Hi all,
First thanks to George for the opportunity. I'm 20 yrs old, been playing golf for 12 years and though I only play once every other week or so I still get around close to par.
What Brought me to golf?
Well, Christmas of '97, yes '97, my best friend got the now rarely seen PGA Tour Golf (sans Tiger Woods). I knew about Tiger winning the Masters earlier that year but had no real appreciation or interest prior to this computer game. Since my friend and I enjoyed math, we loved the game (since that's all it really is). Luckily for us, he lived across the street from Palos Verdes Golf Club, a nice George Thomas / Billy Bell course that goes often overlooked. His grandpa is a member and took us to hit balls. I guess I had some talent, I am a natural lefty and that's supposed to help. I played junior tournaments off and on but mostly I enjoy the game for what it is.
Golf course architecture? This Website?
I stumbled upon this site 2 years ago while looking for info on a course (I don't remember which one). I looked at all the profiles and only discovered the discussion group less than a year ago. It took me some time to realize that I was interested in the architecture side of things, but I admit I was a golf course doodler since age 10, so there you go. In fact we had a project in fifth grade where we were given a million dollars (hypothetically
) and we had to spend it on something we wanted, but the purpose was for us to provide detailed costs and give our motivation for doing so. I decided that I wanted to build a golf course. I found a parcel of land in Palm Springs, contacted the ASGCA and spoke to someone ( I don't remember the name, could be a GCAer for all I know) and he told me what costs were like for construction. My course ended up being only nine holes but I gained an appreciation for what it takes to build a golf course back then.