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Review: Cherokee Valley, Travelers Rest, SC |
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Tuesday, 03 June 2008 |
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The Cottages at Cherokee Valley feature dramatic wraparound porches for the best views of the 16th green and 17th tee. The interior layouts mimic those of the cottages at Augusta National.
Details will make easygoing golf course easier to play
As Yogi Berra might put it, my walk through one of the Cottages at Cherokee Valley was "déjà vu all over again." I had the feeling I had seen this layout somewhere before -- the four master-sized en-suite bedrooms, one in each corner of the layout, and the large, comfortable living room and dining area combination where tired golfers can flop down for a beer and a view of The Golf Channel on the big screen TV hung above the Virtually all the flags were positioned a third of the way up, no matter where the pin was.
Then it hit me: It was a larger version of a tidy little cottage at Augusta National where I was fortunate to stay and play for two days 10 years ago. Cherokee Valley's Cottages seemed to be trying to channel Augusta.
After my two days at the famed site of the Masters, I can say I know Augusta (a little), and Cherokee Valley is no Augusta. But the Cottages in the Travelers Rest, SC, community, priced beginning around $650,000, are well configured, the rest of the community pleasant and close to the fine city of Greenville, and the golf course playable and in nice condition, if not overly challenging. As I wrote here a few days ago, with the dramatic Blue Ridge Mountains just to the west of the course, it was disappointing that they were hidden in plain sight. Most holes on the P.B. Dye routing played away from the scenery, and those that played toward it were carved into funneled fairways that hid all vistas. Also disappointing was a lack of attention to the little things that compel golfers to return.
Cherokee Valley's course is short, just 6,500 yards from the back tees, with a rating of a mere 71.3 and slope of 133 on the par 72 course. Dye, son of the uncompromising Pete, must have been given strict instructions to simplify the Cherokee Valley layout for what were expected to be higher handicap golfers in residence. I probably have no right to declare the course easy since I not only played from the tees at 6,100 yards (69.0/124) but also hit the ball miserably (I barely broke 90). But all the par 3s were rather routine, except for #6, a 200-yard downhill shot that provided the only true view of the distant mountains. Alas, #6 played much shorter for me because a slope about 175 yards from the tee brought my dying quail shot down to the green, about 20 feet from the pin. The other par 3s measured 125, 170 and 156 yards; the few bunkers in sight, yards away from greenside, did not threaten slightly misplaced tee shots on the one-shotters.
Only one par 5 at Cherokee measures more than 500 yards from the men's tees and the rewards on these holes are way greater than the risks of attempting daring approach shots. The only time water came into play, on the par 5 16th, the small lake sat in front and well to the right of the green. You would have to work harder to land in the water than onto the green with a wedge approach shot. Holes 12 through 15 play like an executive course -- two par 3s averaging 162 yards and two short par 4s, the 338 yard 13th and the 278 yard 14th. The 14th is the most interestingly designed hole on the course, a hard dogleg left that requires a deftly played five wood or hybrid club from the tee aimed over the left edge of the fairway. That leaves a wedge to a small green, just beyond a pond fed by an attractive waterfall.
Conditions were quite nice, with nary a bad lie in the fairways and greens that were smooth and medium fast, although some, including the practice green, appeared to have been spray painted a bright green. The attractive homes were kept well away from the field of play. Only the aforementioned Cottages, behind the 16th green and well to the left of the 18th fairway, were anywhere close, and that made sense since those residences are all about the golf experience (and views).
I was miffed by some silly little missteps out on the course, the most egregious of them being pin placements  on greens. Cherokee Valley chooses to use the small-flag-on-the-flagpole approach. A flag roughly one-third the way up the pole signifies a front pin, halfway up a middle pin, and almost all the way up a back pin. Virtually all the flags were positioned a third of the way up, no matter where the pin was. I hit my best fairway wood of the day to the 3rd green which sported a pin with the flag at one-third mast. When I reached the green, I found the pin was on a high shelf at the rear of the green, 40 feet beyond my ball. Cherokee Valley, which caters not only to members but also to visiting golfers and the public, should invest in colored flag systems or divide the greens into numbered quadrants and declare a number each day.
The ranger, who drove by once in his cart - on the back nine - could have been put to better use (such as checking the flag positions were correct). Also, there was no beverage cart making the tour on a hot day. Ball washers were infrequently available and 20 yards forward of the back tees when I did see them. When I asked the kid at the bag drop where the clubhouse was, he directed me to the pro shop. Workers were out on the course mowing grass, but I also saw some of them parked off to the side. (Okay, everyone deserves a break, but for how long?) I had the impression that a strong hand does not guide the operation at Cherokee Valley. Perhaps the club, which has only 150 members, is suffering from a cash crunch, but treating fee-paying golfers cavalierly is no way to generate lasting cash flow. The $5 wooden nickel they give you when you pay the reasonable $60 green fees (cart included) is a nice touch but not enough to make you forget the missteps.
The surrounding community is a mix of substantial homes on nicely sculpted lots perched on hills above the course or on ascending streets. Some sections of the community feature small homes on small lots, whereas other, newer homes are typical of a higher end community. The price range in the community is unusually wide, about $300,000 to over $1 million. Available home sites are priced beginning at $150,000, with a 100% premium for the choicest lots with views of golf and mountains.
Landscaping in the community has been well handled; it is clear that the developers respected the many trees they found on the property and probably restricted the homeowners' natural attempts to clear them away to promote better views.
Cherokee Valley benefits greatly by its proximity to the vibrant upstate South Carolina city of Greenville, one of my favorites in the southeast, and about 25 minutes away. Greenville is home to interesting museums, concert halls and restaurants, as well as a stable economy fueled largely by the BMW plant in nearby Spartanburg. Greenville also is the hometown of Shoeless Joe Jackson, the legendary baseball player whose reputation was besmirched in 1919 when he was caught up in the famous Black Sox scandal at the World Series. There is evidence that Jackson was a benign and innocent participant in the affair and, anyway, Greenville forgave him a long time ago. His statue adds an offbeat touch to the city's downtown.
Cherokee Valley, 450 Cherokee Valley Way, Travelers Rest, SC. 800.531.3834. Course designer: P. B. Dye. Full golf membership fees are $25,000. Yardage/rating/slope: Gold tees 6,586/71.3/133; Blue tees 6,084/69.0/124; White tees 5,395/66.9/113; Women's tees 4,308/69.7/119. Cherokee Valley is home to a Golf Digest Training School which offers one, two and three-day training packages. If you would like more information on the golf or real estate at Cherokee Valley, please contact us.
The 14th hole at Cherokee Valley is the best designed of the 18. It begins (top photo) with a long iron or hybrid tee shot to a narrow landing area framed by bunkers on the right. The short approach to the green (middle) must negotiate the pond in front that is fed by the greenside waterfalls (bottom).
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One way to create your own "destination" club |
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Monday, 02 June 2008 |
For nearly a decade, I have been a member of HomeLink International, a service that facilitates the exchange of homes on a short-term basis, typically a week or two. There are a number of firms that provide similar services. Every year, I have searched the scores of international listings at HomeLink looking at listings by folks in Greece, Scotland, France and other dreamy sounding places who indicated they were interested in staying in South Carolina, where we have a vacation home. Partly from fear of having "strangers" stay in our home, we never took the leap. But our condo is a We will drop our names in the ballot box at the Old Course a few times and take our chances.
Late last year, we received a note from a couple in Scotland asking if we would like to exchange homes. The timing was perfect as my son and I were planning a trip to the Old Sod and I was obsessing about the costs, given the international currency fluctuations. After the exchange of a handful of emails, the Scottish couple and I arranged for a "non-simultaneous" exchange of our place in Pawleys Island, SC, for theirs in Crail, Scotland. Although most such exchanges coincide with each other - you stay at their place at the same time they stay at yours - we are fortunate to have a second home and to have found a couple in Scotland in a similar situation (they live in Glasgow but have a cottage in Crail, just nine miles from St. Andrews). It made the arrangements much easier than if we were in different countires during the exchanges.
In April, our new friends from Scotland stayed in Pawleys Island for 12 days, had a great time, and left the place cleaner than they found it (and left behind some paperback novels I look forward to reading). This weekend, we head to Scotland and, after a few days in Edinburgh, are off to Crail where we will meet our hosts in person for the first time (they are going to help us get settled in their home). Crail, a charming small fishing village with two famed seaside links courses in town, will be our home base for a week of golfing throughout the county of Fife. On our rotation are the links at Elie, Lundin and Crail, as well as Kingsbarn and the New Course (circa 1895) at St. Andrews. We will drop our names in the ballot box at the Old Course a few times and take our chances.
I calculate we are saving more than $1,500 on the lodging for the week in Scotland (less the modest $90 annual charge to list your home at HomeLink). More importantly, with a successful swap behind us, my wife and I will now join the growing legion of home exchangers who have created their own little destination clubs. The ability to swap our vacation home for someone else's adds some welcome value to our condo, a little extra leverage that anyone with a vacation property might want to consider. If this idea appeals to those currently looking for a vacation or retirement place, consider that Europeans are drawn to the east coast of the U.S. and especially Florida.
Although Internet service will be a little spotty in and around Crail, I intend to file stories in mid June from some of the oldest golf "communities" in the world. If you have played the courses on our list above, I would welcome any advice or comments in advance.
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A short sermon on the mountains |
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Sunday, 01 June 2008 |
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The best view of the mountains at Connestee Falls is on the practice range.
I just finished a three-day visit to communities in the western Carolinas area, with rounds of golf at Cherokee Valley (Travelers Rest, SC) and Connestee Falls (just south of Brevard, NC), as well as a tour of the brand new, nine-hole layout at Bear Lake Reserve near Sylva, NC.
I'll have full reviews of the communites and their golf courses in the coming days, but I will offer one quick observation here. Mountain communities with golf courses sometimes do a lousy job - or no job, really -- of using mountain vistas as backdrops to their golf courses. But for an occasional peek at a peak, I played 36 holes in the mountains and saw no mountains. At the P. B. Dye-designed Cherokee Valley, for example, the mountains are at your back for the few holes where you can see them at all. Only on the 6th, a brawny, downhill par three of 200 yards, do you have that classic high-altitude moment where your ball floats in the air off the tee against a mountain backdrop.
At Connestee Falls, the best views are from the practice range and the unique deck in front of the pro shop. The deck, which doubles as a cart return after your round and the place to stop after nine for a drink or bathroom break, looks to the practice green below and toward the Smoky Mountains in the distance. You drive up a concrete ramp to the deck on the third level of the clubhouse; from there the views are spectacular, but they are the only ones of the day, unless you use the club's practice range, which looks straight out to dramatic peaks in the distance. The assumption, of course, is that those views will carry over to the course. Forget it.
There are no such height restrictions at Bear Lake Reserve, a four-year old sprawling community that arcs around and above a sylvan lake near Sylva, NC. Centex, the original developers of Bear Lake (they sold to Terremesa Development recently), engaged Nicklaus Design to plan out a nine-hole, par 29 routing. The architects insisted that if they were going to sign up to design a short layout, it would have to be on a piece of land of their choosing. Centex gave way, and Nicklaus chose the highest spot on the property, carving out what could very well turn out to be the most dramatic, and toughest, stretch of holes in the mountains. At 3,800 feet, there is no problem at all with distant mountain views from Bear Lake Reserve's course, which opens for play July 1.
The 8th hole at Bear Lake Reserve's soon-to-open nine hole layout maximizes the mountains as backdrop. The rest of the course has similar views and some challenging holes.
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Cart blanche: Playing with the 90-degree rule |
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Friday, 30 May 2008 |
I teed off at Cherokee Valley yesterday without the customary run through of the rules by the starter. The starter at the Traveler's Rest, SC, course was off somewhere, but a sign was posted indicating that I should observe the 90-degree cart rule.
The 90-degree cart rule, which is a lot better than cart path only and only slightly worse than driving wherever you damn well please, splits the difference between a course's need to dry out after rain and the out-of-shape player's need to finish a round without collapsing.
But just as people have different interpretations of barbecue - you can tell I am in the Carolinas - they interpret 90-degree rules a little differently. My first experience with the rule was in New England a couple of decades ago. There, the 90-degree rule means you leave the cart path directly across from your ball in the fairway, drive to the ball, hit the ball and then drive back to the cart path along the same route. Then you proceed down the cart path until, again, you arrive at the 90-degree line across from your ball and repeat the process.
When I tried this on a 90-degree cart day at Pawleys Plantation many years ago, the starter caught up with me and asked what I was doing. He explained that 90 degrees in the Carolinas meant you drive to your ball at 90 degrees to the cart path but then proceed down the fairway, hit your ball, and continue down the fairway until, basically, you run out of short grass and are within 30 yards or so of the green.
The difference, those of you who are turf experts realize, is that the long roughs in New England can handle the traffic a lot better than the delicate Bermuda rough of the south can. In the south, for whatever agronomical reason, you can turn cartwheels without doing much damage to the fairways.
That said, Cherokee Valley's fairways and rough seemed to be covered in Bent grass. In the absence of the starter, I made a command decision. Even if I wasn't driving the ball straight, I could at least drive the cart straight.
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