#1 is of course Harbour Town, on Hilton Head Island, SC
(Sea Pines Plantation), by Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus. This
was Nicklaus' first attempt at designing a golf course, though
it was mostly in the apprentice phase to Dye. The MCI
Classic, f.k.a. the Heritage, is played here every spring.
Unfortuantely, I think I've mistaken what I thought was the
famous lighthouse, and didn't actually get in in the aerial,
though the harbor is. I thought it was the building on the
upper left of the harbor, but upon further inspection, that's
not it. I could tell by the Sea Pines pic here:
Regardless, Harbour Town was a bit of change in
architectural history, for it's lack of reliance on brute length
that characterized so many 50's and 60's courses. Railroad
ties were "introduced" to the world, though Dye had used
them on other designs, this one was on TV.
here's the web site:
http://www.seapines.com/harbour_town_golf.htmhttp://www.seapines.com/enter_golf.htmlclues include:
golf mecca of Hilton Head area, not yet used for AOTD
hard to see famous lighthouse from above
"harbor", "light"..."house","flash of brilliance","foggy", "red
and white building"
"on TV"
known to be "tight with trees"
"heritage"
"tyes" = play on Dye and ties
"Bear"-ly= Nicklaus' first time.
#2 is Seattle GC, in, well, guess, by John Ball and Robert
Johnstone, renovation by Palmer's group (Ed Seay). Seattle
is probably the 2nd most well-known club in the state of
Washington, not known for many famous courses. It is
probably the most exclusive in the state, as was told in a
previous recent thread.
clues include:
"tall, thick trees" point to NW's tall pines.
A gilled Kevin Costner was "Mariner" (as in Seattle Mariners),
in the movie Waterworld.
Griffey, Johnson, and Rodriguez are former Seattle Mariners,
as Ichiro (Suzuki) is a current Mariner (and reigning AL MVP).
"Water, water, everywhere" and "something about an
albatross, by Coleridge" refers to The Rime of the Ancient "Mariner". I'll give Shivas one guess as to how I
know this, and I've never read it.
"windows", ever-present "bugs", and "Gates" refer to
Microsoft, HQ'd in Seattle's suburb of Redmond.
"brewin'", "star, bucks" = Seattle's other famous export
(Boeing is no longer HQ'ed in Seattle)
"nearby for someone else put there name on the trophy"
refers to NEC Invitational, being played at nearby Sahalee,
where Tiger's name is the only one on the trophy (poetic
license I read some journalist use), as he's won here 3
straight times (when it was at Firestone).