The Coolest Secret Golf Club In The World
Whiskey shots and match-play only
In 2007, a guy named Michael Walrath sold his company to Yahoo for $850 million.
Michael loved golf and so when he received his payout after his years of hard work, he did exactly what any reasonable man with a few hundred million dollars and a love of golf would do.
He built his own golf club.
But he didn’t just build any golf club. He built one of the most interesting, secretive, and brilliantly designed golf experiences you will ever hear about.
The Excitement of a Golf Trip
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a golfer and if so, you will be well aware of that feeling you get the night before a golf trip. That feeling of excitement.
You take out every club from your bag and clean them all one by one. From the grips down to the grooves. You clear out any rubbish that may have accumulated in the golf bag like the empty boxes of golf balls that have long since been lost to a lake or a bush. You mark all your golf balls with a fresh sharpie, clean your shoes, lay out the clothes you plan on wearing over the next few days.
I don’t do this for any other part of my life but I do these little things the night before a golf trip.
You wake up the morning of the trip, jump in the car, coffee in hand playing your favourite songs as you drive to meet your mates. I’m picturing that scene where “The Dude” played by Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski is driving along smacking the roof of the car in joyous excitement as the music plays. The only difference between me and The Dude is I’m in my golf gear and the clubs are in the boot and unfortunately I certainly lack The Dude’s laid back charisma.
I digress.
The Drunken Promise
One night, after a few too many beers with his mates, Michael Walrath made a promise: “Every year, we are going to go on a proper golf trip.” Unlike most of us who make such drunken promises at 1:00 AM, Michael and his mates actually followed through.
Every single year, the group traveled across the US, playing different courses, chasing the perfect golf trip. At the end of every trip, Michael would sit back and dissect it. What were the best elements? What parts felt like a chore? Money was rarely a problem on any of these trips so Michael was trying to strip everything back and think what are the components of a golf trip that genuinely elevate the experience?
After a few years of this, Michael started chewing on an idea. What if he could take everything he learned from his various golf trips across the US and the rest of the world and build his own club centered entirely around the perfect friend’s golf trip? He could include only the absolute best parts of all these trips and remove all the pieces that take away from these trips.
From Onion Farm to Masterpiece
In my experience, the best golf trips usually require an adventure just to get there.
There’s something about the journey that is part of the experience. You need to have that separation between your normal life and the golf trip and that separation usually comes in the form of a winding road away from motorways or a plane journey to another country. For his golf course, Michael needed to find somewhere that was close to nowhere.
Eventually, he found what he was looking for.
Michael came across a secluded, completely off-the-beaten-track piece of land in rural Georgia that was previously used for growing onions. As it turns out, the sandy soil that’s perfect for growing onions is also ideal for building a world-class golf course. It’s like a cross between Pinehurst and the legendary Melbourne sandbelt.
But Michael thought of the little details that play into this idea of the journey. When you turn off the main road you see a little sign for an onion (the club’s logo) and every few miles when you need to take a turn down another dirt track you see another onion. It’s like Hansel and Gretel’s crumbs except at the end of the road you know you’re going to arrive at paradise.
The excitement builds.
The Golf Course
Michael wanted his golf course to be incredible and over the years he had developed a relationship with one of the best golf architects on the planet, Gil Hanse. When Michael and Gil eventually agreed to get going with the project, Michael gave Gil a pretty simple but brilliant set of instructions: Build me a golf course designed for match play only. When Michael and his mates went on their trips, they never played stroke play. They played Ryder Cup-style match play like we all do.
With that blueprint, Hanse built one of the best new courses in America, and in 2018, Ohoopee Match Club opened its doors to about 50 members.
The “No Score” Rule
When you build a course purely designed for match play, the architect is completely freed up. It means Hanse could build daring, wildly exciting greens and half-par holes that reward massive risk and severely punish poor execution. You don’t have to worry about a guy making a 10 and ruining his scorecard, because the worst he can do is lose the hole.
In fact, you aren’t even allowed to keep your score at Ohoopee.
If you walk into the clubhouse after your round and try to tell anyone what you shot, the bartender will literally slide your drink over on a coaster that reads: “Nobody Cares What You Shot.”
The Ethos
Every detail at Ohoopee is designed to remove the stress that usually winds us up on a golf course.
It is walking-only. No carts allowed.
It’s a winter golf course, meaning they close completely for the summer months due to the intense Georgia heat.
There are no TVs in the bedrooms.
There are no menus in the clubhouse. Instead, incredible chefs take responsibility for cooking a massive, family-style feast for the group.
They even spent an absolute fortune engineering the plumbing just to make sure the shower pressure is life-changing after a 36-hole day.
There are only about 50 members (including Rory McIlroy). But unlike most hyper-exclusive private clubs, members can invite up to 48 guests at a time. The entire property is designed to be rented out for the ultimate, private golf trip.
Some famous courses, like Oakmont, pride themselves on being brutally difficult and punishing. Ohoopee went the opposite direction. They stripped away the scorecards, the menus, and the stroke-play stress, leaving only the purest version of the game: you, your mates, and trying to win the hole.
It’s known as one of the best new golf courses in the world, currently ranked 54th in The US according to top100golfcourses.com and sounds like one of the coolest experiences in golf.
I may never get the chance to play Ohoopee, but if you have I’d love to hear what the experience was like.
If you could build your own private golf club, what is the ONE rule you would enforce? (e.g., No scorecards? Dogs allowed? Pints every three holes?) Let me know.
The caddie’s line:
Ohoopee is a 22-Hole Layout: While it is an 18-hole course, Hanse designed 22 holes. This allows for flexibility and a bonus 4-hole loop known as the “Whiskey Run,” which can be used to create alternative routings. The shorter "Whiskey Run" course has a bottle of Woodford Reserve tucked into a tee marker, encouraging players to take a shot before starting their round.
The read:
The Match by Mark Frost:
In 1956, a casual bet between two millionaires eventually pitted two of the greatest golfers of the era -- Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan -- against top amateurs Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi.
The year: 1956. Decades have passed since Eddie Lowery came to fame as the ten-year-old caddie to U.S. Open Champion Francis Ouimet. Now a wealthy car dealer and avid supporter of amateur golf, Lowery has just made a bet with fellow millionaire George Coleman. Lowery claims that two of his employees, amateur golfers Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi, cannot be beaten in a best-ball match, and challenges Coleman to bring any two golfers of his choice to the course at 10 a.m. the next day to settle the issue. Coleman accepts the challenge and shows up with his own power team: Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, the game's greatest living professionals, with fourteen major championships between them.
That sounds amazing. Euro lottery ticket this weekend I think!
Here’s my Ohoopee testimony. Many people have written books about the greatest courses in the world. Ohoopee deserves one.
I have had the amazing opportunity to play Ohoopee and let me tell you, everything you wrote here is spot on. Shower pressure is indeed life changing. Not only is the clubhouse dining experience amazing, but the comfort stations on course serve the best beef jerky this side of the Ole Missip’. The details are what makes Ohoopee. The custom branded Woodford Reserve bottle and subsequent shot you must take once you begin the “Whiskey Routing”. It may be a 97 degree shot of mediocre bourbon, but it tastes like heaven. The canned Gatorade in the in-ground coolers are a touch that most haven’t figured out yet.
On top of all that, even though you may not be the only group there that day, you feel as if the entire property is yours to enjoy. Each hole is a stadium surrounded with South Georgia jack pines and unmatched vibes.
Ohoopee is indeed the experience of a lifetime. If you have the chance, drop everything you’re doing and go watch the zebras and wildebeest’s roam as you hit your 10th tee shot.