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I write this on a Monday in mid-June from my home in Henrico County, VA, which is adjacent to the City of Richmond.  Just across to the south side of the James River is Midlothian, VA, in Chesterfield County which also shares a border with Richmond.  Most days, I drive past the Independence Golf Club on my way to Salisbury Country Club where I am a member and recorded my 54th round of the year yesterday.  These clubs are less than five minutes apart and the excellent Foundry Golf ...

I write this on a Monday in mid-June from my home in Henrico County, VA, which is adjacent to the City of Richmond.  Just across to the south side of the James River is Midlothian, VA, in Chesterfield County which also shares a border with Richmond.  Most days, I drive past the Independence Golf Club on my way to Salisbury Country Club where I am a member and recorded my 54th round of the year yesterday.  These clubs are less than five minutes apart and the excellent Foundry Golf ...

I made my annual pilgrimage recently to Copake Country Club, about 90 minutes from my Connecticut home in the rolling countryside of the Berkshire Mountains in upstate New York.  It was a beautiful sunny day, in the low 70s, a good day for updating my photographs of one of my favorite classic golf clubs (designed in the first half of the 20th Century by Devereaux Emmet, a contemporary of Donald Ross and the other greats of early golf architecture. I won’t repeat my earlier review of ...

Fairview Farm in Harwinton, CT, meets the strictest definition of off the beaten cart path.  It is out in the country, on the site of a former working farm, a good 45 minutes from Hartford and 30 minutes from my own home.  In other words, you have to go a bit out of your way to get there. It is worth the trip in that the course is typically in fine condition, the staff of the family-run business is always friendly and helpful, and the layout is not quite like any other public golf ...

First, a confession.  My review of the 27-hole Goodwin Park Golf Course complex in Hartford (bordering neighboring Wethersfield) may be favorably tainted by the fact that it’s where I first took up the game nearly 50 years ago.  I had discovered my dad’s set of pristine clubs in the garage — I don’t believe he ever used them — and asked if I could have the set.  Thus, began a lifelong quest for par, or something better.  I remember one round in my early teens when ...

It's hard to think of a golf course that hosted one of the four majors as being "off the beaten cart path."  These courses are typically on a golfer's bucket list:  Pebble Beach, Winged Foot, Whistling Straits, Oakmont, Bethpage Black, and many more.   Tanglewood, #1 green So with that as a preamble, how many of you remember Tanglewood?  Or have even heard of Tanglewood?  Tangle-what?   No, Tanglewood, part of Tanglewood Park, a municipal park managed ...

It’s not a masterpiece.  Not a revelation.  Not a dump.  It’s definitely a unique — my wife mentioned "quirky" — golf course.   If any course meets the definition of "off the beaten cart path," it's Tot Hill Farm, one of Mike Strantz’s seven courses he was able to design before his too-early death of cancer at age 50.  I live in north Charlotte, and Tot Hill Farm is in Asheboro, a little more than an hour's drive from us.  Asheboro is about 90 ...

Hole 3, courtesy of Perdido Bay While in Pensacola for a family wedding in November 2019, my two nephews and I headed north of downtown to play the reasonably priced Perdido Bay Golf & Lodging course, a par-72 layout designed by Bill Amick and Bill Bergin that opened in 1963. The course’s claim to fame is it was the site of the PGA Tour’s Pensacola Open from 1978 to 1987.  Sadly, this tour stop, which was held for more than 30 years at several area courses, is no longer in ...
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  • 156-page step-by-step guide to finding your dream golf home.
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Here is what the experts are saying:

“The book is chocked full of information…applicable to anyone looking for a move to the Southeast regardless of whether they are looking for a golf community or not.” — John LaFoy, golf architect (Linville Ridge CC, CC of Charleston, The Neuse GC)

“Larry has done a tremendous amount of work and anyone — like me — who is looking to search for a golf home now or in a few years needs this book.” — Brad Chambers, golf blogger, ShootingYourAge.com

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Our Mission

The cart paths to golf courses we all know well, even if we have never set foot on the first tee there, are well worn. They are Pebble Beach, the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, some of the Pinehurst Resort courses and other heralded and well-trafficked layouts (where green fees can be as much as 10 times the price of a lesser known but highly playable muni). Think of Off The Beaten Cart Path courses as those that will surprise and delight you, no matter where they are. You just may have never heard of them. 

Please help us add to the list of terrific yet largely unheralded golf courses.

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     Dreaming of a vacation home on a golf course?  How about a forever home a short walk to the first tee?  For 15 years, I have helped golfers find their perfect home on the course.  If you would like some recommendations that match your preferences for a golf home, please click here, fill out our Golf Home Questionnaire, and I will get back to you in a few days with some ideas.  By the way, it’s free.
Larry Gavrich,
Editor