I like houses on golf courses.
Golf courses are a great place to get away from it all. The feeling of seclusion you get in a remote setting is, much like hiking in the wilderness, invigorating and refreshing. But golf is also a community game. A game of friendships and relationships, and there is something great about playing golf in a community setting on a club or course that is in harmony with its surroundings, an integral part of society and with the feeling of having a walk in the park.
Often houses compromise the design of golf courses but unfortunately this has tended to lead to a prevailing view on golfclubatlas that houses=bad, ignoring the important role that houses have in the game of golf.
Here are a few of my favorite golf courses with houses.
The Old Course
Scottish Links courses are indelibly linked to the towns they are part of. Golf in Scotland has a great reputation as being a game of the people and the way many of the courses start and finish in town only enhances this feeling. The view of the town coming down the closing holes at The Old Course is beautiful and as special as any ocean or mountain scenery.
Pebble Beach Golf Links
17 Mile Drive is possibly the world’s best housing estate. The natural beauty of the place is only enhanced by the realisation that people actually live there. What a vicarious thrill it is to imagine living there. The sense of relaxation that one gets from the moment they pass through the gates of 17 Mile Drive is amazing. The houses on the golf course present some interesting architecture and the people walkng their dogs on the course in the evening reinforces the feeling that this is a community space – but not a community that I will ever be able to afford, unfortunately.
Merion
A great suburban golf course. The lack of fences around the place and the road that passes through the course makes this course feel like a suburban park. As can be seen in the photo of the seventh green above, rarely is there any intention of separating the golf course from the surrounding houses. Whilst it is an exclusive and historic club, you get the feeling that it is a place that the kids and families of the neighbourhood would get out onto for a few holes in the evening.
PGA West
A mass housing course but rarely do you get a sense of the houses coming into play. Whilst the architect keeps the houses out of play, there is no effort to separate them from the golf course, as can be seen by the location of the 12th tee in someone’s backyard. Whilst playing as a single I ran into a few slow groups in front. I was waiting on the tee, whilst some locals were having an evening drink nearby. A wave, and a quick conversation later, and I was sharing a quick glass of wine whilst I waited to play.
The other great thing about houses on golf courses. People live in them. And really enjoy living next to a golf course. I can’t think of too many better places to live, myself.
Why do comments about houses on golf courses have to be negative? What are some of the best golf course houses and communities out there?