Homestead Resort (Cascades)
If you’re very familiar with the Homestead Resort, you may be saying about the above photo, “Hey that’s from the Old Course, not Cascades.” You’d be right, of course. Sorry, no photos of the Cascades Course so I have the above of the resort (and all of the below) from the Old Course. We’ll talk about three things here: 1) the resort versus Greenbrier 2) the Cascades Course and 3) a funny little anecdote from my weekend at Cascades.
Homestead versus Greenbrier. I came to Homestead in 2007 and was at the Greenbrier in 2018. Both resorts are remote, in the Allegheny Mountains featuring multiple golf courses and other things to do. Of the courses I’ve played, I’d rank Cascades number one, Old White at Greenbrier #2, Greenbrier Snead #3 and Old Homestead #4. It’s funny how both resorts have a Snead connection. Slammin’ Sammy grew up in Hot Springs, VA and everything Homestead is named after him. He got a private course named after him in Greenbrier, too. So on the overall golf courses I’d call it even. Greenbrier is more polished. Homestead is friendlier. Restaurants are a wash. The bunker tour at Greenbrier pushes it ahead by a nose but both are great places for a golf weekend – more couples/families than dudes though.
To the course. Cascades is a William Flynn design. Flynn is the quintessential Philadelphia golf course architect. The dude has his name on some pretty impressive tracks: an assist on Merion, Shinnecock, the Country Club (Mass), solo credit at Cherry Hills and here among others. He also designed a few lesser known Philly classics like Manufacturer’s and Lancaster. All good stuff. Flynn also has some really bad swings-and-misses. He designed the “Fredo” courses at Merion and Seaview. He put his name on McCall Field. So when I teed it up on one at Cascades all I can remember is “eww, this sucks.” Well I also remember having a really good bloody – the guys at the course were amazing. More on that later. But the first hole was a yawn. Then the approach had to negotiate the busiest road in Hot Springs. From Google Earth, look at how close you are to the road if you miss the green left.
You then cross the road and I liked the second, loved the third and fourth but you dance again with the road on five. From that point on though is what puts Cascades on the top 100. Seventeen is one of the great holes in golf and the course finishes with a par three – I don’t mind that like some of the traditionalists do. Greenbrier Old White does the same.
If you like mountain golf, this course is pretty impressive and while severe slopes come into play, it all seems very playable.
OK finally, so we came here on a little retreat in 2007. There is practically no cell signal anywhere on property (or at least there wasn’t when I was here). So we were here during the Kentucky Derby. I bet three horse races a year and the Derby is always the first. My sister and sister-in-law both love the ponies and we have a friend who is the stables manager at Churchill.
So in the morning from the room on WiFi (or a good signal I’m not even sure if WiFi was a thing then) I’m emailing and researching and getting some text info from my family and friends. So I’m hearing good stuff about Curlin and Street Sense and saw a little piece on Hard Spun (a 15:1 horse). Mind you I get the same juice every year but I never win. So, I want to bet but fail to do so before leaving the resort to golf.
Cascades is up a little ways from the resort itself. So I finally get some signal before teeing off and I text my sister-in-law and ask her to place the 7-8-2 horses in a $20 box trifecta for me. She confirms and all good. Now I am telling the guys at the Cascades Course about my bet and what to do and told them they didn’t need to bet as much but box these numbers. They’re laughing but all say, they’re doing it.
So I get back to the resort after golf. We dress for the dinner that night in the Dining Room (jackets required). Now at the bar for cocktails, we’re seeing the Derby go off and I swear I see my horses hit but wasn’t sure. Had to go back to the room for something, got signal and a text from my brother said that I just hit on about a $5,000 trifecta. So that’s good.
We go down, wine’s on me and all of a sudden the maître ‘d approaches me at the table and says, “Sir you have a call at the front desk.” So we’re in the middle of nowhere, who the hell is calling me. Well I get on the phone and its the guys from Cascades. They all placed the bet I told them to and all won anywhere from $500 to what I did. They tell me they’re coming over and buying me drinks. Ten minutes later the maître ‘d comes back and says sir you have another call. This time it’s my brother who says, “um the wife has something to tell you.” Seems like after she placed the bet and shut off the computer she never got the note that said insufficient funds and the bet was never placed. Now I’ve pissed through $5,000 pretty fast before but never that quick. Told everyone to spit the wine back in the bottle and bring us some Mad Dog but at least I have a funny story, right?
Golf Scrapbook 