The first great course(s) you ever played

[Kirk Gill]

I was given a book with aerial paintings of the great golf courses of the world when I was in elementary school, and it became like a Bible to me of the places I just had to play.......and the first of them I did play was Banff Springs. The whole experience of playing that course is still amongst my most cherished golf memories.......It's not the best course I've ever played, but it was the first one that took me to "the next level."

[JSlonis]

I grew up playing local Muni's in upstate NY. After our family moved to Southern NJ, I had the chance to play Huntingdon Valley CC(PA) for the first time when I was 13 yrs old.  That course opened my eyes to what a great golf course and great conditioning was all about.  It remains one of my favorites to this day.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I played Royal County Down quite a lot in the 60s as a teenager.  I didn't know that it is a great course.  All I did know was that I wasn't a good enough player to get round without losing an awful lot of balls.  

I got interested in the design and layout of golf courses because my father had an eye for it.  He could point out why a particular hole on a particular course was good.  I developed an eye for it, too, and a memory for it.  

I think the first great course that I played for the first time and appreciated it from an architectural point of view was TOC.  I'd already played lots of famous courses by then such as Lytham, Birkdale and Hoylake, but playing TOC with a man who knew every blade of grass on it, how to play the course and why to play it that way.  He was Roy Owen, retired Professor of French and an Anglo-Norman scholar.  

It was very educational to play a number of American courses with GCA guys, summer 2005.  I learned an enormous amount, and going round both Winged Foot courses with Neil Regan was something very special.

[Brad Tufts]

I was lucky enough to play junior interclubs at Essex CC, Myopia, and Salem CC while growing up.  I also knew my course (Tedesco) was old and must fit into the area history of golf somehow.

As a teenager, I went with my Dad and friends on several short golf trips to Maine, VT, NH, FL and once to Myrtle.

About this time I noticed Robert Hunter's Links book available from the USGA classics of golf collection.  I called them and it wasn't available anymore, but it led me to architecture books, of which I now own over 100.  This eventually provided a senior history thesis topic.

My education in great golf courses was still sparse until my graduation trip after HS, 24 rounds in 22 days in Scotland.  The trip included 2 rds over the Old, 3 over the New, 2 over the Jubilee, 1 at the Duke's, 2 at Royal Dornoch, 2 at Prestwick, Turnberry, Nairn, Royal Aberdeen, Cruden Bay, Moray Old, Western Gailes, Leven, and Royal Montrose.  We were also able to attend the Tuesday practice round at the '99 Open in Carnoustie.

This has led to a willingness to spend way too much of my oft-sparse bank account on golf travel.....

[Glenn Spencer]

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.    

Don't be shy. Let's hear what you don't like about about CS.

[John Foley]

The first "big" course that opened my eyes when I played it and I was learning the game was Bristol Harbour here in the Finger Lakes.

After that the next eye opener was seeing Pebble Beach durring the Crosby when I lived in Nor Cal for a year after college.

The first course major/known course was The Ocean Course in Kiawah . It was after that this architecture bug really took hold.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Bethpage Black when I was 12 with me pop.
I remeber how hot and hard it was trying to trudge through and raking the bunkers.  I was spent early on in the round.
It was too hard for my experience level.

[Andrew Mitchell]

The Old Course circa 1984.  Although I'd been playing golf for a number of years before then I'd never played a "big" course before.  The aura of St Andrews, the links turf, crumpled fairways, more bunkers than I'd ever seen on a golf course before and large undulating greens just blew me away. I've been in love with links golf ever since.

[Phil McDade]

Two events:

-- My Dad taking me to the PGA at Caterbury in Cleveland in 1973 to see Jack Nicklaus "break" Bobby Jones' record for majors. He'd taken me to a few Cleveland Opens before that, played on run-of-the-mill courses, and Canterbury was a real eye-opener. As a 12-year-old, it got me thinking about golf not just as a game played by Trevino, Nicklaus and Player, but also a contest against a course that presented obstacles both subtle and obvious.

-- In 1999, playing Machrihanish. The first great golf course I played (and what truly impressed me was not the drive on the 1st, but the green on the 2nd). A piece of land that is just perfectly suited to golf.

Having said that, getting a copy of the World Atlas of Golf 10 years ago was what really stoked my in-depth interest in golf architecture. That and this site!

[Jordan Wall]

Kapalua Plantation at age 15.

That was before I joined this board, but Kapalua got me interested in joining GCA .
Since then, my knowledge and courses played have sky rocketed.

[Ian Andrew]

Highland Golf Links as a 16 year old. I took a full set of photos while playing too. I knew what I wanted to be back then.

I turned those over to the course a couple of years ago. The playing widths were much wider.

[Dan Kelly]

First course I thought was great: Hazeltine. I was about 14.

First course I knew was great: Sand Hills. I was 43.

[Geoffrey_Walsh]

First great course - Bethpage Black.  I vividly remember the feeling you get when you retrieve your ball out of the cup on #3 and turn to walk to the 4th tee and see the awesome bunkers in the distance.  I just remember being awestruck and feeling very small compared to my surroundings.

First "Eureka" course - Fishers Island.  Shot my career round the first time I played Fishers and it almost killed my golf game, literally.  Fishers sets the bar so high in terms of architecture and overall experience that I found it very difficult to get up for playing anywhere else for awhile.  Am I crazy or has this happened to anyone else?

[Gerry B]

bethpage black for me as well - but did not appreciate it at the time as i do now.

[David Stamm]

  Shot my career round the first time I played Fishers and it almost killed my golf game, literally.  Fishers sets the bar so high in terms of architecture and overall experience that I found it very difficult to get up for playing anywhere else for awhile.  Am I crazy or has this happened to anyone else?

You're not crazy at all, Geoffrey. The first time I played Pebble, Spyglass and Pasa. on the same trip, it almost ruined me. Coming home and playing seemed like such a let down that it was very hard to "get up" for anywhere else near my home. The burden's we have to carry!

[Jeff Taylor]

The Cascades course at the Homestead. The short par 4 3rd hole was the beginning of my appreciation for variety in golf holes. Length was supposed to be the ultimate test. It was fun to discover how wrong I was.
BTW, good to see that we have another Joe Zawinul fan on the site. Saw him at Blues Alley in November. One more item to check off of my "things to do before I die" list. Pine Valley is next.
JT

[Tom Huckaby]

Geoffrey - you are absolutely not crazy - in fact you were just exhibiting an American form of "Post-UK&Ireland Syndrome" - an affliction suffered by American golfers returning from golf trips there, coming back to their homes and hitting running 7irons from 75 yards on waterlogged courses while lamenting how golf in America sucks.  Happens to us all.  Thankfully for most lovers of the game, it does go into remission... but one is never fully cured.

 

[David Stamm]

Tom, did going there have that profound of an effect on you? I have heard others decribe what you are saying as well, and in extreme cases, I've heard of guys moving or making plans to move there. It almost makes me afraid that once I do go there, I may call the wife and tell her bring the daughter, sell everything and come over!

[Tom Huckaby]

Ask Rich Goodale about this.  Of course there were many reasons besides golf I'm sure... but the man does now live in Scotland.

 

It did have a pretty profound effect on me, for sure.  God I was a snob after my first long trip over there... Thankfully, I have learned to more easily see the good at home.  But links golf is a powerful temptress.

TH

[Tim Pitner]

Lahinch.  My first great course and my first links.  I was in such awe (the rain didn't help either) that I really don't remember the holes all that well.  I can't wait to go back.

[Aaron Katz]

I had a fantastic run from my junior year of high school through my freshman year of college:  October 1995, Cherry Hills; December 1995, Kapalua Plantation (I've loved the ground game ever since); September 1996, Pasatiempo; October 1996, Pebble Beach and Spyglass; September 1997, Olympic Lake, Olympic Ocean (including the NLE cliffside holes); October 1997, Lake Merced, San Francisco, Meadow Club; November 1997, Wente Vineyards.  

I played Olympic Lake probably 15 times during 1997 and 1998 (including a 74 two months before the Open was held), San Francisco close to a dozen times, Meadow Club six or seven times, and Olympic Ocean and Lake Merced more times than I can recall.

[Gary Slatter]

The first great course was St.George's but I really didn't get into architecture and design until I played Glen Abbey and could not figure our why I disliked it so much yet it was hosting the Canadian Open every year.  I've been involved in golf all my life (born in a clubhouse) but had not appreciated desing and construction until I worked at St.George's

[Greg Holland]

Before I was serious about golf, I played Caledonia.  It felt and looked different from any course I had ever seen.  I immediately listed it as the best course I had played.  I then researched the architect, which piqued my interest in gc architecture, and also learned that it was one of the top 100 courses.  After discovering this site, and reading numerous books on the subject, Pine Needles was the next experience that stood out.  I still rank those two as the top courses I've played.  

[Bill Shamleffer]

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?

Westwood is the MOST underrated golf course in St. Louis.  Probably because it does not jump out at you or have a spectacular look.  It is greatness with a very basic look.

Myself, growing up I caddied at another old course in St. Louis, Algonquin Golf Club.  This is a very nice old type of course, which although only about 6100 yards, can be quite challenging.

However, the first time I played St. Louis Country Club on a Monday (sneaking on I must admit) during my teenage years, I had a new appreciation about great golf course architecture.  I could spend the rest of my life playing that course.

[Tim Leahy]

I was 17 and had been playing for about a year and had just broke 85 on the local Sacramento muni's. Heard about this semi-private cc outside of town, Rancho Murieta. I showed up wearing a tank top and the pro gave me a collered shirt out of his locker. $5 for juniors under 18. The fairways were like pool tables and I hit a spin shot for the first time. Greens like ice. I was hooked. Then about six months later Pebble($40 with a cart for pops), Spyglass and Olympic(with a letter of introduction from my pro at the Air Force course Mather). World Golf Atlas and no looking back.