Matt:
top 5 courses I most want to see:
1) Sunningdale: to me, that place is what golf is all about, a landscape and a golf course so tightly bond together
2) Pine Valley: is it that good
?
3) Swinley Forest: how great a par 68 can be
4) Barnbougle Dunes: I have seen it only in sand, would like to see it with some grass on it.
5) The Bandon experience: what else more to say.
The Penguin bathub was a funny accident. There was a rectangle depression behind the 14th green (part of it was because of an old road) and Jeff Mingay told me: why not give it a try, dig up a bunker there. Blind small bunker behind a green: I'm thinking Garden City... so I start digging. The look on Jeff and Whit's face when they saw the huge pile of dirt that got out of there was priceless. Since I'm the Penguin, the nickname Penguin's bathtub came naturally for it. It should be 6 to 8 inches deeper because it looks so good when we finished it without the sand. Deeper than that, it would look articifial.
Haven't played Sagebrush on grass yet.
favorite holes:
1) 10th a great par 3. With a right pin and a right to left wind, that shot over the moundis pretty unique. Also I love the front left pin. A bening looking hole location but 8 yards to far and it's gone down the mountain.
2) 17th. Just a natural looking hole with a nice flow to it. Many architects would have cut down a little mound (now the forward tee0 for more visibility, but it would have ruined that hole.
holes that doesn't work: I don't think there are any. Due to the severity of the site, some stuff might happen while playing Sagebrush that won't happen anywhere else... ball rolling down 100 yards etc.. but it's the whole point of the place; a unique golf experience. The only thing that puzzled my mind is the first hole. Why not play it as a par 4 from the ladies tee by the road? Why start so far down? Maybe to make sure that nobody would consider walking the course !!!
Best courses in Canada: well I haven't seen anything in Canada funny enough. I was supposed to walk St Georges last summer but showed up on the first sunny saturday afternoon in 6 weeks. course was packed.
Canadian courses overrated / underrated ?:
well the best courses (top 10) in Canada would probably be ranked higher if they were close to a big city in the US.
but there's a lack of depth once you get pass the top 30 in ScoreGolf Magazine.
The most overrated thing is that every architect in Canada is called: ''Great canadian architect in the legacy of Stanley Thompson''.
For people outside the country... I don't know if they match Canada and Golf that well.