How Many Different Courses Have You Played?

[Jon Wiggett]

Never really counted how many I played but I am sure it must be several hundred or more.

[Tim Bert]

Well thank you for this thread.  I just spent a little more of the evening spreadsheeting golf courses than I originally intended.

I was a little underwhelmed by my final count - 135.  It seems like I've played so many more courses.  I've probably missed some, given that I just counted tonight and I've never tracked, but I'd guess my ultimate total is no more than one or two dozen higher than this.  The time served as a nice trip down memory lane

Mike, while my total is way lower than yours, I bet I could give you a run for your money on % of total played that are bad, modest, or unassuming.  I've also had the privilege of seeing some world class courses in the last few years, so I really can't complain.

I've played in 23 states and 2 Canadian provinces, so my courses played to # of states ratio is rather low relative to some of the posts I've seen so far.

[Andrew Thomson]

I'd estimate between 170 and 250.

Played in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, USA, Thailand, China, Malaysia from memory.

I'd estimate at least 150 of them have been played in Australia.

[Matthew Rose]

Not as many as I would have liked to have. Dunno how everyone gets on all these private clubs.

Oh well, I'm young yet.

[Ed Tilley]

81 and counting

47 in England
13 in Ireland
8 in Scotland
7 in Wales
5 in France
1 in USA (Pebble Beach)

I'm playing about 4 new ones a year - as much as family life, money, and other sporting commitments (cricket) allow. Royal St Georges in November is my next newbie.

[Kevin Pallier]

Whilst I try to focus on quality over quantity I've always kept a record of the courses I've visited.

It's over 400 courses now - with just over 260+ in Australia and 150+ in the UK....with less than 5 in the USA....which I'd like to add to in time  

[Brent Hutto]

A quick top-of-the-head list only comes to 72 different courses for me. The real total is maybe a dozen more than that but certainly fewer than 90 and perhaps fewer than 80. Here's the breakdown by state/country:

32 in South Carolina
13 in Ohio
7 in Pennsylania
6 in California
6 in England
5 in North Carolina
2 in Georgia
1 in Tennessee

I know I'm missing a handful in South Carolina and possbily one or two each in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

I've probably played a total of about 1200-1250 rounds of golf in a little over 12 years since I took up the game, with a couple hundred of those being 27 holes and maybe a hundred of them just being nine holes. However, almost 1100 of those rounds were on the four that have been my home courses at various times with at least 850 rounds being on the course where I learned to play golf.

Here's a followup question. How many courses that you've played have you only played once? For me, something like 38 of my 72 total courses were single-round wonders. But a good many of those I have every intention of playing again first chance I get.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

By the way as of yesterday 1140 in 42 states.  Hopefully 1141 & 42 tommorrow and Friday.

Jeez, if you've played that many aren't you obligated to knock out the missing 8 states?

Looks kinda like Sam Snead's or Tom Watson's record in majors: incomplete without career grand slam (or, in your case, the State Slam).

Mark

That's a good point, and something that I probably should pay a little more attention to, because like Sam before you know it you are past your prime and it becomes harder to pull off.  I probably would have done it by now had I remained single, but now with the family and small child at home those "golf for golf's sake" trips are few and far between.  My golf trips now are strangely reminicent of business trips.  But I did actually knock off another state a month ago almost by accident, so that is cool.  

I hope to get up to the way NE corner of the country to knock off most of the ones I am missing one of these years.  Too bad when I went to AK years ago on a business trip it was winter time and I didnt get that one knocked off, that will be a hard one to get done.

I am trying to remember without going to check, is Congressional in VA or MD?  I dont think it is technically in DC is it?

[John Foley]

Not as many as I would like to, but many more than my wife thinks I have!!

[Rob_Waldron]

I keep an excel spreadsheet with an accurate count. I have played 615 courses including 99 in Maryland, 105 in Florida and 124 in Pennsylvania. Only 14 courses outside the US.

Of course the number of courses that I have visited is probably double this. So many courses to play, so little time!

I have played nothing near the number of courses my buddy Terry Inslee has. I believe Terry has played between 2,200 and 2,300 courses. He is a maniac!

[Scott Stearns]

to paraphrase Judge Smails, "Don't you people have JOBS!"

[Mike_Cirba]

The only reason I know is because when I started golf as a kid of 13, I started collecting a scorecard from each course I played (an outgrowth of collecting football, baseball cards and comic books), and I've kept that practice going over the years.   So today, I have a card from each course I've played.

About 10 or so years ago, inspired by Cornish and Whitten's "The Architects Of Golf", I put them online and also then researched the design origins of all of them, and many more.

Ok, maybe I am crazy.  

[Brad Tufts]

You asked for it:

Alabama - 8
Arizona - 4 (We-Ko-Pa, A. Stronghold, Wildfire-Faldo, TS-N)
California - 9
Connecticut - 8
Delaware - 1 (Bear Trap Dunes)
Florida -14
Hawaii - 11 (over 3 islands, never played on Oahu)
Maine - 23
Maryland - 8
Massachusetts - 102
Nevada - 1 (Las Vegas National, boo)
New Hampshire - 19
New Jersey - 2 (Twisted Dune and Plainfield CC)
New York - 6
North Carolina - 33
Oregon - 4 (BD, PD, BT, and Pumpkin Ridge Ghost Creek)
Pennsylvania - 13
Rhode Island - 8
South Carolina - 4 (Legends-Heath, Heritage, Pawley's Plant., and River Oaks, blah)
Vermont - 14

Barbados - 1
Bermuda - 5
Canada - 2 (both in New Brunswick)
Germany - 1
Ireland - 8
Scotland - 14

For a grand total of 323, give or take a couple.  I add quite a few every year.  The last few were Shelter Harbor in RI (Tues.), Ross' Oakley CC near Boston, Mink Meadows (9) on the Vineyard and Bethpage Black.  Already planned for later this year is 2 more in Vermont, a couple more in RI, a couple in NY, at least one or two more in MA, and next year will be several more in CA, and about 10 more in Ireland among others.

[Andy Doyle]

Boy, this thread is making me feel better and worse about myself at the same time.

Worse - I'm envious of the breadth and depth of golfing experience displayed by those on this site.

Better - I was thinking it was a little nerdy to admit in a thread a couple of days ago I keep score cards and yardage books and take them out from time to time to relive those rounds.  Spreadsheets?  Exactly accurate counts?  Coding systems?  It's somewhat comforting to find out you fall on the near side of nerdiness and obsession.

Andy

And Mike - I think I spotted that character flaw John was talking about in your choice of tag lines  .

AD

[Andy Doyle]

Upon further review, this thread reminds me of locker room conversations of my youth about how many women you've slept with.

So is it better to have played many courses once, or one course many times?

Andy

[Brent Hutto]

So is it better to have played many courses once, or one course many times?

It depends on the course. I'd rather have played Pasatiempo five hundred times than to have played five hundred different goat ranches.

But seriously, I'd always rather play fewer courses more often than play dozens or hundreds of courses one time each. Let's compare like with like...

If I could play the same public course in South Carolina every week for a year versus playing fifty different public courses I'd choose to play the same course every week.

If I could play every good-to-great course on Long Island once versus playing just one of them a dozen times I'd pick one and play it a dozen times.

If I ever make it to Dornoch I will play Royal Dornoch at least four times before spending a day to go play at Brora, Golspie, Tain, etc.

[John Kavanaugh]

I know you guys love the internet but you ever had a longterm relationship with real people who play the game.  

[A.G._Crockett]

I'm only around 150, BUT based on a thread earlier this year, I may be the clubhouse leader in playing NLE's.  Probably due to budget constraints that lead me to seek cheap golf...

[Tom Huckaby]

I know you guys love the internet but you ever had a longterm relationship with real people who play the game.  

Interesting question.  I'd be very surprised if the vast majority of participants here - freaks without a doubt - still didn't have a regular club or a regular group of guys and don't play most of their golf at either one private club or a normal rota of local publics.

The vagabonds would still seem to me to be the exception, not the rule.  You just hear from them a lot here because the discussion is so often about far-flung courses, and who the hell else plays those but vagabonds?

BTW, my answer to the Topic here would echo that of shivas, word for word.  I don't have the faintest clue.

[A.G._Crockett]

Tom,
Very true.  I play 140 rounds or so a year; all but maybe 20 are at my home club, and most of those are with the same 8 or 10 guys.

[Mike_Cirba]

Most of my friends are "golf friends", who I at least try to play with whenever possible.  

I've also met many other people and contacts and "good aquantainces" through golf and don't think one needs to just sit home at a single club to do it.  

The bottom line, despite John's insistence on something sinister or faulty in my character, is simply that I've been completely fascinated by golf courses since I stepped on my first green 35 years ago.   I've never lost the excitement of seeing and playing a new course, and the more courses I hear or read about, the more I am desirous of getting there.  

Walking on as a single and joining up with a group of strangers has been a source of adventure and comraderie, and makes me feel more optimistic about people and the human condition.  90% of the time it's a real joy, and it's all part of the experience.

Not to mention, I have wonderful memories of so many places, people, and courses that I've never even considered that I should ever stop.

[John Kavanaugh]

Cats make nice pets..

[Mike_Cirba]

Mark,

Thanks, but as I mentioned, I know a few people who dwarf my travels for golf, including some on this board like Matt and Mark Fine.

John,

Actually, I was a cat guy most of my life, but inherited a Mini Schnauzer as part of blending families in the past two years.  We love her, but she's very, very bad.

[Brent Hutto]

I know you guys love the internet but you ever had a longterm relationship with real people who play the game.  

John,

When you say "real people" does that imply local people who we met in some way other than through the Internet? If so, my answer is "very few".

At the semi-private course I played every week for my first eight or nine years there was a group of guys I played with most of the time. I don't play there any more and in fact several of the other guys have moved on as well so I guess there's no going back. At the first private club I belonged to I did not have a regular game with anyone in particular although there were several guys I'd play with off and on.

At my current club we have a men's group that plays together several times a week and that forms my "usual suspects". I enjoy these guys a lot but having only been a member here for eight months I can't claim it's a long-term thing yet. Ask again in a couple years because I don't plan on going anywhere.

In contrast with all that is my core of longterm golf buddies who I've met over the Internet and get together with every chance I get. There's a few of them in Ohio, a couple in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey and several others spread around all over the US and Canada. And that's not including the new best friends I've made here over the past two years, which probably doesn't yet qualify as "long term".

The thing that most of the long-distance friendships have in common is that these guys play golf the same way I do. They walk, they like to play pretty quickly (some are better at that than others), they would rather play 36 in a day than sit around the clubhouse drinking beer and they tend to be more enthusiastic than highly skilled. I really can't claim that sort of compatibility with very many golfers I know locally. So I don't buy your implicit argument that longterm golf relationships are somehow more valid if you live in the same town or belong to the same club than if you communicate through the Internet and travel to play golf together.

[John Kavanaugh]

JakaB

I am a vagabond which plays with regular groups.  Meaning, I don't have one core group of guys I play with.  It is really four core groups and a few lesser groups (GCA people are in this class).  About half are at my club and half not.  I rarely play games with strangers - GCA folk being the rarity in the past few years.  

I don't really know how many courses I have played.  It amazes me when folks mention a 1000 or so.  If I had to guess it is probably somewhere around 200, maybe a bit less.  I would be very surprised if I see 200 more courses before I die!  Like Brent, I tend to revisit courses I like and play in events they host.  Golf in recent years has become so expensive (because of the ball I am told) that I have lost a bit of interest in seeking out the new thrills on offer.  

Ciao

Sean

I am also a vagabond with regular groups.  I have just racked my brain and I don't believe I have ever played a round without a friend along...Tournaments excluded.  I have never gone off to play a new course by myself and have never played when on vacation unless it was a golf vacation with friends.