Charleston Country Club

Posted by Michael on 15 June 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: Charleston, Raynor, Southern Hospitality, The First Tee

Country Club of Charleston. Well well well, this blog was originally written by Mr Patton but being the technologically savvy chap that he is it has disappeared into the black hole within his Apple. Sorry readers you lucked out with my writing but here I go searching into the memory bank to reminisce of day 162 at the Charleston CC. 

What comes first to the memory is that it was very and I mean VERY hot. Probably the hottest day of the year to date. And humid.  Down the stretch Jamie wilted as the Scots tend to do in 99 degree heat.  We all did to some extent.  It was so damn hot there were fans on the practice range.

Charleston was the hangover from the monstrous test that was the Ocean Course.  And a golfing hangover generally produces a good score as youâ??re used to facing back to back to back 500 yard into-the-wind par fours, so anything less seems easy. Charleston is not easy mind you. The first hole actually felt a bit like Kiawah as it played staight into the stiff breeze â?? not a cooling sea breeze but one of those hot ones youâ??d love to just switch off like when the car air conditioning unit goes bungâ?¦

Greeted by Bucky in the pro-shop (an enthusiastic golf pro at the club who is also a First Tee of Charleston Board Member), we quickly met the brains behind day 162 â?? a lad named Ben Grandy.  Benâ??s story is as follows: he went to college on a golf scholarship but after a car accident he changed track and went to a different college that aligned with the PGA programme.  So 5 years later Ben graduated from college and was a qualified professional. His internships had been done at a number of awesome golf courses in the US including Peachtree, Medinah and Pebble Beach.  After graduating and a few months of sleeping on couches playing the mini tours, he woke up and didnâ??t want to play anymore and went and got a job in the industry.  After a couple of years he became part of the set up of The First Tee in Charleston in 2007.  Now, 3 years on, the Charleston First Tee has 5 bases and thousands of kids going through the programme. Itâ??s great stuff, particularly in an area such as Charleston where there are many kids who simply wouldnâ??t get the opportunity to play golf.   Of course Ben couldnâ??t have been this successful if he wasnâ??t a top bloke â?? so it was a pleasure to join him for a round and afterwards a spot of sightseeing around Charleston.  He even was kind enough to invite us back to his digs to shower up before our drive to Aiken, South Carolina.

The fourth, and the Country Club member of the group was a gent named Frank Norvell.  Frank was in the commercial real estate game here in Charleston and has been a member at the Country Club for a Long Time.  Frank could play, with a strong draw and getting some good distance with his driver, but we did what all guests are not supposed to do and took the match out today.  Frank has become involved on the Board of the First Tee here so has also been a driving force behind the success of this First Tee chapter.

Charleston CC has been designed by Seth Raynor in the 20â??s.  While I am not familiar with Mr Raynor he clearly subscribed to a design philosophy centering around simplicity.  The course has no bells and whistles. Some greens are small, some have huge false fronts and others are protected by the odd precisely placed bunker.  I loved a stretch of three short par fours, from the 12^th until the 14^th holes. All around 370 yards, but each had their own niche. The 12^th requires a cut off the tee and then has an elevated green angling away to the left, guarded by a bunker short.  This is a short hole but easy to stuff up, particularly today with the green elevated and exposed to the breeze.  The 13^th is very simple but if you go long, youâ??re out of bounds. So of course you hit it short and are snaffled up by the false front (and three putt). And the 14^th just has a monstrously awful green with many tiers and is devilishly difficult to stop the ball on. 

One feature which I particularly enjoyed was the square greens.  There were also square ledges around the greens which catch your ball and leave it sitting down a couple of feet from the green.

A couple of holes are worth a quick mention and a photograph.   The 11^th (below) is a par three which has the biggest false front you have ever seen, a narrow top shelf, and deep set bunkers on each side.  A polarizing hole which caused Hogan to call Charleston CC the best 17 hole course he has ever seen.  I thought it was a good hole, and fair with the remodeled green giving a backboard on the left of the green. I do think the false front doesnâ??t need to be part of the green â?? having it as fairway would help maintenance and have exactly the same effect on the hole.

The other hole is the horseshoe green 16^th â?? see below.  This is on the back of a strong par four at 450 yards.  An unusual shaped green and JP did particularly well with his putt from the back right to the front left.   

As the dehydration set in we meandered up the 18^th with the new clubhouse in the backdrop (the old clubhouse had been ruined by a Hurricane here in the 80â??s).  Our scoring was a collective 32 shots better than Kiawah, with a 76 (M) & 78 (J).  It was a pleasure to putt on some pure greens after quite a few of the sanded variety in recent times..  We rehydrated in the clubhouse courtesy of a number of Arnold Palmerâ??s and had a bite to eat.  Huge thanks goes out to Frank for making our experience at the Country Club all that it was.

 

Lastly, we did some media for the local tv news and then had a tour of Charleston where we saw the slave markets, the tourist district and the old stately homes on the peninsula upon which the city center is based.  Then, after a long drive through to Aiken, South Carolina, we were shattered as we greeted our hosts the Brewer Family who had contacted us through our website after hearing our story on the Golf Smater Podcast. We met Steve and Paula and the kids and shared stories of NZ and our golfing journey before we retired for some much needed shut-eye.