December memories...

[Marty Bonnar]

Posting on the Pasa thread got me thinking that, given it's FOR ONE SINGLE SOLITARY visit, I find I can recall more holes and details of Pasatiempo than for ANY OTHER single-visit golf course I can think of.

I wondered why and can possibly pin it down to a number of features:
That visit was the culmination of a fantastic - nay, unbelievable - week in California.
I was walking/carting much of the round with Bill V and Ed G. GREAT company. Some special meaning there too...
The Good Doctor's actual freekin HOUSE is right there, hard by the 6th fairway....!!! Welling up again, just thinking about it.
It rained biblically, allowing me to ditch the golf clubs and to CONCENTRATE on the architecture.

Funny, but I can picture the clubhouse, pro shop, lounge, Tom D's Masterplan drawing, the entrance off the free/highway, the road up through the course to the clubhouse and so much more REALLY CLEARLY. Strange, yet oddly comforting.

The same trip also included CPC, which I can recall equally well if not better, but I have to exclude it as I have been reading books about, and looking at photos of, that particular place most of my adult life. Pasa, on the other hand, was mostly unknown to me - or at least the detail of it was.

DO you have a SINGLE VISIT golf course which most affected you similarly?

FBD.

[Peter Pallotta]

Martin - nice post. 

I think it might be the rain.

I remember The Mines, playing alone in the steady rain. 

To play well I had to pay attention.  And that heightened attention spread outwards, encompassing a wider field and yet with sharper focus too.

I was a little tired and stale when I started the round.  By the end, I was peppy and refreshed.

I think that's what attention can do, on a wonderful course in the rain.

A lovely feeling.

Peter

[Bill_McBride]

I remember Cypress Point and the Old Course with the same clarity.  Crystal Downs came across a bit the same way although I just played it the one time.

I think that is my highest rating criterion, how clearly can I recall every hole on the course?  The clearer the memory, the better the course.

[Jon Heise]

Hmm, a single play?  Well I did play it twice in 3 days, but I have awesome memories of Tanglewood Park in Clemmons NC.  Was on a 3 week training course for my job in Winston Salem, thankful just to get some rounds in.  Heard it was a pretty good course down there, so gave it a shot. 
A fantastic golf course!  Great conditions, design, history.  I had no clue before I got there.  And it was like $27.  Its weird, but I can remember pretty much all my shots too!

[John Foley]

Martin - good topic.

I swear I remeber every blade of grass from my visit to Sand Hills.

Suprising is I was back at Pinehurst this week and I forgot alot.

Back 9 at Pasatiempo is very memorable, but I forgot alot of the front.

[Mike Benham]

I have such a good memory that I thought your trip was in November ...

[Marty Bonnar]

Picky, picky, picky... No more Belhaven Best for you, m'lad!
Nov into Dec as I recall. Can't quite remember when we headed for Vegas, baby.
Is it so many years already? Man, I HAVE to get back west-side soooooon.

[John Moore II]

I might have to say that the most memorable course I have played only once was Tanglewood Championship. I can pretty clearly recall all 18 holes there. I can't think of another course where I have played only once that was really memorable enough to pay attention to the holes or really make a return visit. Thats most of the reason I have played them only once. Tanglewood though, I have just not been able to make a return trip.

[Sean_A]

This is a tough question because I am so inclined to revisit the courses I really like - this leaves very few candidates!  A few years ago the course which really stood out is Old Town.  I remember all the holes there, but the not so broad details of the greens are starting to slip away.  This year the coruse has to be Merion.  The most surprising hole of all to me was the 11th.  I had seen or heard bits about most of the course, but the 11th was such a great hole not to get a mention previously.  I very much hope to break these one time memories with longer lasting two time memories. 

Ciao

[Michael Blake]

I remember everything about my one day at Merion like it was yesterday.
I remember every detail about the East course, as well as some about the West.
The atmosphere, the patio, the clubhouse, the company...


Conversely, in my 3 plays at Bethpage Black I can only remember 3 or 4 holes.

[Dan Herrmann]

Amen, Michael.  Merion does it for me. 

[Marty Bonnar]

Okay, I am man enough to admit it.

My big Redan brudder just reminded me that possibly the reason I remember Pasa so well could be is that we shared a naked man moment or two together in the locker room.

Odd that we should remain such bosom buddies even after the shock of that!

Luv ya, Big Fella (but only in a man-hug, strictly not homo-erotic kinda way )

FBD.

[Kalen Braley]

Marty, this clear falls in the

T.M.I.

category

[Marty Bonnar]

Kalen,
in the spirit of total and complete disclosure, I feel it utterly incumbent upon me that I share as much information with fellow GCAers as possible.

I am also so totally comfortable in my big, fat, hairy Scottish manhood that I am perfectly happy to provide as much information re my golf course visits as is physically possible.

Ergo, TMI is never enough TMI, bei mich.

Sometimes golf is merely the mechanism by which two fine upstanding heterosexual chaps can share a 'special' moment or two together.

(But, don't tell the wives....!!! )

best,
FBD.

[Kalen Braley]

Ha ha...

Ahh yes nothing like sharing a special moment..