Golf Colony: Brunswick CC

Name: Brunswick Country Club
Location: Brunswick Georgia
Accessibility: Private
Walkability: Highly Walkable

Brunswick Country Club is a great course for the high to mid-handicapper. This course was designed by Donald Ross in the 1920's, and is a fair test for any golfer. The greens were re-done in 2007 to restore the original Ross design. During the renovation the original earth layers set down by Ross's team were discovered, which allowed the renovation to truly uncover the original design.

Many have played the course and criticized its flat layout. I thought it was a great layout for walking, with plenty of aesthetic and challenge for my playing partner and me. It is a great example of what the forefather's of golf course architecture had to do in order to make a course interesting and challenging. They were moving dirt with horses and shovels, not with diesel powered hydraulic lifts. The result is a course that truly reflects its surroundings, having been carved from land, and not simply dropped on top of it. I've posted more pictures after the jump:

Greens:

You can be on the right side or the wrong side of this knoll. Hardly visible from the approach, these types of undulations greatly impact the playing surface of the green, and create add challenge for a low handicapper while keeping the course playable for a high handicapper.

A well-defined false front, that also opens up the hole to the ground game.

A tale of two putting surfaces: Left side is relatively flat with a uniform slope upwards away from the hole. The right side is torrential.

Another example of Ross's slope, which greatly influences the way one can play the hole and adds challenge without penalty.

A lovely approach.

Shot from behind the green. The hole slopes up from the fairway and gives way to a steep bailout behind the green. Note that the greens crew has allowed a highly playable surface (fairway?) behind the green on this hole.