Which golf courses look like they could be in Lord of the Rings?

[cary lichtenstein]

Does anyone know the how or why of the shapes of these rock formations. They are highly unusal.

[Matthew Hunt]

Trivia Question: What Top course is in the area that inspired Narnia?

[Jay Flemma]

Well Narnia was filmed in a lot of places - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363771/locations

But if you mean Christchurch, NZ I'd guess maybe Cape Kidnappers?

[Marty Bonnar]

Does anyone know the how or why of the shapes of these rock formations. They are highly unusal.

Maybe basalt/lava extrusions?

[Colin Macqueen]

Cary,  Marty,

These formations are geologically karsts and according to Wikipedia....

"Karst topography is a geologic formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite........

Mature karst landscapes, where more bedrock has been removed than remains, may result in karst towers."

and I guess the remaining "towers" are the equivalent of good old (very old?) Aberdeen granite. 

Cheers Colin

[Marty Bonnar]

Cary,  Marty,

These formations are geologically karsts and according to Wikipedia....

"Karst topography is a geologic formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite........

Mature karst landscapes, where more bedrock has been removed than remains, may result in karst towers."

and I guess the remaining "towers" are the equivalent of good old (very old?) Aberdeen granite. 

Cheers Colin

Col,
not much in the way of Karst in Scotland. You grew up near the Carses though!!
best,
from a sub-tropical Scotland,
the FBD.

[Peter Pallotta]

Brian - yup, I think, especially given that Tolkien thought of the Shire as being on the "same latitude as Oxford."

Peter

[Jay Flemma]

I know by rights the Shire should be a course in England, but what about Killarney?

[Pete_Pittock]

interesting blog article superimposing Tolkein's middle earth over Europe and Asia. This puts the shire in SW England, suspiciously near Painswick.
http://bigthink.com/ideas/21172

I remember driving around England looking at road maps and finding a lot of familiar place names near Derby and the Lake District.

[Jay Flemma]

Painswick is the Barrow Downs - near the Shire, but we need green fields and streams and the like.  I really think the Shire must be a parkland course.

[Jay Flemma]

Guys, what would Tobacco Road be?

What about Redlands Mesa?

[Sam Morrow]

The Shire would be Wentworth.

[Jay Flemma]

I wonder if the Shire might be Royal County Down?!

[Grant Saunders]

Here are a couple of pictures of a course called Roxburgh. It is about 2 hours from Queenstown in New Zealand.

I didnt have time to play it but I walked some of it. It is pretty much at the top of my list of most interesting courses I have seen. I have a couple more photos if anyone is interested.

Im not sure exactly where it would be in the Lord of thRings but Im sure it fits somewhere.









Also, for you true fans, here are a couple of photos of actual sites from the movie. I dont remember where in the films they featured.

[Gary Daughters]

[Jay Flemma]

Good catch, Grant  I'll chew on that one and see what I can come up with.

Gary, what course is that?

[Jay Flemma]

I think I found Rohan - Links of North Dakota!

[Jay Flemma]

Jay,

Here's your Gondor, Mordor, Minas Tirith, heck Khazad-dum even, rolled into one...

Can't tell you how surprising it is for me for you to have a response to this thread.  I bet you're eagerly awaiting the "What golf courses would appear in Harry Potter" thread.

I don't know what courses might be Harry Potter, all I know is you must protect your wand from Hogwarts when entering her Chamber of Secrets.

[Tim Gavrich]

Well, for the Links 2003 game, someone designed a course called Rivendell.  Scroll down to the bottom for screenshots of it.  I downloaded it and thought it was pretty fun...for a computer course.

http://linkscorner.org/courses/course.php?crz=772

I'm not so familiar with LOTR otherwise, but this does make me wonder about courses for different parts of the world of "Game of Thrones."  Kington and Cleeve Common would come to mind as courses that could easily be just beyond the gates of Winterfell.

[Mike_Young]

I got an email saying if I really wanted to see a dork fest then check this thread out.
I m not disappointed.

[Peter Pallotta]

Ha ha!

Thanks, Mike -- your post was like a bucket of ice water dumped over the head of a drunken man. It helped sober me right up!  I'm going drink five or six cups of coffee now to finish the job, and in a few years time, I hope my dorky participation on this will be no more than a fading memory, just a tiny scar from my dorky days before I got religion.