2025 Year in Review

2025 can pretty much be summarized by one word, Florida.  Of the 237 new courses I played in 2025, 200 of them were in Florida.  This was very much planned, as I knew when I moved to Florida that my focus would be on playing the courses in the state, and less on traveling, as I do most years.  Ironically, the best course I played in 2025 was not in Florida, but in Georgia.  My wife and I did take one trip to New England to experience some wonderful Ross courses I hadn't seen, as well as a few wonderful golden age designs.

Fall Line Club (East) The best course I played in 2025

The main reason I was able to play so many courses in 2025 was the year didn't exactly go as planned jobwise.  If you read my 2024 year in review, 2024 Year in Review, you would have found out that I left Yeamans Hall in SC after 3 1/2 years for a new opportunity at a brand new course in South Florida.  Unfortunately, the course never really opened, and I ended up leaving in June.  On the plus side, I spent nine months working on the maintenance crew and learned how to do many things:

mow greens in the dark

Mow fairways, rough, tees with various types of mowers

Edging greens, much harder than it looks!

Operate a greens roller

As a result of being in the sun for many hours a day, I also started dressing like I was going to rob a bank after work.

I spent a couple months playing golf all over Florida and eventually found a new job at a wonderful club in West Palm Beach.

My new home course is a ton of fun and has great variety.  

FLORIDA January to June

Since Florida consumed most of my year, I did separate blog posts about the first and second halves of the year.  The first half included some very exciting new Gil Hanse courses as well as a big surprise course near Sarasota.  Read about it here: Florida January to June

Soleta Golf Club

NEW ENGLAND TRIP

Orchards Golf Club in Holyoke, MA.  A wonderful Donald Ross design

I will admit that I was lazy and did not do a writeup of our trip to New England this year.  The focus of the trip was playing Donald Ross courses around Springfield, Massachusetts like the amazing Orchards Golf Club in Holyoke.

There were also side trips to others parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut to play the Ross designed Country Club of Waterbury 

CC of Waterbury, amazing par four 1st hole

The biggest surprise of the trip was the Willie Park designed New Haven Country Club, recently renovated by Brian Schneider.

New Haven Country Club, Par three 9th hole

SC VISITS

Broomsedge Golf Club, Par three 5th hole

Even though I moved away from Charleston, South Carolina, that did not stop me from visiting a few times in 2025.  On the first visit, besides playing the wonderful Yeamans Hall, we were able to play Kyle Franz debut original design, Broomsedge, in Rembert, SC. I also played the extremely private Cherokee Plantation Club in Yemassee, SC.

Cherokee Plantation, Par four 6th hole

The second visit to Charleston was all about Yeamans Hall.  We played it on three consecutive days in November, enjoying everything that I love about the place.  Yeamans was celebrating it's 100th anniversary and had new flags to commemorate the occasion.

We also made a mandatory trip to Lewis BBQ, which serves up the best brisket I have ever eaten.  

OTHER COURSES

Fall Line Club (East), Par four 13th hole in foreground, par three 14th hole in background

The best course I played this year was in of all places, Mauk, Georgia.  A very small town about 60 miles west of Macon.  The Fall Line Club is the American debut of the design firm known as OCM.  Ogilvy, Cockney, Mead.  There are two 18 hole courses at Fall Line, as well as a ten hole par three course.  I was able to play the East course, which OCM designed in an English Heathland theme.  They really outdid themselves and the course is sure to be in all the various top 100 rankings in the future.  I hope to return to play the Australian Sandbelt themed West course next year.

Fall Line Club (East), Par four 16th hole

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS

New Courses Played:       237

States Played in:               6

9 Hole Courses played:    24

Top 10 Courses by Architect

18 Joe Lee

14 Donald Ross

11 Arthur Hills

10 Robert Von Hagge

10 Arnold Palmer

9 Jack Nicklaus

9 Karl Litten

9 Tom Fazio

8 Gordon Lewis

7 Bruce Devlin

5 Ron Garl

5 Jim Fazio

5 Pete Dye

Top 10 Courses by State

200   Florida

23     Massachusetts

8       Connecticut

2       Alabama

2       Georgia

2       South Carolina

Milestones Reached

1.  300 courses played in FL

2.  400 courses played in FL

3.  200 9 holes courses played

3.  50 courses played in MA

Favorite Course:                Fall Line(East)
Least Favorite Course:      Mangrove Sands
Most Overrated:                GreatHorse
Most Underrated:              Country Club of Waterbury

Favorite Par 3:  5th Hole-Fall Line(East)
Favorite Par 4:  1st Hole-CC of Waterbury
Favorite Par 5:  9th Hole-The Ranch(MA)

What's in a name

A fun breakdown of golf course names from 2025

(60)Landforms: Dune, Farm, Field, Hill, Island, Landing, Meadow, Orchard, Park, Plantation, Point, Preserve, Ranch, Reef, Ridge, Town, Trail, Village, Vineyard, Woods

(57)Water: Bay, Beach, Brook, Cove, Creek, Harbour, Lake, Marsh, Ocean, River, Sea, Sound, Spring, Water

(28)Directions: East, North, South, West

(25)Animals: Bear, Beaver, Crane, Deer, Eagle, Flamingo,  Gator, Horse, Ibis, Mustang, Osprey, Panther, Piper, Quail, Sailfish, Tiger

(20)Object/Man Made: Arrowhead, Bridge, Cloud, Fountain, Gate, Hammock, Leaf, Pipe, Sand, Stone, Village, Well, Yacht

(15)Colors: Black, Blue, Gold, Green, Grey, Orange, Red, Yellow

(14)Trees: Cypress, Mangrove, Maple, Oak, Palm, Pine

(10)People: Admiral, Giant, Hunter, Indian, King

(6)The word "National"

(6)Food: Citrus, Lemon

(5)The word "Links"

(3)The word "Old"

(3)States: Alabama, Florida

Best Scores

66-Boca Raton Club, Dutchman's Pipe, Kinsale

67-Aileron, Cabot Citrus(Karoo), Cohasse, Dutchman's Pipe, Killearn, Riomar, Santa Rosa, St. Lucie Trail

Worst Scores

77-Apogee(West), Bear's Club, GreatHorse

76-Dutchman's Pipe, Indian River, Yeamans Hall

                   FLORIDA July to October

Watersound Club (The Third)

The second half of the year in Florida involved several trips to the Northern part of the state as well as many trips to Naples. I also played several top quality recently renovated courses in Southeast Florida.  Read about the second half of my year in Florida here: Florida July to December

Club at Quail Ridge (North)

9 HOLE COURSES

Cohassee Golf Club, Par three 3rd hole

I played 24 new nine hole courses this year.  The highlights were Donald Ross courses I played as part of my New England trip.  Cohassee, Greenock, and Tatnuck were all amazing Ross designs.  The biggest 9 hole surprise of 2025 was the Alex Findlay designed Northampton Country Club in Massachusetts.

Northampton Country Club, Par four 9th hole

MY LITTLE HELPER  

The only real sad news in 2025 was the loss of my cat Birdie.  Over the years she loved to "help" as I put together the year end scorecard and ball marker collages.  You can see a sampling of her help above.  She was an amazing cat and I will miss her every day.  Her sister cat Bogie is doing well and is enjoying all the extra attention.  Below is my favorite photo of Birdie with my dog Seabass who passed about 10 years ago.

ECLECTIC EIGHTEENS

                                             Par 3's 1 to 9

Top L to R: #1-Cabot Citrus(Squeeze), #2-Atlantic Fields, #3-Cabot Citrus(Karoo), #4-Aileron, #5-Broomsedge, #6-Medittera(South), #7-Addison Reserve, #8-Apogee(West), #9-Jonathan's Landing(Match)

Par 3's 10 to 18

Top Left to Right: #10-Fall Line(East), #11-Sandglass, #12-CC of Waterbury, #13-Kinsale, #14-Cabot Citrus(Roost), #15-Lemon Bay, #16-Solata, #17-Bonita Bay(Marsh), #18-Jupiter Dunes

Par 4's 1 to 9

Top L to R: #1-Orchards, #2Cabot Citrus(Squeeze)-, #3-Kinsale, #4-Cherokee Plantation, #5-Fall Line, #6-Oak Hill, #7-CC of Pittsfield, #8-Delray Dunes, #9-Cohassee

Par 4's 10 to 18

Top Left to Right: #10-Cabot Citrus(Roost), #11-New Haven, #12-Sandglass, #13-Broomsedge, #14-Jonathan's Landing(Match), #15-Cabot Citrus(Karoo), #16-TwinEagles(Eagle), #17-Wyantenuck, #18-Florida Club

Par 5's 1 to 9

Top Left to Right: #1-Jonathan's Landing(Match), #2-Cabot Citrus(Karoo), #3-Orchards, #4-Frenchman's Creek(South), #5-Wachusett, #6-Atlantic Beach, #7-Gleneagles(Legends), #8-Cherokee Plantation, #9-The Ranch

Par 5's 10 to 18

Top Left to Right: #10-New Haven, #11-Cabot Citrus(Roost), #12-Trump Doral(Red Tiger), #13-Orchid Island, #14-Sailfish Point, #15-Soleta, #16-CC of Pittsfield, #17-Soleta, #18-Dutchman's Pipe

BALL MARKERS

My collecting of ball markers continues after starting a collection at Yeamans Hall a few years ago.  You can read about the origin of my ball marker collecting here: A Collection is Born. 

SCORECARDS

Just like last year, I found it impossible to get 237 scorecards into one picture so this year it's 2.

FLAGS

White

Red

Yellow

Blue

Checkerboard

Miscellaneous

2026

2026 will be a year of transition as I say goodbye to Florida in May and begin a new adventure in the Baltimore area for six months.  After that plans are TBD.  I am 55 courses away from 500 in FL, so I will be aggressive in the four months I have left in the sunshine state.  My move to Baltimore will likely mean several trips to NY & NJ to play many great golden age designs I have yet to see.  I am looking forward to the new opportunities that 2026 will bring.