294
edits
Willipedia is now back online as of 5/5/2019 |
It has been several years since Willipedia closed. Please help get it updated! |
Go to the Willipedia 2.0 Project to learn more. |
Changes
no edit summary
{{outdated}}[[Category:Resources]][[Category:Athletics]]__NOTOC__Taconic Golf Club is owned by Williams College and is currently rated the #1 collegiate course in the nation by Golfweek Magazine. It also claims the 30th 28th spot in the best public courses in the United States according to Golf Magazine. Taconic is located at the southern edge of campus off of at 19 Meacham Street , next to [[Weston Field]]. It is less than a 5 minute walk from [[Spring Street]] or the [[Odd Quad]], and it is not uncommon to see students carrying golf bags across campus down to the course. The club opened on September 5th, 1896 as a 7-hole course, including the present diabolical 17th green. The primitive course layout was upgraded in 1928 by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek to an 18-hole par 73 test. When the clubhouse was forced to move from South Street to its present location, the 2nd and 3rd holes were changed and the course became its current 6640 yard, par 71 design. Taconic is a venerable golf course, having hosted numerous national and state championships. The U.S. Junior Amateur was held here in 1956, and Harlan Stevenson of California defeated Jack Rule, Jr. of Iowa 3 and 1. Of note, Rule beat 16-year-old Jack Nicklaus in the semifinals 1 up. The 1963 U.S. Women’s Amateur was won by Anne Sander of Seattle, WA over 16-year-old Peggy Conley of Spokane, WA. More recently, in 1996, the U.S. Senior Amateur came to Taconic, and Gordon Brewer’s par on the 18th hole beat Heyward Sullivan 2 up. National college tournaments have been held several times in Williamstown – in 1999 Methodist College took home the championship with a team score of 1190, with Williams College in 10th place with 1246 strokes. The Massachusetts Amateur was contested in July, 2004, and won by Frank Vana with Williams College golfer Zach McArthur as his caddy.Taconic is renowned as one of the most beautiful places in the world to play golf in the fall, as tees and greens throughout the course provide stunning vistas of the Berkshire Mountains. The long views on the course combine with the wonderful small-town atmosphere of the club itself, highlighted by a faded sign on the pro shop reading “No Preferred Lies, We Play Golf Here.†Golfers at Taconic pride themselves on quick pace of play, and the compact routing allows singles and twosomes to often play 18 holes in closer to 2 hours than 4. Though the course is hilly, almost all golfers walk and carry their bag, as seeing 90 year old members walk is not an uncommon sight. Some other unique oddities of Taconic include a mirror behind the 10th tee to see the blind fairway, a birdhouse labeled “Suggestions†smack in the middle of the pond on the 4th hole, and the Latin phrase “medio tutissimus ibis†written on the scorecard, translating to “safer from the middle.†Taconic is the home course for the Williams College varsity golf teams, and the men have long been one of the best division III programs in the country. In the April 2005 District Shootout at Taconic, the Williams men’s varsity set a team single round scoring record of 289 counting a 70, 71, 71, and 77 as their best four scores. The course record from the back tees is 67, quite high for a relatively short course that has seen hundreds of high quality players compete the past half century. Chad Collins of Methodist College in the 1999 Division III National Tournament shot a 66 in his total winning score of even par 284, but several tee markers had been moved up from their normal back locations on that day. Taconic Golf Club defends par on and around the greens; it is possible to go rounds and rounds and rounds without losing a ball and still struggle for good scores. Almost every green is contoured to accept a shot accordingly from one side of the fairway or another, and on many holes there are certain areas around the greens that leave only the opportunity for the occasional miracle up and down. Experience is very important in knowing which direction a particular green is safe to miss to leaving the opportunity to recover. Following is a hole by hole description of the course from the back tees.
<table id='toc' class='toc'><tr><td><div id='toctitle'><h2>Contents</h2></div>
<ul>
<li class='toclevel-1'>[[#History_and_Trivia|History and Trivia]]</li>
<li class='toclevel-1'>[[#The_Holes|The Holes]]
<ul>
[[#1|1]] [[#2|2]] [[#3_2|3]] [[#4_3|4]] [[#5_4|5]] [[#6_5|6]] [[#7_6|7]] [[#8_7|8]] [[#9_8|9]] [[#10_9|10]] [[#11_10|11]] [[#12_11|12]] [[#13_12|13]] [[#14_13|14]] [[#15_14|15]] [[#16_15|16]] [[#17_16|17]] [[#18_17|18]]
</ul>
</li>
<li class='toclevel-1'>[[#The_Future_of_Taconic|The Future of Taconic]]</li>
<li class='toclevel-1'>[[#Taconic_and_Williams|Taconic and Williams]]</li>
</ul>
</td></tr></table>
=== 8 ===[[Image:Taconic8.jpg|right|thumbnail|The approach to #148.]]'''Par 4, par 3, 173 394 yards. ''' The narrowest target on second of back to back dogleg rights, this hole complements the seventh by tumbling downhill with the campus as a backdrop for the coursetee shot. Amazingly, in 2003, Williams senior Aaron Flink drove the 14th green is accessed from the tee with a short driver that somehow avoided every tree and bunker to mid iron hit from the most elevated spot end up amidst another team on the course prone to crosswindsputting surface. The hole plays across a ridgeline and is defended by 6 bunkersFor mere mortals, some simply candy for the eyes. Of interestdrive has no reason to go too far right, as the second shot plays short down the green hill and its surroundings were the basis of an illustration should be bounced on if the cover of Money Magazine a number of years agoground is firm. The green is wonderfully sloped from front to back foiling many first time players. Between An approach or chip that uses the gold and blue tees ground contours to slowly feed to a recently recovered back left pin location is embedded a plaque honoring Jack Nicklaus’s hole in one here in the 1956 Junior Amateurgreat fun to watch.