Best 54 holes in a day - a wish for all of us.

[David Kelly]

Tim,Take Spyglass's par threes, please. The third is an okay drop down short iron with a pleasing ocean view over a bunch of houses. The fifth, a demanding long iron from the back. The twelth a good mid iron with water on the left, not too much difficulty here, the fifteenth another drop down wedge, pretty easy.
Go to the Dunes. The fourth a superb Biarritz of 238 yards with a stream to the left and a forest to the right. The seventh a delightful long iron from the back across a deep depression and well bunkered. The tenth, picked out by Raynor and completed by Hunter/ MacKenzie, one of the great vistas in golf and a tiny green and then, the piece de resistance, the fourteenth. From the back, 177 to 189  yards across rocks and ocean to a green perched on the edge of the world. I am afraid Spyglass cannot compare.
We could then go on to discuss the five par threes on the Shore but that would just be a sadistic overkill. Bob

Bob, you're obviously biased toward MPCC, to call the third at Spyglass an ordinary hole is ridiculous. If I used all the adjectives you did for MPCC on Spyglass I could make it sound better than Cypress Point(I won't and it isn't, but neither is MPCC) The experience of playing may change my mind, but I doubt it. Spyglass is superior and the critics agree, I don't recall seeing MPCC on any top 100 lists.

Tim,
You can make a case for Spyglass over MPCC- Dunes but it won't be based on the one-shot holes which MPCC wins hands down in my opinion.  

I don't understand how you can be so strident when you have only played and seen one of the two (or three) courses under discussion.

[mark chalfant]

The Netherlands:

Kennemer
Hague
Nordwiik or  golf de Spa

[Tim Leahy]

[quote author=David Kelly Tim,
You can make a case for Spyglass over MPCC- Dunes but it won't be based on the one-shot holes which MPCC wins hands down in my opinion.
I don't understand how you can be so strident when you have only played and seen one of the two (or three) courses under discussion.

I have seen many of MPCC's holes and walked a few, just not played there. What I have seen was not that exciting compared to Spyglass with the exception of the ocean hole par 3 .

[Bob_Huntley]

Bob, you're obviously biased toward MPCC, to call the third at Spyglass an ordinary hole is ridiculous. If I used all the adjectives you did for MPCC on Spyglass I could make it sound better than Cypress Point(I won't and it isn't, but neither is MPCC) The experience of playing may change my mind, but I doubt it. Spyglass is superior and the critics agree, I don't recall seeing MPCC on any top 100 lists.

 Spyglass is superior and the critics agree, I don't recall seeing MPCC on any top 100 lists.

Tim,

Suggest you look again.

A bit of hyperbole is always a possibility when discussing one's own course on that I agree. However, I cannot see how you could be so adamantly sure of your position when you haven't played the courses



Bob

[Bob_Huntley]

Tim,

Have you just walked the holes adjacent to the 17 Mile Drive and on which course? I don't mean to be argumentative but tell me what is so exciting about Spyglass.

Bob

[Evan Fleisher]

Tim,Take Spyglass's par threes, please. The third is an okay drop down short iron with a pleasing ocean view over a bunch of houses. The fifth, a demanding long iron from the back. The twelth a good mid iron with water on the left, not too much difficulty here, the fifteenth another drop down wedge, pretty easy.
Go to the Dunes. The fourth a superb Biarritz of 238 yards with a stream to the left and a forest to the right. The seventh a delightful long iron from the back across a deep depression and well bunkered. The tenth, picked out by Raynor and completed by Hunter/ MacKenzie, one of the great vistas in golf and a tiny green and then, the piece de resistance, the fourteenth. From the back, 177 to 189  yards across rocks and ocean to a green perched on the edge of the world. I am afraid Spyglass cannot compare.
We could then go on to discuss the five par threes on the Shore but that would just be a sadistic overkill. Bob

Bob, you're obviously biased toward MPCC, to call the third at Spyglass an ordinary hole is ridiculous. If I used all the adjectives you did for MPCC on Spyglass I could make it sound better than Cypress Point(I won't and it isn't, but neither is MPCC) The experience of playing may change my mind, but I doubt it. Spyglass is superior and the critics agree, I don't recall seeing MPCC on any top 100 lists.

WRONG!

Please check out #41... Golfweek's Top 100 Modern

[Garland Bayley]

Bend, OR - Crosswater, Pronghorn, Broken Top

...

So Peter, which one of these do you keep once the C&C and Doak courses open in Bend.

I find it interesting that Oregon is only represented by courses far from Portland (Bend and Bandon). I haven't played a lot of different courses around Portland, but I'll chime in with
Reserve Vineyards North, Cupp
Heron Lakes, Blue Heron, some Jones, probably Jr.
OGA members course, Bill Robinson

If the front nine at Eastmoreland were anywhere as good as the back nine, it would be in there.

[Sean Leary]

Bend, OR - Crosswater, Pronghorn, Broken Top

...

So Peter, which one of these do you keep once the C&C and Doak courses open in Bend.


I find it interesting that Oregon is only represented by courses far from Portland (Bend and Bandon). I haven't played a lot of different courses around Portland, but I'll chime in with
Reserve Vineyards North, Cupp
Heron Lakes, Blue Heron, some Jones, probably Jr.
OGA members course, Bill Robinson

If the front nine at Eastmoreland were anywhere as good as the back nine, it would be in there.

Garland,  None of them may make it with the new Fazio course there as well.  Doak himself was very impressed with what he saw there.

For Portland,I would go Pumpkin Ridge times 2 and one of Waverly, Portland GC, Royal Oaks or the Fought Reserve...

[Eric Franzen]

Okay - some Swedish flavour...

Stockholm:

Stockholms GK
Ullna
Vidbynas

Skane (south of Sweden):

Falsterbo
Ljunghusen
Kristianstad

[Garland Bayley]

Sean,

Interesting that you would choose Fought Reserve over Cupp. I haven't played Fought so I did not consider putting it in my list. However I have walked 69 holes (I took a shortcut down the Fought 16th one time around) of Fought during the Tradition. Either I did not pay as close attention since I wasn't playing, or the contouring including in the greens and surrounds seemed more interesting to me when I played the Cupp. Peter agree with that first timer observation when we had our Portland GCA outing earlier this month.

[Sean Leary]

Garland,

I like them both about equally, and you are right about the contouring.  The one time  played the Cupp I almost got hit three times with balls coming from other fairways, so maybe fear influences my decision

And for the record, there is nothing here in Seattle that will ever qualify for Best 54 of anything..

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom H: thanks for tip.....please advise going north for 45 holes.   Doable?

Olympic par 3 (Weiskopf)
Meadow Club
Mayacama

That too would require helicopter.  David's right about the distance from Meadow to Maycama - figure at least 50 minutes drive for that one.  Then it's also not exactly easy to get from Olympic Club, through SF and out and over to Meadow to begin with either.... Sorry but I remain dubious about this trio as well.  Again not that it wouldn't be fun to try!

A decent doable one including Mayacama would be that, Windsor GC basically across the highway (pretty darn good public course), then Sonoma Mission Inn.

As for the MPCC/Spyglass debate, well obviously I've already come down on the side of either MPCC course being superior to the Glass.  It's close though.. so Tim, stick to your guns... But I think on the overall The Glass does fall short.  BUT that being said, remember we're nit-picking between three truly great golf courses and you won't go wrong with any of them.

TH

[Jerry Kluger]

     Ocean Course
     Cassique
     CC of Charleston

[Lloyd_Cole]

A couple of years ago, in a particularly anti-cart moment, I came up with the idea of a 54 hole speed golf tournament to show that walking courses were indeed much faster to play than cart golf tracks. Woking, Worpleston and West Hill would be my ideal. I've done the first two in a day with lots of time to spare. If I ever have time on my hands I'd love to make it happen.

[Tim Leahy]

WRONG!
Please check out #41... Golfweek's Top 100 Modern

My bad, oh yea, Spyglass was #15 on that list! Gotcha!

[Bob_Huntley]

WRONG!
Please check out #41... Golfweek's Top 100 Modern

My bad, oh yea, Spyglass was #15 on that list! Gotcha!

Tim,

No one denied that Spyglass was rated, Evan pointed out, quite rightly, that you were wrong when you pontificated that MPCC was not on the charts. He "Gotchad you, not the reverse.

Bob

[Evan Fleisher]

WRONG!
Please check out #41... Golfweek's Top 100 Modern

My bad, oh yea, Spyglass was #15 on that list! Gotcha!

Tim,

No one denied that Spyglass was rated, Evan pointed out, quite rightly, that you were wrong when you pontificated that MPCC was not on the charts. He "Gotchad you, not the reverse.

Bob

Exactly!!!

Thank for watching my back, Uncle Bob!  

See you in a few weeks in the desert.

[Andy Silis]

Chicago:

Morning: Shoreacres
Afternoon: Chicago Golf
Late Afternoon/Evening: Black Sheep
 
Pure golf at its best!!!!!

[Jerry Kluger]

This shows us how many great courses were built near each other.
Unfortunately, most of the dreams are simply out of reach as the access to the courses is so limited.

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