Age:29
Currently Reside: NYC
Hometown: Westfield, MA
Occupation: Financial PR
Handicap: 2
Background: The summer before ninth grade I was dropped off daily at a real dog track of a course in western Mass. and, resigned to know my mother or my friend's mother wasn't coming back for four hours, begrudgingly learned the game. It took longer than it should have for us to realize we could try and beat one another, but thus started what I anticipate being a lifelong passion for golf.
I didn't have much of an interest in golf course architecture till I started playing more varied courses in college, and then in the metro New York area. Home course through high school and college was The Ranch, in Southwick, MA (my dad ponied up for the new membership there when it opened quite literally across the street from the old track), which is a modern kind of rambling thing but retains a soft spot in my heart. I'd played a fair bit of decently Ross-ian Ross courses, who through college was probably the only designer I could name, much less speak to (Springfield CC, Longmeadow CC, The Orchards).
My parents now live in Old Saybrook, CT, which aside from a charming but otherwise deficient 9-holer, appears nearly bereft of quality golf. I spend some weekends in the summer on Cape Cod, which has a wealth of fun, cheap public courses all filled with decent folk with a passion for golf; it's an enjoyable thing.
Because I'm fairly well-groomed, polite, and able to put most of my full shots in the air, I've been able to play a number of golf courses well out of reach of my own personal socioeconomic standing. On the luck-out list are: NGLA, Fishers, Camargo, Baltusrol, and a professional acquaintance with a Pine Valley member who will surely fall victim to my charms this calendar year.
I'm eager to participate more actively on this forum because I find that my own golf course criticism lacks the sort of sophistication necessary to share with others. I'm more often than not instinctual in my assessments, armed with only the most basic language of template holes and design elements (redan, alps, bunker, etc.). I often fail to properly appreciate the strategic merits of certain holes unless I sit Indian-style in the fairway and think about them. That said, last year I took a Streamsong trip with a friend and nearly fell over - completely gobsmacked by every hole - and better understood that a hallmark of conscious and good design has something to do with presenting a specific question to the player at the tee box. So, with that, I'm looking forward to GCA.