{"id":511,"date":"2009-10-21T17:06:52","date_gmt":"2009-10-22T00:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffwallach.com\/?p=511"},"modified":"2011-03-01T19:27:35","modified_gmt":"2011-03-02T02:27:35","slug":"happy-haunting-grounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/511\/happy-haunting-grounds","title":{"rendered":"Happy Haunting Grounds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ghost

#8 Ghost Creek at Pumpkin Ridge. Scary!<\/p><\/div>\n

Jack O\u2019 Lanterns and skeletons may be plenty scary, but they\u2019re not nearly as frightening as standing over a two-foot putt with a match on the line.\u00a0 October is a great month for golf in many locations, especially at these venues with haunting themes and backgrounds. For further inspiration you can watch Boo Weekley on the Tour, and perhaps announcers will mention friendly ghost, Billy Casper.<\/p>\n

Scaring Up a Game<\/span><\/p>\n

Close by to White Plains, NY<\/strong>\u2014in aptly named Suffern\u2014awaits Spook Rock Golf Club, a Francis Duane design that\u2019s been rated among Golf Digest\u2019s Top 100 public courses.\u00a0 The classic old venue routes through wooded highlands in the Ramapo Mountains.\u00a0 Blazing foliage makes autumn the perfect time to play here\u2014just beware the triple-bogeyman.\u00a0 Ramapo.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Spell of Bad Putting<\/span><\/p>\n

In Jamaica<\/strong>, the White Witch Golf Course is named for Annee Palmer, a 19th<\/sup>-century plantation owner who supposedly cast spells and killed three husbands.\u00a0 She has not been directly linked to a case of the shanks.\u00a0 This Von Hagge\/Baril mountain design plays over ravines and hollows across the mountains of the Rose Hall Sugar Plantation.\u00a0 The course is part of the five-diamond Ritz Carlton Golf and Spa Resort.\u00a0 Ritzcarlton.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Drop it in the Hole<\/span><\/p>\n

Just outside Indianapolis<\/strong>, Coffin Golf Club gives new meaning to the phrase \u201cnailing it\u201d off the tee.\u00a0 This 6,789-yard Tim Liddy design opens with a par five and features back-to-back par fives on the back nine.\u00a0 The narrow fairways play between mature trees and beside the winding White River en route to bent grass greens.<\/p>\n

Exorcise for Good Health<\/span><\/p>\n

Some devilish golf holes await at the Diablo Grande Winery and Resort, outside Sacramento<\/strong>.\u00a0 Denis Griffiths designed the serene, pastoral Ranch Course, which plays long and narrow along rye grass fairways and elevation changes.\u00a0 Jack Nicklaus and Gene Sarazen partnered to create the Legends West course, with small greens and plentiful deep bunkers.\u00a0 Diablogrande.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ghost of a Chance<\/span><\/p>\n

South of Manchester, England<\/strong> golfers at the Church Stretton Golf Club have long reported that a ghost has been stealing golf balls\u2014appropriately enough on the 13th<\/sup> hole.\u00a0 Players describe hitting balls clearly to the middle of the fairway and then walking out to find their balls have disappeared.\u00a0 The hilly, wind-blown century-old course also overlooks moody ruins from the Roman era.\u00a0 Harry Vardon and James Braid both worked on the course design.\u00a0 Churchstrettongolfclub.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Pumpkin<\/span><\/p>\n

Golf facilities don\u2019t get much greater than Pumpkin Ridge, outside Portland, OR<\/strong>.\u00a0 Bob Cupp carved the facility\u2019s gorgeous public Ghost Creek layout through open meadows and forests of fir, maple, ash, and oak.\u00a0 Classical bunkering with overhanging edges creates shadowy places where goblins my gobble golf balls.\u00a0 The frolicking Ghost Creek appears and disappears like an elusive specter.\u00a0 Pumpkinridge.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gourd-geous Scenery<\/span><\/p>\n

Sixty miles from Manchester, NH<\/strong>, golfers can light it up at the Jack O\u2019 Lantern Resort.\u00a0 The Robert Keating design in the heart of the White Mountains dates to 1947.\u00a0 No local course can hold a candle to the 6003-yard layout\u2019s views of Franconia Notch and an authentic New England covered bridge.\u00a0 Jackolanternresort.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

I Ain’t Afraid of no Ghost<\/span><\/p>\n

Native Americans have long considered whirlwinds a sign of ghosts.\u00a0 At Whirlwind Golf Club, outside Phoenix<\/strong>, architect Gary Panks created further mayhem on the Devil\u2019s Claw Golf Course, a 7.029-yard layout that has received accolades from Golf Digest and Zagats, and hosts the Nationwide Tour\u2019s Gila River Classic.\u00a0 The course plays through cottonwood, mesquite, saguaro, and native grasses.\u00a0 Whirlwindgolf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Devilish Design<\/span><\/p>\n

East of Newport News, Virginia<\/strong>, the golf is hot at Hell\u2019s Point Golf Club, a Rees Jones design that was ranked by Golf Digest as a best new course and by the American Society of Golf Course Architects as one of the top 100 designs in the US.\u00a0 Tricky angles, lakes, and 61 bunkers place a premium on strategy, not length on this venue winding through hardwoods and Virginia Pines.\u00a0 Hellspoint.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jack O\u2019 Lanterns and skeletons may be plenty scary, but they\u2019re not nearly as frightening as standing over a two-foot… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4907,5048,17],"tags":[5272,5273,5274,5275,5276,123,5725,5726,2169,5268,5727,5270],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oregon-golf-assoc","category-alternative-golf-assoc","category-courses-and-travel","tag-church-stretton-golf-club","tag-pumpkin-ridge","tag-jack-o-lantern-resort","tag-whirlwind-golf-club","tag-hell-s-point-golf-club","tag-rees-jones","tag-scary-golf","tag-white-witch-golf","tag-gary-panks","tag-spook-rock","tag-diablo-grande-winery-and-resort","tag-coffin-golf-club"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2009\/10\/Ghost-18.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":517,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}