Muskeg Meadows Golf Course, Wrangell, Alaska

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Jay Morse

     

    Muskeg Meadows on the Inside Passage, Alaska

    There’s not a lot of golf in Alaska, what with the short season, the population, and the general feeling that with four hours to spare there’s plenty to do than play golf! In fact the Forelinksters directory of best golf courses. only had 9 golf courses in the state directory until one of our correspondents published Muskeg Meadows this week.

     Muskeg Meadows is in Wrangell, 180 miles south of Juneau, 90 miles north of Ketchikan. It’s on the northern tip of Wrangell Island in the Alaska Panhandle, across the Zimovia Strait from the Stikine River on the Alaska mainland. It’s on the Inside Passage and is a small ship port of call.

    The golf course is just south of the airport on the Stikine River

    The area has a couple of main features, the largest spring concentration of bald eagles, and Petroglyph Beach, in addition to an abundance of fishing, wildlife viewing, hiking and kayaking.

    A rain forest in Alaska? Muskeg is routed through one!

    The golf course is a 9 holer just south of the airport, built by the local golfing enthusiasts in the mid-1990s that counts over 600+ members worldwide. Unique layout through muskeg, which is a bog or marsh with layers of moss through meadows through a rain forest of spruce, hemlock, and cedar trees. It can play to 2,950 yards, 70.2/119 course and slope, and has a covered 8-station, 250-yard practice range as well as a practice putting green. Golf in Alaska is always special with the views, and Muskeg has some of the best with sea and mountain views surrounding the course, with plenty of wildlife. In fact, they have the “Raven rule” here, any ball taken by a raven can be replaced with no penalty!

     

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      Pecan Valley Golf Course, San Antonio

      Posted on January 10, 2012 by Jay Morse
        Pecan Valley Golf Course, a victim of the recession?
        Pecan Valley Golf Course, a victim of the recession?

        Pecan Valley Golf Course, just 6 miles from downtown San Antonio, was  recognized as one of the best upscale daily fee courses in the region. It was the venue of the 1968  PGA Championship where Julius Boros edged Arnold Palmer by a stroke for a $25,000 first place finish. It also hosted the Texas Open from 1972-1976, won by Mike Hill, Ben Crenshaw, Terry Diehl, Don January, and Butch Baird respectively. The last ”major” tournament held there was the 2001 US Amateur Public Links Championship, won by Chez Reavie. This proud course with its rich history closed for good on January 8th, unless the City of San Antonio can figure out a way to rescue the course.

         

        A Press Maxwell original with a redesign by Bob Cupp

        A classic layout of just over 7,000 yards from the tips, par of 71,  originally designed by Press Maxwell in the early 1960′s, with a massive redesign by Bob Cupp, and new clubhouse added at a cost of over $4 million  in 1998. It was a public daily fee course, where greens fees were reasonable, providing San Antonio’s better golfers from the southside a true challenge for their games.  Pecan Valley is an apt name as the course, as it’s routed over rolling hills and valleys with fairways lined with pecan and oak trees, creeks and ravines where the doglegs forced you to work the ball, or suffer the consequences.   

        It’s a troubling trend in the golf world today with golf courses closing across the country, some with notable pedigrees like the Alister MacKenzie designed Sharp Park in San Francisco, due to environmentalists’ concern over an endangered red-legged frog!

        The Texas Open is now being held at the Oaks Course at the TPC San Antonio, the 2012 PGA Championship at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, could we possibly imagine their demise in 2060? I have hope for these golf treasures that close though by going back to the story of Oakhurst Links in White Sulphur Springs, WV. It is America’s oldest golf course from 1884, which lay dormant for 70 years until restored to its fomer glory in the early 1990′s by none other than Bob Cupp!

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          Pelican Point Golf Course, Panama City, FL

          Posted on January 9, 2012 by Jay Morse
            Pelican Point Golf Course, Tyndall AFB, Panama City

            Pelican Point on St Andrew Bay, now open to public play

            The US Government does a couple of things very well IMHO. First, I’ve been to museums all over the world, and there’s nothing better than our government’s museums in Washington D.C, I mean can you believe they’re free!.  Second, the government has some great land holdings, especially when it comes to golf courses. Some of the better ones, the now public Presidio, overlooking San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eisenhower course at the USAF Academy, or the Legends at Parris Island, in South Carolina are some good examples.  Recently, the government decided to open up a course that had been closed for 10 years due to 9/11 at the Tyndall AFB outside Panama City, FL. It’s home to the 325th Fighter Wing, opened in 1941, and counts Clark Gable as one of it’s early recruits who trained there.

            Pelican Point Golf Course, Tyndall AFB, Panama City, Fl

            There's a few nice views along St Andrew Bay at Pelican Point

            Pelican Point is south of Panama City on Tyndall AFB, and is now open for public play. It was carved through heavily forested land on the north side of the base along St. Andrew Bay. It’s a good basic layout, parkland style with tree lined fairways, decent sized greens with bunkering greenside. Tight driving holes over level land, a bit pedestrian, but a great value when considering the high end golf in the are. It can play to 7,000+ yards from the tips, 128 slope, that is if you’re in the top 1% of golfers, for the rest of us there’s three shorter sets of tees.  Conditions and facilities are muni level, but then again so are the rates! It’s a nice alternative to the higher end golf courses in the Panama City area, and a good way to support our troops!

             

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              The Deltona Club, Deltona, Fl

              Posted on January 8, 2012 by Jay Morse

                The Deltona Club, midway between Orlando and Daytona Beach off I-4

                The Deltona Club,  is a remake of one of Florida’s earliest planned communities, Deltona, originally designed by Dave Wallace in the late 1950′s. Bobby Weed redesigned the course, using the existing lay of the land, adding significant bunkering, mostly cosmetic, and greatly improving the aesthetics and playability. Unfortunately, the course went downhill as a result of the recession soon after it reopened, but based on recent reports from the Forelinksters members who’ve played the course, it’s back in business!

                The course is routed through an old, ratty community with homes in various stages of dis-repair, but not really in play to the routing unless you’re well offline. Interesting mix of holes, generally parkland style over some land with a nice bit of elevation change, but also has a links feel to it at times.

                The fairways and greens are where you want to be at Deltona, the rough is ratty, the homes along the course, worse!

                The fairways, greens, and tees have been over-seeded, and as of the first week of January, were growing in nicely. The greens were in excellent shape, good sized with mild undulation, and an average speed. The approaches and collars were were mown to a level which provided for a reasonable chance at an up n’ down if you missed the green. Pace of play was excellent, we played in under 4 hours, and the rates through Golfnow tee times $42. If you haven’t played Deltona in a while due the poor conditioning, it’s worthy being on your rota now.

                 

                Cheers!

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                  RedTail Golf Club, one of Orlando’s hidden gems

                  Posted on December 20, 2011 by Jay Morse

                     

                    RedTail Golf Club, Sorrento, Florida

                    RedTail's a little out of the way from Orlando's attractions, but worth the drive!

                    Most golfers heading to Orlando seek out the top rated golf courses in town, and actually miss the lower priced hidden gems Orlando has to offer. RedTail is one of Orlando’s better non-resort area courses, and is located about 45 minutes north of downtown Orlando in Sorrento. the course is part of a high end residential development that stalled due to the recession. The course is routed over some rolling terrain through maybe 100 or so upscale homes, and is very scenic and quiet. It was designed by David Harmon, who designed one of the more scenic golf courses in the world, Kauri Cliffs in in the Bay of Islands, the Farm at Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay set on the edge of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. While he didn’t have the setting or features to work with at RedTail, he used the existing lay of the land, water features, rolling hills, and trees to create a very solid layout. The course is a mix of parkland style holes along with some with links features, plenty of sand and wetlands to contend with, and a good variety of interesting holes.  It can play to 7,100+ yards from the tips, the more reasonable White tees play to 6,225 yards, and presents a considerable challenge with a 71.6 course rating and a 125 slope. In spite of the failed development and small membership base, the course is very well maintained.

                    It’s a nice drive out in the country to RedTail, if you’re heading back in the early evening across Route 46 you may even spot some of Florida’s black bear as you cross Weikiva Springs. Best of all the course offers discount tee times through GolfNow that are a real bargain when compared to the other high end, resort courses Orlando has to offer.

                     

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