Aronimink held its own this past weekend. I expected -20 as the winning score. The greens and wind had other plans.

One of the more interesting pieces of analysis I heard was Max Homa on the No Laying Up podcast. He said something to the effect of:

“On several holes, the pin locations didn’t separate excellent golf shots from mediocre golf shots”.

Why do great players congregate at certain clubs, and how can you tell?

I’ve had the chance to play at a few unique golf and country clubs over the past few weeks, and while I enjoyed the variety of golf holes and architecture, my true joy involved noticing the “culture tells”.

A few always jump off the page, but it takes a bit of probing to find the cumulative “Golf IQ” of the club. Golf clubs concentrate better players per capita than country clubs. You don't join a golf club to play tennis.

Good players want a well-conditioned test. To a certain extent, the club’s prestige does not matter, so long as it is in excellent condition and a true challenge.

The course needs to reward strategy as much as ball-striking. A rotation of iron-wedge holes to a pushover green is a tell. A ball-striking challenge is preferred, but coupled with a few strategic holes where tee shot optionality is dictated by pin placement, and you have a place where good players will want to play. Also look for slippery greens with some subtle undulation

I can count on one hand the number of clubs in my area growing up that were “factories” for junior talent. Part of this has to do with the courses at these clubs, yes, but there were plenty of other more prestigious golf clubs that failed to churn out the junior talent that the true factories did.

What it comes down to is a commitment to excellence at the teaching and instruction level. Consistent high-level instruction coupled with early introduction to the game, and the club will start to churn out elite talent.

The final element is unrestricted (to an extent) access to the course for junior players. If the golf course is challenging, and the junior program allows them to play freely, that’s a recipe for success.

You’ll also tend to see kids with high school and college golf bags on the range. Another good tell.

Similar to the Junior program, if a club has a strong one, it’s a sure tell of a place where good players flock.

The surest tell: a competitive inter-club team. Do you see them playing on weekdays, and are the women’s events well attended?

It’s a leading indicator that the club leadership has high golf IQ and the club cares about competition.

When I say “championship pedigree” it almost exclusively pertains to high-level amateur and mid-amateur competitions held at the club. To put it plainly: the golf course is good enough to host local (and sometimes national) amateur events, and the club honors the tradition which comes with it.

It doesn’t (and won’t) host a tournament every year, but it has a history tied to hosting golf tournaments.

Outside of the above, you can look for a few other indicators of high golf IQ and/or a membership comprised of sticks.

During my trip to Minnesota, the sun didn’t set until 8:30pm. After playing 36 and eating dinner, I was ready to shower and collapse. As I walked back to the cabin at around 8, there were several groups still out on the golf course, sprinting to get as many holes in before darkness.

You’ll also see afternoon high school golf matches and teams practicing.

Some people may say that a full tee sheet on weekdays is another sign, but I’d argue that would point more to business golf (inherently more transactional) than a sign of a membership comprised of high IQ players.

Dorset Field Club is a direct link to the arrival of golf in the US. It ranks among the oldest golf operations in the United States with continuous play on largely the same ground.

A group of summer residents, mainly from Troy, New York, and New York City, laid out the original nine-hole course. The total yardage measured 1,892 yards(!)

In 1896 members built a clubhouse and renamed the organization Dorset Field Club to reflect broader recreational interests. They named the building Woodruff Hall after founder Henry S. Woodruff, who helped fund its construction but died in an accident during the project. The structure still serves as the dining and social center. A Vermont historical marker near the ninth green recognizes the site as the oldest continuously operated golf course in the country.

I grabbed dinner with a few friends last week. One of them is a reader, and one of them is not.

Upon attempting to explain what The Tuxedo Collective is and what we stand for, the gentleman who is not yet a reader began to lament the clubs with hardcore traditions, such as strict dress codes and phone policies. (I covered the LACC code of conduct in the article No Phones Allowed).

Anyway, we are all entitled to our own opinions, but I felt perplexed given the memberships he openly flaunted.

His argument about tradition was as follows: the traditions espoused and protected by some of the more elite clubs are no longer founded in modern practicality. Fair enough. But why do traditions need to remain attached to present day trends? To me, that seems a bit antithetical to what a tradition is.

I understand how not having immediate access to your phone could be inconvenient, but isn’t leaving your phone in your golf bag for the day liberating? Isn’t spending five or six hours at a special club with friends a much-needed period of relaxation? To be removed from the incessant din of emails, notifications and calls is to be free.

I see cell phones and overhear loud conversations in public all of the time. I look forward to the hours of quiet conversation and solitude I can find on the golf course.

Clubs should lean harder into the historical traditions which made them unique and impregnable to the incoming tide of lax dress codes and degradation of public decency.

As I pontificated on the conversation on the way home, I ran straight to my bible (Pre-2000 Golf Digest Editorials) to see if I could find a passage on Tradition.

It didn’t disappoint. From the May 1995 edition:

See you all next week for the year in review. Hard to believe it’s been a year since I reactively created a beehiiv account and churned out How to Dress When Playing Golf on a whim. What a ride it’s been, and we’re just getting started.

Thank you all for reading.

Talk soon,

BTG