USMA at West Point, NY!

After my foray around the United States Military Academy and a quick peek in the museum, I headed for another spot near and dear to my heart...the golf course. Yes the Military Academy at West Point Golf Course is open to the public! So I drove around to the small and very worn out looking club house and started my round. The course is absolutely lovely and challenging with many elevation changes and greens that undulate quite a bit.  There are just 3 tee boxes and the forward boxes only really have a break on a few holes.  Some of the par 3s really have large elevation drops but they are all spectacular and the views are stunning.

There are many blind tee shots as well and so I would smack a good long drive and then just have to see where it went. Because of the heat and threat of rain there were not too many folks on the course but everyone was really friendly. Most were retired military or officers assigned to the Academy, and I was apparently one of the few civilians who was not from the area who played the course on my own. I caught up with a twosome of retired officers near the end and finished the round with them. I was pretty happy as I shot a 79!

The starter who had been really kind when I started out asked how my round went and when I told him my score, he seemed quite surprised!

The most interesting part of the round, however, came after I watched the trucks transporting cadets down the road adjacent to the course. They were going for artillery practice and training and so most of my round was played while being serenaded by practice artillery fire! I must say it was a unique experience and on the back nine, I know I could hear some of the rounds whistling nearby as they passed by on the way to the target before hearing the thump, thump thump. You can listen on the following video and hear some of this -- it is not wind in the microphone or thunder.

So what a day it had been here in West Point, New York. I had dinner at the little local 50+ year old diner on the main street in town. It was loaded with historical photos that I perused while listening to local folks talking about the new class of cadets and all of their folks who had brought them here. I cannot imagine such a small town being overwhelmed by the 1300 cadets and their families. I also remembered back to an old Hollywood movie called "The Long Gray Line" with Maureen O'Hara about the US Military Academy at West Point and the men who work there and the young men who attend. I think I will go back and re-watch that when I have time to see if I can recognize the locations.

In the morning I would arise early and set out heading south to see the US Naval Academy at Annapolis and other memorials. The comparison between the two academies should be fun!  I hope to get in another round of golf before heading home at the famous, historic Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia.

A Chocolate Round

My next golf stop for the day was HERSHEY! Yes this chocoholic could not resist a night at the historic Hershey hotel with a round of golf on the historic course that abuts the Hershey plant. The area was having a big heatwave and most of the northern golfers feared the heat (it was about 95). This Texan felt right at home and so I played a round of afternoon golf after my morning work.  The East Course which is not as old or historic was hosting a Pennsylvania junior tournament with a lot of really suffering parents LOL.

The course is gorgeous and challenging with many elevation changes. I also have learned that many of these old courses (like the Donald Ross in Indiana) do not have full cart paths; that is the cart paths just go part way and then you are on your own to drive anywhere!  All they ask is that you get no closer than 25-30 yards from green.  Now down my way you must stay much farther back from the greens and there are always cart paths.  LOL clearly we have more worry about the grass!  Now I must also say that this course has really poor signs directing you between holes.  And the flow is just not clear as to which direction you need to head to find the next set of tees so sometimes I had to drive up and around when the path split  with no direction, and I could not alwasy assume you went right.  I didn't feel so bad however, as there were several other golfers that I saw having the same problem.  I did ask about this at the pro shop and they were honest that this is a problem but that the managers want to maintain the historic sense of the course and keep the number of signs on the course to a minimum.  As I would find on a later course I played on the trip, however, they could have at least painted directions on the cart path. 

There were a number of interesting holes and one par 3 appears to aim directly into the front yard of a house!  The forward tees are at the bottom of the hill and you cannot see the landing area or flag at all, so I drove up to the back tees so I could clearly see the hole and know what was ahead of me (and to take a better picture)!    The par threes were also pretty long even from the forward tees so that made it pretty challenging.

The course workers were having some problems with the heat with 2 of the cart girls' carts breaking down and all the ice melting. I must say it was no worse than a good round of golf in 100+ degree heat in Texas -- just drink plenty of water! I did pretty well by shooting and 80 too!

  The Hershey Hotel is a classic old style hotel built in 1933 and is really beautiful.  Everything is geared around chocolate - when you check in they hand you a chocolate bar.  I did do some shopping at the stores and also bought some golf gear although they do not have bag tags!  Apparently cut these out because of economics which I found disappointing.  The spa provides everything with a chocolate flair as well.   

Kings Creek

I'm on the road again and this time mixing in more golf with memorial work.  My first golf stop was at Kings Creek in Tennessee; the course has been rated in the top 50 public courses for women.  Course was very affordable and I had an early tee time so went quickly.  Unfortunately, the course sustained some serious damage in the big flood this spring.  At one point the entire course was 10 feet underwater!  Washed out some areas, and all of the traps were basically destroyed.  They will be replacing the traps starting next week so my timing was good as they will be closed for a few days.  The course is fun and enjoyable to play and I know it must normally be really quite beautiful.   I enjoyed the round even though I had a few loose shots and so my score ballooned up to 83.  I hope they can restore it to its former glory. 

My next stop is Hershey Country Club (yes of chocolate fame) and another great old course from the 1920s!  The famed west course.  Treating myself at the resort for a night so will tell ya about that later.