Year in Review

[David Hendler]

Best Course you have played in 2011:  Merion (East)
Best Course you played for the first time this year:  Winged Foot (West)
Best Club in your area (within 30 miles) never mentioned in GCA: Crandon Park on Key Biscayne
Best "Guilty Pleasure" course (course that is not great architecturally, but quite fun to play): Miami Beach Golf Club
Course you most want to play next year:  NGLA or Cypress Point
New year's golf resolution:  improve short game.

[Mike Hendren]

For crying out loud, the Dixie Cup hasn't even been contested!  You Yankmee's are soooo provincial.

Bogey

[John_Conley]

So John, are you saying you don't agree?

I don't agree at all.  Wasn't the thread on the Bridge the longest thread ever before a few guys found Merion?

[Mac Plumart]

It is October!


 

For northerners, this is the end.

JC...you know that I love you, but I can not accept this answer.  Quite frankly, the golf season is not over...not even close to being over.

Everyone on this site (as I've said over and over) is welcome in the ATL as a guest of mine.  Rivermont is worth a play for sure and there are some others we can check out.  In fact, October and early November are THE BEST times to play some of these courses.  Florida is open all year for golf...Cali...Pinehurst...Sea Island...I played Kiawah last year in December...it is not over, unless someone internally says it is.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsmybQKpmTw

Tim...nice video.  But if I had to put my sentiments in MY OWN WORDS, I'd say this...

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war golf, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war golf against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory golf at all costs, victory golf in spite of all terror weather and seasons, victory golf, however long and hard the road may be

 

[Mike Hendren]

Or perhaps it's not over until the North Team checks into the "Just Got My A#s Kicked Motel" after Dixie Cup.

We will not settle for second place this time!

Bogey

[Tim Martin]

Or perhaps it's not over until the North Team checks into the "Just Got My A#s Kicked Motel" after Dixie Cup.

We will not settle for second place this time!

Bogey

Bogey- Only Rex Ryan makes predictions like that. I`m sure this will be up in the North`s team locker room as a motivational tool.

[John Penny]

Best Course you have played in 2011:  Ballyneal
Best Course you played for the first time this year:  Prairie Club - Horse
Best Club in your area (within 30 miles) never mentioned in GCA: Eisenhower Blue
Best "Guilty Pleasure" course (course that is not great architecturally, but quite fun to play): Any of the small town courses in Eastern CO.
Course you most want to play next year:  RCCC
New year's golf resolution:  see more new (to me) courses

[Colin Macqueen]

The end is nigh?!  Come to The Land of Oz where the sun never sets on the golfing season.

Cheers Colin

[Keith OHalloran]

John,
If that is true, it was before my time here. I will take your word for it, and change my answer to Southward Ho! In Bay Shore it is a solid course with a good set of greens and even one hole whose merits can be debated. I don't recall seeing it talked about much. (but I have been wrong before)

[jeffwarne]

John,
If that is true, it was before my time here. I will take your word for it, and change my answer to Southward Ho! In Bay Shore it is a solid course with a good set of greens and even one hole whose merits can be debated. I don't recall seeing it talked about much. (but I have been wrong before)

Don't worry Keith.
Most of the groupthink police are gone and/or started their own website.
(or got lost in a Merion thread)

Kudos to you for having a (semi) original idea

[Brett_Morrissy]

The season is never over. Golf can be played all year long, just need to find the appropriate circumstances/climate...

[Ronald Montesano]

Let's table this shizz until December 31st...the squad from Buffalo votes with Representative Plumart of the Dixie coalition and says "it ain't over til the fat lady sings and sings and sings again, at which point it STILL may not be over."

Played an underwhelming S. Thompson course today, although KLynch made the observation that the 9 greens nearest the clubhouse were easily the best, and that maybe Thompson had some other chump do the outliers (Senior, perhaps?!)

[Mark Saltzman]

.

[Jim Tang]

Best Course Played in 2011:  Merion
Best Course Played for First Time:  Merion
Best Club in Area that Doesn't Get Mentioned on GCA:  Orchard Valley
Best Guilty Pleasure:  White Tail Ridge
Course You Most Want to Play Next Year:  Cabot Links
New Year's Resolution:  Play more

[Sean_A]

The golf season never really ends for me and I hopefully have a few very fine courses yet to see before 31 December - say.

BEST COURSE so far: DEAL - honourable mention goes to Formby

BEST NEW COURSE so far: BRANCASTER - honourable mention goes to Alwoodley

BEST COURSE IN MY IMMEDIATE AREA which doesn't get mentioned on this site - Cleeve Cloud

The COURSE I WANT TO PLAY MOST NEXT YEAR (keeping things to a realistic perspective) IS SUNNY OLD - honourable mention goes to Ganton.

I don't have any guilty pleasures as golf is one big guilty pleasure!  So I will give my own category which is easily the most important to me:

FAVOURITE NEW COURSE so far: SILLOTH on SOLWAY - honourable mention goes to Cleeve Cloud

Ciao

[Michael Taylor]

Best Course Played in 2011:  Barnbougle Dunes
Best Course Played for First Time:  Barnbougle Dunes - Honorable Mention for The Birds Eye Club (I should be doing a quick tour of this privately owned course sometime.) 
Best Club in Area that Doesn't Get Mentioned on GCA:  There's nothing of significance out in the west of Sydney where I live, but the closest good course is probably Bonnie Doon. Or I might even consider Muirfield GC just around the corner from here.
Best Guilty Pleasure:  NSWGC
Course You Most Want to Play Next Year:  NGLA
New Year's Resolution:  Play golf in 2 new countries such as Nu Zillin in the 2012 Boomerang, and some courses in the US on the East and West Coast hopefully around March.  

[Bill McKinley]

Best course played in 2011: Tie between Merion East & Seminole

Best course played for the 1st time: Same as above, but taking those out of the mix I would say Fox Chapel

Best area club not mentioned on GCA: Sharon GC, men only, great par 3's, very fun.

Guilty Pleasure: Firestone West.  I just seem to play well there, even though i'm not a Fazio fan

Course u want to play most next year: Pine Valley or National

New year's resolution: Make fewer bogeys!

[BHoover]

Best course played in 2011:  NCR South
Best course played for the first time:  Sawgrass Country Club (it's been a lean year)
Best area club not mentioned on GCA:  Springfield CC
Guilty pleasure:  Double Eagle
Course you want to play most next year:  There are many (Kirtland, The Golf Club, The Country Club (Pepper Pike), Canterbury), but I want to go to Bandon
New year's resolution:  Figure out how to gain an extra 20 yards

[Steve Kline]

Best Course you have played in 2011:  Pacific Dunes (this could change after I play LACC and possibly #2 again in the next month)
Best Course you played for the first time this year:  Pacific Dunes (see above and Kinsgley is not far behind, I count #2 here because it is so much different after the renovation)
Best Club in your area (within 30 miles) never mentioned in GCA: Hyde Park CC (Ross that is being renovated very nicely)
Best "Guilty Pleasure" course (course that is not great architecturally, but quite fun to play): none - I play pretty much whenever, wherever with whomever because I just like playing
Course you most want to play next year:   Cypress Point (but I will going back to Bally to Bally (Colton - you need to make a new Ballyneal tribute to the LL Cool J song) for the third in a row)
New year's golf resolution:  keep up with Colton in the golf marathon and play fewer tournaments but more with GCAers (it's more fun)

Most surprising course: Chattanooga Country Club - didn't no anything about it and played it two weeks ago; lots of fun
Most fun course played this year: tie between Ballyneal and Kingsley (of course the company had something to do with it)

[Kalen Braley]

Best Course you have played in 2011:  Chambers Bay.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.
Best Course you played for the first time this year:  Ditto, Chambers Bay
Best Club in your area (within 30 miles) never mentioned in GCA: Downriver golf course.  Its an old course course built pre-1920 with some interesting holes.  However its not as good as its near neighbor Indian Canyon so it doesn't get any word of mouth here. But it has some fun holes with some blind shots and interesting undulations.
Best "Guilty Pleasure" course (course that is not great architecturally, but quite fun to play): My new discovery this year of Antler Springs.  Its just two guys who built a course on some land they owned, but they sure built a few really neat holes and its in a nicely secluded area.
Course you most want to play next year:   Next year could potentially be awesome, so I don't want to pin down anything specifically.  But if all goes to plan I'll be taking 4-5 trips and seeing some really good courses.
New year's golf resolution:  Work on the ol gut and lose more than a few lbs.  As it is, just walking 18 holes at the moment really tires me out.

Most surprising course:  I don't think any course really surprised me this year, but that being said I only had 1 trip this year to the Seattle area so I didn't really get out and about.
Most fun course played this year: Even though I think Chambers is the better course overall, Wine Valley is funner to play.  Its not too hard and isn't as stern of a test of golf that Chambers is.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Year in review?  My club hasn't even held the Club Championship yet!   Having it this time of year makes it like the Club Championship Mid Am, because the college kids can't compete.

[Sean Leary]

Best Course you have played in 2011:  Chambers Bay.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.
Best Course you played for the first time this year:  Ditto, Chambers Bay
Best Club in your area (within 30 miles) never mentioned in GCA: Downriver golf course.  Its an old course course built pre-1920 with some interesting holes.  However its not as good as its near neighbor Indian Canyon so it doesn't get any word of mouth here. But it has some fun holes with some blind shots and interesting undulations.
Best "Guilty Pleasure" course (course that is not great architecturally, but quite fun to play): My new discovery this year of Antler Springs.  Its just two guys who built a course on some land they owned, but they sure built a few really neat holes and its in a nicely secluded area.
Course you most want to play next year:   Next year could potentially be awesome, so I don't want to pin down anything specifically.  But if all goes to plan I'll be taking 4-5 trips and seeing some really good courses.
New year's golf resolution:  Work on the ol gut and lose more than a few lbs.  As it is, just walking 18 holes at the moment really tires me out.

Most surprising course:  I don't think any course really surprised me this year, but that being said I only had 1 trip this year to the Seattle area so I didn't really get out and about.
Most fun course played this year: Even though I think Chambers is the better course overall, Wine Valley is funner to play.  Its not too hard and isn't as stern of a test of golf that Chambers is.

What were your thoughts on Tumble Creek, by the way? I may have missed any posts you had on it.

[Jud_T]

Best Course you have played in 2011:  Pacific Dunes
Best Course you played for the first time this year: Ballyneal.  Colton's escapades are even more impressive once one sees the size of the dunes in person.
Best Club in your area (within 30 miles) never mentioned in GCA: Deerpath Golf Club, Lake Forest , IL.  OK nothing really special here, but my area is pretty well covered here.  IMO the best of the North Shore Town courses with some nice old-school features (i.e. the 3rd green for starters.)  Also Sidney Marovitz 9-holer on LSD in Chicago (That's Lake Shore Drive not Lysergic acid diethylamide for you Windy City neophytes, although the combo might be intriguing for some).
Best "Guilty Pleasure" course (course that is not great architecturally, but quite fun to play): Chikaming Country Club, Lakeside, MI.  My Dad's club in Harbor Country.  Nice old wooded layout.  The four new holes make the course tougher, although not necessarily better.
Course you most want to play next year:  Cabot Links
New year's golf resolution: Get fitted for a 4-wood and send the 3-wood to it's proper resting place in hell.  Drop a few lbs. and get in better shape to keep up with all the young GCA whippersnappers.
Most surprising course:  Old Mac.  Not even all the jawboning here prepared me for the scope of the place.  One for further study.

[Kalen Braley]

What were your thoughts on Tumble Creek, by the way? I may have missed any posts you had on it.

Hey Sean,

I actually shared some thoughts with Peter F on the course in a private message.  I'll go ahead and copy and past those in here:

Overall the course is very good.  Absolutely loved the bunkering overall, especially that neat one on the par 3 2nd that is tucked into that bit of plant life with the tree behind. Even though the course was very wet, I could tell they normally try to maintain a fast and firm profile based on the number of brown patches in the fairways.  They had 3 sets of tees and I picked the one that was closest to the Challenger distance on the card which was advertised at 6500 yards.  So with the wetness/lack of rollout it was certainly a challenge for me.

Really loved the 3-6 stretch on the front, with 4 being the jewel...just an awesome par 5.  9 was a tough bugger, especially after I missed the fairway to the right and got too aggressive on the 2nd shot.

I really liked how 10 and 11 followed that upper ridge line and it was especially nice how you kept getting glimpses of 11 while playing 10.  As for #11, that hole is an absolute stunner.  To route that hole uphill and tuck it on that ridgeline was sheer genius....its probably the best hole on the course, either that or #4.

12 was a nice little surprise because I had no clue from the pictures how big a drop it is from the upper fairway down to the green.  My drive didn't reach the speed slot but I can imagine some big hitters have had little more than 100 yards into that green if they challenge that corner.

The last 5 holes were neat in how they were fit in to that massive meadow area in between the two ridge lines. I'd be curious to know what was there before and after and what Doak did to get those holes in there.  16 green proved to be extremely tricky as I hit what I thought was a good approach, but my ball was repelled off into that low area in front of the green.  Ended up with double bogey there..doh!

18 was very cool as well, but we played it from the sane tees at 380, which was still a tough finisher.  I can't imagine playing that hole from the 450 tees..what a brute.  I wonder if Tom originally envisioned that as a par 4 or par 5 finisher.

My favorite green complexes were #2, 8, 10, 11, 16, and 18. Holes 7 and 8 felt like a bit of a let down after playing 3-6...but it picked right back up with 9.

Overall the place was in great shape and it was just a bit of bad luck to play it when the course had 2-3 days prior of wet conditions.  It drizzled for about 2/3rds of the round, but the sun came out a few times in between.

I'd agree with the general GCA sentiment that its a 7 on the Doak Scale.  Chambers and Wine Valley are the only 2 WA state courses I've played that I think are better, so its makes my top 3 in WA state pretty easily.  In general its matches most closely to Gozzer Ranch in terms of style and otherwise, even thou I thought Gozzer was a little bit better.

[Sean Leary]

What were your thoughts on Tumble Creek, by the way? I may have missed any posts you had on it.

Hey Sean,

I actually shared some thoughts with Peter F on the course in a private message.  I'll go ahead and copy and past those in here:

Overall the course is very good.  Absolutely loved the bunkering overall, especially that neat one on the par 3 2nd that is tucked into that bit of plant life with the tree behind. Even though the course was very wet, I could tell they normally try to maintain a fast and firm profile based on the number of brown patches in the fairways.  They had 3 sets of tees and I picked the one that was closest to the Challenger distance on the card which was advertised at 6500 yards.  So with the wetness/lack of rollout it was certainly a challenge for me.

Really loved the 3-6 stretch on the front, with 4 being the jewel...just an awesome par 5.  9 was a tough bugger, especially after I missed the fairway to the right and got too aggressive on the 2nd shot.

I really liked how 10 and 11 followed that upper ridge line and it was especially nice how you kept getting glimpses of 11 while playing 10.  As for #11, that hole is an absolute stunner.  To route that hole uphill and tuck it on that ridgeline was sheer genius....its probably the best hole on the course, either that or #4.

12 was a nice little surprise because I had no clue from the pictures how big a drop it is from the upper fairway down to the green.  My drive didn't reach the speed slot but I can imagine some big hitters have had little more than 100 yards into that green if they challenge that corner.

The last 5 holes were neat in how they were fit in to that massive meadow area in between the two ridge lines. I'd be curious to know what was there before and after and what Doak did to get those holes in there.  16 green proved to be extremely tricky as I hit what I thought was a good approach, but my ball was repelled off into that low area in front of the green.  Ended up with double bogey there..doh!

18 was very cool as well, but we played it from the sane tees at 380, which was still a tough finisher.  I can't imagine playing that hole from the 450 tees..what a brute.  I wonder if Tom originally envisioned that as a par 4 or par 5 finisher.

My favorite green complexes were #2, 8, 10, 11, 16, and 18. Holes 7 and 8 felt like a bit of a let down after playing 3-6...but it picked right back up with 9.

Overall the place was in great shape and it was just a bit of bad luck to play it when the course had 2-3 days prior of wet conditions.  It drizzled for about 2/3rds of the round, but the sun came out a few times in between.

I'd agree with the general GCA sentiment that its a 7 on the Doak Scale.  Chambers and Wine Valley are the only 2 WA state courses I've played that I think are better, so its makes my top 3 in WA state pretty easily.  In general its matches most closely to Gozzer Ranch in terms of style and otherwise, even thou I thought Gozzer was a little bit better.

Thanks, I agree with many of your thoughts. I would have it as a 6 myself which is as high as I have any course in WA other than CB (Have not played WV). The last 5 holes are a letdown for me compared to the first 13, but its very good. Conditions there are generally perfect, but curious to see how much poa is there now, as it has been a couple of years since I have played it.