The "USGA and the LCC" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with my boss and former high school student of mine, Keith, about renting his house this coming July when the U.S. Women's Open comes to Lancaster, Pennsylvaina.  

This is the heading on the Lancaster Country Club website.

The tournament will be played at the Lancaster Country Club which is directly across the street from his home along Route 23, also known as the New Holland Pike.  He heard that many of the women golfers as well as their caddies and the media, will be looking for housing.  Keith's home would be the perfect location for anyone associated with the tournament.  I suggested he sell parking spaces for the week long event, but he said the access to his back yard might infringe on his neighbor's yard so he can't do that.  He's hoping to list his place on a social media site in order to avoid the daily onslaught of the more than 100,000 people who will attend the event.  A few of his neighbors have already rented their homes for up to $5,000 for the week.  The Lancaster Country Club (LCC) course is a private course on the northeast limits of Lancaster, partly in Manheim Township and partly in East Lampeter Townsip, separated by the Conestoga River.  LCC has 3 beautiful nine hole courses named Meadowcreek, Dogwood and Highlands.  The Open will be contested on what is known as the Old Course which consists of the Meadowcreek and Dogwood nines.  The course, chartered in 1900, was designed by William S. Flynn who is considered to be one of the most significant and influential designers of the "Golden Age" of golf course architecture.

Photo taken at the LCC by Lancaster Newspapers
photographer Jeff Ruppenthal.

 The course consumes 450 acres of prime Lancaster County land with a total distance of 6,840 yards and is a par 70. The course also is a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary because of all the wildlife that makes the surrounding area home.  Tickets went on sale in July of last year.  The prices ranged from $75 for a two-day Championship Grounds Pass to $200 for a week-long access pass.  Last June Dan Burton, championship chairman for the USGA, and Jerry Hostetter, general chairman for the U.S. Women's Open, played a round at LCC.  They played the course thinking about what a player in the Open might experience.  Ball flight, pin position, green speed, rough length and green slopes were all thought about.  Hostetter shot a 71 while Burton didn't share his score with the newspaper.  In a little over four months Lancaster will be filled with media and golf enthusiasts from all over the U.S as well as the world.  100,000 of them are expected.  Might have to plan a vacation away from Lancaster for the week.  Hey, I could rent my place for the week to one of the pros.  Wonder if I could pay for my vacation with the proceeds?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.