Have we played them all?

[RJ_Daley]

John Callum and Bill Gayne, hopefully this link works to a google map.  Can you find the mystery course on there?  Is it near Jeykll sound?

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hl=en&q=kansas+city&f=q&ll=31.05411,-81.44886&spn=0.023235,0.067291&t=h&om=0

[Lou_Duran]

I used to think Mike Cirba was one of golf's most prolific travelers.  Then earlier this year I played with a Golf Digest rater who has played either 2,200 or 2,500 courses.  I misplaced his business card, but his first name is Terry.

Last year I played some 90 courses, with around 80 of them for the first time.  Terry played something like 150 new ones, a lighter than normal year for him, and he probably has at least a decade more ahead of him.  I wonder what the record for most courses played is.

Regarding Augusta National, my favorite GCAer has played it.  I don't know if 100 of our compatriots have played it, but the number is probably pretty high.

I don't know if Ran has the interest or the site has the bandwidth, but I would be willing to cut and paste my list of courses played from a spreadsheet.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a substantial majority in the collective list.    

[George Pazin]

Dick, I think John Cullum is pulling your leg.

I'm with John Conley - I think it was a gag.

The only courses I can really imagine being missed are NLEs and Yet to be's.

I would guess the 100 number is high, for Augusta. I can't remember more than a few people mentioning it, and I can't think of more than a handful of others who probably would've played it, and not mentioned it. I'd guess most of those were/are architects or green keepers, or maybe writers (and they earned it!).

I'm betting I'm the only GCAer to have played the following:

Rittswood Golf Course
Green Valley GC
Franklin Park GC
Clover Hill GC
Hartman's Deep Valley

Since 2 of those are NLEs, I think my record is safe.

 

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

I used to think Mike Cirba was one of golf's most prolific travelers.  Then earlier this year I played with a Golf Digest rater who has played either 2,200 or 2,500 courses.  I misplaced his business card, but his first name is Terry.
 

Lou, didnt know if you were being coy or not there.  But it sure sound a lot like my friend Terry.  I think he played his 2004th course sometime in 2004 so that would put him somewhere over 2200 based on his normal (if you can use that word for it) number of about 150 different courses a year (normally over 15-25 different states each year).

He certainly is the most traveled golfer I know personally, and you are right despite his being 2o years my senior, he shows no signs of slowing down usually playing two different courses most days that I play with him.

Does your mystery Terry live in FL?  Does he "Have clubs, will travel"?

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

The only half way accurate way to conduct this study would be to have each members in a certain geographical area mention what courses they have not played and have others from that area comment on whether they have.  For instance I would think that between Mike Whittaker and I we have covered all the courses in the upstate of SC.  I would have to dig out my golf map (which is outside in my car) but there cant be more than 5 courses that I havent played in this part of the state, and Mike (or someone has probably played those).

Paging Mr. Hutto, who else down in the Midland of SC can you compare notes with.

I have probably played 90% of the courses within 20 miles of the Atlantic in SC as well, but my coverage in the midlands is sorely lacking.

[Matt_Ward]

Mike C:

Forget about Apple Mtn -- Mike you need to list your time served (it was like a prison !) at CC of the Poconos -- your all-time (Jim) Fazio layout.

I mean this one had MISTAKE written all over it but it still gets plenty of ink on GCA.

Mike, don't be tough on yourself -- I've actually played it too !!!

[Lou_Duran]

Daryl,

It is the same Terry from the Tampa Bay area whom I played with (found his card after my post this morning).  We had a long talk about a number of golf courses as well as the rating process, including my prior experience with GW.  He mentioned that the two of you are good friends.  The man is not short of amazing.  Hopefully, Golf Digest is taking advantage of the depth and breadth of his experience.  How one can provide a relative ranking to a course without having played a considerable number of the best is still not clear to me, and something that Terry wasn't able to understand either.  

[Tom Zeni]

Mike,

I thought the Architect's Club was a bust.  

When you got to the "F's" did it include Fox Chase GC near Ephrata PA in Lancaster county?

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike,

I thought the Architect's Club was a bust.  

When you got to the "F's" did it include Fox Chase GC near Ephrata PA in Lancaster county?

Tom,

I wouldn't quite call The Architects Club a bust, but I'm not sure that the work of the Golden Age architects was particularly well represented in a number of cases.  Frankly, I thought the work of more modern architects such as Dick Wilson and RT Jones was more representative of their styles and the course manages to provide the impression that architecture had improved over the decades of the last century, which is not exactly the case by most accounts.

And yes, I have played Fox Chase a number of times.  A pretty good, well-conditioned public course with some good holes, with the uphill par three 6th and dogleg left par five 14th probably the most memorable and fun.  It was designed by local architect John Thompson in 1991.  

Matt,

In many ways, I would probably have to say that the Country Club of the Poconos at Big Ridge is the worst golf course I've ever played.  Of course, I've played some in worse condition, or courses that had modest means and aims, but for a course built in a resort area on hundreds of acres, with 12 MILES of cart paths from the first tee to the 18th green, I'm still astounded that the architect was unable to find a single good golf hole, yet was able to create a number of unplayable ones.

Astounding.