[Michael Hayes]

As I am the newest of the newbies here I would like to introduce myself to everyone.  My name is Michael Hayes, I am the Golf Course Superintendent at Kitsap Golf & Country Club in Bremerton, WA.  I am 35, married to a golf widow, have 2 Aussies (DIVOT & POA), no kids, & maintain a 5 handicap...

If I could only play one golf course the rest of my life, it would be Pasatiempo in the US or Crudan Bay in the UK...

I consider myself a true Bandonista, and I abuse my position as a super to play whatever great courses I can...

This Forum is the most amazing group, I hope that I can bring something to the table...

Michael Hayes
super@kitsapgolfcc.com
www.kitsapgolfcc.com

[Andy Troeger]

Updated July 20, 2010

Andy Troeger
29 years old
Albuquerque, NM (formerly of South Bend, IN)

Golf enthusiast, 8 handicap

Original message:
"Have played mostly around the midwest, some in Florida and Arizona as well. Looking to get better versed with the other areas of the country/world as soon as life allows (probably not as soon as I would like). Due to my coaching and location in Indiana I don't get to play period as much as I'd like, but I try to play a variety of different courses. Have enjoyed posting and reading on this site so far, as others have posted there is much to be learned from all of the various viewpoints and knowledgeable opinions!

Update: with moving and no longer coaching, I have had more opportunity to travel than I expected. I've played about 350 courses, all but one in the USA, but hopefully will get the opportunity to see the rest of the world eventually. I still don't play a ton, if I get to 35 rounds this year that will be a bonus. The vast majority of my rounds are on the road.

[Gene Greco]

Michael:

   Were you the super at Kitsap when Mark Sivara was the head pro?

He and I are good friends and have travelled to Scotland and Ireland together and he is now head pro at Eugene CC.

Welcome to the board!

        Gene

[Richard Pennell]

Richard Pennell, aged 30. Live in London where I work as a greenkeeper at Mitcham GC. Changed jobs from an office number 3 years ago and loving the fresh air and hanging around golf courses. Always been interested in major championship courses but since discovering this site a couple of years back have made an effort to visit as many of the great old courses as I can. I love the heathland around here and am indebted to the people on this site for making me aware of some of the lesser known clubs in the area. Mark Rowlinson recommended Liphook for example, which was wonderful, and Ran's reviews of Woking and Swinley Forest were enough to get me motivated to play there.

As well as scrounging free games locally, I was lucky enough to win a scholarship to the USA last year with another GCA member, which involved meeting the Supers and touring the courses of some fabulous golf clubs - Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Pasatiempo, Riviera, LACC, Prairie Dunes, etc. The amount of fuss people on this site made over Sand Hills was enough for us to detour hundreds of miles to see it and it was incredible so thanks!

I've been thinking about posting a few of the photos sometime soon, since the photos others have posted have been so inspiring. Next stop Lahinch, and Royal St Georges on my birthday! Cheers

[Michael Hayes]

Michael:

   Were you the super at Kitsap when Mark Sivara was the head pro?

He and I are good friends and have travelled to Scotland and Ireland together and he is now head pro at Eugene CC.

Welcome to the board!

        Gene

Gene...

Seve and I were together from '97 to '00 when he went Big Time down at Eugene CC... I see him a couple of times a year as i always play ECC on my way down to Bandon.  I love that track, top 5 for one shot holes for sure...

Michael Hayes

[Jin Kim]

Jin Kim, age 36.  Golf nut, resident in NYC.  I know nothing about golf architecture, but am learning a lot reading this board.  I prefer natural looking courses; not a minimalist, just find UK style courses more to my liking.  Also, I'm a big equipment person with many sets of clubs.  Favorite golf experience ever: Carne Golf Club in Bellmullet, Ireland.  Close second is Bandon/Pacific Dunes.

[Ben Voelker]

Modified July 24, 2010

Name: Ben Voelker
Age: 27 years old
Occupation: Engineer
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Starting playing golf at about 12 and have been hooked since my first birdie!  My interest in golf course architecture started around my senior year of high school when I took a look at the workings of my hometown's own Landscapes Unlimited.  I actually ended up doing an internship with them while in civil engineering doing my undergraduate work and decided to go a different path, then.  My interest in GCA never wavered and am seriously considering trying to get into the industry.  My wife and I quit our jobs and spent a year traveling around the world and now live in Bangkok, Thailand while we ponder our next move!

[Gordon Oneil]

For a long time I have enjoyed this site without participating.  Only recently have I summoned the cojones to "go for the green in two."  So let me introduce myself:
Gordon O'Neil
Fort Lauderdale, FL
First picked up a club in college when I realized that there weren't many third string centerfielders making it to the major leagues.
Extremely fortunate enough to have a father as well as other mentors who encouraged me and somehow managed to hornswaggle the membership committe at Indian Creek to look the other way and admit a 22 year old kid.
I can't imagine a better place to learn the game, practice and improve with the support of a membership who were so involved with golf and golf courses throughout the country.  Even though I was thankful and realized how lucky I was at the time, only recently have I become truly appreciative of all the places I visited and all the the courses I played.
Somehow I managed to get out of my own way enough to learn the game and stumble my way into a couple of USGA events, which to me at the epitome of why we play, live, breathe, eat and drink this game.  
Marriage, children work and a move to Fort Lauderdale forced me to make the decision to resign after 13 years from what I consider to be one of the most underrated golf courses in the country.  I miss Indian Creek every time I pick up a club, though that isn't very often these days.
Every so often I threaten to make a comeback, but right now I manage to be fufilled playing exclusively with my dad and kids.  Perhaps I shouldn't have read James Dodson's book.
Thank you all for your contributions to this site.  The wide range of opinions initially drew me to GCA but the total respect for the game is what continues to reawaken my interest in what was once my biggest passion.
Now that I'm done waxing poetic, let's get back to our regular programming.

[Ryan Wharton]

I''m new to this board,but have been following it for sometime. So who am I?

-Name: Ryan A. Wharton
-Age: 23
-Location:Cincinnati, OH
-Occupation: Equity Trader and Grad Student

I have played the game for most of my life starting at the age of 6. Competed in many tournaments as a junior golfer and eventually played a couple years at a Division 2 university. After differences with the way the program was ran, I gave up playing competively and focused on my school work. I'm back into golf mode now and aspire to compete again at a high (amateur) level once I get more time away from work and school. Presently, I work as a retail equity trader for a major brokerage firm and am working on a MBA at Xavier University. I'm a member at two clubs, Ivy Hills (Smyers) and Royal Oak (Diddel) and have played a few of the courses discussed frequently on this board, but would love to get the chance to play more of them. I would like to thank everyone for their contributions to the site. I have learned a lot about the game and have taken up architecture as a hobby because of this site. Looking forward to discussing golf with everyone!

[Matt MacIver]

Brand new to the board but watching for a few years and getting more interested in GCA all the time.  

- Matt MacIver
- 38, Banker, Charlotte NC
- 16 index...looks like it's settling in here  

I've already learned a ton, and now I look forward to my occasional rounds for much different reasons.  

[Per Thunberg]

-Per Thunberg
-Age: 30
-Location: Sweden
-Occupation: Manager for sales and development of turf care machinery.

Have been playing for ten years. Won the Alister MacKenzie Lido Prize this year.

[Craig Van Egmond]

Per,

     Welcome to GCA and congrats on the Lido Prize. Can you tell us about the hole you designed or better yet post a picture?

[David Ober]

Name: David Ober
Age: 38 years old
Location: Riverside, California (home)
Location: Temecula, California (work)
Occupation: Director of Admissions at Professional Golfers Career College, a 16-month A.A. program in golf management

Was a collegiate baseball player on my way to a professional career (would have been a 10th to 20th round draft choice out of U.C. Riverside back in 1988). Hurt my shoulder, dropped out, got married, started a family, and took up golf. Have been playing ever since. I literally can't get enough of this wonderful, challenging, and life-affirming game.

I'm a regionally competitive amateur, hoping to take my game to the national level in the coming two or three years.

[Jim Adkisson]

Virgin Poster Here!...I am 45 yo married, father of 2 young girls...the 9 yo loves to swing the sticks with dad while her sister prefers to kick the larger white ball with her friends...I have served 22 years of a life sentence running a small business servicing fire equipment in Portland Oregon...I am handicap chair of our associate club, "Floggers United Golf Club"...11.7 HI...My legs are just getting back under me from 6 rounds in 4 days earlier this week in Bandon...I am truely addicted to the game and enjoy the artistry of how the great courses are put together.

[PThomas]

wlecome Jim.....although the "virgin" word always scares me .....

tell us your thoughts on the Bandon courses...I haven't been seen Trails  - yet

[Jim Adkisson]

Thanks for the welcome Paul...In my Never too Humble Opinion the Trails is an outstanding addition to the two Dunes courses at Bandon...On my first go round, I found the greens to be much more subtle, slippery and unforgiving on the 4-6 foot putt than either PD or BD...My second round, I found my groove and made more of those par putts.

I really enjoyed the lack of transition from fairways to fringe to green...they are all one continuum.  The bunkers and waste areas also transition into the course and into the dunes/woods/meadows in the same fashion, making for a wild and natural feel, much like PD.

Much has been posted here about the 5th green and the 14 hole as being "unfair/unplayable" and such, but I found both to be agreable to a well placed tee ball and each gave up pars to our foursome of 10-14 HI players...of course HUGE numbers were also posted for those of us who made a bad shot to the wrong area...The 14th hole's green area reminded me in many ways of PD 16th...The best way to play at it is from the upper/left area of the fairway, leaving a 50-80 yd. pitch or bump and runner to the green...But the elevated tee is both inspiring and intimidating to say the least.

The only hole that I found to be a "throw-away" was the long (245 yd) par 3, 12th hole...It doesn't compare to the other short holes that have so much more visual interest/intimidation and interesting green complexes...just distance.

My personal favorite (this time around) would be the mid-distance par 4, 13th hole...I loved the look of the humpback fairway, giving a well placed drive the extra bounce and roll and an uphill short/mid iron to the elevated green that has a cavernous bunker on the right and a severe drop-off on the left that takes the ball some 20yds off the green if not struck well...I just enjoyed the heck out of that hole.

I can't wait for my next trip down in February to have another go at the new adventure and hopefully get comfortable enough to post a score that is closer to my handicap!

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

Dick Kirkpatrick
Age 67
Member of Hamilton Golf & Country Club
Handicap Index 9.6
I have been in the golf construction business since 1958
and did my first solo design in 2000

[George Pazin]

I have been in the golf construction business since 1958
and did my first solo design in 2000

Now that is a cool post.

How about starting a new thread about your course? Or, if you would prefer, just tell me the name & I'll start the thread.

[Garland Bayley]

Age 54+360
Software Engineer
Committed walker
Used to wile away the time in HS drawing golf holes.
I understand Peter Jacobsen used to do the same.
Handicap index >22 <23
Hopefully it will continue to come down. I broke 40 for 9 last weekend for
the first time since I was playing alot before I got married.

[Yannick Pilon]

Yannick Pilon
Age: 31
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Status: Married with two girls (1and 3) Sorry you girls out there...
Occupation: Design Associate for Graham Cooke & Assoc. Inc.
Handicap: (I'm ashamed of it!) 14.5 and no sign of it going down soon with two young girls and a non-golfer wife...!

I've been studying golf course architecture since I was roughly eight or nine years old....  I was designing my own courses in a big scrapbook until I decided to send one of my drawings to Jack Nicklaus after "discovering" the address of his firm on the cover of the On the Green magazine in Myrtle Beach.

One of his associates answered by telling me I had a good talent at such a young age and told me the best way to become a golf course architect was to earn a degree in landscape architecture in university before applying into a couple of gca firms....

S that's what I did, as fast as I could, while I tried to get a job with Graham Cooke who happened to have his main office in Montreal.  Before the end of my Bachelors degree, I had a job and I have been there ever since.  I guess a lot of hard work and a bit of luck got me to where I am today.

I love what I do and I hope to continue for many years!  The only draw back is that I have been so busy these past few years I nearly don't have time to play anymore!  I can't count the courses I have seen in the past year alone, but I roughly play about ten times per year. (That explains the Handicap above!) I played 14 rounds this year including 8 rounds in Scotland, and its the most I have played in many years....

But I am not about to complain, golf course architecture is ma passion!  So this site is now a part of my life, almost every day!

Nice to meet you all!

[RJ_Daley]

Yannick, we haven't heard from Jeremy G. in a while.  Is he still working there?  I hope he has not given up on us...

[Bob Barriger]

Name:  Bob Barriger
Home:  Carmel, Indiana
Home Course: Wolf Run Golf Club

Currently 2.8 index,  have this illness, addiction to playing golf, so far this year, posted 342 rounds, in 10 states, over 90 courses. Favorite time to play, early morning, so I can talk to the course superintendent as he make his rounds.  My car just seems to head to the SW corner of US 421 and St. Rd 32 in Boone County, that little slice of heaven called Wolf Run.

[Yannick Pilon]

Yeah,

Jeremy is still there, alive and well.  It's true he has not posted anything in a while as far as I know....  He's probably too busy datings girls now that the season's over here in Montreal...

If you are interested, he wrote a pretty good article in Golf Architecture Vol. III about "fairness" in golf.  Pretty good stuff I agree with 100%!

[William King]

This seems to be as appropriate of a place as any to make my first post on the new format so here goes:

Steve Pozaric
34
St. Louis

Welcome Steve,

Where do play in Stl? I spent 2 years golfing all over town

[William King]

William King
Age: 45
Home: Marietta, GA, USA
Email: wbking0380@comcast.net
Occupation: Courier
Home Course: Cobblestone GC, Acworth GA
Index:12.0 (trending lower!  )
Handicap Chairman of the MGA

I first remember seeing a golf course at the age of 4 when my father would lug me along with his regular group in Midwest City, OK. I also visited the Eisenhower course at the Air Force Academy many times in this fashion. When he retired I was 9, we moved to Tallahassee, Fl, joined Killearn Golf & CC and, along with my younger brother, I spent the next 3-4 years playing as much as possible. I gave up the game in HS and did not touch a club again till Nov 2001 at the urging of my brother, now an assistant pro here in the Atlanta area, and have averaged 70+ rounds/year since. My interesrt in GCA comes from the variety of experiences I've had on various courses. I'm not well schooled in architecture theory or practice but I do know what I like. So basically, I've come here to learn.

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