[Mark Bourgeois]

One benefit, less than significant but more than insignificant, I anticipated of my move to Virginia was that my cars would get to wear her beautiful license plates.



(For comparison to other states' plates, click here.)

A Virginia plate doesn't scream at you, doesn't sell to you, doesn't give you a geography lesson, doesn't ask you to "do" anything like eat something or see something.

Now, she's got a few flaws to her, two to be exact: the registration stickers in the upper corners.  I say these little flaws aren't flaws at all but help draw the contrast to the elegance of the plate proper.  They're like a printer's bulleyes that call us to the simple beauty of the plate itself.

She may be subtle but she's certainly not boring -- and don't dare call her plain or artless.

For one thing (and because there's not much on her, that one thing means a lot more than "for one thing" on other states' plates!) I wouldn't call her typestyle bare-as-a-cupboard like Delaware's spartan, unserifed digits. (Let's not forget little Delaware insists on using her plates to remind us of her status in the Union.)  She's got a few curves to her, but her serifs are of a subtlety that must be studied over time to be appreciated.

If her plates were a woman, she'd be the one with whom you went out on a first date, took a pause, then went out on a second date, followed by another pause -- next thing you know, she's drawn you to her and you're happily married!

And if her plates were a golf course, you'd play her a first time, kinda sorta getting a feeling without really knowing why, for there'd be no screaming signature holes, no stunning scenery, just a tugging, a flow from one hole to the next that didn't feel like gentleness (oh no!) but which, well, you'd take a pause, then for some reason come back.

And come back and come back and come back.  And only then would you really appreciate her, and then she's got you and all you want to do is play her again and again!

The courses I think deserve Virginia license-plate status are TOC , Royal Worlington, and Pinehurst #2.  In fact, I think the land on which #2 rests should be ceded to the Old Dominion, for both deserve the company of one another. Or maybe North Carolina could change her plates!

Are there any other courses who deserve such special admission into the Commonwealth of Virginia?

Mark

[Tim Bert]

I find Rhode Island to be rather fascinating in a simplistic manner as well.  Particularly this one that we saw on the way to Newport National (to keep it golf-related.)

[G Jones]

I was going to say that this is one SERIOUSLY off topic thread, but I kept reading and you rescued it well there!

I agree with pinehurst number 2 (can't find the hash symbol on this keyboard... that would be the pound symbol to you heathens).
East Lake is kind of like that... other than the island green par 3 there are a lot of pleasant but not standout holes and a lot blur into each other on the first visit... yet play there enough and you fall in love with the place.

[Tom Dunne]

Tim Bert,

MY GOD, how I love Rhode Island. I once saw a guy on Narragansett Town Beach with a huge tattoo on his lower back that read, in Gothic script, "STREET FIHGTER". (That is not a typo, either....)  

[Dan Kelly]

Tim Bert,

MY GOD, how I love Rhode Island. I once saw a guy on Narragansett Town Beach with a huge tattoo on his lower back that read, in Gothic script, "STREET FIHGTER". (That is not a typo, either....)  

Here's a story I published in my column last month:

Oopp's!

Or: Rake's Progress

Reports Rake of Las Vegas: "Yesterday I was playing in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament at Planet Hollywood (formerly the Aladdin). The guy on my left was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, so the tattoos on his upper arms were hard to miss. The person on his left asked him about them, and he said that he had just had them done a week ago. I couldn't see the ones on his left arm very well, but it was a series of playing cards. On his right arm I could see an ace, under which was written 'Hold Em'.'

"The guy on the left asked how much the tattoos had cost, and the response was $450. I was feeling a bit cheeky, so I asked: 'How much are you going to sue the tattoo artist for, for putting the apostrophe in the wrong place?'

"The puzzled look said it all: This guy had no idea.

"He said: 'What do you mean?'

"I pointed out that the apostrophe represents the missing 'th' in what would otherwise be 'Hold Them,' and belongs before the 'em,' not after. I was a bit worried at this point, because the tattoos were atop some pretty massive muscles. I didn't want him to feel any urge to kill the messenger.

"But he looked at the errant tattoo, shrugged, said 'Whatever,' and turned back to the game. I guess this shouldn't be surprising; after all, if he were inclined to care about punctuation, he presumably wouldn't have let the mistake be made in the first place.

"I got knocked out in about the middle of the pack, but Mr. Tattoo was one of the top finishers, so I guess you don't have to know how to spell or write 'Hold 'Em' to be able to play it."

-------------- (Dan notes: If you're interested in Hold 'Em (or even if you aren't; I'm not, particularly), this guy writes a wonderful blog -- at www.pokergrump.blogspot.com.)

[Dan Kelly]

One benefit, less than significant but more than insignificant, I anticipated of my move to Virginia was that my cars would get to wear her beautiful license plates.

That's an 11-year-old plate, isn't it?

And it still looks the same today?

In all of this time, no one has seen the need to restore her, or renovate her -- or maybe just add a few trees?

No wonder you love her!

Jason Topp -- Does Mark's description of his slow-blooming infatuation match how you feel about Oak Ridge? It would for me, I think, if I got to play her enough.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Truth be told, Dan, right now the standard-issue plate is a Jamestown commemorative.  It gunks the plate up a bit: don't all courses suffer such temporal indignities? It IS the 400th anniversary, so I guess to complain would be petty.  Lesser people would call this the analog to Pinehurst's "Diamondhead Jacobins."

Weep not, Thermidor occurs December of this year! (We revert to the original plates.)

Mark

[Cabell Ackerly]

Truth be told, Dan, right now the standard-issue plate is a Jamestown commemorative.  It gunks the plate up a bit: don't all courses suffer such temporal indignities? It IS the 400th anniversary, so I guess to complain would be petty.  Lesser people would call this the analog to Pinehurst's "Diamondhead Jacobins."

[Jerry Kluger]

My recollection is that Viriginia is like many other states in that you can pay an additional fee and have all kinds of things on the plates. Sort of flashy and making a statement to others that you have an identity crisis - sort of like a flashy bunker with bright white sand.

[Dan Kelly]

When we get around to restoring Virginia's license plates, how far back should we go? At what point was the Virginia license plate at its best?

See a century's worth, at
http://www.worldlicenceplates.com/usa/US_VAXX.html

I don't see how you can improve on these:

[Dan Kelly]

My recollection is that Viriginia is like many other states in that you can pay an additional fee and have all kinds of things on the plates. Sort of flashy and making a statement to others that you have an identity crisis - sort of like a flashy bunker with bright white sand.

Like this, you mean:

[Mark Bourgeois]

When we get around to restoring Virginia's license plates, how far back should we go? At what point was the Virginia license plate at its best?

See a century's worth, at
http://www.worldlicenceplates.com/usa/US_VAXX.html

I don't see how you can improve on these:

I say those are pre-Golden Age plates, the equivalent of rectilinear bunkers and early-day top-shot bunkers. To each his own, but Dan you of all people should appreciate a good serif!

Mark

[Mark Bourgeois]

Oh, there was an earlier version where the state name at the top read in title case rather than up cap: "Virginia" rather than "VIRGINIA."

Now that choice would be a tough one for me...

[Dan Kelly]

You have to concede, though, that the typeface and kerning of "VIRGINIA" on that 1954 plate are ... well, perfect. (By contrast, now that I'm looking a little more closely, the 1932 version is -- like the modern McMansion -- too tall for its width. A little cramped, eh?)

[Mark Bourgeois]

I certainly will grant you that.  As to "kerning," isn't there another term for that? I recall in the days of "typestyles" (rather than "fonts") we used some other word, which for the life of me I cannot recall.

[Dan Kelly]

Kerning might not be the right term, even now.

Is "letter spacing" what you're looking for?

[Mark Bourgeois]

No, it's a particular term like "serif" or "proprietary typestyle." At first I thought it meant squishing the letters together but then found out it meant stretching them vertically. So I don't think it has to do with the spacing between the letters but with the letters themselves. Uh, I think.

Are there no typesetters left out there? Find the oldest guy in the newsroom and ask him. Or call the press room!

Mark

[Dan Herrmann]

Check out Delaware:

[Mark Bourgeois]

Dan H,

I don't think we should include bicycle licenses, unless you want to have a discussion on Putt-Putt course design.

Mark

PS Delaware now insists on reminding us it's "The First State:"

[Wyatt Halliday]

My recollection is that Viriginia is like many other states in that you can pay an additional fee and have all kinds of things on the plates. Sort of flashy and making a statement to others that you have an identity crisis - sort of like a flashy bunker with bright white sand.

Like this, you mean:

Anyone else catch the Vick laced irony in this one??

Sorry, I just can't help myself.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Despite the high quality of posts ("Beotch," "Mike Vick"), we're veering here. What other courses "make the plate?"

Tom Doak's "Gazeteer" in TCG lists "Sleeping Beauty" courses (more than meets the eye).  These seem in the right direction, although the ones I've played on this list I clearly have not played enough.

Royal Worlington
Woking
Royal Liverpool
Chicago Golf Club
St. Andrews (Eden)
Walton Heath (Old)
Rockport
Desert Forest
Belvedere
Ashridge

Mark

[Jason McNamara]

I thought Virginia had done away with non-vanity plates.  

Jason

[Michael Whitaker]

Here's my favorite tag... for obvious reasons:



The best part is $50 from every license fee goes to the SC Junior Golf Foundation!

[Jonathan Cummings]

Years ago I was listening on NPR to an interview with the head of Virginia's prison system.  The interviewer asked what the most unusual vanity plate that had been requested and produced by the prison license plate system.

The guy said "I don't know about the most unusual but the funniest by far was issued to a Charlottesville woman.  She was quite wealthy and had just gone through a rather nasty divorce.  As part of the settlement she retained the couple's pricey Jaguar.  She requested and was issued a vanity tag that said..."

WAS HIS

JC

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