July 16th Day 41 - Fort Myers Country Club, Fort Myers, FL 
                                                                       Drove 457 miles

The Fort Myers Country Club was built in 1917 and designed by famed golf course architect Donald Ross, most famous for his Pinehurst course designs, courses 1, 3 and frequent U.S Open venue Pinehurst #2. This course was played regularly in the winter by Henry Ford and Thomas Edison who both wintered in the Fort Myers area. This course never hosted a U.S. Open, but many (OLD) golf pros' names adorn the plaque encased in a rock there and I believe it used to be a PGA tour stop many years ago. 

I drove south about 30 miles to get to the golf course and as usual got there in plenty of time. The course is still called Country Club, but it is a muni and is maintained like one. I know this is still the off season for golf, but it was pretty rough. The design is good (Donald Ross hates golfers!) especially the green. There are lots of quirky breaks and things you can't see until the ball rolls the opposite of what you thought it would do.

I played the white tees, 5815 yards with a rating of 68.9 and a slope of 124 on this 70 golf course. Margaret would play 4905 yards, 114 slope and a 69 rating and there are 4 other sets of tees. The back tees play 6675 (par 71) with a 72.9 rating and a slope of 131. I am glad I no longer play tees that will ALWAYS kick my ass!

This day was not as much about golf as visiting Dave Cooley. Dave and I and Margaret and about 7 or 8 others who rotated in and out of our group played golf together almost every Saturday and Sunday for several years. We also went on a few Canadian golf trip with as many as 20 people and had a great time golfing and quaffing Canadian beer(s)! Dave was an OVERKIND host. He paid for my golf, bought me lunch and a golf shirt (with the Fort Myers logo) and I know he wanted me to love the golf course, but it is a little old and worn to tell the truth. I would play it again if I was playing with Dave, but I wouldn't go out of my way to play it otherwise. IF I lived down there I might play it a lot as it is most affordable and I don't know what other courses down there cost.

One of the things I learned from Dave was about the gulf coast weather forecasts. Every day it says 40% chance of rain, but they don't know when. This is a standard as the weather can change so quickly in the gulf that no one can pinpoint a forecast. This will be an ongoing issue for me for the next several days as I find places and tee times to play in the gulf states. 

After golf I drove back the way I came and kept going all the way to Tallahassee. Fort Myers is as far as I am going to get from my home on this trip and my total trip mileage as I left town was 9745 miles. Everyday now I will get a little closer to home (until I dip down into Oklahoma and Texas) and I got more almost  6200 miles left to drive. 

Dave, if you're reading this, I REALLY had a good time and Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for the hospitality. It was great to see you and if we meet again I hope Margaret is with me.

          Randy’s golf course             ratings          play again               could recommend           Price

Prairieview GC (Byron, IL)               5                  YES                           YES                            $

The Boulder Course (Winchester, VA)    5            YES                           YES                            $$

Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA)         5                  YES                          YES                           $$$

The Walker Course (Clemson, SC)    5                  YES                          YES                            $$

Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND)        5                   YES                          YES                            $$

The Links at Greystone (Walworth, NY)   4.5        YES                         YES                            $$

Slammer & Squire GC                      4.5                 YES                          YES                           $$$       (St. Augustine, FL)   

Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO)         4.5                 YES                          YES                            $$

Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA)                 4                   YES                          YES                            $$

The Legacy (Springfield, TN)            4                   YES                          YES                            $

Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE)              4                   YES                          YES                            $$

Chicopee CC (Chicopee, MA)           4                    YES                          YES                            $ 

The Architects Club (Phillipsburg, NJ)   4               YES                          YES                            $$

Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA)      4                   no*1                           YES                           $$

Heritage Shores (Bridgeville, DE)      4                   YES                           YES                           $$

Houston Oaks (Paris, KY)                  4                   YES                           YES                            $  

Eagles Landing (Ocean City, MD)     4                   YES                            YES                          $$    

Brandon GC (Brandon, SD)               4                   YES                             YES                         $

Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI)        4                   YES                             YES                         $

Portland GC (Portland, CT)               4                    YES                             YES                         $

Green Valley CC (Portsmouth, RI)    4                    YES                             YES                         $$

Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH)      4                    YES                            YES                         $

Links at Union Vale (Lagrangeville, NY)   4           YES*2                         YES                        $$$

Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN)                 4                    no                               YES                        $$

Pilgrim's Oak (Peach Bottom, PA)    3.5                  YES                             YES                        $

Lochmere G & CC (Tilton, NH)       3.5                  YES                             YES                        $$

Rivers Edge (Burley, ID)                  3.5                  YES ?                          YES                         $

Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI)         3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Brattleboro CC (Brattleboro, VT)     3.5                  YES  ?                          YES                        $$          

Monroe CC (Monroe, NC)                3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Martindale CC (Auburn, ME)           3.5                  YES   ?                         YES                        $$$       

Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT)             3.5                    no                       good golfers only           $

Fort Myers CC (Fort Myers, FL)    3                     YES                             YES                       $

Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN)     3                      no                                 no                         $

Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY)       3                      no                                 no                         $$

Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT)                 3                      no                                 no                         $        Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)

The Brookside Club (Bourne, MA)    2                      no                                 no                         $$

Crosswinds Championship GC         1.5                      no                                 no                         $  (Savannah, GA)

Jones Course (Wheeling, WV)            1                      no                                 no                        $$$

Langston GC (Washington D.C.)        1                      no                                 no                        $$

*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings

*2 = would move up a tee and NOT pay weekend green fee. M-Th fee is $ 77 and $ 61 after 2 p.m. 

You can see the difference between the winter grass (top picture) and the summer grass bottom picture!





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