Vineyard Golf Course ( Cincinnati, OH)

Continuing with the Muni Monday theme, the Vineyard is owned by the Great Parks of Hamilton County. No discussion of best public courses in Cincinnati can be complete without including it. Opened in 1986, Jack Kidwell and his protege Michael Hurdzan were leaned on to design a strong championship layout. 

The Vineyard occupies a terrific piece of land. Deep ravines and rolling terrain flow in between thick stands of hardwoods with several ponds found throughout. It’s a classic parkland course that focuses on robust driving. Tee shots are hit over valleys, out of chutes, and often times favor one side of the fairway over the other to take advantage of the slope. Anyone familiar with Jack Kidwell’s work knows he emphasizes that facet of the game to be top notch. 

(The 365/340 yard par four opening hole introduces the demands one will be expected to meet. Ravines on the left and right can spell disaster from the beginning. It’s a birdie opportunity should you pipe it down the middle.) 

(The 398/370 yard par four fifth tumbles downhill to a two tiered green. This pin is in the deepest portion, making it quite challenging to attack. Two putting from below the shelf will also be a chore.) 

The Vineyard has more tiered greens than I recall seeing at other Kidwell courses. I’m of the opinion that this is Hurdzan’s influence. Holes 4,5,13,&17 all have this feature and the fourth has an extra level making its three tiered green an exacting target. A few greens bleed off the sloping terrain where you can run the ball in from the fairway. Most slope back to front with the high spot on a the side. 

(The 166/149 yard par three fourth has a three tiered green. There’s probably six feet of elevation change between the lower and upper levels. As the picture shows, the green as a whole is not a big target. Picking the correct club is vital.)

(The 215/148 yard par three thirteenth is arguably the best hole on the course. The upper rear left portion is a crazy difficult pin position but the front and even rear right pins are challenging too. The green is severely pitched, making a high draw the shape to best hold the putting surface. Any shot long or right will run away into trouble. Par is a good score.) 

My main criticism of Vineyard, and I find this to be at most Kidwell courses, is the lack of features around the greens. The approach shots are not as engaging as the tee shots. This includes the bunkering which is unremarkable. Also, the three par fives all play in the same direction. They’re about the same yardage and tend to play similar. Not surprisingly, they’re long brutes which seems to be another trait in Kidwell courses. 

(The 536/504 yard par five tenth is one of the best driving holes on the course. Look how the fairway sweeps up to the left. Left obviously must be avoided, but players must also be vigilant to not hit through the fairway into the valley beyond.) 

(The 409/376 yard par four fourteenth is a demanding drive across the valley to a narrow fairway. Anything left will race into the ravine...

...a good drive leaves this view into the green. Note the false front. Players must hit deep into the putting surface to avoid spinning it off. The bunker is well positioned.)

The Vineyard is 35 years old and is the crown jewel of the Great Parks of Hamilton County. Golfstyles Magazine listed it on their top 100 public courses in Ohio. I remember when we were trying to play all the courses on that list and I last played here twenty seven years ago. Seeing it again, I was impressed. It’s solid. I give Vineyard a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play).

(The 422/396 yard par four eighteenth is a tough finisher. The player must fade his ball down the fairway before hitting from a sidehill lie to an uphill green. A par will win plenty of matches.) 

 

Madison Green Country Club (Royal Palm Beach, FL)

I’m always keen to see courses by architects whose work I haven’t played. Madison Green was designed by John Sanford in 2001. It received an Honorable Mention by Golf Digest for Best New Course that year. 

I was reading an interview with John Sanford and the topic was how far the ball goes and the yardage of golf courses. He replied that he wanted to shorten courses by adding more forward tees. He also stated that although the professionals were hitting it further, the average player wasn’t. He believes in reducing the amount of maintained playing areas which helps lessen golf’s footprint on the environment. 

Madison Green is the prototype image one thinks when conjuring up the term Florida golf. It’s shoehorned into a residential community with homes and roads that are in play on several shots.  There’s a lot of local knowledge and hidden water hazards to be negotiated, fairways that need specific yardages to find the landing area safely, and awkward angles and/or lines that take multiple plays to figure out. In my group, this was the least favorite course from the five we played. 

(The 332/318 yard par four twelfth is a good birdie opportunity. Players lay up to the water and hit a short iron in. There’s fairway to the right to fit a driver for those who want to hit as close as possible.) 

I knew it would be a long day when my two single digit friends expressed a desire to play the white tees. Looking at the scorecard, Madison Green boasts the highest course and slope rating in the county. With water in play on seventeen holes, there’s no let up throughout the round. 

(The 402/371 yard par four seventeenth is the beginning of a good one-two punch finish. With the green in full view, the line of charm drags your eye away from the fairway...

...the approach is all carry to a two tiered green. The bunker on the right squeezes the landing area for those who hit a poor tee shot.) 

The best holes at Madison Green are the par fours. The ones I found most compelling are 7,9,17,&18. The par threes are nice but they don’t really stand out. The sixteenth was the best one with a kidney shaped green tucked behind a bunker with fairway all along the right for players to bail out. The par fives were the holes that I disliked the most. Easy drives followed by awkward second shots that demanded very precise (local knowledge) layups to avoid water. I felt Sanford’s use of mounding hid many of the areas I was hitting towards. In fact, I didn’t care for much of his mounding period. They hid the fairway off several tee boxes and hitting them resulted, or possibly could, in bad kicks or breaks. 

(The 427/356 yard par four eighteenth is a very fine ending hole. The palm tree and waste area capture your eye since a draw is the preferred shape off the tee...
...the approach is then across another water hazard to a banana shaped green backed by two sand traps. Anything short will end up wet. A par is a good score.) 

Madison Green is a popular course and has a full membership. (Judging by the cars in the lot, it’s a rich membership too) Being statistically the hardest course in the county I’m sure is a big draw. One of Sanford’s philosophy is to bring a lot of texture to the design and Madison has that. I love all the palm trees. It definitely has a Florida feel. I give it a 4 (above average)(worth driving 30-45 minutes to play). 

(I’ve never seen a water range before. You hit balls into the lake and a frogman picks them out in the morning. It’s a pretty cool amenity.)