Vacation Finale at Rookery North

The Rookery North
Milford, DE
Yards: 3030/2916 - 5946
Par: 36/35 - 71
Rating: 69.0, Slope: 126
Score: 55/46 = 101
Date: September 6, 2018

My third and final round during my week-long Labor Day vacation in Delaware was played at The Rookery North in Milford. Originally built as a private club, Shawnee, in 1957, it was acquired by the owners of The Rookery Golf Club a few years ago and re-branded as The Rookery's north course. I had previously played the course when it was Shawnee nearly 20 years ago, shooting a 99.

My original intention for my vacation finale was to play at The Rookery's South Course in Milton, Del.,, but an outing had the course closed. So I took a chance and drove to the North Course, about 20 miles north of Lewes, for my round. I felt confident as I teed off, but my opening drive found trees on the left side of the fairway. It was a foreshadow of how my opening nine holes would go as I struggled to find the fairway, and when I did, I could not take advantage. Again, par 5s were a nightmare, as I triple-bogeyed both on the front nine. I made double-bogey or worse on seven of the nine opening holes. It added up to a 55.

The Rookery North Scorecard

The back nine was a good bit better. I actually made a birdie at the 114-yard par 3 Thirteenth Hole and parred the long, 198-yard par 3 Tenth Hole. But a quadruple-bogey 8 at the 327-yard Twelfth and a double at par 5 Seventeenth blunted any real momentum, though I did manage a 46 for the nine. That gave me a disappointing 101 for the round.

Overall, my three rounds were fun. Except for a three hole stretch at the American Classic I would have shot a fantastic round. And one nine holes--the back at Jonathan's Landing and the front at The Rookery North--kept me from shooting better scores. I was also happy that I got to play two courses that I haven't played in a very long time.

Four Ault-ernate Courses

While writing recently on this blog about the courses I have played, I discovered that I have now played four courses designed by renowned golf architect Ed Ault. Ault, who passed away in 1989, designed or co-designed over 100 golf courses. In the late 1950s, he established the golf course design firm Ault, Clarke & Associates, Ltd., which still adheres to his philosophies and standards of golf course design. Ault seemed to enjoy his most prolific period of course design in the 1960s as the merger of a young charasmatic Arnold Palmer and the infancy of televised golf began bringing the sport to the masses. The four Ed Ault courses that I have been fortunate enough to play fall into four unique and distinct categories: municipal, daily fee, public country club and private country club. Those courses are:

Juniata Golf Club: One of Philadelphia's six municipal golf courses and my home course. Opened in 1930, it was probably one of Ault's earliest designs since he would have only been 22 years old at the time. Built along the Tacony Creek, this short course, which features naturally rolling terrain, is set amongst the urban landscape of a major metropolitan city.

Center Square Golf Course: Built in 1963, this Ault-designed daily fee course sits on 148 wooded acres in the suburbs just northwest of Philadelphia. It has hosted two national championships: the 1980 and 1997 U.S. Women's Amateur Publinks Championship. I played this course two weeks ago.

Ramblewood Country Club: Designed by Ault in 1962, this Delaware Valley public country club in Mt. Laurel, N.J., features 27 championships holes set through a housing community that borders the edges of the course. Ramblewood Country Club and the surrounding homes were developed by Richard C. Goodwin, a Drexel University alumnus, who endowed the University's Richard C. Goodwin College of Professional Studies, of which my wife is an alumna. I played in several Drexel golf outings there in the mid-1990s.

Shawnee Country Club: This private country club in Milford, Del., was established in 1957 by local businessmen. Ault co-designed Shawnee with Al Jamison in 1960. The well-maintained, PGA-rated championship course sees approximately 23,000 rounds of play per year. I played this course in July 1999.

For a full list of Ed Ault-designed course, click here.