I played golf in Hartford (CT) a couple of weeks ago and during the walk, one of my playing partners, a well-traveled rater for Golfweek magazine, offered that the difficulty of Jack Nicklaus golf courses was starting to have an effect on the value of homes in golf communities with the Golden Bear’s layouts. I play regularly the Nicklaus’ Signature golf course at Pawleys Plantation, south of Myrtle Beach, and while the layout is certainly difficult and play there can be slow when vacationers foolishly play the wrong tees -- signs that try to advise them are largely ignored -- I wasn’t going to challenge the Golfweek rater during the round. But I have started my research with an eye to writing about the relationship of real estate and the difficulty of golf courses. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, I did ask a colleague who is a member at National Golf Club in Pinehurst if he would weigh in about his own Jack Nicklaus course. I expected to extract a quote or two for my eventual article, but Jack Maisano’s ode to his golf course was so well written and so pitch perfect that I have reprinted it in its entirety in this month’s edition of Home On The Course, our free newsletter, which we will email to our list of subscribers later today. We also include a list of Jack Nicklaus golf community courses I have played in recent years, with a suggestion for which tees are appropriate for a 10-handicap player (others can adjust accordingly).
If you are not yet a subscriber to Home On The Course, please sign up by clicking here. If you miss the automatic mailing today, I will be sure to personally send you a copy this weekend. (Note: We include in the October edition of the newsletter four photos taken at The National Golf Club before their recent renovations. Because they are in small format in the newsletter and may lack detail on laptops and tablets, we are publishing a few National shots below.)
The 4th at National Golf Club...
The approach at the 5th...
The 10th...
...and the finishing 18th.