Sagamore Golf Club

Jack Nicklaus maintains the record for the most major championship victories in golf, and the Sagamore Club was the first to realize this corresponds nicely with the amount of holes typically found on a course. Thus every hole on this Nicklaus design corresponds, at least in name, with a major championship win for The Bear, beginning with the 1962 U.S. Open and continuing all the way until the 1986 Masters.

Nicklaus probably realized that attempting to create a tribute to the actual courses he played for these wins would be a bit hokey, and thus the design is entirely original...although astute golf course architecture buffs will spot similarities to his other courses. For example, the par three at No. 4 is a less punishing forced-carry short hole than the concept he executed at Muirfield Village.

It’s interesting to note that although Nicklaus never won The Players Championship (“the minor major”) at TPC Sawgrass, the last three holes at Sagamore offer at least as much chance for golfers to get wet along this heroic and penal stretch. No. 16 dares players to cross as much lake as they can manage, No. 17 features another par three snuggled up along the lake, and No. 18 is a par five with water all along its left side.