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

[Scott_Park]

Scott Park
Cary, NC
Age:35
Handicap: 3
Home Course: Knights Play Range Card
Married w/ 3 kids
Financial Analyst w/ Energy Co.

Been on GCA for about 3 or 4 years and prior to that Traditionalgolf.com

Went to grad school in Pittsburgh and caddied at Oakmont just to play the course.  Despite that, I would rather carry my own bag than have a caddy.

Golf trips to Indiana, Ohio and maybe Arizona this year.

It looks like we have quite a few NC guys that would make for get together.

[Chris Kane]

Chris Kane
19
2nd Year Arts/Law student, Monash University
Handicap 10
Commonwealth Golf Club - 2004 B Grade Club Champion  

Favourite courses - Royal Melbourne West, Portsea.  Can't wait to see the courses at St Andrews Beach and Barnbougle Dunes when they finally open.

[johnk]

John Krystynak
Los Altos Hills, CA
35
Computers and web stuff

I play the canonical NorCal set:
Poppy Hills, Poppy Ridge, Stanford, San Juan Oaks, etc.
Also Stanford.  6-8 hcp range.

Dream is to have a place in Melbourne for the winter, play Metropolitan during the week and venture down to The National every so often.

I listened to a fair bit of Lloyd Cole in my day as well...

[jim_lewis]

Tom, Jonathan, Cos

Thanks for the kind words.  I sure hope I am a better rater than a guitar player. In golf terms, my guitar handicap would be about 30.

Ken  Cotner
You nailed it. I wish I could play like my son Channing, who is the lead singer, lead guitar, and songwriter for Grand Champeen, possibly the best "bar band" in America. (or at least in Austin). My goal is just to be able to impress my sons with my playing. Impressing your children is one of the toughest things for a father to do.

RJ
I'm just going to ignore your remark!

[Mike Benham]

Publinks player, although I play most of my golf now at Rustic Canyon.

Dan - does this imply that Rustic Canyon is private?  

[peter_p]

Peter Pittock
Age: 60
Single
Retired. Formerly worked as a shift supervisor evaluating fingerprints of newly booked prisoners, trying to ID them and coordinate records.
Portland, OR
Hdcp 11.1. Hey, its gone done to 10.7 over two years
Member: Reserve Vineyards &GC, Aloha, OR
Formerly at Tualatin CC and Heron Lakes
Holes in One: 1 in 1980, playing a bank shot, during a 144 person field tournament (beer= $.35/can)
Nine overseas golf trips so far, to Scotland, England, Wales,  Ireland and Australia. More planned.
GCA gatherings: KPII, KPIII, KPIV and KPV, Michigan, Banff, Dixie II. Let me know if they hold one at TOC-Reverse Route
Unofficial GCA provider of Oregon Pinot Noir.
Vanity License Plate: GCACOM (Oregon salmon)
Golf Library - 15+ shelf feet, last two additions are club histories of Prestwick and North Berwick.

[Bob_Huntley]

Peter McKnight,

Man U. are doomed. Too much of Fergie's energy was in chasing the thoroughbred. They could well finish out of the top four.

[David_Madison]

David Madison
Age: 46
Profession: Mortgage lending but studying for retirement
Home town: Chapel Hill, NC
Hdcp: 0 (I think that I need to start posting some scores)
Member: Governors Club
Married for 15 years with two sons, Alex (12) and Dylan (6)
Course rater for GD. The more I read here and the more I see while playing different courses, the less that I realize that I know.
Golfing Goal: I want to play at least 1000 courses before they take my sticks away. Only about 650 to go (which is why I'm working hard on the retirement part).

Thanks Ran for this great site and thanks Mike Vegis for turning me onto it!

[jefffraim]

Jeffrey Fraim
Assistant Golf Professional
Age 32

Previous Employers

Myopia Hunt Club, MA
Everglades Club, FL
Yeamans Hall Club, SC
Edgartown Golf Club, MA
Huntingdon Valley CC, PA
Sunnybrook GC, PA
Commonwealth National CC, PA
Old York Road CC, PA

Designed and published a Then and Now book about each hole at the Yeamans Hall Club with original Seth Raynor drawings and how the course looks now.

I have been very lucky to meet wonderful people during my 15 years in the Golf business. Wouldn't trade this profession for any other.

I have been privileged enough to play some of MacDonald?Raynor/Banks best. Great Seth Raynor fan.

Mr. Morrissett the door is always open at Myopia or Everglades. keep up the good work. Hello to Mr. Sturges, and Mr. Paul.

[SJ_McCarthy]

SJ McCarthy

Home:  WC Pennsylvania
Status: Married
Handicap: 9 (ish)
Club Memberships:  Secession, GC, Belfair GC, Berkeley Hall GC, SC National GC, Applebrook GC.
Occupation: Corporate Event Productions
Tools:  TM 510 TP, Callaway Fairway Woods (4,7 & 9), Mizuno MP Irons and nothing but Cameron Putters (ever).
Hobbies: Golf, Fishing, Collecting Rare Cameron Putters, Reading Anything Golf

[Andy_Lipschultz]

Andy Lipschultz (not my real name, but I wanted to work in show business, so I changed it to more reflect the “tribe.”) Married with two sons, two dogs, no time.

Index: 9.8
Home course: Rustic Canyon
Born and raised in Los Angeles; journalism major at CSUN ’78 (yes, that makes me 47)
Occupation: Motion picture marketing; occasionally forays into freelance writing to keep sharp.  

Started golfing in 1990 when I noticed a lot of the cast and crew on would golf on off days while shooting a movie in Chicago. The next year, we went on location for a movie in Ireland for a few months, so I had a nice introduction to the game: matches not medal, brisk pace of play and lots of great conversation.

[Dan Grossman]

Mike -

No - it definetely does not make Rustic private.    But - I don't seem to make it to any of the other publics in SoCal.

[Brad Swanson]

Brad Swanson
Age: 40
Home: Madison, WI
Handicap: 3
Occupation: Director of R&D at a stem cell biotech company
Club Affiliations: Blackhawk CC, Madison, WI

Playing 1-2X per week when possible.  Home course does not suit my game, a conflict that I hope is making me an overall better player in the long run.  I've been fortunate to meet and enjoy a round or several with many GCA DG members in the last 6 years, and hope that there are more to come.

[rjsimper]

Ryan Simper

Age: 23

Home: West Los Angeles, CA

Handicap: 6 (was a 3, stopped playing for a year out of school while I did the whole find a job thing...headed back in the 4 direction)

Current Home Course - Rustic Canyon

Former Home Courses - Palos Verdes Golf Club, Rolling Hills Country Club, Ralph O. (Quag)Myrhe Golf Course (Middlebury, VT)

Best Golf Moment - Nailing a 6 footer for a birdie to close my first round of even par (in my state high school golf championships, no less)

Worst Golf Moment - As a 13 year old, being invited by a business friend of my mom's to the Wailea driving range in Maui since he was practicing for a big tournament the following day, and him offering his brand new Great Big Bertha to try out (When they had been out for a few months and were still $500) and me proceeding to snap the shaft at the hosel on a seemingly perfect shot.

Top 5 Courses -
Congressional Blue, LACC North, Newport CC, Taconic, Rustic Canyon

Played golf in 17 of 50 states...en route to lifelong goal of 50.

Sticks-
Taylor Made R580 driver
Top-Flite original intimidator 13 and 21 degree fairway woods
Cleveland TA7 irons
Cleveland RTG 588 56 degree
Original SnakeEyes (pre-golfsmith) 60 degree
Scotty Cameron Studio Stainless Newport 2.5

And of course, the ubiquitous Middlebury College Hoofer bag!

[Michael Kim]

Michael Kim (formerly mikeyolympic)

Age: 19
2nd Year Student, UCSD, History Major

Don't belong to a club because I am poor college student. Usually get to beg onto Torrey Pines,Industry Hills, Los Serranos, Coronado

Best Course ever played: Hacienda... low standards, eh?

Handicap: 1.9
Favorite Course: Olympic Lake
Dream: Win a USGA event at Olympic

What's in my bag:

Titleist 975j 8.5 XS shaft
Taylor Made Tour Spoon 13 degrees
Titleist 990s 2-PW
Vokey Oil Can 56 bent to 54
Vokey Raw 60 to 58
Pro Platinum Newport 2 midslant, Scotty Cameron
Ball: Always switching from cheap nikes to titleist pro v1's i find on golf courses...

how do i have such nice equipment? by begging, borrowing... other stuff i cannot say...

anybody know where i can buy adidas golf shoes for cheap?

[Doug Siebert]

name: Doug Siebert
age: 37
home: Iowa City, IA
home course: Finkbine GC (Robert Bruce Harris, '54)
occuption: independant consultant (enterprise computing)
handicap: between 4.5 & 7.5, current a bit over 6 I think
handicap for 2004: dislocating my left shoulder in January, my handicap will be rising soon!


I'm always a bit jealous of the people here playing all the top courses in the US since while I've played most of the greats in the UK, I'm far behind in the US.  Even more jealous of people here who are members at such courses.  But I've made two holes in one, so nyah nyah all you people with connections to get on Pine Valley and Shinnecock

[Andy Levett]

I'm a 41-year-old journalist (copy editing and page designing, very occasional  golf writing) based in North Yorkshire and a 13hcp member at Hunley Hall GC, a new-ish clifftop course.
Married with daughters aged 11 and 9.
Other interests include skiing, web design (the latter is part of a plan B for when the girls leave home that also includes buying a B&B in a golf town) and my home town club Man Utd (rumours of their death are much exaggerated).
Greatest achievement in golf  has to be winning Jeremy Glenn's Armchair Architect contest here on GCA, though earning a point at Painswick would come close.

[Steve Wilson]

Steve Wilson who for a time long, long ago posted as Boothill.
Age 56
Member of Preston Country Club in Kingwood WV and I intend to post a write up of it to My Home Course sometime this year once I have photographs to accompany the article.

Have been at GCA gathering at Inniscrone in 2001, the winter meeting at Alpine in 2003, and at Barona in Dornoch in 2003.

Have made one other golfing trip to Scotland (May of 2000) Most notable plays TOC, Dornoch and Brora, but I also played two hidden gems Fortrose and Rosemarkie (see Huckaby for confirmation) and Reay which is billed as the northernmost 18  hold course on the mainland.  You'll have to take my word for it as I haven't seen any other mentions of it.

Current handicaps a 9.6 which is due to rise as I have not played since November and will not play until late April/early May as I am convalescing from a Feb. 26th heart attack.

I am living proof that holes in one are not proof of golfing abilityas I have four of them.  1990, 1992, 1996, and 1999.   I'm still hoping for one this century.  

And even if I am among those to lose posting privileges, I have to say that I have gleaned far more from this site than I have contributed.  And as GolfClubAtlas will remain open for viewing, there is no reason why I can't continue to be enlightened, amused and occasionally thrilled as I was by the St. Enodoc photographs.

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

Mike -
How much does GCA.com draw in ad dollars from Kiawah's annual marketing budget?

We've contributed when asked...

[Brock Peyer]

I continue to be Brock Peyer.  I have been called too many things to suggest any others in this forum.  My wife, daughter and I live in Duluth, Ga.  I am a mortgage banker.  I only played 10 times last year and hope to double that this year, I can't say though that I am on a good pace though considering I have only played twice this year.  My handicap is currently a 5 but my game suffers immensely due to lack of attention but my daughter doesn't so that is ok.  I am a public course golfer at this point and love to play new courses.   If you are ever in GA, look me up and we'll try and set something up.  

[Pat Sisk]

Patrick Sisk
Golf Course Superintendent, Milwaukee Country Club
Age: 39

Previous employment:
Country Club of Fairfield, CT
Mahopac Golf Club, NY
Clinton Country Club, CT
Alta Mesa Country Club, AZ
Cherry Hills Country Club, CO
Madison Country Club, CT

Married to Gina for 11+ years, God bless her for never saying a word about the hours I keep at work.  Three children 6, 4, 2.

Having three young children and spending 12-14 hour days on a golf course the last thing I want to do is play golf!  That being said I try to play at least once every two weeks or so.  

Handicap:  My back swing.

[Mike_DeVries]

Mike DeVries
40
married almost 16 years to my very understanding wife
2 kids, 10 & 5
Traverse City, MI
golf course architect -- Kingsley Club, Pilgrim's Run, Diamond Springs; Greywalls to open this late summer to members, 2005 to public.
Hdcp: 10 (7.5 index is my best ever, fluctuates with how much work and play opportunity I have)
Home course: Crystal Downs, Kingsley, any place I am working -- although that usually means dirt!
Glove: never
Shoes: running, gave up spikes and spikeless because the shoes take too long to conform to my feet and running shoes are way more comfortable walking!
Modern Clubs: Tommy Armour 855's steel shafts, Ping 69 putter, old custom wedges, TaylorMade 510 driver (if I dare use it!), Orlimar trimetal 3-wood and 4-wood.
Hickories: Pre-1930's mostly Spalding assortment -- "Be the ball, Danny"  These are way more fun than you can imagine, especially if you like true links conditions, and they will help your modern game because you will see the golf course entirely in a different light.

[Jonathan Davison]

Jonathan Davison
age 31
Graphic Designer & part time student in Golf design at Edinburgh College of Art
Handicap 4
Home sunny South Shields in the north east of England
Club - Whitburn Golf Club

[bbarkley]

Bryan Barkley
age 24
candidate for MSc Golf Course Architecture
no official handicap-around a 9
graduated with BLA from University of Georgia
grew up playing at Settindown Creek in Woodstock, GA
now enjoy rounds here in Scotland....but when in Georgia always make it up to Brasstown Valley Resort (one of the best in georgia!!)
clubs: Taylor made steel burners-rifle shafts
Great Big Bertha Duece and four woods
classic Zebra putter

[midasw]

Michael M. Thomas
Golf Curmudgeon (age 68)
Friend of Ran, lurker since '99
Contr. Ed. of Golf Digest and TLGolf, neither of which uses me
member Nat'l Golf Links & Tryall
piece on Friar's Head coming up in June issue of LINKS mag.