NEWPORT, R.I. — Robert Webster knows Newport Country Club as well as one could.
Webster, a co-general chair of the 2024 U.S. Senior Open, purchased a summer home on the course 25 years ago. He also has been a member at the historic Newport Country Club for the past 11 years.
“I’m a New Englander through and through,” said Webster, who grew up on the North Shore of Massachusetts before he graduated from the University of New Hampshire.
Golf fans set to attend the 2024 U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club this week surely don’t have the same intel. It’s one of the oldest and most exclusive clubs in the United States, after all.
Webster, though, along with players like Rhode Island native Billy Andrade, provided intel on the best places for spectators to watch.
There are a lot of them.
Webster highlighted the par-3s, which include Championship 4 (184 yards) and Championship 5 (203 yards) — the holes are referred to as “Championship” because Newport Country Club flipped from front and back nines for the U.S. Senior Open. Those back-to-back par-3s feature one which goes uphill into the wind and the other which goes downhill. The course is made for that South-Southwest wind, Webster said, but completely changes if the wind does.
You can view multiple holes (Championship 1, 2 and 3) on the links-style layout when standing at Championship 4’s green.
“Our par-3s are magnificent,” Webster said. “I can’t think of a par-3 where you wouldn’t see an exciting hole of golf.”
But the aura of Newport Country Club, much like Newport, R.I. itself, is the water. And while Championship 12, 13, 14 and 15 might represent the further trek on the 7,024-yard course, the views are well worth it.
“The great thing about this course is it’s on the ocean,” said Webster, the Atlanta resident noting his summer home is on Championship 13. “The views from Championship 12 to 13, 14, 15 — that’s where I’m going to be hanging out.”
Championship 15, much like so many other spots on the course, will have bleachers, bathrooms and food for fans. One might describe it as breathtaking.
Another overlook is on Championship 9, known to members as the 18th. It’s an elevated area where fans can watch down the left fairway and have their back to the clubhouse. It also has one of the most challenging greens on the course, Webster said.
The mansion-like clubhouse, designed in 1894 by Whitney Warren, who studied architecture in France is another star of the course. Padraig Harrington, the No. 6 player on the PGA Champions Tour, gushed about it.
“There’s not many with the clubhouse,” said Harrington, who’s played all over the world. “I think that’s unique. I’d like to come here with nothing here and just go up and sit outside on the balcony, the clubhouse, and go out and look at the golf course. I think that would be a very nice, enjoyable afternoon.”
The clubhouse itself makes the holes nearby all the more enticing to hang. While on Championship 18, surely a popular spot Sunday afternoon, fans will have a view of the clubhouse straight ahead with the ocean to the right in the distance.
“I just think being around this clubhouse, being up on this hill,” said Andrade, certainty not a newcomer to Newport Country Club. “There’s a lot in this area. That’s what I would recommend for fans.”
Fans who make the trip to Newport Country Club quickly will realize there is no bad spot on the historic course. And it might be their only chance to see it.
Thumbnail photos via USGA/Fred Vuich
