Minneapolis GC (Minneapolis, MN)

(pictured above is the 3rd hole, illustrating the fantastic 

terrain and bunkering at Minneapolis GC)

Minneapolis Golf Club is the prototypical suburban metropolis championship golf course.  Known as “MGC” to everyone in the Twin Cities, it is wedged into the western suburb of St Louis Park.  St Louis Park is most famous for being the childhood homes of Thomas Friedman and The Coen Brothers.  But in this northwest pocket of St Louis Park lies nothing political, economical, or cinema related.  It is home to one of the best golf courses in the Midwest.

According to a friend of mine, longtime Minnesota PGA professional Don Berry of Edinburgh USA called Minneapolis GC, “quite possibly the best championship golf course in the Twin Cities.”  These are lofty words when there are local gems such as Hazeltine, Interlachen and Minikahda within 30 minutes of Minneapolis.  MGC has hosted the 1951 PGA Championship and a few US Amateur’s as well.  However, like many old school city courses, there simply lacks the room to host an event of any significance in this day and age.

From the moment you drive into the parking lot, you aren’t blown away.  The clubhouse is nothing extravagant but everything you need.  The men's locker room is an old school green cage locker room tucked into the side of the clubhouse, and members love it that way.  There's a grill room and bar, dining area, and that’s it.  But we must remember, outside of the pool, this is a golf club.  From a golf standpoint, everything is done right.  The course is a tough yet fair challenge for all handicaps and the conditioning is superb.  Even the little things are done right.  From the large white playing towels, wooden tees long and short, bright ball markers, simple and efficient ball repair tools, available caddies, walking strips mowed from the back tees, you name it, its covered.  A lot of credit for this goes to the staff of longtime head professional Dan Simpson and superintendent Dale Caldwell.  And let’s be honest, golf is why people join MGC.

Minneapolis was designed by Willie Park in 1916, then tweaked by Donald Ross in 1928.  It is a typical parkland layout, but with a fantastic variety of golf holes. There are short and long par 3’s, 4’s and 5’s.  As Tom Doak says, variety is the “spice of life” when it comes to golf course architecture – and variety is abundant at this course.  In terms of conditioning, it generally plays firm and fast.  The course is actually situated on a unique pocket of sand in western Minneapolis, so when it rains, the course is back to playing condition in no time. 

The 10th hole must be noted.  The signature hole at MGC, it is also arguably the best - and arguably the most difficult - par 3 in the state.  It plays 225 yards from the tips, slightly downhill, with bunkers left and right, a left to right sloping green, and absolutely ZERO room for error.  When in doubt, lay it up short of the green for a chance at an up and in par.  A great hole, especially in the summer with the MGC flower logo built into the hill, a nice touch. The course flows through some great terrain and there are many great holes throughout, but the last 5 holes are outstanding.  The 14th is a risk reward dogleg left par 4 of about 320 yards, 15 is a 560 yard par 5, 16 is a deceptively uphill 220 yard par 3, 17 is a deceptively tough par 4, and then the outstanding 460 yard 18th.  18 heads back to the clubhouse and is arguably the best hole on the course.  You can’t ask for much more than that out of a finish.

In terms of improvements, there isn’t a lot.  There isn’t a full range, which isn’t uncommon for many city courses these days, but a drawback nonetheless.  One aspect I am critical of is the fact that the course has not been updated in terms of tree removal.  Sun and air flow are absolutely critical to healthy turf and there are several areas of the golf course that suffer due to excessive shade from trees.  One can only look to the tree removal programs carried out by Oakmont (Pittsburgh), St George’s G&CC (Toronto) or nearby Minikahda to see the positive benefits from the removal of unnecessary trees.  Strolling through the clubhouse, you can see the old photos of the course, showing what it looked like with minimal trees on the property.  Variety and conditioning would only improve if a moderate tree removal program was undertaken by the membership.  

All in all, MGC is one of the best golf experiences in the Minneapolis area, if not all the Midwest.

Hit ‘em well.

-MG

.500 is a Failure

Well, at least the R&A got something right this week.  

As you will see from my previous post, I am not a fan of anchoring the club.  I have never been a huge fan of Tiger Woods, but always respected him as a golfer - how could you not?  I simply want to kiss the man when I hear his opinion on anchored putting.   "We swing all other 13 clubs. I think the putter should be the same. It should be a swinging motion throughout the bag."   Brilliant.  This was the basis of the ruling put forth today by the R&A and USGA and was made in the effort to preserve the integrity of the game.  Kudos to all parties involved for making the right decision.

As for the "other" decision this week, I am not a fan.  Having played in a British Amateur, and knowing some folks in the R&A, I highly respect this institution and believe they will act in the best interest of the Old Course.  I simply have a problem in the way that it was executed.  It seemed that there was no time between the announcement of the changes to the time we saw pictures of bulldozers and shovels arriving at the Old Course.  If your local club announced changes and immediately put shovels in the ground, there would no question be some uproar. Any changes to a course of this architectural importance should have been properly communicated to the golfing public, with adequate time for feedback and discussion.  

Golf purists and architects the world over were outraged by the fact that the R&A and St Andrews Links Trust were undertaking renovations to the sacred Old Course.  Tom Doak is even attempting to stop the changes with a petition.  The hash tag #savetheoldcourse lit up twitter world by casual golfers, golf course architects, and professionals.  Furthermore, as someone who was fortunate enough to live in St Andrews for a year while attending graduate school, eventually receiving a masters degree in marketing (and a PhD in Links Golf) I am sure that the people in the town of St Andrews are not fans of these changes.  The seven courses in St Andrews are property of the townspeople, yet I would highly doubt that if this was put to a popular vote, they would agree.

Make no mistake, these changes were made in the efforts of protecting the course from low scoring at the 2015 Open Championship.  If that is the rationale, they're a little late to the party.  Properly protecting the Old Course and many other venues around the world would have been infinitely better served by reining in club technology versus taking a scalpel to a course that Tom Doak coined "an international treasure that should be guarded."  We all just hope that the R&A, Links Trust, and Mr. Hawtree are using a paint brush versus a bulldozer.

Batting .500 would generally be regarded as excellent, but when dealing with issues of such vital importance to the game of golf, anything less than 1.000 average is a failure.  Let's hope all turns out well in St Andrews.

Hit 'em well.
- MG

The Argument Against the Anchor

As we all know by now, golf's governing bodies are in the process of finalizing a rule that will ban any sort of anchoring with the club as it relates to the golf swing.    

First, let's be clear about something.  Anchoring, by definition, is not a swing.  So in my humble opinion, why has it taken so long for golf's ruling bodies to allow it?  I believe it was something that made the game more enjoyable for so many amateurs, hadn't seen a ton of success at the professional level, so why bother banning it?  Something is wrong with that mentality.  It's like allowing theft to occur because it didn't really matter that much to anyone.  The principle of anchoring should have been reason enough to ban it from the beginning.  

Tiger Woods is someone who has said it best with regard to anchoring a putter.  "I've never been a fan.  (Putting) is the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion. I believe that’s how it should be played. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to that."  Who couldn't agree with that?  That is golf at it's core.  Grab a club, put it in your hands, and make a swing.

Anchoring has been getting much more attention from the governing bodies ever since recent major winners have been anchoring.  Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Ernie Els have captured 3 of the last 5 major championships with putters stuck in the stomachs.  And what is really scary is the potential for junior golfers to grow up using belly putters without even trying traditional putting.  If it takes the hands out of the stroke, and allows one to putt with less nerves, why wouldn't one use it?

Even Ernie Els, who won the 2012 Open with a belly putter, believes it should be banned.  Ernie has been quoted many times as saying, “as long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them,”  And how can you argue with that?  If the rules of golf allow it, why wouldn't someone who plays the game for a living maximize every rule to his or her advantage?  

One point that needs to be made is that if the belly is banned, lifelong anchorers such as Webb Simpson, Carl Petterson, and Tim Clark will have to learn a new style of putting.  This is likely why the ruling has taken so long to happen.  Webb Simpson has been quoted as saying that big head drivers and the golf ball have had a bigger effect on the game than long putters.  That is probably true.  However, those two elements don't  have to do with anchoring.  This is the main point here.  You still have to control your nerves, and make a swing.  Brandt Snedeker, arguably the finest putter on the PGA Tour, if not all of golf, believes that anchoring takes any nerves out of putting.  “I feel like when you’re under pressure and under stress on the 72nd hole and you gotta make a five‑footer, I want to know how your hands feel...I don’t want that putter stuck against your body. It obviously takes nerves out of it. Otherwise, guys wouldn’t be doing it."

I have little worry that players like Simpson, Clark, etc. will be rendered hopeless if the ban does happen.  These are some of the best players in the world and have world class short games.  The feel and imagination they possess around the greens will stand them in good stead, regardless of the length of their putter.  

Simply said, anchoring a club to your body is not a golf swing. We will see what happens over the next few months, but if the ruling goes the way it should, the integrity of the game of golf will be restored.  And if so, kudos to the R&A and USGA for acting in the best interests of the game.  

Hit 'em well.

- MG

#48 - North Berwick (West Links)

The picture above is a perfect representation of North Berwick. At every corner, this historic links is a quirky, entertaining, and flat out FUN round of golf. If you don't enjoy golf at North Berwick, you simply do not like links golf.

Muirfield (#11 in the world) is just down the coast to the west and gets much of the attention from international visitors due to its lofty world ranking - and being on the Open rotation. In my opinion, Muirfield is one of - if not the - finest tests of links golf in the world. However, if you cannot get onto Muirfield, do not skip the journey to East Lothian. North Berwick is situated on a fantastic piece of linksland along the North Sea about an hour east of Edinburgh. Simply said, North Berwick is quintessential links golf; windy, exposed, firm, fast, and possesses a wide variety of holes.

Onto the golf now. The front nine meanders its way "out" in true links fashion with some quirky and unique holes. Stone fences in play, blind approach shots, there is definitely nothing "boring" about this golf course. In my opinion, the course really starts to get fun at the 13th - pictured at the top of this entry. At 13, you have to cross a rock fence with your approach to the green that is nestled between the rock fence and the sea. And yes, the rock fence is in play, no free drop here. The 14th green is a completely blind approach to a green sunken down by the water and thus requiring a pin that is about 30 feet tall. The 15th is the world famous redan green. This is an interesting one. I have played North Berwick twice, and both times it was quite downwind on this hole making it virtually impossible...yet a classic challenge nonetheless. The 16th is a short par 4 with a green that my caddy described as "...a set of breasts, and not an inviting set of breasts either." If you don't land your approach on, ahem, the correct breast, good luck. Phil Mickelson was leading Open qualifying here one year when he made a 9. Game over. #17 is a straightforward par 4 with an uphill blind approach and 18 is a miniature version of the Old Course, complete with a classic old clubhouse in the distance. This golf course is proof that golf courses should be designed and built with fun as the #1 objective.

North Berwick is not without some great stories as well. One of which involves a lighthouse seen off on an island in the distance as you are midway through the front nine. What is the significance? Well, the author of the famous "Treasure Island" is Robert Louis Stevenson. Young RL Stevenson and his parents spent a lot of time in North Berwick on holidays as a child because his father built many of the lighthouses in the area. The island upon which that lighthouse is situated is Fidra Island, the island used as his inspiration for Treasure Island. This is just one of the many fun facts told by your caddy around this great links. (PS -oh yah, make sure to get a caddy)













(the par 4 5th. Note the lighthouse in the distance!)


Let me end with saying that, in my personal opinion, courses ranked 75-100 are a complete crapshoot. The fact that courses such as Sunningdale New, The New Course at St Andrews, or Panmure do not make the list yet courses such as North Berwick or Highland Links do is completely arbitrary. There are hundreds of courses around the world that could occupy the 75-100 spots just as easily. Yet the fact remains that North Berwick's West Links is one of the most unique and entertaining courses one can play. It is an absolute must if you ever find yourself in and around Edinburgh.

Hit 'em well.
-MG