Today, men of the cloth can still be seen walking -- or riding through St. John's new layout. But St. John's mostly sees a heavy amount of league and outing play featuring blue-collar men of the mullet and jean short instead.
"This course sets up well for leagues and outings especially," said Jim Gatza, director of golf at St. John's. "You don't beat yourself up ? it's a shorter course to play and has three different nines. One nine is more open, one is open with some woods and the other goes right through the woods."
Despite three nines all built in different decades, each has an old-school charm and each plays short compared to modern standards. St. John's Luke Course plays longest at 3,229 yards from the back tees, while the Mark Course and Matthew Course play slightly less than 3,000 each.
Fairways are narrow and trees are a force on most drives. Par 5s at St. John's are salivating especially the "Luke" nine, which has three par 5s (an unusual par 37 total - Mark and Matthew are par 35) including back-to-back five-shotters. Mark, with seven wet holes has the most water, while the other nines have an occasional pond or creek. Most par 4s play less than 350 yards and no par 4 plays longer than 400, so golfers of all skills have a realistic shot at birdie on every tee box.
No combination of nines is by far and away superior and ratings are all about the same. There's a 1.1 stroke difference from the easiest (Matthew/Mark: 66.9) to most difficult (Luke/Matthew: 68.0). Luke's three par 5s make it the nine most susceptible to birdies, but shooting just three over par gives you a 40. TheInnatSt.John's:Theverdict
Despite its soon-to-be golf resort offerings, the course --with blind tee shots, holes where a creek crosses the fairway right about where your drive is expected to roll through -- is anything but modern resort-style.
Conditions are solid but not outstanding. You can't tell which greens are any older or newer than each other, which is praise for the maintenance crew. But the true flavor of St. John's is in its sacred history and knowing hundreds of young men of faith took a break from their Bible studies for a quick round just outside their dorm. read more