Who are you guys......really???

[Michael Moore]

I am anti-membership and anti-handicap. Nevertheless, when I decided to attempt to qualify for the Maine Amateur last year, I was forced to acquire a handicap. For this, I turned to the Fairlawn Men's Golf Association in Poland, Maine, which is the handicapping arm of the Fairlawn Country Club. I thought that my ruined anterior cruciate ligament/medial meniscus would keep me out of the fray this year, but as I check my calender it seems that my first round of the year might be the qualifier, so chalk me up as a member of the Fairlawn Men's Golf Association.

I do a small amount of writing for the New England Journal of Golf. This year I am working on a profile of the Longmeadow Country Club and its history regarding Bobby Jones and the Spalding corporation in anticipation of the 2005 Junior Amateur, as well as a meditation on equipment technology and driving distance as seen through the prism of the long drive contest at the Northeast Amateur.

I live in Maine. Sweeney and Dan Taylor are the only ones to have visited.

[TEPaul]

Tom Paul
Newtown Square, Pa.
age: 59
handicap: 2-3
Club: Gulph Mills G.C. (Ross 1916)

[Steve_Lovett]

Name:  Steve Lovett
Age: 36
Occupation:  Partner - Ervin Lovett & Miller (Planners, Architects & Landscape Architects) - Jacksonville, Florida
Contact:  slovett@ervinlovettmiller.com
Course/Club:  St. Johns G&CC - St. Augustine, FL
Hdcp: 6 (don't play enough)

[Steve Pozaric]

Steve Pozaric
37
St. Louis, MO
Attorney
Index:  15 (it is amazing what a 3.5 yr old and 1 yr old daughter will do to golf time - in a good way)
Club:  Public course vagabond, but I get to see what is good and bad in StL golf.  I do belong to "Clubzilla", a golf club w/o real estate for index purposes and collegiality.

Thought:  Got interested in architecture from reading on the old golfweb and bravenet forums.  My friends now shake their heads when I talk about green complexes and say:  Hey, I did not remember that hole was a biarritz.  I also spend a lot of time on www.4gea.com - an equipment forum.

[Donnie Beck]

Update
Age 34
hdcp 16

[RJ_Daley]

Richard J Daley, 62 yrs old (Hizzoner da Mare)not!
currently living in Green Bay, WI
hometown, Madison, WI
retired and bored
former occupations: Police Officer, Madison WI
Union President Prof. P. Officers Union, Madison
Business Agent, Wisconsin Prof. P. Officers Assoc.
Home Course, Brown County Golf Course
Have tried my hand at Golf Course/Homesite Development, 1991-2
Past Affiliate member GCSAA - took many of their CE courses, forgot 90% of what I learned about turf.
Spiritual Home course (own a lot there) : Wild Horse, Gothenburg NE:  That's me at Wild Horse


handicap index with WSGA, 13.3, no significant movement in years of playing.  Age is creeping up on me with aches and pains hurting golf swing and power,  and no longer have ability to play multiple rounds a day or consecutive days.  That is why GCA golf outtings aren't as appealing.

I've been addicted to GCA.com for a long time...
Have met some of the best folks I've encountered in my life through GCA.
I'm interested in a part-year move to a warmer climate, and still only interested in exciting employment if it is as perhaps a spy or political pundit.  

Biggest golfing achievment, after embarrassing losses, I wrestled McBride to a tie in a return match, I think.  

[sonofalawyer]

peter johnson (formerly sonofalawyer)

age: 28

handicap: 4

i live in los angeles where i am a fledgling (sounds better than struggling) screenwriter.  i play rustic canyon most often and absolutely love the course.

i grew up back east in the DC area.  learned to play the game at the chevy chase club (a fine course but a bit of a mutt architect-wise, last redone by hills) and played a lot of matches at congressional and columbia.  i spent my summers in ponte vedra playing the ocean course at the PV Inn (redone not too long ago by weed).  

love the game.  love this site.

[Thomas_Brown]

Thomas Brown
Age: 31
Hcap: 3
Club: UCLA
Occupation: Financial software at Wilshire Associates & father of twin 3 yr. olds.

[John Foley]

John Foley

Age 42 (ouch that hurts!!)

Married w/ 2 daughters (and hopefully golfing partners)

Sales Engineer (survived the collapse)

HDCP - around 11 and heading north.

Location - Victor NY (outside Rochester) . Anyone traveling buy, let me know,

Email  - raynorfan@aol.com

[ChipRoyce]

Chip Royce
Cary, NC (formerly of Bay Shore, NY, Manchester, MA and Austin, TX)
Age: 39
Married, 2 Kids (4 and 1)
Marketing & New Business Development - Lenovo Group

Member;
 - Prestonwood CC, Cary, NC
 - Tillinghast Society

Former Member:
 - Southward Ho CC, Bay Shore, NY
 - The Georgetown Club, Georgetown, MA
 - Town Golf @ Essex County Club, Manchester, MA
 - Great Hills CC, Austin, TX

Great appreciation of golden age courses and the latest generation of architects who seek to emulate the styles of Ross, Tillinghast, MacDonald, Raynor, Travis, et.al.

[Larry_Keltto]

Past, present and future GCA name: Larry Keltto

Residence: Owatonna, MN

Handicap: 6-10 (depends on the time of year)

Courses: investor/member at Hidden Creek in Minnesota; Royal St. David’s

Work: writer and editor; golf-related writing includes work for The Meetings Group (five magazines in the meetings industry); in the past, worked on PR and marketing for two Minnesota course openings—Hidden Creek and The Classic at Madden’s.

Personal: married, with two daughters, 6 and 3. The 6-year-old laid out a three-hole course in the backyard last summer and named it Ivan Fields. Why Ivan Fields? She (and I) have no idea.

Other: I live in Minnesota but Ohio is my home. I’ve always held great passion for Ohio State and, as the song says, “Old Columbus town.” In golf, I despise trees, lakes and ponds, so it’s prairie, desert or links golf for me. I also think pull-carts (trolleys) are cool.

My Brigadoon-ish golf dream: find an untouched piece of linksy property along Lake Erie, near my hometown of Mentor, Ohio, turn it into a first-rate links and name it Ivan Fields (see “personal” for explanation of name). If the course ends up resembling Seaton Carew, all the better!

[Sky King]

I guess now is as good a time as any to make my confession. I've been posting as Dan King. I always wanted a name like that, so I hijacked that one.

Reality is I'm SkyKing, America's favorite flying cowboy. I've been using the name Dan King to hide out from my pain-in-the-ass niece Penny and nephew Clipper. They're going to end up finding me now, but still, at least for now I feel good about myself.

I live on the Flying Crown Ranch in Grover, Arizona. I'm almost 100 years old now, but thanks to living near the top secret (at least it was until I told all of you about it) military base I have the body of a fat and tired 50 year old.


Penny & I back in happier times.

Sky King

"Out of the clear blue of the western sky comes ...SKY KING!"

Look! Here comes Sky King. Sky King, America's favorite flying cowboy. Presented by America's favorite peanut butter - Peter Pan peanut butter.

[Matthew Schulte]

Matt Schulte

35

Born: Minneapolis, MN
Reside: Colorado Springs, CO
Home Club:  The Club at Flying Horse, Colorado Springs
Index: Rising!
Married (overachieved) with no children.  She is incredibly tolerant, and even supportive, of my golf addiction.

Have had the pleasure of meeting a few regular posters here, and to a man have enjoyed getting to know all of them.  This site has been a great place to meet so many kindred spirits.  Outside of this forum, I am surprised at how seldom I get paired up with another golfer who is truly interested in golf course architecture.  I really enjoy this board because of the depth of knowledge people here bring to the table.  

I am most partial to Links and Heathland Golf.  I agree heartily with Tom Paul's firm and fast maintenance meld theory.  A course brown can certainly be a course beautiful.  I most enjoy courses with plenty of width, interesting angles, a few centerline hazards, plenty of natural contours left untouched in the fairways and those that use shortgrass as a hazard.  

I think we are all lucky to be alive in what appears to be the "second golden age" for golf course architecture and in a time in which developers have had the courage to build in remote locations because they believed so strongly in their sites.

Favorite 10 +1 courses played thus far: Pacific Dunes, TOC, Royal County Down, Ballyneal, Sand Hills, Royal St. Georges, Royal Dornoch, Ballybunion, North Berwick, Friar's Head and Sunningdale Old.

[Tom Walsh]

Tom Walsh from St. Louis

Mostly a publinxer. Play at ruth park, forest park, normandie, all old Foulis designs.

Handicap- 12

Grew up a caddy at Algonquin GC (Bendelow design, Robert Foulis construction I think)

I'm a teacher (history, computer applications) and run our network and hardware at Crossroads School in St. Louis.

45, married, 3 children (15, 11, 9). I have a great summer job teaching golf to elemetary age kids in the morning, and computer animation in the afternoon.

I have been a lurker mostly for 6-8 months after finding the site looking up info on St Louis CC. A fellow teacher is old money St. Louis and plays there from time to time. I hope to too someday. There is definitely a paucity of true classic courses in St. Louis by the upper echelon of architects.  

Tom

[ForkaB]

I used to call myself "Rich" Goodale, but in the interests of full disclosure I shall now be known on GCA as "Richard", which is, serendipitously, how I am known here in the home of golf (Fife).

I'm a 57-year old peripetetic American who has been there and got the t-shirts (or gimmie caps) of most of the best courses in the UK and Ireland, and a decent enough tranche of similarly "ranked" ones in the States to provide a good frame of reference.  I am fortunate(?) in that the one of the clubs of which I am a member to which others might wish access (Royal Dornoch), is actually open to all, and 180 miles away from my home!

I play off 5, despite (due to?) being the primary care giver to my two children (girls 10 and 6).  This may change, as I am returning to my old profession of strategy and futures consulting this year.  Early indications are that this will mean MORE golf, not less!

Regardless, I will always find time for GCA'ers who are visting these shores and want to play my local club (Aberdour), which is "sporty" and has views across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh to die for.  Most tend to bypass this little corner of golfing heaven, alas, chuntering gormlessly by on their way between St. Andrews and North Berwick, but it is their loss, and not mine.........

[Andrew Summerell]

Name : Andrew Summerell

I come from Sydney, Australia, so generally only comment on Australian questions or generic architectural questions.

I'm a professional musician & composer, which, due to not having to working 9 - 5 has given me the chance to play alot of different courses apart from my home course.

I love the site & the knowledge that many of you have.

Andrew

[KJaeger]

Kevin Jaeger
Pleasanton CA
Biomedical engineer
Married, no children (yet)
Handicap: an improving 15  

Not a club member at the present time - play the public links in the SF Bay area, usually Poppy Ridge or Las Positas (municipal course in Livermore CA).  I have only been able to play or visit a relatively small number of the truly great courses of the world, certainly fewer than many who post regularly here.  However, the course profiles on the site and the great comments and discussion have helped me look forward to experiencing and appreciating more of those classic courses as I continue to enjoy this wonderful game.

My favorite course and most memorable day in golf came a few years ago at County Sligo (Rosses Point), where I obtained my first exposure to links golf.  I was fortunate to play a solitary round late on a summer evening, with Ben Bulben peeking through the passing rain showers off the Atlantic.  Pure heaven!  Can't wait to go back...

[Theresa Stotler]

Theresa Stotler  TAS
Canton, OH  Handicap 7
Female golfer  and married to a golfer.
Would like to post, in case I have to express, a feminine viewpoint.
Occupation  Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist and certified GolfPsych Instructor.
Avid golf reader,
Unsure if Tom Huckaby  remembers who sent him the Finnegan Book on Ireland.
 

[Marc Haring]

This is a great thread.

Marc Haring, formerly MH

Course Director, Cumberwell Park near Bath, UK.

Handicap 4, formerly 1.

Have worked at Stoke Park, Wentworth, Camberley Heath as course manager.

GCA ambition: to one day do the grand tour of all the best the US has to offer. Seeing as there are so many superintendents on this site, maybe I can one day set up a reciprocal home and away tour of the best that we all have to offer.  

By the way. Theresa, looking at your background, you could be just what this site needs.

[Brian Phillips]

Brian Phillips
Norway
Hcp: 10
Golf Course Architect
www.niblickgolfdesign.com
post@niblickgolfdesign.com

Got hooked on this site many years ago and it is this site that kept encouraging me to move from contsruction into design.  Attended the Heriot-Watt Masters course in Scotland and actually passed last year!!  Main work is now in Norway and Scotland but we are willing to work anywhere.

Cheers,

Brian.

[George Pazin]

George Pazin
Age: 36
Pittsburgh, PA
no club - sorry, can't help you there - almost Barnbougle...
t shirt printer and proud new daddy

New to see some new faces, as well as the return of some older folks who haven't posted in a while. Welcome and welcome back.

P.S. do yourself a favor and get out and meet the people from this site, at official or unofficial gatherings - I guarantee you will not be disappointed, or your money back.

[tonyt]

Tony Titheridge (I was formerly known as TonyT)

Age: 34
Melbourne, Australia

No home club, due to many riches in great golf which is shamefully affordable around Melbourne. Handicap: 16

I work in the wine industry at both a producer and retail level, and owe a lot of my life's contentment and wife's ire to the time spent in this discussion group.

[paul cowley]

paul cowley
age :52
st. simons island ,ga.
three children, ages two ,eleven and fifteen
hdc:8
member brunswick c.c. [old ross]
occupation:golf course architect ,land planner,landscape and architectural designer ,general contractor ,builder and developer.[areas reported for taxable income this past year]

great site!.......

[cary lichtenstein]

Cary Lichtenstein
Age 60
Jupiter, Florida

Members of 2 clubs:

Admirals Cove
The Ritz Golf and Spa in Jupiter


Long time resident of Chicago until I moved here full time 6 years ago. Favorite course in Chicago was always Cog Hill #4.

I have played about the top 50 or 60 courses on everyone's list. Got hooked on that when my dad took me to Pebble Beach as a graduation present, so I've been seeking out new courses for almost 40 years.

I spent my winters down here in Florida, but when the hot weather comes, I try to travel a couples of weeks per month June thru Sept playing new courses with a few repeats from the past.

This summer I'm going to try to knock off Dallas area, Colorado west down to Sante Fe, maybe Northern Michigan if I can convince my wife, and maybe the RTJ trail.

I'm a 5, my wife is an 8, so we both like to do the same things.

I'm always interested in seeing and learning what the architect is doing with the land, be it how he used the land minimially with great sites, or how he created courses out of nothingness.

[David_Elvins]

EDIT for 2010

David Elvins
35
Handicap 11
Member at Leongatha Golf CLub, Melbourne.

I think my way to golf Club Atlas was the same as many others.  Had World Atlas of Golf as a kid.  Saw GCA mentioned in that Pac Dunes article in 2000 and came and had a look at the site.  Was amazing to find other people as ridiculously into architecture as me. 

Huge fan of MacKenzie, Barnbougle Dunes, Wide fairways, triple breaking putts, low key clubs, walking, Gil Hanse, varierty, taking driver. 

Has been great to read this for the last ten years. And meet so many great people.  And contribute to the discussion every now and again