Inside Pennsylvania’s Lost Country Club

Inside Pennsylvania’s Lost Country Club

Welcome to Skookul Country Club. Morning from Orwixsburg, Pennsylvania. We’re at Skookul Country Club. This is a Willie Park Jr. design and Donald Ross. So, elite architectural lineage. Can’t wait to show you guys around. Golf ball of choice today. I don’t know if you can see that it says 59. I don’t know if you guys realize Philadelphia, Kansas City. It cut. That’s the most important part about hitting a cut is you cut it. So, as mentioned back there, Willie Park Jr., elite elite architect, came from Scotland. On top of that, Donald Ross came in in 1941 and put the finishing nine holes here in the woods, found the ball. That’s the best best news. This kind of reminds me of my first hole at Southampton, which I ended up shooting under par in the 60s. I just you got to get off the tea sometimes. So, I’m going to try to bang this up at the green and get up and down and go to the next hole. Great shot. We’ve We’ll take that. We will take that. Got po greens here. This is an original green from Lily Park Jr. back in 1921. And I’d say the philosophy of his was, you know, the greens are the heart of a golf course. So there’s a lot of nuance, a lot of elegance in these greens. Excited to experience this. [Music] Second hole here. First hole was a Willie Park all original. This is actually Donald Ross. So maybe we can compare and contrast the green complexes. That’ll be perfect. Good ball. Thank you. All right. There we go. We’re also playing with Andy, who’s the director of golf here. But before I started, I I met with Larry, who’s the um been the head pro here for many, many years. when we spoke, he was telling me that this club was actually first founded as a tennis club and you know starting the golden age of golf 1920ish around then they said hey we need a golf course too and they founded this first nine holes and then built into 18 107 at the back pin and long’s no good right Owen long’s no good yeah so I’m going to hit a 54 it’s going to be up to hard 54 but it’s wet and it hate skid. I don’t know. Spun back. He’ll have a fun putt. Putt. All right. So, we’re here. You’re on the green. We’re here for the fun putts. Here we go. Donald Ross special. Little runoff here on the back side of the green. This green I definitely has more pronounced sloping more visual. Uh the Willie Park on the back was a little more subtle and more on the edges. This one’s up the hill and then down the hill, left to right. Great speed. Great. We got a little par five. Turns a little bit to the right. And I got to take a some would call it a unique angle. I’m going to kind of go right at that tree. Um hopefully hit a good one. Is that going to be OB? Uh probably. Oh, yeah. It’s in the road. That’s way in the road. All right. I was warned, but sometimes you don’t learn until you do it. I could swear that road looks way further than it actually is. One of those visual things. Let’s try this again. Too far. That one. I saw that one bouncing. I think you’re good. All right. 175 pin. Pin. Got a limb here in front of me. I’m going to swing hard at an eight iron. Draw it. that is that green over there or no over the bunker. Yes, you should be on. Let’s hope so. All right. So, we are in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, and right down the road is Potottsville. Many of you know Yingling founded in Pottsville. That’s kind of the notable thing around here. Yingling. Pretty cool. We’ve got a we’ve got a snapper here. There is a significant false front to the left. These greens um every one of them is unique. Definitely so far what I think is the heart of the course. Well, I thought that was dead in the hole halfway there. [Applause] [Music] Fourth hole here. Car three off the hill at about 195. Harry, no. This this pin is on like this little quadrant in this green and I have to hit an elite chip shot to get this close. They actually dialed this green back a little bit a few years ago. Ron Pitchard um came out here and softened the slope there because there’s a lot going on here. [Music] Something that I like to do in these golden age courses and really every course that I play is be conscious of your walk from green to tea. Donald Ross and Willie Park were masters at curating a walk kind of in nature from green to tea. So you’re not, you know, going through this whole other hike. It just flowed naturally. And I’m seeing that with this course. Everything is just it flows right next to the next hole, which is a really great aspect of a course. Got two iron here. Do all leg. They’re okay. He’s fine. Fine. Right. Fine. If it’s in the fairway, you’re fine. Even if you’re just into the rough, you should be okay. Shout out Bushnell. We were just comparing rangefinders. Bushnell is undefeated. All right. 134. I got pitching wedge. Hit it behind the hole. Looks like there’s some slope. Here we go. Executed. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Great little look of par three here. 226. Uh, that’s going to be two iron. Not a lot of green up there either. Get down. Get down there. All right. We have few issues here. Whoa. A lot of ball out of there. We’re in scramble mode here. We can get this up and down. channel. All about those saves even for bokei. [Music] This should just be left rough, but not a bad place to be. 154 pin out of the rough. Uh back and I’ve got pitching wedge. Don’t want to go long. number. Good. Don’t laugh, right? Does I mean, doesn’t look like it, but it does. All right, par five here. Get one back. She’s perfect, right? Yeah, hit a great drive down the middle. We’ve got 249 10. We’ve got 3wood. It should be up there. They said we couldn’t do it, but we did it. [Applause] just straight. But you want to aim on the left side of the fairway. Yeah. Fairway tilt down to the right. Perfect. Perfect drive. Beautiful. Here we go. They just this winter they put out how many? Two 300 pine trees on the right side. So, if you’ve played here and you’re thinking that’s not the ninth hole, it is. They did remove all those trees. So, 105, it’s a back right pin. Cannot spin it. If I’m going, Typically, it’s a sand wedge for me, but that’s going to spin. So, I get to club up to 50 and feather one up there. I’m obviously risking going long here, but this is the shot that needs to be hit. So, let’s Good shot. That looks pretty good. That looks pretty good. There we go. I think that’s executed from marking my ball with Let me know in the comments if you know where that’s from. Excellent shot back there. And have about 10 ft left to right for birdie. This green telling you these greens are very good. Oh, double cross. That can be okay. Yeah, you’ll probably just be in the rough. Rough is fine. Yeah, it’s not it’s not that bad over there, actually. Hey, 117 out of the rough. I’m going to hit the same club I did last hole and just right at the hole. Perfect. Pretty good. Here we go. It’s going to roll trickle down. feel like you’re kind of up in the summer, the pin’s down here. Yeah. You want to land it farther back than where you are. Correct. So, this is like straight downhill here. This is going to be the fastest p I have all day. I I It was fast. That was really fast. That was really fast. You barely did that. That was really fast. Folks, that is ft. Please give me some grace on that one. [Music] 11th hole here. Pretty. This is signature par three down the hill. Pretty good shot. 173. I’ve got eight iron. Probably a little eight iron. Hit a cut there. Two little dreams. Great shot. Thank you. Wow, I cut that bloop. multiple par4. Nice little mover to the right. Uh swing the club well. Just got to get some pucks to drop. But so we’re we’re running some Donald Ross. Donald Ross holes here. Donald Ross, as I mentioned earlier, grew up in Scotland, Dornick. Dornick, Scotland, which is a legendary area for golf. and um was probably the most prolific golden age golf architect. Uh I think he done over 400 golf courses, many of which you all would know. Um Pinehurst number two is probably most notable, but many others in Philadelphia, Gulf Mills, Oranoming. Um I’m actually going to somewhere later in the summer, but it’s Sakana. Sneaky great place. Excited to show you guys. All right, here we go. Driving down the M. [Applause] [Applause] Great ball. Thank you. Hit a great drive. If you guys are enjoying this video, make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. Helps me a ton and I would really appreciate it. So, make sure to hit that like button. 82 yards to a tucked back left pin. Got lob wedge here. This will take all of my skill. Stay up. Stay up there. Stay up. Great shot. Thank you. How is that right? The old All right, last Rosful. I g I gave us a little overview of Donald Ross. Willie Park. Will Lily Park is also a prolific golf architect. He kind of led the way on the golden age architecture thing. He was one of the first he was his family was kind of known as like the first one of the first families of golf. I think his dad won the British Open. Willie Park Jr. won the British Open. Um, so like and he was one of the first people that was a golfer and then became a real architect for a living. He’s also designed some super iconic golf courses made stone here in the States and Sunningale in England which are two just ridiculously good golf clubs. So anyways, got a little lesson with Willie Park Jr. Now Pole part four. Perfect. Great boss. Hey, 141. Beautiful green complex here. I’ve got nine iron. I’m going to fade one into the wind. And we definitely want to be left with this bit. Looks like there’s a back stop, too. And that’s kind of what I plan on moving. Should come down pretty tight. Here we go. Playing like a member here. That’s how we drew it up. Let’s go. We’re in tight again. Hitting some good iron shots. So much slope in these greens. I’m going to give this a little more. Figure it out sometime today. Hopefully. Great ball. Yep. Awesome. 214 into a puff of wind. Not much. Back right pin, but four iron just I don’t know if I can get that back there. So, I’m going to take two iron, which is more than enough club. And I’m just gonna try to feather one with a five back there. Uh, you know, I got to hit a shot here. So, I’ll sort of short-sided ship, but doesn’t sound good. Yeah. All right. So, don’t have a ton of green to work with, but I certainly have enough to hit a good shot here. Yeah, Ne. What the Oh man, this one par four. Yep. Long par4. That tree is probably your aiming. Pulling greens just to the left of it. Might be short of the fescue. I saw bounce. The pescue’s a lot farther than you think. 154 down wind. Uh I came up short with the pitching wedge earlier in the round, so I’m going to choke down on a nine iron. Just off the back. See the short came here. rifles. Go 153. This is a beautiful, beautiful par three. I like the bunkers there. Top shelf. I got to get this all the way back there. Coming all the way back. Coming all the way down. Ah, it’s not far off from being on that top shelf, but you missed it by a yard and now you’re go hard. Coming all the way back. Target [Music] 17th hole here, par five. I really I’m enjoying the interior of this course. I think to me that’s a really special part of this course and I think those are all Willie Park Jr. holes. It’ll be all right. Just right rough just off the right side there. 245. Not the best lie, but the back of the ball is open. I’m going to have two iron. And I’m going to try to have this rolling up that. It’s not going to go through. No shot. You know, really heavy at 65. Good little layup here. Let’s hit a nice saucy 50. Sit. Sit down. Spin. Bite. Oh, bite. Great shot. All right, we’ve got some rain coming down. Going to try to get this in the house here. We’ve got big rain here, but we’re going to get it in the house. Beautiful looking bar pool here. Zero restriction coming in. Clutch one. Great ball. First one of the day. Best for last. There we go. 118 up the hill. What a beautiful approach this is to 18. Got picture wedge. See, good luck. Just left it. Good shot. All right, there you go. Hit our four

Today I take you inside Schuylkill Country Club, a private Golden Age gem in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. Schuylkill Country Club has elite architectural lineage, with both Willie Park Jr. and Donald Ross contributing to its unique golf course design.

In this full-round vlog, I attempt to break 72 from the championship tees. You’ll see every hole, hear my yardages, club selections, and thought process, and get a ground-level look at the unique green complexes at Schuylkill Country Club.

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