This week much has already been made of the tapas Spaniard Jon Rahm will be serving at the champions dinner on Tuesday night, and of course the patrons will all stand in line all week long for Augusta National subsidized pimiento cheese sandwiches, but as any moderately well-traveled golfer knows, Augusta isn’t the only golf club which prompts competitive clubhouse conversation about why their club’s food is special. In my recent travels I have encountered a few clubs whose culinary curiosities have greatly improved my day if not my game, and I expect there are many more…
1. Olympic Club - The Bill Burger
Since the 1950s Olympic has offered its famous burger dog to hordes of hungry golfers. What you might ask is a burger dog? It is exactly as it sounds, a long thin burger patty served in a hot dog bun and it’s delicious. I don’t understand how its shape has any bearing on its taste but it seems to, and for me it may be the number one reason to play Olympic.
2. Pine Valley - The Snapper Soup
I don’t really understand turtle soup (apparently made out of ‘snapping’ turtles) but I think I’m in the minority. Both Merion and Pine Valley have them and of course dispute which is better. The consensus seems to go with Pine Valley so I have gone with that. I do, however, fully understand that sherry in soup is a good idea and I love that it is automatically placed on the table for anyone to add to taste.
3. NGLA - The lobster amuse bouche
The windmill might be for show, but the lobsters are very real. Don a jacket (no matter the temperature) and lunch in the dining room begins with a large piece of lobster. Not lobster salad but simple poached lobster. And that’s before you even order. The rest of the lunch is without question solid, but it’s the lobster amuse bouche that is the standout. Of course, if you don’t fancy wearing a jacket, the sandwiches and Southsides are pretty solid in the birdcage too.
4. Muirfield - The lunch
Play golf at Muirfield as a visitor and it’s likely your day will be comprised of a 4-ball in the morning and foursomes in the afternoon and the two rounds will be separated by what can only be described as a proper lunch. One does need to get dressed in a jacket and tie for lunch (and they specify proper “socks that cover the ankle” must be worn) but other than the small discomfort of warm ankles the rest of lunch is pretty great. Most talk of the carvery offering and they aren’t wrong, it’s yummy and expansive, but in a recent visit I saved room for the sticky toffee pudding and I cannot recommend any decision more highly. Luckily a brisk foursomes walk in the afternoon allows for proper digestion.
5. Sunningdale - The sausage on brown
Sunningdale offers a great lunch on its terrace but it’s the sausages at the turn that are more widely discussed. They are simple and like most everything Sunningdale understated. One simply receives an English banger on a single piece of sliced bread. Many add condiments such as English mustard and many don’t. But unlike a hotdog at the turn in the U.S. which tends to be eaten on the fly, Sunningdale members sit for a couple of minutes and savor the pause. The best detail though is that sausages are also on offer for any hounds accompanying their human golfers. On my last visit, Coco, a Working English Springer Spaniel who joined us, was delighted by this.
As I said, I have personally experienced all of the above, both the halfway house snacks and also the more robust lunch experiences. But legend has it that the best on course food experience of all exists at, you guessed it, a heathland course. Not in England but a short drive from Paris at Golf de Morfontaine. There, I am told by people who should know, that le plat du jour is simply the best golf course dining experience in the world, and that there is a pretty special wine list to go along with it. I don’t doubt this to be true and am contemplating whether we should add a secondary motto to our business: Proper Golfers Eat. After all, walking and eating have been connected in France ever since Napoleon pointed out that “an army marches on its stomach.”
