The scorecard at Benvenue Country Club in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, can be deceiving. But what Benvenue, a Donald Ross design from 1922, lacks in length, it makes up for in its notoriously tricky greens — just exactly as you would expect from a Ross course.
“The golf course is in great shape, but they’re going to be surprised at how difficult the green complexes are, even though it’s right there in front of you — there’s nothing tricky about it,” said head professional Ryan Keeter. “People aren’t used to this style of golf.”
Benvenue Country Club in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, hosts the Golfweek Senior National Championship June 15-17.
When Benvenue hosts the Golfweek Senior National Championship June 15-17, senior amateurs will find a course that Keeter describes as forgiving off the tee but with sloped, turtleback greens reminiscent of other Ross courses such as Pinehurst No. 2.
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“Everything slopes from back to front,” Keeter said of Benvenue’s green complexes. “Hit your shot over the greens, it’s going to be very difficult to get up and down. It’s very all about the greens.”
Last September, Benvenue, a private course, hosted the North Carolina Super Senior Amateur. Next week, it welcomes a national field divided into Senior, Super Senior, Legends and Super Legends divisions. World Amateur Golf Ranking points will be awarded.
Benvenue Country Club in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, hosts the Golfweek Senior National Championship June 15-17.
The Golfweek Senior National Championship is the second consecutive summer event on Golfweek’s senior amateur schedule to test players on Ross greens. Last month, French Lick (Indiana) Resort’s Donald Ross course hosted the U.S. Senior Challenge, a team event.
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Don Kuehn, winner in the Super Legends division and captain of the winning team, called the greens there treacherous, with huge undulations, ridges, tiers and slopes mostly back to front.
“If you hit in the wrong part of these greens, no matter how defensively you putt, you’re probably going to three-putt,” said Kuehn, who will compete again this week.
Competitors in the Golfweek Senior National Championship should expect something similar. Back-to-back par 5s, Nos. 3 and 4, on the front offer a quick test for players — particularly No. 4, and then the loop from No. 10 to No. 13 is also one Keeter highlights.
“You’re going to have to play defense on quite a few holes out here, a lot of these holes are not going to be getable,” he said. “You’re going to have to make par and move on.”
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Notably, this week’s Golfweek event features a North Carolina legend in Paul Simson. The Carolinas Golf Hall of Famer famously won the U.S. Senior Amateur, British Senior Amateur and Canadian Senior Amateur in 2010. He won the U.S. Senior Amateur again in 2012. This week, he’ll compete in the Super Senior division.
Simson certainly represents one of the most competitive amateurs to ever play the game — particularly at the senior level. But the Golfweek Senior National Championship also includes an up-and-comer in Bryan Hoops, who highlights the senior division. Hoops has top 5 finishes in his last three starts in WAGR-ranked events and is the defending champion of this event.
Hoops is a player to watch in every event he tees it up in, just like Simson was in his heyday.
A deep senior field, however, also features Kevin VandenBerg, the top-ranked player in the Golfweek National Senior Amateur Rankings and Chad Branton, No. 6 in those rankings. Also keep an eye on Trent Gregory and Brendan Hester, who are in the top 15 in those rankings.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Senior amateur golfers prepare for another Donald Ross test at Benvenue
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