In what way are you a golf snob?

[Adam Clayman]

Seems to be some rather passionate feelings around these parts about all types of minutae.

While passion can be a good thing, when taken to the extreme, judgement has the great possibility of becoming fix and clouded to opposite opinion. Ergo, the term snob.

Mine are related to the first page of the rule book, and, maintenance presentations.

What's yours?

[John Kavanaugh]

I can not stand playing with tourists.  I have never taken my clubs to Hawaii for this very reason.  I don't even like being in the clubhouse or near enough on the course where I can see them.  I doubt if I will go back to Bandon for this reason and it keeps me from pulling the trigger on Europe.

[John Kavanaugh]

I also seriously doubt if I will ever search out a Fazio or Mike Strantz course.  I have seen it all and it bores me.  I do love a good Fazio renovation...not boring at all.

[John Kavanaugh]

In a scramble I will never pick a left hander who plays worse than me because I hate marking the ball on one side and then having to move it for them.  I kills the momentum.

[John Kavanaugh]

I will not play somewhere with marshalls that ride around a course backwards.

[Kerry Gray]

Keep going John, by the end of the week you have only one course in the world left to play.  

[Brent Hutto]

I consider a golf course that's no fun to walk to be a poor substitute for a real course. If there are some very special holes then perhaps a single round is called for just to have played them but in general I find the riding game inferior.

Any round played on soggy fairways and/or greens isn't much of a round of golf. I'd rather play a decently laid out cheap municipal course with firm turf than play the finest course in the world on a day when the ball squishes instead of bouncing and I splash mud on myself every time I hit a wedge shot.

I'm also a fast-greens snob. There, I've said it. Any course worth playing with the greens Stimping at six or seven is almost certainly a much more fun experience with a few feet more pace to the putts. I'm willing to accomodate a somewhat slower than optimum pace (which for me on flat greens should be at least 10.5 if not faster) in return for some large, interesting contours. But if there are no pinnable areas at a Stimp of 8+ then I'd just as soon pass.

[John Kavanaugh]

Keep going John, by the end of the week you have only one course in the world left to play.  

Just joined my fifth dues paying (I will not count the one honorary)...A cute little 18 hole parkland for $65/month and no initiation fee.  One reason I joined is that they allow pull carts and my 12 year old and I can walk together without having to pay double for a cart or me get a caddie.  I'm now searching for a nice pull cart for myself so I am no longer a pull cart snob....yea.  The main reason I joined is they have affordable overnight lodging close to home and a great bar.

[billb]

I hang out at Golf Club Atlas.

[John Kavanaugh]

I am with you Brent.  I need great greens and refuse to play cart path only if another course is open without the requirement.  I don't care how lousy the "architecture" is either way.

[John Kavanaugh]

I rarely play courses that require an iron off the first tee.  Sadly I am a member of one, business, Quail Creek in Robinson, IL (home of the now defunct Heath Open) and am down to only hitting balls there when checking on work.  9 and 18 are also par 3's but that I can live with.  The hole could be improved with some tree removal.

[John Kavanaugh]

Just this weekend I decided I am no longer a drinkcart snob.  I would like to see, with improved electric vehicles being built, electric drink carts.

[Brad Tufts]

I have to say I'm a snob about old golf courses.

Even if the design has changed...as long as a course exists in the spirit of a golden age design, I will choose it over the local upscale public.

I've caused eyes to roll a few times over this, as I would take the scruffy Ross mail-in planned muni over the severely-mounded $85 "Legends Links at Pine Grove National Golf Trail" nearby....

Of course in here, this makes me far from unique...

[JC Jones]

I dont golf, I havent golfed and Im not golfing.

I play golf, Ive played golf and Im playing golf.

[Bob_Huntley]

I rarely play courses that require an iron off the first tee.  

What a shame. Two courses come to mind, one that afforded me a stern test and the other, one of the most care-free rounds of my life.

The first was Royal Lytham and St. Annes that everyone here knows about. The other was Traigh G.C., a small nine holer in an unimaginable beautiful setting. The Doak rating would not register on the scale but country golf at its purest.

See:

http://www.traighgolf.co.uk/


Bob

[Jim Colton]

I haven't used a bag drop in 10+ years and I generally try to avoid the bag attendants after the round.

[John Kavanaugh]

I rarely play courses that require an iron off the first tee.  

What a shame. Two courses come to mind, one that afforded me a stern test and the other, one of the most care-free rounds of my life.

The first was Royal Lytham and St. Annes that everyone here knows about. The other was Traigh G.C., a small nine holer in an unimaginable beautiful setting. The Doak rating would not register on the scale but country golf at its purest.

See:

http://www.traighgolf.co.uk/


Bob

Thanks, I think I could live with a 130 yd opener...It is that 200 yd iron shot that kills me first thing in the morning.  Looks like a perfect course.

[Chris_Clouser]

Regardless of what type of course I play, if the guy behind the counter that takes my money is a jerk I will not play there a second time.  Or if I haven't paid, I have turned around and left and gone to the next course down the street.  There are too many places that will appreciate my business to get treated like a piece of trash.  That has happened on more than one occasion.
 

[Dan Herrmann]

My traits that would lend you to think I'm a snob:
-  I avoid Rees Jones designs (I'm NOT saying that this is a good thing!)
-  I hate CCFADs where the attendants wear costumes like kilts, plus-fours, etc..  Also those courses that have a fake Scottish or Irish accent on the answering machine.  
-  I dislike most any round taking over 4+ hours
-  I usually dislike playing with folks that don't have at least a cursory knowledge of the rules, including etiquette.  Please guys, remove your hats when indoors

 

[Dan Kelly]

Just joined my fifth dues paying (I will not count the one honorary).

Where is Groucho Marx when we need him?!?

[John Kavanaugh]

Just joined my fifth dues paying (I will not count the one honorary).

Where is Groucho Marx when we need him?!?

I would love to see a list of courses in the country that are full.  This last place was hosting a tournament and had a girl sitting at a table with pamphlets and such laying around.  I asked her if she needed a credit or personal reference and she just laughed.  I was already staying there for my round the next day and saved my first months dues in greenfees and member discounts on lodging.  I joined non-resident and live around 50 miles away.  It is legit as the county I live in was figured not worth the ink it would have taken to color.

I have been turned down before on an offer I made but that is an old story.  

[Peter Pallotta]

Adam
on another thread, John K wrote something like "at modest private clubs, members play as fast as they can; at wealthier clubs, they play as fast as they want".

Which pretty much sums up my situation: when it comes to golf and gca, I can't afford to be a snob.  

I wish I could be, believe me. But unfortunately I lack all of the main prerequisites: I've not played any ranked courses, have no insight into gca, and have neither the time, money nor golfing skills to pull off any kind of snobbery.

Peter

PS - If I could afford to be a snob, I'd be a snob about all the things the rest of you fellas said.

[Eric Smith]

Regardless of what type of course I play, if the guy behind the counter that takes my money is a jerk I will not play there a second time.  Or if I haven't paid, I have turned around and left and gone to the next course down the street.  There are too many places that will appreciate my business to get treated like a piece of trash.  That has happened on more than one occasion.
 

I'm with you on this one Chris.  I spent a lot of years in the golf shop behind the counter and only once did I cause a customer to rethink playing my course and I promise you it was his fault.  In the years I spent at Palmetto Dunes I saw too many of my colleauges treat people less than respectfully.  The guys' excuse was usually 'they're f***in' tourists'.  

When I think about it, at the time I was down there and went to play other clubs as a PD staffer,  a lot of guys in a lot of golf shops were jerks.


my golf snob hangup - I used to cringe when I heard someone say, "I golfed today"

[Mark Bourgeois]

I refuse to play courses that use measurement or alignment aids of any kind, including but not limited to: sprinkler heads, poles, bushes, "framing" bunkers, church steeples, and, on certain days, clouds.  These detract from the one of the essential qualities of the game itself, which is orienteering.

Also, I refuse to play courses that rely on machinery of any kind for maintenance or sundry services, including but not limited to: golf carts, drink carts, marshall carts, John Deere "Gators," flymos, sandpros, triplexes, lightning warning horns, and emergency call boxes.  These bloviations crush the roots and traditions of the game, especially sheep.

I detest courses with clubhouses larger than a TEU.  They detract from the proper focus, which should be golf.

Lastly, I refuse to play courses that contain metal or allow the use of metal, including but not limited to: irrigation pipes, cups, flag sticks, irons, metal "woods," ball washers, tee markers, and comfort stations / porta-potties.

Cart paths, however, are fine -- as long as they are constructed of concrete.  I hate cart paths made of sand, wood chips, asphalt or volcanic ash.

Yes yes!

[Mark Bourgeois]

Peter,

Wait a minute, are you sure that's not a form of snobbery? Do you own a Che Guevera carry bag?

Mark