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Zack Kelly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #50 on: December 24, 2004, 09:01:19 AM »
My favorite course of the year would have to be Chechessee Creek, what a shock I went down to play Secession and Chechessee was a thrown in to conclude the weekend. What a great track, looks like its been there for 100 years or so not 5.  It was so good I joined, I love the course and the atmosphere.  I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday.
Fairways & Greens
Zack Quinn Kelly

Andy Silis

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #51 on: December 24, 2004, 09:49:15 AM »
New: Friars Head
Old: SF Club
Affordable Public: Angels Crossing ( Contributor Jim Thompson's gift to public golfers in Southwest Michigan )
Hidden Gem: Klinger Lake C.C. ( Southwest Michigan ) As fun and challenging a 6100 yard ( barely ) course you'll ever play!

Happy Holidays to All!!!!


Andy Silis

Adam_Messix

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #52 on: December 25, 2004, 12:43:24 PM »
Favorite First Visit:

Sheep Ranch
Pacific Dunes
Bandon Dunes

Favorite Revisit

San Francisco Golf Club
Seminole
Rolling Green
Huntingdon Valley

Pleasant Surprise:

Musgrove Mill
Chechessee Creek

Jonathan Cummings

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #53 on: December 25, 2004, 06:55:11 PM »
Cape Kidnappers is FCOTY for me.

Biggest (and most surprising) "letdown" - Crystal Downs.  When I played here in Sept, it was all but unplayable with its hard bounces and completely unaccessible greens.

JC

Will E

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #54 on: December 25, 2004, 09:06:16 PM »
Jon-
Give Crystal Downs another chance. As an outspoken advocate for "fair" golf I can understand your concerns, though Crystal Downs under the "correct" conditions is one of the finest experiences I've encountered.

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +1/-1
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #55 on: December 25, 2004, 09:39:09 PM »
Excluding my own:

Best course I saw for the first time:  Painswick

Courses which were better than I remembered:
Royal Porthcawl
Saunton (East)
Westward Ho!  - winner of the "no mowing lines" award
« Last Edit: December 25, 2004, 09:39:58 PM by Tom_Doak »

Ari Techner

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #56 on: December 26, 2004, 12:52:02 AM »
It was a slow year for me I did not get to travel much.  Fortunetly when you live in somewhat close proximity to Bandon thats not the worst thing in the world.  Here is my 2004 year in review:


Best classic course new to me:
Eugene CC

Best classic course return trip:
newly "restored" Franklin Hills CC

Best modern course new to me:
The Rawls Course @ Texas Tech

Best modern course return trip:
Pacific Dunes


Honorable Mention:

Apache Stronghold
CC of Detroit


What the heck were they thinking award:
2nd hole PGA West Nicklaus Private


« Last Edit: December 26, 2004, 01:01:13 AM by Ari Techner »

Bill Weber

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #57 on: December 26, 2004, 05:44:40 AM »
Best private modern      Sand Hills
Best private classic       Yale
Best links (sea level)      MPCC Shore
Best public                    Bandon All (whole experience)
Best new private            Black Rock
Most fun                       Tobacco Road
Nicest surprise private    Bald Peak
Nicest surprise public     Samoset
Best pro shop                Maple Hill Grandville MI  
Best burger :D                   Sand Hills
 

GeoffreyC

Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #58 on: December 26, 2004, 11:47:32 AM »
Bill W- Glad to see you enjoyed Yale enough to make it your top first time to see private classic. I know you've seen some good ones (including Raynor's).

Mine is a no brainer- Fishers Island by a bunch. What an amazing place that is in such good hands.

Best surprise- Cog Hill #4- Its a really good golf course that would be super good if they removed 2000 trees.

wsmorrison

Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #59 on: December 26, 2004, 01:56:14 PM »
Of the new courses I've been to this year:

UK inland:  The Addington and Swinley Forest
UK links:  Royal St. George's

USA new:  Friar's Head
USA classic:  a tie between Oakmont which exceeded my lofty expectations and The Country Club in Pepper Pike, OH  where I had no expectations but learned that the topo routing map did not clue me into how good a course this is.  I guess its location keeps it from being better known.  The 17th was my favorite new hole this year.

Mark Brown

Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #60 on: December 26, 2004, 02:31:11 PM »
Best New: May River @ Palmetto Bluff (private, small resort inn
Other new: 1.The Patriot (Davis Love III near Greenwood,SC)good
                2. Curahee (Jim Fazio, Georgia foothills) some dramatic holes, a few awkward uphill shots, good
                3. Bulls Bay - Strantz - very good
                4. Pine Barrens, World Woods, execellent, my favorite Fazio Course
               

John_Cullum

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #61 on: December 26, 2004, 02:56:33 PM »
Indian Hills in Ft Pierce, which is now sadly NLE. Not the best, it was just my favorite for personal reasons.

Good for cheap: Scotland Yards-Dade City FL by William Renaldi. Some wild green contours.

Honorable mention-Dunes at Seville, I had forgotten how really good this is.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2004, 03:07:03 PM by John Cullum »
"We finally beat Medicare. "

Brian_Gracely

Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #62 on: December 26, 2004, 08:56:35 PM »
Other than Cypress Point Club....

Lost Dunes.  First exposure to Tom Doak's work and especially his greens.  But more importantly, my first exposure to an out-of-the-way club that combined an excellent course with a very low-key club and overall atmosphere.  To have the course entirely to myself is something that I've never experienced at any place but my home course on a late evening.  

The combination of Doak's greens, the atmosphere at Lost Dunes and the 9-hole concept at neighboring Dunes Club (which I unfrotunately did not get to visit) have inspired me to create my 5-year project.


ed_getka

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #63 on: December 26, 2004, 10:40:01 PM »
Royal Dornoch which was my favorite course of my first golf trip abroad. TOC was an awesome treat, but I still can't shake the feeling of being in a factory assembly line. I will definitely keep a Sunday open on my next trip to just study the holes. Fortunately the experience at St Andrews was heightened by spending the afternoon in the R&A clubhouse, which was one of my peak golf experiences.
"Perimeter-weighted fairways", The best euphemism for containment mounding I've ever heard.

David_Madison

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #64 on: December 27, 2004, 08:03:43 AM »
Best Old Classic - Pinehurst #2

Course that made me smile the most - Baltusrol Upper

Course that taught me the most about what good architecture can accomplish - Cuscowilla

Philippe Binette

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #65 on: December 27, 2004, 10:38:49 AM »
Favorite:

1)Both courses at Stonewall by Tom Doak.
2)Montebello (Canada) in october




Doug Wright

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #66 on: December 27, 2004, 11:57:57 AM »
Return Visit: Pacific Dunes

New: Fossil Trace (Engh/Golden CO)
Twitter: @Deneuchre

ian

Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #67 on: December 27, 2004, 12:34:07 PM »
New: Friar's Head, its the routing as much as anything. I love the way the course presents the old potatoe farms from both the 2nd and 11th tees, but the key is the routing from 14 on that manages to use the dunes without wholesale destruction of a fantastic landscape.

Old: National Golf Links of America is simply the most fun place you can play golf.

I had a wonderful conversation with Bill Coore middle of last week about both courses and how impotant "fun" was to golf architecture. His comment on NGLA was it would be the ideal course to be a member of when your 70, since you could puter away and still enjoy playing. There is a lot said in that comment, and I felt the same way about his course too.

Eric Johnson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #68 on: December 27, 2004, 12:51:00 PM »
Tie in the first time playing category:

NGLA and Shinnecock Hills.

Tie for courses played before and will play again:

Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2004, 02:17:20 PM by Eric Johnson »

tlavin

Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #69 on: December 27, 2004, 02:27:59 PM »
Sand Hills and Lost Dunes.  

Jason Mandel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #70 on: December 27, 2004, 02:32:43 PM »
Cuscowilla,Baltimore CC, Teeth of the Dog.  I didn't get to play a lot of new courses this year, but the ones I did play were fantastic :D

Jason
You learn more about a man on a golf course than anywhere else

contact info: jasonymandel@gmail.com

Buck Wolter

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #71 on: December 27, 2004, 02:33:55 PM »
Quality over quantity this year for me.

Played 3 courses for the first time I could play every day and never get tired of.

Royal County Down
Crystal Downs
St Louis CC

All 3 in my personal top 5.
Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience -- CS Lewis

Tony Petersen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #72 on: December 27, 2004, 02:42:18 PM »
 ;) Where to begin... ???

Favorite old -  Camargo, Oakmont and Minikahda (played them all for the first time in '04 and continue to marvel at the subtle genius of the golden age!)

Favorite new - Outlaw (Desert Mountain). I've played a lot of new courses in the past 4 years, and have yet to find one that offers the absolute strategy that Outlaw demands for a sub-par round!!!

Runner-up's - Hazeltine (TOUGH from the tips. uphill, massive bunkers, long and hard!). Red Sky Ranch-Norman (LONG, great green complexes, interesting bunkering, eye candy galore!)

To be honest, just love the game and all of the tracts, from Osakis CC in MN, to Riverdale Dunes outside of Denver!!! Hope everyone had a great holiday and I look forward to meeting you guys one of these days!!!
Ski - U - Mah... University of Minnesota... "Seven beers followed by two Scotches and a thimble of marijuana and it's funny how sleep comes all on it's own.”

Sean Leary

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #73 on: December 27, 2004, 06:14:09 PM »
Pine Valley, always will be my favorite.
New to me (non US), play everyday- Dornoch
New to me (non-US) if I could play only once -Turnberry
Favorite quirky new to me- North Berwick
Favorite Fazio -Member's Club at Aldarra
Favorite Doak -Stonewall Original
Favorite RTJ -Wilmington South
Favorite Ted Robinson- no such thing.

Jonathan Cummings

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Favorite Course of the Year
« Reply #74 on: December 27, 2004, 06:29:29 PM »
Sean - you have a pretty damn good list there!  Excluding Wilmington, I am in close agreement with you!  Turnberry has been my #1 Scottish layout for 20 years and the Alderra mention, in my opinion, is one of the more hidden Fazio gems in the US.  Conversely, Spyglass (even if it needs to be re-routed) runs circles around Wilmington.

JC

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