Most Under-Rated Golf Courses

[Mike_Cirba]

I'm sure this topic has probably appeared here before, but as I get older my memory isn't as supple as it once was, and I'm feeling inspired by "The Creek Club" thread, so let's do the drill again.

I'll start by nominating Huntingdon Valley and Sleepy Hollow (NY).

Who wants to try and trump that pair of aces?   

[PThomas]

haven't seen either of yours - yet - Mike, but i'll suggest three:

The Creek

Kirtland in Ohio

Desert Highlands in Az

[Gene Greco]

         Baltimore Country Club
         Monterey Peninsula (Dunes)

[Matt_Ward]

Mike:

How can places be under-rated when both of your nominees are ACTUALLY RATED by at least Golfweek ?

Just a thought -- how bout bumping up courses that are even rated AT ALL?

My three nominess from the Garden State would be the following:

*Essex County CC
*Montclair GC (#2 & #4 nines)
*Forsgate / Banks Course

Mike, the three I just mentioned are more than capable in being as good, if not better, than 20 or so of the courses presently listed in the Classic section of the Golfweek ratings.

[Mike_Cirba]

Matt,

Actually, HVGC is presently #69 while Sleepy Hollow is not in the Top 100.

I did have the opportunity to see the excellent improvements at Essex County during the past year and definitely agree with your assessement that it also belongs in the Top 100 Classic course.

[Chip Gaskins]

Here I go again...

Bandon Trails
Pine Needles
Tobacco Road
Waterville
Gullen #1
Portstewart

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

This will not trump them but my two original home courses, Bayou Desiard CC Monroe, La and Oakbourne Cc, Lafayette, La are solid Maxwell and Wilson/Joe Finger courses. They are unkown to the GCA world but good solid courses.

[Mike_Cirba]

Chip,

Have I mentioned that you look a bit like a puffin?  

As far as your post, I'm reminded somehow of a "Whitesnake" 70's anthem.

An here I go again on my own
Goin down the only road Ive ever known,
Like a hobo I was born to walk alone
An Ive made up my mind
I aint wasting no more time...

But, here I go again,
Here I go again,
Here I go again,
Here I go,
Here I go again...


In that regard, can you link me to your video?   I'm hoping Tawny Kitaaen has kept herself together better than the original lead singer of Whitesnake.   

[Adam Clayman]

Trump International at Menie  

[Chip Gaskins]

Chip,

Have I mentioned that you look a bit like a puffin?  

As far as your post, I'm reminded somehow of a "Whitesnake" 70's anthem.

An here I go again on my own
Goin down the only road Ive ever known,
Like a hobo I was born to walk alone
An Ive made up my mind
I aint wasting no more time...

But, here I go again,
Here I go again,
Here I go again,
Here I go,
Here I go again...


In that regard, can you link me to your video?   I'm hoping Tawny Kitaaen has kept herself together better than the original lead singer of Whitesnake.   

Mike-

You will never guess what I spent my 16th birthday birthday doing....Whitesnake / Motley Crue - Hampton Coliseum, August 30, 1987....Whitesnake was awesome, as were the acid washed jeans, mullets, and David Lee Roth tee shirts!

[Sean_A]

First and foremost PENNARD - comfortably the most over looked course I know of 

Beau Desert - still bewilders me how this doesn't make every list

Huntercombe - I reckon this is purely down to raters lust for eye candy - if they judged the course on what it does offer its a no brainer top 100 and every bit the course as many of the heathland classics


Its much more difficult to ascertain top 100 US courses because there are so bloody many of the buggers.  However, anything as bold, innovative and yet adhering to sound principles of design such as Tobacco Road deserves a consistent shout for a top 100 spot.

Ciao

[Rich Goodale]

Winchester (MA)
Applebrook
Carnoustie
Murcar

[John Blain]

Most underrrated?  Cypress Point.

[Matthew Schulte]

Not on this board, but based on the current magazine rankings...Ballyneal is underrated.

[David_Madison]

In North Carolina - - Old Town (although now #7 in Golf Digest in the state), Raleigh CC, Roaring Gap, and Grove Park Inn.

[Mike_Cirba]

Of modern courses, I'll nominate The Kingsley Club and Boston Golf Club.

[Kirk Gill]

Of course this thread has got me thinking of what the Least Over-rated courses are, but that's for another day.

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike-

You will never guess what I spent my 16th birthday birthday doing....Whitesnake / Motley Crue - Hampton Coliseum, August 30, 1987....Whitesnake was awesome, as were the acid washed jeans, mullets, and David Lee Roth tee shirts!

Chip,

Oh man...you're young.

I did it old school.

In the summer of my 15th year in 1973 some friends and I got on a bus in Scranton, PA, bound for the Philadelphia Spectrum to see;

Black Sabbath
Slade
Status Quo

Who knew at the time that the skinny, shirtless kid running around the smoky stage constantly raising his arms making "V" signs overhead like Richard Nixon would actually be a household name and Reality Television Superstar 30 years later.

So, in the spirit of this thread, I guess Ozzy Osbourne was "underrated" at the time.  

Years later, now in adulthood and thinking about that booze-soaked bus trip (Southern Comfort was the flask of choice...ughhhh)  I asked my mom how she ever gave me permission to go on such a decadent, adolescent, hormonally-charged debacle, to which she replied "I didn't".

I still don't remember how I pulled that one off.    Probably for the best.  

 

[Andy Troeger]

Obviously this depends on what list you are looking at...

Ballyneal and Kingsley are severely underrated in some of the lists, but seeing as they are both top 20 moderns by GW, I think there are better choices overall.

South Bend CC (IN)--I think this one stacks up with many of its more highly known Chicago brethren. I admittedly wonder if it were located NE if it would be a top 100 classic mainstay. Doesn't have the length at 6500 yds par 71, but its no pushover.

I think Lakota Canyon was rightfully in the top 100 modern when it was there and shouldn't have dropped out. I imagine the housing aspect has something to do with that.

The Alotian Club should be making some of these top 100 lists too the next time they come out, and I think it will at least make GD, but it qualifies for now.

I also like Roaring Fork in Basalt, CO. I think its quite a bit better than #14 in Colorado and I'd take it over some of the top 100 courses I've seen.

[Tom Naccarato]

Lakeside GC
Lehigh Country Club
Lu Lu Temple
Lundin Golf Club

(I'm trying to make these all "L's")

Don't get me started on concerts, its off-topic but I could easily make it on-topic in relation to golf course architecture.

Without making it about architecture:

Ozzy Osborn--Been there done that
Whitesnake? Been there done that too--Royce Hall, UCLA. Went there on a hunch that it could be a good concert because Coverdale, John Lords and Ian Pace of Deep Purple were part of the band, pre Tawny Katain.  It was a good move too, as after the concert we partied backstage with Mo Ostin of Warner Brothers Records who Q&A'ed us what we thought of the band and then told us he was going to take them mainstream. (Ostin was responsible for signing the two son's of my Dad's band tenor saxophonist whose name was pronounced John "Von-Holl-in" (Van Halen)

[George Freeman]

I'll second the Kingsley Club

[Melvyn Morrow]

All the above information is great but are they “QUIRKY”?

How come no one has mentioned that word? Is it loosing its standing on this forum? Or do underrated golf courses not have any quirks?

Where are my quirks, I see no quirks, bring back the quirks, the real question is To Be or Not to Be a Quirk, sorry this topic is not about quirks, but it should be as its used so often in description of courses on GCA.com.

I’m getting confused, but then what’s new, give me an interesting feature on any new or newish course you guys have just mentioned or do they not have any, see nothing is bloody quirky anymore, or is it?

Well time for my afternoon nap, so I’ll leave you for a while as I’m off to find a quirky bed.

[Mike_Cirba]

All the above information is great but are they “QUIRKY”?

My Quirky Friend,

Would you call a second shot on a 420-490 yard par four where you simply had to aim at the tallest tree in the distance "quirky"?




What if this is what lay in wait beyond? 

[Ronald Montesano]

Buffalo-Niagara Report
Among privates with wonderful conditioning:
Country Club of Buffalo Ross Course
Crag Burn
Niagara Frontier Country Club

Among publics with great layouts and unrepaired ball marks:
Arrowhead (Akron)
Harvest Hill
Diamond Hawk

From my trip this summer:
Haystack in Vermont
Waubeeka Springs in Massachusetts
Buck Hill Falls in Pennsylvania

From a Myrtle Beach Trip:
Wachesaw Plantation East

[Tom Naccarato]

Melvyn,
All four of my entry's have interesting, provocative features to them--some of them natural and some of them not natura. (Especially Lakeside, which I don't think there are many on this board that would be able to figure out which features are natural and man-made. I'm still trying to figure many of them out myself.)