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I had the opportunity to play Newport Country Club in the last week of September.  

I have had this golf date circled on my calendar for some time.

I had never played Newport, but it is still meaningful to me.   

I was on this grounds on August 27^th, 1995, watching Tiger Woods win his second straight United States Amateur and his fifth of sixth straight USGA events – three straight US Jr. Amateurs and three straight US Amateurs ~ a feat most likely to never be duplicated.

In the ’95 finals ~ the Centennial event which was first played at Newport in 1895 (five years before the inaugural US Open), Tiger played 43-year-old George Edward “Buddy” Marucci, a long time top American amateur golfer and beat him two-up.

I like to joke that I don’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday but I remember so much about that event from 28 years ago.

The things I recall is how easy it was to maneuver in the crowd to see what you wanted to see in the Woods-Marucci 36-hole final.  We could see the match on the green if we wanted to or watch them tee off without moving multiple holes ahead.   

As great of a course as Newport Country Club is, it is short by modern standards.  Many holes at Newport took driver out of Tiger’s hands and he often teed off with a 2 or 3 iron.  

A quarter of a century later, I can still remember standing at the tee box and hearing the beautiful sound of Tiger Wood’s flushing a 2 iron right down the middle of the fairway – or sometimes way off the mark.

In the end, Tiger lost hole 17 to go to 18 one up.  

On 18, he hit a 3 iron and 8 iron approach to within a foot of the hole to close out Marucci.  

Marucci said later that playing intense tournament golf six days in a row caught up with him in the 36 hole final, but it was a huge David vs. Goliath story.

VIDEO: ARMEN KETEYIAN TELLS STORY OF TIGER AT NEWPORT

In 2024, Newport Country Club will host the U.S. Senior Open.

As you enter the gates at Newport Country Club, one is instantly drawn to the beautiful and stately clubhouse.  In fact, the clubhouse reminds me of a smaller but just as beautiful Breakers Mansion ~ which is down the street in Newport.

We dropped off our bags and settled in to check out our beautiful surrounding.  Back in the US Amateur in 1995, patrons were not allowed into the Clubhouse.   So naturally the first thing I did was go into the clubhouse.  As you can see from the pictures, it is stately, and timeless.

We headed downstairs to the pro shop and picked up a few NCC insignia items.  We then grabbed a cart and headed down to the range.  

Considering the demand for real estate in this part of Newport and that the course is over 125 years old, the range is more than adequate and I could hit every club in the bag, including driver. 

We headed over to a terrific chipping area and hit chips until our heart’s content.

We drove back up to the front of the clubhouse to start and headed to our appointed holes.  I was grateful for the format as it was a combination of team and individual score.  

We each played our own ball into the hole and the best handicap-adjusted score counted for the team.  I repeat that I was grateful this was the format as I really wanted to test my game against what has been rated by Golfweek as the best private course in Rhode Island.

We started on number 9.  The 9^th hole is a 425 yard uphill par 4 directly into the day’s wind. 

I was just so grateful to be here at beautiful Newport Country Club on a fantastic sunny day.

I had one of my best warm-up sessions of the year and it carried over to the course and I smashed a good drive spitting the fairway.  

I now had a long approach shot well uphill into a stiff breeze. I smashed my approach and was still short.  I chipped on but passed the hole and had a downhill putt that missed badly.   

I was now looking at a 12 foot bogey putt which felt very meaningful.  I had a sense that I might hit the ball very well today and not score well because I was overmatched by the course.  

Well it appears that my 5^th shot of my day was the most important to me and I made the difficult putt and saved a five.  I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of my day and actually played well for me.

I shot an 82 which could have been sub 80, but I didn’t remember the course layout as a player the way I had hoped.

We did well as a team, but didn’t finish in the money. I found the course in tremendous shape and the holes right on the water to be truly exciting to play.

I found the wind strong, but consistent so I never felt tricked up by it.  

At the end, we dropped off our carts and were treated to an open bar and heavy Hors D ’Oeuvres  – which were exceptional.

In between mingling and meeting new people, I sat in a cushy chair in the Clubhouse great room and simply looked around and marveled at the beauty and history at this course.

The entire day was spectacular and probably the only odd thing was the shape of the golf carts.  They are very old and many without roofs.  It is very much a walking course and the golf carts are certainly a secondary thought.

The course is special. The weather was perfect.  I played well.  But the staff and management of Newport really went out of their way to make all of us feel special and much like members.

I won’t soon forget this golf day.