A bunch of golfers and hackers recently went on our annual pilgrimage to the Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte Indiana. If you’ve never played there, check out the spectacular sixth hole. It’s nothing short of awesome.  

On the drive back I got to thinking about various courses throughout the country. I researched this to find out about some intriguing places for fellow golfers. You can take the information found in this story and $6.25 to the local Starbucks to buy yourself a Grande latte.

It is generally thought the oldest continuous operating course in America is the Foxburg Country Club in Foxburg PA, established in 1887. It was built by Micky Fox after returning from the St. Andrews Course in Scotland. But it’s only nine holes.

Other aged American courses include The Country Club in Brookline MA, established in 1892. Only the snobs from Massachusetts would name a course by sticking the word “The” in front of it, as if it’s the best. The club holds the distinction of the oldest country club and is considered one of the five charter clubs that founded the United States Golf Association.

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton NY established in 1891 has the oldest clubhouse in America, built in 1892 as a 12 hole course. The word Shinnecock comes from the local Indian tribe in the area. It has the distinction of the first club allowing women members and the only golf course to host the U.S. Open in three different centuries.

The Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton IL is the oldest 18-hole golf course in all of North America, having been built in 1892. Wow, golf has been around since the 1,500’s, Boston was established in 1630 and it took 200 more years before Chicago became a city, yet Chicago boasts the first 18 hole course? The CGC was also a founding member of the USGA. The course was designed by Charles Macdonald, considered the Father of Golf Architecture. It currently has only 120 members, making it one of the most exclusive courses in the country.

Best most of you didn’t know there is actually a St. Andrews course in America and it too is among the oldest courses. It was founded in 1888 in Yonkers NY by John Reid, considered the Father of American golf.

Yes, there is a Father of Golf Architecture (Macdonald) and of American Golf (Reid). Confused me too.

Speaking of course exclusivity, there is no club more exclusive than Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta Georgia. Would you believe a kid from the wrong side of the tracks in Chebanse played Augusta. That would be my old man, as a guest of Chuck Piggot, at the time CEO of Paccar.   

Augusta opened in 1932 and is home to the Masters Tournament, perhaps the most sought after prize by golfers around the world. It was founded by the legendary Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Mr. Roberts would then serve as Chairman of the club until 1977.

While the club was successful under Roberts’ stewardship, he was also a racist. He barred membership to Blacks saying, “as long as I’m alive, all the golfers will be white and all the caddies will be black.”  Bet he wouldn’t try that today. Racked with cancer and a stroke, Roberts shot himself beside Ike’s Pond on the property in 1977.

Golfers probably knew this, but Jack Nicklaus has won the Master’s more than any other golfer with 6 green jackets.

Just off the 10^th tee you will find a quaint house, called the Eisenhower house. Former president Dwight Eisenhower was a friend to Clifford Roberts, became a member of Augusta, and visited frequently. The club built the house for Dwight and Mame to stay in during his visits. The presidential seal is above the door.

The course contains the 90,000 sq. ft. Berckmans Place, near the 5^th hole, a non-public shopping and dining complex, built in 2012. Get this, it operates one week a year, during the Masters, and costs $10,000 for an entry pass…if they accept you. But your pork chop is free.

Augusta is known as an organization who does things their own way. It is a for-profit club, but will not disclose its income, holdings, membership list, or ticket sales. No cell phones are allowed on the course, thus ensuring a generation of America’s youth will never play there. Security is provided by the venerable Pinkerton agency who enforces the many rules.

The course was originally 6.800 yards but over the years has been lengthened, the last time in 2020 to 7,475 yards. The course has never been officially rated, although Golf Digest has it at 78.1.

It’s not public knowledge on the cost to join Augusta, though thought to be between $100,000 to $300,00, but by invitation only. I scoured the known members list and wouldn’t you know it, there were no truckers dead or alive ever been a member there. Well, that sucks.

Supposedly, the highest priced country club to join is the Bear’s Club in Jupiter FL. Initiation fees range from $350,000 to $500,000, depending on the season. Yearly dues range from $20,000 to $30,000.

I have to question the ranking of this club as being the most expensive, but I did find this information in two different publications. The issue with that is I know there are courses in the Scottsdale Arizona area that cost between $400,000 and $500,000. Scottsdale National comes to mind. I’m sure they are that expensive for no other reason than to keep riff-raff like me out!

Now on to other useless trivia information concerning the longest courses.  The Pines course at The International in Boston boasts 8,325 yards from the Gold tees. (There is that word “The” again from Boston.) Pines has three par 4’s in excess of 530 yards, thus ensuring I will never play there. It has 2 par 5’s over 650 yards. And there is even a par 6 that is 715 yards. From the back tees it has an 81.7 course rating, a 155 slope rating and a bogey rating of 112.2.  I looked but couldn’t find the yardage from the senior tees.

But those Pines holes are not the longest holes in America. Another “pine” course, Pine Valley in Clementon NJ has a 238 yard par 3. This course also has a par 3 on the 10^th hole containing a bunker named the Devil’s Asshole, perhaps an apt name for the left bunker on the 18th at the Kankakee Country Club.

But the longest par 3 hotel in America is the 11^th at the Los Angeles Country club. Let’s see you long ball hitters use an iron from the tips, measuring 290 yards.

The longest hole in America is the 12^th hole at 841 yards of fun and folly at the Meadow Farms course in Locust Grove VA. Thankfully, it is a par 6. (Compare that with the 1,097 yard hole at the Gunsan Country Club in South Korea. I’ll wait for you to get back and tell me about it.) And I thought the 17^th at the Kankakee Country Club was long and tough.

There are some others with ridiculous yardages, such as the par 6 ninth hole at the Links of Kahite Golf course in Vonore TN – 808 yards of “fun.”. Idaho weighs in with the 777 yard 9^th hole at the Links Golf Course in Post Falls, also a par 6. But there are a couple of par 5 holes in excess of 770 yards, such as the 17^th at Reserve at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky Montana, but hey, it’s downhill, Alice. How about the par 5 in Berthoud CO that is 773 yards? Go ahead, Rich Arden, try that one out for size and then get back to us.

Then there is Cypress Point at Pebble Beach. This little jewel has a 233 yard par 3, not that much more than #12 at the Kankakee Country Club. The difference is – you pay $675 to play Cypress.

And Pebble isn’t the most expensive. If you have lots of money you can play TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course for only 900 smackers.

But Sawgrass isn’t the most expensive either. That honor goes to the Shadow Creek Golf Course at the MGM in Las Vegas. For only $1,200, you too can visit what was considered Steve Wynn’s private course, costing you about $67 per hole. You better get lucky in the casino that night. Wonder if they have a senior discount.

How about this for a stat? At the 17^th hole at TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach FL, known as the Island Hole, it is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000 balls are fished out the water every year, depending on which liar you are listening to. Considering the spread, I bet it is closer to 50,000 balls. Listed at 137 yards to center, it requires 132 yards of carry, but not too much as it is 158 yards to plunk it in the water on the far side. It was nice of Pete Dye to include a bunker in front of the green.

There is or was a replica of the hole at the Golfers Hall of Fame in Jacksonville FL. (Don’t know if it is still there.) You can buy a ticket to play the hole, and with a hole-in-one, win a million dollars. My brother-in-law at the time, Ron Cox came mere inches from doing so. Me, I plunked it in the water.

Not to be outdone, the Coeur d’ Alene Resort in Idaho has interesting island hole as well. The 14^th hole, which can incredibly be moved around by cables, can’t be reached by walking or cart. One has to take a ferry to get to the hole.

The Brickyard Crossing Golf Course in Indianapolis is an oddity. The course runs parallel to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but holes 7-10 are inside the track itself. Fortunately, the course is not open on days when the race track is being used so as not to dent one of those expensive race cars by a golfer in loud shorts.

The 16th hole, a par 3 at TPC Scottsdale AZ has become famous for, in my mind, all the wrong reasons. It has bleachers completely surrounding the green, most of the fairway and even part of the tee box, giving it an amphitheater feel.

During the annual Waste Management Phoenix Open, everyone gets wasted before flocking to the 16^th hole so they can taunt the golfers with screams and catcalls. I don’t understand the concept of being drunk, boisterous and obnoxious at a golf course during a tournament. Living in Arizona myself, I avoid North Scottsdale while this tournament is be played due to the traffic and the drunks that spill over into the restaurants afterwards which greatly interferes with me being drunk in the restaurant.

I had so much fun researching these courses I decided to look up some international courses. If you play La Jenny in France, never mind having a collared shirt. You have to play naked unless there is inclement weather, ensuring this old hacker will never play there.

All 18 holes of the Kantarat Golf Course in Bangkok, Thailand sit between two runways at Don Mueang International. And I thought the boat races during out Calcutta were bad!

There is a 19^th hole on Hanglip Mountain in South Africa where the green is 434 yards above sea level and 395 yards away.  The tee box sits on a cliff and can only be accessed with a helicopter. It will cost a golfer about $310 just to play that one hole. Actor Morgan Freeman claims to have parred it.

As for courses I played, my father was a member of Johnathan’s Landing Golf Club in Jupiter FL. The landing fairway on 17^th hole almost comes to a point, surround by swamp and water on each side. If you were lucky enough to hit straight into the fairway, which I never accomplished, you would than hit another long ball over a navigable waterway, then drive your golf cart onto a ferry that would cross over. I have seen yachts going back and forth. Rarely did I have a good score on that hole. Dad’s golf club also had alligators on a pond along a long par 5. Try hitting a good shot while watching for gators.  

I’ve played the Dunes Course in Myrtle Beach SC a couple times. It’s a 540 yard par 5 around a pond, giving a golfer a series of lay ups until one decides to finally try hitting it over the water. I never came close to parring that damn hole.

Quintero Golf Course, in the middle of nowhere between Cave Creek and Wickenberg Arizona is a very interesting but challenging course. The par three, 6^th tee box looks down the side of a mountain to a green 190 yards away that seems impossible to hit. I was unable to find out how high the tee box is in the air, but it is one of the highest I’ve played.

I played the Lodge at Cloudcroft in Cloudcroft New Mexico a few decades ago. It only has 9 holes, but each hole is played twice from different tee boxes, using different flags for an 18-hole score.  The first hole has a 150 foot vertical drop to the fairway. The course is 9,000 feet above sea level. Established in 1899, it is presently the fifth highest course in America, although it was the highest for its first fifty years. La Plaz in Bolivia South America is now the highest course at 11,600 feet. I wonder if they supply oxygen tanks to play that course.

Perhaps the most intense golf course I ever played though was Wolf Creek in Mesquite Nevada. The second tee box is eleven stories in the air. There were tee boxes that overlooked the entire course. Two of my buddies got sick with vertigo, refusing to go to tee markers located towards the front edge. I played a couple of tee boxes that were actually farther away just because I didn’t want to climb the multiple steps to get to the right tee box. If you’ve never been there, look it up on the internet. If you plan on playing it, don’t invite my friends Todd or Keith – they ain’t never going back.