Northwood Club

I'm sure the Northwood Club looked great when Julius Boros won the 1952 U.S. Open there, but I doubt it looked any better than it did when I played it earlier in the week. This was fresh off of Tripp Davis' magnificent restoration of the course, where he brought back the contours and sizes of the old greens and most certainly enhanced the William Diddel-designed course as well. In fact, with modern turf varieties, it's probably in way better condition than it was in 1952. Simply put, this is how parkland golf is supposed to be – interesting, walkable, challenging and never boring. I pretty much liked every hole, the par-3 ninth (plays over a creek with trees on the left side) and the par-5 14th in particular. The latter features one of the coolest and most unique tee shots you'll play anywhere. It actually starts out below the fairway, where you have to hit over a deep gorge and creek out to a plateau. Hit it too far right and you can be blocked out by the trees. Try to bite off too much, and you might be re-teeing. Hit it perfectly, and you've got a birdie opportunity. I managed to hit a perfect drive on the hole, and almost made birdie. What a fun hole. What a fun golf course.