A nice Donald Ross design but don't tell anyone...

While Golf.com names 10 great golf courses built during the Golden Age of golf course design that are playable by The Great Unwashed, the two that caught my eye are those I'd never heard of - Linville and Taconic.

Plenty of information to go on where the latter is concerned. Not only do we get a players' guide and layout gallery but we even get a welcome insight into how an architect sees the restoration of a course, with this in-depth Course Master Plan provided by Gil Hanse.

To complete the picture, here's the flyover:



What a shame those who oversee Donald Ross' creation at Linville don't deem it worthy of similar exposure.

By the time you've read the following on Golf Club Atlas:

A 1924 Ross design that was reportedly carved from the mountains using mules and drag pans! Another beautiful and peaceful course that will test everything you've got and more.

Or taken in Ron Green Jr's view that:

This is a classic, old-style mountain course that you could play every day without tiring of it. The par-4 third hole has been included on many best holes in the world lists and justifiably so. Linville doesn’t beat you up the way some courses can. It caresses you like a cashmere sweater.

You're pretty much itching to see the place for yourself. Unless I'm missing something on the website, however, you get a downloadable scorecard and a smattering of photographs. No flyovers, 3D hole images, gallery or course layout graphic.

Before the rant, let me atone as much as I can. There's an aerial shot here, a review if you scroll down here and a flyover here:



Brownie points added: it's another course that's not too heavy on the bunkers and it has just been unclogged by the removal of numerous trees, according to this interesting piece on golf's uneasy relationship with the leaf and branch.

Brownie points subtracted: Satanic greens, as per these comments from the Golf Club Atlas Forum:

There is a green at Old Linville (another Ross) that is so severe that if you are on the back tier you cannot putt down the hill without likely putting 40 yds back down the fairway.

I played at Linville GC in the NC mountains last week and saw both the blessing and curse of fast greens. The greens were flawless--the truest and fastest I've played--but they also rendered several of the pin positions downright ridiculous given the slope of the greens. It was impossible at times to keep the ball on the green, or even within 25 yards of the green, if you got above the hole.

I like Linville at least as much though they have some greens that are just too severe today.

Now for the rant. When your course is designed by Donald Ross and you're happy to list its umpteen accolades on your website, how on earth can you justify not having so much as a layout map on-line, in this day and age? Dare I suggest that this is what happens when golf courses are run by hotel people?

I wonder how management at the Eseeola Lodge would view a flyer for a new Broadway show that promised:

"...a starring role for one of the biggest names in Hollywood. We're not telling you who he is but here are some pictures of his ear lobe and the back of his left knee"

I suspect they wouldn't be overly impressed. If any of them are reading this, they might like to hold that thought.