The world's true HIDDEN gem??

[TEPaul]

"Tom
My point had to do with Paul T's trenchant point that no individual (even Jim Finnegan) has or ever has had as much knowledge about any golf course or groups of golf courses (i.e. Ireland) as the collective intelligence known to us as GCA."

Richard the Irreverent, that's bull-ticky of the most ungrateful kind. Jim Finegan (I see you know so little about him you can't spell his name any better than Paul Turner can) has forgotten more about golf courses in GB&I than this group of hydroencephalitic-headed know-it-alls will ever know.

[T_MacWood]

I spoke to Jim Finegan last year when I was researching Crump...seems like a nice enough fellow. I've enjoyed his essays on Ashdown Forest, Aberdovey, Machrahanish and Cruden Bay.

[Mike Leveille]

Richard Phinney:

I assume you are the same Richard Phinney who co-authored Links of Heaven.  If so, do you plan on issuing an updated version at any point?  I sure hope so, as that book was my introduction to Irish Links golf and is still the best "guidebook" on the subject that I have seen.

Regards.

Mike

[ForkaB]

"Tom
My point had to do with Paul T's trenchant point that no individual (even Jim Finnegan) has or ever has had as much knowledge about any golf course or groups of golf courses (i.e. Ireland) as the collective intelligence known to us as GCA."

Richard the Irreverent, that's bull-ticky of the most ungrateful kind. Jim Finegan (I see you know so little about him you can't spell his name any better than Paul Turner can) has forgotten more about golf courses in GB&I than this group of hydroencephalitic-headed know-it-alls will ever know.

Tom

How could you know this, since your experience of golfing in GBI is so limited?

As for Mr. Finegan, I'm sorry to have misspelt his name.  It's not the first time this has happended.  I've read a bit of his stuff and it is good.  I'm sure, as Tom MacWood says, he is a nice man.  Not yet omniscient, however, IMHO.

[TEPaul]

"I spoke to Jim Finegan last year when I was researching Crump...seems like a nice enough fellow."

Tom MacWood:

Did you now? Did speaking with him even half convince you that he and the rest of the Delaware Valley wasn't trying to glorify George Crump at the expense of Harry Colt?

And please don't try to deny that's what you said on this website.

[TEPaul]

"Tom
How could you know this, since your experience of golfing in GBI is so limited?"

Because that's the way people I know who know GB&I golf and courses really well feel about him.

How could you know what you're claiming if you don't even know Jim Finegan?  

[TEPaul]

"As for Mr. Finegan, I'm sorry to have misspelt his name.  It's not the first time this has happended.  I've read a bit of his stuff and it is good.  I'm sure, as Tom MacWood says, he is a nice man.  Not yet omniscient, however, IMHO."

Who is omniscient to you other than Arnold Haultain, which having read him is really funny to me? The man weaves a very impressive yarn with lots of mood stroking but he doesn't really say anything of substance. A lot of stuff like the glorious feeling of your virgin footprints in the dew in the early morn on the first hole etc.  

Hmmmm.    

[ForkaB]

How could you know what you're claiming if you don't even know Jim Finegan?  

Easily, Tom.  It's called intelligence.  You should try it!

[T_MacWood]

TE
It was a relatively brief conversation. I told him I was writing an essay on Crump and PV, and I had some gaps that I hoped he might be able to help with.

I told him about what I'd discovered about his father and his uncle and his cousins and the Colonnade Hotel, and I asked him how Crump came to own the Hotel (and if he actually did own the hotel)...he didn't know the answer and he said I knew hell of lot more about that subject than he did.

I asked one or two more questions about Crump the man, including one about his educational background. I distinctly remember asking where he attended college and if he ever attended college. Finegan said he did not believe he went to college, but that I shouldn't write about that...which I thought was strange thing to say. From that point on I got the impression he was uncomfortable with the direction of the call and uncomfortable delving in Crump's life...and he more or less ended the call quickly.  

Regarding Finegan's thoughts on foreign courses, I enjoy his writing but it was either John or Ran M. (maybe both) who told me they would not recommend following his recommendations. But of course there is plently of disagreement on this site as well, so who knows.

[TEPaul]

"TE
It was relatively brief conversation. I told him I was writing an essay on Colt and PV, and I had some gaps that I hoped he might be able to help with."

Tom:

I can just hear him now. He probably waited a couple of seconds after hearing that and then said grandly--

"WELL, OF COURSE YOU DO!!!"

But it sounds like you mislead him too. I thought you wrote an article on George Crump, not Harry Colt and PV.  

[TEPaul]

"...he didn't know the answer and he said I knew hell of lot more about that subject than he did."

Tom:

He says that to just about everyone.

"Finegan said he did not believe he went to college, but that I shouldn't write about that...which I thought was strange thing to say. From that point on I got the impression he was uncomfortable with the direction of the call and uncomfortable delving in Crump's life...and he more or less ended the call quickly."

That was probably because he sensed you were onto the fact that he is a dues paying, as well as one of the most prominent members of The Brotherhood throughout the Delaware Valley dedicated to preserving the glorification of George Crump at the expense of Harry Colt.  

[TEPaul]

"Typo"

That's true but if you really thought about it you'd realize it's a lot more than that.  

[Dan Kelly]

Dan Kelly -

McPhee has been a hero of mine for a couple of decades. His books on geology literally changed the way I see the world. A remarkable writer with even more remarkable interests. (Have you followed his recent pieces in The New Yorker about the curmudgeon tanker truck driver?)

It is a shame that someone with McPhee's talent chose fly fishing as the sport he wrote about. Golf could have used him.

Why he isn't more  widely known is a mystery to me.

Another hidden gem.

Bob

Bob --

Well put -- though his relative obscurity isn't too mysterious, I think. McPhee's writing is as dense as ... limestone, maybe. It's wonderful, but very demanding, and I don't think there are many well-known writers, nowadays, who are demanding of the reader.

If you haven't read any Susan Orlean, I recommend that you do so. The McPhee influence is very, very evident. I'm right now re-reading "The Orchid Thief" (extremely loosely adapted to the big screen as "Adaptation"), and I'm liking it better the second time around. This second time, I'm well aware that her vanity is going to irritate me some (she intrudes on her story more than she has any reason to), so I can look past it and see all of the wonderful stuff in the book: the history of  "orchid fever," the crazy orchid fanatics, the swamp-land salesmen and other wonders of Florida -- a place that never before seemed all that interesting to me.

Dan

 

[TEPaul]

Dano:

Do you want the ultimate in a writer who's demanding of the reader?

If so, I give you the inimitable Mr Max Behr.

In the back of an old Golf Illustrated at PV I ran across a paper of Max's from a philosophy class during his days at Yale. At the end of Max's paper was the professor's note that read;

"I suggest this man teach this class. I hereby quit!"
Yours truly,
Professor Phelan Lica Dunso

[ChipOat]

Rich Goodale & Tom Paul:

Irish pub on The Main Line = Kelly's in Bryn Mawr.

Lots of young lads from Villanova and young lassies from Cabrini and Harcum (Harcum, park 'em and .....) Colleges to be found therein.

[Steve Curry]

Steve Curry, do you remember "Kelly's Irish Alps"....the long ago abandoned Brodie Mountain?

If the weather coporated they made green snow. Regardless, the Irish music was alway authentic and the beer was always green on St. Patricks Day.

Craig,

I do and interestingly enough Kelly is building a course on his farm, Donnybrook.  The last I was there it was heading in the direction of having 30 acres of fairway, on the front.

Steve

[Steve Curry]

http://www.stpatricksgolflinks.com

Jim,

Thanks for that link. Wow, that slide show is great. I would like to get there next summer. Here is the true minimalist:

These pictures are great to take a look at today.

Happy St. Patricks day!

Cheers,
Steve

[Tony_Muldoon]

Masterful Bump.  Happy st Patrick's day to you too Steve.


With apologies to all the Italians here, but today you must be crushed!!   Whoever scheduled the last day of the international Rugby Six Nations for the 17th of March was clearly wearing green. We need our fellow Celts, Scotland and Wales, to help and we'll have something to celebrate tonight.

[Jimmy Chandler]

It appears that these courses are no more; Nicklaus is redesigning them.

"Tantalizing, little-known complex of thirty-six true links holes (visible from the Rosapenna Sandy Hills course), originally laid out by Eddie Hackett and Joanne O'Haire in the early 1990s, has been purchased by Relton Development Group. Sadly, the original courses (one of which was Hackett's last work and the other the only links in Ireland designed by a woman) are no more. An all-new design by Jack Nicklaus is being implemented in 2007 and is scheduled to be completed in 2008."

from: http://www.irishgolf.com/nw.html

Nicklaus' Web site confirms this info.

[Steve Curry]

Tony,

Thanks, been anxiously waiting to bump this one.

This photo from the Ryder cup is on my mind today.



Cheers,
Steve

PS: My Guiness today will be in Sharon's cooking.

[Matthew Hunt]

Masterful Bump.  Happy st Patrick's day to you too Steve.


With apologies to all the Italians here, but today you must be crushed!!   Whoever scheduled the last day of the international Rugby Six Nations for the 17th of March was clearly wearing green. We need our fellow Celts, Scotland and Wales, to help and we'll have something to celebrate tonight.

The Rugby didnt go our way but the cricket may!

[Sean Walsh]

Matt,

You were robbed in the rugby.  That last try for the french definitely wasn't and a few other 50/50 decisions all went against Scotland.

[Jack_Marr]

...but we just won the Cricket. An amazing win, since very few play it over here. I suppose there's a few Aussies on the team, though.

[Troy Alderson]

Tom,

My sister tells me that Mr Finnegan also writes or used to write the school newsletter at Holy Child in Rosemont, and that they eagarly awaited its arrival because of Jim's style.

Here are pictures of St Pat's from a GCA friend in Ireland.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=12446;start=msg210315#msg210315

Mike,

I checked out the pictures, and that is what we in the PNW would call Pasture Golf.  That is also how I picture the perfect golf course, bumpy greens and all.  There are golf courses like this in the USA, though not traditional in the since of St. Patricks and not as green from mother nature.

I expected this thread to run on for awhile for TEPaul without anyone coming up with the answer.  Nice job.

Troy

[Jason McNamara]

...but we just won the Cricket. An amazing win, since very few play it over here. I suppose there's a few Aussies on the team, though.

Plus that Irish guy Botha.  

Two and out for Pakistan.  Ouch.