Both faking the Ross perhaps?
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Personally I think Hyde Park is completely faking it, very dishonest personality.
Palatka has a few very Ross like looks in places but even the staff will tell you he probably just made a few sketches as he passed through town, much more honest.
Either way palatka is one of my favorite places to play since moving here.
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Look, I thought White Bear Yacht Club was a Ross. It isn’t. I don’t care. It’s incredible.
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I thought Palatka was drawn up by Ross but he never visited.
@Lazstradamus next time you’re up in Northern Minnesota hit up my old stomping ground Cloquet Country Club, the front 9 is such a gem and designed by Ross it makes me depressed thinking how long it has been since I played there.
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Hyde Park is the faker for sure.
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Perhaps. How big is field and what type of stableford? . Also just want to get to the bottom of this Ross debate.
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16-20 guys. Smaller field but full of great storylines.
@NoLayovers can tell is the most about format, I have no clue but I will be there early Saturday to enjoy coffee and use the state of the art limited flight into a pond practice facility.
@OffTheDole can help us settle the Ross debate with real facts, he’s played every course in northern Florida except one…
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The thing about Ross courses is you kind of know when you’ve played one, and Hyde Park doesn’t feel like a Ross course.
Here’s what I consider the definitive article on the mystery:
https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20090324/SPORTS/801237334
So who did design the course?
The Donald Ross Society, formed in 1988, and the Stanley Thompson Society, formed in 1994, both list Hyde Park among those designers’ works. But neither society has documentation such as blueprints, notes by the architect or copies of contracts or permits.
The Tufts Archives, located at Ross’ most famous design, the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, has the original blueprints for many Ross courses. Hyde Park is not one of them, but the archives always listed Hyde Park as a Ross course.
Hyde Park is listed as a Ross course in the book, “Golf Has Never Failed Me: The lost commentaries of legendary golf architect Donald J. Ross,” which was published in 1996 by Sleeping Bear Press. The forward is by Ross’ daughter, Lillian Ross Pippitt, and coincidentally, Whitten edited the book.
“That was before I came across the articles in the Evening Post and the Jacksonville Journal,” Whitten said.
And what of those articles? The Journal article, which advances the opening of Hyde Park in 1926, notes that “The course … was built by the famous Canadian architect, Stanley Thompson.”
And this article at CanadianGolfer.com has pretty definitive proof (IMO) that it’s a Thompson:
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Late entry, looking forward to the weekend!
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Love it
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I really want to go but my back has been an issue for the last 2 months so I haven’t been playing. I’ll make up my mind tomorrow probably. Sorry.
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Quota I believe @OffTheDole? The Competition Committee came up with the format and I’m just passing it along.
Along those lines, anybody have a lightweight Live scoring app recommendation? I think it would be awesome to know where we stand during the event and eliminate the risk of germs spreading from paper scorecards.
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Another addition to the field. Jax local and somehow non refugee TB12 will be joining for Palatka round.
“ oooo palatka, put me down for shizzle”
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Golf in 95 degrees heals backs, come on down.
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To be honest, I’m not sure. If it isn’t, then it has been engrained in the club’s history that it’s a Ross for like 70 of its 95 years in existence.
I know the guy whose grandparents gave the land to the city for the course, and he’s been playing there since probably the 50’s, definitely the 60’s. He thinks it’s a Ross. His swing is absolute butter. Perfect example of a personality reflected in a golf swing. He’s quoted in Schupak’s Golfweek article on Palatka: https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2002/02/26/case-study-palatka-golf-club/
The Ross Society has it listed and it appears they have information verifying it? I don’t know if I’m reading the chart correctly.
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We will have live scoring via the Golf GameBook app.
For everyone participating in the event, please download the app and be on the lookout for the code to join the game.
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Sorry guise but I’m unfortunately out. Back is still iffy and my mother and future mother in law are causing drama for our wedding and I will likely need next weekend to hopefully smooth things out. Planning a wedding sucks.
Awesome. I’ll be there around 7a or so. Going to be an EARLY wake up call.
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My Course notes below. WIll follow this up with “The Unabridged History of Palatka Golf Club” later this week.
- Course is 5900 yards and there’s OB right on 13/18 holes. Might only need driver 2-3 times.
- The land falls away toward the fence on the vast majority of the holes so it plays much tighter than it appears because balls will trickle into it after landing 5-10 yards in bounds.
- Keep an eye on your alignment off the tee. A lot of the tee boxes point some direction other than the middle of the fairway.
1 - 310 Dogleg up the hill. Aim at the left edge of the cedar tree 100 yards out. Left seems to leave short-sided awkward chips so I’d miss right. Bit of a false front so important to get it on the same level as the flag.
2 - 360 Left-center of the fairway or left rough is much, much better than right fairway or right rough due to the front right bunker that has to be carried from those angles. Green is slightly elevated and crowned so the landing area when approaching from the left is much larger than from the center or right of the fairway where balls have a tendency to end up over the back.
3 - 188 Maybe my favorite hole on the course because of the gully between the tee and the green. I typically aim at the left edge of the green and let the wind blow it back to the middle. The contours of the green will feed shots from left to right anyway (can still see my first hole-in-one going in) and right is OB. Any ball right of the greenside bunker will likely end up OB. Behind the green is a narrow bunker and on plenty of occasions I’ve landed balls on the back of the green that skipped through into the bunker or even worse into the “junk” behind it. Long is dead, right is dead.
4 - 480 Par 5. Fun tee shot up the hill. It’s a chute but aim at the left side of the fairway because right is OB and the left rough opens up around 250 so there’s actually more room than it looks like. Downhill to a small, elevated green. Miss is short. All other sides lead to a patchy lie from the rough to an elevated green making it difficult to stop.
5 - A 424-yard par 5? Seriously? The tee shot calls for a cut but it isn’t really necessary because you can bomb it into #1 fairway and have an easy approach. I’d aim straight-away and not bother trying to bend it around the corner with OB looming right. Left greenside bunker and short are definitely the misses. Balls over the green lead to an uphill chip to a downhill green while balls right lead to a chip off of a dirt cart path if they stay inbounds.
6 - 150 Straight away par-3. Right greenside bunker and overhanging tree seem to lead to more balls left than there should be. Commit to your line.
7 - 410. 3-wood or even long iron. OB right is closer than it looks and the water left is just off the fairway. Aim at the right-center of the fairway and split the difference between the trouble. Right is dead, long is dead. If the pin is on the top tier it can be tough to get back to it. Might be better to club up and hit a knuckle ball that releases onto the top tier.
8 - 380. 3-wood or long iron. Water left comes into play as the fairway angles back to the right around 240. Very easy for a ball to miss just left and end up wet. Again I’d aim at the right side of the fairway and split the difference between the OB and water. 7 and 8 have a tendency to bite me in the ass more than the other holes on the course.
9 - 360. Right center of the fairway. OB is pretty far to the right and balls to the left seem to end up blocked by trees. Long is dead because it’s the parking lot. Once hit my own truck on the fly.
10 - 470ish. This tee shot is annoying. Depending on where the tees are you might be able to cut the corner over the edge of the pool with a driver, but if not it requires a borderline duck hook with a 3-wood or driver to keep it in bounds. Balls chase through the patchy rough and out of bounds at a ridiculous rate. Probably best to hit a 3-iron unless you’re really comfortable hitting snap hooks. Aim at the left edge of the green with a long-iron approach given OB right that again plays closer than it appears.
11 - 340. Ideal shot is aim well left and let it cut back toward the right center of the fairway staying well away from OB right and low-hanging trees when in bounds. Big accessible green. Hit it close and make the putt.
12 - 170. Simple par 3, but a decent amount of slope from back to front can lead to some sidehill putts.
13 - 296. Downhill slight dogleg right with a typically left to right wind. Probably only plays 280. Aim down the left center and let the wind bring it back. I’ve hit driver over this green numerous times.
14 - 170. Multiple levels to this green so really try and focus on being on the same level as the pin.
15 - 350. Awkward Dogleg right with trees right that can block your approach. I’d recommend being well aware of where the pin is prior to hitting your tee shot. Green runs away so it can be tough to stop a 50-yard shot to a front pin from the rough. Might be best to hit a 200-yard iron into the left fairway for a more conventional approach.
16 - 170. Right to left green calls for a draw approach. Balls short won’t hop on. I’ve played in numerous scrambles where 4 guys used mulligans and still couldn’t make an 8 or 9 footer. Just not a lot of flat spots on this green.
17 - 360. Bombs away. I’d aim for the right side of the fairway. Left tends to end up in tree trouble. Two-tiered green that tends to lead to some slow uphill putts when the pin is in the back. Keep it online to avoid a sidehill knee knocker.
18 - 410ish. Put in a new tee a few years back and it isn’t level so it’s an uphill swing. Hit it over the trees down the right side but I wouldn’t worry too much about hitting a cut. Trees seem to gobble up balls short right and the fairway will feed long left balls back into the center. Narrow green that tends to be tough to hit given the sidehill approach shot. Focus on being online. Pool barely over the back edge is OB.
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