In a mano a mano battle of rarefied airs, Shoreacres vs. Fishers
Island is an intriguing matchup of Seth Raynor master works hidden behind veils
of ultra-exclusivity.
While both serve golf-savvy, well-to-do memberships, Shoreacres is
a suburban Chicago club that anyone might happen upon by accident. Without a
boat (or a helicopter), Fishers, on a rugged island in Long Island Sound, is
unreachable. When judging clubs in terms of mystery, prestige and that certain
je ne sais quoi, accessibility matters.
Granted, Shoreacres’ clubhouse is arguably more grand, with long
views from high above Lake Michigan—but the lake is never seen from the course.
Fishers, on the other hand, serves up white-capped panoramas from myriad
points.
The common denominator is Raynor, whose designs are fun to compare
because he and his mentor/partner C.B. Macdonald included in all their creations
a series of standard holes inspired by old-world originals: Redan, Alps,
Biarritz, Cape, to name but a few. These designs are touchstones of style and
strategy.
The inside joke is that Raynor only had 25 to 30 golf holes in his
arsenal; playing any of his creations for the first time, the question is which
18 you’ll find.
With the exception of Shoreacres’ Redan 14th, the Raynor standards
at Fishers are superior. They have more flair, and their seaside location
literally blows away Shoreacres’ parkland tableau. To wit, the Shoreacres’
Short—a pitch to the floor of a ravine—is lovely, but Fishers’ Short plays to a
green surrounded by sand and backed by views of both the Sound and the
Connecticut coast, three miles away. Not a fair fight.
Raynor’s ability to adapt these stock-hole concepts to different
landscapes without repetition was part of his genius—and testimony to the
immutable strategic quality of the holes themselves. At Fishers, Raynor had an
unmatched setting, adding wrinkles (or combining them) to create holes that few
other courses on the planet can match.
The 9th is a Double Plateau—so named because the green is higher
in front than the rear—that is as scenic and punishing, with its devilish front
bunker, as any in the Raynor portfolio. The Hog Back 17th green is actually a
double Hog Back broken into three separate putting surfaces by ridges. The
peninsula par-4 4th combines the blind approach of an Alps with a forgiving
Punchbowl green—all at water’s edge.
Shoreacres proves that 25 to 30 hole templates are all Raynor
needed. Fishers Island makes the same case, far more strongly.
