One of the beauties of golf is its timelessness. When a golfer
is out in the elements, he or she may as well be a shepherd in 16th
century Scotland, taking a whack at a rock aimed for a gopher hole amidst the
patties. Robin Williams summed it up perfectly, of course, in his classic bit. But whether
it’s Williams’ take on how the term stroke was conceived or any of his other brilliant
conceptions of how the Scots invented the game, no one can deny the game, while
technologically advanced is still the same challenge – get the ball in the hole
without suffering a stroke, er.
Donald Ross, born in Scotland in 1872, learned the game from
one of its most famous practitioners, Old Tom Morris, at the cradle of the game,
Saint Andrews; but it was here in the States that Ross achieved his renown. For
it was here in the New World where Ross would design the famous Pinehurst and
Oakland Hills outside of Detroit among the more than 600 (!) credited to his
name.
So it is with particular relish
that the gentlemen (phrase used loosely.ed.)
who comprise the players in the Arbuckle Cup Invitational Golf Tournament
(ACIGT) will play two Ross courses in Massachusetts in this year’s event.
Ross came to the US in 1899, in fact to Massachusetts,
with only two dollars in his pocket but within less than a year had a job as
golf pro at Pinehurst, where he eventually designed four courses. The rest is
history. Ross’ layouts are striking because they make use of existing
topography; they are as Jack Nicklaus asserted “noteworthy due to their
naturalness”. Two of his courses in the
Commonwealth are The Orchards in South Hadley MA and Wachusett in West Boylston.
The 2013 ACIGT will be contested on these two demanding layouts.
Play on the two Ross courses, plus the other tracks chosen
for the rest of the week, are the result of the tireless work of this year’s
host, the legendary Little Cat, Rick Last. Let the games begin.
