One course for one week

[Jason Topp]

I've taken several trips where my group dashed all over the place to play as many different courses as possible.  Such trips are fun, but exhausting.  I also do not think you get much of a sense of the courses you play - particularly on links courses where the weather conditions can vary so dramatically.

I've often though one could have a more meaningful trip by playing the same course repeatedly.  I've done this for several weekend trips and enjoyed it.

So my question is this - If you were going to take a trip and play one course for an entire week, what would it be and why?  

[James Bennett]

New South Wales at La Perouse (significant macKenzie influence in the routing).  I played for a week there in 1980 during autumn.  Over the week, the wind moved around, changing the play of every hole.  All 4 par 3's run in different directions, all 4 par 5's play in different directions as well. 3 of the par 5's involve playing over the sandhills, with significant rewards if you can carry them.  A feeling of complete isolation from the city of Sydney, until a Jumbo jet peels over the horizon from nearby Mascot airport.  Views down to the rugged coastline and Botany Bay.  Indigenous vegetation galore.  And, I was younger then.

[SL_Solow]

Assuming that the course must have public access and assuming available tee times I would select  The Old Course or Dornoch.  It would be hard to keep from travelling nearby but the opportunity to play those courses under a variety of conditions would be marvelous.

[Tony_Chapman]

Since I have only been there once, I would love to see how Sand Hills would play differently over the course of a week. Maybe someday.......

[PThomas]

I'm assuming this fantasy includes private coruses, which is why I say CPC..a fabulous layout, not brutally penal,  maybe the most famous hole in the world (Road Hole also comes to mind), the fact that so many pros once picked it as the course they would pick if they only had 1 round left, and I love the ocean and the sounds of the birds and the waves....

[Jeff_Mingay]

I'll take the Old Course.

C'mon... how much fun would it be to live in St. Andrews for a week, and experience the Old Course daily?!

A dream.

[michael j fay]

I have two choices that fit the bill. Royal Dornoch is one, but that has been mentioned.

My second choice is Royal Porthcawl. This is really a perfect little golf course that will present every conceivable shot in the bag every time you play it. There are risk reward holes, demanding par three holes and a wonderful array of par fours. The wind is the major factor and is never in your favor twice in a row. It is located on the enchanting south coast of Wales and gives you all the exposure to the sea that you can deal with.

[cary lichtenstein]

Dornock

[ed_getka]

My personal faves on each side of the "pond" are Sand Hills and Royal Dornoch. I would NEVER get bored at either.
   However, if doing this for a whole week I might start thinking Bandon Dunes, because then you have (soon to be) 3 great courses at your disposal. Plus the replay rate and free after 36 holes is great for golfing your brains out.

[John Foley]

Though I've never been to either, two that come to mind are Machrihanish & County Down.

[peter_p]

Royal Melbourne, Prairie Dunes, Pacific Dunes. Of the courses I haven't played, please add Barnbougle Dunes and Royal Portrush and NGLA.

[Cory Lewis]

NGLA, you will discover something new everytime you play it.  The course will never play the same and the number of different shots required is staggering.  

[A_Clay_Man]

For those who couldn't afford these top-notch places for a week, I'd reccommend Pacific Grove.

7 X $38 = $266.

Room at the Motel 6 in Marina $40 (?) X 7 $280

7 afternoon rounds at Monterey Pines @ $10 each

For $610 dollars for the week, plus food and gas. You will hate to leave the kingdom.

The same money could be spent for the area I live in now, sans OCEAN.

[Doug Siebert]

If you are really going all out, I suppose you could find a course you like to play every day, and vary your tee times between morning and afternoon and still have time to satify one's lust for variety by doing one round elsewhere in the area, while getting to experience a great course in a variety of conditions.  I'd love to do that for TOC, but getting tee times on six consecutive days would probably not be easy -- though perhaps as a single or twosome you might do it via the ballot.  At some point it might be cheaper to get a links pass, though I'm not sure what kind of qualifications there are for residency, etc.

[blasbe1]

Garden City Golf Club . . . hands down . . . assuming you manage an invitation to the Travis which gives the invintee privileges at the club for the week b/c there is so much there to be appreciated both on and off the course.

Personally, I've played GCGC once and have been a guest in the clubhouse twice . . . my times in the clubhouse are at least as memorable as my round.  

 JKB

[Jason Topp]

Interesting responses.

To me the criteria would be:

Great course
Variable weather conditions
Enjoyable place to stay, with some decent food

My intitial thought was of the Old Course, but I think tee times would be too great of a hassle.  I have spent a week there, played the Old once and had a great time.

My next thought was Sand Hills, but (without having been there) that the nightlife might get a bit repetitive after a couple of days.

My next idea was Dornoch, to which I have never been.
Based on my experience in Scotland, the food criteria might be a problem.

It seems like most of the likely US candidates are exclusive private clubs.  

Of places I have been, I would probably choose Ballybunion, although I like Adam's low cost idea.  

[blasbe1]

It seems like most of the likely US candidates are exclusive private clubs.  

Sir, unfortunately most of the best US golf courses and in turn golf clubs, are exclusively private . . . you see, most regrettably, it seems we still have significant insecurity related phallic issues on this side of the pond.  

Otherwise we'd all be f#cking men about it and permit over seas play at Shinnecock, Pine Valley, Augusta National and Cypress Point.

Of course if that were true I'd most likely expatriate!!

[Sean_A]

One course for the week.  Never tried it!  I reckon the the short list would have to be:

Royal Dornoch
North Berwick
St. Enodoc
TOC
The Island
Muirfield

Muirfield can't be done, Tues and Thurs only.  TOC is possible if booked a 2-3 years in advance, for summer.  They can't have my £805 in their bank for that long!

Dornoch is possible if you could find good food, perhaps one's own cook?  It too is fairly expensive at £500 for green fees.

N. Berwick is very doable, good town, close to Edinburgh and affordable, but is the course that interesting for a week?

St. Enodoc is a bit isolated.  Padstow is a nice town with great restaurants and affordable, but again, does the course hold one's attention for a week?

The Island is certainly interesting.  Close to a good little town and Dublin is down the road.  Loads of super resaurants.  It is a bit expensive at £570 for green fees.  Very much borderline affordable.

Very tough choice.  I guess it would come down to the pubs and night life.  Given this it is down to N. Berwick and The Island.  Since I prefer Edinburgh to Dublin and the green fees are nearly £200 less, the clear choice would be NORTH BERWICK.  Man cannot live by golf alone.

Ciao

Sean

[blasbe1]

Not to harp on the want of access issue,

But I do think it is the US' greatest GCA sin to close it's doors so systematically . . . Our greatest strength GCA wise is, comparatively speaking, our aggressive use traditional concepts on rather uniquely American ground . . . and what do we do with it in most instances . . . we pack it up in a Mayflower box and go home . . . literally shameful!!    


 

[Nick Pozaric]

I would choose diff courses.  ALot of it also depends on if you have been to the area before or going back later.  If its a one time only trip definately play as many diff ones, then pick your favs and if you do go back then you can single one or two out.  Say if you were going to San Francisco and Monterey would you play the same course the entire week or spread it out with the following clubs?
Cypress Point
San Fran Golf Club
Olympic Club
Pebble
Spyglass
Pasatiempo

[Matthew Mollica]

Royal Melbourne (remember - 2 courses!)
Barnbougle Dunes
Barwon Heads
Paraparaumu Beach

I've been fortunate enough to spend an entire week at St. Andrews and play the The Old Course repeatedly, as well as whip around the other courses too. For those of you who haven't done it yet, what are you waiting for?

Matthew

[JDoyle]

NGLA - by a wide margin.  It's different every time you play there.

[THuckaby2]

Ed Getka -you're cheating if you pick Bandon Dunes resort - the whole premise here is you get ONE COURSE, and one course only.

Same goes for Nick P - the assumption is you're only going to do one course.  The question here isn't which way is better (stick to one course or spread it around - that is a great question, but it's not the issue here); rather the question is if you have made the decision (or are forced) to stick to one course, what would that one course be?

And for me it's Sand Hills.  Even putting aside that I do consider it the greatest course on the planet, what it has going for it is REMOTENESS... that is, at just about any other course you pick, there's going to be a serious itch to play the other greats nearby... ie Old Course - Carnoustie, Crail, many others... Cypress - Pebble.... NGLA - Shinnecock and the new Sebonack....

Yes I know Wild Horse is a very fun course.  But as much as I love it, it's not in the league of those mentioned above.  Methinks one could be sequestered at Sand Hills for a week and have no jones to go anywhere else, no problems.

TH

[Scott_Burroughs]

Probably TOC, then NGLA.  TOC has so many ways that the holes can be played, not to mention so many features that can't be seen on first pass.  Or second.

NGLA also supposedly has different ways the holes can be played, not to mention the blindness and the strategy that is supposedly up the wazoo.

For each, getting a chance at different conditions, wind, etc.

[Brent Hutto]

For me, most any course worth playing is worth playing several times in a row. Maybe that's weird but it's sort of like having a chance to do something over until you get it right.

How many times have you played a hole on a course you've been looking forward to and you hit a terrible approach shot or duff a chip? So you make bogey or whatever but you have no idea whether you could have actually played the hole well or not, the one bad shot changed the entire way you had to play the hole.

Or maybe you missed the fact that you can leave yourself a much easier putt by hitting your tee shot to one side or another of the fairway. Once you get to the green and look back you're just dying to go back and see if you can somehow leave yourself that perfect approach.

Of maybe you played a conservative shot to the front of the green on a Par 3 and realize when you get to the green that blowing it over the hole to the back fringe would have left a straight uphill putt instead of one across a double break.

Aside from all the woulda, coulda, shoulda there's the experience of actually becoming so familiar with the course it seems like you've known it all your life. That just can't happen in one or two rounds but it can happen if you play 36 a day for three or four days. To me that's such a more satisfied and warm, fuzzy feeling at the end of the week than having my head reeling trying to remember which of four courses had that Par 5 with the big right-to-left slope on the fairway.