The Town and Country Club

I work in Saint Paul and there is a private course right down the street from my office called the Town and Country Club.  This is the oldest golf course in the state.  The club was founded in 1887 and moved to the current location in 1890.  At that time it really was a "country" club as it was well outside of the city.  The club was actually built before any thought to golf was made.

From the Town and Country Club website:
The first round of golf in Minnesota was played at the historic Town & Country Club of Saint Paul in 1893. Actually, golf began here as an afterthought. A pioneer member, William F. Peet, conspired with a Saint Paul newspaper reporter. Desperate for tidbits of news, the reporter asked Peet for the latest Town & Country Club gossip. Peet suggested a story about a new game called golf which was getting some press in papers along the East Coast. The reporter disliked his duties of social reporting, so he contrived a news story that the Club was thinking about starting golf.


Enter George McCree, a transplanted Scot, who had migrated here from Canada and was familiar with the game of golf. He read the article and immediately offered to help Peet start the game. “I finally took McCree out to the Club with my lawn mower in the back of my roadster to help lay out the course." Using an old driver and a twenty-five cent gutta percha ball, after a couple shots, McCree marked a spot with a stake - “This is the first hole." In this fashion, the first five holes were laid out, at a time before country clubs had become synonymous with golf.


Golf did not catch on quickly with the Town & Country Club members. When $50.00 was requested from the Club’s Treasurer to buy a set of real golf holes and flags to replace the tomato cans and fishing poles, it was soundly rejected on the grounds that golf was a silly game which could not possibly last.


It was a few short years later in 1895 that E. J. Frost, a well-known amateur out of Chicago, was hired to lay out Town & Country Club’s first nine holes. In 1897, $2,000.00 was budgeted to lay out the new course. On June 9, 1898, the new nine holes were opened for play. Also at this time, the first golf pro and expert maker of clubs, Robert Foulis, was acquired from St. Andrew’s Golf Club. The first greens keeper was also engaged at this time.

I have driven by this course nearly every week day for 13 years so finally on a nice Friday March afternoon I decided to take a look at the course and see what it was like.

The course exists on a very small footprint, some 6 or 7 city blocks by 5 city blocks.  Because of this there is little space between holes, and little space between holes and the edge of the property.  Because of this compactness I was interested to see what the course looked like.

So what was my impression?  Amazing!! While it is true that the course is small and holes, therefore, have to be tightly situated, the overall feeling of the course does not lend itself to this small size.  The greatest thing about this course is the elevation changes.  Because of the various elevations, few holes are on the same vertical plane meaning that even if a hole runs parallel with a neighboring hole, it is likely to be above or below the other hole and therefore does not feel like like they are directly adjacent.

Like a lot of older style courses there are a good amount of older big trees, but the course does not feel heavily wooded.  There is not a lot of water in play on the course but bunkering is extensive.  Again, like a lot of older courses, length is not tremendous here.  The length from the back tees is just 6400 yards.  The slope and rating is 71.9/137.  The par on the course is 72, with a par 35 front and par 37 back.  The non-traditional sides are from one fewer par 5 on the front and one more on the back.

The course seems like it is very well maintained.  I walked it on March 16th, and therefore everything was still mostly dormant. The greens are covered in winter and were showing good signs of being healthy.  The fairways are well maintained with very few divot marks from last year remaining.

Lets take a look at the holes. All distances are from the tips (blue).

Hole 1 is a par 4 at 324 yards.

A creek runs down the length of the left side making that side a no go zone.  The fairway is long and narrow.  The right side has hills that can keep balls in play if they manage to roll back into the fairway.

The green is also narrow side to side but fairly deep. One greenside bunker is the only one on this hole.

A look back down the 1st hole taken from above on the eighth fairway.  You can see the club's pool building in the distance.

Hole 2 is the first of the 2 back to back par 3s on the front.  This one plays at 110 yards.  The hole is uphill from the tee. And is well protected on the front with bunkers.

Hole 3 is a longer par 3 at 163 yards.

The green again is bunkered in front by 3 traps.  Pine trees behind the hole will swallow anything long.

Hole 4 is the single par 5 on this side at 490 yards. A fence to the left of the tee protects players teeing off on 2.  A drawback to the tight confines of the course.  I think this is the only such man made protection on the course.

 Off the tee box the hole drops off down to the fairway. There is water left as you can see below.  The right side again offers a chance to funnel balls back onto the fairway.

 From the fairway on your second shot.  The fairway rises back up so the green is not visible from here.

Once you do get back up the fairway on your third shot you will need to avoid the traps on either side of the green.

The fifth hole starts a string of 6 consecutive par 4s.  This one is 337 yards.

 THis hole is straight away off the tee.  The fairway has several sideways canters before dropping off sharply about 175 yards from the pin.

 A view from 175 yards out.  Past here and your approach shot becomes more and more challenging up hill.

 Once on top of the hill a green with no bunkers awaits.

 

Hole 6 is 468 yards. Again the tees are raised above the fairway.

 A drainage pond is at the bottom of the hill off the tee on the right.  The hole doglegs slightly right overall.

 The fairway ends at about 130 yards before separating to an upper fairway area and green.

 Once on top, this green is has 2 bunkers short on either side.  This is in the north east corner of the property, in a spot I think of as death's alley.  Two greens and two tee boxes occupy this corner.  I can only imagine you have to have a fair amount of trust in your fellow members in this area.

This photo was taken from the 7th tee.  The 6th green is right there.  If you look closely you can see the 13th tee just in front of the trees in the background, and just beyond the trees is the 12th green.

Hole 7 is 354 yards and is OB on the left, as this hole runs along the property's edge.

 A fairway bunker sits half way down the hole on the right.

 The green is protected in the front by bunkers on either side.  Right behind this hole is the eight tee.  Close enough to consider anything long being able to hit people on the tee.

The 8th is a 366 yard par 4 that is essentially an exact copy of 7, minus the fairway bunkers. Again off the tee, left is dead.

 Right of the fairway does drop off severely down towards hole 4. 

 Greenside bunkers up front on either side protect the putting surface. Deep falls off to the ninth tee box.

Hole 9 is a 414 yard par 4 that is straight ahead.  The fairway ends at 125 yards.  One more time left is dead and OB.  Right offers a scattering of trees to contend with.

 The fairway is fairly wide in the landing area.

 Once the fairway ends the hole drops off towards the green.  From the end of the fairway an impressive view of downtown Minneapolis, the Mississippi river, the Lake/Marshall Street bridge, and the clubhouse await you here.

The green has one large bunker right and is nestled in between OB left and deep and the driving range right.

The driving range is fairly small and you hit into a hill.  This is situated between the 9th hole right and the 1st hole left.

At the turn you have a nice little water feature which is a continuation of the creek running down the left side of hole 1.

Hole 10 is a short but narrow 377 yard par 4.  This is the last of the six straight par 4s and one of only 2 on the back. One more time off the tee, left is dead.

 The fairway is fairly open and your aim should be just left of the big tree on the right of the hole.

 Once you approach the green, the hole drops off sharply left.  Hills right can help funnel balls hit there.  The hill extends to the green and can provide some help getting your ball onto the green if you are errant there.

 The green is narrow and fairly deep.  This view is looking back down the hole.  As you approach the left side of the green drops of a good 20 feet.

Hole 11 is a 186 yard par 3. Left again is all kinds of trouble.

 The green drops off this time severely right.

Hole 12 is a 533 yard par 5. One more time, left is dead.  Maybe this course is designed to instill fear into those who like to hit left?

 The fairway is straight away and does have a large drop off.  At about 250 yards the fairway starts to drop off.

 A second shot layup will mean an uphill shot towards the green.

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 The hole has two large bunkers flanking the front sides of the green.  Long left is OB.  Long right is the 13th tee or 6th green.

Here you can see the proximity of the 13th tee and the 7th green.  The 12th green is just off camera left.

Hole 13 is the easiest hole on the course.  A hole in one made here is memorialized on a plaque near the tee.  The hole plays as a 283 dogleg left that plays the second half up hill to the green.

 The hole plays uphill most of the way.

 Extensive bunkering on the right exists to trap players trying to go for the green and missing right.

Hole 14 is a long 230 yard par 3.  The hole is straight away and flat.  The green is flanked short on both sides by five bunkers.

Hole 15 is the longest hole, a 552 par 5.  It is also the first of three straight par 5s.

 One fairway bunkers is placed in the landing area off the tee to the right. 

 The second shot should be made to be about 125 yards from the hole.  Anything longer and the fairway drops sharply towards the hole.

 The green is large and unprotected front so you can try to run your ball up.  Just don't go long as a couple of bunkers are there and then a whole bunch of junk.

The 16th is a 521 yard par 5.  Playing back the way you just came, the 15th is to the right.  The hole is straight away.

 A landing bunker on the left of the fairway offers problems off the tee.

 The third shot is to a green located downhill.

 The green has two large bunkers to the right.  A large grass bunkers will collect anything left.

Hole 17 is the last par 5 at 522 yards.  Reversing course one more time and playing with 16 to the left. Again a fairly straight away hole.

If your ball finds the start of the fairway you will be faced with a blind uphill second shot.

 Once up on top of the fairway hill, several bunkers await on the right to offer some frustration.  Left on this hole is actually not much of a problem.

 The green has bunkering left and knoll extending around the back and right side.  Several interesting lies can be had around the edge of this green if you miss.

 Far left of the green are several pines and far right drops off down towards the 18th tee.  Short right offers a large clump of oaks.

The view after finishing 17 is another gem.  Here you can see a great view of the clubhouse and the Mississippi beyond.

The 18th is a par 3 170 yard finishing hole I am not a fan of par 3s to finish but this one offers the only forced carry over water on the course.  A narrow chute off the tee opens up to a wide open green.

 Three bunkers are on either side of the green.  Short drops off towards the water and long offers some pines to play with.

Well that's the course.  I really liked the feel of this course.  I really was impressed by the layout of the course and how it did not feel cramped, despite the compact footprint of the property.  You definitely have to have an accurate game to do well here.  Big slicers and hooks can loose a lot of balls outside the course or hit a lot of fellow golfers.

Now I just need to find someone who is a member so I can try it out...