Course Collection SIXTEEN

Course Collection SIXTEEN Overview

• Bluegrass Trace GC, Nicholasville, KY / based on KEENE'S TRACE GOLF CLUB

Bluegrass Trace is based on the Keene's Trace Golf Club, located in Nicholasville, KY, south of Lexington. Blueprinted by noted golf course designer Arthur Hills and constructed in 1987 by a former president of the golf club (Tom Heilbron), it has hosted the annual Barbasol Championship since 2018.

The Barbasol Championship was designed as an alternate event to July's Open Championship in Britain. With a smaller-than-average purse ($3,500,000 in 2020), it typically attracts lesser names than other pro events. It's not a "minor" tour stop, though. The winner earns 300 FedEx Cup points, a two-year tour exemption, and a place in the tour championship event.

Tree-lined and scenic, Keene's Trace offers golfers a solid workout of their skill sets, particularly the short game and around-the-green. Uniquely contoured and often irregular shaped, the green complexes are one of the features that sets this course apart from others of its class.

The course has a proven track record of producing an entertaining, drama-packed final day. Each of the tournaments 2016-2019 (the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to COVID) was won by a single stroke, with the 2016 event decided in a playoff, won by Aaron Baddeley. The 2019 tournament saw Jim Herman escape with a one stroke win over Kelly Kraft in a dramatic finish. Herman ended the tournament 26 under par, marking the fifth year in a row that the winner of the event had a better score than the previous year's winner.

• Kee-Carolina GC, Kiawah Island, SC / based on KIAWAH ISLAND GOLF RESORT (Ocean Course)

Few courses present a comparable golf experience to what you'll enjoy at the Ocean Course at the Kiawah Island, on which our Key-Carolina Golf Course is based. Designed by Pete and Alice Dye, it not only sits at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, it is literally perched above it. An elevated playing surface makes for inescapably spectacular ocean views at every hole. The waves of the Atlantic crash directly upon the fringes of eight of the course's holes, with the other ten holes running alongside. This proximity to the ocean means winds are always a factor here. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find another course anywhere in the world whose play is more affected by the winds of the sea than Kiawah.

Because of the ocean wind effect, as well as the course's length (7,849 yards), steep slopes, cavernous bunkers and super-thick rough, this course is consistently rated as one of America's most difficult.

The year it opened (1991), the Ocean Course hosted the Ryder Cup and since then it has seen regular service as a top-level course at the highest competitive levels. The course has twice hosted the World Cup of Golf(1997, 2003), The PGA Championship (2012 and 2021) and numerous other tournaments and events. It was also featured in the 2000 film "The Legend of Bagger Vance" starring Will Smith.

A couple of notes are in order when playing this course. First, please note that you will determine the wind conditions at the start of your round, and they will apply for the entire round: windy, normal and calm. The wind icons are in effect only when the wind is blowing. See the note at the bottom of each cards. Second, on the seventh hole, the Play Safe/Go For It option is largely dependent on the wind conditions. If the wind is blowing, you should probably play safe. If not, most pros will "go for it!" The decision-making comes in normal conditions. Remember, you'll roll the decider die for wind/not along with the other dice, AFTER you have made your decision!

• Mercury' Sandal GC, Mamaroneck, NY / based on WINGED FOOT GOLF CLUB (West Course)

Mercury's Sandal Golf Club is based on the venerable Winged Foot Golf Club, which was founded in 1921 by influential members of the New York Athletic Club. A.W. Tillinghast (one of six course designers in the World Golf HOF) was commissioned to design the course, which opened in 1923.

Its difficulty is legendary: Winged Foot's West Course has hosted the U.S. Open six times, and only twice has the winner broken par for the tournament. Geoff Ogilvy's 2006 winning score of five-over-par and Hale Irwin's seven-over in 1974 represent two of the highest major championship 72-hole scores in the modern era of golf. Ogilvy won without breaking par in any round. The '74 tournament came to be known as the “Massacre at Winged Foot” and produced one of the most famous quotes in golf history, from USGA president Sandy Tatum: "We’re not trying to humiliate the best players in the world. We’re simply trying to identify them."

This was also the site of the most lopsided win in major history, in 1929, when the course hosted its first U.S. Open. Bobby Jones sank an unlikely twelve-foot putt to produce a 36-hole playoff with Al Espinosa, and then proceeded to outplay Espinosa by--are you ready?--23 strokes!

Usually terrain or conditions define a course's difficulty, but that's not the case here. The layout, compared to other championship courses, is relatively flat and straightforward. Tillinghast simply constructed eighteen of the most brilliantly difficult holes ever strung together on a golf course by taking advantage of natural landmarks and building golf challenges around them.

Winged Foot’s 18th hole has been the site of some of golf’s most memorable moments, both good and bad. In 2006, Phil Mickelson imploded here to lose his grip on the US Open. The story goes, after mumbling through a somber post-tourney press conference and then leaving the clubhouse shell-shocked, Phil got to the parking lot and remembered that he hadn't given the traditional tip to the grounds crew. Phil, ever the class act, shuffled back to the clubhouse to hand out the cash.

• Statue of Liberty GC, Jersey City, NJ / based on LIBERTY NATIONAL GOLF CLUB

The Statue of Liberty Golf Course is modeled after Liberty National Golf Club, just across the river from Manhattan, with the New York skyline and Statue of Liberty in full view. It is (as of 2021) the most expensive golf course ever built, costing an estimated quarter billion dollars. The land--industrially scarred, unattractive and largely unwanted--was purchased by Reebok CEO Paul Fireman. He commissioned Tom Kite to design the course, sparing no expense. Every aspect of this course was painstakingly planted, placed or constructed. Three million cubic yards of imported landscape later, as Kite famously put it, "There is nothing natural about Liberty National. This is what you can do with a little bit of vision and a whole lot of money." It's of the few pro courses that can be reached by yacht or helicopter.

Golfers get breathtaking views of New York City and especially the Statue of Liberty, poised less than a thousand yards away at some places on the course. The 18th hole is one of pro golf's most memorable settings, featuring all the Gotham ambience and stadium seating packed with thousands of fans

Liberty National has hosted the Northern Trust tournament (previously known as the Barclay's) numerous times, including 2009 when Heath Slocum came from four shots behind to take the lead in the final round with a four under-par 67. His 20-foot putt on 18 sealed the win, with challengers like Tiger Woods and Ernie Els hot on his heels.