Course Collection SEVENTEEN

Tseiqami Thunder Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA / based on THUNDERBIRD COUNTRY CLUB

Eyebrows were raised when plans were announced to build a golf course in the desert but when Thunderbird opened in 1951, it was to a stampede of celebrity participation and approval. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Kirk Douglas, Desi Arnaz, and Burt Lancaster were among the multitude of celebrities and wanna-be’s who flocked to the valley to play golf here. Crosby, in fact, was club champion in 1958. The club set up an open tournament, The Thunderbird Invitational, which drew the attention of both golf fans and non-golfers with the likes of Dean Martin, Hoagy Carmichael and Perry Como on the entertainment committee. The club hosted the Ryder Cup in 1955, and Hope appropriated the course for his annual Desert Classic golf tournament, 1960-62. Everyone knew the course was too short (6600 yards) to challenge top golfing pros, so the holes were lengthened to their maximum distances, the rough was increased and fairways were narrowed. Even so, most of the golfers in this set will thrive at Tseiqami Thunder. A couple of interesting side notes: President Dwight Eisenhower played here in the 1950s, and even participated in a number of pro-am events, the first president to do so. Since then the course has been a haven for presidential golf adventures as well--Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Barack Obama all played here. Also, Thunderbird is the birthplace of the electric golf cart. Eddie Susalla, the club’s assistant pro, got the idea from seeing a handicapped man motoring along side walks in Long Beach on a gas-powered cart, and mocked up a prototype two-person, two-golf bag vehicle for use at the club.  At first, use was restricted only to those with a doctor’s permit. However, once members saw the cart in action, everyone wanted one and the rest is history.

Rustic Valley Country Club, Sutton, MA / based on PLEASANT VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB

Formerly an annual stop on the pro tour, under various tournament sponsors, Pleasant Valley had a high profile in pro golf’s 1970s scene. Some of the big names who won at Pleasant Valley in the ‘70s were Billy Casper (1970 Avco Classic), Roger Maltbie (1975 Pleasant Valley Classic) and Ray Floyd (1977 Pleasant Valley Classic). The ‘77 Classic was a tour “designated event,” for which Jack Nicklaus made his only appearance on the course--he finished in second place, two strokes behind Floyd. The story goes that after winning the ‘75 Classic, Maltbie went out to celebrate--and left his $40,000 winner’s check at the bar. The course has a rich history on both sides of the ‘70s as well. The 1965 Carling World Open, held at Pleasant Valley, was the biggest pro event in history, to that time. It hosted players from fourteen different countries, and boasted a purse of $200,000.  The inaugural Kemper Open was held at Pleasant Valley in 1968, marking the only time the men’s and women’s pro tours staged tournaments on the same course in the same year (until the 2014). Beyond the ‘70s, the tournament was called the New England classic and continued to be a regular stop on their tour every year until 1998. In recent years, the club has fallen on hard times. It was recently offered for sale, and sat on the market for a good while before accepting a lower-than-desired offer (reportedly, about $3.5 million) from a Florida consortium in the fall of 2020. That deal, however, fell through. As of June, 2021, the club is off the market with the owners waiting for the pandemic to subside fully before putting the club back on the market.

Assurant Lakes Golf Club, Long Grove, IL / based on the KEMPER LAKES GOLF CLUB

Kemper Lakes was founded in 1979 as a public course by James S. Kemper, Jr., president and CEO of Kemper Insurance Co., whose corporate offices were, at the time, located on the south end of the golf course. It was designed by Ken Killian and Dick Nugent in the classic style of the era--large, spacious and wide-open, measuring nearly 7500 yards in the pro configuration. In its hey day, it appeared consistently one the annual list of America’s Top 100 golf courses.  It’s one of just three courses in the state of Illinois to have hosted a major championship. The 1989 PGA Championship was won by Payne Stewart, the first of his three major championships. Stewart finished one stroke ahead of runners-up Andy Bean, Mike Reid, and Curtis Strange. Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer were among the leaders after the first round, both were looking for a PGA Championship win to complete a career grand slam.  Watson ended up tied for ninth at 281 (−7) while Palmer, 59 years old at the time, finished far back at 293 (+5). It was the last time that Palmer made the cut at a PGA Championship. Kemper Lakes also hosted the PGA of America’s Grand Slam of Golf from 1986 to 1990. Winners included Greg Norman (‘86), Larry Nelson (‘87), Payne Stewart (‘88), Curtis Strange (‘89) and Andy North (‘90). l The signature hole at Kemper Lakes is the par 3 17th hole, which features a semi-island green that’s protected on three sides by water. The right side of the green is guarded by two large, deep bunkers.

Chinook Haven Golf Club, Sammamish, WA / based on SAHALEE COUNTRY CLUB

In the Chinookan language, Sahalee means “high heavenly ground.” It’s an apt name, as towering fir and spruce trees seem to dwarf the golfers below. Difficult to play through yet calming to the soul to play on, Sahalee offers a unique and rare golfing experience, a combination of both tranquility and adrenaline. The course opened in 1969 and features three sets of nine holes. The South and North courses are combined for pro events, the East course is played by club members. Over the past fifty-plus years, Sahalee has consistently made the list of best courses in America. l In terms of the 1990s, the course is best known as the site of the 1998 PGA Championship, where Vijay Singh won the first of his three major titles. It is, to date, the only major ever played there. It may be that the golfers were intimidated (or, perhaps, put off?) by the setting. Justin Leonard said, “Everybody heard there were a lot of trees. I don’t think anybody imagined THIS many.” Colin Montgomerie echoed Leonard’s comment, suggesting that the trees got in the way too often. Davis Love III called it a test of golf never before seen. Ironically, the course’s signature hole, the par three #17, has relatively few trees. The drama it can create as a tournament winds down is palpable, and the layout provides a good view for the gallery. The hole plays downhill and over water with the hazard working up the right side of the green. It’s been compared to the sixteenth hole at Augusta--but more difficult.