June 2024
You’ve been warned: this one is light on golf course overviews.
I’m not sure where or when the term “Golf Sicko” arrived on the scene. But I think I know how it happened. I’m sure there were many forces at work but the first was golf course design. The “neoclassical” movement started in the 1990’s with Sand Hills and Bandon Dunes. This style returned us to more thoughtfully designed, minimalist golf courses that considered “shot value” (huh?), strategic options and aspired to be playable to both the scratch player and the 25 handicapper. 35 years later we are still enjoying this movement with new courses being built today. As a funny thought experiment, imagine what will be next. That is, how will the next generation think about golf architecture? Will they build courses with more or less than 18 holes? Bring back water and trees? Make it easier, shorter? Who knows - but it will change and our kids/grandkids will think the neoclassical stuff feels very “2010.” I want to believe that neoclassical will survive longer because it is borrowed from timeless styles of the UK, but future generations may want a style to call their own. I’ll be long dead when that happens so please let me know how it goes if we see each other in heaven.
Anyway - the courses started to be neoclassical. This created the concept of “destination golf,” where people would go out of their way to play thoughtful golf courses rather than just set up shop at a resort like La Quinta or PGA National or Ponte Vedra, the way our parents/grandparents did.
As destination golf started to take hold, the internet came of age. And people could start to share pictures of golf courses in a way they never could before. Some years later, “new media” (No Laying Up, Fried Egg) arrived and stole thought leadership from the traditional outlets despite much smaller scale. And the new economy arrived which allowed companies to sell equipment and apparel directly to customers (DTC) rather than rely on Golf Galaxy for distribution. This gave birth to Seamus golf, Lamb putters, Mackenzie bags and countless others.
Sitting at the center of these changes were a new generation of golfer looking for more meaning that what traditional golf was providing. These people - “Golf Sickos” - have been leading the charge of disruption in the golf industry. They buy different equipment and apparel, they consume different media, they seek new kinds of golf experiences and they congregate in communities all over the internet to share stories and build their subculture.
It’s this final point that brought me to Ren Tydings. Jay Washburn, my resident Austin Golf Sicko, met Ren on the internet. They were kindred spirits, as Golf Sickos tend to be. Jay told me I needed to meet Ren. We jumped on the phone and spoke about all things golf for an hour. He told me I needed to come up to play Congressional in Washington DC. These aren’t fake invites. I took him up on the offer and we added Baltimore to the list and I met Ren on the driving range at Baltimore for the very first time in person.
If Ren was cast in a movie, you’d think they went too far / too over the top. His energy and positivity seem completely contrived until you realize they absolutely are not. He seems like a guy that enjoys marijuana the old way (smoking) rather than the new way (gummy with a skinny margarita while watching Sex In The City reruns). He keeps a rubber band on his wrist and snaps it when he has negative golf thoughts. And to top it off he’s a hell of a golfer with an outrageous golf swing. All of which is hilarious when you realize that his real sport was lacrosse, which he played at the highest level. Until he didn’t and switched to golf and in doing so connected to his dad in ways that only golf can do.
When I started this quest, the stated goal was to spend time with the people I love and to meet new people all in the pursuit of joy and wisdom. I can’t think of a better example of meeting new people than Ren. Here’s to the Golf Sickos!
Oh about the golf. Baltimore Country Club is a Tillinghast that (I mean this as a compliment) would be a fantastic family club to play every weekend. Rolling hills, nice people, updated clubhouse. Our host hurt his back and couldn’t play with us but met us to say hi. In that conversation he was surprised to learn that Baltimore was in the top 100. And casually added: “anything between 50-150 is basically the same.” At first I thought that was ridiculous but I think he might actually have a point. There certainly seems to be a difference in the courses when you push into the top 50. I’m going to keep this in mind and form my final opinion in a few years.
After a quick stop at a very good friend’s house in Arlington, VA I woke up and played Congressional. Congressional has seen a lot of famous people and famous events, but went through a complete change in 2021. Other than the routing, the golf course was totally redone. I never saw the old one but the new one was fantastic. Trees are gone, fairways are undulating and the over-the-top clubhouse looms large at the center of the property. The back nine in particular is a blast. An absurd, downhill, island par 3 to start the back. Followed by a really fun split-fairway par 5. Then a quirky, semi-drivable par 4 and then a lovely (seemingly simple) par 3 tucked in the very corner of the fairway followed by back to back par 4’s with difficult blind approaches. Andrew Green did a phenomenal job with the course and it is very emblematic of the trend of modern golf courses. It also yielded what may end up being my favorite golf photo of all time - the approach shot on the par 5 16th with Hermon Presbyterian Church directly behind. The metaphors are so obvious they’ll smack you on the forehead but it still makes for an epic photo.
Just a week prior, I “enjoyed” delayed, connecting flights to Sleepy Hollow and questioned my sanity. This trip was 48 hours and included a gym workout, a visit with old friends, two exceptional courses and two, on-time, non-stop flights. Balance has been restored in the 90Project universe.
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