I have actually played a lot of the classic golf courses in the northeast. Connecticut has a number of Donald Ross courses including several that are public courses. There are several great old designs in Westchester County I played at as a junior, and not just the well known ones like Winged Foot and Quaker Ridge. The Century Club is a terrific course and if I am not mistaken Hogan was an assistant golf pro there for some time. The distinctive feature of these courses that I have not found duplicated on modern courses – even the very well designed ones – is that the holes make sense in relationship to one another. The round of golf unfolds as a result. In my experience this is very important. I have played a lot of courses with very good holes, but there is no reason why one follows the last and why it precedes the next!! It isn’t just that a course has character or presents challenges, the best of the old courses are narratives in their own right. The course displays its character as it moves along: a story unfolds. This is a great feature of these courses and an important value that is all but lost in the modern designs.
Don’t get me wrong. I lived for a few years in Tucson Arizona and played several desert courses and they were beautiful and distinctive and often both fun and real challenges. But there was something in the way the old courses presented a round of golf to the golfer that the new couses simply do not do.
I will send pictures of various courses when I can – especially Yale which I know very well.
Would love to see some pics of Yale when you get around to it. My college golf team played there one year and the players raved about it. Its a classic. Triggs Memorial is a great Public D.Ross course that used to be really run down, but they re did the tees years ago and its in fantastic condition. Its a great example of a classic Ross course with all the heather, great dog leg holes, elevated greens, ect, Ross Greens and ample wide fairways, but trouble lurking if you hit an errant shot. If you are ever in the area you should play Triggs.