The first great course(s) you ever played

[Darren_Kilfara]

Here's a "hot stove" topic for discussion...when did you become aware of the greatness of golf course architecture? What course or courses did you play which awakened this realisation in you? (Was it/were they that much better than what you were used to?) How old were you at the time when you had this realisation?

For me, I had a few experiences which set me apart from the relatively mundane country clubs to which I belonged growing up in Atlanta (Hidden Hills GC, which I believe is NLE, and Atlanta CC):

--When I was 7, my family went to Hilton Head on vacation, and I played Harbour Town for the first (and still only) time. I don't remember too many of the specifics - the images I have in my head are more what I've seen on television since - but the railroad ties and the Spanish moss and the big bunker at the 16th and of course the lighthouse/marsh on the 18th made big impressions on me. (Actually, what I remember most is playing the 17th from the ladies' tees on the other side of the hazard and thinking what a short, and therefore easy, par 3 this must be!)

--That trip I bought the "Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Courses in America" book in the Harbour Town pro shop - this would have been c. 1981 - and it really opened my eyes to the golf world. All of those pictures of strange terrain and wonderful vistas, plus the write-ups and course diagrams and scorecard yardages...very eye-opening to an impressionable young lad!

--Finally, the real clincher was my first trip to the Monterey Peninsula, which I think was when I was 14. I'd played a few other interesting courses in the interim, but this was altogether different - I loved Pebble and Spyglass, but funnily enough I really loved Spanish Bay. My father and I were staying at the resort there, and I kept sneaking out at dusk to play a few holes on the front nine, and it was so Romantic (with a capital "R") and magnificent, something I hadn't expected at all relative to the two famous courses. (I retain a soft spot for SB to this day, even as my tastes have become more refined and I can accept the many criticisms about the place...to be fair, the fescue experiment was still going strong when I started there, so it had more of a real Scottish feel than I guess it does now.)

Where have you come from, so to speak, on your road to GolfClubAtlas?

Cheers,
Darren

[Gene Greco]

    For me it was Bethpage Black at age 13. All I knew at the time was it provided a day full of adventure on some of the more rugged terrain on Long Island. When I stood on the fourth tee the word "awesome" first entered my vocabulary in describing my feeling of being on a great golf hole or a great golf course.

   To this day Bethpage Black  remains my personal measuring stick when evaluating any golf course.

[Jonathan Cummings]

This was rather blasphmous since I did not appreciate the honor but Pine Valley was the first.  

Since those many years ago I've played it dozens of times and now very much appreciate it.

JC

[Tom_Doak]

Darren:

For me it was also Harbour Town, when I was 10 or 11.  That little booklet by Charles Price which explained the course was a great primer on golf architecture, simple enough for a 10-year-old to get into it.

[Kevin Pallier]

I took up golf later than most above when I was at Uni. and became hooked straight away reading any golf book I could find and subscribing to a few golfing Magazines.

In 1991 I read an atricle about Australian Golf Digests Top100 and Royal Melbourne was rated #1 - so obviously I wanted to know why - hence my first golfing holiday included a tour stop at it and some other Sandbelt courses. My interest has grown from there.

[RT]

University of New Mexico South Course.  My first top 100 course (at that time 1974) having played greater OKC public courses before that excursion to NM.

[Dan Herrmann]

For me - Glen Abbey outside Toronto.  OK - it's not one of the world's greats, but it was the first really, really good course I ever played.  Loved it too as a 19 year old who, until then, had only played Buffalo area municipal courses.

[Dave Bourgeois]

Bethpage Black @ age 31 (a whole 2 years ago).  I had the same experience as Dr. Greco when I turned the corner to see #4.  I also found this site prior to my first visit as well!

[Jeff_Mingay]

Like Darren and Doak, it was Harbour Town for me too (not counting growing up at Essex, in Windsor, Ontario).

As it happens, I'm playing Harbour Town for the first time in more than 10 years on Saturday

[Yannick Pilon]

Although I had a huge interest in golf course architecture way before I got to play my first great course, my first experience with great design came rather late.

After years of spending my family vacation in Myrtle Beach, I thought I had played a few good courses.... Until I played Caledonia a few months after it opened.

The moment I set foot on that property, I knew this was going to be a special day.

I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. Great course.

I have played many course that have surpassed it since then.  But this course still has a special place in my heart.

YP

[Glenn Spencer]

7th grade cotillion. The dance was at The Moraine CC and I had a friend that was a member and he suggested we play golf before it. As I danced with the girl of my dreams, I kept think about the golf course that I had just played. It was about this time that I thought I might have some problems.

[Geoffrey Childs]

Undergraduate freshman in college at SUNY in 1969 when I took a trip to Bethpage not knowing much about the place except it was the place to go for public golf.  It was before the tee time registration system so everyone had to just show up and claim a spot.  Got there at about 7 AM and every course had 3-4 hour waits except the Black which was 1-1 1/2 hours.  No one wanted to play the Black so that's what I selected.

For me it was my first view of the uphill approach to #2 with the huge bunker complex and daunting shot stairing me in the face. I said to myself -"now this is different". It was love from there on with Bethpage Black!

[RJ_Daley]

Lawsonia, when I was about 12.

[Lloyd_Cole]

When I first went to Sea Island in the early 1990's. I had played plenty of good and great courses beforehand, but the quality of the Alison Seaside 9, especially juxtaposed with the perfectly OK other courses, was an eye opener for me.
The next year, or thereabouts, I went to Hilton Head, and played Harbour Town and the Mark McCumber Ocean course back to back...

[Tom Huckaby]

I'm not sure I'm yet aware of the greatness of golf course architecture, at least how that seems to be defined in here... but the first truly great course I played that opened my eyes to all golf could be was... Pebble Beach.  My dad took me there when I was 13.  I've been indebted ever since.

[Chris_Clouser]

Got to play Crooked Stick when I was in high school in a competition.  I was actually unimpressed for all that I heard about it.  All I had heard before hand was how difficult it was and how I wouldn't break 90.  I shot an 84.  

I've been back a couple more times and my appreciation of the course has grown, but now that I have had the chance to play other great courses I realize that Crooked Stick is probably a little overrated because there isn't anything that is world-class in the immediate vacinity to compare it with.  I have played courses like Rolling Green and Old Town since that are far superior in my mind but are ranked lower or not even ranked by major publications.

I'm pretty sure that's going to get some people upset.    

[Jim Nugent]

I was 14, and had only been on muni's, when the pro at the public course I caddied at took me to Westwood Country Club in St. Louis for a pro-am.  Westwood had hosted the Western Open a few decades earlier, and while I didn't play -- just caddied -- that course was a revelation.  Our group did not have time to take even one practice putt:  the first few greens they all sent their putts sailing 15 to 20 feet past the cup.  I hate to think what the greens at our muni stimped at back then.  Maybe around 4?

[Jon Spaulding]

Pasatiempo at age 20....a total eye opener!

[David Stamm]

I did not take up golf until my early twenties. I cut my teeth on the muni's and daily fee courses that are so prevalent around here. My first taste of a good course was when I slept my first night in my car in the Torrey Pines parking lot. The next day was special for me because it was so far above anyhting I'd ever played. But my first taste of a great course was when I was invited to Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club. I was instantly in love w/ it. The design held so much interest for me, even to this day. I've played a few others that are great, but RSFGC will always be up there because it really opened my eyes about what course can be.

[Doug Sobieski]

Harbour Town
14 years old
Had seen it on TV and in my Golf Digest "100 Greatest Courses..... And then some" book, and it was on our way south for spring break.

I was with my step-mom, who didn't play. I got hooked up with another single and a twosome. Proceeded to shoot my weight (at the time), but realized that I was fascinated by quality golf courses.

[Scott Szabo]

Mine had to be last summer at Sand Hills.  I have played golf for over 25 years, but when I stepped on the first tee, I knew that this was something special.  The choices that were presented, both off the tee and into the greens, made me realize there was more to golf course architecture than simply tees, fairways and greens.  I now look for design features when playing a course, even my home course of 12 years, and it makes the day more enjoyable.

[Sean Leary]

Winchester CC when I was 16.  Having only played 9 hole munis up to that point, it absolutely blew me away in all aspects..

[ForkaB]

I had played about 10 "top-100" courses before I played Pebble Beach, and it blew all the others away.  There is a real difference between the merely very good and the great, IMHO.

Of course, a few years after that I played my first game of gowf, at Turnberry, and while it was not as great as Pebble as a golf course, being a links it blew Pebble and all other non-links courses away, for all time, at least for me.

[Craig Sweet]

Taconic....I played in a college tournament the day my father died.....figured he would have wanted me to play...then Ekwanok  and Equinox(before remodel)....both tremendous old courses

[Tom Huckaby]

Rich makes a great point... one relevant to me as well....

Pebble Beach was my eye opener for sure... but yes, I too never REALLY grasped all that golf could be until I played a true links.  And my first one was rather perfect... The Old Course.  Yep.  First links I ever played.  Age 21, rented clubs, playing in sneakers, back-packing tour of Europe post-college.   My addiction to links became complete by the 2nd green... and it's haunted my life ever since.

Thanks for the reminder, Rich.  

TH