It felt like I was being deloused on my way to a five-to-10 stretch in the pokey. In the best possible way. I was warned—the water pressure was called “fire-hose strong”—but as my skin gave way to a layer of raw, pink dermis, I found what I had come for. I stepped from the shower at Trinity Forest a new creature, a freshly peeled phoenix birthed from the fire.
Some of us go for the merch, the golf holes or the scorecard we’ll pin to our wall, but visiting a top-tier golf club often carries bathing expectations that can make or break a course’s reputation. I’m not sure how many local government officials get bribed to allow golf-club showers that dump whole reservoirs upon our heads, but non-golfers might be surprised to know that Niagara has nothing on the pipes that bless many a locker room.
“Best shower” is a topic hotly debated among traveling golfers, and there is no handicap requirement or cut line to participate. For players at all levels, when a round goes sideways, thoughts can turn from our swings to the cleanse awaiting us. The shower matters, and while nobody really cares that you birdied the seventh, everyone will pull up a chair and listen intently to matters of water pressure and spray radius. And we’ve got the stories here to prove it.
The following comments and conversations come from Broken Tee Society members in the Shower Rankings channel on the BTS Discord server. They have been lightly edited.
@Yodes3
Country Club of Scranton has so much pressure they are balking at renovating the locker room because they would lose it, from what a member told me.
@KGP
Won a one-day member-guest at Saucon Valley and still remember the showers more than the round. Similar to Scranton, I suspect, grandfathered in to have more water pressure than is probably legal (think fire-hydrant pressure).
@Misplacedtexan83
• Trinity Forest. Had to protect the goods during the shower.
@AlexF
Alotian Club outside of Little Rock, Arkansas—life-changing experience. It’s the Sistine Chapel of plumbing excellence.
@Tennpoke
Aronimink had fantastic pressure matched with huge rain showerheads above you. Towels could have been fluffier and larger. Disposable shower shoes were a nice touch. 9.5/10
@rj_gilbert
Maketewah. Tough scene. Felt like I was in [prison] gen pop. Water pressure wasn’t good enough to jump in. Rode with the stank all the way back to Cleveland.
@Joe
Sent this to my buddy that’s a member at Maketewah. He said, “Yeah, the shower scene is not the highlight of the club.”
@TFixer5
Had a nice little run lately. Maidstone 7.5/10, Ridgewood 6/10, Philly Cricket 7.5/10, Sleepy Hollow 8/10, Stanwich 7/10.
@Zach Shewmaker
Black Sheep. Aurora, Illinois. Game over. Basically a vertical waterboarding. Bet on it.
@jborer8
Best: Rolling Green. Hands down. Enough said. Last time I was there, I didn’t shower for two days afterward and barely needed to on the third day. I just felt like society was expecting it.
Worst: The old shower stalls in the now-extinct clubhouse at Jeffersonville. Never took an actual shower in them, and I don’t know of anyone brave enough to ever consider it. They would have been perfect to film a scene for the next Saw movie.
@Wedem2020
I hate to admit it, but I took a shower at the Jeff back in the day. I was sneaking in a round before work, and I desperately needed to shower off. Not the best experience.
@Urannimal
Somerset Hills is Mary Poppins, man: practically perfect in every way.
@WillyDaRocket23
Due Process—seven shower heads.
@tpope15
Seven!?
@WillyDaRocket23
All the angles.
@Will G
I want to know who has modded their home shower after one of these experiences and has any tips/hardware recommendations. I am beyond redemption and have given my future over to the maximum gallons per minute. Please and thank you.
@Mcknn005
Best: The outdoor shower at Boston Golf Club overlooking the course through the bushes. Spectacular and one of a kind. Water pressure is electric as well.
@Kristen F
Unfortunately, no outdoor showers for the women at BGC.
@SlippinJimmy
The pressure in the shower at Yeamans Hall was so great that it caused a mole on my temple to start bleeding. That shook me up a bit, and I decided to have it looked at when I got home. Turned out it was a basal cell carcinoma that I was able to have removed shortly thereafter. Fantastic shower and particularly good timing.
@Parker S
Wow, that’s amazing! Not as serious, but the monsoon-like water pressure at Friar’s Head popped a pimple on my forehead, so I have also walked out of a golf shower bleeding.
