Tim Gavrich
@TimGavrich
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Almost definitely thinking about golf right now. Senior Writer, @GolfPass.
Vero Beach, FL
Joined September 2008
Has it been 10 years already? Man, time flies when you're playing, talking and writing about golf. I am so grateful for the opportunity to keep doing this for @GolfPass. Can't wait to see what the next decade brings.
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Gil Hanse on @GolfChannel Live From the PGA Championship just now:. “We would rather compromise green speeds than compromise great architecture.”. A-freakin’-men.
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The Southern Hills/The Country Club/The Old Course rotation for the 2022 moveable majors is not likely to be beaten for a while.
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@JonRahmpga @goodwalkspoiled Gotta do orange chicken as part of the appetizers at next year’s Champions Dinner.
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The PGA Tour’s stiff-arming of the USGA and R&A’s attempts to make golf more sustainable by moderating the distance the golf ball travels will go down as one of the most selfish, short-sighted and misguided moves by any major sports organization in its history.
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TOT HILL FARM G.C. Asheboro, N.C. Mike Strantz, 2000.$110. After significant, loving investment (new Zoysia greens, 1,500 felled trees +++) by new ownership, Strantz’s most polarizing design has shed years of neglect. Finally, it’s the quirky jewel it was always meant to be.
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I’ve seen enough: hold the PGA Championship at Southern Hills every 4 to 6 years. Bunkers that are real hazards, wind, slopes greens, guys BOUNCING BALLS INTO GREENS! (in the U.S.!).
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@MidwestGolfJake The torque he created back then likely would have shredded his back and knee even earlier.
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If you genuinely have greater affection for a golf ball than you do for, say, The Old Course, please do the rest of us a favor and just play on a simulator.
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CABOT CITRUS FARMS (KAROO).Brooksville, Fla. Kyle Franz, 2024.$165.Course #607. Tons of cheeky contouring on and around huge greens, some of the most extensive bunkering you’ll ever see, split fairways galore and newly-open vistas make for an intense but rewarding trip.
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YOU: Oh hey, that’s Larry David.ME: Oh hey, that’s Ohoopee Match Club.
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Look at all these backtrack tee boxes that have had to be built to keep The Old Course challenging for pros and elite ams. If you would really rather see the game's greatest courses desecrated than see the pros drive the ball a little bit shorter, shame on you.
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LANDMAND GOLF CLUB.Homer, Neb. @KingCollinsGolf, 2022.$150.Course #551. Landmand is a whole damn vibe. @GOLFPASS review to come soon, so here are some photos to whet the appetite: of 5, 10, 17 and 18.
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Not only does @PinehurstResort get a lot of big stuff right, there’s a lot of cool small stuff, too, including several different (wood!) tees for different courses. The Carolina Hotel even has its own tee (far right)!
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A moment of golf Zen:.Tot Hill Farm Golf Club.Asheboro, N.C.
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Cameron Champ just hit a fairway wood FROM A BUNKER that hit 172mph ball speed. Good lord.
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BROOMSEDGE GOLF CLUB.Rembert, S.C. Kyle Franz & Mike Koprowski, 2024.Private.Course #654. Big-feeling routing, tons of bunkers, exciting greens and some entertaining and clever setup flexibility places this intense new design squarely in the contemporary all-in architecture mode.
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Helping clean out a closet at my parents’ place and stumbled on this. Not sure what year but a while ago - tastes have changed!
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Sawgrass is so brilliant that I would be in favor of the PGA Tour adding a match-play tournament there in the fall. Or, perhaps, a Presidents Cup?.
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Per Chairman Fred Ridley, Augusta Municipal Golf Course, affectionately called “The Patch,” is now under ANGC oversight and will be renovated by Tom Fazio and @beauwelling beginning Jan. 2025, reopening April ‘26. The #Munaissance 🤝 Augusta National
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"By putting its head in the sand with regard to the distance issue, the sport of golf threatens the entire fabric of the game.". I channeled my anger at the PGA Tour's decision to betray the USGA and R&A into a column for @GolfPass:
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TALKING STICK GOLF CLUB (O’ODHAM).Scottsdale, Ariz. Coore & Crenshaw, 1998.$54 (summer PM).Course #634. Crispy summer conditions had it as fiery as any course played in recent memory, turning the strategy factor up to 11. Not a single wasted opportunity. Pinehurst in the desert!
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Want to convince someone that equipment has increasingly turned golf into a power game? Just show him or her this video.
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TRUE BLUE GOLF CLUB.Pawleys Island, S.C. Mike Strantz, 1998.$159. Always a treat to play the golf course that sparked my interest in architecture 20+ years ago. The expressiveness of the forms and even its idiosyncrasies still speak to me after hundreds of other courses seen.
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PINEHURST NO. 3.Pinehurst, N.C. Donald Ross, 1910; Kye Goalby, 2017.$165.Course #616. Lay-of-the-land routing, well-tuned greens, bunkers placed perfectly and shaped with no more fuss than necessary. Par 68. Played in 3 1/2, hit 13/14 clubs. Is this the golf course of the future?
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With Tiger, Rory and the Justins getting ready to christen Payne's Valley @BigCedarLodge, be sure to read @BrandonTucker's excellent preview of the course:
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Not only is McIlroy on the correct side of history, but by saying he'll play the new ball, he projects confidence that he will remain among the world's greatest golfers while playing it. What a mental edge he now has over his grousing, mewling peers.
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BOOKMARK THIS!. My favorite @GOLFPASS list ever came out the other day: the Top 100 Under $100. Dozens of awesome golf courses that we can all afford to play. Big shoutout to @WorldGolfer for managing this project.
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An insane, shambolic Monday-morning scene at MCO Terminal B. This is the TSA Pre✅ line!
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“Golf has never been so popular! Why roll back the ball *now*?!”. This argument is incredibly weak, bordering on bad faith. Imagine rollback had been proposed ca. 2018-19, when golf was declining. Those folks would have said, “Golf is declining! Why roll back the ball *now*?!”.
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“Caring for a golf course” - I like that choice of words here. Hopefully increasing numbers of golfers come to think in those terms.
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CABOT CITRUS FARMS (THE SQUEEZE).Brooksville, Fla. Mike Nuzzo, 2024.$80.Course #608. If Karoo is a rock opera, Nuzzo’s 10-hole ode to half-pars is a taut, engaging EP you’ll find yourself listening to on repeat. Appealing, economic bunkering with plenty of thoughtful contours.
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(Public golf edition). City I dislike: Naples.City I begrudgingly respect: Houston.City I think is overrated: Orlando.City I think is underrated: Omaha.City I like: Spokane.City I love: Grand Rapids.City I dream of living in: Charleston.
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HARBOUR TOWN GOLF LINKS.Hilton Head Island, S.C. Pete Dye & Jack Nicklaus, 1969.$335.Course #561. Dye & Nicklaus ushered in the modern era of golf architecture so masterfully here that few latter-day courses hold a candle to its mix of intimacy, variety and peculiarity.
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CABOT CITRUS FARMS (THE WEDGE).Brooksville, Fla. Mike Nuzzo, 2024.$45.Course #609. If having to hit each club in the bag is a virtue of a big course, what about a lighted 11-hole par-3 loop that’ll make you hit a full range of shots with a single wedge, like this one does? Sweet.
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Most exciting back nines in championship golf:. 1. Augusta National.2. TPC River Highlands.
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One of the very best logos in golf, better than 99% of all golf course/club logos, too.
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ROYAL NEW KENT GOLF CLUB.Providence Forge, Va. Mike Strantz, 1996.$98.Course #576. Even though things cool a bit after the amazing front nine, RNK is a stunning example of course design that doesn’t so much tiptoe up to the line of sanity as tap-dance on it. I love the place.w
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THE DUNES GOLF & BEACH CLUB.Myrtle Beach, S.C. Robert Trent Jones, 1948.$309. Myrtle Beach’s midcentury championship course is a rigorous test of driving and aerial approaches. Firm greens! The PGA Tour, long overdue, finally arrives in two weeks. The community is all-in.
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@ThatEricAlper Roundabout - Yes.Weekapaug Groove - Phish.I'm a Man - Chicago.Tighten Up - Archie Bell & The Drells.
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The golfers who made these divots not five feet from a full divot mix box should have their clubs taken away for good. Privileges revoked. 🤬🤬🤬
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FWIW, the USGA and R&A want to do things to golf equipment regulations that make creative full shots like Justin Thomas just hit off the 16th and 18th tees MORE common. You want to see that, don’t you?.
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Put me on 17 at Sawgrass every time over having to hit a mid-iron to that tiny green. The only tougher Dye par 3 I've played than 14 @ Harbour Town is #12 at Cardinal in Greensboro, N.C.
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Railroad tie appreciation post:. - Harbour Town.- TPC Sawgrass .- True Blue .- Landmand
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One of the greatest online golf auctions of the year is live. It benefits Youth on Course (@yocgolf), which subsidizes rounds of golf for kids down to $5 or less. The list of courses you could play if you submit a winning bid is, frankly, absurd:
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By sheer luck I’m seated next to Agustin Pizá, one of three architects/firms to contribute hole designs to @TGL. He came to golf architecture from the building architecture world. Beaming with pride at seeing his designs come to life tonight.
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THE LIDO.Rome, Wisc. C.B. Macdonald, 1917.Tom Doak, 2023.$295.#623. A complete immersion in the deep end of the pool of golf architecture. Tragedy and comedy relentlessly collide, making the journey of a golf ball from 1 tee to 18 green one of the most exciting America offers.
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PINEHURST NO. 2.Pinehurst, NC.Donald Ross, 1907.Coore/Crenshaw, 2010. It methodically exposes your every weakness, especially around the greens and between your ears. I love courses that make me want to be a better golfer, so I love No. 2 more than just about any other.
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The sport of golf would continue to exist if current PGA Tour management and current players evaporated. It *literally* does not exist without courses to play on. The Tour’s public rejection of the USGA/R&A’s efforts to save the game from itself is unconscionably disrespectful.
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CABOT CITRUS FARMS (ROOST).Brooksville, Fla. Franz/Nuzzo/Whitman/Morrissett, 2024.$395.Course #661. Better & less manic than Karoo but often feels like it’s trying out multiple courses’ worth of ideas (most of them very good!) in 18 holes. Super-fast greens mean constant stress.
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Well, it took 15+ years and 25,000+ posts but I've reached the 3,000-follower mark. Thank you for caring what I have to say about golf and, occasionally, other things.
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THE PARK WEST PALM.W.P.B., Fla. G. Hanse/J. Wagner/D. Ziff, 2023.$200 (non-res.).Course #568. Three parts Pinehurst No. 4 and one part Streamsong Black, this new super-muni on one of the best pieces of ground in Florida brings a trendy private club-type experience to the public.
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@RDSBarath Some differences: .- They have a lot more members than US clubs.- Their courses were built a long time ago, inexpensively.- They often don’t have extra amenities like pools, tennis, other stuff that costs $$$ to maintain.- Clubhouses are modest.- F&B is modest.
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@ThatEricAlper That Zevon's not already in is a good argument for the Hall's low level of relevance/authority.
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ROYAL COUNTY DOWN GOLF CLUB (CHAMPIONSHIP).Newcastle, N. Ire. Old Tom Morris/Harry Colt, 1890/1925.£425.Course #640. The otherworldly scenery, the operatic front nine, the more technical but still great back nine, the competitive pedigree…one of the world’s best for good reason.
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It’s Thanksgiving Week. That means I’m:. 1. In Connecticut visiting my parents, and .2. Scouring their house for golf stuff from 15, 20, 25 years ago. Some assorted gems here:
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Could the 2020s be the best decade for new golf courses since the 1920s?. My latest for @GOLFPASS: 24 brand-new golf courses set to open in 2024.
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The Venn diagram of golfers who think you shouldn’t get DQed for signing for a lower score you shot and golfers who think divots should be Ground Under Repair is a circle.
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Imagine thinking that only two weeks of pro golf on links courses is even remotely enough.
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A reported 7,000 people turned up to watch team amateur match play golf at Sunningdale today. Just an incredible culture of respect for good competitive golf at multiple levels in the UK. We need to cultivate that here in the U.S.
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What are the most outrageously exclusive, most untouchably private golf courses in the world?. I started this list back in 2015 and updated it today. Some amusing stories from people who have actually played these courses (so they say) in the comments.
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Last golf-related stop in Omaha before heading to the airport: a tour of Lost Rail, a new private golf club opening in the SW suburb of Gretna. Architect Scott Hoffman’s (longtime Fazio associate) magnum opus. Already a waitlist. It’s going to be very good when it opens 9/1.
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PANTHER NATIONAL GOLF CLUB.Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Jack Nicklaus & Justin Thomas, 2023.Private.Course #599. Extreme earthmoving, several punchbowl-ish greens and tons of sand and water whirl together to comprise a creative, sometimes overwhelming but overall impressive newcomer.
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SEDGE VALLEY.Rome, Wisc. Tom Doak, 2024.$295 (7/1).#624. Intimate only by the resort’s huge-scale standards, the jaunty routing sends golfers on a journey over hill, by forest and thru meadow with amusing half-par holes, wry greens and the sense that golf needs many more par 68s.
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It's been more than 15 years since the Recession and real estate developers are still forcing tortured, unwalkable routings onto new golf courses.
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It is a finger in the eye of golfers like you and me, who will bear the costs of maintenance practices that will continue to escalate because a couple hundred little baby-men cannot stand to drive the ball 25 yards shorter. They will nail the game onto a cross of male ego.
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Mountain Top hole 13, looking down into @BigCedarLodge’s new @TigerWoods design, Payne’s Valley:
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WE-KO-PA GOLF CLUB (CHOLLA).Ft. McDowell, Ariz. Scott Miller, 2001.$99 (summer).Course #631. While it’s not on the same level as Saguaro, the original course here is a fine desert layout with good room to play, fun elevation changes and gorgeous vistas everywhere you look.
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LONGBOAT KEY CLUB (HARBOURSIDE).Longboat Key, Fla. Willard Byrd, 1982; Ron Garl, 2005.$250.Course #602. The Florida-style (+ bay glimpses) meandering Blue nine gives way to the pleasingly open-plan Red side, with fun pushup greens. Surfaces are fast, firm Paspalum perfection.
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COLLETON RIVER CLUB (DYE).Bluffton, S.C. Pete Dye, 1998.Course #556. That the forested front manages to provide an even better run of golf holes than the strong and scenic back nine is a testament to Dye’s ability to outdo even himself and engage, challenge and thrill the golfer.
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BAY HARBOR GOLF CLUB (LINKS/QUARRY).Petoskey, Mich. Arthur Hills, 1997.$440.Course #584. With plenty of Little Traverse Bay views and some wild holes on the second nine, it can be a little overbaked in places but from the right tees, it’s an enjoyable and scenic challenge.
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BOBBY JONES GOLF CLUB.Sarasota, Fla. Donald Ross, 1926.$99.Course #605. Richard Mandell’s faithful Ross restoration brings stately city park golf back to Sarasota in the form of a highly playable classic with mellow greens & plenty of eccentric fairway mounding. The #munaissance!
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PINEHURST NO. 10.Aberdeen, N.C. Tom Doak, 2024.Course #617.$350+. Pinehurst’s brand-new big course honors a grand piece of land with dramatic holes that feel like epic, pine-lined hallways + gradually intensifying greens. A healthy walk. Intricate off-fairway texturing is superb.
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Hi. I’m 100% willing to hit the ball a few yards shorter for the long-term betterment of the game.
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SARA BAY COUNTRY CLUB.Sarasota, Fla. Donald Ross, 1926.Private.Course #604. Classic city country clubs are a pillar of American golf, and SBCC is one of the best I’ve encountered. Pure Florida parkland golf with a decidedly unfussy vibe. 3-5-5 finish! My kind of place.
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The severity of the bunkers at Royal Liverpool is absolutely brilliant. For once, *real* consequences for going in the sand, to the point that players often need to strategize around them. A quality that close to zero golf courses in the U.S. have.
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The gravest insult, though, is to superintendents, who provide the video-game conditions these children demand, which, on increasingly bloated courses, will require greater labor hours with fewer laborers. Shame on the whole craven lot of them.
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A moment of golf Zen:.We-Ko-Pa Golf Club.Fort McDowell, Ariz.
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Hadn’t had a chance to play tournament golf in 2023 until this weekend, but managed to make the most of it. Shot 69 yesterday, 72 today in blustery conditions on a course I always enjoy playing in competition. 🏆 #tournamentSZN
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Relationship of greenside bunkers to greens:. Pebble Beach vs. Royal Melbourne. #GoogleMapsGolf
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STONEHOUSE GOLF CLUB.Toano, Va. Mike Strantz, 1996.$99.Course #570. The Maverick’s most lightly-bunkered course is nevertheless as bold and unusual as anything else you’re likely to see. Sweeping greens, ravines, dynamite par 3s and a cracking finish make it memorable.
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A highlight of my 2020 in golf today: a round at the redone Charleston Municipal Golf Course. Architect @troymillergolf nailed an homage to Seth Raynor templates + some original creations in that mode. As if the city wasn’t great enough, it now has a top-tier municipal course.
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Interesting version of a shared fairway at Rockaway Hunting Club on Long Island, NY.#GoogleMapsGolf
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