seth Raynor course. And, to top it all off, we both played pretty well. We had a couple of playing partners, a local named Mark, whose wife worked for the University, and a good guy named Tim Clark who was just in the area.

As much as we loved the round, we had to be extremely conscious of our pace of play because of some very unique time constraints associated with the second round of the day. Based upon this, at the end of the round I essentially ran for the car while Bill returned the golf cart. Once on our way, we made a beeline for New London, Connecticut. Our second round of the day was scheduled at Fishers Island Club on the western tip of Fishers Island off the coast of Connecticut, and as such, we were at the mercy of the ferry schedule. We had to arrive in time to catch the early afternoon ferry which would give us just enough time to play the course and catch the last returning ferry of the day. Missing the outgoing ferry would result in not getting to Fishers Island at all, and missing the returning ferry would result in an unplanned overnight stay on the island and a complete disruption of our to-the-minute remaining trip schedule. While we were driving toward New London, Bill called ahead to find the exact time of the departing ferry, and found that it was 1:45 – which happened to give us a little more time that we had originally thought. This new information allowed our growling stomachs to convince us to pull off of the freeway and hit Burger King – for the second time on the trip. As is typical, this little detour took longer than it should have and put us back in a race against time.

When we finally got to the ferry district we realized that the process was not as simple and straightforward as we were hoping that it would be. For starters, we couldn’t locate the correct dock. We could see docks for Block Island and Long Island, but couldn’t seem to find the one for Fishers Island. At this point, with only a few minutes until the scheduled departure time, we were feeling quite frantic. Finally, we spotted the ferry and quickly decided to park in the closest long-term parking structure we could find, no matter the cost. Once parked, we each grabbed our clubs, a jacket, and some cash (luckily we were still in our golf shoes) and made a mad dash for the ferry. We must have looked like contestants in a reality show, something like The Amazing Race, as we ran as fast as we could in our golf shoes with our golf clubs strapped to our backs! When we were within only a few yards of the ferry, we yelled to a worker on the back of the boat, asking him where we could purchase the tickets, he casually pointed to a building behind us but told us that we had better hurry. As quickly as we could, we navigated through several screens of an automated ticket vending machine and made a final sprint for the ferry. Literally, 10 seconds after stepping onto the boat, the workers closed the gate, lifted the ropes, and we were on the way to Fishers Island!

The 45 minute ride to island was surreal. We saw other ferries, islands, lighthouses, and the coast of Connecticut. The wind was quite stiff and cool as came off of the Atlantic Ocean. On the ride over we met 6 college kids who were heading to the island for a week of vacation at the home owned by the family of one of the guys in the group. When we told him our plans to play the course and catch the returning ferry, he asked what we were going to do if we missed it. I replied, “We are going to start knocking doors until you answer!” Once we reached the dock, he actually pointed out his house and told us that we were welcome to find a spot on the floor or a couch if the round took a little too long, and we did end up missing our boat.

Our transportation from the east end of the island where the ferry docks to far west end of the island where the course was located was in the personal car of a 17-year-old kid who worked at the course. We had pre-arranged through the pro shop to have him come and pick us up. It was a short trip, one where we encouraged him to excessively speed, especially once we passed the only police officer on the island. The most memorable part of the trip, though, was the interior condition of his car. We agreed afterwards that there was no chance it had ever been introduced to vacuum.

When we arrived, we were checked in and informed that finishing in under 4 hours would likely be no problem since there were only a couple of other groups on the entire course. Again, we were able to take a cart, which was terrific for resting the feet, improving our pace of play, and positioning ourselves for the infinite picture opportunities around the course. Similar to the morning round, (and not as a coincident, since Fishers Island is also a Seth Raynor design) we were met with sensational hole after sensational hole. In addition to the Yale experience, though, the course’s location offered unbelievable panoramic vistas at every turn. It is hard to imagine many better settings for a golf course. It was unreal! From behind the 3rd green, Bill took a video of my approach to the green, click here to watch.

Upon completion of the round, we got a ride back to the ferry, this time with the gal that worked the counter in the pro shop – and who was the only employee still at the course. Her car was clean, which dispelled the earlier thought that maybe vacuum cleaners had not yet been introduced to the island. We arrived with 15 minutes to spare (how anticlimactic of us), ferried back across to Connecticut, loaded up the clubs, found that Sunday parking is the most expensive of the week (just our luck), and headed for Rochester, NY.

The nearly 400 mile drive to Rochester was almost unbearable. We knew that it was going to be tough, having played 36 per day for the last 6 straight days, and having already driven nearly 900 miles on the trip. So, we waited as long as we could bear to stop to get something to eat, and then treated ourselves to some well-deserved fine dining. When we walked into the Taco Bell, we encountered a new golf trip record – it was the coldest dining room that we had ever experienced, by far. So, we both ate too much as quickly as we could and got back on the road, but not before stopping at a drugstore for some candy to eat along the way. Despite all our efforts to break up the drive and to find conversational subjects to keep us alert, it was by far the roughest leg of the trip, and one of the few times on any golf trip that we have actually slept while the other guy drove, with each of us getting an hour or two of sleep along the way. We finally pulled into the Motel 6 in Rochester in the early morning hours, and took no time falling asleep.

• The differences between golf clubs, their manufacturers, and their costs - Hype
• Having an interstate freeway as an option to get from here to there - Not Hype
• Newark, New Jersey's reputation as the "scariest city in America" - Not Hype
• A great caddy's ability to positively influence your condifence as a putter - Not Hype
• Seth Raynor courses and the joy that it is to play them - Not Hype
• That coastal golf courses do not have an advantage over inland courses - Hype

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

Read about the Gurus' experience by jumping to 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) <.

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

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