The Wall

[Joe Bausch]

"Roger Waters is here in Philly with his 3rd concert in a row tonight, the 30th anniversary of The Wall.  And I here Roger is a golfer."


Joe:

He sure is and he apparently does like golf (he belongs to Shinnecock and NGLA, BTW). About a month or more ago some mutual friends got in touch with me to see if I could set him up to play Merion East yesterday. And so I did. The tee time was something like 9am on Tuesday. On Monday I heard through those mutual friend that Roger Waters had decided he would prefer to remain in his bathrobe and pink socks in his hotel room until about 4pm when he needed to go to the concert.

If he and those mutual friends call again to get me to set up a round at Merion East for him I'm gonna tell them to tell the aging Pink Floyd rock star prima dona to just stay in his hotel room in his bathrobe and pink socks and maybe around 6am we could all meet at Merion East and have a few drinks and then just call it a day!!  

Dear Tom,

     Hard to believe Harry!

Sincerely,
Wayne

  

------------------

[John Kirk]

Boston Golf Club has a few in play, some existing land borders from the 17th and 18th century, and some designed to meld in with the originals.  I thibnk you drive over a wall on hole #12.  Boston GC is nice.

[KBanks]

Old stone walls are a charming and strategic part of a number of holes at Kilspindie.

Ken

[TEPaul]

Joe:

When those mutual friends got in touch with me I guess they expected me to like fall over backwards or something but I told them I have heard of Pink Floyd but that I was certainly not familiar with who in the hell the members of that group were, including Roger Waters.

They were shocked at that so I had to explain to them it's because my music appreciation essentially ended with Elvis and MoTown even though I did like the Beatles and I would recognize them for sure.

Matter of fact about three years ago in Easthampton I ran into Paul McCartney three times in a little over 24 hours. The last time he was coming out of a Indian takeout restaurant as I was coming in. He looked at my cap which said "Prairie Dunes" and he asked me what that was. I just said: "And who wants to know?" With that he cracked up. So I said: "You're Sir Paul McCartney, aren't you?" and he allowed as that was who he was. So I told him: "I've seen you three times in about the last 27 hours and you have the same clothes on; don't you suppose a rich and famous guy like you could at least change his clothes from one day to the next?" With that he completely cracked up. He's a good guy and very down to earth it seems, and if he wants to play Merion East I would be happy to set it up for him through the "The Consummate Pissboy" or anyone else I know over there.

[Jerry Kluger]

Joe: Roger Waters probably can afford to play golf anywhere he wants - the tickets to his show in DC were $275.00

[Pete Lavallee]

Marion GC just may be the course that started the rock wall craze. Built in 1914 by a certain Philadelphian it features 3 par 3's which incorporate New England stone walls;

The par 3 3rd 190 yards:


From behind the green:


The par 3 8th 200 yards:


From behind the green:


The ingenious 120 yard par 3 9th. The fronting bunker is built up against a stone wall:


From behind the green:

[TEPaul]

Jerry:

Did anyone in DC actually pay $275.00 to see his show?

No, I'm kidding of course. Yeah, it would appear he can pretty much afford most anything he might want I guess as I understand he just plunked down 60 Really BIG Ones for a new place in Bridgehampton! For that kinda dough he probably should have asked the seller to throw in his own private golf course for him and then that way he could just play golf in his bathrobe and pink socks any time he wanted to.

[Jud_T]

I strongly recommend everyone save their $275 and put it towards a round at the renovated Pinehurst #2 rather than this dated note-for-note studio musician rehash of a concert....

[TEPaul]

"Marion GC just may be the course that started the rock wall craze. Built in 1914 by a certain Philadelphian it features 3 par 3's which incorporate New England stone walls;"


Pete:

Not at all. Myopia prevalently used stone walls on their course much earlier than that---eg 1894.

The stone walls of Marion really are neat though. I'll never forget going in there and seeing that stone wall right in front of that green in the photo you put up.



Jud:

If in Philly any time soon and it's music anyone wants I would strongly suggest putting the money towards the Philly production of Jersey Boys. It is fabulous!

[Pete Lavallee]

Well that explains it, wasn't Thomas a frequent guest at Myopia before he built Marion GC?

[TEPaul]

TomD:

The landscape architecture item and term "HaHa" is indeed English. Do you happen to know its primary purpose and its etymology?

[Norbert P]

   Pebble Beach 18 riprap wall project.

  http://www.graniterock.com/projects/custom_estates/pebble_beach_golf.html



  "I got some oceanfront property in Arizona . . .
   From the back porch you can see the sea."  Unk

[Matthew Petersen]

TomD:

The landscape architecture item and term "HaHa" is indeed English. Do you happen to know its primary purpose and its etymology?

My understanding was that the term "ha-ha" derived from the astonished laugh of a person who didn't realize the wall was there and stepped right over the edge.

[Jason Topp]

[Tom Ferrell]

Jud - have you seen The Wall on this tour? 

One of the ass't pros at Colorado Golf Club was working at Arrowhead the last time Roger came through town.  He recounts how a nice-looking older gent comes into the shop and puts down a Black American Express card and says he'd like to play.  My friend ended up going out with him - said he was a good golfer and very cordial person.

I was lucky enough to see The Wall Live In Berlin in 1990.  What an amazing experience.  It's more than a musical performance.  It's a theatrical  production.  I've got tix to see it 11/25 here in Denver.

[Jud_T]

Yes and I was underwhelmed.

[Greg Clark]

Old Hickory in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin has a wall in play on the 4th hole, a fun par 5.  The course is one town over from my in-laws, and provides a nice respite.  The course has nine Bendelow holes on it and 9 by Billy Sixty Jr.  Phil McDade provided a great photo tour and the pics and description of the wall are from his tour, also linked below.
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,36792.0/

Those going for the green here may also have to contend with a unique feature of the course – walls built from glacial rock deposits. The newer section of the course was built on farmland; the land contained several glacial-rock walls, built to keep livestock within the farm property. (A still-in-use stone wall can be seen on a working farm that lies to the right of the 4th fairway.) The stone wall on the 4th pays something of an homage to the 13th hole – the Pit -- at the North Berwick links in Scotland.


A look back at the ridge line of the 4th fairway, and the rock wall fronting the green.

[Mike Hogan]

Here are a few shots from North Berwick.

[Joe Bausch]

Thanks Mike H.  Wow, that looks really good!

[Jim Nugent]

Which got me thinking of golf holes with a wall in view...

Just read this about Pine Valley Golf Club, one of China's top-rated layouts near Beijing:

"If the combination of a spectacular panoramic view of the surrounding mountain range, beautiful landscaping, clean air and water is not captivating enough, the Ba Da Ling section of the Great Wall of China is clearly visible and might just do the trick."

[Sam Morrow]

Austin Golf Club has a wall in play for the quick hook.

[Simon Holt]

With no other evidence than the age of the golf courses and number of them that contain them, the wall aspect seems to have established itself in East Lothian.  Anyone else know of any areas that are older with as frequent and obvious wall features as EL?

North Berwick is probably the oldest in the area, followed by Kilspindie (and recently Cragielaw next door), Dunbar, Muirfield, Royal Musselburgh (possibly older than all of them), Winterfield and most recently Renaissance. (some original, some put in)

All these courses are within a 15 mile radius of North Berwick, all varying in age but all have walls that actually come into play rather than just act as boundary walls which they would have been originally.