[Matt MacIver]

Lahinch, due to sheets of pouring rain, can't see your hand in front of your face type stuff. 

[Max Schechter]

A few years ago, I played Lahinch as a single with three guys who were on a golf junket with their wives. They told me that one of the guys' wives pressured him to take a day off earlier in the trip when the group was playing Tralee. Predictably, the two who did play wouldn't stop raving about Tralee, calling it the best course of the trip and a real shame that he missed out. Given the caliber of the other courses they had played (Ballybunion, Old Head, Waterville, etc.), I think you get the rub.

[Sean Leary]

Olympic Club for me as well. Got rained out.....

[Cory Lewis]

5 years ago I got lost on the way to Wannamoisett and missed my tee time and they couldn't get me out the rest of the day because of an outing. Still haven't played it, still mad about making that damn wrong turn.

[PThomas]

when i played Sebonack i could see NGLA's windmill, as NGLA is adjacent to the former....i stepped onto the course and took a picture of the windmill, but no round...Sebonack is terrific on its own, BTW

i hope all of you get a second chance at your missed opportunites in 09

[JMorgan]

ibid i dibi madam

[Gene Greco]

       In Scotland,  North Berwick because we won the lottery and were able to play St. Andrews Old a second time.

       In Ireland, Waterville because........thanks to Neil Regan, we were able to play Ballybunion Old a second time as well.

[David_Elvins]

Have chosen to walk but not play 3 of the world's top 10.
St Andrews
Royal Melbourne
Pebble Beach.

The walks around Pebble and St Andrews with a couple of balls in the glorious evening sunshine are two of my greatest golf experiences.  I struggle to work out how playing golf could have improved the experience, especially at a cost of an extra AU$500.  Never regretted either decison for a second.

[JMorgan]

Pluriperfect

Powys

[Andrew Bertram]

After doing some work at The Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone i had arranged to play Pine Valley, Merion amd Winged Foot and attempt to play Bethpage Black over the next 4 days.

I got to Akron airport on the MOnday for a 7.30 flight to Philly, on arrival the flight had been delayed until 9am, by 8.30 it was back to 12 noon.

My tee time was 11.30 at Pine Valley. Should i wait and hope for a later tee time or drive to make sure i made it for Merion the following day. As there were no seats on any flight i took the rental car and drove the 8 hours to Philly and spent the evening enjoying the wonderful historical district and the enjoyed Merion, Winged Foot east and West and got on Bethpage Black.

I hope to get back to Pine Valley one day, and i am still waiting for a promised refund from the airline!

 

[Sean_A]

While it wasn't me per se who turned down the offers, I was certainly punished for this rash behaviour.  During a snowstorm in Detroit one year my father met a fellow at the airport who was stuck.  As my father was using the company plane to head for dove shooting (or perhaps duck hunting in Louisiana - I don't recall) in Texas my father invited the man along.  The stranger's final destination was Atlanta so he was happy to get south and take his chances with another flight.  Turns out this chap was a member of Augusta and used to send my father a Christmas card every year inviting him (and myself as during the get to know each other chat mydad revealed that I played golf) to come down for a few days of golf.  My dad always said the chap was just being polite and didn't really expect him to take up the invite.  I can still recall pleading with my father to go, but I had no chance.  My dad wasn't going and that was that.  I still give my dad grief for that bone head decision and he still laughs at me in his knowing way.

My most recent game regretfully missed due to bad weather was French Creek in Philly.  I don't know much about the course, but Dan Herrmann seems like the sort of chap worth spending more time with. 

I have not had many regrets so far as passing up games, but with a few invites on the table I can see I will most likely regret not taking some up.  The interesting part is to try and guess which course(s) will I regret skipping while sitting there in my dotage watching old tapes of Red Wing games.  Its a sad scene to contemplate.

Ciao

[Tom Huckaby]

Have chosen to walk but not play 3 of the world's top 10.
St Andrews
Royal Melbourne
Pebble Beach.

The walks around Pebble and St Andrews with a couple of balls in the glorious evening sunshine are two of my greatest golf experiences.  I struggle to work out how playing golf could have improved the experience, especially at a cost of an extra AU$500.  Never regretted either decison for a second.

David:

I respect that even if it is so far from my ken that I just can't imagine it.

Walking each of those courses would be fun, for sure.  I have walked around Pebble Beach several times. 

BUT.... being that close to each and NOT PLAYING them would be an exercise in frustration to me, to the extent it would likely freak me out completely.  I tend to enjoy the Pebble Beach walks only because I have been lucky enough to play the course multiple times.  But even then, the itchiness sets in if I walk around too long.

I fully understand the financial issues - money is money and if that is the main thing, then yes, I get it.

But outside of that....

Your experiences would have frustrated me more than given any great sense of enjoyment.

But we've discussed this before in here... things like this separate the students of the game from those who simply love to play it.

I love to play the game a LOT more than study it.  It would seem the study is enough for you.

And I respect that quite a bit.

To this end... I have been wracking my brain to give a an answer for this topic... but I can't think of a single course that I wanted to play and realistically could make happn which I didn't eventually manage to play.  I also can't think of golf plans that have had to be canceled.  Just lucky, I guess.

[Matt Bosela]

I played Riviera CC last year and stayed onsite for a few days in the clubhouse with my wife - while there, I was offered the opportunity to play at any of the other private clubs in the area, namely LACC, Bel Air or Sherwood CC.

While my wife said she was 'okay' with me playing one more round on our West Coast vacation, for the sake of marital harmony, I reluctantly passed

I still think about the missed opportunity occasionally but know deep down I made the right choice.

[Tom Huckaby]

Matt - I don't know... a damn fine precedent might have been set then....

 

[David Stamm]

While my wife said she was 'okay' with me playing one more round on our West Coast vacation, for the sake of marital harmony, I reluctantly passed

I still think about the missed opportunity occasionally but know deep down I made the right choice.

You're a better man than me, Matt! I won't wax poetic about LACC to you nor share the degree of difficulty that Sherwood has to offer. Now Bel Air.....

[Bill Shamleffer]

  I met a girl on a trip to Pebble Beach. She told me she could get me on Cypress Point so I married her. I waited for two years and it never happened. So I divorced her.

                    Anthony

This is the winner for best missed course story.

[PThomas]

I played Riviera CC last year and stayed onsite for a few days in the clubhouse with my wife - while there, I was offered the opportunity to play at any of the other private clubs in the area, namely LACC, Bel Air or Sherwood CC.

While my wife said she was 'okay' with me playing one more round on our West Coast vacation, for the sake of marital harmony, I reluctantly passed

I still think about the missed opportunity occasionally but know deep down I made the right choice.

mmmm...i think i would have really tried to cash in some marriage capital, as Huck might say......

[Tom Huckaby]

Paul has my thinking down pretty much.  As a newly-wed you will NEVER EVER EVER have so much capital... assuming the wedding was to her liking, you've just made her life complete.  The time to strike is RIGHT THEN re golf.  It also does set a very very good precedent that golf is important.

Then again, each situation is indeed different and we can trust that Matt did what was right for him.  I just did read that and thought "hmmmmmmm... short term gain, long-term loss"........

 

[PThomas]

Paul has my thinking down pretty much.  As a newly-wed you will NEVER EVER EVER have so much capital... assuming the wedding was to her liking, you've just made her life complete.  The time to strike is RIGHT THEN re golf.  It also does set a very very good precedent that golf is important.

Then again, each situation is indeed different and we can trust that Matt did what was right for him.  I just did read that and thought "hmmmmmmm... short term gain, long-term loss"........

 

Huck, you might have to come up with your version of the Doak Scale for Marriage capital

for ex, for someone married less than 5 years to play a top 25 course = x units of marriage capital..

of course, you must define a "unit of marriage capital"...does that mean 1 Sat of doing work around the house, smiling and being gracious when she has 10 of her friends over for an afternoon of coffee and talking, etc.........

[Tom Huckaby]

Sounds like you have it pretty well done, Paul!

But funny how that doesn't occur to a newlywed... shoot it didn't occur to me until quite a ways into the game.

 

[PThomas]

Sounds like you have it pretty well done, Paul!

But funny how that doesn't occur to a newlywed... shoot it didn't occur to me until quite a ways into the game.

 

maybe we should stop Huck in case our wives ever look in here Huck

[Mike Hendren]

As I have related before, I was denied access to a wide open New Course at  St. Andrews with three hours of daylight left because "the starter went home."  

I am not a fan of the Links Trust.

Mike

[Tom Huckaby]

Oh hell my wife knows the game better than I do.

Now back to courses we've missed.....

I still can't think of a time I planned to go somewhere, had it really all set, and had to cancel.  Oh I have declined invitations MANY MANY MANY times.  But to me that just means choosing not to go.  And in those, well... I can't think of any invitations to courses I hadn't played before that I had to turn down.

So best course I didn't play?  I still don't have one.  Shivas' life sucks.  But then again, he gets to go to a lot of places also.

 

[Matt Bosela]

Paul has my thinking down pretty much.  As a newly-wed you will NEVER EVER EVER have so much capital... assuming the wedding was to her liking, you've just made her life complete.  The time to strike is RIGHT THEN re golf.  It also does set a very very good precedent that golf is important.

Then again, each situation is indeed different and we can trust that Matt did what was right for him.  I just did read that and thought "hmmmmmmm... short term gain, long-term loss"........

 

Perhaps you're right but I know that in the end, thankfully, she loved the time she spent at Riviera (and the Pacific Palisades/Brentwood/Malibu area) so much that we'll definitely go back again someday soon.  Now that I know what to expect, I'll put aside a couple extra days for golf for those other courses, which I didn't think I would be granted access to during my first trip.

And full disclosure on the newlywed thing - we got married in '06 so this trip was about 10 months later...still definitely in the newlywed stages but I did play two rounds of golf on our honeymoon in Kauai so I'm not averse to taking advantage when the wife is deliriously happy

And I can also say that I've built up a TON of equity over the past year with the wife and I'll likely be able to parlay that into a nice golf trip soon, maybe even a GCA event.  I also had to turn down an October invite to St. Georges in Toronto due to the fact our first child was scheduled to arrive at any time.  Lots of points for that one and the invite remains open for next year due to a gracious host.

In the end, it was worth it.



This is Evan Alexander, born four weeks ago with a perfect Vardon grip!

[Tom Huckaby]

Matt - excellent!

Love that little stud....

 

And you know, it's all just envy from us old married guys.  You're on the right track of course.

Cheers!

TH

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