My name is Larry Gavrich, and I have been playing golf since I was 12 years old. In my adult years, my golf handicap has bounced between 8 and 14, but in my 60s I settled into a tighter range of 9 to 11 as I gave up any pretense of hitting long drives. Oh yes, I also moved up a couple of tee boxes to the 18-hole 6,000-yard range.
I love the game, and one of the single biggest thrills for me is finding and enjoying a golf course I had never heard about before, or one a friend discovered and raved about. (One good example: Copake Golf Club in New York State, just over the line from my home state of Connecticut with a classic layout that has Donald Ross written all over it, but was actually designed by his enormously talented contemporary, Devereux Emmet, who also laid out Keney Park in Hartford, my favorite local course.)
Since 2005, I have published information about planned communities, their golf courses and real estate. I have published reviews at my web site, GolfCommunityReviews, and in my free monthly newsletter, Home On The Course. Many of the golf courses inside the gates of communities are open to the public and qualify as being Off The Beaten Cart Path – see my definition below of what that means – and I intend to share those reviews at this site and include updated information about them.
Off The Beaten Cart Path has been more than 10 years in the making; that is how long ago I bought the name of the web site and a few posted reviews and photos from a golfer who had big plans but not the free hours to match. Having played many out of the way golf courses both for pleasure and as part of my work at GolfCommunityReviews.com, I made the decision to put all those reviews in one place – and to invite other golfers to post comments about their own favorite hidden gem golf courses. Our very first posted review, the Plantation Course at Edisto Island, is courtesy of a golfing friend, Andy Litteral, of Richmond, VA.
Off The Beaten Cart Path does not mean “rural” or that the courses we review require long drives off the Interstate or a helicopter ride to get there. 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 well-known and well-trafficked layouts. 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.
Most of the golf courses we review will be publicly accessible; we will throw in a few private clubs and hope that many of our readers know a golf professional who can provide a referral for you to the pro at the private club.
I hope you will enjoy our reviews and will consider either commenting about them or contributing your own review of a course you have played recently – whether it is in a city, small town or way out there beyond both. I and our growing list of readers who love this wonderfully mind affecting game will thank you.
My sincere thanks to Henry Lister, Craig Distl and Anneliese Fox for their interest and efforts in the creation of OffTheBeatenCartPath.com.
