If you are a long-time golfer, you have surely stumbled across golf courses that wowed you beyond expectations – most likely because you had no expectations. That feeling of serendipity and discovery is at the heart of why I have just launched a new web site, OffTheBeatenCartPath.com. There you will find reviews from average golfers of unexpected gems that are unknown outside their local community and under-appreciated by the rest of us because we have never heard of them. They may not be difficult to get to – indeed my favorite such golf course, Keney Park, is “hidden” in plain sight in the city of Hartford, CT – but they certainly are worth going a little out of the way to play.
I purchased the web site OffTheBeatenCartPath more than a decade ago from another devoted golfer. There is a small trove of reviews from the mid 2000s at the site that span a number of states and provide enough guidance to consider playing those courses; I have checked, and they are all still in business. (Given the golf industry’s woes of recent years, these survivor golf courses are likely to be very good indeed.)
I want OffTheBeatenCartPath.com to feature as many reviews by our readers as possible and, over time, to inspire some of you to “show off” your hidden gems to other readers who may be passing through your area. (I extend an invitation to play with me at Keney Park to any of you who might be in the Hartford, CT, area. The first post-round drink will be on me.)
In coming weeks and months, I intend to build other features into the site, including short recommendations for a pre- or post-round meal; and since life is not all about golf (nyuk, nyuk), we might add some local color to our reviews. And we certainly intend to expand the number of states that feature excellent golf off the beaten path.
Mostly, though, I hope OffTheBeatenCartPath will inspire others to share their favorite local golf courses with the rest of us. Send us your ideas through the web site and we will make it as easy as possible to post your review. And don’t worry about writing skills; I spent 40 years in a career that included editing, and I enjoy the art of wordsmithing.
I look forward to seeing you off the beaten cart path.
Way off the beaten path: Ladybank Golf Club, Cupar, Scotland
As a member of the South Carolina Golf Rating Panel, I am asked to vote every year for the best golf courses in the state. Some years we vote for the best public courses, some years for the best courses public and private combined. This year, we have been asked to vote for the 10 best “classic” courses in the state and for the 30 best “modern” courses, regardless of whether they are public or private. Results of the voting will be announced publicly coincident with the Panel’s annual meeting this spring.
Greenville Country Club's Chanticleer course, a Robert Trent Jones Sr gem.
Given the large number of excellent golf courses in the state, it is a difficult task but one I take seriously because South Carolina is my second state of residence. (I am a resident of Connecticut most of the year.) I also believe the panel’s judgment on best courses can be helpful to visiting golfers as well as for those retirees looking for a private club to join. I have played a majority of the courses in the state thanks to both my retirement gig as a golf community reviewer but also as a member of the panel. Many of those I haven’t played in the last few years left quite an impression; I have no problem comparing them fairly with those I have played more recently.
Everything says "classic" and classy, locker room to golf course, at Palmetto Club.
I played my number one rated “classic” course five years ago. The Chanticleer course in Greenville is part of a two-course membership inside the limits of one of the most popular cities in the Southeast. I rated its Greenville Country Club companion, the Riverside course, renovated a dozen years ago to “feel” like a design by Seth Raynor, #7 among the classic courses. But Chanticleer, designed by Robert Trent Jones the Elder, and renovated in the early aughts by his son, Rees, is so sleek, challenging and fun that I rated it just ahead of the heralded Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken and the famed Sea Pines Harbour Town course. The rest of my Top 10 include Camden Country Club (#4), The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach (#5), Florence Country Club (#6), the Surf Golf and Beach Club in North Myrtle Beach (#8), Orangeburg Country Club (#9) and the Wild Dunes Resort Links Course in Isle of Palms (#10).
In the coming days, I will post in this space my choices for best modern courses in South Carolina.
Florence Country Club's course was designed 94 years ago in the "style of Donald Ross."
Page 54 of 1022
Our Latest Newsletter
March 2024
March 2024 In This Issue Half Million People Leave Florida. Why? Your Next Home Not Getting Bigger; It’s Getting Better
