![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/robertfagan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2010\/07\/Worcester18th-and-clubhouse-near-dusk1.jpg\")
<\/a>A view of the 18th and clubhouse at dusk.<\/p><\/div>\n
What New England course hosted the inaugural Ryder Cup Matches together with both a Men’s (1925) and Women’s (1960) U.S. Open?\u00a0 If you knew it was Worcester Country Club<\/strong>, you would be one-up on most golfers.\u00a0 The United States won that first Ryder Cup and 9 to 2, Willie MacFarlane beat Bobby Jones by a single shot in a 36-hole playoff, and Betsy Rawls prevailed in the Women\u2019s Open.\u00a0 This 1914 Donald Ross design with Geoffrey Cornish modifications still ranks as a fine test of golf.\u00a0 Other than the touring professionals and scratch amateurs, one should not be put off by its 6,422 total yards and par of 70.\u00a0 With many uphill holes and elevated greens, that yardage plays much, much longer.\u00a0 The challenging greensites, undulating fairways, and swift greens combine for a championship flavor on a modest frame; one known to embarrass many an accomplished player.<\/p>\n The Course was graced in its 1914 Opening Dedication by having the immediate past President of the United States and avid golfer, William Howard Taft, have the honor of striking the first drive.\u00a0 He fashioned a mean “duck hook” some 125 yards down the fairway, but with several mulligans was able to improve upon that.<\/p>\n Incidentally, it was on the 11th hole that Bobby Jones called a “famous penalty” on himself in the 1920 US Open when only he saw his ball move in the tall rough.\u00a0 And yes, Willie MacFarlane would go on to win that title by a single shot in a 36-hole playoff.\u00a0 For Jones this was obviously the only way the game was to be played – with integrity, but it remains a defining moment in the game.<\/p>\n The meat of the test may reside with the five par threes; all presented in the first 13 holes.\u00a0 The 232-yard fourth is the opening one-shotter playing from an elevated tee to an elevated, severely sloping green.\u00a0 Anything sloppy leads to bogey or worse.\u00a0 The 161-yard downhill tenth is the shortest, but with its green sandwiched among sand and trees, you had better hit the green.\u00a0 The 196-yard 13th rivals the fourth as the most challenging par-three. It is these elevated, undulating greens that are Worcester\u2019s signature, being tough to hit and even tougher to putt.\u00a0 Challenging par-fours at nine, eleven, twelve, and the 462-yard 17th keep the long game on.\u00a0 Even the 326-yard 18th is not a pushover.\u00a0 All uphill, the hole plays more like 390 yards and has deep fronting bunkers guarding the blind approach to the green.\u00a0 Worcester is yet another of architect Donald Ross’ gems sprinkled around the New England countryside that you’d enjoy discovering just as if you found a treasured first-edition in a used book store.\u00a0 All in all, Worcester is a solid hilly layout whose character and charm match its illustrious history.<\/p>\n